Condoleeza Rice needs to shut up and leave Cuba alone.

Stop the War, Yes We Can, SDS Is Back Again!!

A Fabulous Video Tribute to Josephine Baker

Bessie Smith On Youtube Singing "You Gotta Give Me Some"

Go Down Moses

Paul Robeson (the link above is to Paul Robeson singing Go Down Moses on Youtube)

When Israel was in Egypt’s land, Let My people go;
Oppressed so hard they could not stand, Let My people go;
Go down, Moses, way down in Egypt’s land,
Tell old Pharaoh: Let My people go.

The Lord told Moses what to do, Let My people go;
To lead the children of Israel through, Let My people go.
Go down, Moses, way down in Egypt’s land,
Tell old Pharaoh: Let My people go.

The pillar of cloud shall clear the way, Let My people go;
A fire by night, a shade by day, Let My people go.
Go down, Moses, way down in Egypt’s land,
Tell old Pharaoh: Let My people go.

As Israel stood by the water-side, Let My people go;
At God’s command it did divide, Let My people go.
Go down, Moses, way down in Egypt’s land,
Tell old Pharaoh: Let My people go.

When they had reached the other shore, Let My people go;
They dang the song of triumph over, Let My people go.
Go down, Moses, way down in Egypt’s land,
Tell old Pharaoh: Let My people go.

Oh, let us all from bondage flee, Let My people go;
And let us all in Christ be free, Let My people go.
Go down, Moses, way down in Egypt’s land,
Tell old Pharaoh: Let My people go.

More Gonzales/U.S. Attorneys Bullshit

there is a story out this morning that Gonzales' pick for the U.S. Attorney in Arkansas has now resigned due to the unfolding quagmire that is resulting from the U.S. Attorney firings. What really gets my goat this morning has nothing to do with this resignation, but the awareness now, according to the report I read, the Senate gave up its right to approval of U.S. Attorneys as it passed the Patriot Act, giving Gonzales the power to appoint whomever he likes without congressional oversight. Whats wrong with these people? Are they idiots? What in the fucking hell are they doing other than serving some white man's bullshit. We need a total rehaul.

The Perfect Orange Party

To Celebrate Orange. I made up a list of what I would have to throw the perfect orange party.

Orange juice, fresh with plenty of pulp.
Seabreezes and mimosas.
Fresh unpeeled oranges
orange slush with rum and another with scotch
orange scones and cookies

The Battle Is The Lord's

There is no pain Jesus can't feel
No hurt He can not heal
All things work according to His perfect will
No matter what you're going through
Remember God is using You
For the battle is not yours
It's the Lord's

There's no sadness Jesus can't feel
And there is no sorrow
that He can not heal
For all things work
according to the Master's holy will
No matter what you're going through
Remember that God is only using You
For the battle is not yours
It's the Lord's

It's the Lord's
Yes It's the Lord's
Hold your head up high
Don't you fright
It's the Lord's
It's the Lord's
Yes It's the Lord's

No matter what
You're going through
Remember that God
Only wants to use you
For the battle is not yours
It's the Lord's

No matter what
You happen to go through right now
Remember that in the midst of it all
God only wants to use you
No matter what you're going through
For the battle is not yours
It's the Lord's

No matter what it is
That you're going through
Hold your head up, stick your chest out
And remember He's using you
No matter what you're going through
God is only using you

For this battle is not yours alone
This battle is not yours, no
You can not handle it all by yourself
No, no, no, no, no, no
It's not yours
This battle is not yours
It's the Lord's, not yours

This battle is not yours
The Lord is the only one who can fight it
He wants to use you as His vessel
So be open to Him
It's not yours
No It's not yours
It's the Lord's, not yours

The battle is not your's
It's the Lord's

Hallelujah
yeah!

What I'm Listening To Now

Labelle's Something Silver and Yolanda Adams' "The Battle is the Lord's."

I found a military record for my mother's father.

I found a draft registration card for my uncle Sterling J. MacDavid as well. It lists him as being born in Walker County, Alabama in 1894(that might have been a lie, as it is said Fess always hid his age...some say he was the same age or older than my great grandfather, who was born in the 1880s).

I think I found a draft registration card for my uncle Macaulay Goodson from WWI. He is listed as born in 1887, they misspelled his name, he is given the middle name Morgan, and is listed as Black.

Isn't it time to close Guantanamo?

I am thinking about wild scuffonongs growing alongside the road out where my greatgrandfather's place is.

Time and Love

Laura Nyro/ Labelle

Winter froze the river
And winter birds don't sing
So winter makes you shiver
So time is gonna bring you spring
So he swears he'll never marry
Says that cuddles are a curse
Just tell him plain
You're on the next train
If love don't get there first

Time and love
Everybody
Time and love
Nothing cures like
Time and love
Don't let the devil fool you
Here comes a dove
Nothing cures like
Time and love
(Nothing cures like
Time and love)

Winter froze the river
And winter birds don't sing
So winter makes you shiver
So time is gonna bring you spring
You've been running
You've been rambling
And you don't know what to do
A holly golden wager says
That love will see you through

Time and love, everybody
Time and love (Oh, time and love)
Nothing cures like time and love
Don't let the devil fool you
Here comes a dove
Nothing cures like
Time and love
(Nothing cures like
Time and love)

Jesus wasn't angel
The mankind broke His wing
But Jesus gave His lifeline
So sacred bell could sing
Now a woman is a fighter
Gather white or African
A woman is a woman, inside
Has miracles for men at night

Time and love, everybody
Time and love (Oh, Time and love)
Nothing cures like
Time and love
Don't let the devil fool you
Here comes a dove
Nothing cures like time and love
Nothing cures like time and love
(Love for the man if you please if you can)
Nothing cures like time and love
Love for the man
If you can, if you please...

The Man In The Moon Is A Lady

Mame:
Oh, Vera, I can't wait to hear that Overture,
Tell me about the show!
Vera:
Well, well, it's this terribly modern operetta about a lady astronomer,
who make a universe shaking discovery.
Chorus:
Oooooh Aaaaaaaaah...
vERA:
I have a little secret I'd like to impart.
That I hope doesn't give you too much of a start;
Tho' it's shocking, it's completely true.
I know it isn't gossip, or rumor, of course,
For I've had it from quite a reliable source
And I'd like to pass it on to you.

The man in the moon is a lady,
A lady in lipstick and curls;
The cow that jumped ovah cried,
"Jumpin' Jehovah,
I think it's just one of the girls."
She winks at the stars from her bed of green cheese,
That isn't a night-gown,
It's a Saturn chemise.
Oh, her friends are the stars and the planets,
She sends the Big Dipper a kiss;
So don't ever offend her,
Remember her gender,
The man in the moon is a miss.

NASA wants to spend $16.5 billion dollars to touch its penis...and put not only another man on the moon, but also build a permanent housing station there. The director of NASA was on NPR this morning trying to justify this initiative. He sounded like he was high. Oh NASA, caught on the right-wing bandwagon as well. DO these people think they can really control the universe?

Drinkin' Again

Nancy Wilson

Drinkin again.
Thinking of when you loved me.
Having a few.
Wishing that you were here.

Making the rounds.
Buying a round for total strangers.
Just being a fool,
cause I keep hoping, hoping, hoping youll appear.

Sure I can borrow a smoke.
I can sit here all night and tell these jokers some jokes,
But who wants to laugh, whos gonna laugh
At a broken heart?
Oh, my heart is aching, I swear its breaking.

And Im drinking again.
Thinking of when you loved me.
And Im tryin to get home
With nothing, nothing but a memory.

Yes, Im dying to get home,
Dying to get home.
And I got nothin but a bottle of beer,
And just my memory.

Today I found myself doing something that I totally want to stop. I have found that I have aqcuired one of my Aunt Earnestine's nervous ticks and I tell you that is a mess. It is one that annoyed my sister to no end on one car trip from Alabama to Chicago(ha!)I swear I am not turning into my Aunt Earnestine. Recognizing that I had acquired that tick started me to thinking and becoming quite nostalgic. Oh how things change. Once I was a little boy, surrounded by tall trees which were my relatives that sheltered me from the sun. Now those trees are memories, ever present and vibrant in my mind.

I Wanna Be Loved

Nancy Wilson/ Dinah Washington

I wanna be loved with inspiration
I wanna be loved starting tonight
Instead of merely holding conversation
Hold me tight
I wanna be kissed until I tingle
I wanna be kissed starting tonight
Embrace until our heartbeats intermingle
Wrong or right
I feel like acting my age
I'm past the stage of merely turtledoving(be careful, be careful
what you do)I'm in no mood to resist
And I insist the world owes me a loving
I wanna be thrilled to desperation
I wanna be thrilled starting tonight(love me, love me, love me)
With every kind of wonderful sensation
I wanna be loved
I feel like acting my age
I'm past the stage of merely turtledoving
I'm in no mood to resist
And I insist the world owes me a loving
I wanna be thrilled to desperation
I wanna be thrilled starting tonight
With every kind of wonderful sensation
I wanna be loved

How Glad I Am

Nancy Wilson

My love has no beginning, my love has no end
No front or back and my love won't bend
I'm in the middle, lost in a spin loving you
And you don't know, you don't know
You don't know, you don't know how glad I am

My love has no bottom, my love has no top
My love won't rise and my love won't drop
I'm in the middle and I can't stop loving you
And you don't know, you don't know
You don't know, you don't know how glad I am

I wish I were a poet so I could express
What I'd, what I'd like to say yeah
I wish I were an artist so I could paint a picture
Of how I feel, of how I feel today

My love has no walls on either side
That makes my love wider than wide
I'm in the middle and I can't hide loving you

[2x]
And you don't know, you don't know
You don't know, you don't know how glad I am

How glad I am
How glad I am
How glad I am
How glad I am
How glad I am
How glad I am
How glad I am

My Very Hot Tennis Favorite-Roger Federer

My New Favorite Russian Tennis Player-Igor Andreev!

Igor Andreev is my favorite Russian player since Yvegeny Kafelnikov! Hooray on his victory over Andy Roddick!

Old Spiritual My Grandmother and Great Grandmother Used to Sing And I Like To Sing As Well

A little wheel a turnin'
a little fire burnin'
a little wheel a turnin' in my heart
you can't make me doubt him because I know too much about him
and I can't live without him in my heart

Good Riddance Attention Whore

By Cindy Sheehan

I have endured a lot of smear and hatred since Casey was killed and especially since I became the so-called “Face” of the American anti-war movement. Especially since I renounced any tie I have remaining with the Democratic Party, I have been further trashed on such “liberal blogs” as the Democratic Underground. Being called an “attention whore” and being told “good riddance” are some of the more milder rebukes.

I have come to some heartbreaking conclusions this Memorial Day Morning. These are not spur of the moment reflections, but things I have been meditating on for about a year now. The conclusions that I have slowly and very reluctantly come to are very heartbreaking to me.

The first conclusion is that I was the darling of the so-called left as long as I limited my protests to George Bush and the Republican Party. Of course, I was slandered and libeled by the right as a “tool” of the Democratic Party. This label was to marginalize me and my message. How could a woman have an original thought, or be working outside of our “two-party” system?

However, when I started to hold the Democratic Party to the same standards that I held the Republican Party, support for my cause started to erode and the “left” started labeling me with the same slurs that the right used. I guess no one paid attention to me when I said that the issue of peace and people dying for no reason is not a matter of “right or left”, but “right and wrong.”

I am deemed a radical because I believe that partisan politics should be left to the wayside when hundreds of thousands of people are dying for a war based on lies that is supported by Democrats and Republican alike. It amazes me that people who are sharp on the issues and can zero in like a laser beam on lies, misrepresentations, and political expediency when it comes to one party refuse to recognize it in their own party. Blind party loyalty is dangerous whatever side it occurs on. People of the world look on us Americans as jokes because we allow our political leaders so much murderous latitude and if we don’t find alternatives to this corrupt “two” party system our Representative Republic will die and be replaced with what we are rapidly descending into with nary a check or balance: a fascist corporate wasteland. I am demonized because I don’t see party affiliation or nationality when I look at a person, I see that person’s heart. If someone looks, dresses, acts, talks and votes like a Republican, then why do they deserve support just because he/she calls him/herself a Democrat?

I have also reached the conclusion that if I am doing what I am doing because I am an “attention whore” then I really need to be committed. I have invested everything I have into trying to bring peace with justice to a country that wants neither. If an individual wants both, then normally he/she is not willing to do more than walk in a protest march or sit behind his/her computer criticizing others. I have spent every available cent I got from the money a “grateful” country gave me when they killed my son and every penny that I have received in speaking or book fees since then. I have sacrificed a 29 year marriage and have traveled for extended periods of time away from Casey’s brother and sisters and my health has suffered and my hospital bills from last summer (when I almost died) are in collection because I have used all my energy trying to stop this country from slaughtering innocent human beings. I have been called every despicable name that small minds can think of and have had my life threatened many times.

The most devastating conclusion that I reached this morning, however, was that Casey did indeed die for nothing. His precious lifeblood drained out in a country far away from his family who loves him, killed by his own country which is beholden to and run by a war machine that even controls what we think. I have tried every since he died to make his sacrifice meaningful. Casey died for a country which cares more about who will be the next American Idol than how many people will be killed in the next few months while Democrats and Republicans play politics with human lives. It is so painful to me to know that I bought into this system for so many years and Casey paid the price for that allegiance. I failed my boy and that hurts the most.

I have also tried to work within a peace movement that often puts personal egos above peace and human life. This group won’t work with that group; he won’t attend an event if she is going to be there; and why does Cindy Sheehan get all the attention anyway? It is hard to work for peace when the very movement that is named after it has so many divisions.

Our brave young men and women in Iraq have been abandoned there indefinitely by their cowardly leaders who move them around like pawns on a chessboard of destruction and the people of Iraq have been doomed to death and fates worse than death by people worried more about elections than people. However, in five, ten, or fifteen years, our troops will come limping home in another abject defeat and ten or twenty years from then, our children’s children will be seeing their loved ones die for no reason, because their grandparents also bought into this corrupt system. George Bush will never be impeached because if the Democrats dig too deeply, they may unearth a few skeletons in their own graves and the system will perpetuate itself in perpetuity.

I am going to take whatever I have left and go home. I am going to go home and be a mother to my surviving children and try to regain some of what I have lost. I will try to maintain and nurture some very positive relationships that I have found in the journey that I was forced into when Casey died and try to repair some of the ones that have fallen apart since I began this single-minded crusade to try and change a paradigm that is now, I am afraid, carved in immovable, unbendable and rigidly mendacious marble.

Camp Casey has served its purpose. It’s for sale. Anyone want to buy five beautiful acres in Crawford, Texas? I will consider any reasonable offer. I hear George Bush will be moving out soon, too…which makes the property even more valuable.

This is my resignation letter as the “face” of the American anti-war movement. This is not my “Checkers” moment, because I will never give up trying to help people in the world who are harmed by the empire of the good old US of A, but I am finished working in, or outside of this system. This system forcefully resists being helped and eats up the people who try to help it. I am getting out before it totally consumes me or anymore people that I love and the rest of my resources.

Good-bye America…you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can’t make you be that country unless you want it.

It’s up to you now.

Cindy Sheehan called the U.S. regime "paradigm that is now, I am afraid, carved in immovable, unbendable and rigidly mendacious marble." She should be reminded that there is nothing that God can't change. There is nothing that God can't change.

Cindy Sheehan Quote From "Good Riddance Attention Whore"

"It is so painful to me to know that I bought into this system for so many years, and Casey paid the price for that allegiance. I failed my boy and that hurts the most."

Whats Wrong WIth Cindy Sheehan?

Sheehan has announced that she is leaving the peace movement, fed up and tired. She shouldn't let these people bother her. This country, and these people, are going to hell if they don't change their ways. What she should do is castrate that motherfucker in the white house. I believe everything is going to work its way out in time. The world is looking brighter every day, despite the bullshit that keeps piling up. Keep trucking Cindy! Don't give up!

Memories From My Childhood

My Aunt Johnnie and her Ella Jenkins records. We used to listen to them all the time in her class and I still remember all the songs.

This From Barbra's Website

Joan Baez Ban at Walter Reed
Just days before Joan Baez was scheduled to perform at Walter Reed Hospital for recovering soldiers, she was told she was "not approved" by the army to take part in the program. Over the long span of her career, Joan Baez has been an outspoken advocate for peace, an activist and a concerned patriot of our country. She strongly believes in the theory of non-violence and she spoke out against the war in Iraq, like millions of others in this country and around the world.
Does freedom of speech and thought exist in the United States anymore? Or does everyone who disagrees with this administration and their policies get the ax?
These are just a few of the fallen men and women that quit, were fired or forced to retire from their positions in the Bush Administration due to the fact that they were critical of the failed policies, poor decision-making or false information that we have endured from our current president and his cronies.

Richard Clark, Fmr. Chief Adviser on Terrorism (quit)
Paul O'Neil, Fmr. Secretary of the Treasury (fired)
Lawrence Lindsey, Bush's Top Economic Advisor (fired)
Anthony Zinni, Special envoy to the Middle East (failed to be reappointed)
General Eric Shinseki, US Army's Chief of Staff (forced to retire)
Joanne Wilson, Commissioner of the Department of Education's Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) (quit)
Teresa Chambers, U.S. Park Police Chief (fired)
Andrew Eller, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (fired)
Eric Schaeffer, Director of the Office of Regulatory Enforcement at the Environmental Protection Agency (resigned)

Saturday Seven: Best Female Jazz Vocalists

This post is inspired by Palm Springs Savant's pick of his top seven female vocalists, stemming from the jazz era of the 40s, 50s, and 60s. His list was quite well crafted and included some great choices and even some surprise ones. Here are my choices for the top seven. The first one is clearly defined. I do not rank the other six.

1. Ella Fitzgerald


Ella Fitzgerald hands down must be declared to be the greatest jazz vocalist to have ever lived. Dubbed "The First Lady of Song," the title fits as Ella, like no other, could twirl a song around her finger and lure every listener into whatever web she chose to spin. She was truly the Goddess of her craft. No one compares to Ella when it comes to song.

Dinah Washington


Dinah Washington's short and troubled life gave the world some some of the best jazz styling it has ever witnessed. Her stirring and soulful voice packed a punch with such classics as What a Difference a Day Makes and This Bitter Earth. Her music has stood as the finest jazz recordings over the expanse of decades from the 50s to the present. Her short career,which spanned the 40s, 50s and 60s,made a great impact on the world of music.

Sarah Vaughn


Sarah Vaughn's deep, flavorful voice catapulted her to fame at an early age in the 1940s and spawned a career that lasted until her death in 1990. Her rich voice, her incredible ability to scat, and her unique vocal phrasing all made Sarah Vaughn a legend. Her hits include her rendition of "Black Coffee," "Tenderly," "I'm Crazy to Love You," and "I Love The Guy."

Nancy Wilson


Nancy Wilson is one of the most powerful singers around and definitely one of my favorites. Nancy's sharp, edgy voice put the rub on such songs as "Lush Life," "Willow Weep for Me," "The Very Thought of You," and "Miss Otis Regrets." Perhaps her signature song, the one she has said is her most requested, is her stylizing of the incredibly charged classic "Guess Who I Saw Today." Nancy Wilson's career has been one with incredible gusto. For a large part of the 60s, Nancy Wilson was the best selling recording artist on the Capitol Record Label, selling more records than even the Beatles(who were on the same label). The album of hers that I adore more than the rest and that I want to get my hands on is the 1967 LP, Just for Now. The song, "Just For Now," is also incredible. Nancy Wilson is a Grammy-Award winning artist. She is the host of the show Jazz Profiles on NPR.

Nina Simone


Nina Simone is a Goddess. No more need be said. Born Eunice Waymon in Tyron, North Carolina in 1933, Simone was a child prodigy on the piano. With community support behind her, she made her way to Julliard where she trained to be the first classically trained Black pianist. When funds ran out, and having been rejected from the Curtis School of Music because of her color, she began playing standard tunes in jazz clubs in New Jersey and New York. Her first, massive hit, "I Loves You Porgy," was released on the Bethlehem Label in the mid-50s. Becomind a darling of the music halls and the supper clubs, Nina Simone became a fiery, truth-telling priestess as she became involved with the Civil Rights Movement. On close terms with such figures as Malolm X, Stokely Carmichael, and Loraine Hansberry and marching with Martin Luther King and others throughout the South, Nina became the voice of the movement. Her 1969 classic Top Ten R&B hit, "To Be Young, Gifted, and Black," became an anthem for Black America. Nina is definitely one of the greatest jazz musicians to have ever walked the face of the earth, despite her refusing the label of a jazz artist all of her life. Her smoky, classic rendition of Screaming Jay Hawkins' "I Put a Spell On You," is one of the best recordings to come out of the 1950s. Other jazz flavored tunes such as "WIld is the Wind," and her rendition of Billie Holiday's classic "Don't Explain," are among the best jazz recordings ever and define her as one of the best jazz stylists of her era.

Billie Holiday


Billie Holiday is one of the greatest singers of all time. Her legacy has lived on 60 years after her death and she continues to win fans and inspire artists. She rivals Ella as number one on this list, and certainly takes her place as The Empress of Jazz. With such soul stirring classics as "Good Morning Heartache," "God Bless The Child," and such delicious hits as "Speak Low," Billie will live on for centuries to come.

Shirley Horn


Shirley Horn was one of the most soulful jazz artists in the world. A pianist and a singer, her voice was unique and distinctly flavored the songs she sang. Her incredible career lasted for forty years. She could frequently be heard on NPR.

If this list could be ten

Etta James, Peggy Lee, and Rosemary Clooney would make the list.

I had a great time at The Chatterbox last night. That floutist with Keni Washington's band is the best I've ever heard. He is the Stevie Wonder of flutes. Absolutely beautiful. And the bassist was hot.

Romanian Film Concerning Abortion Wins The Palme D'Or

The film, 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days, by Romanian filmmaker, Cristian Mungiu depicts a woman's struggle to secure an abortion in Romania. He accepted the award from legendary actress, feminist, and social activist, Jane Fonda.