Nappy Headed Dough

In a bid to bust yet another cap into the now rotting carcass of Don Imus, and to boost her run at the White House in 2008, Hillary Clinton (ridin' on twenties!) rolled into New Brunswick, NJ to commiserate with, fawn over, and leech blood from the coach and players of the Rutger's Women's Basketball Team. To the team's eternal credit, not one player showed for the conference, citing inclement weather, the need to study, and a general fatigue with the whole sordid episode.

I'm not going to delve into the Imus absurdity at any further length, because . . . well because Dennis Dale has already done it better than you, I, or anybody else is likely to.

Anyway, back at Rutgers, Hillary was - hoes or no hoes - determined to squeeze from this gathering whatever political juice she could:

Clinton addressed about 700 students and faculty on campus later in the day, praising the players and naming them one-by-one while criticizing "bigotry" against women. She never named Imus directly and made a point of saying her criticism wasn't intended to curtail free speech.

She urged the crowd to take a "Rutgers pledge," to say, "Enough is enough, when women or minorities or the powerless are marginalized or degraded."

Later, the former first lady traveled to Manhattan to address Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network Convention, where she ravaged President George W. Bush, particularly over Iraq. (article in full)

Meanwhile, down at the FLA crib of rap producer and performing phenom "Timbaland" (whoever the hell that is), a March 31st fundraiser brought in $800,000 for the Senator's Presidential campaign. Yes, that figure is correct. Both Hillary and her 'Dawg' Bill were in attendance, basking in the love (and money) so generously lavished upon them. As you may know, her husband was our nation's first African-American President.

However, the life of a Dee Cee Hustla is not without its weird twists and internal contradictions, as P. Willie can himself attest. It seems that some of "Timbaland's" compositions may not entirely adhere to the principles Senator Clinton outlined in the "Rutger's Pledge," and what is to be done about that?

Here are lyrics from Timbaland's "Come and Get Me":

"Nigga Your Time Is Up, I Aint Come To Kid You
I Knew You Niggas Was Dumb, But How Dumb Is You . . .
I'm A Ride Or Die Nigga, I Be Tearing [expletive] Up
We Aint Like Them Other Fools, Who Don't Compare To Us
All The Hoes Love A Nigga, They be Backing It Up
But Me I Love Money I Be Stacking It Up . . .
I'm Rich I Can Pay To Have You Six Feet Deep (Nigga)"

And from his track "Kill Yourself":

" . . . most of u rap niggas is hoes to me,
wherever u from
the question I ask
is do u think I give a [expletive] . . .
u mad at me? cuz im getting rich,
well put the pistol to ur head and empty the clip, pop nigga!"

And the uplifting "Considerate Brotha":

". . . Hoes coming up short? Hoes finna get cursed out!
. . . Slam the mask out of these hoes and they say, 'What is that, velvet?'
And they betta meet they quota, betta yet betta meet they deadline . . . I'm a pimp all around
A pimp of the town -- we pimpin 'em up, HOES DOWN." (article in full)

Will Hillary "Do the Right Thing" and wash her hands of the misogynistically-tainted 800 "G's"? (I realize I'm dating myself here, and I suppose the issue of my ethnicity is no longer in question, but I don't really know what the slang-of-the-day is for one thousand dollars. "Chump Change" perhaps?)

According to Ms. Clinton, Don Imus' comments "showed a disregard for basic decency and were disrespectful and degrading to African Americans and women everywhere."

How do you suppose she reconciles her concern for the rights and dignity of African American women with the revenues generated by the lyrics above, revenues in which she now shares?

Well, like Fat Joe and Lil' Wayne, I suppose she finds some solace in the notion that, "I make it rain on dem hoes . . . " (Perhaps you've seen the video.)

How will she answer questions regarding the evident contradiction in her own position on disrespectful and degrading images of African Americans and women everywhere? What the hell makes you think she'll ever have to?

We're living in a sawdust circus, we're bit players in a crumbling farce, we're witnessing the latter days. She won't have to answer to anything, and nobody cares anyway.

But what I want to know is:

How is it that the pit of American politics seems to have an ever-receding bottom?

Does the pit of American politics actually have a bottom?

How long before Hillary and Barack square off in some gangstaesque smack-down or face-off, or whatever you'd call it, reminiscent of those stirring scenes of imbecility in Eight Mile Road?

Why is it that our politicians in particular are so keen to excise this word "hoe" from the American vocabulary?

How long before we see a horse serving with distinction in the U.S. Senate, assuming we haven't already?

Man Hands on Misery to Man, It Deepens Like a Coastal Shelf . . . .*

"Attackers on Wednesday slit the throats of three people, including a German citizen, at a publishing house in the eastern province of Malatya [Turkey] that distributed Bibles."

An account of this story in ZAMAN, a Turkish newspaper (English edition), may be found here. The Daily Telegraph and various other papers are also carrying this story. The victims were bound, gagged, and tortured for about three hours before having their throats slit.

I believe that Turkey's prospects of joining the EU - never very good to begin with - recede from month to month, if not day to day. There will soon be a presidential election here, which will in all likelihood result in both the President and the Prime Minister being affiliated with the Justice and Development (AK) party, though officially, the President is supposed to suspend or sever his party affiliation and represent only the nation.

The prospect of so-called "mildly Islamist" AK Party representatives gaining both of these high offices triggered last Saturday a protest of approximately 370,000 demonstrators in Ankara. The outgoing president, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, said in a farewell speech, "Turkey's secular regime is facing an unprecedented threat, and domestic and external forces are cooperating to undermine that regime."

The military is also issuing statements about the need for a secular president to preserve Turkey's secular constitution, and, to add to the excitement, Turkey has declared that if the U.S.. doesn't crack down on Kurdish (PKK) cross-border operations, then Turkey will send its soldiers into Northern Iraq.

Oh, and two hundred people were killed by bombs in Bahgdad yesterday, and then then there's the possibility of US/Israeli military action against Iran.

And it's not even summer yet.

*Get out as early as you can, and don't have any kids yourself.
-Phillip Larkin