Obama's Gay Marriage Head Fake

When I first heard that President Obama was coming out in support of same-sex marriage, I thought for once that he was playing it 'straight', so to speak - but no such luck. I say this because the president added the caveat that laws granting this 'civil-right' of union, should be left up to the states. Say what?

As a constitutional scholar, Mr. Obama knows too well, after studying Brown v. Board of Education (desegregation), that state implementation of civil-rights protection is a dog that does not hunt. In other words, he knows that gay marriage left up to the states does not stand a chance in hell of becoming a right, by law. His Harvard legal education showed him, in no uncertain terms, that when the Supreme Court, under Justice Earl Warren, handed-off the implementation of their landmark rebuke of 'separate but equal' (Plessy v. Ferguson) in 1954, it took the states another twenty years to make it a reality. Even then, desegregation occurred amid street battles. To hear former NAACP lawyer and Justice Thurgood Marshall tell it at the time, the Warren Court was being purposefully "S-L-O-W" in handing their desegregation decision to the states, as I believe is Mr. Obama in his caveat-ed support of gay marriage.

Obama is denying what he knows - that it is the role of the federal government, as outlined in the constitution, to defend the civic-rights of every citizen (including equality under the law), particularly when individual state pursuits might abridge such rights. In true political slight-of-hand, Mr Obama is looking for voter credit, for gesture over real substance, while giving the politician's wink/nod to anti-gay factions that know history, especially those folks in the South.

Thurgood Marshall is certainly shaking his head, somewhere in the after-life, and maybe wishing Obama had attended Howard Law (Marshall's alma mater), rather than Harvard.

James C. Collier

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Blue Eyed African Boy From Sierra Leone

I came across this picture of a boy from a remote village in Sierra Leone, West Africa. What really grabbed my attention, beyond his fantastic little smile, was the photographer, April Conway's, notation that the chief of the village said that the little boy was both deaf and mute. This combination is called deaf-mutism, where "profound or total deafness going back to early childhood, without special training, inevitably leads to the absence of oral language development". In deafness, dark pigment, and blue eyes, the lad is presenting strong symptoms of type II Waardenberg syndrome, along with the arguable broadness of his nasal bridge. If we could see under the hat, it might reveal evidence of a tuft of gray hair in the center of the forehead - also a symptom of Waardenberg's.

James C. Collier

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Donna Summer: 1948 - 2012

James C. Collier

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Blue Eyes Not Really Blue: The Tyndall Effect

I always wondered why the sky, the ocean, and eyes, that are suppose to be pigment-less, are blue. Also, blue eyes seemed to be bluer if there are any significantly blue items nearby, especially including blue apparel on or near the person. I made this diagram to help explain something called the Tyndall Effect, named after 19th century physicist, John Tyndall.

"A blue iris in an eye is due to Tyndall scattering in a turbid layer in the iris. Brown and black irises have the same layer except with more melanin in it. The melanin absorbs light. In the absence of melanin, the layer is translucent (i.e., the light passing through is randomly and diffusely scattered) and a noticeable portion of the light that enters this turbid layer re-emerges via a scattered path. That is, there is backscatter, the redirection of the lightwaves back out to the open air. Scattering takes place to a greater extent at the shorter wavelengths. The longer wavelengths tend to pass straight through the turbid layer with unaltered paths, and then encounter the next layer further back in the iris, which is a light absorber. Thus, the longer wavelengths are not reflected (by scattering) back to the open air as much as the shorter wavelengths are. Since the shorter wavelengths are the blue wavelengths, this gives rise to a blue hue in the light that comes out of the eye.[2] The blue iris is an example of a structural color, in contradistinction to a pigment color." Wikipedia

Lastly, if there is anything blue in color near blue eyes, like a shirt, or the sky, or painted wall, the amount of visible blue light waves will be increased, and those blue waves will enter and 'scatter' out of blue eyes, making them appear even more blue to any watchful eye or camera lens.

James C. Collier

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Healthy African Boy With Rare Blue Eyes

This blog was just hit with a mad dash of Russians interested in black people and blue eyes. A quick trace of the flurry of hits revealed the picture before you. It is, perhaps, the best example of a black African, non-mulatto, non-albino, with blue eyes. Also, the boy in the picture does not appear to have Waardenberg Syndrome, also a source of blue eyes in blacks. This leaves the strong possibility of a rare mutation of a key eye color gene.

(Note: The stipple drawing of the boy is from a test version of my iPhone app.)

James C. Collier

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Technorati Tags: Healthy African Boy With Rare Blue Eyes, Eye Color Mutation, Albinism, Waardenberg, Mixed Ancestry, Acting White

Why Are Black Women Fat?

I read Alice Randall's NYTimes opinion (here) entitled, "Black Women And Fat", with more than a passing interest. In it, Ms. Randall postulates that a significant contributor to black female obesity resides with pleasing the black male desire for 'ampleness'. She speaks of diet and sedentary behavior, as influences, as well, but I still think she has the magnitude of the influence out of order. Pleasing black men would seem more of a cop-out for women, than sound reasoning. Still, this does not explain the behavior of some black men, when it comes to black women and weight.

Studies (here) and simple observation show us that Black men are most greatly attracted to curvy, proportional women, with a preference for protruding butts over frontal-view hour-glass hips, but this preference does not run counter to the general male preference for a waist-to-hip ratio of 0.7. Beyonce, and others before her, prove this out.

Now, I have my own 'opinion' on a lesser, but still significant, factor describing why some black women feel they are pleasing black men with all that fat. I postulate that black men are running (have run) a game (confidence game) on the women who believe this. In some cases the women are running the game on themselves - how crazy is that? Each incremental pound that a fat woman is encouraged to believe is simply 'thickness', or 'attractive' fat, provides the black man with 2X power in the relationship. The black male manipulates the black woman's body image to offset his assorted shortcomings, beginning and ending with his inabilities as provider/breadwinner. He tells her he loves her thickness, while sneaking behind her back with another 'skinny' woman, who he says (when busted) treats him 'better'. Give me a freakin' break!

So, while agreeing with Ms. Randall in part, I am postulating, rather than offering fact, that from the male vantage point, black men are running a game on black women to get more of what primeval man wants - sex from as many different women as possible, at the lowest possible cost to himself. In the case of obese women believing they are most desirable - it's just part of the game.

James C. Collier

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Technorati Tags: Why Are Black Women Fat?, Obesity, WTH Ratio, Alice Randall, Thick vs. Fat, Acting White

Obama vs. Biden On Gay Marriage, And Euphemisms

The other day, when Vice-Presiden Joe Biden usurped President Obama's yet-announced position on gay marriage with his own "I'm comfortable with it", I'm sure many things ran through Obama's head in response - before he hastily put out his own position of support. Here is my quick list of Obama's thoughts...

1. Obama the Urban President... "Biden let his mouth overload his hips on that one!"

2. Obama the Gangsta' Prez... "Biden f_cked-up!"

3. Obama the Black Intellectual President... "Excuse me Joe, it's woodshed time!"

4. Obama the Post-Racial President... "Biden's timing could have been better!"

5. Obama the Two-Term President... "Joe got out a little bit over his skis...but out of a generosity of spirit!"

President Obama's challenge, as I see it, is to be as good a leader of a nation-in-decline, as he is a politician looking for re-election.

James C. Collier

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Can White Parents Make Black Children?

The other day I was asked if white parents can produce black children. I though it was possible, but could not say for sure, until I looked into it. The answer is yes, but like black parents producing 'white' children, it is rare, but further proof that even small amounts of a different ethnicity can produce offspring that appear very different than their parents.

Perhaps the most famous example, written as a book entitled "When I Was White", was of white South African/Afrikaner, apartheid-era, parents who bore a 'colored'/black child, Sandra Laing. The long-odds and geographic location created a tragic circumstance for Sandra and her family, with a legacy that continues to this day. (here)

The technical reasons on how this occurs is pretty simple. Each parent carries a combination of genes whose phenotype (expression) is dominant toward one ethnic group, while even a small number of genes are also resident, but without expression. At conception, the 'minority' expression of the genes may combine in such a way to have the minority ethnicity to 'poke through' and express itself in a one-in-a-million scenario. In the case of Sandra Laing, she is every bit the offspring of her parents, including her wrapping. She simply shows something that is unseen in her parent's outward appearance - that is a very small amount of recent generational black heritage.

James C. Collier

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Tanorexic? Really?

Growing up in Colorado, I had a distant cousin who married a fair-skinned white woman, who had a habit of baking herself to a mile-high crisp every summer. The black side of his family always wondered what the hell was wrong with this, otherwise likable, woman - she was still going to be white, regardless of her imitation of rotisserie'd chicken. All that super-tanned skin under her blonde hair seemed unhealthy and a bit creepy, not unlike her famous departed antonym, the pigment-less 'gloved-one'. The picture in the post reminded me of my relative, so I looked up tanorexic as a real diagnosis, but it seems to be slang, for those addicted to tanning.

The more accurate clinical description is body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), "a mental disorder in which one is extremely critical of his or her physique or self-image to an obsessive and compulsive degree". While we are at it, I would add in my vote for "George Hamilton Syndrome" - the actor, and another serial tanner that induced the heebie-jeebies.

Now, the woman in the post, Patricia Krencil, was charged with taking her under-age daughter along on one of her tanning binges (here) - which is a legal no-no. However, in the poor woman's defense, the pictures of her daughter clearly show a healthy, pale-skinned, kid, who looks nothing like her easy-bake-oven'd momma. If guilty, she, with same kid in tow, should probably be sentenced to get some counseling - so the little one doesn't grow up disordered, too.

Shrinks are totally welcomed on this one.

James C. Collier

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Technorati Tags: Tanorexic? Really?, Body Dysmorphic Disorder, BDD, Blaceface, Compulsive Tanning, Acting White

Black vs. White Women And Eating Disorders

I asked a black female friend if her group suffers from eating disorders, similar to white females. She laughed and said, "yes, we eat too much!" I said no seriously? Again, she said yes, black women do all the crazy things white women do - anorexia, bulimia, binging and purging, but "we mostly binge, with no purge". She went on to say black women have the same body image hang-ups as white women.

After a bit of digging, I think my spokesperson may have been right on the money, even as she joked. It seems that there are some researchers who believe over-eating, or binge-eating, to be a disorder on par or greater than various earlier recognized eating disorders. Unreconciled anxieties can drive people to either starve themselves or over eat. But it also seems that over-eating may have a socio-economic/cultural influence tied to obese tendencies and negative childhood experiences related to weight, as well as poor dietary habits. (here)

So, as I see black women (and men) morbidly leading the obesity parade, I will think twice of the role mental health plays, and the need for improvement. America is literally eating itself to death.

James C. Collier

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Technorati Tags: Black vs. White Women And Eating Disorders, Obesity, Over-weight Black Women, Fat, Binge-eating, Acting White

Gloom Of Our Doom: Money, Power, And Wall Street

I just watched Part One of a PBS Frontline show on the financial crisis in America, and how it came to be.

I thought I was fully aware, yet I was amazed at the level of greed and incompetence of the financial community, willing to take us to the brink of another 1929 type of disaster. Alan Greenspan and his supporters are true idiots to have believed and behaved as though the bankers, and their markets, would regulate themselves. When bankers are allowed to prey upon the ignorant masses, without scrutiny or fear of reprisal from the authorities, our great society is destined for the scrap-heap - an so we are.

Sadly, no one has or will go to jail for the biggest heist in history. The taxpayers are left with the bill, while Long Island is up to its neck in estates, and the country has more million and billionaires than ever. Decline is our fate, regardless of the color of your state, party, or skin.

Go to "MONEY, POWER, AND WALL STREET", at PBS Frontline (here) - if you dare!

James C. Collier

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Justice Department Study Says Black Juveniles Victims Of Racism

Upon reading a summary of a just released justice department study (here), that revealed disparate treatment upon apprehension, I wondered if black kids are simply more dangerous, as Jesse Jackson spoke of (here). I will have to spend more time with the study, but I suspect that the question may not have been asked. This can often be the case in these studies when the answer is something that might wake the elephant in the living room.

In any case, the first two comments to the HuffPo article (here) set the context for my question, better than I ever could.

Comment One: (from Jamar Jahi),
"another reason why whites make themselves the enemy".

Comment Two: (from Truthseeker427),
"The truth is to[o] scary to print.
African "youths", will knock you out,
then blow your guts out,
and then group steal everything off your dead body,...
To prove it, take a walk in the hood tonight.

That is to[o] scary to comprehend, so let's be in denial,..."

James C. Collier

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Technorati Tags: Justice Department Study Says Black Juveniles Victims Of Racism, Memphis Study, Shelby County Study, shelbycountyjuv, Jesse Jackson, Acting White

Is Hockey Racist? Ask Joel Ward

Joel Ward is a professional hockey player for the Washington Capitals, who happens to be Canadian, like most professional players, but also black. Ward scored the winning goal against the Boston Bruins the other night, sending his team to the Stanley Cup quarter finals. So what if some of the Boston fans used Twitter to show their sour grapes at losing. Those fans hurt no one, but their own sorry asses, by throwing the n-word around at Ward, because the Bruins lost at the hands of a black player. Hockey is a great sport, but it attracts more than its share of neanderthals, so no big whup. Next.

James C. Collier

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The Riot Within By Rodney King, With Lawrence Spagnola

I place Rodney King in a similar iconic category with actor/politician Ronald Reagan, with no intent to offend either. Their individual significance is not about who they are/were, but rather what they reflect about their fellow Americans, from their respective moments in the sun until now.

The emblazoned images of King being beaten with no mercy by the LAPD, and the acquittal of his captors by an all-white jury, galvanized how blacks felt and still largely feel about law enforcement and justice in America.

Even today, the Trayvon Martin killing and George Zimmerman trial have people wondering what will happen once a jury speaks. Will blacks riot? Will vigilantes re-double? 

As for the book itself, beyond its macro-relevance, I enjoyed the easy and honest read of how King, the man, came into infamy. I stopped to think of how the fifty-one person death toll of the riots hit him harder than the bone-breaking baton strikes of Officer Stacy Koon, and others that night. I realized how logical it was that the events of those days would only accelerate the litany of abuse he would continue to heap upon himself, as an alcoholic. It was also interesting to know just how little compensation he actually received ($1.8M of a $5.4 settlement and fees), and how his lawyers, black and white, beat the hell out of him financially, on top of it all.

The up-shot is that whether you loved or hated Rodney Glen King, he is forever a part of history that represents quite the tragic tale of race and the pursuit of justice in America.

James C. Collier

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Werdesheim Assault Of Black Teen Parallels Trayvon Martin

The assault and false imprisonment trial of two Jewish brothers kicked off today in Baltimore, MD (here). The case has resemblance to the Trayvon Martin killing, except the fifteen year old black male victim sustained a broken wrist and laceration, at the hands of Eliyahu (24) and Avi (23) Werdesheim. Eliyahu, a member of a neighborhood watch organization, and his brother confronted the teen as he walked through a predominantly Jewish neighborhood. Like Zimmerman, in Florida, the Werdesheims are claiming self-defense, but with neither the probable cause or authority to stop and confront the victim. The case includes the charge of racial profiling. The trial may be delayed, as the Werdesheim's counsel is expected to argue that the attention of the Trayvon Martin murder trial makes it difficult to mount a fair defense. Authorities and media across the nation are looking to the case to provide some clues as to how the drama of the Martin case will play out.

James C. Collier

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Racist Jury Selection Rescues Death Row Inmate in N.C.

A N.Carolina judge recently ruled that prosecutors 'have intentionally discriminated' against murder defendants - such as Marcus Robinson - by using the peremptory challenge to eliminate black jurors at twice the rate of whites. (here)

The judge found no reason, other than race, for the exclusion of so many blacks from cases with black defendants. Robinson's death sentence was automatically commuted to life without parole.

A Michigan State professor, Barbara O'Brien studied 160 capital murder cases, including Robinson's, to build a convincing argument for the statewide racism. The professor studied selection outcomes for 7,400 capital jurors.

The peremptory challenge is a legal bastion of racism that poisons the judicial process in this country.  Only Kentucky and North Carolina have such laws available to capital inmates who may have been the recipients of racist conduct by prosecutors.

James C. Collier

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All-Non-Black Juries Harder On Black Defendants Than Whites

In a new study, referenced here, if there are no blacks on a jury, the chance of conviction of a black defendant increases by 16%, over a similar white defendant. The study also presents that having one black juror in the jury pool (not the actual jury) eliminates the disparity in verdicts. Okay - hmmmm? So, from the fairness standpoint, the question is what is at play in attaining that lone black juror in the pool to even up the chance at a fair verdict?

As a part-time trial consultant, I know that getting blacks into the jury process and onto actual juries is easier said than done. The first issue is one of jury pool selection, the greater starting group of people from which the petit jury (trial jury) is selected. Selection algorithms exclude blacks by virtue of the nature and quality of public records keeping upon which they depend. Second is attendance, whereby blacks who are selected will no-show at a rate often reaching 80%. Third and finally, there is the dastardly peremptory challenge, whereby attorneys get to exclude whatever blacks remain, without giving the judge any reason. It is here where racial stereotyping runs amok. For more on this go here (Race and Jury Selection).

The result - blacks are significantly absent, as jurors, from the judicial system, and more black defendants are convicted, than if they were white. My solution? It starts with requiring jury pools to be representative, including hitting no-shows in the pocketbook (tickets) along with driving restrictions. Tax rolls and refund check addresses are the most accurate and up-to-date point of contact. Also, juror compensation must take the economic penalty out of serving. Finally, we must eliminate the peremptory challenge, in the case where doing so would exclude a classification that was present in the initial jury pool (not just blacks). Challenge for cause would remain.

James C. Collier

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Dick Clark: 1929 - 2012

James C. Collier

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Secret Service Agents Buy Colombian Sex, Forfeit Careers For $800

I presume that Secret Service Agents buy sex for similar reasons to why all men buy sex - they want it. Of course, there is more to it than this. I went looking for data and this is what I found.

"A survey of 103 men in London, England (here), who frequently sought the services of prostitutes were questioned about their experiences, attitudes, awareness of the sex industry, and deterrents to seeking prostitutes. The study was a collaborative effort between Eaves, a feminist organization that works to curb demand for commercial sex; and Prostitution Research & Education, an educational nonprofit in San Francisco that researches and documents the dangers of prostitution and sex trafficking.

The survey conducted in London was part of a larger international research project that interviewed 700 men to discover why males buy sex. The project covered six countries. The men surveyed in England ranged in age from 18 to 70 and were primarily white, black, Asian, and eastern European. Most of them were employed and had continued their education past high school. More than half were either married or in a relationship with a women. Thirty-five percent reported no religious affiliation, 33 percent said they were Christian, 13 percent had an unspecified religious affiliation, and the remainder were Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Sikh, or Spiritualist.

When asked how many prostitutes they had ever paid for, 15 was the number most often mentioned, although the numbers ranged from 1 to 2,000. Twelve percent of the men had gone to more than 130 prostitutes, and 65 percent believed that “most men” go to prostitutes occasionally. Even though many of these men sought the services of prostitutes quite often, 71 percent of them said they experienced some degree of shame, guilt, or negative feelings about paying for sex.

Men seek prostitutes for a variety of reasons. The most common reason named was to satisfy an immediate sexual urge or for pleasure (32%), followed by a need for variety (21%), not having their needs met in their current relationship (20%), convenience (15%), the thrill (8%), and an addiction or compulsion (3%)..."

Of course, my pragmatic question to the agents involved is once you have 'stepped in it' (had compromising sex on a presidential detail), how much is your career/marriage/relationship worth to you? Whatever value you calculate - that's how much you should be willing to pay Ms. Colombia, before Air Force One lands - duh?

James C. Collier

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Acura Embarrassed By "Not Too Dark" Casting Revelation In Seinfeld Ad

While I think it is reasonable, in casting, to seek specific actor attributes, requesting an "African-American" that is "not too dark" should have seemed a bit over the line, I think. Darkness, as used here, would seem to connote a negative attribute working against the desired positive representation of Acura - at least in someone's view. The lame excuse of 'lighting issues' makes the screw-up worse.

The actual casting document is an interesting read, and unambiguous. So what do you think?

James C. Collier

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