REGURGITATIONS

     "Today I had to break up a fight between a retarded child and a child with Downs Syndrome. I angrily pulled them apart.  'What the hell is going on here?  What are you two fighting about.'  The retarded child responded, 'I told him he is dumb.'  The Downs Syndrome child immediately responded, 'He's dumb!"  I hesitated for a few seconds before responding, 'Well... technically you are both...."  The audience erupted in laughter.  I continued with the second part of the joke. "The retarded child pointed at the other child, 'He is dumber than me because he has a genetic mutation of the twenty first chromosome...'  I interrupted, 'Are you sure you are retarded? That is a lot of complex information for ....."  Again the audience erupted in laughter.       This was the second time I had performed this joke.  The first time it also met with an eruption of laughter.  After...

     I have tremendous respect for Spike Lee as a filmmaker and a social spokesperson but I believe he is confused regarding the purpose of a boycott.  A boycott's purpose is to wage financial war against your oppressor.  A boycott attempts to harm the perpetrator of civil injustice by creating harm in the pocketbook of the offender.  This was the purpose of the Montgomery bus boycott.  This was the purpose of the lunch counter sit-ins at Woolworths.  The Civil Rights era architects understood much revenue was gained by the white man from black pockets.  If the black man refused to spend his money at specific white-run municipalities or white-owned businesses this would gain the attention of the white man and bring them to the bargaining table.  Many white men could do without the black man and black race but they did not want to do without their money.  It was not a sense of justice or fairness which brought many white ...

     Isis has attacked in America.   Why?   Because they should… just as we would.   Evidently ISIS decided it is better to fight us over here… than to fight us over there.   Sound familiar?        The terrorists. Terrorists.   A frequently used term these days.   The terrorists seem easily identifiable.   But before you can identify the terrorists you must identify the land you are standing on.   You must understand a terrorist is defined according to your perspective.   This is what America fails to understand.   Terrorism is a subjective term.      From the outside looking in the Civil Rights era of 1960’s (specifically 1968) America looked like a time of mass rebellion and revolution.   Citizens were marching and rioting, our government was killing our citizens in our streets and on foreign soil and our leaders were being assassinated.   Clearly, fr...

     So tonight a friendly, kind, likable young man sidled up to me prior to the comedy contest beginning at our local comedy club.   He had performed the prior night in the competition and failed to advance.   I had witnessed his performance first hand.   This young man had seen me perform once and evidently this garnered his respect.   In fact prior to going on the previous night he had asked me for last minute advice and I simply told him, “Forget it’s a competition.   Simply have fun and enjoy the experience.”   I knew he was new to comedy so he had little chance of advancing.   This was his first time under the lights on the big stage.   His set could not have gone much worse.   He was energetic and projected confidence yet his five minutes did not produce a single genuine laugh.   It was one of those performances which was painful to watch.   As I scanned the audience from the back of the room you co...

      American citizens are in a dysfunctional relationship with our government.   We love America but we are not IN LOVE with American government.   Yet we still keep going back to them no matter how much harm, pain and death they bring to us.   Even when we break up with one, we immediately find another who brings us the same pain and suffering.         Some of us lie down and give up feeling there is nothing we can do.   We feel our actions will make no difference.   We choose not to vote.   Others get angry and fight but we do not fight those who cause our suffering… we fight others.   We project our anger and resentment on THEM.   We blame THEM for our situation.   American citizens are in a dysfunctional, abusive relationship with a drunken, violent Uncle Sam.       We do not learn from the past.   We keep repeating the same mistakes. ...