Crawfish Dreams, Venom’s Taste

I love randomly discovering new [to me] writers, especially when they're not well-known bestseller list types. That whole underdog thing. I finished Crawfish Dreams last week and am happy to say that Nancy Rawles is a remarkable talent! She weaves an intricate tale of a family of Creoles living in mid-80's Los Angeles into a delicious literary gumbo. Pretty Miss Camille Broussard is the roux, a strong base around which her family, the Watts "riots," and the dark side of Reaganomics all come to vibrant life. Her children, in particular, are so finely detailed that you want to smack them…

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The New Stuff

For Rich Villar I remember the new stuff. When it hit the mic raw and risky like homemade sushi      more interested in the flavor      than the presentation. We were too hungry for pretense. I remember the new stuff. When it burst from the heart like a ball of fire through an origami parade on a mission from god –      prophecy overflowing      from the mouths of babes. We were going to change the world but were tempted by it instead. I remember the new stuff. When writing was like breathing and everything was new and new was…

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Pumpkin Seeds: Trickle Down Edition

1. My earliest "political" memory is of rooting for Jimmy Carter over Ronald Reagan in the 1980 Presidential election. My second is of being disappointed that Reagan didn't die when he was shot in 1981. 2. Reaganomics can kiss my ass. Shit trickles downhill, not prosperity. There is no pony buried under the manure; just more manure. 3. On Tuesday, my boss finally got the boot. Thursday's goodbye lunch was one of the most awkward moments I've ever had to contribute $21 to. What do you say to someone that was justifiably fired and knows it? 4. Realized last week…

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Jesse Helms is back! And this time he’s black.

You can’t make this stuff up.

“Jesse Helms is back! And this time he’s black.” That’s Winston-Salem city councilman Vernon Robinson’s campaign slogan as one of eight GOP candidates in the July 20 primary for North Carolina’s 5th Congressional District.

Pretty inoffensive, though, compared to the radio ad he’s running:

ANNOUNCER NO. 1: Vernon Robinson, conservative. The aliens are here, but they didn’t come in a spaceship. They came across our unguarded Mexican border by the millions — illegally.

They’ve filled our criminal courtrooms and invaded our school. They sponge off the American taxpayer by clogging our welfare lines and our hospital emergency rooms. They’ve even taken over the DMV. These aliens commit heinous crimes against us, like Maximiliano Esparza, who raped a nun and strangled her with her own rosary — illegally.

They commit crimes but won’t commit to learn our language. You walk into a McDonald’s restaurant to order a Big Mac and find to your horror that the employees don’t speak English — illegals. You may be in the heart of America, but you feel as though you are in the Twilight Zone.

Vernon Robinson will secure our borders, cut off the welfare payments and once and for all make English our official language. Press one for English? No. Vote Vernon Robinson for English.

VERNON ROBINSON: I’m Vernon Robinson, and I approve this message.

ANNOUNCER NO. 2: Yo Gringo! Este episodio de Twilight Zone era pagado para Robinson por congreso.

The ad’s come under fire, not for it’s extreme offensiveness but for the fact that the required disclosure at the end – “This ad was paid for by Robinson for Congress.” – is in Spanish.

…?

(more…)

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Dirty Laundry

If you haven't heard by now, Bill Cosby aired some dirty laundry in full public view a couple of weeks ago, speaking at a gala marking the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education desegregation ruling. "Ladies and gentlemen, the lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal," he declared. "These people are not parenting. They are buying things for kids -- $500 sneakers for what? And won't spend $200 for 'Hooked on Phonics.' . . . I am talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange…

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Ladies and gentlemen: Mr. Trent Lott!

Lott Defends Treatment of Iraqi Prisoners By Helen Dewar, Washington Post, Thursday, June 3, 2004 Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) proved he has not lost his knack for inflammatory rhetoric when he defended "really rough" treatment of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. soldiers, including the use of dogs against a prisoner "unless the dog ate him." ... "Hey, nothing wrong with holding a dog up there, unless the dog ate him, scared him with a dog," Lott said. When WAPT news anchorman Brad McMullan noted that a prisoner died at Abu Ghraib, apparently after a beating, Lott responded, "This is not Sunday…

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