Doubletake Tuesday

Its another week here at COP 24/7 and I'm keeping it hot , live and otherwise with my latest send ups, mash ups , links, video and so much more. Again I'm often struck by the wide range of individuals who are out "their" enjoying my carrying on. It continues to amaze me who is "checking in" on my latest posting and in some cases re-posting items from this page. Who knew that this little exercise in "citizen journalism" would still be around some fiver years later and are you ready for it...over 200,000 words and counting. That's knocking on the door of 900 posted items that have flowed through this medium out into the cyberspace. If you are following us, super. If you have bookmarked, RSS feed or opt-in e-mail to this platform, I appreciate it and hope that we are not only meeting your reading pleasure but hopefully exceeding it. Stay with us, because COP 24/7 is going to break all the rules and keep bringing you our special brand of "what's really going on!"  Now let's get to work....

Cyber Obama Machine in Motion

Who is the most digitally connected man in the world? Bill Gates? Mark Zuckerberg? Why no it's Barrack Obama! If you haven't noticed and how could you not, POTUS Obama is "digitally yours" in a 24/7 fashion and his kinetic digital team beats a path to my digital in-box almost on a daily basis. To say that I get "all things Obama" is to say the least. My simple e-mail addy is one of over a reported 300 million within the "O" mega database. What I wouldn't do to have just a snapshot of that megawatt contact list to "call to action" folks on matters that have touched me. Of course, COP 24/7 has some readers, but if I had that hook up it would be as they say "off the chain." With all this being said, The O Team reached out this week to alert me to this Thursday's premiere of Academy Award-winning filmmaker Davis Guggenheim's documentary about President Obama's first three years in office and the tough calls he made to get our country back on track. Is it a political send off, well of course it is and why not since we've been traumatized by the GOP slug fest that seems to be changing every minute. Wanna be among the first to see it, then you can actually RSVP from this platform with the link below. I've already put dibbs out for at least four seats.

According to the e-blast, organizers state that "if you know anyone who needs to know about the progress we've made under President Obama, this is the film that they need to see." I'm sure that this feature will be a well crafted "message" piece that will push all the right buttons and then some.

Check out the trailer (if you recognize the narrator's voice -- that's Tom Hanks) and join a screening in North Little Rock this Thursday, March 15th. RSVP now to save your seat.

Here are the details:

What: The Road We've Traveled screening in North Little Rock

Where: 405 N. Main St.
North Little Rock, AR 72114

When: Thursday, March 15th
5:15 pm

 

Pride in the City: The Shell Games People Play

 

Last week this forum mouthed off about the who, what, and WTF concerning any Gay Pride Week 2012 activities that may be coming down the pike. I rolled out the five "P's" concept ( Proper, Preparation, Prevents, Poor, Performance) that a former boss use to wax on about from her cigarette drenched breathe. Every now and then I still paraprhase that growl," This is a Five "P" event, so don't fuck it up!" Also included in that outing was another nod to last year's Black Pride hot mess that to this day reamains a somewhat open ended issue. At the center of this matter is the fact that Little Rock Black Pride founder, owner and organizer Stanley "Bait and Switch" Rogers has played the ultimate shell game, meanwhile leaving a trail of questionable business practices all the way to the Dallas city limits. This entire breakdown was just ripe for COP 24/7 as I found the whole matter a fascinating mix of "he said, she said' coupled with trust factors, poor planning, lack of oversight and snake oil veribage that should be used as a hard lesson learned. Our posting about the "lost in translation" $4,000 fronted by the Center for Artistic Revolution got a swift response from, CAR's R. Romo. She just wanted to set the record straight with her account of "what had happen," from her point of view. She cited that she was under the impression from Roger's that her organizations "seed money" to assist LRBP would be secured by funding from the Arkansas Department of Health's HIV-Hep C sections programming mechcanism which offers "reinbursements" to local entities from qualified event reciepts forwarded to the office. There were the usual "signed" documents,  two way conversations, unfounded assurances, nebulous reciepts submitted and follow ups prior to the event held at the Metroplex last year. Romo also stated that after realizing that she had a "houston we have a problem" situation, she learned that Rogers had failed to share his voo-doo business with his board of directors, nor International Black Pride folks ( www.ifbprides.org ) while ADH did a "deer in the headlights" flip when contacted by Romo concerning the cash assistance.

 

Attempts to contact Rogers have gone unanswered, use of LGBT ally Rev. Wendell Grffin as a mediator fell flat and efforts to work with the new entity,"Arkansas Black Pride" on fund raising got a "cricket" response from K. Holmes current Program Manager. He said that Rogers had acted solo in this matter and the then board had no knowledge of the contracts or felt any obligations to honor any of it. Romo mused on about retaining legal counsel but realized the return on investment of such an approach may not be worth the effort. So ladies and gents what have we learned here?  Its unfortunate that any individual would be so self absorbed, short sighted and flagrantly fraudulent in the name of HIV Prevention is not only scandalous but lacks a moral center. It appears that Rogers knew full well that his activity was not on the up and up. If not, then COP 24/7 welcomes his version on the matter. This forum has called for clarity of the vetting system used for group proposal and if evaluations are used in this process to determined the value of the programming. How many more "reinbursement" outlays will be done for more poorly planned, executed and disorganized events in the name of "HIV/ AIDS prevention or education." Just so you know, there's another possible $12,000 reinbursement proposal slated for the now, Arkansas Black Pride and looming in the shadows are other interesting "proposals" for more lackluster programming. When it rolls out, we'll be the first to let you know.