Halloween

Boy big people duz unfair little children. I remember as a child being always told things like "why you in such a rush to grow up for?" and "school days is the sweetest days ya know" or "the youth is wasted on the youth". Rubbish all rubbish, well maybe not that last one. It was all a concerted effort to brainwash you as a child into thinking it could get no better.

All rubbish!

Y a know why it is rubbish? Is rubbish cause when you are a child ya duz get unfair, taken advantage of. That thought came into my head today when the misses drape the chile in a bright orange pumpkin outfit to go off to daycare. Cuhdear! Poor chile ain't had no say in it cause he mudda think he look cute.

And then it all came flooding back to me. The hundreds of times that my parents unfaired me as a chile making me wear all sorts of so-called cute outfits which had me infinitely embarrassed and probably added to all the issues that I now have as an adult.

Two particular items of clothing stand out in my memory. The first is a pair of shoes. My brother over in the states sent me these shoes; brown suede with these translucent, almost see-through, honey brown plastic soles look like somebody stick a piece of amber onto the bottom of the shoe. What can I say it was the late 70s and maybe these things were in style somewhere or maybe he got them from 'pimps r us' or something but I really really disliked these shoes. My mom on the other hand thought they were just 'darling' and wanted me to wear them at every turn.

Now back then you know as a growing child ya didn't have no big set a shoes so for school I had a main set of typical black leather shoes that I would wear to the bone until it was time to get a new pair. If something happened to those shoes they would get sent to the shoemaker who would hammer a few nails in the heel or repair the sole. If you couldn't get the shoes fixed then the back up shoes were the same brown suede pair I mention originally cause school in Barbados was like a posh club up here in Toronto; no runners. Dare you wear that pair of Chucks or Kangaroos (raise your hand if you old enough to remember Kangaroos) to school. They would send you back home.

So sadly when my black leather shoes were in need of repair or replacement I would be forced to wear these pimp of the year shoes to school. Now to be honest looking back the shoes weren't that bad. In fact now I'm pretty sure they weren't that noticeable but back then when I was forced to wear them it felt as if someone was pointing a spotlight at my feet and everyone was looking and secretly snickering behind my back. These shoes had me so self conscious. Days when I wore them were the slowest days to ever pass by, it was as if time was on lunch break holding a two hour lime in front a Cave Shepperd and just wasn't feeling to work those days.

It would even affect my actions. I would go out of my way to try and disappear on those days. It was one of those get me out of here, Scottie one to beam up type day. I hated these shoes.

Man, the day that those things no longer fit my feet was one of the happiest days of my life.

Anyway I wont even mention the other piece of clothing that I hated. All I will say is this whole childhood is the best time of life thing should come with some fine-print about how parents duz tek advantage of ya and ya duz be living under a tyrannical regime.

Still what can ya do? I am a parent now so I guess I might as well get mine back and get in on the unfairing my children part. Hmmm I wonder where I can find a pair of pimp of the year shoes for this yout.

NBA preview

Yes its back, finally! The NBA regular season starts on Tuesday night. Its been a long time well at least in my opinion

Ok as I usually do every year I'll make some not so great predictions based on my feel for the game at the moment. They all make sense to me at this point in time but usually 4 months down the line in hindsight a few are slighty questionable ie dead wrong! But me neva claim fi name Miss Cleo or fi ave crystal ball so without further ado here are my predictions:

- The East will be a better league than the West in this coming season. Yes the elite teams in the West; Dallas, San Antonio, Phoenix are miles ahead of the Eastern teams but after this summer's comings and goings the West now has more scrub teams than the East. Shall I name the West's scrub teams? LA Clippers (Without Brand they are weak), Minnesota, Seattle, Portland, Sacramento, and if Kobe gets traded add the Lakers to that list.

- Don't count out New Jersey as Sports Illustrated seemingly has by predicting they wont even make the playoffs. Ridiculous. New Jersey is Boston without Garnett but with better supporting players and a team that has experience in playing together.

-Houston's biggest opponent is themselves. If Mcgrady and Yao remain injury free this team joins the West Elite. Houston is a force this year. Actually addendum to this I can see Dallas dropping out of the West Elite.

-GAP (Garnett, Allen, Pierce) is overrated and expensive. Hmmm sort of like the other Gap, who knew.

-Isiah doesn't last the season as coach cause again his team has too many players who need the ball to be effective. A glut of star players or used to be star players does not a champion make. Go ask the 2000 Trailblazers.

-The Raptors will make playoffs but wont win their division. Well actually I hope they do but gut feeling says they wont win the division. The Raptors win or lose on the strength of their point guard play this season.

-Chris Bosh will be spending at least two weeks on the injury list. Garbajosa's leg doesnt hold up to December.

-Miami will not make the playoffs. Shaq is no longer Diesel more like Diesel fumes and the supporting cast is terrible. Without an effective Shaq, Wade just becomes a poor man's Kobe.

- Atlanta will still suck! Memo to GM: Trade some of the young talent for a few veterans.

-Charlotte will still suck just less than they did last year.

- Dont expect consistency from rookie Kevin Durant.

- Jermaine O'Neal is the big trade in February.

-Kobe will not last the season in LA. Actually Kobe might not even begin the season in LA. Phil just dissed him. He's alienated his teammates more than usual with his off-season mouthings. I think he's gone. Possible destination Chi-Town but only if they can get away without giving away Deng for him. I'd pitch a Gordon, Thomas, other scrubs deal if I was the Chicago GM.

-Orlando and Milwaukee are the dark horses in the East. Watch them carefully.

- Cleveland struggles this year. They might not even make the playoffs if they cant re-sign the flopper and that other guy. Last playoff spot in the East comes down to Washington and Cleveland if my above mentioned dark horses get going.

-San Antonio are odds on favorites to repeat but they seem to have a tendency to let down the year after a championship. As much as I would like to see them repeat I don't see it happening. I'm predicting a Chicago vs Phoenix finals with Phoenix winning it all so that they can finally disband the damn Suns squad.

All predictions can be upset by injury to critical players but thats my story and I'm sticking to it.

The trash heap has spoken Nyeah!

I cram to understand

The weather made a sudden change this past Tuesday. It wasn't unexpected though cause we've been fortunate to have had summer like temperatures all the way down to mid-October. Global Warming I guess. Thanksgiving Day (three Monday's ago) it was actually above 30 degrees Celcius, one of the warmest if not the warmest temperatures ever associated with that time of year.

So we been basking in sunshine and nice weather until last Tuesday when all a sudden the rain start pouring and the temperature drop by a good 15-20 degrees.

I always say this place don't have no proper temperature transition at all. One day ya in a t-shirt the next day you in a sweater and long johns bundle up shivering. That is why people duz get sick and by people I including myself as I hayso struggling with a cold again. Cuhdear!

Anyway one of the things that duz intrigue me about this time of year is how people dress. It cold but not yet winter and sometimes there is a tendency for it to be windy. Some people though seem not to want to give up on summer so even though it raining they walking around in their open toe shoes or short skirts. I cant understand that at all. And even worse is when you see someone in a short skirt or short pants and then they got on a thick thick jacket and sweater. So what they trying to tell we is their legs dont get cold or what? I cant understand that one.

Yesterday I see a fella dressed appropriately; long pants, shirt, leather jacket. Only thing was my man although wearing the jacket had the shirt unbutton down to his navel (like some of them old fellas back home in the Caribbean) showing off his hard bony chest. And when I say hard and bony I mean de man chest did look juss like a jucking board den. And it was cold and windy where I saw him too. Just cant understand the logic.

Maybe he was trying to impress somebody.

Cholesterol Minded?

(sorry stole that title from some cat on okayplayer)

What I want you to do is count to ten.
Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two
On one, you will be asleep - one
I cant wake up -KRS-One

I really hope I'm dreaming.

Hear that sound? Its the sound of hip hop's death knell. Hip Hop is indeed dead!

When I checked my email this morning and saw that KRS-one was going to be on Celebrity Fit Club I was a bit taken aback. So much so that I started to write a rather dismissive missive (yes that rhymes) called 'Fat's gonna getcha' in response to the news but then I stopped. Actually you can do some really cool parody stuff in this regards with some of his song titles; Cholesterol Minded, Fat's gonna getcha, You must Burn (those calories), the Fridge is over.

But I digress.

Krs-one, the Teacha, the Blastmaster (and for any of you aspiring Krs-one dissers remember blastmaster does sort of rhyme with fat bastard just in case you ever need a cheap shot in a freestyle battle) a hip hop icon is going on celebrity fight club? Author, Guest lecturer at Universities around the world, Founder of H.E.A.L and the Stop the Violence Movement, the Temple of hip hop organization. The cat has done it all.

You must learn, My philosophy, Boom Bap, Hip Hop vs Rap, Outta Here, Criminal Minded, Stop the Violence, Self Destruction, the Emcee, Love's gonna getcha, Jack of Spades, Still #1, South Bronx, The bridge is over? One of the greatest freestylers ever, a legend in concert! And as an aside let me say that one of the coolest movie scenes I've ever seen is that one in Clockers when the lil kid with the gat in the paper bag is rolling up on his bicycle while Outta here is blasting in the background. Wicked!

Ok I'm resisting the urge here to just blast the Blastmaster about this whole celebrity fitness thing and its mainly cause I used to really respect this guy. It wasn't just the music, it was the image. Krs has always been unorthodox, he walks to his own beat, he can be dismissive, he can be arrogant, he can make lofty claims and contradict himself, but aside from his music, he seemed to be a man of principal. I respect that cause in today's society its hard to find people who have principal!

Wont say I've always agreed with everything he's ever said. Actually he lost me way back in the days with the black drug dealer song (wow was that like 93 or something) and since then I've always questioned much of what he says but still I had respect for the cat.

He also lost me with some of his recent comments regarding 50's new album being better than Kanye's, his adding Lil Wayne and Chingy to his Stop the Violence Movement and his bigging up some of these new cats who are clearly crap but like I was arguing with my boy yesterday maybe there is method to his madness.

Now I'm clearly a jdid old school loving hip hop fan. I honestly aint feeling 99% of what these cats claim is hip hop these days. I can't seriously listen to the ay bay bays and superman's and that other stuff without nostalgia for the old days and fear that the future and indeed the present are both dimmer than a 20 watt light bulb.

However that's me I'm set in my ways, that's how it is. However my argument over Kris' recent actions was that maybe just maybe he realizes that each new generation puts a different spin on its music and that maybe the way to impart knowledge to these young cats is to reach out to them instead of always criticizing. Maybe that was his plan. Not sure its going to work with these knuckleheads but I was trying to not be harsh on my man and probably being somewhat of a Krs apologist especially since I now realize he's doing tracks with G-Unit. Maybe that explains the 50 Cent comments (what are the odds that Krs joins G-Unit?)

Anyway I also realized my issue is not that Krs is overweight although for a man who claims to be a vegan and once rapped strongly against meat (The cow doesn't grow fast enough for man, So through his greed he makes a faster plan, He has drugs to make the cow grow quicker, Through the stress the cow gets sicker, Twenty-one different drugs are pumped,Into the cow in one big lump, So just before it dies, it cries, In the slaughterhouse full of germs and flies) way way before it was cool to be vegetarian you would have thought that he would have taken better care of himself. Naa cant diss the bredren cause he packed on the pounds. Happens to the best of us. He's overweight, he recognises he has a problem he's dealing with it. Kris has had a hard year too and maybe Marley's heart attack was a wake up call so props for trying to do something about the fitness.

So no that aint my issue. Plus to be honest I really don't think he's that big. Bigger than before but still. Naa my issue is not that he's tackling his problem its how he's tackling it; on a reality show joint on Celebrity Fit Club.

Way I see it if you've got a problem handle you business but yo you're telling me that you cant hire a personal trainer or dietitian and do this on the low? There are tonnes of ways to tackle this problem and it doesn't have to be public. And if you wanted it to be public and make a statement maybe about blacks and obesity still no reason to go on a reality show with b and c listers. Helll this show is just two steps away from Flavor of Love man.

The only reason to do this in a reality show format is cheap tawdry publicity and that Kris is definitely not a good on you. So shame on you sir. Bad bad move.

Oh well maybe this is strange twisted payback for throwing Prince Bee off the stage back in the day.

Of course we gotta pay rent, so money connects, but uhh
I'd rather be broke and have a whole lot of respect
It's the principal of it,......
For those who pose lyrical but really ain't true I feel
"Their time's limited, hard rocks too"
Time's Up - O.C

rules

Ever notice how obeying rules isn't an issue to some folk until they are on the receiving end?

For example Saturday morning I'm a pedestrian at an intersection with a bunch of other pedestrians. Advance green goes and the left turners go. The walk signal says Don't Walk but yet these two lady pedestrians are trying to rush across the street trying to slip between breaks in traffic causing what I think of as a nuisance to drivers. Fine.

They need to cross the other way as well. Turning traffic goes first then signal says walk. They step out, one last car trying to beat the signal but failing miserably almost hits one of the ladies. She start cuss and gesture about how the man not following traffic laws and I just find this hilarious cause just two minutes before it was her darting into traffic who was probably causing drivers to cuss. But it a juss go to show that people don't think bout nuttin but themselves.

less intelligent

I was all set to post about this whole Glamour magazine issue with the assistant editor (now former) who dissed Afros and dreadlocks. In short though nothing here is surprising. Folks always have issues with black hair. Accept it. I do wonder how they were able to hide this from the Glamour editor for two months though? They are doing their best P.R now to distance themselves from the rogue editor who made the comments as well they should but damage has been done.

That said I thought that this article was a better use of my blogging time. Check it here.

One of the world's most eminent scientists was embroiled in an extraordinary row last night after he claimed that black people were less intelligent than white people and the idea that "equal powers of reason" were shared across racial groups was a delusion.

Sigh! Is it just me or has this year seemed like the year that racial tension and racism have jumped back into the spotlight? Hanging nooses, torture, Jena, lots of questionable comments. Not that things were great but I guess it just seems like blacks have been attacked left right and centre of late. The 60's must be wearing off.

I seriously think that the civil rights movements gains are being eroded and alot of it is because black folk have gotten too complacent and lackadaisical. We've always had to work harder to prove ourselves don't forget that. Now the closet racists are jumping out the woodwork because we're getting sloppy and we haven't built on what we gained. We take alot of stuff for granted. Go talk to your parents or grandparents if you don't believe me. Ask them about some of the shit they dealt with back in the days.

Actually maybe you wont have to ask cause the way things are going we'll be experiencing that stuff again sooner than we think.

Fiascogate

I got now I don't care who got next

I've have the double whammy of not having enough time to write and also having a bit of writing block. Just having one of those 'is this blog worthy' type of episodes where I second guess everything that pops into my head. But I figure the only way to blog is to jump back on the horse and try to find something to talk about.

I considered speaking on Fiascogate but I only found out about that yesterday. I do have strong opinions on Fiascogate though so maybe I'll type a few sentences on it. Without going into the whole story (if you really are interested check the link) I believe that Lupe Fiasco (hence Fiascogate) is wrong here. Yea I may be one of those elitist hip hop fans who will look down on him cause he doesn't know TCQ's Midnight Mauraders but at the same time I sort of understand how a kid his age shouldn't be expected to recite that ode word for word. The issue to me though is his response. He almost sounds like he thinks its cool not to know Midnight Mauraders. Its never cool to not know one's history at the very least he should know that material in the context of what he does and what that album meant back in the day.

Even if he didn't though all he had to do was plead ignorance and sound contrite and we might have let him slide assuming he promised to study up for next time. Instead dude is taking the offensive arrogant position. Not cool. He cant be given a free pass cause as someone said if it was a solja boy or webbie or young joc who said what he said we would all be condemning them as stupid and mindless and giving this as an example of why hip hop is where it is right now.

That said I still loved Food & Liquor and look forward to The Cool.

Anyway hopefully tomorrow I'll have something worth reading to write about.

Shady Business

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and I ain't talking about Jeru.

So today is provincial election day. As I'm leaving home this morning I discover two of a certain political candidates' signs on my front lawn. OK it was the Conservatives. What the hell? They weren't there last night and I certainly didn't give them permission to put them there. Isn't their some law against that crap?

I mean at least the Liberals had the decency to call me up a week ago and ask for permission to put up signs on my lawn. I politely declined their requests but these other dudes how dare they! Which of you jackasses thought why don't we just randomly put our signs on someone's lawn without asking for their permission? They did it all up and down my street too. Unsolicited signs? Really. Did they think that would influence the owners of these properties to vote for them? If anything this probably pissed off everyone in the neighborhood and lost some potential votes cause the party's not even in power yet and already they're ignoring the wishes of the common man and trampling on his rights.

Ah he's just a common citizen, joe public, lets just put signs all over his lawn without his permission, why should we care what he thinks. Yea that bodes well for my voting you into power! Aren't you the same dudes who are always pushing your tough on crime stance with the public? Yet here you are committing a crime by putting these signs on my property without my permission.

Like I said in the previous election post, y'all need new strategists. No wonder you lost the election.

News Brief

- Well well well Marion Jones admit that she took steroids. Oh me oh my! Poor Oba. So will the US treat Marion like Canada dealt with Ben Johnson. Will her Beliezian heritage suddenly take stage front and center?

- Anyone watching any of the new tv series this season? I've surprisingly found myself watching a tonne of them; K-Ville, Life, Journeyman, Bionic Woman, Back to You, Chuck. What can I say? I don't think K-Ville and Journeyman will last. Life is my favorite but I think that wont last either. Bionic Woman has potential plus its good to see that Isiah Washington was able to get a job after the whole Grey's Anatomy fiasco and Chuck is kind of funny even if the premise is ridiculous. All in all I don't see a runaway hit like a Prison Break, Lost, 24 or Heroes amongst this bunch but they all have potential. Oh and its good to have a sitcom like Back at You to watch again. One can only watch so much 1 hr dramas in my opinion.

-I discovered the Secret Blog of Patrick Manning the other day and its hilarious. Somebody need to do one for Owen. It wont be me though. For all my non-Caribbean friends Patrick Manning is the current Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago and if that name Trinidad doesnt ring a bell that would be the place Jay-Z filmed his Big Pimping video.

-I'm also occasionally writing over here, just for fun and because.

-What can I say Facebook has grown on me. To be honest the whole linking to 3 billion 'friends ' doesn't really move me and I could care less who my 'friends' are 'friends' with but it does have some stuff I can work with. I kind of like the groups aspect of the whole operation and the discussion boards. I can see some potential in that. Been checking out some posts on my high schools alumni group and bringing back some old hilarious memories that I had completely forgotten. I still feel one should be real careful with ones personal stuff on that site though and I still wonder is how come every other girl on there have up some sexy photo as their picture.

- Yes the Isiah story shouldn't really be news and yes he lost but tell me am I the only one here who sees parallels with the Clarance Thomas case back in the 90s and not just that their last names are both Thomas.

-Every felt like your thoughts were bugged? I came up with some great reasons why MMP (mixed member proportional) representation which will be a referendum item on next week's election ballot was a bad idea. Wouldn't you know it last Sunday at Word on the Street someone gives me a flier opposing MMP and my exact ideas are all on there. Sons of ! I think the dentist put some sort of bug in my head or something.

Silly Season

Two party, but ah de same sad song dem a play
Poor people money lean back and rockaway
Dem raise everyting from oil to Craven A
So how dem no raise up everybody pay
Emergency - Vybz Kartel

Yes silly season is amongst us here in Toronto with next Wednesday, October 10th, being provincial elections. As with the silly season everywhere , the atmosphere is alive with the sounds of soon to be forgotten promises being thrown left, right and center. (Still sadly elections in Canada are so much more boring that elections in the Caribbean. We know all a dem a lie we can at least get some jokes out of it.)

What can I say that I haven't said before? For years now Government has been failing the people of Toronto and the GTA, an area which without stretching the truth I'll readily call the economic engine of Canada. Will a new provincial government change things? Not bloody likely!

Still I wanted to say a bit on this election actually more so a bit on the Conservative party of Ontario's efforts to get elected.

Now it would be way too easy for me to blame the Conservatives for all that ails Toronto. After all amalgamation and the downloading of social services to the cities were their babies and years later the city is still shell shocked by that double whammy. Former Premier Mike Harris was not idly called 'the Knife' after all, in fact he might have been better off co-opting Kordell Stewart's 'Slash' nickname when one really looks at his impact on the GTA and the many social and educational programs which were eliminated or pared down to within an inch of their life during his regime. Want to know why transit fares are going up almost every year you could probably put the blame on his downloading transit funding to the cities too.

But to their credit, the Conservatives have tried and in some sense succeeded in distancing themselves from the Mike 'the Knife' days, ably assisted by the short term memory of the masses and the unkept promises and inept management of current Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty. A new, kinder, gentler more inclusive Conservative party seems to be the angle that they are pushing for this election. And a big part of their resurgence has been new Conservative leader John Tory. (Guess he was born to be conservative with a name like Tory.)

Now I'll admit I'm not really a big fan of the Conservatives but John Tory gets props for at least attempting to make them more palatable to the denizens of the urban areas. Not sure if I blogged about it (but I thought about doing so anyway) but Tory is the only provincial leader I've seen around the city, formal functions aside, since the last elections and not only that but the places I saw him it was like he was actually reaching out to caucuses like visible minorities who are generally ignored and neglected by the Tories. Must have something to do with his Toronto background. He did after all run for Toronto Mayor back in 2003. (In hindsight, if only we had known that Miller wasn't strong enough to successfully lead this city.)

The thing is there is a fine line one must walk in politics. History has shown that. Appeal to the wider masses to get those swing votes yet maintain the loyalty of your core constituents. Alas in this present campaign Tory has failed to do that.

If he had only just kept a solid platform, done the usual we'll cut taxes, we're more trustworthy , we wont (openly) tief ya money like the Liberals, Conservative party thing, then given the performance of the incumbent Liberals he stood a chance of wresting away the reigns of power. Instead in what has got to be a monumental error on the scale of Bill Buckner,World series Game 6, 1986 Tory has in essence thrown it all away, gambling on what wasn't even an issue before the campaign started. (Not that throwing it away is necessarily a bad thing seeing as some folks like me still remember the Mike the Knife days and ain't about to let the Conservatives wipe that from our memory anytime soon.)

Still Tory has given us a classic display here of what not to do when you are running a campaign. So many issues to deal with; power, health care, hospitals, education, money for cities, transit, employment even the tried and true conservative bedrock of being tough on crime. Does he choose one of those as his focus? Nooo! What was the big issue my man decided to tackle; government funding for private religious schools.

Cheese on bread den! Look whoever are his advisers they just need to be fired right away.

Ok so maybe that wasn't supposed to be his big issue, maybe the media blew it out of proportion but just mentioning that opened a can of worms from which Tory has been unable to untangle himself. That issue is effectively sinking his ship.

Look, first off its an issue where he was clearly pandering and bad pandering at that. The Conservatives were trying to make inroads into mainly the Jewish (I'm allowed to use that word without claims of anti-semitism right) vote and the recent immigrant Muslim vote. Fine I admit trying to make inroads in those caucuses isn't a bad idea. Only thing is private Religious schools? Really? Come on now! Everyone else is going to get upset about this issue. Everyone!

Proposing this was just a bad idea from the start. OK so maybe it started some questions as to why we have a Separate Catholic school board here which receives public funding (long story legacy thing, involved Quebec at one point blah blah blah) but aside from opening that discourse just a bad bad idea.

For one, the existing public schools are seriously underfunded. Is why you think all them lil pickney a try sell chocolate raisins and almonds at Yonge n Bloor on evenings to raise funds for school project? Schools aint have no money! Programs been cut, some public schools struggling to maintain the basics. Now you're saying I want to take the existing financial pie which is less than sufficient for the already funded schools and cut into it even further to give money to private religious schools? Umm no, you're potentially going to lose votes from every parent who sends their kid to public school. Think about it man, think about it!

Also take into consideration that a large part of your core caucus as Conservatives has always been the rural mainly Christian conservatives (as opposed to those hippie downtown liberals) who more than likely send their kids to a public school in Kenora or St Thomas or Manitoulin Island or some other small town in Ontario. These folks will not be happy, and rightly so, losing funding so you can cater to a few special interest groups with your private religious schools idea. OK, so they may have a few Christian schools that may benefit but for the main part their number is probably insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Outcome loss of votes.

Then, in this day and age, one of the first things most folk think when they hear privately funded religious schools are Islamic Madrasahs, or more distorted schools teaching jihad and preparing the next generation of terrorists. Hey, they are just Islamic schools but blame the media for all the negative press on Madrasahs.

Now think about it. I mean its bad enough someone or the other in the U.S is always going on about Canada being a haven for terrorists but now you want to give them more fuel for the fire so that they can distort the facts some more and claim that Canada is the devil next door full of Al Quida in waiting ready to run across the Rainbow bridge and pass the supposedly lax border security and do crazy damage in the US. Plus its not only Americans who think that way. Alot of folk up here will believe that we are funding schools that teach jihad. Plus many folk will have issue with those schools cause they separate genders in the classrooms as well. All sort of problems with that line of thinking but that is what you'll have if you go through with this.

Not a good idea John, not a good idea.

And to top it all off, is not like you even check whether some of the people who you thought these religious schools would be benefiting like the idea. In fact in a Toronto Star recent article many folks of certain religions were saying that basically they prefer public school cause all the cultures and religions can mix. Most votes loss there John.

Even some of your candidates been backing away from you on this issue. Their constituents have spoken and said we just don't like this idea. John you going to end up like Robinson Cruseo on an island without even a Man Friday.

So how do I say this politely? John you messed up ...... bad, real bad.

And now a week before the elections you're back peddling to say now that you wouldn't force the public to fund private religious schools if elected but you would have a referendum on the funding instead to see what people want. Sorry guy flag on that play. Loss of yardage repeat down (Had to get in a football reference since he was the CFL president back in the day). YA digging a bigger hole for yourself! Dude this thing might not just lose you the elections, it might even lose you party leadership.

I don't really know what to say to you. All I can think of is pray, boy pray. Pray long and hard and ya might throw in some fasting in there too cause fa right now as the ol people used to say it look like you goose cook.

I didnt mean to

I really wanted to give him something. No honestly I did!

He came up to me as I crossed the intersection, said he just got released, had just done a 18 month bid and needed Go-train money. 'I just got out the Don bro and now I gotta be on this corner begging for change.' he said with a tone that left unsaid a certain feeling of damn I cant believe this ish is happening to me.

Now I ain't going to pretend like I can sense b.s better than the next man but somehow this young man's claim rung true with me. It might not have been but he didn't look like a hustla, something about the eyes.

And really yea I wanted to give him something but the only problem was I had absolutely no change on me. It was Monday, I brought lunch, and as far as I remembered all my change was on the dresser at home and all I had was one twenty in the wallet which has to last me for a while.

Wasn't going to dig into the wallet in case there was some loose change caught in there either though. I got one rule when dealing with panhandlers; the wallet must not leave the pocket. I might give you anything that's loose in my pocket but no way am I taking out that wallet. I ain't saying this guy would steal it from me but that's the rule, I ain't taking no chances. Next thing I know you're not satisfied with my loose change or you spot a 5 or something and be asking me for more than I can afford to give. That nuh mek it.

I told him the truth; I would give him if I had but unfortunately I had nothing in terms of change.

He turned, disappointed and I moved on.

He stuck on my mind for the next few minutes though. Damn why of all the days would this guy ask me for change when I had nothing going on in my pocket. As Kurtis Blow would say these are the breaks. I actually considered changing my path back to work to avoid a second meeting with him. I was all set to go down a side street when something said naa man you cant do that. He's a brother and how can you not take care of a brother. If you another black man doesn't even want to give him change, why should you expect the next man to. Plus I thought to myself you know giving different circumstances what that could be me there begging for the change.

So I stopped in a convenience store on the way back, bought something small, broke my bill and headed back to work hoping I'd run into ol boy again. This time I had change, this time I'd do what felt right to me.

Got back to the intersection, stopped, scanned all four corners but no sign of him. Must have moved on. Damn!