Electronic Village

Taser Lawsuit: Robert Ricks (Alexandria LA)

noreply@blogger.com (Villager) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:00 +0000

The Alexandria Police department electrocuted 23-year old Robert Ricks last year. The police tased him twice and he died after the second shot of 50,000 volts of electricity. Ricks was unarmed. In fact, at the time of the second taser shot he was in police custody. The coroner later claimed that the cause of death was 'excited delirium'.

The family of Robert Ricks is not satisfied with the explanations or the excuses given by the police department, Taser International or any of the other 'powers-that-be'. As a result they filed a lawsuit of wrongful death. [SOURCE]

"I just want to ask them what, what happened? What happened?" said a frustrated Lawrence Ricks, father of Robert Ricks.

TASER International says while its their policy not to comment on pending litigation, the want to remind people that the cause of death was "excited delirium," not the taser gun.

Commonsense tells me that the young man wasn't going to die that day if he hadn't been electrocuted TWICE by the police officers. Commonsense tells me that an unarmed many didn't need to die if the police handled the situation better ... without relying on an instrument of death to keep the young man quiet.

Happy Birthday: Alice Walker, 2/9/1944

noreply@blogger.com (Villager) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:00:00 +0000

It always bothered me that the 'Color Purple' never received proper recognition during the Oscar ceremonies in the early 1990s. The director and actors in that flick were outstanding. Who cannot still remember when Oprah Winfrey got medieval on her husband and her father-in-law?

The movie never exists if the book wasn't written first. Alice Walker was born on this date in 1944. She is an African American author, speaker, and poet. [SOURCE]

Born Alice Malsenior Walker in Eatonton, Georgia, she was educated at Spelman and Sarah Lawrence colleges. Walker is responsible for a number of writings.

Most of her material portrays the lives of poor, oppressed African American women in the early 1900s. The Third Life of Grange Copeland (1970) is about the emotional growth of an African American man. Meridian (1976) follows the life of an African American woman during the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Walker won the American Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for her best-known work, the novel The Color Purple (1982).

Possessing the Secret of Joy (1992), explores the tradition of female circumcision still practiced in some parts of Africa. By the Light of My Father’s Smile (1998), depicts a Christian missionary family, focusing on the relationship between the father and the three daughters and the relationship between Christianity and the spiritual traditions of the African community in which the family lives. Walker’s volumes of poetry include Revolutionary Petunias and Other Poems (1973) and Goodnight, Willie Lee, I'll See You in the Morning (1979).

Her nonfiction works include the essay collections In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose (1983), Living by the Word (1988), The Same River Twice: Honoring the Difficult (1996) and Anything We Love Can Be Saved (1997). In 2004, Walker has published her first book in six years, "Now Is The Time To Open Your Heart."

Do you have a favorite book by Alice Walker? Is there a part of Color Purple that you always remember when you think of that movie (or book)? My favorite thing about Alice Walker in recent years was her timely endorsement of Barack Obama!

Let's Move! Michelle Obama Accepts Jimmy Fallon Fitness Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Villager) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:15:00 +0000

I suspect that most 'villagers' are not up after midnight to watch the Jimmy Fallon talk show. Most of you have seen how First Lady Michelle Obama held an impromptu push-up challenge with Ellen DeGeneres last week. Fallon decided to one-up DeGeneres with hula-hoops, potato sacks and dodge ball. Check out the video:

I think it is wonderful that our First Lady continues to find ways to find childhood obesity. I encourage you to take a moment to learn more about Let's Move!

OURstory: Harry McAlpin

noreply@blogger.com (Villager) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 06:00:00 +0000

President Barack Obama created history when he held is first White House press conference as our first African American president. I wonder if he will be aware of the history created on February 8, 1944 when Harry McAlpin was the first African American journalist admitted to a White House press conference. [SOURCE]

He was working for the National Negro Press Association and the Atlanta Daily World. On that day, McAlpin was waiting to go into the Oval Office, where they had press conferences at that time, when a white reporter from the New Orleans Times-Picayune spoke to him. The reporter who was head of the White House Press Correspondents Association said, "Harry, we're not happy that you're here, but we can't stop you from going to these press conferences. However, if you don't go to these press conferences, we will come out afterward and we will tell you everything that happened. You will have the exact same notes we do. You will find it possible to write the same stories that we do. And, if you don't go, we will let you join the White House Press Correspondents Association."

McAlpin went into the press conference and at the end of it he made a point of going by President Franklin Roosevelt's desk. Roosevelt shook McAlpin's hand and said, "Harry, I'm glad to have you here."

In 1947, the Negro Newspaper Publishers association and some individual news correspondents were accredited to the Congressional Press Galleries and the State Department. The early journalists accredited were James L. Hicks, Percival L. Prattis and Louis Lautier.

I hope that someone lets President Obama in on this historical factoid as he goes into his first White House press conference tomorrow.

Rest in Peace: Iyisa Hicks (1970-2010)

noreply@blogger.com (Villager) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:01:00 +0000

Rest in Peace
Iyisa Hicks (1970-2010)

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (February 7, 2012)

noreply@blogger.com (Villager) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:45:00 +0000

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is a day to focus attention on the staggering toll HIV continues to take on the Black community. It is also a day of hope – a day on which we recognize the progress we continue to make towards ending this epidemic in our communities.

When we look at HIV/AIDS by race and ethnicity, Blacks have more illness (Blacks represent only 12% of the U.S. population, yet account for 45% of new HIV infections and 46% of people living with HIV disease in 2006); and more deaths (Blacks accounted for 57% of deaths due to HIV in 2007 and the survival time after an AIDS diagnosis is lower on average than it is for most other racial/ethnic groups). In 2009, Blacks accounted for 44% of all new HIV infections.

The AIDS diagnosis rate per 100,000 among Black adults/adolescents was 9 times that of whites in 2008. The AIDS diagnosis rate for Black men (85.5) was the highest of any group, followed by Black women (39.9). By comparison, the rate among white men was 10. The rate of new infections is also highest among Blacks and was 7 times greater than the rate among whites in 2006.

Among the U.S. population overall, Blacks are more likely than whites to report having been tested for HIV in the last 12 months (40% compared to 14%). Among those who are HIV positive, CDC data indicate that 33% of Blacks were tested for HIV late in their illness—that is, diagnosed with AIDS within one year of testing positive for HIV (in those states/areas with HIV name reporting); by comparison, 30% of whites and 36% of Latinos were tested late.

In 2009, an estimated 16,741 Blacks were diagnosed with AIDS diagnosis in the US, a number that has slowly decreased since 2006. By the end of 2008, an estimated 240,627 Blacks with an AIDS diagnosis had died in the US. In 2007, HIV was the ninth leading cause of death for all Blacks and the third leading cause of death for both Black men and Black women aged 35–44.

The number of new HIV infections per year among Blacks is down from its peak in the late 1980s, but has exceeded the number of infections among whites since that time; new infections have remained stable in recent years.

A recent analysis of 1999–2006 data from a national household survey found that 2% of Blacks in the U.S. (among those ages 18–49) were HIV positive, significantly higher than whites (0.23%). Also, the prevalence of HIV was higher among Black men (2.64%) than Black women (1.49%).

At some point in their lifetimes, 1 in 16 Black men will be diagnosed with HIV infection, as will 1 in 32 Black women.

From 2005–2008, the rate of HIV diagnoses among Blacks increased from 68 per 100,000 persons to 74 per 100,000. This increase reflects the largest increase in rates of HIV diagnoses by race or ethnicity.

Of all Black men living with HIV/AIDS, the primary transmission category was sexual contact with other men, followed by injection drug use and high risk heterosexual contact.

Of all Black women living with HIV/AIDS, the primary transmission category was high risk heterosexual contact, followed by injection drug use.

Of the estimated 141 infants prenatally infected with HIV, 91 (65%) were Black (CDC, HIV/AIDS Reporting System, unpublished data, December 2006).

There are approximately 1.1 million people living with HIV/AIDS in the U.S, including more than 500,000 who are Black. When we know better, we tend to do better and we hope having an idea of how big this epidemic is in the United States alone will help gain your support for this effort. Generations to come will look back at us and wonder why HIV/AIDS was, or will they?

Let's make it history in our lifetime.

Happy Birthday: Chris Rock (1965 - )

noreply@blogger.com (Villager) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:01:00 +0000

On this date in 1965, Chris Rock was born. He is an African America comedian, author, recording artist, actor, and talk show host.

Chris Rock is a unique talent. What is your favorite memory of this birthday brother?

Taser Lawsuit: Douglas Boucher (Mason, OH)

noreply@blogger.com (Villager) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:15:00 +0000

Mason police officers tased 39-year old Douglas Boucher in December 2009. He died. The police didn't see anything wrong with it. No charges were filed against the two officers. The family of the dead man see it differently. Boucher's family filed a federal lawsuit. [SOURCE]

The autopsy didn't indicate that the taser was the cause of death. The lawsuit claims that the two police officers used excessive force on a mentally ill person. The family seeks compensatory and punitive damages from the city of Mason and officers Daniel Fry and Sean McCormick.

The two police officers were not called onto the scene. They just stopped by the same Speedway gas station where a female clerk was serving Mr. Boucher. When the police arrived, the clerk alleged that Boucher was harassing her. The two officers asked Boucher to go outside. The officers were attempting to handcuff Boucher when he wrestled away and hit Fry in the head with his one handcuffed hand, according to the police. When he tried to go after the clerk again - she had come outside - McCormick attempted to use a Taser on him. The first shot failed, but the second electrocution with the 50,000 volts from the taser gun knocked Boucher to the ground. He hit his head on the concrete and died.

The lawsuit claims that "Mason police officers arrested him, tased him in the chest and in the back and then, while he was on the ground, struck him with a police baton, kicked him and tased him five more times."

The report issued by the Ohio powers-that-be did note that the police officers failed to 'spark test' their taser guns ... to the device may have given off more that the 50,000 volts of electricity specified by the manufacturer.

Happy Birthday: Bob Marley (1945-1981)

noreply@blogger.com (Villager) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Bob Marley was born on this date (February 6) in 1945. He was a Jamaican singer and songwriter whose name more than anyone represents reggae music, the tenets of Rastafarianism, and the struggle of the economically and politically oppressed. [SOURCE]

via videosift.com

Village Tip: Increase Sales by Making a Promise

noreply@blogger.com (Villager) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:30:00 +0000

We make promises all the time. Cross my heart and hope to die; swear on my mother's grave; the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God. These are all promises. Whether these statements are used to make a false promise or not, they all do one thing; they make the person who receives the promise feel more secure.

Entrepreneurs quickly learn that one of the quickest ways to get a potential customer's attention is to make a promise. In marketing, that promise should be the first thing they see, so it should be embedded in the headline.

A headline should appeal to an immediate need. Regardless of who your target audience is, all people have the need to feel secure; to know that an advertised product or service can fulfill the advertised claim. That is where the promise comes in.

Now, this doesn't mean that you should say the words "I promise," only that they should be implied. Offer a benefit and phrase it in a way that says, "We are completely confident in what we claim."

But beware the false promise. Though plenty of advertisers make them, a false promise will only sell a product or service once. Your success as an entrepreneur is based on repeat sales ... so don't do something that may help you today, with negative consequences for you in the future.

If you want to create long-term customers, make a promise that your product or service can fulfill. Once they see you are as good as your word, they will feel utterly secure. And security is what really sells a product.

Happy Birthday: Hank Aaron, Greatest Baseball Player of All Time

noreply@blogger.com (Villager) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 05:01:00 +0000

My favorite team growing up in southern California was the Los Angeles Dodgers. As such, I have a vivid memory of Hank Aaron hitting homerun #715 ... the one that pulled him ahead of Babe Ruth. He hit it during a game against the Dodgers. Al Downing was the Dodger pitcher that gave up the most famous home run in history.

These are the memories that came to mind today. I join with other villagers in wishing a blessed 77th birthday to Henry Louis Aaron. He was born on this date in 1934.

Read a great historical view of Aaron's childhood and baseball career here on the African American Registry. One aspect of his career that inspired me occurred early in his career:

After only a short time in the Negro Leagues, the Milwaukee Braves recruited Aaron. He joined the Braves' system in 1952 and was sent to the minor leagues. There he became one of the first Black players to break the color line in the Deep South; a dangerous proposition in the last, desperate days of segregation that was legally enforced by Jim Crow laws. After one season in Wisconsin, Aaron found himself playing for a Jacksonville, Florida team in the South Atlantic League. Fans insulted him constantly, and even some of his teammates hurled racial slurs at him. Hotels and restaurants were closed to him because he was Black. The situation was only tolerable because Aaron showed such talent and because he was young. Somehow the heightened tension inspired Aaron. During his year with the South Atlantic League, he led the circuit in batting average, doubles, runs scored, total bases and runs batted in. He was voted League Most Valuable Player for 1953.

Aaron retired in 1976 with record 755 home runs and 2297 runs batted in. One week later he began a new phase of his career, as director of player development for the Braves. Aaron was one of the first Blacks hired in a major league front office. Throughout his tenure with the Braves' management, he has called for more Black participation in the business end of baseball.

Hank Aaron has been a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame since 1982.

What do you know or remember about Hammerin' Hank?

Obama's Weekly Address: It's Time for Congress to Act to Help Responsible Homeowners

noreply@blogger.com (Villager) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:45:00 +0000

President Obama continues his call for a return to American values, including fairness and equality, as part of his blueprint for an economy built to last.

OURstory: Rosa Parks (1913-2005)

noreply@blogger.com (Villager) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:30:00 +0000

Rosa Parks was born February 4, 1913. She didn't seek notoriety. She was simply a quiet and resolute woman who stood up by sitting down. She became an American civil rights activist.

Rosa McCauley grew up in Montgomery, Alabama and attended the all-Black Alabama State College. Rosa and her husband Raymond Parks were active in Montgomery's chapter of the NAACP. She worked as the chapter's youth adviser; on voter registration drives and was secretary of the NAACP’s Montgomery branch in 1943. As the 1950’s began, the segregated seating policies on public buses were growing as a source of resentment and bitterness within the Black community in Montgomery.

Blacks were required to pay their fares at the front of the bus, and then board again through the back door. The white bus drivers would harass Blacks, sometimes driving away before they were able to get back on the bus. On December 1, 1955, Parks took her seat in the front of the "colored section". When the driver asked Parks and three other Black riders to give up their seats to whites, Parks refused and was arrested; she soon agreed to let the NAACP provide legal council. Rosa Parks' case was filed in United States District Court, which ruled in her favor, declaring segregated seating on buses unconstitutional, a decision later upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was more than an inadvertent symbol; she was an experienced activist with strong beliefs. whose arrest for refusing to give up her seat on a bus set in motion the turning point in the African American battle for civil rights. Parks and her husband relocated to Detroit in 1957, where in time, Congressman John Conyers hired her as an administrative assistant, a position she held until 1987.

Rosa Parks, a committed activist died on October 24, 2005. On October 30th, and 31st of that year, she became the first woman to lie in honor in the vast circular room under the Capitol dome. By voice vote the House agreed to the action "so that the citizens of the United States may pay their last respects to this great American."

Black Unemployment Rate Drops to 13.6% in January 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Villager) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:00:00 +0000

The United States added 243,000 jobs in January 2012 - far exceeding expectations of about 150,000 jobs - and unemployment rate dipped to 8.3 percent. Job growth was widespread last month in the private sector, with large employment gains in professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and manufacturing according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

There are about 12.8 million unemployed people in the country. The unemployment is the lowest its been in almost three years. The trend of positive employment news continues to grow under the leadership of President Obama.

The news also contained positive progress for the Black community.

The unemployment rate in the Black community took a big dip in January 2012 to 13.6%. This compares to previous months:

Dec 2011 - 15.7%
Nov 2011 - 15.5%
Sep 2011 - 16.0%
Aug 2011 - 16.7%

The overall message for the US economy is good. This is the seventh straight month with over 100,000 people entering the workforce. The rate of unemployment in the Black community is still out of whack with what we see nationwide, but at least the statistics are trending in a positive direction.

What is your opinion of the unemployment data that was released today?

OURstory: 15th Amendment

noreply@blogger.com (Villager) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:00:00 +0000

On this date in 1870 the 15th amendment was ratified. Republicans wanted the 15th Amendment passed to obtain the vote of the freed slaves.

Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

The 15th Amendment ensures the right to vote to all male citizens of the United States, regardless of color or previous condition of servitude. The 15th Amendment opened the door for the elections of African Americans to the US Congress and to Southern local and state offices.

Many women suffragists such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony had worked alongside Black suffragists like Frederick Douglass to gain suffrage for both groups. But when the 15th Amendment passed, it angered many women suffragists terribly, and some of them even spoke out against Black suffrage.

OURstory: Dr. Bernard Harris

noreply@blogger.com (Villager) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 06:45:00 +0000

Did you know that Astronaut Dr. Bernard Harris was the first African American to walk in space on February 2, 1995?

Dr. Harris was the Payload Commander on STS-63, the first flight of the joint Russian-American Space Program. He fulfilled his childhood dreams and became another pioneer in Black history.

This is not the first time we have talked about the impact of African Americans in the space program. You may recall that we showed this video of space history that isn't well known:

Did you ever dream of being an astronaut?

Wordless Wednesday: RIP Don Cornelius - Love, Peace and Soul

noreply@blogger.com (Villager) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:15:00 +0000

Happy Birthday: Langston Hughes (1902-1967)

noreply@blogger.com (Villager) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:01:00 +0000

Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, MO on this date in 1902. He began writing poetry while attending Central High School in Cleveland, OH. He was educated at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania.

Click here to view most of the literary works of Langston Hughes!

He was an influential figure in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920's. Hughes spent time in Paris and after returning to the United States, he worked as a busboy in Washington, D.C. It was there in 1925, that his literary skills were discovered after he left three of his poems beside the plate of American poet Vachel Lindsay, who recognized Hughes's abilities and helped publicize his work.

Langston Hughes was active in social and political causes, using his poetry as a vehicle for cultural protest. He traveled to the Soviet Union, Haiti, and Japan, and he served as the Madrid correspondent for a Baltimore newspaper during the Spanish Civil War. Hughes wrote over 50 books and his drama Mulatto was performed 373 times on Broadway. Hughes also became known for the character Jesse B. Simple that he created in the 1940's for the Chicago Defender & New York Post. The humor and dialect of Jesse Simple disguised his common sense while depicting the everyday American experiences of Black citizens.

Langston Hughes died in 1967.

Let America be America Again
LANGSTON HUGHES 1938
Originally published in Esquire and in the International Worker Order pamphlet A New Song (1938)

Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be. Let it be the pioneer on the plain Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed-- Let it be that great strong land of love Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath, But opportunity is real, and life is free, Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me, Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark? And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart, I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars. I am the red man driven from the land, I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek-- And finding only the same old stupid plan Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope, Tangled in that ancient endless chain Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land! Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need! Of work the men! Of take the pay! Of owning everything for one's own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil. I am the worker sold to the machine. I am the Negro, servant to you all. I am the people, humble, hungry, mean-- Hungry yet today despite the dream. Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers! I am the man who never got ahead, The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream In the Old World while still a serf of kings, Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true, That even yet its mighty daring sings In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned That's made America the land it has become. O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas In search of what I meant to be my home-- For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore, And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea, And torn from Black Africa's strand I came To build a "homeland of the free."

The free?

Who said the free? Not me? Surely not me? The millions on relief today? The millions shot down when we strike? The millions who have nothing for our pay? For all the dreams we've dreamed And all the songs we've sung And all the hopes we've held And all the flags we've hung, The millions who have nothing for our pay-- Except the dream that's almost dead today.

O, let America be America again-- The land that never has been yet-- And yet must be--the land where every man is free. The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME-- Who made America, Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain, Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain, Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose-- The steel of freedom does not stain. From those who live like leeches on the people's lives, We must take back our land again, America!

O, yes, I say it plain, America never was America to me, And yet I swear this oath-- America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death, The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies, We, the people, must redeem The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers. The mountains and the endless plain-- All, all the stretch of these great green states-- And make America again!

Do you have any thoughts about Langston Hughes? What is your favorite literary work by Bro. Hughes?

Google+ Hangout Interview with President Obama

noreply@blogger.com (Villager) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:30:00 +0000

I didn't listen to the unique Google+ Hangout social network event hosted by President Obama yesterday. Here is the video of the full Q&A session for you listening pleasure:

What is your take-away from this Google+ Hangout session?

OURstory: Morgan State University

noreply@blogger.com (Villager) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:01:00 +0000

Morgan State University celebrates its 144th birthday today. I was born 92 years after Morgan State University became one of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities in America.

Founded in 1867 as the Centenary Biblical Institute by the Baltimore Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the school's original mission was to train young men for the ministry. It broadened its mission to educate both men and women as teachers. It was renamed Morgan College in 1890 in honor of the Reverend Lyttleton Morgan, who donated land to the college. Morgan awarded its first baccalaureate degree in 1895.

Morgan remained a private institution until 1939. By this time the College had become an all-inclusive institution. In 1975 the Maryland Legislature designated Morgan as a university, gave it the authority to offer doctorates, and provided for it to once again have its own governing board. In 1988 Maryland reorganized its higher education structure. It strengthened its coordinating board, the Higher Education Commission, and abolished the state college system.

The 1988 legislation also strengthened Morgan's authority to offer advanced programs and designated the campus as Maryland's Public Urban University.

It is important that we learn OURstory whenever possible. Are there any Morgan State alumni in the village?

Villager is Another Year Old Today...

noreply@blogger.com (Villager) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:01:00 +0000

Unique Building * MUMOK House Attack (Vienna, Austria)

noreply@blogger.com (Villager) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 13:15:00 +0000

Erin Wurm is an Austrian artist with a unique perspective on life. Highly regarded and very influential within the art scene for some time, Erwin Wurm’s work may not be all that familiar to most Villagers.

Museum Moderner Kunst (MUMOK) is the largest art museum in Austria. They pride themselves on the collection of modern art from the 20th and 21st century.

Erin Wurm and MOMAK combined to create some architectural buzz in 2006. That is when the so-called 'Attack House' was born. Wurm installed the house on the outside facade of the MUMOK building. Wurm indicates that 'House Attack is a symbol for an everyday occurrence as well as small-mindedness.'

I found a video that showed how 'House Attack' was created.

Every day I'm amazed at the things that people are paid cash-money to do...

Tea Party Wants to Re-Write History Books to Give Positive Spin on Slavery

noreply@blogger.com (Villager) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Did any of you see the passionate comments by GOP candidate Rick Santorum towards the end of the debate last night? He was answering the question about what impact religion would have on his work as president if he were elected. He talked about the nation's founding fathers and the fact that "God-given rights" were at the heart of the Declaration of Independence.

Santorum noted that 'God-given rights' can't be given away by the government. As he was talking I kept thinking to myself about the Africans in America at the time of the Declaration of Independence. I wondered what Santorum would say about the "God-given rights" of those men and women who were enslaved by our Founding Fathers? Did they have any "God-given rights"?

Now, I learn that there are some in Santorum's Republican Party who no longer want to be troubled by the inconvenience of our nation's history of slavery. There are some GOP (aka, Tea Party) in Tennessee who want to re-write the history books being used in our public schools to give a positive spin on slavery. [SOURCE]

These Republican (or Tea Party) activists say that the way textbooks are worded now can portray out founding fathers in a negative light.

"Slavery is of course portrayed in the textbooks nowadays I'm sure as a totally negative thing. Had there not been slavery in the south, the economy would've fallen," said Tea Party Activist Brian Rieck.

I guess one person's dehumanizing atrocity is another person's economic stimulus agenda.

Unique Building * The Crooked House (Sopot, Poland)

noreply@blogger.com (Villager) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:01:00 +0000

This is a very unique building! The Crooked House was built in 2003. What inspired the architects were Per Dahlberg's drawings. You'll found numerous beauty shops and stores inside along with the branch office for RMF radio broadcasting company. It lies in the Bohaterów Monte Cassino street, the town's most prominent promenade.

I wonder if the building would appear straight and normal if you were drunk?

GOP Wingnuts Gone Wild: Jan Brewer and Mark Oxner

noreply@blogger.com (Villager) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 04:45:00 +0000

It looks like the dog whistles that GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has been blowing are having their effect. Arizona governor Jan Brewer appears to have lost her mind while welcoming the President of the United States.

The level of disrespect by the Republican Party during the past three years of the Obama presidency is unprecedented. And Jan Brewer wasn't the only one demonstrating a lack of respect to President Obama.

Congressional candidate Mark Oxner thought it would be a good idea to share a political advertisement in which our nation's first African American president is shown on a slave ship. Are Republicans so disrespectful of Black people in this nation that they don't see where shyt like this is NOT funny?

I usually remind people that it's never a good idea to use Adolph Hitler as a comparison for anybody at anytime. I guess I'll need to also note that it is never a good idea to show a Black man on a slave ship. Who knew that an educated adult human being wouldn't know that unwritten rule of common decency?