the people look like etta james at last

my love has come a long way from st. louie, but she still has a long way to go before her life is a swingin affair. i told her to take it nice and easy, but she said only the lonely would give advice like that. it seems clear that no one cares what i have to say. she insists that she can't do things my way. at times, i feel that we are strangers in the night. last i heard, she was in new york, new york. well, that's life.

yes, i gotta take it one pun etta time.

speaking of the "are we ready" refrain, we have heard a lot about whether "america is ready for a black president" or if "america is ready for a female president." we have not heard if america, or more to the point, if the power structure that runs america, is ready for a president, male or female, black, white, or covered with polka dots, who will do what they can to make the world a better place. is america ready for a president, or more to the point, a power structure, that fights to create equitable, sustainable, policies in the areas of economics, foreign policy, race relations, and in the cultural domain? how many ways can you yell no?

is helen reddy ready for this america? ugly betty your life that she is.

enough of this feel good, pat on the back crap about how far we have come. obama is doing well largely because he is a centrist who does the bidding of corporate power. as far as his race is concerned, he is a tiger woods, an oprah. it is to the extent that he transcends his race that he does well, but what does it mean to do so in a racist society? beware of a black man that can make white america feel good. white america has little to nothing that they should feel good about. the fact that he is doing well is the thing that damns him the most. cosby is doing well too. so, the question then becomes "what kind of black person and/or woman is america (ie white america) ready for?" as far as i can see, too many of them are ready to vote for mccain. and the ones who should be out there overthrowing the government, are too ready to support obama and clinton.

spoken like someone safely tucked away in their local branch library, writing words that 3 people will see, as we drown in a sea of confusion, which is no ball for sure.