SARAH VAUGHN: THE SASSY ONE

Such a beautiful, clear pure voice.

The “Divine One”, the incomparable, Ms. Sarah Vaughn.

COLORLINES: WHY PROGRESSIVE POLITICS MATTERS, HOW CONGRESS IGNORES THE JOBLESS, INSIDE THE OSCAR GRANT TRIAL, AND MORE

 

July 1, 2010 ColorLines Direct. News and commentary from ColorLines.com

Grant Family To Cop: Spare Us Your Crocodile TearsMehserle’s emotional testimony outrages Oscar Grant’s family, as prosecution chips away at the defense’s argument that the shooting was an accident.ALSO: Mehserle: I’m Not a Murderer

 

The Young People Building Tomorrow’s Queer WorldA list of ten young movers and shakers who are building the Queer community’s multiracial future.ALSO: Queer Blogger Roundtable: What’s the Future?

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More from ColorLines.com

Chris Brown’s Fake Tears? He Had No Business on BET Either Way
Debate’s stirring over whether Chris Brown’s breakdown on the BET Awards show was real or marketing. The real question is why he was there in the first place.

U.S. Social Forum: Why Progressive Politics Matter
Thousands of change makers converged on Detroit for the U.S. Social Forum this week. ColorLines set up a camera and asked them why.

Baseball Teams Prep Rookies for Arizona’s SB1070
Managers arm Latino recruits with ID cards and talking points just in case they’re questioned by cops.

How Congress Ignores the Jobless Without Political Worry
Millions of workers who are facing periods of unemployment longer than 26 weeks will lose insurance benefits in the coming weeks because Congress did not pass an extension of the unemployment program last week.

NAACP Calls Weed Arrests A ‘Civil Rights Issue’
In what drug policy reform advocates are calling a “landmark moment”, the California NAACP announced its support yesterday for Proposition 19, a controversial ballot initiative that would legalize marijuana in the state.

Farm Workers Dare Xenophobes to Take Jobs
Farm workers are challenging citizens and legal residents to see if they can stand a hard days work out in the field.

ColorLines.com is one of a handful of media outlets bringing you daily coverage of the Oscar Grant trial. Visit ColorLines.com for the full story.

  

HATEWATCH: CALLING ALL RACISTS: IT’S POETRY CONTEST TIME!

Calling All Racists: It’s Poetry Contest Time!

by Hatewatch Staff on June 30, 2010

Sharpen your pencil and summon your muse, it’s time for the annual “Redneck Poetry Contest.”

That’s right. The call has gone out for the best redneck rhymin’ around. And according to the entry form received by the Hatewatch staff, the winning poet will take home a “brand new wood-fired deep-fry cooker suitable for everything from turkeys to [T]winkies.”

But before you start, a word of warning: If last year’s winner is any indication, the competition will be stiff. That charming entry pulled off the hat trick by smearing blacks and Latinos and threatening castration — an incredible feat achieved in only 28 words. Here’s the winning entry:

“In Texas we’re flooded with Beaners

“That’re no good even for cleaners

“They’re nothin’ but lackies

“And worse than the blackies

“So now we cut off their wieners!”

The entry form offers little information about the organizer. But it asks would-be poets to send their entries to one Bob Livingston at P.O. Box 3623, Hueytown, Ala., 35023. That address provides an interesting glimpse of the possible organizer and some of the favorite conspiracy theories and topics of the antigovernment “Patriot” movement. The listed post office box is also offered as a means to contact Personal Liberty Digest, a website where someone identified as Bob Livingston has warned that vaccines are useless and dangerous and has written about the Bilderberg Group, a favorite target for the Patriot movement and other far-right conspiracy theorists.

“These are the New World Order folks,” Liberty Digest’s Livingston writes.

Responding to requests for comment, a woman who identified herself as a representative of Livingston said he was out of town and not available for comment. The Personal Liberty Digest website describes Livingston as “an ultra-conservative American who has been writing a newsletter for 41 years. Bob has devoted much of his life to research and the quest for truth on a variety of subjects.”

That quest for truth apparently led him to author the book, How to Survive the Collapse of Civilization, a tome that has been hawked via an E-mail from the right-wing WorldNetDaily news site. That E-mail warns that terrorists could attack the U.S. power grid with an electromagnetic pulse device that “could throw America into the dark ages in a split second.” As the book’s name implies, techniques to survive a terrorist attack, a “global epidemic” and social unrest are offered.

The book’s author also apparently edits “The Bob Livingston Letter,” a “privately circulated” newsletter that offers, according to its website, “secret health and investment strategies — long used by the wealthy, but CENSORED by the government.”

A 2006 issue offered a yearly subscription to the newsletter containing these great secrets for $65 or $6 for a single issue — although the website shows the standard rate for a yearly subscription is now only $59. The same Hueytown post office box as that used for the poetry contest is offered as an address for the 2006 issue. And it appears that post office box is still the address offered in a 2010 issue.

At the bottom of the 2006 issue’s front page is an interesting mission statement of sorts: “Since 1969, we have been reaching out to awaken sleeping Christians to the glorious gospel of grace. God has blessed us. He has shown us his kingdom. Therefore we have a Christian responsibility to help others see the kingdom of God.”

There’s no mention how honoring poets threatening the castration of Latinos fits into the gospel.

SOURCE

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Hmm. I wonder what are the odds that many of the contestant’s poems come up limp and flaccid, with no thrust to get it up to win the contest.

ON THIS DAY IN BLACK MUSIC HISTORY: JULY 1

#1 R&B Song 1978:  “Stuff Like That,” Quincy Jones

Born:  Gospel pioneer “Georgia Tom” Dorsey, 1899; Willie Dixon, 1915; Bobby Day (the Hollywood Flames), 1930; Syl Johnson, 1939; June Montiero (the Toys), 1946: Evelyn “Champagne” King, 1960; Melissa Arnette “Missy” Elliot, 1971

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1954   The Ink Spots began a stint at the Trocadero on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip.

1957   A Philadelphia radio station with only 250 watts of power began repeat plays of the Tune Weavers’ new release, “Happy, Happy Birthday Baby.” By October it was #1.

1960   The Jesters, Ben E. King, Ruth Brown, Jimmy Jones, and the Olympics performed on one of disc jockey Jocko Henderson’s Jocko’s Rocketship Revue at New York’s Apollo Theater.

1971   James Brown and his entire catalog of two decades worth of recordings were signed to Polydor Records.

1972   The Trammps entered the R&B hit list with the scintillating disco cover of the Coasters’ “Zing Went the Strings of My heart,” reaching #17. The group from Philadelphia formerly recorded under the name of the Volcanos.

1978   Martha & the Vandellas reunited for the first time in ten years for a benefit concert for actor Will Geer in Santa Cruz, CA.

1992   Vanessa Williams and Dinah Washington’s goddaughter, Patti Austin, performed at a fund-raiser for the Hollywood women’s political Committee. Austin, a veteran performer since her teens, had over the years toured and performed on Tv with such notables as Sammy Davis, Jr., Connie Stevens, Quincy Jones, Roberta Flack, Harry Belafonte, and Bobby Darin.

1998   The Dixie Hummingbirds, Stevie Wonder, and Paul Simon appeared on TV’s Late Show With David Letterman.