Coretta Scott King

"Women, if the soul of the nation is to be saved,
I believe that you must become its soul."

Rest in Peace Ms. King and when you are rested, please come back and help US.

2006 - The Year of the Dog

Hope it doesn't bite!

QD suggests caution...

From Wapo... study found that supporters of President Bush and other conservatives had stronger self-admitted and implicit biases against blacks than liberals did.

Now of course Queenie's Daughter, in her heart of liberal hearts, believe's that basically far right conservatives are nasty, racist, hateful, wicked human beings. She believes in hell only so that she can be assured that far right conservatives have somewhere to be punished. That being said, Queenie's Daughter is also skeptical of limousine liberals when it comes to racism. On the nasty right wing conservatives side, racism is pretty straightforward and acknowledged, but what about lefty racist liberals. Are there any?

You betchya. Lefty Racist liberals are on the down low and therefore harder to identify and also very confusing, but they are the most insidious and odious bunch imaginable. Racist liberals abound and just because they don't admit to it doesn't mean they don't exist. How do you identify a lefty racist liberal? Look at their securites. Is their money where their mouths are? In some ways, QD would argue, the lefty racists liberals are more frightening than the hateful far right conservatives. Nasty business this, so keep your eyes open.

Check out Jane.

See Jane working for Peace.

Oprah Loves QD

Obviously Oprah is an avid Queenie's Daughter reader, for it was just after QD had chimed in on the untrustworthy trustafarian writer J. Frey, that Oprah took him back onto her show to give him a little spank. Or a publicity boost. Really, now, if you want to revile a liar, don't give them free publicity (See NO LINK)! Oprah ... give us a call the next time you need to cover your ass because you din't bother to fact check.

Laying down with dogs.

"WASHINGTON, Jan. 28 — Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist at the center of a widening influence-peddling investigation, used a contact in the federal government to give an early warning to Tyco International, one of his clients, that its subsidiaries were about to be suspended from doing business with the government, according to a court filing."//more//

It's been a while ...

The year of the rooster is ending with a cock-fight. It isn't that we haven't been following the news, we have been making some of our own.

Memoirs endorsed by Oprah do not require honesty

The Smoking Gun disects James Frey's memoir, "A Million Little Pieces" and finds a snotty rich kid and a bunch of lies.

So for all you crack-head, drunk, meth fiends ... just so know ... you don't have to do bad stuff, just make a bunch of bad stuff up when you pen your best seller!

Patriotism requires honesty

US army in Iraq institutionally racist, claims British officer

This articles is not about criticising the courageous men and women who serve in Iraq, it is about the system under which they serve, which is inneffective and culterally insensitive. It is a great article.

"I don't know you, but Mr. Canizaro, I hate you,"

Last night, Queenie's Daughter had a longish conversation with her friend whose house was destroyed in New Orleans. There was a rough moment where they agreed to disagree about the intentional destruction of the levees, but that sort of passed. (Said friend is still horrified at yours truely - but they have had longstanding idealogical differences so this comes as little suprise.)

The main issue, they both agree, is rebuilding. QD's friend could not go back to her property right now if she wanted to, she is in being told to live in limbo, without assistance - until the government decides if it wants to take her property under eminent domain.

We discussed the fact that developers are waiting people out so eventually, frustrated and with really no other choice, people stop fighting for their land and sell it or let it be taken by the government.

That was last night.

Here is the article Queenie's Daughter found this morning about the same subject.

Pardon the vernacular, but those fucking developers are like vultures circling, waiting, plotting and ... well there are some real criminals in New Orleans and alot of them are fat cats in suits who say all the rights things and are planning the cities demise for their own ill-gotten gain.

Further: race relations, which were always a problem in New Orleans, can now be manipulated to make it even easier to divide and conquer.

So, Mr. Canizaro, Queenie's Daughter doesn't know you either, but she really hates you too.

Here are some good reasons why...
Mother Jone's article with a little background on Canizaro
Follow the money - Texans for Public Justice
Who is the Urban Land Institute? - NOLA Indymedia
Bushbuddy - Newsweek

Gross. Worse than gross. Criminal.

Can boss insist on healthy habits?
Well Well Well
Companies are now using higher healthcare costs as an excuse to invade the privacy of their workers. Quit smoking or cough it up. Lose weight or pay through the nose. Got high cholesteral? Yep, pony over some extra moolah.

What scares Queenie's Daughter is that there are alot of sheep who will bahhhhhw down to this type of invasion to their private lives and think nothing of it. Didjya ever wonder if Americans aren't getting what they deserve? I mean c'mon, freedom's so hard! It's so much easier just to follow directions, right?

Hey, it worked for Hitler!

Good Grief.

Ralston's Resume

Looks like the traditional media finally got wise to the fact that Sue Ralston, Karl Rove's Aide was previously assistant to Jack Abramoff. Why is this important? Well, who better knows where the bodies are buried? What kind of lobbiest doesn't take advantage of that connection? What kind of Machiavelli doesn't exploit the prior relationship? Rolling Stone has the story.

Tiara Tip: Maman a.k.a. Queenie

Happy New Year and all that

Queenie's Daughter has recently undergone some changes in her life which require some limited comment.

First of all - change is good.
Secondly, change is scary.
Finally, change means growth.

While QD bids a fond "Oh Reevwahr" to duplicitous circumstances, she welcomes the opportunity to move foward and remain in contact with all those who love ice cream. To put it more bluntly, "Drew this one's for you. Stay in touch:)"

Peace

Fire Dog Lake doin' it right

Fire Dog Lake is one of QD's favorite blogs and today it climbed up to the very top of the list as BEST BLOG EVER.

The letter posted by Redd Hedd today was as comprehensive as it was compassionate. The stakes are so high for everyone that there is really no excuse for leaving problems to someone else to fix. Every single human being on this planet has value and worth and deserves to be seen, heard and treated with dignity.

Thank you Redd Hedd for being a strong and inspirational voice.

When QD looks at the tragedies in New Orleans and now in West Virginia, she sees what her other mother has been telling her all along. Race is not the issue, class is the issue. The problem with the twenty first century is the problem of the class line. Access to education, to housing, to health care, are being denied all but tte elite few who then perceive themselves as being better than those for whom access was denied.

It is a scary time to be an American, it is as if we stand on the precipice of adulthood as a nation and the fear is that we will stay a country of Peter Pans: little boys who never grow up.

It is a wonderful time to be an American, because it is a time where so much needs to be done that opportunities abound. For Queenie's Daughter, the most important thing a human being can do is strive to become their true selves - to be authentic.

Queenie's Great great great great grandmother was once called "Queen of America" and the greatest legacy of that Queen was her work for peace and her work for social justice. She died before her work was done, thus giving Queenie's Daughter the opportunity to continue fighting for what is right.

Dammit Redd Hedd ... We wish you lived in Harlem so we could cook you a nice meal and pick your brain. Thanks Again for your profound and courageous words.

buy a tshirt, save a city

renew orleans

Another reason not to have cable

Summary: CNN has reportedly hired conservative commentator Bill Bennett despite a controversial comment he made in September 2005 on his radio show, when he said that "it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime ... you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down."
//Source and Story http://mediamatters.org/items/200601050002//

Bush mocks veterans injuries to get laughs

After meeting with wounded personnel at Brooke Army Medical Center, Bush joked about what he termed his own injury in combat — from an encounter with a tree on his Crawford ranch.
"As you can possibly see, I have an injury myself -- not here at the hospital, but in combat with a cedar. I eventually won," he said. "The cedar gave me a little scratch. As a matter of fact, (a) colonel asked if I needed first aid when she first saw me. I was able to avoid any major surgical operations here, but thanks for your compassion, colonel."
Tiara Tip Brian and Chron.com

Seven dead soldiers aren't laughing and neither are we...

Florida gets something right!

Florida rejects school vouchers

Pat Robertson spews more hate - Suprised?

"Robertson: Sharon punished for dividing Israel
The Rev. Pat Robertson said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is being punished by God for dividing the Land of Israel. Robertson, speaking on the “700 Club” on Thursday, suggested Sharon, who is currently in an induced coma, and former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, assassinated by an Israeli extremist in 1995, were being treated with enmity by God for dividing Israel. “He was dividing God’s land,” Robertson said. “And I would say, Woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the E.U., the United Nations or the United States of America. God says, This land belongs to me. You better leave it alone.”

Sip Sighing away

"My thinking was that it was in everyone's best interest if I had a bottle of mouthwash.
When the cashier rang up my groceries all those weeks later, I tried, as subtly as possible, to hand her the bottle and ask her if she could see that it was put back on the shelf. She was confused by my action and offered to void the purchase if I didn't want the bottle.
I told her it's not that I didn't want it, but that I wished to pay for it and could she please see that it was put back on the shelf. More confusion ensued and the line behind me got longer and it felt very hot and crowded all of a sudden and I tried to tell her: "Look, when the store was closed . . . you know . . . after the thing . . . I took . . ."
The words wouldn't come. Only the tears."

excerpt from Cry me a New Year by New Orleans Times Picayune Columnist Chris Rose

While in college in New Orleans, QD took it for granted that the city would be there forever. For years QD bugged her husband to go - to Jazz Fest, Christmas, Valentine's Day, just because ... they never went. Now he will never see that place that Queenie's Daughter first became her grown up self. They will discover a new New Orleans together, but she will never be his guide to her past.

Perhaps that is for the best, for QD lived a wicked and sinful past, but she lived, she lived. That is part of the great secret to New Orleans and it is something everyone who visits there senses: the city is alive. It is full of the good, the bad and the ugly of living. It takes living and makes it an art form. It celebrates life, abuses it, cherishes it, ignores it, defies it, embraces it.

Another part of the secret to New Orleans is this: it is immortal. Fires, floods, famines won't kill it. Contractors will try, perhaps, to make some money and many will, but new Orleans will prevail. In the languid and iron willed way that she always has, like an old sweet grandmother, the matriarch of the family, whom everyone loves most and fears more.

The streets of New Orleans were built on the backs of the people who loved her. New Orleans has always smelled of the blood and guts spilt to keep her. She is a rapacious lover who can and will take everything you've got and then kick you out broke and broken hearted. But you are better for having known her, better for having loved her. "New Orleans," as Duke might say, "Is the Straw that stirs the drink!"

Maryland, my Maryland

Mooning Deemed 'Disgusting' but No Crime in Md.

Queenie's Daughter comes from a long line of mooners who do not hesitate to bare the royal arse in cars, at sea and on land. If anything, QD is the least adept (but perhaps most enthusiastic) mooner as she always exposes a leetle too much - ahem - sun, if you will.

Imagine the thunderous applause that emitted from the paws of this royal blogger when she read that her sometimes sensible home state has ruled in favor of the moon!!!
Ahhhh, it may be a good year after all.

Yes, we have pictures, no we will not publish them. But just a little word of advice, for pictures of a more delicate nature POLAROID is the only way to go!

What's news today: Mining Remains Deadly

Wonkette has nicknamed Abramoff AMBRAMOFFUCKAH which we think is nice and classy ...

Sorry there isn't more offering today - we could get all worked up and bothered about news out of Dee Cee but why ... it's all wait and see, smoke and mirrors, turn out the lights and switch partners, shit with little to no shinola.

The death of the coal miners in West Virginia, a story the old gray lady got wrong and buried below the fold, grips me with a sort of sadness that needs to be attended to and heard (see ABC affiliate WCHS's story: Mining, death way of life in West Virginia's coalfields).

And not just here in the US: Look at the mining incidents in CHINA ...

We need unions more than ever!

What's that you singin'

whales sing in different dialects