Monday, February 4, 2013

Today marks the 14th anniversary of the killing of  Guinea immigrant Amadou Diallo, who was fired on 41 times as he stood, unarmed, in the vestibule of his apartment building in the Bronx,NY. The four police officers responsible for the killing–Sean Carroll, 37, Edward McMellon, 27, Kenneth Boss, 28, and Richard Murphy, 27–were, incredibly, acquitted just a year later of all charges in the death. Rudolph W. Giuliani was our esteemed mayor at the time I recall…

Beyonce worked hard Super Bowl Night to make sure you forget that she lip synched (to her own voice tho’!) at President Obama’s Inauguration. With her old DC Girls–Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams–in tow the reunion was on…at least for about two songs, then it was all about the B!

The movie Warm Bodies, which came out this past Friday, looks cute. Sort of a Romeo/Juliet, star crossed lovers vibe with zombies. Finally a flick where someone has something nice to say about the undead!

The New York Police Department is experimenting with scanners that measure terahertz waves released by our bodies to search for a concealed weapon without the need of a pat down first. The new procedure will now be called: Scan, Stop & Search.

While the White House assures us that the 2014 withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan is still the game plan, The Pentagon, the place where all the real war decisions are made, wants to maintain a strategic partnership with the region. You know–for training and advisory purposes. Clearly, these men have no idea of the concept of  “pulling out”. Boys, even if you’re partially in it…you still up in it!

The NAACP is fighting back on NYC Mayor Bloomberg’s attempt to limit the size of sodas sold by stores in the city. The prestigious organization says its unfair targeting towards smaller mom & pop shops who sell the stuff by the drum to neighborhood kids while big food chains like Burger King and 7/11 will still be allowed to sell colossal-sized drinks to customers. Still Bloomberg wants to know:

“…how they can look themselves in a mirror knowing they are hurting, deliberately, the life expectancy and the quality of life for the people that they’re supposed to serve.”

Scratching my head on that one too. I think a better fight would be to get gym back in the schools. Remember P.E.?  That class used to be a requirement to get promoted to the next grade. Give our fat-ass kids a ball, a nice shiny wooden floor and an hour to run around in each school day. Obesity problem, solved!

In the meantime, influenced by First Lady Michelle Obama’s campaign against child obesity, mom Rose Cameron, CEO of  WAT-AAH! is aiming to make water “cool” and contemporary to kids by using pure, unadulterated bottled water in a funky-fresh package. Way to think out the box momma!