Brian T Shirley

Brian T Shirley
Jokers Wild, Atlantis Resort

Friday, August 30, 2013

You can't clown around with Obama!!

When I shared the interview Will Roberts did with "Tuffy the Obama Clown" I got an interesting comment from an Obama look-a-like who said he was "Offended" by the way the office of the president was being treated, then went on to lament that George Bush wasn't treated this way. Right there he showed his true colors, which was, it was all about color. This idiot did not even listen to the interview, nor did he bother to read anything about this story or he would have known that this joke was indeed done about George Bush and many other presidents before him. This week marked the 50th anniversary of the "I have a dream" speech and it seems that there are still folks who judge people, not on the content of their character, but on the color of their skin. Can you guess the color of  the Obama light fellow? Here's my post in The Weekly Telegram with my take on Will's interview and more.


My good buddy Will Roberts interviewed “Tuffy the Obama Rodeo Clown” this past week on The Weekly Telegram broadcast. As is usual for Will, he decided to go for the truth instead of basing his questions on a preconceived notion of “Tuffy”. If you are truly opened minded and listened to the interview, or still can, you found out that Obama is not the first president to be the butt of this quite innocent joke. If you truly are a progressive, you would come to the conclusion that this man was treated unfairly by the media, people who called him RACIST and anyone who can’t see that there’s really no story here. This bit has been done for years and with masks of other sitting presidents, to absolutely no fanfare. Why all the hubbub now? That’s an easy one to answer, SKIN COLOR! I don’t care what you say about past injustices! I don’t want to hear how I have to understand someone else’s culture, yet they don’t have to give mine a second thought. This CRAP is getting ridiculous!!
We’ve got black teens tweeting about “killing whitey” then doing so and there’s more outrage over a stupid mask?! These are facts, not conjecture! I’ve heard black folks complain about white people who lock their car doors when they approach. They are offended that the whites do this. Really? The black culture says “you have to act BAD”, you have to appear tough and threatening. To the people who want to complain when I lock my car doors I have this to say. It’s my damn car and my BODY, I’ll do what I want to protect it no matter what color someone else is. By the way, I got attacked in New York when I was about ten years old and had my nose bloodied. Guess why? I had the wrong skin color in the wrong part of town. I have to understand the past injustices that have been done to people because of their race, yet they don’t have to understand mine? B.S.!
I’ve been doing stand-up comedy for 20 years and I’ve seen a disturbing trend in that industry for a long time, If a black comic does jokes about white people, it’s OK. Try that if you’re white. The whites don’t laugh because they’re nervous and it’s a bout a 50/50 chance you’ll offend black folks. It’s a tightrope for white, straight male comics to make fun of other races or homosexuals. This is a fact. Here’s a true story that happened to me. I had to do a show for a corporate show in a conference room at a hotel one time several years ago. I was a last minute fill in and had no idea what I was walking into. When I walked into the room right before the host brought me up, I would say the audience was about 90% black. I could feel the energy leave the place as soon as I was introduced. Very few people paid attention and a lot of them just talked right over me. Towards the end of my torturing lecture, a little old black lady starting tapping on her glass with a butter knife so as to interrupt my show. Her back had been turned to me the whole time and she kept tapping on that damn glass even after I asked her to stop so I could close my “show”. This was a function for a professional organization that employs more people that any other business in the USA. The lady who paid me apologized. She explained that I had replaced a black comedian who had canceled for some reason and she didn’t think it would make a difference. Don’t I need to tell you “progressives” what you can do with your empathy? These people were trying to disrupt my ability to earn my money based on my skin color, sound familiar?
We are going backwards in this country when it comes to race relations. It’s not “progressive” or “liberal” to think that people of certain skin colors or sexual orientations have special rights to say certain words that other folks can’t, that’s idiocy! Truth be told, when all races can tell jokes about each other without anyone being offended, we will be progressing towards the best in race relations.

Monday, August 26, 2013

Personal Responsibility! What the Hell is That?

 Part of this post is response to some of the comments I received on Will Roberts' Weekly Telegram. Sometimes I don't people think, they just react. They read a column, but they don't absorb it. Either that or they are so bent on pushing their ideology, they just read the headline, scan the post and comment with a lot of venom. You decide, all the posts are right here. I'm not perfect and I never will be, but I do try my best to look at truth.

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I read some of the remarks about my last post, “RACISM: Is There A Cure?” and was astounded to yet again be called a racist. This time it seems I don’t have empathy, which I clearly do if you read the post with open eyes. I will move on to say that Michael Jackson had it right when he said ” I’m starting with the man in the mirror. If you want to make the world a better place take a look at yourself and make a change”. We have gotten so far from personal responsibility in the country on a national level it’s scary. If the US government apologized to the African American community for slavery and unfair treatment during their times as human beings in the country, would that be enough? If all the descendants of former slaves were given a huge financial windfall, would that be enough? The big question is can anything heal past wounds?
 
  There are some folks who will never get over the past and that’s just the way it is. So what does any of this have to do with personal responsibility? I do believe there are people who use the past and sometimes, even present perceived wrong doings to shirk responsibility for their own lives. This has no attachment to race, as this mindset of “Somebody owes me” has crept into the mainstream way of thinking. Even those born to privilege believe they should get by with anything they want because, they’re more important than the “little people”. The amount of fatherless homes in this country of any race SCREAMS a lack of personal responsibility. I think is an important discussion to raise because we are losing the family core and that’s what good and decent communities are founded on. The family starts with the individual, then 2 individuals. If they lack quality and good decision making, then we have another broken or severely dysfunctional home. Then, at some point, society must bear the burden of offspring from a terrible home who go out and shoot someone jogging down the street because they’re bored.
 
 I’m not perfect, far from it. I consider myself a work in progress who will never be perfect, or even close. I do try to learn and grow everyday, if I can. I see the lack of people who want to better themselves as very disheartening. We have a grand experiment going in the country, not without it’s faults. I say it from the stage and I’ll say it here. I think it’s up to one’s self and not the government if they are to “make it’. This country is not perfect, but you do have a great opportunity to achieve great things. If you sit around and feel sorry for yourself, a million dollars can’t fill that unhappy hole you’ve dug. But you can climb out and cover the hole up for free. Personal Responsibility is not just for the individual, it’s also an ingredient in a successful society. Truth Be Told, the people with the most freedom on earth are the one’s who secure it for themselves.
 

Friday, August 23, 2013

RACISM: Is there a cure?

After another heated debate in Will Robert's Weekly Telegram Broadcast, I was fuming. I still am after some of the responses I received from the post you're about to read. I know there's no cure for something that's not a disease, but if I can get us to a better debate on the subject, it may help.

  Truth Be Told: RACISM: Is There a Cure?
 
 
 I went over the definition of RACISM in my last post "Are You A Republican? Then You're A RACIST?". Basically it's looking at someone of a different race than yours and seeing them as inferior or even superior. This is also true if you fell yourself superior or inferior to other people because of YOUR race. All the crap you here about someone having to be part of the race that controls the military or the means to production, jobs, economic opportunity, etc. are the only one's who can be racists is absolute idiocy. The people in power can be jerks because they discriminate according to race, which has happened and no doubt still happens in this country. But that does not mean they are the only racists. Until all races understand this basic FACT, it will be hard for us to sit at the table of humanity and have honest discourse about this subject. We all have equal opportunity when it comes to being or not being RACISTS.
 
Now, let's say everyone finally gets some common sense and we can agree on the definition of RACISM, then we move forward hopefully. Seeing people of a different race differently is a part of human nature. That is not inherently bad or evil, just a fact. There are different characteristics to each race, that is also a fact. Not all the folks of a particular race act entirely the same either, that's a fact as well. We are all humans and have our own individual ways of dealing with outside stimulus. Yet, we have a lot more in common across the board, than we have that we don't understand about each other. The fear or negative feeling towards one of another race comes from this lack of understanding. The fact that the people of one race put ups walls to discourage people of other races understanding them does not help either. I'll use myself as an example.
 
 My father left my mother, my infant brother and myself when I was around 5 and half years old. I did not see him again until I was eighteen. It was painful growing up without a father. I told myself, I would never do that to my children and I haven't. Well, I don't have kids, so that's pretty easy, but my brother has 2 kids. He's a great father and married his wife BEFORE they had any children and is still with her. It's called a FAMILY, wow, how about that. Now, I don't understand how the black community is this country has nearly 70% of homes without a father in them. Why? Because it's been going on for generations, they rap and sing about it, yet they don't do a damn thing to correct it. They just keep on producing kids and who cares who's the "Baby's daddy" is, they don't need a man in the house anyway. Then these women raise boys who never become men and the process starts all over again.
 
Does it make me a RACIST because I'm white and I don't get why this happens in the black community?  Whatever you think, these are honest feelings that I have taken from facts and facts can't be RACIST! There is not enough room in this column to cover this subject in depth in just one post, maybe not even a hundred posts. I don't think there's a pill or an operation to cure something that happens naturally, but that then can turn bad, or even into evil, if nurtured and encouraged. However, I do think we can and have at points, go further into bringing the races together here in the USA. We can start to do it by being honest we each other and honest with ourselves. We can do it better at the grass roots level, because HONESTLY, the self proclaimed leaders of some of the movements that pro port to advance people of a certain race, only seek to divide the races for their own gain. I know this is not and never will be a perfect world. But, Truth Be Told, if we start to look at each other as being from the HUMAN RACE first, and look at everything else as secondary, that could take us a long way.
Listen to the broadcast on http://www.willsays.com

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Are you a White Republican? Then You're a Racist!

 The words "Racist" and "Racism" are being thrown around a lot these days, way to much if you ask me. Being a racist is a terrible thing and being called one is seen as a terrible insult, but these terms are becoming trivial with the way they are used. Words can be powerful, but they loose their sting if they are wielded way to often. I am a weekly guest on Will Roberts' radio program "The Weekly Telegram" on a segment called 'Pro's and Con's". This past week I was asked to debate the subject of Voter rights with my usual opponent on the opposite side of the political spectrum. He started the debate by asking me why the Republicans were trying to change voting rights and called them "racists" somewhere in the beginning of his question. I can't remember how he phrased it because I instantly lost my temper. I'm just so sick of people wanting to have a discussion, but they feel the need to throw insults out first, then expect you to have a reasonable exchange. I'm not falling for it anymore, and I've learned that those people who love to brag about how tolerant they are, are the least tolerant people on earth. How can you be considered tolerant when you only tolerate things you agree with? That's idiocy! Here's my post for my column  "Truth Be Told" which I wrote about an hour after my exchange on the radio program, here's the link to the Will's site where the show is on. It's the latest broadcast as of  8/11/13

http://willsays.com.

                Truth Be Told : Are you a White Republican? Then You're A Racist!
 
 Yes I said it, Hell, I even wrote it. If you're white and not a liberal democrat you will be branded a Racist, there's the new drum beat sounding on the left.  The big problem with that, aside from the net of lies they are casting, is there are some folks out there who don't even know what it means to be a racist. I heard a lady who was lamenting the Zimmerman verdict say that she "Couldn't be a Racist" because her people were not in a position of power, or didn't control armies or some other nonsense that she's been lead to believe. She was a black person by the way, shocker! My response to her is that if she can't be a Racist, then she must not belong to a race of humanity, because that's all it takes to have a shot at being a member of the good old "R" club. If you have to change the definition of a word so it fits your ideology, then your ideology is a LIE!
 
Let's look at the real definition of what it means to be a Racist (via The Free Online Dictionary) : 
 
1. The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.
2. Discrimination or prejudice based on race.  
 
How about the definition of racism, so we're all clear. (Wikipedia)
 
Racism is usually defined as views, practices and actions reflecting the belief that humanity is divided into distinct biological groups called races and that members of a certain race share certain attributes which make that group as a whole less desirable, more desirable, inferior, or superior
 
Nothing about having a standing Army in either of those. Hey! Isn't Obama the Commander in Chief ? Doesn't that mean he's in CONTROL of the military? Isn't he considered to be a black guy? Quick, somebody tell that lady she can now be a RACIST! Hooray for her, she should become a Republican and seal the deal.
 
Why do I say that White Republicans are racists? Because I was told by someone on the left that because Republicans want there to be voter registration with a photo ID they are Racists. Actually, I've heard this before and the rhetoric is being turned up in the current climate. Unless Republicans pass the legislation that Liberals/Democrats want, they will be labeled as Racists. By the way, in order for someone to qualify for The Affordable Health care Act they must prove how old they are, how much money they make, etc. Why is this not seen as Racist? Because it was born on the left, where no racists reside, sacred ground over there you know! Can't it be said that since Liberals believe that minorities can't exist without help from the government that they are the true Racists? ( See # 1 definition of Racist above and Racism) We can't say that, that would upset their base.
 
I have a question. If a white person who's delivering pizza, decides not to get out of their car when in a predominately black neighborhood after dark and calls the customer to come meet them at the car, are they a racist? They only do this in the "bad neighborhoods", that's discrimination! Well if that's the case, then I AM A RACIST. I delivered pizza several years ago in a black neighborhood and I saw a bunch of black thugs starting to gather across the street from the drive way I was pulling into. I called the customer and told them I was not going to leave the car, they could come and get the food if they wanted it. They came out, signed the slip as I stood with the door of my PT Cruiser open and turned around and left. As soon as the customer, who was black by the way, left and walked towards their house, the thugs across the street rushed my car. I got in and shut the door just as one of them started banging on my car with a lead pipe or something. They surrounded the car and tried to bust out the windows and banged on the driver door. I backed out and got away. I'm convinced if I had walked to the customer's door, I may not be able to type or even think right now, let alone still be alive,
 
Truth be told, I guess I should wear a White Republican looking suit at all times. If I'm going to be called a Racist, I may as well go all the way.
 

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Snowden gets Asylum, USA looses RESPECT!

 The title for my column in Will Roberts' Weekly Telegram is "Truth Be Told".  Here's the latest post, there is an important update since this has posted worldwide to the magazine. President Obama cancelled his meeting one on one with Putin earlier this week which I think was a step towards getting some lost respect back. The problem is, he went on The Tonight Show to talk about it instead of facing the media head on. He knew Jay Leno would lob softballs at him in front of a very pro Obama audience in the studio. Even though his appearance was more than likely scheduled well in advance, The Tonight Show is not the best forum to seriously discuss foreign policy, oh well, he's trying I guess. Here's the post in it's entirety.


  Truth Be Told   Snowden gets Asylum, USA looses RESPECT!
 
 
  Edward Snowden has been granted temporary asylum in Russia and may have even been offered a job. This news comes at a bad time for the Obama administration as Obama is set to attend a fall summit with Vladimir Putin and threatens all or part of the summit. I don't think this situation should effect the fall summit in the least, after all it's part of a "phony scandal". Why should the White house care? As a matter of fact, the President should meet with Putin in Moscow, excuse himself at some point during the talks, then run out and grab Snowden himself. Now that would make up for Putin making the USA look like a bunch of idiots. After weeks of "pressuring and pleading", "please Vlady, red rover, red rover send Snowden right over!", Putin let Snowden inside and ended the game. In essence, Vladimir took the ball and went home, leaving the Obama administration on the field crying. White House spokesman Jay carney said  " it is not a positive development". Wow, that's telling them Jay, Putin must have spit up his morning coffee, or whatever he drinks, when he read that. After all, these were "clear and lawful requests" made by the White House, how could the Kremlin ignore that?
 
 Meanwhile, John McCain showed that there are folks in the USA that still have a backbone when he said " The Russians' action is a disgrace and a deliberate effort to embarrass the U.S. It's a slap in the face of all Americans."  This is very close to what we are used to hearing when another country shows us no respect when we are not directly doing anything to antagonize that country. Snowden sat in limbo for a month while Obama ignored the big issues and focused on the Zimmerman case, making remarks that further divided people. He's good at that dividing thing, you have to wonder if he could have done the same with The Red Sea.
 
The bottom line is The U.S has been losing respect on the world stage for at least 30 years. All the millions and millions of dollars we've sent in aid does us very little good. George Bush sent millions to Africa for the prevention of AIDS and saved untold numbers of lives, yet the Liberals and folks who claim Africa as their homeland above America still hate the guy. Just goes to show no good deed goes unpunished and ignorance is king. There may still be people out there who love America, but our respect has fallen. We've had to many lawyers in the White House and at the top levels of government. They don't talk straight, they try to please everybody and they're so used to lying they don't recognize the truth anymore. Time to kick them and the community organizers out. Quit making our laws confusing, these sleaze bags make money off translating the same damn laws they write when they finally do leave office and sometimes while they're still serving.
 
The USA needs it's respect back and here's how Obama can do it.
 
1) Cut funding to Egypt now!
 
2) Cut aid to countries who threaten our allies, especially those who threaten Israel.
 
3) Really find out what happened in Benghazi, get the people who killed our citizens, tell the world "Next time we bomb your country until you hand over the perpetrators"
 
4) DON'T have talks with terrorist groups, don't even act like you will.
 
5) DON'T mince words, talk straight with everyone, even when the truth is unpopular.
 
 
That's just a start. You have to remember that we are in a world where information travels everywhere instantly. Nations all over the world watch us closely, so when the President brushes off real scandals instead of meeting them head on like a true leader, all the world sees that. The Truth be told, we will not get our respect back until someone else is in the White House, no matter what party that person belongs to.