New York’s city-councilman Doctor Kendall Stewart grew up on some rough streets in the Caribbean. He was born on Union Island, and lived in Grenada, St. Vincent and Trinidad (Republic of Trinidad and Tobago). He is a fighter. He came to New York here from rather humble circumstances, and has made a success of himself as a podiatrist, realtor, entrepreneur, impresario and politician. Don’t underrate his fortitude and independence. Sometimes he swims upstream against the crowd; other times he cuts against the grain. He can be somewhat unpredictable at times; but in general I like him as a human being. And no; that isn’t because he was the only district leader to endorse and support me when I ran for the State Assembly in 1998; it’s because he and I have been friends for more than twenty years. I first met him at one of his social clubs on Church Avenue, way back when I was a much younger man-still hanging out on weekends looking for action.
Author: Rock Hackshaw
Barron in East New York Move
|Word out of East New York today is that Inez Barron is running for the state Assembly (40 AD) in the upcoming primary next September, if the seat becomes vacant. Inez Barron is the wife of NYC councilman Charles Barron (42), and a retired principal of a Bedford Stuyvesant public school. She worked for about thirty years with the NYC Department of Education, and was once the Executive Assistant to the Superintendant of the Brownsville School Board. She was also a teacher in the public education system.
Mrs. Barron- who is a member of the organization “Operation Power”- is also a political activist in her own right-just as much as her husband. She was a member of the House of Lord Church in Brooklyn (Rev. Herbert Daughtry) long before she married Charles, about twenty five years ago. She has played prominent roles in her husband’s many political campaigns, and is an astute political technician. Barack Obama likes to say how smart his wife Michelle is, and that she is the backbone of the family unit; and Bill Clinton always says that Hillary is smarter than he is on many issues; they are both correct. If Charles Barron said that his wife is smarter than he is, well he will probably be correct too; she does have a Master’s degree to go with her Bachelor’s degree. He has an Associates and a Bachelor’s only/lol.
Happy Second Birthday Room Eight
|Room Eight unceremoniously celebrated its second birthday last week. Recently I asked the editors (Gur Tsabar and Ben Smith) to tell me what their vision was for this site; I am still waiting for that conversation to begin. Look, don’t get me wrong here, both of these individuals have been people I admire and respect; I still do. They are both pioneers. The idea of a political-blog writer’s colony that they implemented here two years ago is something many still praise. But there comes a time when we all have to introspect, and I believe the time is here for these two to reflect on where Room8 goes now.
To The Fox News Network: Sean Hannity & Bill O’Reilly Disgrace the Journalism Profession; Their Anti-Obama Agenda is Shameful
|The gatekeepers at Fox News network like to boast that their news is fair and balanced: that’s bullshit. I think it is fair for me to say that Fox News network has an obvious right-wing slant that they don’t even try to disguise. And that’s okay to a point, since it’s their business. But when it comes to electing the next president of the USA, human decency should dictate that some level of fairness be considered when the principals are being reported on; and relative to how they are scrutinized and treated. Fox News network has been trying to destroy Barack Obama’s candidacy for quite some time now and it is time to stop this obvious vendetta. The world is watching.
Is Geraldine Ferraro the latest hit man for the Hillary Clinton team? Part One of Two
|The biggest impediment to solving the problem of racism in the USA is the denial that comes from all sides of the divide. Only when this denial is confronted will we get anywhere closer to solving this seemingly intractable issue. Let’s take the latest Clinton campaign dust-up. Geraldine Ferraro- one of HRC’s big feminist supporters- made probably the most nonsensical statement of this campaign cycle so far, when she suggested that Barack Obama has gotten where he is (his success in this presidential race to date) because he is lucky to be black. This is the same woman, who in 1988 said that Jesse Jackson was only running in the presidential primary (and with some success too), because he too “was black”. Talk about double-speak/lol; or is it double-talk? This was not accidental or coincidental; this was deliberate on Ms. Ferraro’s part. This lady needs some sensitivity training; even at age 72 it can be useful.
THE SUPER-DELEGATES: “No big thing but a chicken-wing”
|On the street corners of many a black congressional district, you would often hear soul-folks saying: “no big thing but a chicken wing”. This can be heard whenever there is a fuss about something or the other that soul-people think is being overblown. On corners of white congressional districts (and by white and black, I am only alluding to where the majority of the residents are of that color; that’s all), you may hear the same sentiments expressed this way: “much ado about nothing”. Well that’s how I feel about all this super-delegate noise, coming out from many tense corners of hot and heavy political competition; like the kind taking place between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama- as they compete for the Democrat’s presidential nomination.
The Democrat’s Presidential Primary Is Exposing Mainstream Media’s Selfish Agenda (and Barack won Texas; not Hillary)
|For sometime now the Billary Clinton campaign has been complaining that mainstream media has been unfair to Hillary Clinton. But is this true? Lots of supporters from both the Clinton and Obama camps, have (at various points of this marathon) attacked the media treatment of their candidate; the Clintonistas in particular have gone to great lengths in trying to drive this point across. Comedians and comedy shows have lampooned their very complaints. And yet all mainstream media is doing is nothing short of pursuing their unaltruistic everyday agenda of: sensationalism and controversy-creation. It is not only about providing information for public dissemination and action; it is also about profits.
Memo to Hillary Clinton: “Requiescat In Pace”
|If you look up the word “mulligan” in the dictionary, you would find that it is a re-taken golf shot; or better still: a shot that- against the rules- a golfer allows an opponent to take again. Bill Clinton is known to take many mulligans when playing friendly games of golf; his wife (Hillary Rodham Clinton) seems to have learned this bad habit quite well. It is all about changing the rules in mid game, especially when things aren’t going their way. It’s about refining techniques that give them an unfair advantage in any competitive event. It is cheap, low and crass.
If Billary were to go to any toy store to purchase a device for their pleasure, what they would find is that in near all devices sold: “batteries are not included”. So after Tuesday’s primaries (Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont), all rational Democrats need to emphatically make the case- to both Bill and Hillary Clinton- that mulligans (just like batteries) are not included in the rules of this year’s primary elections.
Memo to Bill Clinton: Review the tapes of Sonny Liston v. Cassius Clay (second fight)
|When Hillary Clinton was a teenager in the nineteen-sixties, a young black boxer named Cassius Clay was streaking undefeated towards the heavyweight crown. This young man later changed his name to Muhammad Ali, on his way to becoming the most popular international sports-figure in history. Next Monday (25th) will be the forty-fourth year anniversary of one of the greatest challenges Ali ever faced. It was the first title fight between the mean and surly champion named Sonny Liston and the charismatic Ali himself. It was the first of two meetings between these boxers. The Liston v. Clay saga is being re-played today folks; right before our very eyes; only the names have changed.
Two Years on Room Eight
|Recently I sent a note to my editors (Ben Smith and Gur Tsabar) in which I requested a sense of their vision for this site. You see I have observed that Room Eight isn’t attracting new blood or young blood. Out of the original writers in this colony many have left or stopped being productive. Plus, the site sometimes gets bogged down in crappy threads initiated by mischievous commenters. There is a perception out there that this site has lost some of its luster. Also, Ben Smith has lost his focus (understandably so; given his tremendous work for “Politico”, on the current presidential primary campaign); Room Eight isn’t as high on his priority-list as it was before. All this hurts this site.
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