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So it would appear that today, November 2, African-Americans are supposed to boycott the economy and not spend money.  The event even has a rather dubious name – the Black-out – and has the backing of Rev. Al Sharpton and is apparently being led by radio host Warren Ballentine. 

Which leads me to my first question: who the heck is Warren Ballentine?  

Anyway… Maybe, it’s because I’m white, but I just don’t get it.  Though apparently, it’s not just me: the message appears to be garbled and even partially lost among the African American activisits backing the vent, too. 

Ostensibly, this boycott is to show that participants are “fed up with racism and injustice,” and the manifesto behind the black-out cites the recent noose sightings, the furor over the Jena 6, and other news headlines that highlight what appears to be a rise in prejudice and hate.

But the NAACP sees it differently:

 [NAACP spokesperson Cedric] Loiseau said that the NAACP doesn’t see where local businesses such as Subway are using the profits gained from Howard University students and local residents and putting them back into the community. Loiseau said that the NAACP doesn’t see where local businesses such as Subway are using the profits gained from Howard University students and local residents and putting them back into the community. 

“We’re [black people] a very materialistic race,” Loiseau said. “Being that we’re the number one consumers in the United States we should benefit the most.

 

Okay… benefit from… a boycott?  How?  And so is this boycott about capitalism, greed, prejudice, crime, or all of the above? Don’t get me wrong, a boycott can be a useful tool. But it seems to me like increasingly, act-ups from the likes of Sharpton and others who claim to have the good of the African-American community in mind are showing signs of being less-than coherent.  The Black-Out is the latest example of this.  Certainly, Big Business isn’t hanging nooses on trees for people to find, so why go after them if the message is racism?  And if materialism is to be avoided, how will delaying one’s purchases for a single day (or simple buying your things a day sooner) affect that? And then there’s another thorny question: what about the growing list of big businesses with African American executives as leaders? Are those businesses part of the boycott, and if so, why?

By the end of today, we will see if this boycott really has an impact, and by this weekend, we should see if the boycott really did stick. But even if it tursn out to be a success, there’s still questions about what the boycott was successful in doing, exactly.

The only thing sadder in this world than an old, closeted gay right-winger is an old, closeted gay right-winger who loudly proclaims his insistence to stay closeted.

Maybe in his mind, Senator Larry Craig really is in denial, and really wants to think he’s straight. As miserable an existence as he must live, that’s his right. But intentionally being a constant public reminder if one’s own pecadillios is NOT the way to do it.

Sorry Larry, you were caught, fair and square. You played the bathroom game that lots of desperate, closeted old queens play, and you lost. If you refuse to accept that, fine. But we all know what you did, and your loudly protesting of that fact isn’t convincing anyone. It’s only proving to the public what a sad, pathetic little man you really are.

We would have forgotten about you, too, if you had just resigned and moved on. Maybe you could have even gone on the speaking engagement circuit or something, making quite a good living off your experiences and trashing the party you claim betrayed you. But no! You can’t leave well enough alone, can you Larry? You fessed up to the crime, and now that you can’t take it back, you’re throwing a big ol’ legal tantrum and refusing the resign. I didn’t even want to write about you initially because you seemed like such an pitiable embarrassment, but you just wouldn’t shut up!

Sorry Larry. Stiflingly conservative as we thought you were, we now know now that you were only masquerading a “moral” agenda to try to attone for your own self-loathing and guilt. Normally we’d have pity on you, but your repressive behavior to others and the public song and dance you feel is necessary are only causing us to laugh harder.

Really now, is THIS what BREAKING NEWS has come to?

FOND DU LAC, Wisconsin (AP) — Someone is either too cheap to buy his own toilet paper or planning a big prank.

Fond du Lac County Executive Allen Buechel said someone has been repeatedly stealing toilet paper from the men’s public bathrooms at the Fond du Lac City County Government Center since June.

Buechel suspects the person comes in once or twice a week around midday and gets about six rolls a week from dispensers. Some rolls weren’t even full, he said.

Does your time feel wasted? Yeah, it did for me too. SO much so that I felt I had to rant about it to justify the waste.

MAYBE this would’ve been newsworthy,if, somehow, al qaeda was planning a MASSIVE TERRORIST ATTACK involving hundreds of rolls of pilfered TP. But Osama, creative as he is, just couldn’t pull it off. No way.