Book Reviews-The Outfit, Hard as Nails, Deathstalker Legacy and more

The Outfit

by Gus Russo

The classic era of American organized crime was from the thirties through the seventies. During this period the Chicago Syndicate aka "The Outfit" was close in power to all of the NY Five Families combined. Chicago famously enforced an edict that stated "Anything west of Chicago belongs to Chicago!". The Outfit controlled or oversaw satellite families or crime organizations in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Los Angeles, Memphis, Milwaukee and other areas. It shook down Hollywood studios, kept a heavy hand in labor unions, and maintained a presence in Las Vegas. Although it had to share the Teamsters Union with the Midwest and East Coast Families, the Outfit was the primary organization that used Teamsters Pension Fund monies to invest in a wide variety of legal and illegal activities.

Gus Russo details this story. After Capone went to prison, the new leaders of the Outfit met to set up a structure that would endure for seven decades.

The differences between the Chicago Outfit and the NY Families were:

1. The Outfit was organized more along the lines of a corporation instead of a Mafia Family
2. The Outfit had eliminated or subsumed all serious competition within Chicago
3. The Outfit made more use of "front bosses" 
4. The Outfit seemed to have a few more open psychopaths
5. The Outfit allowed non-Italians to rise to positions of authority and dominance, although the ultimate leadership remained Italian

One of the more interesting gangsters profiled and a possible real life model for the fictional Tom Hagen was Curly Humphreys, a man of Welsh descent, who as a young hoodlum had hijacked one of Capone's liquor shipments. Hauled before Capone, Humphreys not only talked himself out of the usual sanction for such a crime but also managed to get a job with the Outfit. Humphreys became the organization's preeminent fixer, legal advisor, business contact and labor extortionist. He would later sit on the leadership council of the post-Capone Outfit until his death by natural causes. As Capone himself said of Humphreys , "Anybody can use a gun. The Hump uses his head. He can shoot if he has to but he likes to negotiate with cash when he can. I like that in a man".  Humphreys was the first mobster to come up with the 5th Amendment privilege tactic when questioned by Congress. 

Humphrey's fellow ruling council members and later Outfit Bosses were Paul Ricca, the real leader in the immediate post-Capone years and a man described by sixties era boss Sam Giancana as a "wild shifty dog" and  "a real heartless b*****d"   (given that Giancana himself was widely considered by mobsters and law enforcement to be an unstable homicidal maniac that's saying something) and Anthony Accardo, Ricca's friend and a former Capone driver/enforcer who was given the nickname "Joe Batters" by Capone for his savage prowess with a baseball bat.

These men and a few others would take over and lead the Outfit for decades. Russo pulls no punches. The book is extremely detailed and sourced. With books like this though you still have to take things with a grain of salt as the primary people of interest generally didn't keep diaries or talk to biographers. However if you are interested in the classic era of organized crime in America, give this a read.

Hard as Nails

by Dan Simmons

Hard as Nails is the third Joe Kurtz novel by the eclectic author Dan Simmons. The previous two were Hard Freeze and Hard Case but this one stands alone.

The protagonist, Joe Kurtz, is a Buffalo area former PI who has more than a little in common with such fictional heroes as Marlowe, Marv (from Sin City), Mike Hammer, or Burke. He is a former PI because as an ex-con he can't have a PI license. He is an ex-con because he did 11 years in Attica for killing a Mafia ranking member who murdered his partner. Once in prison he managed to make enemies of Black Muslims, white power types and of course organized crime adherents. But Kurtz is not so easy to kill.

As the book opens Kurtz is walking his parole officer to her car when both of them are shot. As Kurtz and his parole officer have any number of enemies with long memories the list of suspects is pretty large. And since Kurtz doesn't exactly have a pleasing personality there's not a lot of people willing to help him figure out who tried to have him murdered.

The list of possible suspects includes the feuding heads of two upstate NY mafia families, each of whom assure Kurtz that if they wanted him dead he would have been. Like any good noir hero Kurtz has his share of femme fatales, including a former girlfriend /police detective who wants to either arrest him or marry him and the aforementioned head of one of the Mafia groups (think Lucrezia Borgia as a young woman). Silly but fun, this book wasn't quite as good as the first two. 

Deathstalker Legacy, Deathstalker Return and Deathstalker Coda

by Simon Green

The British author Simon Green was a favorite author of mine but he's about run the string out here. He writes the literary equivalent of comfort food. You always know what you're going to get. It's fun but it's not overly challenging. In this trilogy he's become a little too repetitive. 

Green writes space opera. It's set millions of years in the future in which humanity is united under a single government (British derived of course) and has spread across the universe. There is peace, largely because a now legendary hero, Owen Deathstalker (subject of a previous and much better series) , led a great rebellion in which the corrupt Empress was overthrown. 

Now 200 years after Owen disappeared fighting an alien threat to humanity, his descendant Lewis is outlawed, at least in part because he's stolen the wife of his best friend and current King, Douglass. Unknown to Douglass, a man who was jealous of Lewis' position has set into motion plans to overthrow Douglass and take control of the Empire himself. And oh yes there is another threat to all life (human and alien) in the universe that only the disappeared and presumed dead Owen can deal with.

It's fun writing if you've never read Green before. The heroes are snarky and ironic. They ALWAYS have some fantastically and implausibly cool line to reel off to an enemy just before they wreck his day. The bad guys are suitably despicable. Green ALWAYS has rational male heroes and slightly more powerful, slightly more dangerous female heroines. 

He writes more strong female characters than any other male sci-fi/fantasy author I can cite. There are plenty of last stands, derring-do, plots within plots, double crosses, triple crosses, close calls and battles to the bitter end. You can virtually see the bad guys twirling their mustaches and hear them laughing evilly. Green writes books like old time radio serials. It's pulp fiction without all of the ugly associated racism, sexism or pro-colonialism. But if you've read Green before this will all seem recycled. And if heroes won't stay dead and can do thoroughly impossible things, how heroic are they really? 

If 6 were 9
by Jake Lamar

The title tries to capture the absurdity of much modern life in America, particularly when it comes to race. Jake Lamar is an author who knows how to do this in his sleep. This is a short novel that satirizes racial relations, the OJ trial, college professors, the media, black conservatives, law enforcement, liberals, and many other subjects.

Professor Clay Robinette gets a late night call from former friend and mentor, once militant but now ultra conservative Professor Reggie Brogus (think a mix of Eldridge Cleaver and Clarence Thomas) who needs Clay's help. There's a dead body in his office and he swears he has no idea how it got there. Against his better judgement, Clay decides to go see what's going on. As it turns out it's not just a dead body. It's a dead white woman. And not just any white woman, but Jennifer Wolfsheim, a former student of Clay's and his former mistress.
Brogus thinks he's been set up. Clay wonders just who's setting up whom. Nevertheless he helps Brogus cover things up and gives him a ride out of town. He will later regret this.

Of course things don't end there and almost immediately the ensuing investigation starts to pick up links between Jennifer and Clay. So Clay needs to find the "real killer" before the police-led by a woman of disturbing intelligence and indeterminate race whose presence drives Clay to distraction- decide he's the best suspect. The detective, Patsy DeFestina, doesn't miss much and is prone to blurting out things to the visibly nervous Clay like "Who knows? Maybe our killer was wearing a coat like yours."

Clay's investigation requires understanding the journey that Brogus took in life-from being a sixties black militant so scarily uncompromising, hateful and rhetorically violent that he was kicked out of other militant groups to becoming a lapdog black conservative who hawks barbeque sauce on late night ads. This is a bitterly funny book.

Hadrian's Wall

by William Dietrich

I liked The Scourge of God so I thought I'd give Hadrian's Wall a try. It's set a few years before the events in The Scourge of God but in the same setting-the late Roman empire. Dietrich is a good writer who's done his research and it shows. The book is chock full of interesting details about what the Romans and Celts and other peoples of the time were like-what they ate, how they worshipped, how their cultures and values differed. Hadrian's Wall was the fortification between Roman occupied Britainnia and the unconquered North of Scotland (Caledonia)

This story however didn't quite grab me as much. It's told from two points of view-that of a Roman "detective" for lack of a better word, who has come to Brittania after the book's events to find out what took place and the perspective of a Roman woman of astounding beauty, Valeria.

The Wall is under the new command of the harsh but fair Roman commander Galba. Galba has worked his way up through the ranks for the past two decades. He has fought everywhere along the Roman frontier. Just as he is formally promoted to command, Galba is told that he will not actually be in charge. Because of political requirements, actual command will pass to a true Roman noble, Marcus, who is richer and better connected than Galba, and more importantly a native Roman, unlike the Greek born Galba.  Marcus' career is ascending though he barely knows one end of a spatha from the other. To celebrate his new command, Marcus will marry Valeria, a Senator's daughter. The embittered Galba is advised to ensure that Marcus succeeds.

Valeria's arrival and marriage is noted by the Celtic clan leader Caractacus, a former Roman mercenary who has returned to his native land. Caractacus dreams of freeing all of Britain from Roman rule. He also has more carnal dreams when he is told of Valeria's beauty and promptly kidnaps her. Here the book starts to slide uncomfortably close to both romance novel and Dances With Wolves territory as the naive and biased Valeria finds that the Celts are not the brutal barbarians she thought they were and actually treat women much better than the strongly patriarchal Romans. The Celts have women warriors. The Celts keep no slaves. They free Valeria's handmaiden. They do not harm Valeria. She eagerly immerses herself in Celtic culture.

Though at first she is a captive of Caractacus it's soon very clear that the only bonds holding them together are those of love-at least on Caractacus' part. Valeria is more conflicted since she has feelings for Marcus, Caractacus, and to a certain extent Galba. Besotted by love or not though, Caractacus still intends to take the tribes to war. Valeria will need to decide which side is she on. I liked the opening and middle of this book.YMMV.  

NJ Gov. Chris Christie: Enough with the Sharia Law Crap Already!!! (VIDEO)

In this country of ours, we have this document known as the Constitution.  You might have heard of it.  It guarantees that, in this country, we will always have a republican form of government where the people - and not monarchs, religious rulers, or even religion itself - are in control of what happens here.  This is spelled out quite plainly in Article IV of our Constitution for anybody who cares to read it.  But who are we kidding - Americans don't read the Constitution!!!  Especially the staunch conservative Bible-belt Americans who love to drone on about how Muslims are plotting to take over our country by using "Sharia Law."  Republican Presidential Candidate Herman Cain has even gone so far as to say he would absolutely not appoint a Muslim judge to any court because he is afraid they will attempt to implement Sharia Law in America.

The Republican Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, apparently fed up with hearing about this Sharia Law propaganda from within his own party, hit back recently in response to his decision to appoint a Muslim judge to the bench:

Per yahoo news:

"Sharia law has nothing to do with this at all. It's crazy. It's crazy," Christie said at a press conference Wednesday. "The guy's an American citizen who has been an admitted lawyer to practice in the state of New Jersey, swearing an oath to uphold the laws of New Jersey, the constitution of the state of New Jersey, and the Constitution of the United States of America . . . .This Sharia law business is crap. It's just crazy. And I'm tired of dealing with the crazies."

QUESTIONS:
What are your thoughts on what Christie said?
What are your thoughts on the Sharia Law debate in general?

Hypocrisy at its Finest!

I am not a parent, but I understand the parent to child relationship to be a sacred one. I have god children, nieces and a nephew, whom I care about dearly and feel strongly enough for, that I would lie down on train tracks for them, if it meant they wouldn't have to suffer or be in harms way. I also know first hand the consequences of having a parent who didn't care enough about me and made reckless and selfish decisions, for their own self interests. I know first hand the ordeal that one parent must face, when the other decides to be irresponsible and not provide for the children. The job of a parent is to put their child or children FIRST at all times. Nothing should prevent you from being the best parent you can be and nothing should prevent you from going above and beyond for your child or children - BOTTOM-LINE! I have no sympathy and zero tolerance for deadbeat parents, in this case a dead beat dad. Pay your child support and if you can't do so, move mountains to make sure that you can.

US Congressman, Joe Walsh had these words for President Obama regarding the debt-ceiling debate.

"I won't place one more dollar of debt upon the backs of my kids and grandkids, unless we structurally reform, the way this town spends money."

So here we have Rep. Joe Walsh worried about the debt as it would apply to his children and future grandchildren. This is interesting coming from Rep. Walsh, since he owe's his wife more than $117K in child support, from a period where he claimed to be umemployed with no income or money to aide his ex-wife in supporting their children, but ironically had $35K to loan his campaign to run for congress.

Joe Walsh is a member of the Freshman Class of Tea-Party Republicans, who were swept into Congress to "restore fiscal sanity" to Washington. These members of the Republican Party, ride a platform of family values and often cite their children and grandchildren as reasoning for policy decisions. It seems that Joe Walsh is not qualified to define what fiscal sanity is and knows nothing about family values. According to a law suite filed by Walsh's ex-wife Laura Walsh, Joe owes her more than $117K in child support for a period dating November 2005 to December 2010. During this time, Walsh made partial or no payments. Prior to his election to Congress, Walsh states that he was unemployed and unable to make the agreed upon child support payments in full. According to Congressional Financial Disclosures, Walsh loaned his 2010 congressional campaign $35K and also paid himself back $14k for the loan. Where did Mr. Walsh get the $35K to loan his campaign and why did a congressional campaign take precedence over his children. Walsh also took a vacation with his companion to Italy and Mexico.

In court filings Laura Walsh's Attorney said:

"The apparent availability of large sums of money from either his employment, his family or his campaign has allowed him to live quite a comfortable lifestyle, while at the same time, due to his failure to pay child support or any of his share of the education costs or medical expenses, Laura and his children were denied any of these advantages."

The people of Illinois 8th Congressional District should be grateful, that Mr. Walsh has given them an accurate portrayal of his morals and character. Constituents across the country should also take a lesson and connect Mr. Walsh to his tea-party colleagues in Congress. The hypocrisy spreads across the tea-party caucus and should be taken seriously. How can we trust a member of Congress to represent their constituents and put the interests of the constituents above their own, when they won't even do the same for their children? My heart goes out to Laura Walsh, it's difficult to raise children without the help of the other parent.

If you were unemployed and behind on child support payments to your former spouse and had access to funds from other sources, would you finance a congressional run or give the money to your former spouse for your children?

Book Reviews-Barack Obama and The Jim Crow Media, Gotrek and Felix, Island and more

Barack Obama and the Jim Crow Media

by Ishmael Reed

This is a collection of Ishmael Reed's writings on the phenomenon of Barack Obama (and black people in general and black men in particular) as viewed through the lens of the US media. Reed argues that white supremacy still remains a potent force in American society-especially the media. Many of these essays were previously published at Counterpunch or at Konch, Reed's personal site. 


A recurring theme of Reed's non-fiction is that the segregated media tells lies about black people. This causes great ignorance among everyone, because those lies are rarely if ever challenged (there is no black CNN/MSNBC/FOX) and often become received wisdom-even among black people. Reed views it as one of his highest responsibilities to tell the truth and shame the devil.

And he does just that, wading into such controversies as the Gates-Crowley incident (Reed is contemptuous of both of them), the general whiteness of such shows as Morning Joe, the misguided Black In America CNN series, Obama's (and the media's) love of dishing out "tough love" to blacks but not to other ethnic groups, the racial blindness and just plain racism of some feminists and leftists, historical and current links between Blacks and Irish, the double standards around which people can say racist things about other people (why does Buchanan still have a job at MSNBC), the ridiculousness of David Mamet, racial tropes in The Wire, the writers and producers of Precious and many other things.

Reed is the sort of writer, who while discussing Hillary Clinton's tears during her presidential campaign, asks sarcastically if Mrs. Clinton wept about her husband's execution of Ricky Ray Rector. Reed is a favorite writer of mine. He's been on the front lines of activism and writing for a long long time. I don't always agree with him but he does always challenge, provoke and make you bring your A-game when you disagree.

Gotrek and Felix: The First Omnibus 
by William King

Warhammer is a role playing game. It is also a shared writing universe that provides the background to this game. The Warhammer world is similar to our own circa 1375. Many of the stories in the Omnibus take place in or around a country roughly equivalent to the Holy Roman Empire.

The stories' heroes are of course Gotrek Gurnisson, a proudly pugnacious and somewhat bigoted dwarf and Felix Jaeger, an idealistic and rather loquacious warrior-poet-author-casanova who is a Renaissance man. Felix was a radical student who was expelled from university for dueling. Shortly afterward he helped start (and lead?) a tax revolt against the Empire. This turned into a riot during which Gotrek saved Felix's life. In return Felix swore an oath to follow Gotrek, record his deeds and his hopefully glorious death. For you see, Gotrek is no ordinary dwarf warrior. He is a Slayer-a dwarf who feels that he has so hopelessly tarnished his honor that he can only restore it by the death of a great number of his enemies and his own.

"I am a dwarf. My honor is my life. Without it I am nothing. I shall become a Slayer. I shall seek redemption in the eyes of my ancestors. I shall become as death to my enemies until I face he that takes my life and my shame".

Dwarves take oaths very seriously. And Gotrek, even among dwarves, is considered insanely stubborn and unyielding. So, though Felix realizes that anything dangerous enough to kill Gotrek will probably kill him shortly afterwards, he keeps his promise to share Gotrek's adventures throughout the worlds of Man and beyond.

Although the two become friends they would never admit it. Felix is often irritated by Gotrek's general dwarfish obstinacy and thinks lusting after your own death is retarded. Gotrek, though infrequently kind in his own way to Felix, generally doesn't like humans and doesn't mind saying so-rudely, repeatedly and with great relish. Gotrek values taking the traditional or lawful (by dwarf standards not human) action while Felix is more interested in doing what is right, regardless of the law. This is pretty good adventure writing. Both heroes are extremely dangerous adversaries. If you harm one the other will certainly kill you, no matter the cost, as many of their enemies have discovered. This book is not Michael Moorcock or Robert E. Howard quality but was much better than I expected. The First Omnibus has three novellas. This is easy reading with a surprising amount of humor to balance out the grimness.

Island 
by Richard Laymon

Richard Laymon's (1947-2001) work is something of an acquired taste. He was perhaps the Tarantino of horror fiction before Tarantino became a household name. Sometimes while reading his work I wonder about Laymon's home life growing up but people who knew him well said that he was always cheerful, fun and likable. It's interesting to me that someone who was evidently quite normal could write such viscerally disturbing stories. That's skill. He's not always my cup of tea.

Island is about a horny inexperienced wimpy teenager named Rupert, who finagles an invitation to a cruise with his indifferent girlfriend Connie, and her much more attractive sisters and mother, along with their husbands and boyfriends.

However the yacht explodes and the entire party is stranded on a deserted island. Only the island is not deserted. Someone is killing the members of the party one by one. Rupert has a chance to become a hero and protect those who are still alive.
This is written in first person which usually I don't like. Rupert describes the events in his journal, that is when he's not leering at Connie's female relatives. Did I mention that Rupert is obsessed with sex? There are a few plot twists which I saw ahead of time and one big one which I didn't see but which certainly lived up to Laymon's wicked reputation. YMMV. Proceed with caution.



Rip it Up
edited by Kandia Crazy Horse

Rip it Up is a collection of interviews,essays and articles concerning the experience of Black musicians within rock-n-roll as well as critical analysis of what "black rock" or "white rock" is. The book explores such ideas and historical experiences as ripoffs, musical segregation, the desire for many groups to have their own cultural expressions. It examines how music that was called "rock-n-roll" in the fifties changed to music called "rock" in the sixties and seventies while generally forcing black musicians to pursue other endeavors. This is not just some sob story of white exclusion because as many musicians and critics make clear the black audience can be astoundingly conservative and even reactionary musically. Radio program directors and record company executives can be extremely prejudiced.

Kandia Crazy Horse is one of today's foremost music and film critics as well as being a huge Allman Brothers, Funkadelic and Lynryd Skynyrd fan. She states that she uses the term "black rock" in quotes because she still has no idea what it is. She chose the book's title in homage to such people as Little Richard (it's a song title of his) Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Louis Jordan and others. Kandia writes:

"The hope for this book is that its spotlight on such obscure classics as America Eats Its Young will serve as a primer on some of the key figures who have made not just rock history but pancultural history...Nevertheless thirty-odd years after the death of Jimi Hendrix, perhaps the greatest ever guitar revolutionary this planet will see, the notion of a black guitar hero is still inconceivable to many-or at least to record executives and other power players in the rock biz."

The book is full of fascinating information (did you know the backup singers for Lynyrd Skynrd's Sweet Home Alabama were black women) and tons of interviews with such people as Slash, Little Richard, Vernon Reid, Venetta Fields, Lorraine Grady and Lenny Kravitz. The essays are dead on as well-in particular Lester Bangs' introspective "White Noise Supremacists" which examines some individuals' simultaneous holding of generally progressive views about society and their racist loathing of anything remotely "black sounding" in music. And of course there are people who are racist as heck in general but love anything "black sounding" in music. People are complicated.



Murder Machine

by Gene Mustain and Jerry Capeci

Although John Gotti was the most notorious modern mobster and later, mob boss in America there were people in the Gambino Crime Family that even John Gotti didn't want to tussle with. One such man was Roy DeMeo, a soldier in the Gambino Crime Family who became one of the primary executioners that then Family Boss, Paul Castellano used for his dirty work.

DeMeo was a completely evil man whose primary concern, like that of every other successful gangster was in earning enough money to kick upstairs to his captain and ultimately to the boss. To this end he muscled his way into any business that made money-from prostitution to auto theft to drugs to abuse of children to extortion, bookmaking, strip clubs, adult magazines/films-DeMeo wasn't picky.

In this DeMeo was aided by a small trusted crew of associates (one of whom was nicknamed "Dracula"(!) ) who along with him are believed to have murdered between sixty and two hundred people, while operating out of Canarsie, Brooklyn. Roy not only killed for his Family, the Gambinos, he did "favors" upon request for other Families and reportedly even regular citizens who wanted someone to disappear.

And disappearing people was DeMeo's specialty. As a young man DeMeo had trained as a butcher. He took those talents into his work in the Mafia. Rather than shooting someone and leaving their body to be found by the authorities DeMeo and his men would often arrange to kill someone and completely dismember their corpse so that it would never be found. They became quite blase about this, often ordering out for pizza while chopping someone up. Roy and his crew did not care about killing men, women or children. The paranoid Roy once shot a teenage vacuum cleaner salesman who he thought was a Cuban hitman while crew members killed women for both personal and business reasons. Other Mafia members moved very carefully around the hyperviolent Roy who neither forgave nor forgot insults. The Gemini Lounge (DeMeo's Headquarters) became known in mob circles as a place where you checked in but never checked out.

Murder Machine details the growing tensions between DeMeo and his immediate supervisor, capo Nino Gaggi, who thoroughly despised DeMeo but eagerly took money from him. Ultimately when DeMeo's unsanctioned violence and auto theft rackets attracted too much attention, the Family leader (Paul Castellano) decided DeMeo had to go. He put out feelers to Gotti about doing this but Gotti begged off. Gotti was heard on tape saying "DeMeo had an army of killers".

Ultimately however Paul told Nino to handle it and Nino ordered DeMeo's own crew to do it. Roy DeMeo was found in a car trunk. Ironically, by ordering the removal of the violent but generally loyal DeMeo, Castellano unwittingly made his own downfall that much easier, as an emboldened Gotti ordered Castellano's murder shortly afterwards. Much of this story became known via Nino's turncoat nephew, Dominick Montiglio, who was a courier between Gaggi and DeMeo. This book provided a fascinating look into the 70's-80's world of the street level Mafia.

Red as Blood
by Tanith Lee

I first read this as a kid and completely missed the deeper feminist or political reinterpretations of classic fairy tales and legends. I'm glad I did because frankly I may not have read it if I knew the deeper meanings ahead of time. It's different reading this book as an adult. I like Tanith Lee a lot; she's a favorite writer. Lee mostly gets categorized as a horror writer but that category is far too reductive for her. She's an intensely descriptive writer who loves words. She places tons of analysis and allegory in her stories. They can be enjoyed on many different levels. It's rare that Lee goes for the gross out. She is a serious author with a lot of important ideas.

In this collection Lee uses classic stories as tropes to explore some contemporary issues or in some cases to pull the curtains back and show the even deeper horror that was just hinted at in the versions we know. In many of the stories the person we think of as the bad person may well not have been the bad guy. This is most deftly done in the title story "Red as Blood", a retelling of "Snow White" in which we find out that the Witch Queen/Stepmother may really not be the person who's trying to do harm.

Lee has written a LOT over the years and I unfortunately have yet to read all she's created. Her prose can best be described as almost biblical but in this collection she deliberately simplifies and shortens. Again although a few of the stories have now quite obvious feminist meanings, like any master writer Lee's work stands above that. She can and does write effectively from various POV. You may enjoy this collection more because of that but even if you don't you should check it out as Lee's primary concern is art, not politics.

TR: Another of our favourite stories is Sabella, which has been described as a fantasy/horror/science fiction novella. What is your opinion on genre categories, such as these?

TL: Genre categories are irrelevant. I dislike them, but I do not have the casting vote. Writing is writing and stories are stories. Perhaps the only true genres are fiction and non-fiction. And even there, who can be sure?

TR: With this in mind, might we mention The Tales of the Sisters Grimmer. What was the inspiration behind these?
TL: I rather like turning all stories around. As a child, my mother told me lots of fairy stories, many her own invention. She too tended to reverse the norm, as for example her tale where the prince ended up marrying the witch -- this one I stole from her -- with her complete consent, to use in my children's book Princess Hynchatti. Red as Blood was my first concerted excursion into turning all my personal favourites around. When I am fascinated by something, I like to play with it.
Source

Rosa Parks' Estate Squabble

Rosa Parks' is a civil rights icon and hero to many. Since her death in 2005, Ms. Parks has become a pawn in a legal tug-of-war. Her estate which included memorabilia once valued at $10M and a cash value of $370K, is now in the midst of dysfunction. A New York City auction house is in possession of her memorabilia and legal fees have drained her estates cash value.


Per Detroit Free Press:

The financial portrait of Parks' estate, which has been kept under seal since her death, is outlined in a new Michigan Supreme Court filing that offers the first detailed glimpse into a long-running feud over the distribution of her assets.

The legal filing contends that Wayne County Probate Judge Freddie Burton Jr. allowed two court-appointed attorneys, John Chase Jr. and Melvin Jefferson Jr., to pile up excessive fees that drained nearly $243,000 from the estate, or about two-thirds of the cash value.

After the money was gone, the lawyers persuaded Burton to award them Parks' vast memorabilia collection and the rights to license her name, which Parks had given to her Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development long before she died.

Steven Cohen, who represents Elaine Steele and the institute in the probate case, filed the request Tuesday, asking the Supreme Court to overturn an appeals court decision that stood behind Burton's handling of the case and accused the judge of overstepping his bounds by arbitrarily appointing Chase and Jefferson as fiduciaries when the lawyers were not previously involved in the case.

"Since Mrs. Parks' death in 2005 ... the court system of her adopted city has embarked on a course to destroy her legacy, bankrupt her institute, shred her estate plan and steal her very name," Cohen said in the filing. Cohen wants the institute and Steele to get the property back.

Who should be held accountable for the mismanagement of this estate?

Should a court have the authority to manage an estate the way they've managed this estate?

More Racial Politics: Is it Better to Look Like You or Work For You?

 Choice is an illusion created between those with power and those without.

California’s latest Supreme Court news has sparked a debate that some colleagues and I’ve been having for years.  Governor Jerry Brown’s decision to nominate Goodwin Liu has become a controversial decision. Many feel that Brown passed over several Latino and African American candidates to nominate Liu, an Asian who by all accounts is a liberal and strong supporter of civil rights.  So we find ourselves asking the question again.  Which is more important: that you have a person that looks like you in a position of importance or you have a person who will work for you in a position of importance?

Now clearly I understand that these two things are not mutually exclusive.  I believe we would all agree that having someone with a similar racial and/or ethnic background who also has a point of view that runs parallel with the majority of folks within that same background would be preferable.  However, I fear those days may be behind us.  I hate to be cynical – no, I don’t – but am I the only one who believes that someone like Thurgood Marshall, an “Anomaly,” a champion of civil and individual rights, State accountability, and Federal oversight, would not get the support of a Senate comprised of Tea Partiers? 

We can never see past the choices we don’t understand. 

Since this Neo-esque “Anomaly” only comes around when it is time for the Source to reload the Matrix, we are left with a choice: which is more important, the person or the work they do?  A case can be made for either side.  Since Obama’s inauguration, I’ve had to challenge myself and my positions on this issues.  I like to think of it as growth, maybe it’s bias; hell, maybe it’s both.  What I do know is that I often find myself conflicted.  On one hand, diversity adds value to all aspects of life.  It is very possible for a white male to grow up with very limited access to other races and cultures, informing his political opinions and positions.  And while he may bring value to a discussion, I do believe there is legitimate concern if everyone involved within his decision making circle all come from that exact same background.  So while I understand the political fallout from Justices Sotomayor’s “Wise Latina” comments, I disagree with her detractors.   I do expect a Latina to bring a perspective her colleagues may not have; I expect the same from a White Male.  Clearly, there’s value in having diversity introspectively; there is also value in the extrospective.  Seeing people that look like you in various places of success and authority is a vital piece of any culture.  Not only does it support one’s need to be accepted and respected, it also makes the impossible seem possible; this is especially true for those who aspire to reach heights previously not open or available to them.  Prior to President Obama’s inauguration, the vast majority of African Americans never imagined that anyone other than a White Male would be president in their lifetime.  It was literally an image that we could not view because it was one we had never seen.  All that to say, I believe the Hispanic and African American citizens in California have a point, I do believe you need to see a face that looks like yours in power positions.

However, does this accurately illustrate the willingness of our leaders to work on the behalf of the Black community?  I’m not convinced it does.  As we’ve seen with the nomination of Clarence Thomas, simply putting a black face on the bench doesn’t mean you are reaching out to the black community.   Prior to joining the blog, several of us debated – ad nauseam – several political issues.  Who did more for the African American community, Clinton or Bush?  Arguments were made for both sides of the aisle: Clinton’s Administration saw the first female U.S. Secretary of State and the highest-ranking woman in the history of the U.S. government, Clinton, at the time, had the most diverse cabinet in history, and more African Americans appointed to the federal bench than any other President.  Conversely, Bush’s Administration (II) topped Clinton in high-ranking diversity of cabinet.  Bush was ground breaking in his appointments of the first African American Secretary of state, serving not only as the highest-ranking African American but also the highest-ranking African American female in the history of the U.S. government.  He nominated the first Hispanic Attorney General in addition to filling three of the four highest-ranking positions with minorities.  However, when asked, the Black community supports Clinton over Bush in a landslide.

No, you’ve already made the choice. Now you have to understand it

I think the Black community must be very careful with their requests.  Sometimes you actually get what you are demanding; and it ain’t always good.  The Janitor and I were conversing with friends of ours on a similar topic.  If, for example, Alan Keys was elected the first Black president, shouldn’t we cheer for that breakthrough equally as loud as we did for Obama?  Despite Keys’ clear Grand Canyon type gap in political points of view from the large majority of Black folks, shouldn’t we celebrate the accomplishment of an African American kicking through the glass ceiling?    Not to my surprise, many of my friends said “No.”  With the Key's example, the ascension of the first Black Man to the position of President of the United States would not trump the fact that his political views were completely opposite of 90% of the Black community.  So why then do we turn around and put that type of pressure on our government executives?  We’re okay with equating who our Presidents and Governors select for a given position with their support of the Black community.  Doesn’t that seem a tad bit hypocritical?    

I digress…

This is simple political arithmetic.  President Bush (the First) put a Black man on the SCOTUS.  President Obama put the first Hispanic female on the SCOTUS; yet he is criticized for not “looking out” for the black community.  Question!  Whose nominee would you say has the best interest of the Black community (and other non-white citizens) at heart?   My blog partner, The Janitor, said: “…the most important aspect of any judge you can nominate is not the color of their skin but rather it is the judicial ideology that they subscribe to.  A progressive Latino, White, or Asian can do just as much to champion the progressive agenda in the courts as a Black judge.”  I believe this to be true.  It makes sense.  Should we start to focus more on the policies of the individual instead of their racial makeup?  What is the break-even point?  Is it acceptable to have zero representation if your needs are being met?  After all, many landmark civil right issues were passed without Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, and others in the White House, Congress, or SCOTUS.  While it is important to have diversity, diversity of thought, and a makeup in leadership that reflects the makeup of the country, it is also important that those who make up the leadership actually work on issues that are important to the Black community - YOUR community.  In today's America, can this be accomplished without people who look like you speaking for you?  I don't know. 

If you can’t get both, which is more important: someone that shares a racial and/or ethnic background with you, or someone who will fight to improve your quality of life?

Should we criticize a government chief executive (president or governor) on their political nominations based solely on race?

DSK Accuser Speaks Out!

The Guinean woman who accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault, Nafissatou Diallo, has come out publicly to tell her side of the story. You can watch her here on Good Morning America. She also gave an interview with Newsweek here. This is evidently pretty unusual for an alleged rape victim. Given that everything seems to indicate that the prosecutors do not intend to move forward with the case, this could be her method of pressuring them not to drop the case. Diallo will be doing a Nightline interview on Tuesday.

“Hello? Housekeeping.”

The maid hovered in the suite’s large living room, just inside the entrance. The 32-year-old Guinean, an employee of the Sofitel hotel, had been told by a room-service waiter that room 2806 was now free for cleaning, “Hello? Housekeeping,” the maid called out again. No reply. The door to the bedroom, to her left, was open, and she could see part of the bed. She glanced around the living room for luggage, saw none. “Hello? Housekeeping.” Then a naked man with white hair suddenly appeared, as if out of nowhere.

That’s how Nafissatou Diallo describes the start of the explosive incident on Saturday, May 14, that would forever change her life—and that of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund and, until that moment, the man tipped to be the next president of France. Now the woman known universally as the “DSK maid” has broken her public silence for the first time, talking for more than three hours with NEWSWEEK at the office of her attorneys, Thompson Wigdor, on New York City’s Fifth Avenue.

I honestly can't call it. Strauss-Kahn has a long history of alleged extra marital affairs. He has also been accused of rape by a French writer, Tristane Banon, whose mother also weirdly claimed she had brutal consensual sex with DSK.  Ms. Diallo holds to her story and says she wants DSK to go to jail. But since she lied to the grand jury and prosecutors does she have any credibility now?

Unsurprisingly DSK's lawyers were not amused and put out this terse statement.

Ms. Diallo is the first accuser in history to conduct a media campaign to persuade a prosecutor to pursue charges against a person from whom she wants money.  Her lawyers and public relations consultants have orchestrated an unprecedented number of media events and rallies to bring pressure on the prosecutors in this case after she had to admit  her extraordinary efforts to mislead them. Her lawyers know that her claim for money suffers a fatal blow when the criminal charges are dismissed, as they must be.

This conduct by lawyers  is unprofessional and it violates fundamental rules of professional conduct for lawyers. Its obvious purpose is to inflame public opinion against a defendant in a pending criminal case. The fact is, however, that  the number of rallies, press conferences, and media events they have orchestrated is exceeded only by the number of lies and misstatements  she has made to law enforcement, friends, medical professionals and reporters.
It is time for this unseemly circus to stop.

QUESTIONS:

Do these developments change your mind about what might have happened?

Do you think it's time to do away with anonymity for alleged rape victims? If not why not?

If someone lies about one thing is it safe to presume they will lie about other things?