Eat Crow Michael Johnson

19:31 or was it 19:30 by Bolt to break Michael Joshnson's record after johnson said Bolt couldnt break his record. tek dat Michael!

Congrats Bolt. Do ya dance star! Big up!

Cause we all look alike

Thank you China

The newspaper, which has a daily circulation of over half a million copies had meant to make a reference to Bolt in the run up to one of the most anticipated races of the Olympics. However, when it came to selecting an image it seems Chambers and Bolt (despite there being no distinct similarities) were confused.

Dwain Chambers (top) vs Usain Bolt. No distinct similarities except skin color you mean.

Guess Chambers should be happy Bolt never rob or murder anyone or he would find himself on the wanted posters and likely in jail.

Chambers: "But officer de man neva favor me"
Officer: "Stop lying boy ya think we stupidee. we see right through your Dwain alias. Ya coulda at least use a name dat dont rhyme wid Usain.!"

The really sad thing about it is you know almost every black person can relate to this incident too.

ps: big up the jamaican 100m women! beautiful and talented. respect!

Satire

sat·ire (săt'īr') pronunciation
n.

1.
1. A literary work in which human vice or folly is attacked through irony, derision, or wit.
2. The branch of literature constituting such works. See synonyms at caricature.
2. Irony, sarcasm, or caustic wit used to attack or expose folly, vice, or stupidity.

Sigh! People just don't understand the meaning of satire anymore. Thought this post at LivingGuyana was kind of funny and as I'm apt to do I shared it with a few folk. Why is it that half my replies implied that folk thought this was real even though I clearly pointed out it's satire before giving them the link?

Sigh! Ya just cant win.

Bolt

How aptly named is this guy? Bolt wow! 9.69 and he was celebrating at the 80m mark. Congrats! Big up Jamaica!

Asafa choked! Maybe with Tyson Gay not making the finals he wasnt motivated. I'm mad though cause he got beat into third place by a T-pain lookalike. That not right!

Still Caribbean 1,2 big up Trinidad.

Last night on CBC (Canada) they had this discussion about why Jamaica has produced such amazing sprinters over the years. I didnt exactly catch the name of it but they claimed there is some special protein that Jamaicans have more of than men from other countries. Yea what da? its a cop out but whatever.

Anyway whatever this protein was they said that 70% of Jamaicans have it compared to 30% of Australians or something like that.

I dont know bout y'all but it sounded like somebody had been watching Star Wars and the Jamaicans suddenly had mediclorians in their blood that made them Jedis. lol

Olympic coverage

OK in general I'm not feeling these Olympics. So here are three of my gripes:

1) Olympic coverage sucks. First off the US coverage is all or mostly tape delayed. I saw a sticker on NBC saying live swimming and its the same race I saw on CBC 12 hours earlier. What gives. Then the CBC (Canada) coverage royally pissed me off today.

100m second round: They show the first two heats then switch to Women's soccer. I figured ok heat 3 doesn't really have in anyone of note in it but they'll switch back for 4 and 5 when Bolt and Powell are running. Plus there is a Canadian in Bolt's heat anyways: Anson Henry of Toronto.

Do they switch back? Nope. They continue showing the first half of a preliminary women's soccer game and I was left to scramble finally finding coverage of the sprints on the French CBC station.

Now I am upset cause (1) Bolt and Powell are the favorites and the sprints are way more interesting than soccer (2) You're telling me you couldn't switch away from the first half of a soccer game for two minutes to view a sprint that takes about 10 seconds to complete. (3) If you want to make the argument that you are covering Canadian athletes and don't give a hoot about Jamaican Bolt and Powell fine but Anson Henry a Canadian was in one of those races. You'll show every moron swimmer and diver who cant get within throwing distance of the medal podium but you cant show a Canadian sprinter. Why the second class treatment of Henry? That not right! shame, shame, shame.

That said Bolt just ran the easiest 9.92 I've ever seen. The dude wasn't even focused, his head was looking to the side half way through the race. Crazy!

2) These Chinese people aint easy at all. Ya mean the girl thats actually singing wasnt pretty enough to be shown on tv? Cuhdear! Scarred for life!

Forget Ashlee Simpson and them so this is the most infamous lip-synch since Rob & Fab dropped. Thats Milli Vanilli in case you dont know. Yes you know its true oooh oooh oooh!

Man is that messed up. You know that couldn't happen in North America. Parents would sue and people would get on real bad. But ya cant have pins wid China. They do what they do and you cant stop them.

3) These foolish Spanish Basketball players. All I can ask is if you are going to China why would you take a team photo like that? Of course I'm judging by North American and Caribbean standards here.

Spain seems to be known for its racism and its downplaying of its racism. Remember Tierry Henry and that soccer coach? and more recently Hamilton Lewis at the F1.

Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton was subjected to abuse at a Barcelona circuit in February, while former Spain coach Luis Aragones also used a racist remark about France striker Thierry Henry to motivate one of his players. Monkey chants rained down on England's black players during an international friendly against Spain in a match played in Madrid in 2004, soon after Aragones' outburst.

Hmmm! I'm a say it first bring back TJ get rid of Jose! What! You know y'all Toronto people was thinking it too.

4 years ago

today I started blogging. Whooptie doo!

Anyway thanks to all my readers and fellow bloggers. Glad that someone finds something I write semi-interesting. Much respect.

Not as inspired as last years anniversary post Blogging is dead but whatever.

These were my favorite posts all year.
My letter to my neighbour with the big tv.
Oil of Obay
Pink Caddy
One Day
Yes we can

Shady Aftermath

In the aftermath of the huge explosion here in Toronto on Sunday, residents of the affected areas try to put their lives back together. Most have been allowed to return home but a few streets closer to the epicenter of the blast remain uninhabitable for the moment due to structural damage to buildings and asbestos fumes in the air.

Two dead (the firefighter and one worker at the plant) and a few injured but tens of millions of dollars in damage. Still it seems like its only luck and god's grace that more lives weren't lost though. There are two schools close to the accident site which could have filled with kids if this had not happened at night and in the summer and what if this explosion had happened during the day when residents were milling around the neighborhood? God's grace I say.

The question or questions remain with us though. Why was a propane plant allowed to build in the middle of a residential area? Its not like the plant was there prior to the housing. Nope the housing has been around for a long time while the plant was only granted permission to build there three years ago.

Apparently residents complained but the city is sort of helpless to do anything once the Province gives permission for an industry to build in your neighborhood. And while the city would like propane plants and their ilk to be a minimum of about 1.6km from housing the province allows propane plants to literally set up shop next door. Just lovely!

Seems to be a reoccurring motif regarding life in Toronto lately. The city council is ineffectual, the mayor seems to always be out of town when crap happens (not blaming him for being out of town though its just luck of the draw) and the province could give a damn. Great way to run a supposedly "world class" city.

Also it has come to light that the propane company, Sunrise Propane may not be have been entirely on the up and up.

They have operated under a variety of names possibly to avoid indemnity and seems to have forged documents in the past to get out of paying their debts. Makes one wonder right? This explosion could just be a fluke accident but when you start seeing a company with shady dealings like that in its past, it doesn't exactly fill you with confidence that they were operating under the proper guidelines and codes. Who knows how they were running that plant and if its possible some negligence or attempt to cut corners could be responsible for what happened.

I guess the reports will come out eventually and we'll see what really happened but for now you just have to wonder.

TO: 08 welcomes the world

History is indeed written by the winners and sometimes the losers themselves forget.

Most people remember that the 2000 Olympics were in Sydney, the 2004 in Athens and know that the 2008 are currently being held in Beijing. (Most not including me as I actually had to google the 2004 Olympics to verify they were in Greece) but do you remember which other cities bid for these specific games and lost?

Not a clue right?

Well in general me neither except that I do remember that Toronto made an unsuccessful bid for the 2008 games.

Yep it was big news back in those heady days of 2001. Toronto, world class city that we claim to be needs to do more to publicize our greatness and we need to bring the Olympics here said one camp. The games will put us on the map! There was hype, there was excitement, there were waterfront plans and plans for building a new Olympic stadium. There were slogans, there were celebrity endorsements, there were even t-shirts from Roots.

Meanwhile another camp took a different perspective. This Olympics thing is a real waste of time they said. Sure it will or could be an amazing spectacle but at the end of the day events like the Olympics and other major sporting spectacles (read Cricket World Cup) lose money for the host city and then its the poor taxpayers who live there that feel the pinch. Toronto already isn't the richest city so why put ourselves into further poverty to show off to the world for two or three weeks.

But the bid went off with much pizazz and fanfare.

And at the end of the day in 2001 when the votes were counted to choose the 2008 venue we lost. Soundly beaten by Beijing.

Some say it was because Vancouver got awarded the 2010 winter games and the IOC didn't want back to back games in Canada, some blamed Toronto mayor Mel Lastman and his idiotic "I'm not going to Africa because they might put me in a pot of boiling water and eat me" comments, (as if people in Africa so hungry they want dry up, tough meat like he to eat. chupse!) for losing us votes, others just accepted that the Beijing bid was just too strong and we couldn't compete with the overall politics of holding the event in an emerging superpower China.

To be honest most locals were probably a bit let down by the loss, it would have been fun holding the event here, but at the same time we all had mixed feelings because some of us might have wanted the spectacle but all of us sure as hell didn't want to have to pay for it out of our pockets.

Still when I see the Olympics on television this week I cant help thinking what if, what could have been and wondering do Torontonians actually remember that this could have been us?

Oh well, wasnt to be. We weren't the winners but maybe in hindsight we weren't exactly losers either. Still sucks that we've been forgotten by history though.

Still sucks.

Major Explosion!

Huge explosion of a propane facility in Toronto this morning. Video here. It looks almost like a nuclear bomb went off.

12,000+ people evacuated so far. CP24 has become our local version of CNN in terms of the extensive coverage of the story all day, not sure what happened yet or if there were any casualties but it seems pretty crazy.

The area they evacuated is really big in my opinion. Sheppard to Wilson, Dufferin to Keele. Wow!

Don't think I know anyone who lives in that area but some of the folks who are relating stories on tv right now say the explosion was head as far as Aurora, windows and doors were blown out, one woman says she was blown off her bed.

Firemen still battling the blaze almost 12 hrs after the explosion. Will take a while for the smoke to clear figuratively speaking so that we know what really happened at the plant.

Update: heard one firefighter is without vital signs.

Shame on PETA

Thats why I think these people are idiots. Read this.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, said on its website it would run the ad in the Portage la Prairie Daily Graphic.

However, city editor Tara Seel said the newspaper had no intention of running the ad, which uses imagery of "an innocent victim's throat" being cut, in reference to the slaughter of cows, chickens and pigs on factory farms.

"His struggles and cries are ignored ... the man with the knife shows no emotion ... the victim is slaughtered and his head cut off ... his flesh is eaten," reads the ad, which is posted on the website.

Madness! Those PETA people are crazy and sick. How do you compare killing a chicken or cow to killing a man. Ridiculous!

Then there are these morons

"God handed us a gift," Phelps-Roper said in a phone interview on Thursday.

She said McLean deserved his death by beheading on a Greyhound Bus last week.

"(His death was) supremely unemotional. You got God shaking in rage. There is no emotional component ... He was a rebel against God. He was taught to be a rebel by his parents. He came from a rebel country ... They brought this wrath upon his head. And it sucks to be him and it sucks to be them," Phelps-Roper said.

This is a comment about the guy who got beheaded up here by some so called Church from the U.S. These people call themselves Christian but only giving Christian bad name.

Shame Shame Shame

When you least expect

Before I start I found this today and thought I had to share. Classic Satire! I love those guys.

Anyways I had a whole post planned on a different topic to what I'm going to speak on now but sometimes blog posts just fall in ya lap.

I'm on the bus coming home this evening when we stop to let off a passenger at a stop and then I noticed that the bus isnt moving at all. Look outside and some sort of disturbance, disruption thing coming down the road. Now I had noticed the 6 or so youth but just assumed they were playing.

Alas no, looked like a big fight about to break out.

So Bus driver stops the bus to report disturbance. Interesting I thought, disturbance on the street not on the bus, well sidewalk if you want to be more precise so what did he stop the bus for? Maybe its protocol, maybe he was just being a conscientious citizen. I don't know.

Anyway I couldn't hear what was going on so although I could see the actual incident I really don't know what it was about although I can sort of guess it had something to do with ownership of a bicycle.

Then two guys had this one young man, in an Iverson jersey, (henceforth called AI jersey fella) restrained and the bicycle was on the ground where they stopped.

Now by the way, I thought about not mentioning the Iverson jersey just cause it's like hip hop. If I mention that somebody was listening to hip hop when something happen suddenly hip hop going to be blamed so I figure somebody going blame AI for this or the guy will not be as sympathetic or going to get labeled some sort of thug because of the AI jersey but oh well I cant leave out details just so.

Anyway some older folk came down the street including one woman who looked like she should have stayed inside considering the top she was wearing. They pulled AI jersey fella away and then there were two camp on the sidewalk gestering vociferously (but not vociferously enough that I could hear them in the bus).

Now this incident went on for a good 10 minutes all of which we were park off by the bus stop. The interesting thing to me was the reaction of one cat in AI jersey fella's crew. Now there were three young guys in that camp and the two older folk trying to calm down things or at least it seemed that way from my viewpoint.

Now AI jersey fella was at the heart of the incident and he was talking to the older folk while one of the other guys looked like he was ready to rush in the other crowd and share some liks. Then there was another smaller chap with them who ran back inside a house. Now he to me was the person of interest.

Now I dont know about you but anytime something happening so and I see somebody run back to a house I get a lil worried. I could just imagine the conversation outside from the gesturing.

"Oh yea alright then, if you is a man wait dey til I come back"

Now any bajan will tell you that the phrase wait dey til I come back really means you better start running now cause this other person is going do something stupid. They going to come back with rocks or knives or guns or their big brother or father or mother with rocks and guns and knives and then trouble going really start.

So I in the bus imagining these words being exchanged and all sorts of scenarios and wondering to myself why this foolish bus driver don't start the bus and report the incident from someplace safer like perhaps three bus stops up the road. I mean doesnt he have an obligation to his passengers first? Suppose the fella that run back inside come outside letting off shots like he mad and something happen to one a we on the bus?

As it stands if it was me we wouldnt have stopped at all. Sorry but as it stood looked like a fair battle to me, sides were pretty even and I've seen enough crap to know that you dont really want to get into any sort of crew battles. Next thing ya know somebody decide to lik me cross my head or worse so no not I in this one.

But it was interesting because it caused me to ask a couple of questions. What is the bus drivers obligation to report the incident and what is his obligation to the people under his care.

I still waiting on answers on both. What y'all think?

Shame on Owen Sound

By now everyone has heard of the beheading story that happened up here in Canada. As details emerge it gets freakier and freakier by the minute. If you thought the beheading part was bad the details about him eating the victim is like something straight out of Silence of the Lambs.

It'll be interesting to watch the fallout from this because I think the fact that the perpetrator was a recent immigrant will get much play.

I'm just thinking I ain't sleeping on the TTC no more.

Anyway a story that may have slipped under the radar with all this talk of beheading is the stabbing of a black Toronto man up in Owen Sound last week which is being seen as a case of possible mistaken identify and possibly as having some racial overtones.

I guess we all look alike right. Poor dude is in critical condition cause someone accused him of a crime and then beat the crap out of him. Could have happened anywhere I guess so I wont be too harsh on Owen Sound. There are probably people like this crimes perpetrators everywhere.

The ironic part I guess is that Owen Sound marks the northernmost point of the secret route to freedom for American slaves and they were just about to have a big Emancipation day celebration when this incident occurred. Sad. I hope dude recovers from this attack.

Caribana feva

Caribana in the air and I duz have to laff.

No, I not laffin at the Americun touristes like last year. And to be honest boy I wasnt really laffin nuh laff, just making an observation about dem so doan feel nuh way. How I cud laff at mi Americun friends when is 80% of mi blog visitors from de states. Ya feel I is a eediat? Not I, I not biting the hand that feed me.

Watch all my Caribbean and Canadian people get offended now cuhdear I just joking. Love off all wunnah bad like cook food.

No, what I laffin bout is how the Caribana fever duz ketch everybody. Is like how the spirit duz tek hold a ya in some of dem churches where the people start to speak in tongues and jump bout in the aisles and duz have lil children holin on to dem mudda saying "mummy but is wha wrong wid dat woman? she like she gone mad or something eh he."

Well actually I lie Caribana fever is not really like that but still it duz be a fever and it duz be ketching quick quick by some people.

Make no mistake though. A lot a we doan ketch it, ya must realize dat but what duz be really surprising and laff-able to me is who duz ketch it. If ya ketch me drift.

Cause a lot a we Torontonians from the islands dont ketch it at all. We duz be like:

yea yea yeah Caribana again, I gine to the cottage boy
down the Lakeshore, in this sun, pun foolish TTC uh huh yea you look fa me.
Me, not me, I aint going nowhere to get shoot this year ?
How come the fetes so expensive?
Wha time the police gine shut down big people fete and get people vex,
A wonder what controversy they going have this year?
how many floats ya feel going mek it on the road this time before the police shut de gates
I remember when it used to be on University. Dat used to be good, not like now.
Is how come Caribana duz always dont have money and mek we look so bad year after year begging the Province fa funds? Dem Caribana people too tief-fy!
Boy dem Caribana events expensive nuh lie. I aint paying no 25 dollar to watch nuh poo poo pan playing nor nuh 40 dollar fa King and Queen an dem costume dont be even say nuttin? Is mad ya mad?
Me go down Lakeshore? I going Crop Over instead or I waiting til de parkway Labor day or I gine down Miami carnival. boy dat duz be too sweet.
how come them playing tunes from February carnival and Crop Over last year? Wha happen Crop Over music from Crop-Over this year cant reach here? Dem waiting on steam boat to bring the tunes? Man this is internet era, download man download. we should have plenty plenty new crop over tunes by now. Chupse.
Caribana chupse ya lie boy ribfest cant miss me this year! (that would be me)
Boy dem Trinidad people too confuse I aint want nuttin to do wid dat Caribana ting
Dat duz be we the island people in Toronto when Caribana come...well unless ya under 25 or ya looking fa woman or ya from Trinidad and then well you love off Caribana and every event it have can't miss you. (See I can make fun of the Trinis cause nun a dem dont read mi blog.)

But anyways like I said I laffin at how the fever duz ketch when Caribana week reach. Ad who duz ketch the feva if not the majority of we island people in Toronto?

Well boy that is a very good question and that is what is so funny.

Come Caribana week every lil store suddenly got in a Jamaican and Trini flag. Men dat would follow ya round their store the whole year and give ya dirty looks if ya come in to buy a bottle of water or a pack a gum suddenly got Caribana themed t-shirts in their window and two thousand island flags and hats and belts and rags and banadana and head band and wrist band and musse even underwear and anything wid a Vincy, Lucian, Grenadian, Trini, Bajan, Jamaican, Guyanaese, Dominican, or anybody else in the Caribbean colors item on their shelves and at the doors. And see dem there smiling, standing at the door, grinning, telling you come in and browse.

See cud only be some sort a sickness amm I mean fever mek dem fellas so change. So yes I duz laff my head off when I walk around downtown come Caribana time and watch dem people so change colors and try to mek money off we when I know how things duz be the rest a de year.

Me not me I stanning home an listening me 2008 Crop Over tune, 2007 long gone Toronto dj's. Dem fellas cant mek no money off me. But I will continue to watch and laff.

ps: Dont tell nuhbody but I feel one of them Vincy girls in dat Photo is mi sistren Kami. shhhhh dont tell nobody I say dat.

A lot to be said

Guyana Girl said typings difficult. Couldnt agree more right now but lets see if I remember anything about poetry. ok freestyle this


There’s a lot to be said
But saying things don’t make things better
A lot in my head
But some thoughts they need an editor
A lot on my plate
But that don’t mean my plate is full
A lot of that stuff
Boils down to simple bull
A lot on my mind but no one asks cause no ones curious
Just grieve and move on
Times wasting, actions spurious
Makes me furious
Or should but then don’t have the strength for anger
Don’t have the strength for laughter
Don’t have the strength for chatter
Don’t have the ….....It don’t matter
When we spiral in that viral
Twisting turning funnel
Wish then that we could pummel
A path, a royal rumble
Through this rubble, mumble, stumble
But I speak in strange tongues so translated sounds grumble, grumble
All a jumble in this jungle over running the ruins
So I fumble while I tumble really don’t know what I’m doing
Worth pursuing is nothing
No point this, not poignant
its pointless, no point gets
made, words disappoint its
a lesson in nonsense
full of sound & fury
told by a fool
who's melancholy and moody
there's a lot to be said
but maybe silence's better than something
a lot in my head
but signifying nothing

oh yea now i remember why I gave up poetry. yuck!

People

Now I'm not a people person by any stretch of the imagination. I just am not. Prefer my solitude way too much for that.

Still I recognize the value of communication and of being able to reach out to your fellow man and pass on information, converse or just lend an ear without being an idiot about it. To be honest it really is something they should teach in schools cause so many people don't have a clue how to do this.

Yes some people have no idea how to successfully communicate with others without pissing them off. Lack of people skills you can say. Maybe its that they didn't learn, maybe they are just too set in their ways to change, sometimes sadly its a cultural thing but something as simple as communicating a small problem or concern can get blown up into some huge confrontation if you're not careful.

Hmmm maybe its fear.

Yesterday I was offended. Someone had something to say to me about a matter but the round about way they approached it really pissed me off. Now as much as I wanted to scream on them I remained calm and didn't respond with an "are you a complete ass?" comment cause ya know next thing I would be labelled an angry black man but still.

I mean I appreciated their concern, emphatized with it even but approach and presentation can make a world of difference when you're trying to get some info across to someone else. It was as simple a situation as a hey Jdid I noticed and you might not have noticed but blah blah blah
to which I would have listened and responded with a well thank you for letting me know and I'll see what I can do about that.

But instead it became a whole lotta long talk, a whole round the world thing where one reason was given for the conversation but the main reason for the conversation was hidden and then it was brought out in such a way that it seemed either I was being shown up or the person didn't believe that I would believe what they were saying.

This isn't the first time though. The culprit has done similar with their little passive aggressive speeches before. I take it all in stride but yesterday I was truly offended with way I was approached. Still am to be honest.

Still I chalk it up to one of those we're afraid of speaking our mind to the big black dude incidences. Either that or the person is a complete jackass.

Free Marion!

Cuhdear man. Ya know I used to like Marion Jones bad bad bad when she was competing. Tall, slim, athletic plus she was fairly good looking and man oh man was she fast. What was there not to like?

Then the bubble burst. Bruggadown! Steroid usage, give back medals, give back prize money, pariah, jail time. Cuhdear.

Well you make ya bed ya got to lie in it the old people would say but still.

Now she's in jail not because she use steroids mind you but because she lied about it. I feel fa she young kids and family.

So the other day I read that she write one letter to President Bush hoping he would commute her sentence. She's been in jail since March or February anyways so yea why not. Its a long shot cause hundreds if not thousands of people apply for a Presidential pardon so chances slim anyways.

But now I read that the president of the US track and field write a letter to Bush saying no dont even think about commuting her sentence. She must be made an example of.

Ya see me. I think that is utter nonsense on his part. The woman aint kill nuhbody. She aint pelt a big rock and lik in nuhbody head, she aint stab nuhbody, she aint shoot nuhbody wid big bazooka, ak-47s and klashnikoffs, she aint rob no bank, she aint steal nuh old woman purse, she aint kidnap nuhbody childrens, she aint do nuttin so. So why you would tell Bush to not even think about commuting the sentence?

Just be quiet and let the man decide fa he self if she worthy of commuting the sentence or not nuh. Chances are he wouldnt commute it anyways but you din have to open ya mout.

Look how many big hardback men do(ing) steroids and get(ting) away scotch free? And you want to set an example with this poor girl. Cuhdear man dat is harsh.

You think her being in jail makes any difference though? Give me a break!

Sometimes these people duz really get caught up in this thing. Its sports. She cheated and she lied. Disqualify her, take back the medals, embarrass her, cast her from the bosom of the athletic Cherubims and Seraphims that you feel must exist even but cuhdear ya mean the man cant even think bout commuting she jail sentence?

Plus its not like she get lock up for doing the actual steroids , she get lock up for perjury aka lying. Wha when it come to lying Bush should be able to emphasise wid dat shouldnt he?

Yes we can

Breaking News just coming to hand to the staff of Doan Mind Me. Remember we get the news here first so always stay tuned.

Democratic nominee and Presidential hopefully Barack Hussain Obama having sustained some flack over the past couple of weeks is now the subject of a US $1.7 Billion lawsuit filed in federal court today.

The plaintiff none other than popular cartoon celebrity Bob The Builder whose occupation has been listed as construction contractor. In the suit filed today, Bob and his lawyers are suing Mr Obama and his campaign for misappropriating Bob's catch phrase "Yes we can" stating that the phrase is copyrighted by Bob and his construction company and that Mr. Obama has taken it without permission, using it extensively and illegally in his campaign slogans, speeches, buttons, shirts and other paraphernalia.

The suit also claims that Bob has suffered extensive grief, damages and financial misfortune due to the misappropriation of the phrase with some of Bob's erstwhile clients, mainly Republican farmer types, believing that Bob was openly endorsing Mr. Obama's campaign by allowing the use of the phrase, deserting Bob's business. They claim Obama's campaign would be the death of them all and stood to put the average farmer out of business.

Due to this belief Bob has lost a sizable chunk of his business and his once formidable empire has actually in recent weeks been close to bankruptcy with mainstays Dizzy the concrete mixer and Lofty the crane staging a wildcat walkout over bouncing cheques just two weeks ago and JJ of JJ's Parts Emporium refusing to allow Bob further credit at his parts depot. Meanwhile partner and possible love interest Wendy has conspicuously moved her trailer off the lot and down to the other end of town. None were available for comment to this Jdid reporter.

Obama representatives dismiss the suit saying that one of Bob's main clients, Farmer Pickles, a known Republican contributor and superdelegate was behind the whole controversy. Pickles who openly backs the GOP and harbored political aspirations is known to have run for Mayor of Bobsville in 2000 and for a vacant senate seat on the Republican ticket two years later losing in a controversial recount which saw the votes from Bob's machines disallowed once and for all.

Pickles himself is definitely is quite the polemic character. No stranger to controversy he was in fact again embroiled in contentious situations twice last year. Once when acting on a tip off believed to be given by informer Spud the scarecrow INS representatives raided his farm searching for undocumented workers, none were found. Again just three months ago Pickles' prize pig Humpty disappeared mysteriously the day before the Johnson family cookout setting in stage a county wide expensive pig hunt including the use of police helicopters and tracking dogs. No signs of Humpty were ever found. Said Nate Johnson aka Cedric the Entertainer "I don't know nuttin about no Humpty Dumpty but dem ribs from that pig that we "found" up on the road there sure was good. oooh weee! Aint that right Lil Bow Wow?"

After numerous attempts our Jdid reporter finally got a chance to speak to Bob a few minutes ago. "I've got nothing against that Muslim fella Mr Obama" said Bob who curiously refuses to give his last name for the record "but I just don't want him using my catch phrase. He's got the kiddies confused and unless he settles this suit and refrains fro using my catch phrase I'm going to use my considerable influence with the 2-5 year olds to ensure he doesn't win this election. oh and Wendy come back I miss you something awesome fierce."

Other mainstream media have focused on Jesse "The nutcracker" Jackson's recent comments on Obama and the controversial New Yorker Magazine cover portraying Obama as a Muslim and his wife as a black revolutionary complete with urban hairstyle.

This story threatens to be bigger than both those and the Rev Wright story if you ask us.

Speaking to other Obama representatives, in Queens New York today, off the record they said Bob's case doesn't have a leg to stand on and Bob's just trying to get his 15 minutes of fame. "If anyone had the right to be upset and suing it should have been Q-Tip and Phife! Dats words to big bird son!" For the uninitiated Q-Tip and Phife were part of a defunct hip hop group called A Tribe called Quest whose 1990 underground hit Can I kick it? made use of the phrase "yes we can" prominently.

We at Doan Mind Me await the fallout from this suit but it brings to mind another suit filed by another then unknown cartoon character back in 1996 against presidential hopeful Bob Dole for misappropriating his moniker Sponge Bob Square Pants. We all know how that one turned out. Sponge Bob is now a cartoon icon and Bob Dole well lets say he's seen better days.

Reporting live from Doan Mind me this is intrepid reporter Jdid getting down to the facts and saying Doan Mind me I duz talk nuff foolishness.

Airline meals

Remember one time we used to laff at those people who walked on the airplane with big set a food in their carry on?

Look at dem people though! Walking around with big, big, heavy bag of roti and rice n peas and meat and whatsnot. They aint have no culture or class though? They dont know the plane duz provide meals included in ya fare? Man duh mek muh shame!

Secretly I think we were jealous though. How dare them people come on the plane with the mouth watering, sweet smelling food. Their home cooked meal vs we with what the airplane people tried to pass off as a proper meal which was usually some mis-identified thing in a plastic plate that they claim is chicken or beef somebody or the other and we sitting there wondering if one of them CSI fellas could do a few tests to confirm if it is what de air hostess say it is before we eat any of it.

Yea boy those were the days. Free drinks and chips and peanuts and thing so too. Well not free cause it was in the price of the ticket but is free cause ya din have to pull out nuh extra money out ya pocket and well ya already pay for it so might as well eat it and enjoy amm I mean experience it.

Not so anymore is it? Now its every manjack bring his own food or pay an arm and a leg for a dry up sandwich on Air Canada and some of them other planes (i believe you still get food provided on transatlantic flights by the British carriers).

Is cheaper to buy at the airport or bring in if ya allowed than spending 6 or 7 dollars on the plane for something that should only cost about $2.50 when it was fresh 5 hours ago.

So now everybody walking with food in dey bag or hand. Even at the airport in Barbados, I went to buy food to eat there in the departure lounge and the fellas wrap it up nice and special like I was taking it on the plane. Dey catering to we needs.

Is a new day boy, new day, new things. Cant laff at nobody carrying food onto the plane no more. Rather they can laff at you.

Wait you aint bring nuh food on this flight and had to buy a 6 dollar dry up sandwich on the plane? whaaaaa, ha ha ha. Boy wha wrong wid you? You aint have no class or culture or common sense? You dont know ya duz pay extra for the plane food? Man ya mek muh shame!

Food

Food is food is food!

Don't you hate it when a restaurant that has in the past had reliably good quality tasty food suddenly isn't so good anymore?

I mean I wouldn't say I'm extremely picky with restaurants, I'll give most spots a try at least once as long as they look clean and the menu appeals to me. Its the getting me to go back there thing that will be an issue cause if you aint up to par I don't see why I should go back and spend my hard earned money with you.

And with that mindframe it means that aside from experimenting to find new spots that could be good there are very few spots that get my repeat business.

So its sad when one of them has to get cut from my list. Could be a number of things. Cooks change, menu change, size of meal change, price gone up and value for buck just aint what it used to be. But the one that really gets me is when the meal quality changes for the worse.

Woe is me

Today I had a roti from a place that I haven't been to frequently in the past few years but I always thought was one of the better roti places downtown. Dismal! I think its the fact that the staff changed and the old time roti makers aint around no more, instead replaced by cooks that clearly dont know how to make proper roti.

Shame shame shame

Welcome back

I'm back. Didnt go straight back to work after I returned home. Took a few days off. Friday decided to go to the mall and whilst there I ended up in Walmart not one of my favorite stores cause its always crazy busy and I aint that big a crowd person.

Anyway as I'm walking through Walmart I end up in the shoe section for no apparent reason. Cutting down one aisle I see this old Indian man calling over to me. Being the ever friendly Jdid plus what can I say I'm a bit slower and disoriented these days all things being equal, I walked over. He was trying to separate a pair of shoes which were connected with a length of slim elastic like black cord. The knot was really tiny and he was trying to alternatively pick out the knot or pop it.

He handed me the shoes and asked for help. Me being my dotish self attempted to assist but my finger nails and fingers in general arent that good at knot picking and since I lost like 20pounds in the past month I too weak to be popping elastic cords. I try for a minute and nuttin a work so I handed back to the shoes to him, said sorry and made ready to step.

Man look at me an ask me for size 11s.

Thats when I clued in. He wasnt asking me to help him as a kind Samaritan walking through the aisles of Walmart he thought I actually worked there. Wha de so n so!

Is not like I was wearing Walmart colors either unless they start wearing black t-shirts with orange splashes on them.

Man I look pun the shelf pull off a pair a shoes plop them in he hand, chupse and walk off. After I left I assume he probably reported my horrible customer service to the manager.

ps: thanks to all you guys who sent condolences. much appreciated.