I rarely read the newspaper…and have stopped watching television.   So, the means that I accquire the news these days is usually when I go up over the net and see a news flash.   Most of the time I pay little attention to them…but then there are those which draw me in.  And I find myself having to read the story…and not out of  real interest…but because I find the headline hard to believe.

Today, I came across one of  those attention grabbing headlines.   The headline read something like this…‘Gang Rape and nobody helped.’

How could such a thing happen?

What has happened to mankind?

The incident took place during a high school homecoming dance outside in some alleyway or something on the school grounds…for 2 hours long this raping continued.  And kids stood around watching, while others  jumped in to participate while a 15 year girld was raped repeatedly by up to as many…if  not more than 15 to 20 people in some way participated in this incident and stood watching.

What would possess somebody to stand around and want to cheer on or watch such a thing?

Why didn’t someone call for help?

Or run and go tell somebody?

What is going on in the minds of our young people that they could get caught up in such a thing…and then become party to it by standing around and doing nothing…or worst…jumped and became more than a watcher?

Everyone of those kids should be pulled into court…and facing some type of charges. 

Many were busy lighting up their cell phones taking pictures of the crime…and even videotaping it…a type of criminal voyeurism.   But no one called for help…or tried to stop what was going on.

I cannot imagine such a thing.  There is not anything that I can see going on…that I would not try to stop…and help.  I have seen men fighting their girlfriends…and gotten involved.  I have stopped fights between kids.  I have gotten between mama-bady-daddy drama.   And did it  because  I just can’t turn a blind eye to anything that I feel is wrong…or harmful…or potentially dangerous to someone.

I don’t have a fear of getting involved.  But I know that many people do not think like this.   And I know that many people may feel that I am putting my ownself  in jeopardy.   And if  I stopped to considered that…I might act like everybody else. 

But I am glad that  I do not.  I’ve  got nieces and nephews…and a son  that  I have to think about.   I just don’t want anything to happen to them.    So, let me try to clean up the problems now.   Later might be too late…for them and me.

But how could I not help somebody?

Or try to?

But I have never ran towards anything in order to be an observer…not even as a child.

That is something which I cannot understand.  Why would I run towards gun fire to see what is going on…or just to see who got shot…and laugh excitely about  it?

Now, that is stupid to me.

Or, why would I rush to see people fighting?

That’s dumb. 

If  anything…I go to see if  I can help…and whenever I am near a fight I go to break it up.    Not to laugh and cheer anything on.

But this is the mentality of  people…and it is definitely the mentality of  of  the kids.   Everything is a  joke…or funny.   But somebody being raped…or killed is not a joke.  And certainly not funny…nor is it entertainment.

This kind of thinking is dangerous for all mankind.  If  the new group of adults coming into this world are a bunch of  desensitized robots…uncaring…unfeeling…unthinking…uncompassionate ids….where will this world be?

How safe will any of us be…as the world falls into their hands?

I once had a lover who had been gang raped and sodomized…and who knows whatever else.    But I cannot tell you the impact it left upon her…and her life.   Every time she went to the bathroom she re-lived that situation.   That thing lived with her…it was in her insides and something she could not shake.   Though she was successful…as an actress…and part-time music teacher…that incident marked her private life.    That gang rape greatly colored her life in the in-between time.

She was not big in size…small  stature.  So, I can imagine just helpless she must have felt…not to mention the terror of  it.    She never really talked about it except to say that it had happened.   And I did not push it.

So, how could someone…20 or more people witness something like that and not do anything?

How could we…any of  us be safe if everyone walking around us only cares about themselves…and have no compassion for anyone else?

There is a great need for serious consideration to be given for where will mankind be and the type of world and societies will dominate this planet in the next 20 to 30…or 50 years from now.   Everyting is a joke.   Blood…rape…murder…crimes of every conceivable kind and inconceiveable kind are happening today…and very high rates…escalated rates.  And nobody is paying attention to it. 

And not only a need for serious consideration…but something has to be done now regarding the attitde of  our youth to crime and criminal acts.  And high officials should be concerned now about what affects desensitizing our teens to blood and criminal acts via  computer games, movies, music videos etc.  will have upon the increase of  future criminal acts and the types of crimes prepetrated…and to what degree these crimes are acted out.

Some feel that the lack of anyone getting involved had to do with fear.  But if  their  fear is that great…then they should fear how much worst it is going to be  if  people continue to allow criminal acts to take place without something being done. 

FEAR?

They don’t have any fear yet…let the criminals continue acting out as they are acting out.

Fear only empowers those perpetrating the crimes.  Fear is the biggest thing that they have going for them.  That is why the Bible says….‘Fear not.’

The last thing you want to do…even with an animal…is appear to be affraid.  Or in other words…fearful. 

What happens when fear is taken out of the equation?

Then you have power…because the power ceases to be in the hands of  him or them that are trying  to terrorize you.   It is one of the first lessons you learned really early in life.   Usually while you were in grade school when it came to bullys…who  were  only as big and as bad as you let  them be.   But did you ever finally stand up to one…and saw how quickly the table  change between you and them? 

While living in Chicago…I was at wits end.  I was being stalked…something I would suggest that no one try to do today.  Because I am no longer that person…believe me. 

But I became a nervous wreck under that situation.  I was well on my way to having a nervous breakdown…had it not been for the Lord.  I could not walk down the street without stopping everytime I heard someone walking behind me.   Being  in  a large city like Chicago…this happened quite often as someone was always behind me…just not  normally  the person who was terrorizing me.     In the evening when I went home…I would throw open the door  to my apartment before entering and step in like police detectives…leaving the door wide open behind me.   I would go peering from room to room trying to make sure no one was in my apartment…which definitely left me open for the person to enter into my apartment behind me.  But when fear has you…it has you…and you do not think clearly.   And when you are not thinking clearly…you leave yourself open for anything to happen to you.

I was tormented by fear.   So much so…that by time I finally got through it I vowed never again.  I will never go back to being in that state again.   Under any circumstances…or by anyone.

But at the end…the tables turned.   It took a drama turn…and had not God intervened I might probably be in prison now…and there for the rest of my life.  Because I would have killed the person.  I snapped…and in my snapping the tables turned…and my perpetrated went fleeing from me.  When I think of it now…it is so  Biblical….‘and I will make you enemies flee 7 ways before thee.’   And that is when it ended…when I finally stood up to the person…the phone calls…the following …the threats….everything…and I vowed ‘never…ever again’

And I have never feared anything…or anyone ever again.

And this is how I know how big a weapon fear is. 

And those who use it…count upon it being so.   They dominate neighborhoods…housing complexes…streets…cities…etc…using fear.

So, the more that people cease to do anything…if  indeed they are fearful…most of  them just don’t care.   But those who are fearful of  doing anything to stop or aid somehow a victim of a criminal act…the more you empower those who perpetrate the crimes.  Thereby, in the end causing yourself  a greater harm…because you did nothing.  And those that you fear become stronger and more aggressive.   It is an unending situation…better to deal with it sooner rather than later. 

If nobody cares about your neighborhood…then you should.   Because you do live there too.   And you should never allow anybody to chase you up or down a street…or make you run…or have you affraid to leave your home.

What happens when you become the victim?

And you will…one way or another…if you allow crime to fester unrestrained…or  actively sought to be kept down.

I was pretty sick reading about that man who had imprisoned his own daughter in a very small basement space for over 20 years of her life…breeding kids with her.   And all of this while living just above his daughter in the house with his wife…her mother.  That story made me sick for such a long time…so much so I could not talk about it…much less write about it.  But it is an example of the type of stories that we are reading and hearing about today.  But if this is what is going on today…hideous crimes…stomach turning crimes.  How much worst will these stories become in the future…if this trend continues?

Criminal activity is on an increase everywhere…and  much of it  we  never even hear about until somebody leaks something.  And many others  because the value of the poor people who have  fallen into the hands of some very sick people…well, their lives were just not worth looking into.

So, no investigation were ever initiated.

Take for instance, this story….

It is very unfortunate when police officials pick and chose who is or is not worth looking for.  So many people go missing without the police going out to look for them while they might have been found yet alive.  But if  they…any of  these poor women in this story been some rich socialite, or high city official or lawyer…somebody with some money or some type of clout…no amount of expense or time would have been spared on their behalf.

There is an imbalance in the world…and it stretches all the way around the world.

http://news.aol.com/main/nc/article/bodies-found-in-anthony-sowells/746332

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/27/california.gang.rape.investigation/index.html

http://www.sphere.com/2009/10/30/cries-for-help-not-always-answered/?icid=main|hp-laptop|dl1|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sphere.com%2F2009%2F10%2F30%2Fcries-for-help-not-always-answered%2F

I know I have told this story in an earlier blog here… www.bsmith101.wordpress.com.   It is when one night…late  night…actually early morning…when my cousin, Vincent, was on his home from having been out clubing.  As he neared his apartment…in the dark of night he heard a woman scream out for help.   He went running in the direction on the cries and came upon the woman and her perpetrator.  He grab the man and flung him to the ground…and then held him down until the police came.

My cousin was a very tall and handsome gay male.  I have no doubt that most of  his life he had to deal with people snickering about him as he was very effeminate.  But he never hesitated to step aside for a woman…or get get up to offer his seat to a woman or elderly person… or help you remove your coat…or pull out your chair and hold it for you as you sat down.  He was more a man than most ’so-called’ real men.  And not only  was  he a very nice…but also a very decent person…and caring in every way.  He really was someone who would give you the shirt off his back.  And if  it cost him…he gave to you regardless if he had suffer.

You could not have met a better person than him.

He would have never ran towards a fight to stand and watch it…but to pull the people apart.   Nor would he have stood around and watched a young girl or anyone being raped.  I wish I had a picture of  him…to put in this blog.  He was a hero.   And we need more like him.

Reggie Jackson of the New York Yankees was the same way.  His name had found its way  into  news headlines for more than baseball…more than once because of some act of  heroism on his part…when went to the aid of someone.

More people need to do it…and things would change.  Just think of 9/11…what would have happened if the people on those first 2 airplanes had been more like the people on that  3rd airplane?

In looking up information of the gang rape…I happened to come by this story.   Though I had seen this picture of this woman many times…I never knew her story.  But it is sick.  In fact, it is beastiality.

She is a socialite…who married a man…wealthy man.   He had built a jungle on his property and had a great love for his cats…the type known as ‘lions.’   So, as she started to age and as a means of re-capturing his attention she decided to disfigure herself  like this purposely.  She is called the ‘lion woman.’   Because she went under the knife to have her face disfigured into that of a lion.

It is beastiality…in its highest form.

I think she likes it even more now…with all the attention that having it  done has  given her.   Talk about… what women won’t do.   Nobody is worth destroying yourself for. 

What a sick mind…and it truly shows what having too much money and nothing concrete to do with…can bring about.

Finally, in closing… I got an comment today on my Chastity Bono blog…which has been getting a tremedous amount of  hits lately.   This particular person was very disenchanted with my statements regarding Chastity and her sex change.  But he used a very interesting word while stating his point.  

That word was…    ‘transitioning.’  

Interesting…indeed.   

Transitioning…

Evidently, this person  felt that Chastity’s…or Chad as she is calling herself these days…decision to undergo that surgery to remove somethings and to add some other things…   Well, that it is just a simple  little transition in life.   To a degree we  all  have to go through some transitioning  in our lives, I guess… overcoming some disappointments…some losses…some set-backs…etc.   But the  altering of  ones sex is a bit more deeper  than a simple little transitioning phase.  And  I think most would agree with me about that.

I was reading something on a  quakco doctor…one that performs a lot of these type of  operations…sex changes…who is now a supposed woman himself.  After having undergone the operation himself  many years ago…it seems that all of his partners have been women who ‘underwent the operation.’   He became a woman…and they became supposed men.  Which means…they kind of  ended up in the same kind of situation that they would have been in…in the first place had they merely remained what they already were. 

Sick…

I wouldn’t let anybody who is not clear headed put a knife to me.  Most of these surgeons are quakes and definitely…these so-called plastic surgeons. 

We are living in a sick world…truly.   And we should all be concerned about where this world is going…meaning….in which direction it is headed in.   Things are being turned upside down.

And I am not really trying to pass judgement on anyone.  Because we all do crazy things…and years later wake up having  lots of regrets.  I still regret some things…many things in fact.  And in the process I have grown.  But thank goodness I did nothing that committed me for my whole entire life to a big mistake.  I was fortunate…no bless…because many can’t say that.

We can’t change people’s decisions about things concerning themselves…and what it is or isn’t that they want to do.   Nor can we  force things down people’s throats…or should we try.  That is one of the greatest beauties of  God…choice.   He desires that we should have it…and with the hope that we make the right ones.

Well, the day is almost over.  Its been quiet and I am trying to finish up on some things.  I want to complete some things before the new year comes in.  I want my book, THE BISHOP’S WIFE, to be out and available for sale…my website launched.  And a couple of  other things settled too.

So, I am looking forward to transitioning into 2010…working on some other  and new  things.  And to be well on my way to doing more for the Lord. 

And I look forward to it.

Well, God bless…

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on…”  www.bsmith101.wordpress.com  ©2009

Who in the world is ACORN?

Well,  first of  all  ACORN is an acronym which stands for  the Association of  Community Organizations for Reform Now.  Hence…Acorn.   It is an organization which advocates for poor people.

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/10-22-2004/0002292745&EDATE=

But what I did not understand was…

What was all the secrecy about some supposed cover-up scadal?

And why were certain news organization declaring-

“An Acorn cover-up.”

And who was covering up what?

And for what reason?

I had read some of this article below…and began wondering why…what scandal…and why was some organization named ‘Acorn’…in danger of of losing its funding?

http://news.aol.com/article/the-point-acorn-scandal-federal-funds/673000

So, of  course, I had to put on my old Sherlock Holmes hat and begin sniffing about.

To answer my first question….who was Acorn?

During the 2008 Presidential Election a community based organization whose home head-quarters  in New Orleans, LA…Acorn came into the spotlight as Republicans began to cry foul…if you can imagine that.   It is kind of like the pot calling the kettle ‘black’…if you get my drift. 

Well, they called ‘foul’ because Acorn…which had opened up numerous offices around the United States…began organizing and registering voters on Obama’s behalf.

Following the Primaries the Republicans started accusing Acorn at that time of using false and fraudulent tactics as alleging that Acorn was registering dead people…etc..etc.  And primarily these charges stemmed from actions in Florida.   

Because Florida and Michigan chose to break a rule set up the Democratic Committee that no state should hold a primary before a specific date…which both the State of Florida and Michigan ignored.  So,  they therefore lost the right to participate in the Democratic Primary Presidential Election…the race between Obama and Hillary Clinton.

But within states around the country a group emerged called Acorn which began organizing the urban communities…gearing them up for the final showdown.  The day in which Americans would entered into their ballot booths to cast their votes for who would become the  President of  this country for the next 4 years…of which Barack Obama won solidly over Bush.

Part 2 of  my question…about  Acorn and the questions surrounding its organization…and their current problems.

But it was during  the days leading up the ballot day that a little known organization called Acorn began popping up in the news, as the Republicans began slinging shots…and trying to throw whatever punches they could at the Obama campagin.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/exponentialchange/gGglzC

To find out more about the rule that Florida and Michigan failed to abide by prior to the Democratic Primary read the LINK BELOW.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080331134815AAtAORo

This controversy about Acorn has been brewing for quite some time now.   And of course, with Obama sweeping Nevanda, Colorado, New Mexico, California, Ohio, Virgina…and Florida…  could the contention and rage over his win get any greater?

The Republicans have only been trying to discredit Obama in any matter and way they can…as proven by Joe Wilson’s rude outburst, which I wrote about in blog on civility.  From trying to cliam that Obama is not legally an American citizen…to trying to disregard Hawai as being an offical state of this country (being the birthplace of  Obama)…to trying to rig and provide false papers which they claim to be Obama’s African birth certificate.  What they call…‘his real birth certificate.’

For years in this country black folks birth certificates have been messed with.  From writing down things properly…to not properly recording them…to not properly keep up with our records.  My birth name was messed up so bad…that my parents had to legally amend my birth certicate with a change of name shortly after my birth.  Not to mention that my grand-mother went to her grave not knowing her correct birth date…as is the case with our Aunt Kate, who is still very much alive today.   I suspect that if  she were to seek public office in this country…she would have a real problem.  Even though she was unquestionably born and raised here in America.  But racist practices in properly documenting black folk in the existed then…and still do.

And such allegation concerning the legitimacy of  Obama to President of this country…comes  from a group of people who out and out stole the 2004 Presidential Election right out from under Al Gore, the Democratic opponent of  George W. Bush.  And it had been done illegally… bogusly… and without fear of  any pentalty.   They just did it…didn’t care who saw…who knew…or who didn’t know.  And all of  America knew…it was not hard to miss. 

It had been the most outragous campaign of  all times…and of  any country.  Which is  why George W. Bush will certainly go down in history as a big fat question mark…for having been the most illegitimate President that the United States of  America has ever had.

And what a joke that election was.  What a farce.   And for the first time in American History…as we know it…an illegitimate cadidate took possession of  this country’s White House and made a mockery of  our entire political system…and country. 

And not only that…but sunk this country into the lowest levels of  political integrity…moral standing…and financial lossess…coupled by a fraudulent war which he conjured up.  A  war which
has cost this country vast resources, lives…and a waste of our political time and efforts.  A war that unleashed centuries of stored up hatred and antimosities…religious strife…and massive unrest in the Middle East.

http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Nov09/0,4670,ObamaMajority,00.html

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93869921

http://www.rove.com/election

http://www.presidentialelection.com/

During the 2004 it was widely known that the Republicans rigged the election…and hindered people in urbans from casting their votes.   They had various voting locations declare some legitimate voters as being dead…and others as ex-convicts in order to stop them from voting…as well as, other such tricks.   Such as, having voters stand for prolong periods of time out in the rain…provided urban areas with broken ballot machines…had women leave their pocketbooks outside…slowed up the balloting process that long lines gathered etc…  All to deter voters for the Democratic Party.  Not to mention the rigging of  ballots…mis-counting of  ballots…loosing and all those other in-side jobs which they easily arranged.   …hinged ballots…

 And this country sends people out to monitor the balloting procedures of  other countries?

Going back to Acorn…having been under the fire  for some time now…evidently their efforts were effective.  The did manage to register some 1.3 million new voters.   All the more reason why the other party would want to do away with them.

It kind of reminds me of when this country decided un the stern and ambiguous eye of the then House Leader, Newt Gingrich…who felt that  the National Endowment of the Arts grants were to liberal in their giving out of funds.  So, he moved to act upon limiting those funds from being given out to individuals…but to people like himself…and organization etc.  Today, you hardly hear much about those funds…though they still are given out but in a very different way and under far different circumstances.

Today, when you hear this guy talk…he sounds more like a summer breeze…as opposed to that typhoon he used to be.  I suspect that being taken down a notch or 2 can do that to you.

Now, definitely going back to Acorn.

It seems that some videographer enter into a couple of their offices for some reason or other.  This videographer along with a women…that he or she brought with them.  Supposedly, during these meetings the videograper was given by a worker…or workers at the organization (Acorn office)…to become not-for-profit and open up their own brothel…or in other words whore house…prostitution den.

Which if it is true…it would not reflect back on Obama…as he is not really tied to that organization other than it assisted in getting out the vote…which many other people also did too…and I was one of  them.

However, in any office…supposed office…or business…or supposed busines you are subject to fall upon some type of illegal activity.   Which does not necessarily mean that those in management or corporate heads know anything about.   You can, in fact, find out about how to do all kinds of  things while sitting in your workplace…including how to cheat on your husband or wife.  There are crooket…and bad people everywhere.  And they usually know right where to go…to run whatever game they are trying to run.

Recently, in my town they closed down a couple of used car dealerships…neither of  which I believe had anything to do Obama…or his being elected President.  But one was closed for selling drugs and using the dealership as front.  And the other…I guess you could say they were in the money laundrying business…using their used cars to thash cash.

I suspect that if  the Republicans could tie Obama to either of them…they would.  And heavens forbide if   somehow they could make a connect to both of  them…and Obama.

I hope Obama didn’t happen to buy a car at either of  those 2 dealerships.  You know…like he bought his house.  That was tied to some other alleged criminal.

Big Brother is watching.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,550602,00.html

Part of the problem is…is that the Republicans will not stop at  nothing to get their candidates in.   Nothing to taboo for them.   They play a political anything goes game in  order to win.   They cross state lines…double and triple voting wherever  they can.  During the primaries they sign up as Indedpendants seek ing  to swing elections towards cadidates that are weak and more favorable to them…in order to fix elections by giving their real cadidate of  choice  (a Republican) in the overall election a upper hand.  

I have no doubt..that they have and continue to  put people into place to do their will.  People who operate as fake agents …or workers  (if you will)…pertending to the opposite side.   When in fact…they were plants (Republican plants)… who went under-cover…crossed over to the other side…to do fraudulent work…create false documents…and to put bogus names  onto  lists. 

Hence, the real scandal…and the real cover-up.

Then the Republicans come around as they always do…wanting to look innocent…and appearing to be  the squeaky clean whistle blowers.  Crying ‘foul’…‘foul.’     When in fact…it is them who are the foul ones.

It is interest the way that the Republicans  always seemed to know exactly what the problems are…and where they lay. 

Why?

Because they put  certain people into place to purposely cause the problems and issues…which they later turn around and begin pointing out as being fraudulent.   These type of  games are old…and go way back  in  history…where many of  these  very schemes were first hatched…by other other political crooks.

It is such a shame that such a group operates in this country…who are clearly anti-American when they indulge in such under-handed  behavior…and deceitful practices.

Recently, Acorn  has requested an independant investigation into the actions of some of their employees.   The Senate to block  the Housing and Urban Development from giving grants to Acorn, along with the U.S. Census Bureau had dropped Acorn and its involvement in the 2010 national census.  And of course under these last allegation of  being a training ground for how to own and operate your own brothel…the White House has been forced to also move away from Acorn.

I barely got any sleep last night.

Well, for one thing…I love my hair style so much that I am refusing to mess it up.  Which means I have been trying to stay on my elbows since Saturday when I initially got the hair style.

And then the other reason is…is…

Well, those raccoons are back.   Not that they ever left…as I have yet to have the money to seal up the roof.  So, they are living in our attic.

But last night after getting in I stepped back out on the porch…and that is when I heard a noise.   I thought it was pesty neighborhood cat…which sometimes sits upon our porch waiting on my neice’s cat to come out.

So, I picked up the water hose and sprayed some water over in the direction of the noice.  And saw the thing move…and that is when I happened to catch a glimsp at what appeared to be 2 white circles around it’s eyes.

Not certain I went back into the house and got my flash light.  I opened the screen-door and shot the light over into the far corner of  my parent’s porch and there it was.   Yes…a raccoon.

It seemed to be trying to hide.  And appeared to indecisive.

So, I tried to talk it out of  corner and off  the porch…while I quickly punched in a call to our local police station.  As I talked on my cell…the raccoon quietly left the porch.  It seemed timid…mayold…possibly frighten.  And I felt bad for her…or him…or whatever it was. 

But they have got to go.  The thing was huge…and I am not exegerating.  I was at least a foot and half  long…not including it’s big and long tail.   And it was about a foot high in width.

No, that has got to go.  No matter how bad I feel for it.  I just don’t want them hurt.  But I have got to get them out of  our house and away from our home.  I have far too many young neices and nephews.  And I would hate to see anything happen to any of   them because I sat around doing nothing about our raccoon problem.

So, today I walked around the outside of our house checking to see exactly where it is that they are entering into and out of our property.  It is via our roof.  Some rotting has taken place along various portions of  our roof.   And as I walked around examing our weather beaten root… I was calling upon the name of  Jesus. 

Because those raccoons have got to go.

Well, hope you had a less eventful day and night.

http://www.animalcapture.com/pages/raccoons.htm

One thing I can say though…my neice’s cat is no fool. 

The raccoon which had gotten into kitchen…when I initally realized we had a problem…she chased out that raccoon…and up the stairs back into the attic.  But this raccoon…was much bigger than her.   Though she did go out on the porch…she never approached that corner…and got low to the ground the whole time she was out there.  And my neices cat is usually no joke…she is a real killer.

She must have been able to tell that  that raccoon was  a big one.

But I am going to have a talk with that…because she can’t be punking out on me.

And after I laid down and thought about…since I could not fall asleep.  The thought came to me…that with all the hermones and everything else put into our food…it is little wonder that that raccoon was so big.  She and others like her wander around the neighborhoods at night searching for scrapes to feed upon. 

And if the chemical put into food…in order to make it grown bigger…get fatter…effects our bodies…and that of  our children the way that it does.  Then what about whatever else that feeds upon anything that we eat?

I can everything becoming super-sized.  And I am not kidding.  

You would have had to seen the size of  that raccoon. 

We all need to consider what it is that we are doing to this planet…our food…produce…water ways etc…   And these animals are also being impacted by our lack of  good judgement.

That thing was huge.  

Oh, I know that some people believe they can escape to another planet.  But I have always been told-

“That 1 bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush.”

Just saw the below picture and just could not resist adding it.  It is so beautiful.  Put you in mind of  what we are in store for next…by way of weather.   I don’t know where you are…but it is cold here already.

Well, God bless…

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on…”  www.bsmith101.wordpress.com  ©2009 

 
 

I have to admit to having not been one of those people who has yet to read the President’s proposal concerning health care plan.  But here is the video footage of  his speech before Congress.

I have heard mixed views on the job that the President has done and is doing…and they have been mixed.  Alot of  it…somewhat ignorant. 

I would really like to know who in their right mind thought that the mess that George Bush left behind was going to be fixed in the matter of a few months time?  

Well, surely these people could not possibly be rational or thinking people.  Mostly, I have no doubt that like Palin…who is intended upon becoming a torn in this Administration’s backside…they are intent  akso on opposing Obama in everything he does. 

Can you imagine a bunch of  people sitting around and hoping that this President fails?

And they call themselves Americans.

If  the President fails…then this country fails.  They are tied together.

It is impossible…and vastly unfair if  that is your thinking.  In case nobody was looking…the Bush Administration almost destroyed this country.  How do you just bounce back from that?

How can a country that was plunged almost to the brink of  bankruptcy itself…possibly emerge over-night from the raging tides of such bad, arrogant  and negligectful management as we were under during the Bush Administration…to again being back in the calm of  the peaceful waters of  a smooth tide of a productive and abounding?

I have even heard some say that it is Obama’s fault for all the dead bodies that are being shipped back into this country…from a war which Obama strongly opposed and voted against.  He (Obama), however, chose to allow America and the world to see the amount of human damage and loss that war has and is costing us…as opposed to the Bush Administration who started that war and maintained  it  for 5 years while draining America dry…and cloaked not only their policies…but put forth the decision to hide those bodies from the face  and eyes of America.

Perhaps, the best thing one can say about  Barack Obama is this…is that he is his own man.  He does not blow with win.  He does not cow down to the geers and nay sayers.  But he follows through with what he believes is right.  And that is the most that we can ask of  anyone.

The old saying goes like this-

“You can satisfy some of the people some of the time.  But you can’t satisfy all of the people all of  the time.”

And how very true that is.   No matter what any of us do…not everybody is going to be satisfied.  And somebody is always going to find fault with it…no matter how it turns out.

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/09/10/obama-s-health-care-call-to-action-reminds-us-how-he-got-elected/

One has to wonder just how many people out there are walking around with duel-sex organs…both male and female?

In the past few months much controversy had been over the 22 year old, German  pro-tennis star Sarah Gronert, whom I wrote about several blogs ago…if you care to go back and read it. 

Now, it seems there is yet another controversy brewing in the world of  sports.   This time it is about a 19 year old  World 800 Meters track champion from South Africa, Caster Semenya…also a hermaphrodite…now called intersexuals.   Caster, however, does not have a womb or ovaries…and her male organs are within her body.  So there was no way for her…or him…to be aware of  such a condition until she ordered to be tested.

There can be no doubt that such athletes possess  an advantage over their other female contenders…far more strenght and endurance than an 100% total woman could possibly possess.  Therefore, such an advantage by entering women competitions is grossly unfair to all the biological totally female athletes that they are challenging.

In Caster’s case he does not even look like a woman…in any form or shape.  And his physical make-up being without a womb or ovaries definitely would catagorize him as something other than a woman…like being a man. 

Clearly his speed…or her’s as currently he is called…pronouncedly shows that he has superior strenght over the women running with him…or her.   SEE VIDEO  BELOW…just CLICK  it a few times and ignore the text.  There is little wonder why the track & field heads ordered him to take a sex test.  (this is a picture of  Caster with Winnie Mandela hugging  to comfort her)

Since having won a major race with little effort  at the World Track & Field Games…Caster has becomd a big hero…or she-ro… amongst her native people of  South Africa.  Her family is enraged at charges and that her was forced to be tested, and her father has proclaimed  that everyone is crazy for even thinking that she is a man.  It is indeed a very sad situation…all the way around

The fact reminds…as much as I hate to say it…is that she does possess super strenght…and speed…due chemical make-up of  her body.  Which, therefore, does give her an unquestionable advantage over the other women…who do not possess the sort of birth defeat.   Which I guess you would have to call it…as Caster does who was born with both male and female organs…even her male organs are within her body.

Some people chase fame and success all of their lives.  Then to get it and find out…you are faced with one of the biggest obstacles of  your life.

How do you deal with that…and be so young?

Her country…her people and her family…are all fighting for her.

The more I think about Caster the more I feel for her.  I only hope that this thing does not cause her…or him to go out and now start to indulge carelessly in sexual activity trying to prove something…or trying to disprove it.  At her age it is not hard to make a lot of bad and very wrong choices. 

I don’t know how sexually active she has been up to this…being just 19.  But many people indulge in increased sexual active to prove things to themselves…and many times also to others.  Men do it to prove they that still ‘have it.’  Whatever that means.   So, seeking out tons of  women to have sex with to prove that they are not gay…or like women…or trying to quash rumors about themselves.

With Caster’s situation being so public…it is not hard to believe that she may not chose such a course.  Now, knowing that she cannot bare any children, being that she has neither uterus or womb…the fear of  becoming pregnant has been far removed from her.  I only hope that her moral integrity and a trust in God…will prevent her from making some very choices in her life.  Because such a thing as finding that you are not totally what you thought you were…  

Well, who could really deal with that?

But having been tested and finding out what was discovered…may have answered some questions for her.

http://www.fanhouse.com/news/main/caster-semenya-gender-test-results/666103

http://www.fanhouse.com/news/main/caster-semenya-gender-test-results/666103?icid=main|hp-laptop|dl1|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fanhouse.com%2Fnews%2Fmain%2Fcaster-semenya-gender-test-results%2F666103

http://www.fanhouse.com/news/main/semenyas-status-no-clearer-despite-media/667104

http://www.fanhouse.com/news/main/when-someone-is-raised-female-and-the/667251

http://www.inentertainment.co.uk/20090911/caster-semenya-hermaphrodite-test-results/

http://gblsharing.app.aol.com/pop-up/

Wow, I feel sorry for him…her.  She grew up as a girl…going to a girl’s school in South Africa.  And now is hailed as a South African champion among her people. 

And for this whole thing about her sex…or true sex to be so public…  It has to be hard…and it is quite unfortunate.  But I can understand the feelings of  the other females who have to complete with him…or her.  And I am sorry to have to put it like that…but what other why is there to put it?

But the difference between Caster and Sarah is…is that Caster’s male organs are internal opposed to Sarah whose sexual organs…male and female were visible.  As Sarah underwent surgery to remove her male organs.  So, yes…I can sympathize with anyone born this way…and particular if  you never knew that you had the problem in the first place…which was Caster’s situation.

Another day when I didn’t get much done.   But I did sit out on the porch again this morning reading my Bible.

Well, I better get some sleep otherwise I will sleepy most of the day tomorrow.  Writing these blogs can take up so much time.  But I am happy to share.  And I hope that you are enjoying what it is that I have to say. 

Hope you have a beautiful day tomorrow.    

Well, God bless…

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on…”  www.bsmith101.wordpress.com  ©2009

Well, I finally did it…and now at last I can get some real sleep.  And I have a lot of sleep to catch up on.  But I finally got the final edition of the book off and out…and I am so glad.

So, while I doze… enjoy Frankie…

Because I am really tired…haven’t gotten much sleep in the past 4 weeks because I have been burning that mid-night oil…day and night.  But it was worth it.  I have managed to produce a quality piece of work…through the grace and mercy of God.  And I am so happy about it.

But I have been thinking about that tax on soda…

I really have never heard anyone say that soda caused some kind of physical condition…or was hazardous to anyone’s health.  Anything can kill you if you indulge in it too much.  But are we going to go around and start taxing everything…because of some kind of mis-preceived notion that it causes people to get sick and adds millions  to Medicare or become some type of burden on medical plans across America?

Oh, course not.  Least ways…I hope not.

The whole thing sounds absolutely ridiculous. 

Besides, it’s not like soda isn’t already taxed with that 5 cent  charge on the cans and bottles.  Does alcohol have that?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124208505896608647.html

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22675.html

My goodness…some people just want to take all the pleasure out of life.  Like being able to go and buy a simple little soda…without it being a hardship.

Then I was thinking…how do you take over a company and not really manage it?

I understand that the government doesn’t want to really get into the automobile industry…nor do I  want the government in it.  But don’t tell me you are going to takeover something…and then tell me that you are turning it over to a bunch of guys who will call all the shots with little to no one watching over them.  Too much freedom…far too much.   I think that…if they were or are that good…then Obama should have sold them the company…or something…and just been done with it. 

The whole thing sounds a bit too Big Brother-ish to me.   You know as in George Orwell-ish.  I really don’t like seeing government overstepping it bounds…and I don’t care how much I like Obama.

After listening to him talk about how “he didn’t want to get into the auto industry business.”   Only made me think…

“Woe…pull back a little Obama.”

Because you see when you become the President of the United States…you ceased to be a little independent operator any more.  There is a much bigger picture.   There is no more “I’ or “Me”….it is all “We,” baby.

The President of the United States of America is not an “I”…but a “We.”   And she or him…must operate in that capacity at all times…and think like it.

You are not an “I”…Obama.   But a “We”…presenting every person in this country…as the head of our government.   So, you have no “I.”    It is either “Us,”  “Our” or “We.”  You are the Head of State…aren’t you?

Consider yourself…like the head of a major company.  Like the one you’re turning over to those guys…and then you may get the real picture about the ‘me…myself…and I.’    It no longer exists for you.  You’re…you’re the President.

So, kill the “I.”

Go back to what the founding fathers of this country intended…mixed with some Hamliton, Jackson and all those other schools of thought…as to who and how a President of this country should operate…and think.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/02/business/02assess.html

And forget about taxing soda.  Isn’t it enough that we have gas taxes in some states, taxes on clothes and property taxes…and on almost everything else.  Can we not start putting tax on food too?

My goodness…just buying groceries…if you go in for a few things…and I do mean a few things…cost you $100 or more.  A large pack of hamburger is $10…cereal is about $6…milk is $4 something…butter is $5…ice cream about $6…bread is $3…laundry detergent is $8…chicken wings is $8…a pack of hot dogs is $5+.   And now you want to tax soda.   Oh, give me a break.

What next…a tax on Kool-Aid?

And you know what I really can’t stand?

It’s a bunch of  health nuts.   Do-gooders who are going to force you into something…by making it a burden to you.

Obama drinks beer and smokes cigarettes.  And I am not out there running around trying to shove anything down his throat about the ills of those things.  And lets face it…the reports are out…all over the place about them…and been out about them.  

Cigarettes and beer…which is a form of alcohol…is harmful to you body…cells and everything else…including to people around you.  Can they say the same about soda?

So, what if it is a sugary drink.  I like sugary drinks.  I add sugar to my cup of tea…and many people add it to their coffee…lots of it.   I also love lemonde and ice tea.  Should I have to suffer a tax for loving these things?  In fact…I drink them alot…but do not touch alcohol.  Will the next conversation to hit the House floor on Capital Hill be about taxing all the things we can add sugar to?   Like cereal…desserts…Kool-Aid…lemonde…etc…   Maybe it will become against the law to add sugar to anything.

The whole discussion is crazy and highly illogical.  Ridiculous in fact.

Yes, I’m back…and with a vengeance.  And I have a lot of things I have been holding in…for such a time as this.

THE BISHOP’S WIFE…is coming….    Yes, my book is  coming…and I am very happy about that.   Though the road has been rocky.  I am really beginning to believe that this whole self-publishing thing is a racket.  And filled with racketteers.

But if you will excuse me…I really must get some sleep now.  I am sure I will have more to say on this tax subject…but not now.  I am just too tired.   This is the first night I have gotten into bed before 7 AM in weeks.

So, enjoy your day tomorrow…and we’ll be talking.  I’m sure.

God bless…

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on…” www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2009

While the Obamas have been taking Europe by storm the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena have been hard at it on the courts.

Just finished reading that between them Venus and Sererna have amassed over $50 million in tournament earnings.  Wow…that really should motivate some people to get up and go out and learn how to play tennis…big time.   However, as strong as they may be on the court the endorsement dollars still have not totally represented who they are and their standing in the tennis world.

Considering the fact that there are other players who have yet to see the type of wins and tournament money that Venus or Serena have managed to win…yet they have not been able to match their court success with bigger endorsement dollars…unlike some of their white counterparts.

For example Maria Sharapova reportedly has earned about $30 million in endorsements while having won only a mere $10+ million in tennis tournament money.

It seems to me that something is terribly wrong with that picture.  Considering the fact that Serena Williams most recently became the highest grossing female athlete of all times.  Based upon this fact alone the ad agencies and major companies should be running to her to sell or aid in branding their companies and/or products.   But this is far from the case.

Perhaps, Venus and Serena aren’t complaining about it.  Maybe through the years they have come to grips with the way the world is…and how it operates.  But it is a shame that with all their skills and finesse upon the tennis courts…the mega ad deals and corporate sponsorships have not come their way.  Clearly they have earned the right to reap the full benefits of their labor…not just the tournament wins…but lots more of that other money too.

In her joyous victory over Serena in the Women’s Final, Saturday, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus jumped for joy…she managed to do what many wish to do.  She beat Serena.  6-1, 6-1.

Wow…what a lost.

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Sport/Story/STIStory_360463.html

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/othersports/2008976683_digs03.html

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slideshow/ss/events/sp/080601venuswilliams#photoViewer=/090405/photos_sp_afp/897dafeaca04350cb6fca4c6485d4922

This past weekend Serena and Venus had another finals show-down.  Playing down in Florida in the Sony Erricsson tournament,   They played hard…and in the end Serena won over Venus, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3…in the Women’s Semi-Finals.

It is amazing how they can compete against one another and not let it interfere with their love, appreciation and respect for one another.   It is just amazing…truly in their own rights they are not only great sports women but also fantastic role models for how siblings should feel about and treat one another.

Oftentimes, when one isn’t playing…the other is up in the stands cheering on and rallying support for her sister…which ever one it may be whether she is awaiting her turn to play…or out of the tournament because she lost.  As well as, their mother, Oracene, and other family members…including their father…who by this time has probably married his young girlfriend (that is in another blog along  with a picture or 2).  As he had planned their wedding for the end of March or sometime during the first of  April.

Of which…being that the young woman isn’t much older than them…or somewhere near Venus’ age…and for other obvious reasons the girls…Venus and Serena were not quite tickled pink at the announcement that their father was heading to the altar with the young woman whom he has been seeing for some time now.  And it seems that she loves to shop…which means…spending their money.

Mighty Michelle…that is the name that the folks abroad have dubbed

It is marvelous to see a man and woman who obviously love each very much that every chance they get they find a way to connect themselves with one another.

The Queen too was smitten by the Obama aura…something which seems to have swept the world.  France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy loves him…and calls Obama friend.

Who would have thought that a man who many had debated whether he would be able to answer the call if  a call came in the wee hours in morn concerning some type of U.S. calamity.  They questioned his…what they called ‘his lack of experience.’ They questioned his ability to be able to handle foreign affairs…and how he would be able to handle himself around other world leaders.

Well, Obama put all those fears to rest this past week during his first visit to Europe for the G-20 Summit.  For a guy who many scoffed at…and grinned over what they called ‘his lack of credentials.’ Told him that ‘he was wet behind the ears.’ I don’t know…but maybe that community organizing stuff  that people laughed about paid off this past week…when Obama managed to mediate between a riff that developed between France and China during the summit…when both men became angry at one another and were nearly about to fight.

Obama not only managed to calm them both down but also got them talking and they came to some type of an agreement.

You know what?

There are benefits to learning how to work with people in the community that can really pay off when you come together with world leaders…and it is called knowing how to break up a fight…how to negoiate…and things like that.  You can’t learn that sitting in some office shoving papers all day and playing like politics is all there is.

Imagine…at his first time on the world stage as President of the United States, President Obama brokered a peace agreement between 2 nations…that were well on their way to disrupting the entire G-20 Summit by having a fist fight.  That’s pretty good.  Better than good…for a man who many questioned whether or not he was qualified.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D97AHEDG1.htm

At the location where I am currently working to launch my website…there is this guy name Josh, who coincidently shares my birth date…he was telling me the most interesting story about his little niece, who happens to be the apple of  his eye.  He says that every time she sees Obama on the television she begins pointing at the television screen saying gleefully-

“O’mama…O’mama…”

She is only about 2 years old…and can’t pronounce ‘Obama.’

Well, that will clearly change as she grows up.  She will learn in history that one of them started the war and that other one put an end to it.  As I am sure that the history books will be filled with information on the controversy that the Iraqi War brought not only to this country but around the world.

After 8 days of trying to re-new the spirit and trust of foreign leaders in this country…Obama paid a surprise visit to Iraq.  There is something about going somewhere in order to get the full impact of the real situation.  I found that out for myself following my mother’s passing.

I had relied upon others…my siblings…as we spoke on the phone or during my weekly visits home…which would always be on one of my days off from my job…but I depended upon others to be my source for what was happening at home…in the house with my father once my mother had passed.  I never would have believed that the sources of my information were anything but truthful.  It was not until I was forced to go home to stay amid my father being what literally amounted to kidnapped…by another sibling (who was more interested in his money than him)…that I found out the  truth…and nothing but the truth…as it started to be revealed to me slowly over time.

Had I never been forced to return home…I would still be living in oblivion and listening to lies about what was really going on at home.

Going and seeing for himself…was something that yes…President Obama had to do.  And judging by the pictures…the troops were happy to see him…greet him…and take pictures of him.  All of which was something I never saw in any of the media stuff when Bush went to Iraq.

The job that those young people and others have been forced to do was huge and the outcome was never one that was going to be good.  For one thing though no one says it…it was an act of aggression on the part of the George Bush Administration to initiate a strike against a country that posed no possible immediate threat or otherwise to us.   Thus, there was and is no way that what started off as being bad in the first place could possibly be turned around…as nobody who lost their life…or a limb…or mental or physical state of being…or other problems or complications due to that war…there is never any way that they…or their families…or their  love ones will ever be the same.  Nor this country…but perhaps somebody thought this when we dropped that bomb on Hiroshima …and then on Nagasaki.

When President Harry Truman, in August of 1945, made the decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki following the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  Like Bush…Truman had committed political suicide by believing war and killing people is the real show of power.  Truman’s fear of communism…the Red Threat…and whatever else that was running through his head at the time…including like Bush…he too had a plunging voter approval rating.

It is interesting how past Presidents used war like some type of commodity to use at will…as a means of vamping up their voter approval.  War to them has long been held as a means of engendering country loyalty and solidarity.   And they used war also as a means of creating  jobs…and all with little care for the lives these wars would exact in return.

The unleashing of the single most dangerous weapon known to all of mankind…the atomic bomb by Truman was the most atrocious thing that any country could do to any group of people.  And from that time to this…this country has sought to wide the memory of it from history.

To view just DOUBLE CLICK the LINK BELOW…ignore the text.

It is my hope that such weapons are totally removed from society…as the technology is entirely too dangerous…to even be used as an energy source.  And as it renders those countries which have it trying to monitor and prohibit others from obtaining it…which speaks to the fact that the world would be a far better place without nuclear weapons.

But I applaud President Obama for being strong willed about bringing to an end a war that never should have been started in the first place.

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=53820

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/world/story/989579.html

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-obama-iraq8-2009apr08,0,642881.story

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090409/ap_on_re_af/piracy

I really do not know how long the Somali pirates believe that they can continue to interfere with the waterways by pirating ships?

At some point somebody…some country will not take it.  And frankly, I do not believe that Obama is somebody to be played with.  I know that there might be those of you who have a different opinion of him…but I can tell that he is nice and easy-going as long as you do not cross him.  It was in the way he looked into the camera and kind of  smiled one morning…though you knew he really wasn’t smiling…and then he said-

“Leave my wife and my children alone.”

You do remember that…that is when the Republican party during the campaigning period decided to go after Michelle Obama.  Once Obama stared into that camera and said what he had to say…that campaign launched against  Michelle Obama came to an abrupt halt.  An immediate halt.  I couldn’t blame them…you could tell that Obama meant business.  And that is why I say-

“Obama is not a man to be played with.”

Yes, he can kid and joke with the best of them.  But for anybody who believes there is not another side to him…look out.  Everybody has another side…even me.   And as kind as I am (lol)…I have scared my share of  people…and still do…when I have taken all that I was or am going to take.

It would be very foolish of the people of Somali to believe that the events that happened when that Black Hawk aircraft was shot down in their country years ago under Carter…will ever be allowed to be repeated again…with them dragging the bodies of Americans through their streets.

No…I don’t think so.  America is not going to take that twice.

First Lady Obama, Michelle’s mother, Marian Robinson, is gracing the pages of Essence magazine.  Didn’t like the make-up job though…or maybe it was the photoshop touch-up…but she is still beautiful.  And Michelle looks just as beautiful sitting beside her mother.

I have said it before…and I am going to say it again.

“What a family.”

It is great to see the type of black families I have known all my life finally hit mainstream media in a continuous manner.

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=12897430&ch=4226714&src=news

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090409/ap_on_re_us/meltdown_shriners_hospitals

I think that the above story is sad.  The Shriners Hospitals are really just too valuable to allow them to close…even one of their facilities much less 5 of them.  There must be someone who is capable of aiding them.  The number of children who need special medical care is growing…and the Shriners Hospitals because they are made to service children their medical facilities are happier and brighter places for children who have to be hospitalized due to a variety illnesses and accidents…burn victims etc…  And can provide them with long care treatment right in their hospitals.

I have a younger cousin who fell out of a 3 story window years ago.  She had to spend a very long time in the Shriners Hospital here.  The injury impacted her growth andshe had other medical problems which were brought about due to that fall.  It caused her to have to stay there for quite a while.  That hospital provided for her a happy atmosphere with a great team of care providers who really know how to deal with every need of children from fear…to tears.

There have often been times when I wished I had money…so I could give it away.  This is one of those times.  I would give it to them.

I never knew that they offered their services for free.  Wow…all the more reason to give.

If you would like to make a donation or contribution…you can do so via their website…  http://www.shrinershq.org/

Or by contacting:   Shriners International Headquarters
2900 Rocky Point Dr. Tampa, FL 33607
813.281.0300

Well, today is so beautiful…that I shouldn’t even tell you about it.  But just keep it to myself…and not share it with anyone…as if I could bottle it up and store it somewhere.

Was in New York yesterday.  Bought some things for Easter.  I decided that  I wanted something new and springy.  So, I settled on something yellow and can’t wait to get my hair done and put on my new earrings and new wears.

I am looking forward to Easter…not because I want to show off some new clothes…but because I am just so thankful that God loved us enough to endow us with a special gift…his son.  And that his son in turn loved us so much…that he laid down his life that we might live…might walk in liberty and free from the yokes and bondage of all the things we once allowed to hold us hostage.  And if you did not understand that…you should get yourself a Bible and begin to search it out for yourself.  It is something that I am still doing…and have no doubt that I will be doing for the rest of my life.  Continuing to read and search it out for myself.

Well, enjoy your Easter…remember Him and eat an Easter egg for me.

And to all of those of you abroad serving this country with pride and dignity…I wish you well.  And with God’s speed hopefully you will soon be home.

Well, it is just about Easter…

God bless…

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends…

“pass it on…” www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2009

At last a person in power who is not afraid to say-

“The world is not a safer place and will never be a safer place with one country pointing a deadly weapon at another.”

Two semesters ago while in my “Just War Theory” class we had several conversations on nuclear weapons.  In those classes I was in constant dispute over the legitimacy of the argument that war could ever be deterred simply by the super world powers both pointing nuclear weapons at each other.  Simply, because that alone would be enough to keep each of the powers from engaging in dangerous acts of aggression…or any acts that could be perceived as acts of aggression which might bring about war between them.

I felt it was foolish to believe that because the major super powers of this world having nuclear weapons meant that the world would be a safer place simply because neither would dare chose to start a war against the other based upon their equal nuclear capabilities.   I thought then while sitting in that class and still do…that that kind of thinking was irrational and certainly not reality based.

I also felt that if having nuclear war power was such a good idea then why was it so important to keep it out of the hands of other countries?

If they truly believed the hypothesis of the world being safer because the 2 hedgemons had the power to destroy each other and the world…then certainly the world would not be so desperate to keep such weapons out of the hands of certain countries and other governments. 

They voice their opinion on the matter as if everybody pointing nuclear war heads at each other… would prohibit anybody from wanting to start anything with another country with the same capabilities for fear of the others with the same deadly weapons.  It just goes to prove how flawed that widely held ideology was…and is.

It is unconscionable that scholars and scientist would have even written so many letters and publications in favor of such backward thinking.  Without a doubt many of them were probably on the payroll of some of the large weapon contractors of this country.  Therefore, they were eager to get many behind them with such thinking.  And many have and still do eat up that train of thought…including past Presidents of this country.

The world could never be a safer place if everybody…every state…and rouge state…had the capabilities to launch nuclear weapons.  Which is why this country and most other nations have aggressively been opposed to North Korea and its attempts to advance itself nuclearly.

As well as, keeping watchful eyes upon Pakistan and India…as both countries also possess nuclear weapons…and their continued border disputes through many years of conflict has provided an unstable atmosphere for 2 countries that possess such highly deadly weapons.  And there lingers over them both a fear that one day 1 or the other make strike at the other using their weapson of mass destruction.

All it takes is one insane person to put us all in jeopardy.  Therefore, nuclear weapons are just too deadly and dangerous for any country to have them.  And nuclear energy is not safe…as it poses just as much environmental danger.  It is just the nature of the beast…and there is no getting around it.  It is just too unstable and dangerous to man in any form or use.

http://news.aol.com/article/nkorean-missile-launch-tests-obama/297401?cid=9

Thus, the continued discussions and arguments on nuclear weapons has gone on since the time that the atomic bomb was first created by the splitting of that atom.  Though many have long feared the dangers of having such weapons…they were not, however, the ones in power.  Nor did they have the numbers of those who believed that nations pointing nuclear warheads at one another would offer enough defense against nuclear war.

What absolute and backward thinking.

If we lived in a world of all rational people…perhaps such ideology could possibly prove true.

But the problem with the concept of the hedgemons or anyone else pointing weapons at each as a deternant to war…maybe during the Cold War but the world no longer had 2 super powers any longer…but 1…and a lot of little chiefs looking to make their mark, as well.

When Russia lost many of the countries which used to be under its control…becoming independent nations…then came upon the scene also the emergents of rouge states…religious lunatics…and egomanics that entered into power in various countries around the world.  The world very much has changed.  But even if it had not that old ideology of deadly, dangerous, mass destroying weapons pointed at each other…was riddled with plenty of false thinking upon that thinking first coming upon the horizon.

Because human beings coming into power…all are flawed.  Even men of this country…wheeling power recklessly…and without consideration of anything other than their own will.  They are dangerous.  They are not rational thinking people…rage is a highly dangerous thing…as well as…pride.  And when acting under the cloud of anger or pride…they do not think properly…and some are just plain crazy anyhow.

So, Barack Obama has the right understanding of the real situation…that many  have long held…those who sat in the oposing camp  ut were far less in numbers than  those who believed that having such dangerous weapons would be enough deternant to deter war.  At last a rational thinking person heading the strongest world power…at the head of a super state…who does not believe that a bunch of armed people all around the world pointing weapons at each other is a sign of a safe place…or safe world.

This is a change that the world has long hungered for.

Bravo!

http://news.aol.com/main/obama-presidency/article/obama-nuclear-weapons/412784?icid=main|hp-laptop|dl1|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fnews.aol.com%2Fmain%2Fobama-presidency%2Farticle%2Fobama-nuclear-weapons%2F412784

http://www.nuclearfiles.org/menu/key-issues/nuclear-weapons/history/post-cold-war/india-pakistan/india-pakistan-conflict.htm

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20090405/video/vwl-barack-obama-outlines-the-nuclear-th-15af341.html

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/photos/slideshow/barack-obama-photos.html?imageUrl=/ap/20090405/r_p_ap_wl_other/pwl-aptopix-czech-republic-e9a05c259ac8&sp=-1&lsp=-1

http://news.aol.com/main/obama-presidency/article/obama-nuclear-weapons/412784?feeddeeplinkNum=0

I am thinking about the sacrifice of  God by giving to the world something that was so precious to Him…his son.  And the sacrifice of His son for all of us…by laying down his life…that we all might live…and walk in the light no longer held captives.

Well, it is just about Easter…today is Palm Sunday.  Hope you have a beautiful day.  The sun is shinning and it is beautiful here.   And I hope there too…where you are.

God bless…

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends…

“pass it on…” www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2009

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See…I said it.  And she hasn’t proved me wrong.

I love her.

I really hate people who don’t know how to go home and just be quiet.

It is not like Cheney and his friends did anything but put this country into a whirlwind spin downward.  And we have yet to set the turbulent waters still.

Cloaked in secrecy since they went into the White House…it is hard to believe that they had not planned this whole mess from the very beginning.  To get in steal what they could…and cause havoc just because they could.

Or maybe all the chaos was just a shield…to cover up the crime.  You know how the criminals do…create a disturbance or some type of confusion somewhere else to divert the attention from what they are really doing.

Man…you know I never thought of that before.

But what if it was?

What if  9/11 had been cooked up by some of our own people…in high places?

It would certainly address the issue as to why they never really went after Bin Laden.

I  hope with all my heart that would never be found to be true.

I personally believe that every covered record, tape and piece of video…recorded phone calls, messages, emails, faxes, text messages…and everything else used to imprint messages on…or engendered dialogue…including documents…should be thoroughly gone over by some high commission seeking illegal irregularities by the Bush Administration…pacifically the lying and untruthful behavior of now ex-Commander and Chief, George Bush,   and his bully, Dick Cheney.  And they should be dragged before some court or tribunal to face charges of some sort…if for nothing else but for all the lives which have been lost and the families destroyed by an illegal war that not only devastated a country but the world economy…as well as, our own.

What a herculean mess the previous administration has left behind.

From 4.2% under Bill Clinton…to 7.6% unemployment by the time George Bush left the White House.

The number of  Americans living in poverty when Clinton left the White House under 33 million…by time Bush left White House 37.3 million.

When George Bush went into the White House…Clinton had left it the country with a $128 billion surplus…while George left us with a deficit…of $1.3 trillion.

So, how dare Dick Cheney sit around on the sidelines now…sipping his champagne and smoking his big Cuban cigars chirping like a canary over what the Obama Administration should be doing…and is now doing…calling it ‘a risk’…in trying to bring this country out of the Bush/Cheney mess…and to get this country back on track again.

Who put us here…where we are today?

Inflated gas prices…highest ever in the history of America.  Unprecedented number of home foreclosures.  Failed economy…massive job losses…daily bodies flying back from Iraq…corporate thief…Enron…Bear Sterns…Halliburton…war…inflated cost of living…etc…etc…etc…etc…etc…

If only Dick Cheney could have been but so wise in the advise he was shoving down his fellow Texan’s throat…while they both were sitting in the White House.

Who put us here?

And then want to question how Obama is running the country?

Are you kidding me?

I know exactly where Obama is trying to take this country.  OUT OF THE MESS THAT YOU GUYS PUT US IN…that’s where.

Thank you, Condi Rice…tell Cheney to put a lid on it again…and again…

He seems to be the type who just can’t seem to stop talking.

I can’t stand big fat hypocrites.  Particularly, when the hypocrites are the ones to blame.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/15/cheney.interview/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/15/cheney.interview/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

How could something like this happen?

On their way rushing to the hospital they get stopped by the police in the parking lot of the hospital while leaping from their vehicle trying to rush inside the hospital.

A cop tells them to stop prohibiting them from going inside.  He tells them that they ran a red light…all this mind you while they had their red hazard lights flashing while rushing to the hospital.

The officer is told over and over and over…”my mother-in-law is dying.”

To which the officer acts as though he is making an ordinary…what they call a routine traffic stop.  And he did so without any kind of concern or consideration regarding the situation of  his captives.  Well, that is what they were to him…because that is what he acted like with regard to them.   He acted as though there was no type of any emergency…and that Ryan Moats was just out joy riding to the hospital.

All the pleading and trying to get the police officer to understand…it all fell upon death ears.  He could have cared less…as you hear in the video because he turned a deaf hear to everything that Moats was saying to him.

The cop threatens to arrest him…tells him that he is going to tow his car…etc.   But the cop does everything but attempt to even try to comprehend…or make any sense out of the situation…as to what is being told him.  Nor did he  offer any help or assistance to the family members of the vehicle of near death mother as they tried rushing to her bed side.

How had this scene might have played out differently…if…

If the occupants of vehicle had not been African Americans but some other race…namely white?

The officer might have ran into the hospital with them.  Maybe…

He might have been a lot more understanding and helpful to them…probably.

But I doubt that the above scenarios…and the way that it actually happened did get played out as it did because of…who they were…or are.  They were black…African Americans.  This officer saw their color…and paid no attention to their situation…or anything else.

And the police chief’s apology wasn’t much better.  Near the end of his apology…he states that to the credit of NFL  player Ryan Moats-

“At no time did Mr. Moats state that he was a NFL football player. Or expect any special consideration.”

What kind of statement was that?

Was that meant to be a compliment?

It is all on tape.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2009/03/26/lavandera.tx.nfl.player.hospital.cnn?iref=mpvideosview

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2009/03/26/lavandera.tx.nfl.player.hospital.cnn?iref=mpvideosview

Historian John Hope Franklin…didn’t know him and never heard of him before.  But  just read something about him…how he had a way of  telling our history.  It really made me feel like I would have liked to have known him.  Would have loved to have heard his name before now…and certainly would have loved to have heard him lecture on our history.  There had been a time when I couldn’t read enough on it.

http://www.lastingtribute.co.uk/tribute/franklin/3050019

There is something about our history that amazes me.  So, many many stories…as varied as the people.  Stories of  lives shattered… broken… and often torn…and yet many victorious.   Stories of a peole who were really a mixture of various people…thrown into chains…transported on ships…carried across the Atlantic…to stand upon auction blocks…and herded like cattle.

Yet, they were able to turn scraps into meals…later called Soul Food.  Messages into songs…that later transformed into gospel, blues and R&B.  People who turned hardship into culture.   People meant to have not to survived…but did.  Kind of like the stories of  the blankets infected with smallpox given to the American Indians.   They weren’t suppose to survive either.

I guess that is kind of why I cried when I saw them riding…strong and tall upon their horses…all dressed up in their traditional headdresses and everything…in the parade for Barack Obama on Inaugural Day.   That was special.   What a sight they were…just like all of us who flocked to D.C. to see…to hear…to cheer…and to cry as we bared witnessed to the dawn of a new American era.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/crime/2009/03/26/pn.anchor.death.cnn?iref=mpvideosview

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/politics-obituaries/5056617/Professor-John-Hope-Franklin.html

Wow…I wish I had heard him.  Had known of  a  place where he had been lecturing…or had booked him myself.

Now, that I have had an opportunity to find more info on Dr. Franklin…I had heard and seen him once.  He was on Charlie Rose…a show I used to love to watch…at a time when I used to watch television.

They said he had a gift…a gift for telling our history.   Wow…I sho’ wish I could have heard that.  Not much of  it going around any more.  Soon, I guess it will all be dead…all our real history…dead and gone…buried when all our elders have all gone to their graves.  Because nobody will be left carrying it on.   Nobody studying it…nobody who thinks that it is now still important…or relavent.

So, now…almost all of the African American Studies departments have been done away with…removed…squashed…vacated…because “ain’t nobody taking the classes no ways.” Yeah, because they need to make room for all of this new stuff…like the history of rapp. ..and hip-hop.

No one taking an interest…too busy thinking about rapp…hip-hop…and baby/mama drama.  I hear those classes are jam packed.

Or maybe we should wait on others…others to come and pick it up for us…and start claiming it for their own.   Like they came and picked  up jazz.   That was on its way out too.  It was dying as the masters began to die.   And would have been dead too…ifin’ they hadn’t.

Our history in this country sprang up out of the toil and sweat…and  out of bearing chains in this country…and there is no reason why we should ever let the memory of those who walked before us…and broke those chains die.  Nor our history prior to slavery ever be forgotten…which so few of us know little if anything about.

Teach it!

Preach it!

Recite it!

Pass it on to your children…because a tree without roots will fade away.   Strengthen the roots.

Don’t let it die.  It is far too important for our children…and the legacy we leave behind.

I had said to myself-

“You are going to go home and go to sleep early tonight.”

And I did get in early.

And I did shower and get ready for bed.

But then I started writing this blog…and here I am at almost ll:30 PM…and I got in before 5.   And I am still not finish yet.

Eleven Native American tribes from all across the country participated in the ceremonies celebrating Obama’s Presidency by marching…or riding if you will…in the inaugural parade and various other events that day and week in Washington, DC.

God bless…

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on “

www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2009

http://www.aaanativearts.com/article1632.html

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Indians-on-the-Inaugural-March.html

Leave it to a Republican to try and throw a wrench into the works.  That South Carolina Governor really should consider his actions before he walks around trying to sound tough.

He claims that unless the Obama Administration allows him to do what he wants with the money to be allocated to his state…he won’t take the money…none of it.   Well, isn’t that just like a Republican?

No consideration to his state…but only to his will to do what he wants.  And undoubtedly he is hoping that other governors will follow suit.

But let us examine the state allocations of the Obama stimulus plan…

1.  $53.6 billion to help state budgets

2.  with 82% to be used for public schools and colleges

3.  and 18% on public safety and other government services

So, what is the problem?

I do not see anything wrong with that.  It is putting the money in some areas where it is definitely needed to be placed.  Schools everywhere are suffering…the state infrastructure…okay.

But the South Carolina Governor wants to take South Carolina’s share of the stimulus and pay down South Carolina’s debt rather than taking the money allocated by the federal government…earmarked for health care, jobs and schools.  For which he is playing politics…saying if he can’t do with the money as he wants he will decline to accept it at all.

Talk about cutting off the nose of  South Carolina in spite of its face.  Perhaps, if it were his personal nose the Governor of South Carolina would not be so quick to say ‘no’ to those funds.

The Democratic National Committee in an effort to inform the good people of South Carolina about the deed of their dearly beloveth Governor…began running ads on the matter.  For which the Republican governor called ‘foul’…saying that he thought the Obama Administration was not going to play politics as usual.

Those Republicans can always think of things when it suits their own purposes.  Those people in South Carolina deserve to know the kind of  fool they have running their state…and it is about time that Democrats have started standing up.

I sincerely applaud the Obama Administration concerning the matter…and taking their stance on the matter of not allowing anyone to bully them.  It is about time some Democrats with backbone finally got into some positions of real power…and used it.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090316/ap_on_re_us/sc_stimulus_sanford

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=4226712&cl=12516236&src=news

In Willamina, Oregon, the school board is planning of distributing birth control pills to the teens in their high school.  Following what they call an outbreak in the increase of pregnancy in Willamina.  With fewer than 300 students in their high school system…they had 5 senior girls who gave birth to babies this year with another 9 girls on their way to the maternity ward.  So, feeling helpless and lost in a vote of 2-2 the school board was split on whether or not to start passing out birth control pills.

This to me is tantamount to an ostrich putting its head into the ground.

Now, not only an urban problem…the problem of teenage pregnancy is hitting the white suburbs with a bang.   After all…remember Sarah Palin and her 17 year old daughter…all the way up there in Alaska…facing the same issue.  When this issue was one confronting poor people…and mostly non-whites…the issue was lightly overlooked…much like the issue of drugs and AIDS used to be…in the beginning…when it only affected the ‘thems’…’those people over there…in the ghetto.’

It seems that when certain issues only affect certain people…nearly everybody in this country finds little effort in turning a blind eye to it and on them…just as long as those issues continue impacting certain people.  But like those teens in Massachusetts who made the pact to get pregnant…as if having a baby is a game…which sparked momentary conversations but that was it…don’t let it start hitting them.

But…what?

The lily white areas of Oregon now too?

And evidently…Alaska as well.

Well, now…now…now something really must be done…now.

http://www.kgw.com/education/localeducation/stories/kgw_031209_education_birth_control.2a07e217.html

http://www.newsregister.com/article/37963-willamina+balks+contraception

http://www.kptv.com/news/18919608/detail.html

Today is the 6th anniversary of the Iraq War.

Thank God…for a change.

Six years of suffering and dying…all for what?

What in this world has changed for the better since Bush and his friends decided they were going to strike Iraq?

Nothing.

In fact, things have gotten worst…and in a big way.  Everything is costing us far more today than what it did 6 years ago.  Many people have lost a son or daughter, niece or nephew…or grand child due to a senseless war that has accomplished nothing but caused more problems…hardships…pain…and hurt in the lives of people around this world…not just here in America.

Well, here is a story for you.  This story below is worth reading for all of those starving for love…but looking in all the wrong places.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090316/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_nigeria_australia_scam

God bless…

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on “

www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2009

It is definitely clear that something needs to be done with the present health care system that we have here in America.  I don’t know maybe it is just me…but the system we used to have the one long ago sure seemed alot better than anything they have now.

A long time ago you used to go to the doctor…mostly general practitioners then.  Many of them did not even work out of a hospital or within some kind of medical facility.

No, they worked out of their house which they converted the downstairs into an office space, examining rooms and even had a waiting room…and they usually lived a few blocks away somewhere in the neighborhood.

But one thing about them though…you only had to tell them a symptom or 2…and those doctors…who were known back then as general practitioners…they knew right away what was wrong with you.

Now, today they have specialist after specialist…and  nobody knows anything.  Nobody can tell you anything.  They all say-

“I don’t know.  But lets run some tests.”

Now, how come the little old private practitioner could tell you exactly what was wrong…and all these big time fancy surgeons and specialist can’t tell you a thing?

What don’t they teach anything in medical school anymore?

Besides…how to make money?

There they sit in their big plush medical facilities…or hospitals…or whatever in white crispy starched shirts with their smocks on looking all official…but they don’t know nothing.  Except how to keep you running back and forth while milking you out of every dime your medical plan will pay them.

The other thing about things as they are today in the medical field that gets me…is REFERRALS.

Hate ‘em.

I can’t stand the way the present system is set up.  You can’t go anywhere or see anybody unless some doctor gives you a referral.  And then you can only go where they will allow you.  Or you have to beg and beg  just to be referred with the hopes that somebody else can tell you what is wrong with you.

So, yes…this system is in dire need of correction.

I had been experiencing excruciating pain in my right arm a while back…and I truly mean excruciating.  I had no idea what it was but it was constant severe pain 24/7…and it grew measure by measure.  Finally, I realized that the pain was not going and I could no longer bear it…so, I got out and went to see a doctor.

The doctor asked if I had shoveled any snow.  And I told him no.

Then he asked me had had I lifted anything heavy.  And I told him no.

Then he asked me-

“Well, have you done anything which could have caused the pain?”

Well, if I knew that I wouldn’t have gone to see him.

Finally, he said well go home and if it persists come back and see me.

And I did…a whole week later…where he again sent me on my merry little way after asking a few questions.

Have you ever watched the second hand on a clock ticking the time down?

That’s how my money was going.  Tick…tick…tick…visit after visit and my arm pain by now had grown way beyond unbearable.

It was like the 4th visit and still the doctor had not done one thing to help me or my pain…but take my money…or my plan’s money…which is my money.  As he was about to send me once again on my merry little way…I had a fit in that office.  And I mean…I HAD A FIT.   I started yelling and demanding.  The pain was too much for me to bear and my temperament was far beyond allowing me to continue in the state that I was in.

Now, I am a person who hates it when people tell me that I am yelling when I am not yelling.   Sometimes I may raise my voice a bit…but I may be a long way from  yelling.   I often have to caution people when they tell me that by saying-

“Oh, I haven’t started yelling yet.  But when I do you will certainly know the difference.”

But I started yelling in that doctor’s office…and mean I yelled.

I demanded a referral right then and there…to see a special…and told him that no I was not coming back again so he could continue to take my money while that pain was killing me…and for him to keep telling me the same thing.  I told him to give me that referral…and  give it to me now.

That doctor could not give me a referral quick enough.  And if he hadn’t…    Well, I was in so much pain I was prepared to start turning things over and throwing a few things in that office (I will have to tell at some other time about this restaurant where I did just that…and it was warranted).

I was in dire pain…and I do mean dire.  And I had had enough of this doctor and all of that going back and forth for him to have not done anything to help me.

The next week I was in to see an orthopedic.  Come to find out I had a torn rotary  cuff.   And I had to have surgery done to my shoulder…and that was scheduled a couple of weeks later.   But it took my getting upset in order to get it done.  And this is what people go through day after day upon visiting doctors today…continual trips to the doctor’s office without relief.

The real problem with the medical system is the ‘referral plan.’   It plays against the plan holders.  Doctors somehow seem to believe that they have the upper hand.  They do want they want and when they feel like it…because we have no control over the plans…and we need a piece of paper from a doctor to seek out any form of treatment from anyone else.

The plans control us…and doctors buy into the various plans knowing that they have a free and clear playing field…a cash cow as soon as you hand them your medical card.   Before when the doctor didn’t do what you thought was best…or if you thought that you weren’t getting proper care or service…you just got up and found yourself  another doctor.   But not so any more…those medical plans cut all of that out.

Also, before if you heard from a friend or someone…that this doctor over there was better…you just got up and switched…no referral…no nothing.  But you can’t do that any more either.  These plans have you locked into certain doctors…certain medications etc…etc…

So, there is little wonder why you can’t find a good doctor anymore these days.  Because they do not have to be…because you are not going nowhere no matter how they treat you…or not.  Because they won’t let you.  And this is what is really wrong what today’s system here in America.

Now, none of them need to be any good any more…because we do not have the right or the freedom to go see any other doctor who is better…all because of some stupid medical plan that has us all roped in to them which guarantees these doctors business no matter how bad they are.

So, yeah…Obama-

“Re-vamp the medical system.”

In my opinion the entire system needs a major overhaul.  And it is just too bad that nobody has thought of returning back to the system we used to have years ago where we were not treated like mindless little children.  Where we have freedom of will and could seek out the best care for ourselves.  Believe me…they would get their acts back together then…or starve.

I truly believe what somebody said a long time ago-

“If  it is not broken…don’t fix it.”

That is the principle which should have been applied years ago…then maybe now we would not be in the predicament that we are in today with all these large medical plans and pharmaceutical companies dictating things to us.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/06/us/politics/06web-health.html?_r=1&hp

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=12341496&ch=4226713&src=news

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&d=12336205&ch=422676720&src=news

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090305/ap_on_go_pr_wh/health_care_overhaul

I was just thinking about the NFL football players, Corey Smith, Marquis Cooper and other man, who were lost at sea this past week.  For some reason my mind keeps telling me that the search team should have looked east of where they were searching.

I feel for them…and their families…and I have yet to give up hope for them.

The families were disenchanted when the coast guard called off their search of the missing parties the other day.  I could not help but think…that rather than waiting on the shorelines their families should have been out on those waters looking too.

It was not like those football players didn’t have money.  Sometimes you have got to mobilize your own efforts rather than leaving everything up to everyone else.  When you love and care for someone…who can be more determine or seek them out or more fervent in finding them than you?

Their boat flipped over casting the 4 boat members into the sea.  Last week one lone party of the boat was found siting a top of the flipped over boat.  It all happened in the Tampa Bay area…in the city of Clearwater which is an island sitting with one part of it in the Atlantic Ocean…and the other side in the Gulf of Mexico.  So, you can imagine the amount of territory that would they had to cover in their attempts in trying to find the 4 men.

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/29454121/

http://news.aol.com/article/missing-nfl-players/363480

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/football/sfl-flspboaters03sbmar03,0,6839198.story

Well, it seems that the families and friends must have read my mind…but they should have gotten out there searching from the very beginning.  But you can read more on that by CLICK the LINK below.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090304/ap_on_re_us/missing_boaters_nfl

There is this woman in the Church of God in Christ, by the name of Betty Nelson, who tells this story of her daughter.  She tells how her daughter had taken to a wayward turn in her young life.  She started hanging out and got caught up in drugs and things.

Her mother tried dealing with the situation as much and best as she could…but her daughter grew worst.  Harder to control and was totally out of order because the drugs and the wayward life had taken her over.  Eventually Betty Nelson said that her daughter ceased coming home.  And over this her mother shed many tears…and many long nights and days praying to God that her daughter would come out of the life she had fallen into.

Finally, Betty Nelson says that she decided that she was not going to let her daughter be lost to the streets.   She says she called out saying-

“Devil, you can’t have my daughter.  I don’t care what I have to do.  But I’m going to find my daughter.  And I’m taking her back…out of the drugs…out of the prostitution…out of…”

She says she hit the streets searching for daughter.  Searching and searching until she came to some crack house.  She says the place was run down…with people’s children laying everywhere all strung out on drugs…but she did not let fear overtake her.  She walked into that old broken down crack house and began searching through it looking for her daughter.  And in the midst of that house she found her daughter…all drugged out…and out of her head.  But she says she took her daughter out of there.  And she says that she dared anybody to try to stop her.

It is funny about a mother…with a made up mind.  She cannot be swayed when it comes to her child.

Today, Betty Nelson’s daughter is free from her addiction and is a living testimony of a mother’s love for her child…and how sometimes we as parents have to be willing to do the unthinkable…and the seemingly impossible in order to save our children from themselves.

I am a believer of  ‘tough love.’ But sometimes being too tough can prove to be worst…and have more dire consequences.   There must be a balance.  Be tough if it is required…but never unloving…or uncaring.

Gandhi Items Sold for $1.8 Million

It was an auction of  items once owned by Mohandas K. Gandhi, including a pocket watch and spectacles, which has touched off outrage in India as its government continues to talk with the items’ owner.

It seems that when you are dead everybody wants a piece of  you.

Had those items meant so much to the government of India it would seem to me that it would have tried to acquire them before the auction.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/05/india-rejects-owners-proposal-on-gandhi-items/?hp

Well, the Obama’s are working hard to ensure that their daughters do not miss one moment of enjoying their childhood…and rightly so.  The girls, Malia and Sasha were pleasantly surprised last week by a new addition in their new back yard.   And it looks like so much fun.  http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/ny-usswing0306,0,7640326.story

Well, the dignitaries are starting to come ‘a visiting.’  On yesterday, Gordon Brown the Prime Ministry of England came a courting.  It would be interesting to know exactly what they discussed.

The one good thing about Obama…and there are many good things about him.  But this I like best of all.  He is not a chump.  He walks, talks and carries himself like a man…and he is not afraid of speak up.  And another thing…that I like about him.  He is not a game player.   Not a person who relies upon lies and deceit to get over on us…the voters of America.

I guess that is what we all saw in him…and that is why he is now President of the United States.

I am so glad for a breath of fresh air…that breath of fresh air called Barack Obama.  I was beginning to suffocate.

Well, at last it stopped snowing and now we have mounds of it all over the place again.  But…yes…I LOVE IT.

Last night I made up my mind that I do not care how hot it gets this summer…I am not going to complain.  I will merely pull the fan a little closer…and remember this winter…all the snow…the cold…and furnace being blown.

So, yes…I love looking at the beauty of winter…but I will sure be happy when summer comes.  And weather like today’s…makes me long for it all the more.

Well, God bless…

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on” www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2009

CLICK the ABOVE video a COUPLE of TIMES and just ignore the text.

Today I have been reclassified.  And I have been smiling…really chuckling to myself since.

While waiting on the bus…which I had to dragged myself out of bed, shower and get dressed to get to.   And I said all of that because knowing that if I didn’t want to waste my day today…I needed to get out and catch the bus.

Well, who wants to catch the bus?

So, I finally got out to the bus stop after deciding to make myself some Cream of Wheat…which I have really been enjoying for the past few days.  It has been years since I have eaten it…but I woke up with a taste for it one day and I have been indulging myself since.

But it has been a long time since I have taken the street bus.  And I needed to get downtown to the college where I am using their software to build my web site.  Knowing that I would not have the truck today…it was the bus or not go.   So, I decided the bus.  But since I haven’t been on the bus for a while…I was not sure how much it now cost.

When I arrived at the bus stop there was a young guy on his cell…and finally when I saw the bus coming I decided to ask him how much it cost.  So, I said-

“Is the bus still a dollar?”

He looked and kind of hesitated for a moment then smiled somewhat and said-

“For you 65¢.”

I didn’t quite understand what he meant when he said-

“For you.”

It was like they were having a special or something just for me.  So, I asked him again saying-

“How much for you?”

“For me (meaning him) it’s a $1.25.”

Then he kind of grinned at me saying-

“But for you (meaning me) it’s 65¢.”

I still didn’t understand the ‘for you’ part of our conversation.  And it must have been written on my face because then he kind of looked off as someone searching for the right words…then he looked back at me saying-

“For seniors its 65¢.”

FOR SENIORS?????

I have to admit he seemed so embarrassed in being forced to say it…and that I found to be quite funny.

Senior?

Me?

I have been called many things but never in my life before have I ever been called that.

So, between all my smiles…let me just inform you right now…that…

Well, I have been re-classified.  I guess today I have been designated as a ’senior.’

That is so funny to me. It reminds me of one day about 10 or so years ago while downtown Brooklyn and I was getting ready to cross the street.  And this guy…this…this man…about 30 or 40 years old called me ‘ma.’

You will not know how insulted I was.  Here he looked like he was all of 40 or something himself and here he was calling me ‘ma.’ I wanted to grab him and start beating him…calling me ‘ma?’ Are you kidding me…that was what I thought…and I was mad.

I was not accepting that…but today was different…I found it cute.  The young guy today had done everything he could to keep from calling me a senior citizen…and I just could not understand what he was trying to say until he finally said it.  And it was funny to me.  And I have been smiling every since.

I do have gray hair…I come by it legally.  Daddy’s hair was pure white…and I am very proud of having my father’s hair.  I have even been complimented on it.  It is pretty…and then the other half of my gray hair I earned.  And I mean…I have earned it.  Worries and problems, baby.  They will do it to you too.

So, yes…as of today I have been re-classified.  And now I expect to get all kinds of discounts…and all those little perks that come along with my new classification. (smile)

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on” www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2009

Today I woke up to the most interesting phone call.  It was from a daughter of a friend of mine.  I had been thinking of her since I had not heard from her for a few weeks and we usually try to touch bases with each other at least once a week, if we can.  But that just does not always happen.

So, yesterday evening while waiting on my son, I decided to give her a call and received no answer.  So, it was a pleasant surprise to see her number pop up on my cell phone when she buzzed me back this morning.

The good part was that she had not been sick…well…   She hadn’t had to go to the hospital this week.  Yes, I did say this week. 

Very early on she had begun having to deal with a series of health issues.  Many of which most people would have just given up and gone and crawled into a corner…but she didn’t. 

It has been a fight for her…weekly…and I have no doubt daily.  But she has remained strong through it.  And that is really the best part about speaking with her because through it all she has managed to smile and laugh her way through it…every single episode.  She always continues to see a brighter side.

I could not imagine myself having to deal with heavy health issues which have invaded her body since she reached womanhood.  For one thing she has what Bernie Mack had Sarcoidosis.  I don’t really know what that is…but it can cause sudden death and is considered a mysterious medical disorder.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/health/chi-sarcoidosisaug12,0,5966562.story

But Vee, and I don’t often call names, also lives in Chi-town…that is Chicago for those of you who do not know what that means…just like Bernie Mack had.   She started off our conversation telling me how she has been fighting the severe Chicago cold and the frosty wind blowing in off of Lake Michigan.  And then she began to tell me about her ex-husband and how he was recently put into a hospice.

This was a guy whom when she was a high school teenager every other word that proceeded out of her mouth was his name.  It was his name and his name only.  I thought it interesting after years of having lost contact with her family…and upon finally becoming reconnected with them due to the death of her uncle, Tyrone Davis…whom if you are old enough know him by his hits…such as “Can I Change My Mind” and “In the Mood”…I thought it interesting that she had married him.

It was clearly a bad and most severe case of  ‘puppy love’…and Vee had it bad.  She adored that boy.  And it was interesting that someone whom she had adored so much she did eventually marry.  But through the years it had not worked out and eventually they got divorced only to find out that they liked each other well enough to be friends.  And it is nice when people can do that.  Break up but yet be able to pull and salvage something out those years together…and they did…and it was especially good because they had a child together.

Vee told me that he was now placed in this hospice suffering from having cancerous tumors all through his body.

http://www.aboutcancer.info/

http://www.medicinenet.com/cancer/article.htm

Warning signs are so important…but nothing beats a regular check up.  Even I am guilty of not always wanting to go to the doctors on a regular basis.   As I never get sick…but never getting sick doesn’t mean you don’t need to ensure a healthy you.

At the end of last semester when I was just finishing up with all my classes…after carrying 18 credits for the semester…one morning my right hand began shaking uncontrollably.  Since, I had to do a presentation in a few hours…I just thought I was becoming nervous or something.  

But near the beginning of my second class on that day…my right hand began to freeze up on me.  It would lock up and I could not open it…nor could I do anything with it.  By this time I knew it was something more than just possible nerves bothering me..and I began to think I was near to having a stroke or either a heart attack.  So, I immediately knew I needed to leave class to get to a hospital.

Have you ever had any warning signs?

Did you take heed…and realize that your body was trying to tell you something?

It is true…our bodies are like fine tuned automobiles…and when you start to hear some noise…well…in our case something starts to act up you better go and get it checked out.  I understand being fearful of hearing bad news. 

But what is worst?

Hearing the bad news while something can still be done…or hearing the bad news when it is too late to do anything about it?

I will never forget Mrs. Ripperton, Minnie Ripperton’s mother, who used to be a member of 6th Grace United Presbyterian Church in Chicago…down on Cottage Grove and 35th Street.  She would talk to me sometimes about Minnie and how much pain Minnie had been in before her death.  (Minnie’s daughter currently stars on Saturday Night Live…Maya Rudolph…who obviously has both of her grandparents sense of humor.  That Mr. Ripperton was so so funny…and Mrs. Ripperton called him ‘Rip.’  They were a great couple.  Wonderful family…Elaine and all of them.   I remember them all well.)

One day Mrs. Ripperton held out her arm and said-

“You see this…Minnie could take her arm and beat it against the table and not feel anything.  That’s how hard her arm had become and how filled up  it was with all the pain.”

http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Minnie-Riperton-Biography/AC559ACE33FEC41248256A16001F13AB

I had known nothing about cancer…but that day Mrs. Ripperton told me something about it that has stuck with me through the years.  And I knew from that day that cancer was something I would never want to get.  But illness is hard no matter what it is that people have…and by hard here…I mean difficult to deal with.

So, it was interesting to me that Vee would have called me giving me the information on how she had been staying up talking to her ex-husband over the phone…praying with him and reading the Bible to him.  Though she said he really didn’t want to hear it…but she would read it to him anyway.

Many people say that they don’t want to hear it…that they do not want to have anybody telling them anything about the Bible or any more people coming to in to pray over them.  I have heard it…but when nothing else can help…you’ve got to learn how to call upon the name of the Lord.

A friend of mine in New York became very ill.  I had not seen her for a while.  So, one day I decided to run by her house which was only a couple blocks up and just around the corner from me. 

When her mother answered the door she told me that Jackie wasn’t feeling well…yet, another name that I have mentioned in this blog…but this blog is filled with so many people if I didn’t I call a name or 2…or 3…you would become confused.  When I went up stairs and her mother opened Jackie’s bedroom door to allow me in…I was horrified.  I was looking at death and I knew it. 

Jackie was not even a shell of herself…her lips were a bright red…her complexion was very very dark…all her weight was gone…she was curled up in the fetus position…and when I approached her…I said immediately-

“Let me go get Shirley so she can pray for you.”

Jackie refused speaking in a very low and slow voice saying-

“I have had a enough praying for me.  I don’t want any more prayers.”

But I kept begging…I was afraid for her and the only thing I knew to do was to go get somebody who get a prayer through to God.   I was not saved…but I knew the power of finding someone who truly could get to God’s ear.  Finally, Jackie consented.

I ran down the street and through the door open to Shirley’s real estate office and said-

“Shirley, you’ve got to come.  You’ve got to come and pray for Jackie.  You’ve got to come.”

Shirley got up and rushed out of her office leaving her secretary to handle her clients.  And we both rushed back up the street and around the corner.

Shirley had brought with her…her oil…and as she went into the room she began praying and anointing Jackie’s body with the oil.  I stood rubbing Jackie’s feet trying to pray as much as I could in agreement with Shirley as tears ran down my cheeks.  I cried for my friend…and I prayed for God to spare her life.

Shirley soon left but I continued to rub Jackie’s limbs…and before I left some time later… first I saw a toe move and then she stretch out one of her legs slightly.  Jackie was coming out of that fetal position.  And I could see strength coming back into her body.  Thank God for Shirley and the power of prayer. 

Today, Jackie is doing just fine…and I have no doubt that she will never doubt the power of prayer ever again.    It truly does changes things.

But I understood Vee’s ex-husband being bitter and angry over his illness.  He is young yet and a death sentence has been pronounced over his head.  That has to be harder than hard to deal with.  And then to be placed in a hospice…the ultimate declaration of death upon him.

But even in that state God is able to turn his situation around.

Which brings me to another story…since when I had tried to reach Vee last night and couldn’t…I decided to buzz someone else.  Tanya…and again I rarely called people’s names in these blogs…but sometimes I just can’t help it.  When you come upon outstanding people…it is worth calling out their names.

At first I thought I was awaking her from her sleep as her voice sounded funny…but she told me no.  She had just gotten out of the hospital…and she informed me that she had been there for an entire week.  Her lungs had filled with fluid and she had suffered a bad asthma attack…but while in the hospital she had shared a room with a woman whom she told me had been very ill.

But it is the treatment of the woman by her doctor that Tanya really shared with me.  Tanya said that the doctor had been so coarse with the woman who was…laying on her death bed.   He told her that they had  the papers from her health proxy to not resuscitate.  Tanya said the doctor was not kind or caring at all in his words…and that when he left the woman felt even worst.

But Tanya told me how she encouraged the woman by saying-

“Don’t worry, ma’am.  He doesn’t know.  You might not need to be resuscitated at all.  Can’t no doctor tell you when you are going to die.  You might even out live him.”

Because of the various medical plans that people now have to have in order to be treated…most medical facilities feel they no longer have to treat you with any type of respect, dignity or courtesy.   After all once you give them your card number they already have your money…it is as good as in the bank.   And this is a sad commentary but true. 

The medical field has gone to the dogs and pit-bulls…private companies have gone into the medical business as ‘for profit entities’…much like many prisons have also done.   They care nothing about trying to save people or making them better.  They would  have you come back and forth a hundred times…while pretending they are checking on this or checking on that.  While all the while they are just eating up your medical benefits.  It is sad…quite sad.  

But t is funny how God puts people in the right place at the right time.  Every now and then we all need someone in the right place…at the right time to encourage us when we are going through a rough time in our life.  And oftentimes…these people know and have not just a sense of who God is…but a true  relationship with Him as well.

One morning a couple of years ago, I woke up with a pain to my lower back area.  It was a very severe pain…so much so that whenever I moved I would scream out in pain.  As the day progressed the pain progressed…it got worst.  I could barely stand, walk, turn or lay down without that severe excruciating pain getting the best of me.  I, however, prefer to suffer pain rather than to take any type of medication.  So, I endure things until they pass…if they pass.  Thus far God has blessed me usually…they pass.  But this problem kept on growing worst.  And it inhibited me…I could not make the slightest move without screaming out.  

I had to push myself through this pain and it was very hard.  But I decided to drive into New York and to go to church.   While in the car the pain was bad but I didn’t let it stop me…and the funny thing about it was this.  When I got to the church and walked inside the pain was gone.  As if  it had never been.  It was gone throughout almost  the entire church service and I thought it had left me entirely.  And it had…up until the time the service ended.  And slowly the pain began to resume.

That night I decided to stay over in New York with mother.  Yes, the one I have written about in several of these blogs who recently passed near the latter part of last year.  Mother enjoyed my company.  And I…well, I enjoyed hers as well.  She was a very funny and witty woman…but she also loved the Lord and she possessed much wisdom.   I loved talking with her as she was well versed on everything from politics to the latest news topics of interest…as well as, the Bible.

She would often ask me to stay or come into New York to spend some time with her after I had left the city to return home to take care of some family matters.  But most of the time I would not…I did not want to infringe upon her or our friendship…though I knew that she did not mind.  But occasional I would stay over…and this was one of those times.

By the time we had reached mother’s apartment…my pain was almost totally back and occasionally I would screech out in pain.  But by morning it had gotten far worst…I barely got up off the bed…and when I did I knew I would not be able to lay back down.  So, I could not lay down and nor could I stand.  It was terrible…and I was at mother’s house to make it even worst.

Not wanting to worry mother over my condition, I decided I better go to the hospital.  Mother and I had lived around the corner from each other…and the hospital was right across the street from her apartment.  So, I made my way out the door…into the elevator…across the street and into the hospital where I told them upon stepping up to the reception window-

“I can’t stand and I can’t sit…I think you need to lay me down somewhere.”

And they immediately admitted me into emergency and they sent a person around to me to take all my information once I finally was able to get into a laying position.

A fairly good-looking doctor came and began servicing me…and eventually he told me my problem.  I had a slipped disc.  When I asked him about how I could get it fix…he told me I couldn’t.  He said that the disc has to slip back into place on its own.  I was in such pain…that I was willing to go up under the knife to never have to find myself back in this state again.  And that was rare…because I usually say no to such things…to operations if I felt I could live without them.  But every time I moved I was screaming out in pain that is how severe the pain was.  And I could do nothing.   So, yes…there are times when even I start to sing a different tune…and this was one of them.

The doctor had an ‘i-v’ hooked up to me and they began to feed me muscle relaxers and pain killers to cause the pain to subside.  And while laying there down there in a stall in the emergency room one of our church’s prayer warriors came in.  It was Sister Capers…this blog is filled with names today.   But she too has since passed…and I am sure she would not mind me calling her name as I celebrate her.   (though I doubt that calling any of the names in the related blogs would have bother any of my friends…but I just prefer not to)

Sister Capers had a long badge around her neck and said that the hospital allowed her full access to walk around to talk and pray for people.  She touched me and began to pray for me.  But it was the sight of seeing her…a friend come into that emergency room and stepped into my curtained off area that meant so much to me.   It was something I had not expected at all.

The pain killers and muscle relaxers began to work too…and after a few hours they released me giving me a couple of prescriptions…which I did go and get filled immediately.  And this time I took some of that medication…a couple of times in fact.  But I found it to be exceedingly strong.  And after taking it…yes, it helped the pain in my back…but I was left feeling sick to my stomach…in fact my stomach would be cramping. 

So, I stop taking the medicatjon.  Some medication today will correct one problem…but leave with something else to deal with.  If  that be the case…you should seriously weigh your options. 

What good would it have been for me to relieve by back pain (a temporary condition)…only to have burned a hole through my stomach?

Finally, the pain left…or rather I guess I should say….my disc slipped back into place.  But without having been at mother’s house I probably would not have gone to the hospital…nor would have known exactly what my problem was…and Sister Capers would not have been able to pay me a surprise visit and then pray for me.   I am happy that I elected to stay the night in New York.

So, you see in this blog that I have some friends who are going through some trying life circumstances themselves…yet because of their walk and faith in the Lord…they are bigger than what they are going through. They have managed to turn what many would say should have been their tears into smiles.   And in the process they have not been too pre-occupied with their own health issues to not be able to reach out and comfort others in their time of need.  I think that this is wonderful…and I thoroughly enjoyed talking with them as they shared their stories with me. 

I do know some phenomenal  people…they are special in every possible way.

I just could not let this day go by without sharing with you something about them.

 

After looking at these videos of the Whispers…I now regret having not gone through and done that ‘Headlights’ Concert which I had booked them for.  But when the tickets didn’t start moving…and the venue called  telling me that if I didn’t rush in there with the advance ticket money and bring in all the tickets that we had put out there in the various locations…that they were going to cancel the show. I felt was left with no choice.

So, as much as I didn’t want to make that call to L.A…I did.  I actually dredded calling L.A to have a conversation about cancelling the show…2 days before it was to take place.  But I did it.  I called the Whisper’s manager and told him that I was forced to cancel the show.    And this is what he said to me in response-

“What do you mean you are being forced to cancel the show?  It’s your show…your money. They can’t force you to cancel your own show.”

And you know what he was right…it was my show.  It was my money…not that large auditorium but my money that was on the line for that show.  The venue hadn’t bought the radio time for the spots…or placed any newspaper ads announcing my concert.  I was the one.

No, I was the only one invested in that concert…and I was the only one who stood to loose anything any kind of way it went.  Because I was the one responsible for paying everybody…including the venue…though I had already paid them a portion of it…that was not going to come back to me even after the cancellation.

But it was too bad I called the Whispers last…I had already pulled all the tickets…cancelled the remainder of the radio ads and then had the radio stations to start announcing that-

“Tomorrow night’s concert featuring the Whisper’s Headlights Tour is cancelled.”

That is when I realized I had had a slave mentality.  I had let that white man who booked the events at the auditorium dictate to me the lost of a very very large sum of money.  Something which will never ever happen to me again.  It was a life experience…and life experiences are made for us to learn from.

There are times when we can block our own success…by failing to believe in ourselves or what we are attempting to do.  But if you start a thing…you should be big enough to see it through.  Don’t try to second guess yourself.  Either do it…or don’t do it.  But do not kid yourself  by starting something that you are afraid of seeing through.

Monday is President’s  Day…so if you are one of those fortunate ones…I know when I worked in radio there no such thing as a holiday…particularly if you were at the low end of the totem pole.  But if you by chance you are one of those who does have the day off enjoy it. 

Isn’t  it wonderful…we now get to really celebrate that day.  I mean not that there were not other presidents who were great…but mostly they became great by being thrust into some difficult situations that forced them  to make during their times some very hard decisions.  But isn’t it interesting how being forced to make hard decisions can often work out for the good…when the right choices are made.  And make you great…as opposed to being  ‘just one of.’   Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Kennedy and Johnson may all be considered to be great Presidents because of the times and the decisions they were forced to make…and Washington simply because he was the first.

Abraham Lincoln did not have a great love for the freedom of slaves but he recognized the danger it caused to the union of all of the then 13 states of the United States of America coming together.  Slavery was the thing which tore them apart…so it made sense that slavery was the thing that had to end in order for this country to be able to move forward in order to be able to tackle the other events and things that a growing America would come to face as a nation.

It’s Black History Month…and I certainly salute it and celebrate it.  There are so many great people…inventors, doctors, lawyers, writers, news journalists, actors, orators, wise people, civic leaders, religious people, hard working desent black people who were purposely left out of the history books of this country.  I think it is time to right that error as well.

The road was not easy but they carried the torches anyhow… knowing that one day a change was going to come.

http://www.howard.edu/library/Reference/Guides/Hamer/default.htm

http://www.sweetsandbody.com/new_africa/newafrica.html

http://www.notablebiographies.com/Br-Ca/Brooks-Gwendolyn.html

http://www.csu.edu/gwendolynbrooks/

http://web.co.wake.nc.us/lee/vf/cr/demo/19600319nsin/10600319nsin.htm

Well, God bless…

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on” www.bsmith101.wordpress.com  ©2009  

 

At last they have reached an agreement on the stimulus bill which will hopefully create  jobs and get this economy back up and running.  Though I must admit to not being one of those who was hit by the problems going on with the economy…I must always say that I am concerned about others.

Many people did suffer and are suffering because the economy took a deep plunge under George W. Bush.  I doubt whether gasoline prices will ever get back down to $.99…but it would be nice. 

Wouldn’t it?

We take so much for granted until it is gone.  We never knew just how good we had it until gas prices at the pump started getting over $3.00…and when they neared $4.00…and did hit $4.00 and over in some places…we suddenly realized the party was over.

Food prices went up…everything…you name it and it all went up…due to some lousy war in Iraq that nobody wanted in the first place but George Bush and his people.  If the after-effect could have been seen before hand I doubt that little ol’ George would have stood a chance at getting that war started.   Well…maybe I should take that back.

The fact is…is that there were some pretty greedy people pushing for that war.  You saw them at the Republican National Convention…they were holding up signs that read ‘prosperity.’  

You do remember seeing those signs all actively displayed around the
Republican National Convention floor this past August?   Many of those very people realized what the outcome was going to be…long before hand.  In fact, they were hoping for it.and began buying like crazy whatever they could on the stock market.   They care about nothing… but…   prosperity …at any cost. 

They went into the stock market and started buying up everything that had to do with heating, utility companies, insulating, home improving, coal mining, oil drilling,  trucking, food…etc.  Oh, they saw it coming…and they knew it would come big.  So, what did they do…they pushed for the war.

They were going to go into Iraq and squander it…rob it…pillage it…destroy those museums and take every artifact, painting, golden vessel and piece of pottery they could find…and smuggle it out of that country.

Then they were going to set themselves up as the saviors and peacekeepers of the place…while all the while looting it and the American taxpayers too with bogus invoices…and double billing ploys…while thousands of American people innocent sons and daughters lost their lives fighting in a senseless war brought about by greed.  

It did not make sense for the United States of America to arbitrarily begin a preempted strike on Iraq…when all the world was against it and most of the American people.   Iraq had not done anything to us.  Nor were we under threat by them.

What?

For a man and his 2 sons.  Two ton bombs were unleashed upon those people, their homes, their businesses, their infrastructure, their schools etc…night after night upon building after building. 

That could not have been about Saddam Hussein and his 2 boys.  It was greater than them…it had to be.  The expense and tally was too great to just desire to depose a tyrant and his sons.  

Could it have all been for profit?

As Barack Obama came into office as President of the United States…72 hours later Blackwater pulled out of Iraq…and the others are following.  And a country is being left in devastation.

I have heard somewhere about how ‘leaving something in a better state than when you found it.’

The state of the Iraqi people has changed…but many would argue whether or not it is a better state than when George Bush and his boys went into it.

So, yes…I am happy that the Senate has finally stopped hemming and hawing.  Everybody is trying to make some points…it is so…so…like politicians.  The Republicans held it up…so the Democrats couldn’t get the credit…when they knew all the time that they were going to have to pass the stimulus package or else face the music again come another election period.

You would think those dog gone Republicans would learn.

They can stop the band…but they can’t stop the music.

Hooray, for the passage of Obama’s stimulus package.  Now, maybe some of these companies will not have to continue to lay people off or fire them.  Jobs are very much needed…they help to pay the bills.   And they are good when you want to go somewhere…you’ll have money to do it with.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/congress_stimulus

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/12/us/politics/12stimulus.html_r=1&hp

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=11990303&ch=4226716&src=news

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/38970000/jpg/_38970537_203b_uday96_vt.jpg&imgrefurl=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3089379.stm&usg=__zsRi

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3089379.stm

Well, First Lady Michelle Obama will grace the cover of Vogue magazine next month (March)…making her only the 2nd First Lady to do so.

I have been trying to find a picture somewhere on the internet…but alas…to no avail.

I has to be out on newsstands by now…not to mention out in the mailboxes of thousands who subscribe.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/10/AR2009021001579.html?hpid=topnews   

February is just one of those months…I suppose that much of it has to do with the passing of my mother during the first of this month some years ago…as to why I tend to be quiet and rarely have much to say.   I had been wondering why I had so much to do…and seemed to not want to do any of it.  I had forgotten that it was February.

Even with these blogs by this time during a regular month I would have done at least 4 to 5 of them already…but this is only my second since the month has begun.  Oh, I am not as bad as I used to be…there was a time not so long ago either that every month and every day was just like the day she had passed.   Even my being able to form and shape the word ‘passed’…in my mouth or mind in connection to my mother is something new for me.  I could never put the 2 words together…’she passed’ for years upon years.

I never wanted to accept that she was…was…was gone.

I am who I am because I was given the very best of everything by God.  I had the best mother…and the best father. 

My parents never discussed with me the fact that I was gay.  There was never a mention of it…though they knew.  I had bought most of my girlfriends by the house…so, they had met some of them.  But they never discussed anything about gayness or gay people with me.  They never called anyone names…or talked negatively about anything.

When I called home from Chicago…to tell my mother that I was pregnant.   Yes…gay me…pregnant.  It is a rather long story…but in short it happened because I became depressed over loosing a lover.  I began thinking that maybe the life (gay life) was not for me.  So, I decided I would try the other side.  And the one time I did…BAM.   I was pregnant. 

Being gay I was very naive about straight life.  I would have never have thought about protection or anything like that…because…   Well, because I had never had a boyfriend…and had never dated in my life until I got into gay life…which was sometime during the age of 25.  And I had my son when I was 28.

I must say that I am a strong advocate for ‘pro-choice.’  Without choice I may have chosen differently.  I did think about abortion…even called the abortion hotline.  But when that lady started talking about ‘full anesthesia’ or ‘partial anesthesia.’   And I thought if it was going to hurt either way…then I might as well have the baby. 

So, much for my analytical process at that time.  But I thank God…I made the right choice.  I could not image life without my son…who is the best thing that ever happened to me.  And he is definitely a far better person than his mother…honestly. 

So, I called home and I tell my mother.  I don’t even know what I said…or how I phrased it or whether I just came right out and said it.  Nor can I remember what my mother said to me upon hearing that.  I am sure that perhaps she may have believed that I might not ever have any children…as I was gay.

Nor can I remember how long it took me to pick up the phone to call my parents to tell them that I was pregnant.  I had to have been months…because I knew that they would be disappointed. 

But I remember what my father said upon my arrival home during my 7th month of pregnancy…after my mother had sent one of my sisters to Chicago to bring me home.

My father said-

“Now, you will never be alone.”

That was the extent of it. 

“Now, you will never be alone.”

He was right.  I am not alone.  I am now the matriarch of our family…which continues to grow even in their absence.  And they would proud.

But during the entire period of my mother’s lifetime…I had never shown much interest as an older child or an adult child in church or church matters.  I rarely went…and was so happy when I finally moved out of my parent’s house…just so I wouldn’t have to continue going to church.

Today, the church is my whole focus.  I can’t imagine what my mother would say.  But I know she would smile and be happy.  Because it is true…it is what you put into your children that matters.  Yes, they may wander but somehow…what was pour into them when they were young will surface in their lives at some point.

It’s February…Black History Month…and as tears stream out of  my eyes as I write this thinking about my mother.  I am so thankful for those who walked before us…they poured something in…and today it has surfaced.  Many years of insults and degradation.  But today…the number one person in the world is a black man.   I am so happy…that my nieces, my nephews…my

 son…and us…we are all here to bare witness to this time in American History.  

Pictured above is…the grave stone of Benjamin Banneker, Dr. Charles Drew and Dr. George Washington Carver.   You can CLICK on the LINK right below to find out as to who they are, their accomplishments and those of other black people in American History.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.cdcmaafa.org/images/pictures/famousinventors.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.cdcmaafa.org/inventors.html&usg=__IuPSOBVxF7tkcjLbtwfssKU0l5U=&h=211&w=207&sz=14&hl=en&start=31&um=1&tbnid=W3F9JcICaeeMsM:&tbnh=106&tbnw=104&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpictures%2Bof%2Bfamous%2Bblack%2Bscientist%26start%3D20%26ndsp%3D20%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

It is February…

http://books.google.com/books?id=L2RMRwJ1IUsC&dq=pictures+of+black+people+in+african+american+history&printsec=frontcover&source=in&hl=en&ei=imKTSY6QNJKasAOs_KC1Cw&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=12&ct=result#PPA2007,M1

The weather has broken for a spell…and we are getting a break from the cold…the ice and the snow.  The sun has been shining for the past 2 days so lots of snow has been melting.  But today…was absolutely beautiful.  It felt like spring.  And the house has not been quite as cold.  I look forward to spring…I actually love all the seasons.   Winter…spring…summer…and fall…

Well, God bless…

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on” www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2009  

CLICK LINK BELOVE to trailer to Michael Moore’s lastest film on the bank bailout.

http://movies.msn.com/movies/movie-trailers/?g=f359d88a-4848-43c3-be13-bf505c57cc30>1=28101