Maybe I'm writing this because you guys had so much fun bashing me when I wrote about gay hate crimes in Jamaica.

Well, if you think that was wild, you're really going to soak your pink shorts when you hear that California has overturned a ban on gay marriage, which clears a path to make the state the second in the nation after Massachusetts to legalize marital unions between the same sex. ...

... Mr. Mike Norman, a Marietta, Ga., bar owner who is selling t-shirts with "Obama '08" printed on the front -- along with a cartoon monkey eating a banana.

Norman says he printed and started selling the t-shirts because he thinks Obama looks like the character Curious George. But we all know the real reason, and he thinks he's being funny. Well of course, Mr. Obama Monkey T-Shirt Maker's attracted all kinds of negative attention to himself, and it's well deserved. ...

In the grand scheme of things, this really isn't that important, but I just gotta talk about it anyway because I want to state my unadulterated support for WNBC (New York) anchor Sue Simmons, despite any criticism she got for saying f*ck on live television.

In fact, I really wish I didn't have to put an asterisk in place of the "u" in f*ck, as I write this because this is a word that so f*cking many of us use every day. Simmons, a veteran broadcaster of nearly three decades should be allowed a pass. After all, she didn't even know she was on live TV, but rather thought she and co-anchor Chuck Scarborough were taping a promo. ...

I purposely avoided the whole Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy because frankly I thought it was pile after pile of pure, smelly, smudge-on-the-concrete B.S.

After the Wright sound bites played over the air thousands of times and was embedded all over the blogosphere (and as far as I know could be the background of a new FreeCreditReport.com commercial) it became kind of clear that it had nothing to do with Barack Obama's presidential candidacy.

But even though my reaction to Wright himself is to just shrug my shoulders, I wonder what if Obama's reverend was someone really worth scrutinizing. So without further ado, I present to you the Rev. James L. White!!!

Damn, that Richard is funny!!!

(Richard Pryor's classic skit in his 1977 NBC special)

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Sunday, as you know was Mother's Day. As a matter of fact, it was the 150th Mother's Day.

This means that for an entire century, people have been sending flowers, candy, hugging, arguing, reconciling and even visiting graves to honor the woman who went through hours of pain, then years of aggrivation, just to give you a life.

But the one thing a lot of us don't do when it comes to our mothers is listen. My mother, like many others, has an interesting story to tell about her life's experiences, as did my grandmother and great-grandmother. But I've discovered a way that folks have been preserving the stories of their mothers, fathers, other relatives, friends, and their own. It's called StoryCorps, a non-profit organization that creates sort of a digital time capsule of people's lives.

Check out this story of a woman talking to her daughter about immigrating to the United States, then building a life for her family. It's this kind of thing that makes you appreciate the sacrificies our moms make for us. Then go through the website to find out where you might be able to share your mother's story for posterity.

Listen, if you like the idea of having recycled sh*t being spread on your front lawn, then this blog posting probably isn't for you.

But otherwise, you'll probably take offense to a report that is soon to go before a U.S. Senate Committee hearing on government funding of sewer sludge being used in black communities to test whether it is a remedy for lead poisoning.

Does this sound pretty much like the stupidest thing you've heard in a week of stupid things? Well, I'm willing to bet that it is. The Associated Press reported recently that lawmakers are going to investigate the use of the sludge in poor black communities in Baltimore to see if lead from chipped paint and car exhausts would stick to it.

Can anyone say Tuskeegee Experiment? I mean dammit! When I hear about things like this, it really brings out my inner-Jeremiah Wright. As much as I love being a citizen, as Wright would say: "God Damn America!"

Here's where the clear path turns into a labyrinth.

By now, most of you have heard about the videotaped police beating of three murder suspects in Philadelphia. The cops were looking for the perpetrators of a nearby shooting that was believed to be retaliatory. Reports say they sped away from the scene of the crime and the police gave chase. No gun was found in their car, but shell casings were found at the site of the shooting.

But the Philly incident marks a city desparate to find a solution to spiraling violence that has gripped the city. The most recent incident was the killing of a Philly cop on Saturday. Citizens are wrenching their hands, and unlike the cop killing of Sean Bell in New York, an innocent man, this one is about brazen criminals who are virtually free to carry weapons being stopped before another child dies.

These are the blog postings I hate to write. My disdain comes because I know it will qualify something I hated hearing. But I must accept the outcome of the Sean Bell verdict, even if ultimately it is unfair to those affected.

No matter what i write, it will be unfair to a father, unfair to his fiance Nicole Paultre Bell, his children, his parents and Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman, his friends. It is unfair to everyone seeking justice for a death that was not supposed to happen.

It is so unfair, it makes you want to scream, like the nun, pictured above. It was hard for so many people to accept the outcome when the not guilty verdict came down inside a courthouse in Queens, New York.

It is unfair, but what is the truth? The three policemen acquitted for killing Bell went free because there was no way to find them guilty.

OH MY GOD!!!!

This is some funny sh*t, if I've ever seen it. This latest viral video comes courtesy of the Detroit City Council, the Detroit News...and I guess I've misjudged the productiveness of the Detroit Public School system.

Turns out that of all people, conservative Republican former Congressman J.C. Watts is trying his hand at what BET has said loud and clear that they didn't give a crap about: the news and black people.

So enter Watts and his new enterprise the Black Television News Channel, which he hopes will fill the void of African American-focused news and features. Great idea, actually. But it's not the first time someone has attempted to do news aimed at black people.

BET actually had an excellent news department that focused quality journalism on topics pertinent to our community, as well as throughout the African diaspora. However, once executives at the network decided to pull the plug on its broadcast news division, we were left without a major national television news outlet.

Maybe the smartest thing Detectives Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora and Marc Cooper ever did was opt for a bench trial instead of a jury trial.

If you're a cop, who is accused of excessive force, of using 50 shots because you think there is a threat of someone hitting you with a car outside a nightclub early on a Saturday morning, what you want to do is avoid people who you know would convict you of killing an unarmed man.

So you let the judge decide your fate. And guess what? Justice Arthur Cooperman is letting Oliver, Isnora and Cooper fly like the pigeons they are. Personally, I think it's wrong, but after Abner Louima, Amadou Diallo and a host of other less publicized egregious abuses of power, I'm not surprised and neither should you be. ...

I mean, damn! First Ronald Isley, now this.

Honestly, like many other bloggers, I'm too broken up to write about Wesley Snipes getting the book thrown at him for not filing his taxes. Yes, he owed $2.7 million in back taxes and yes he seemingly ignored the justice system coming after him for it.

But maybe, just maybe my boy Blade subscribed to the theory that you are under no legal obligation to pay income taxes. If so, he's not the only one who feels that way. ...

Okay, enough serious stuff for a minute. Let me tell you, I found this one deep, deep in the old trunk last night.

This may be the best broadcast musical performance ever, and it was done on Sesame Street circa 1976. I ain't never seen brothers get down like this since. I guess even kids got funky back in the 70s, I know I did.

OOOOH!

Did I offend any of you followers of the Holy See?

If so, I apologize in advance. But after seeing the first -- and maybe only -- visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the United States, I'll have to paraphrase Kanye West: The Pope doesn't care about black people!

Now before you guys cast me into the deepest realms of Dante's Inferno, there's a reason I'm saying this. ...

A few days ago, I sat in a cafe not far from a couple of brothers discussing the ills of black folks -- the routine discussion, crime, poverty, babymamas; you know, the same stuff that forms the basis of black consciousness rhetorical questions.

After a couple minutes another cat joined them and perported that "Willie Lynch Syndrome" is to blame for everything they were complaining about. He argued all of the problems that seem to be so deep-rooted among African Americans can be traced back to the malevolent devices of the 18th century slave-owner who conjured a plan to socio-psychologically cripple all slaves.

I couldn't take hearing it anymore and as I walked out, I feigned a cough -- BULLSH*T -- and kept moving.

It's not that I was trying to disparage the brothers' thoughtful discussion, or act like the topics they were glancing over were not pertinent. But had I actually been in the discussion, I would have made one thing clear: there was never any such person...you have been duped by an urban myth!