Archive for May 2010
Racism in America is alive and well… and growing… Beck in the dog house…
Who in the world is Glen Beck?
I had never heard of him before until coming across this internet article on him during his radio program imitating the President’s daughter.
Upon listening to the radio program in question…as it is included in the article… all I could think of was the black face comic skits that white people 
used to do of black people. They would mimmick 
our voices making us sound as dumb and as ignorant as possible…while having covered their faces with some kind of black oily face paint. And then they would paint on their faces some excessively big lips.
All of this they did in stupid attempts at making fun of not only how we talk, pretending to think and reason like us aloud…and, of course, supposedly depicting what our facial features look like. It was all done to belittle us as a group of people, and also to make Black folks feel unequal, backwards and ignorant people. All of which was and is a lie…then and now.
The fact that Barack Obama may well be the most intelligent man to hit the White House… which maybe the root to this whole problem.
The 2nd problem for some of these back in the Dark Ages back woods ignorant racists…is that President Obama may also prove to be a 
greater President than Franklin Dalano Roosevelt. Oh, no… that can’t possibly happen. But based upon the set-up left behind by George W. Bush it could become true.
Roosevelt’s fame as a President came from the mess he stepped into as a President. Stepping into the White House following Herbert Hoover, a
Republican and the 31st President of the United States…he sank the country into one big mess. Therefore, Roosevelt inherited an United States that was suffering. The Stock Market had crashed and dire poverty covered the land from coast to coast due to the Great Depression.
http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/hoover/essays/biography/1
Roosevelt was the creator of ‘The New Deal.’ With the New Deal Roosevelt ushered in a new America…a reformed America and a series of new social programs designed to aid and assist the needy, and to strengthen and mobilize America back onto the road of recovery.
Often we have heard that history repeats itself. If this is indeed so…many then can see where President Barack Obama is set on the path to do for America what Roosevelt did for America some 78 years ago.
There is no doubt also that America when Barack Obama was elected in as 
the President of the United States a year ago, had been left in a questionable place and a time of vast uncertainty and downcline around the world. Allies around the world questioned our stability, truthfulness and fortitude as a still world leader after years of rule under the moral degradation and lies of George W. Bush as President of America.
Obama inherited a crashing Stock Market, a collapsing World Banking system, a
rapidly dwindling American dollar, skyrocketing fuel and gas prices, the highest ever in America… record numbers of out of work Americans, soaring health and medical costs with record numbers of Americans without any form of health care policies, corrupt leaning and borrowing systems, with record numbers of Americans being forced into 
the streets due to foreclosures, and soaring out of control country financial deficit fueled by 2 wars without a seemingly end…and much more. All of which had happend under the 8 years of administration and rule of George
W. Bush. And also under the Bush Administration, America for the 2nd time in her history was attack on her own soil…September 11th, known as 9-11. Where thereafter all kinds of other attempts, boomings and plagues came about.
If you examine the mess that Obama inherited including those things which generally come up during the term of a President… such as the BP oil spill in the Gulf…and when Russia decided to
invade Georgia, in the Baltics… you find that Presidents have to deal with all kinds of things…including unforseen natural disasters. But it doesn’t make it their fault. Though much of what happened under George Bush’s watch was.
Now, I am going to vent.
I am so tired of reading all these articles where people refer to our President Barack Obama using a small ‘p.’ It is so annoying to me. I 
absolutely hate reading anything about him written this way. It is so disrespectful to Obama.
I know that Obama being the man that he is pretends that it does not bother him…but he is an intelligent man, a historian and a man of letters. Meaning he has read all kinds of documents and 
articles past and present on all past Presidents of the United States, as it was for 1 thing…his field of study. And I am sure he has also noticed that at no other time has any other President of this country ever been 
referred to in any form of text using a lower case ‘p’ as has become the practice when writing articles about Obama.
Thus, to do so when referring to Obama is not only disrespectful but an act of racism. An act of out and out racism and I do not care what anyone else says. And it is all a campaign purposefully set to down grade and minimize Obama, his efforts, his effectiveness and his success.
But I want to let you know… every last one of you that it won’t work. Just like they say in that gospel song…it just won’t work.
Obama is going to be great in spite of you.
And he is going to be as successful…if not more successful than Roosevelt. And that if for no other reason than because some many racists want to see him fail…with Palin and that whole Republican machine riding in the front car.
But the Bible says…that he whom the Lord has blessed is blessed indeed.
And Obama is blessed…his family is blessed…his children are blessed…and this country shall be blessed because of him. 
If anyone has any doubts about whether Barack Obama is blessed just go back and look at those photos of his inaugural. Look at all those people who flowed into Washington, D.C. to celebrate with him and his family. And check all his record numbers…record number in the amount of money contributed to his campaign…the most money ever give
n to any political campaign ever. Record number in contributions from people who have never 
contributed to a politician ever. Highest number of voter turn out ever. And the numbers continue on and on in regard to Obama’s accomplishments.
He shall be like Solomon because God has set 
his course for him over this nation. And if you doubt it go back to his mother, and how she used to 
wake him up at 4 AM in the morning to go over and learn American History. Obama’s path was laid for him long before Obama was born.
Therefore, as it is said in the Scriptures…no weapon formed against him shall prosper. Meaning all the evil works being performed against him will come to nought. Every vote 
meant to hold him back and hinder a bill that he is trying to put through will be turned around, and go against those who are trying to oppose him and stop his progress…or hold up his candidates for offices.
Another Scripture says this…that what the devil means for evil God will turn it around for your good. Meaning the all the name 
calling, opposition and hindering in Congress and the Senate will be turned around for Obama’s good. Already I can see this happening in that Obama is becoming a lot sharper and more posed when attacks come against him publically. He is definitely far more Presidential now, and I am sure he would have more of a targeted response for anyone who should suddenly decide it smart to call him ‘liar’ again while he is speaking before the Senate. I have no doubt of it.
I am proud of Obama and I know that he is no joke. And he is not going to continue to allow people to treat him as one.
And as far as this Beck person goes… Well, I just hope that he has no children. I cannot 
imagine what he would do if someone so cruelly and purposely poked fun at his little daughter…and made a joke out of her.
I also hope that none of the children in Obama’s daughter class have heard that stupid radio clip. What an ignorant thing to do. And these people call themselves adults…but are too afraid stand up in front of Obama and say what they have to say.
No, they’ll do it from behind a microphone…and then issue out an apology from somewhere. A bunch of cowards. That is all they are…a bunch of racist ignorant cowards.
But then I guess I can kind of understand why some should be jealous 
of Obama. I mean after all…not only is he a great husband… but also a very loving and caring father. He is also handsome…and looks well in everything he wears. He’s smart…tall…and doesn’t have a problem with his weight. He’s athletic…and he has a beautiful and highly intelligent wife. And 2 very beautiful and intelligent…and very well behaved daughters. And oh, yeah…also an important part… a mother-in-law who loves him as well.
So, yes he is well on his way to be the most powerful and successful President of this country of all times…who will be spoken of and the measure that those who follow him shall 
be measured by. Of this I am sure.
So, yes…you who want to see Obama fail…I can see why. But instead of 
attacking Obama you should start working on your own life…and get it in order so that you too will have something to be proud of . Because I can tell you are a bunch of very sad and lonely people…and highly disappointed people… out attacking a little girl?
Come on, now. And you call yourself a man, Beck?
Go stand in front of Obama and mimmick his daughter…and I want to see what happens to you. I bet you are afraid to do that.
And is it true that BP stands for British Petroleum?
And is it also true that Halliburton, Dick Cheney’s former employer and big time war profiteer and scam artist… is over the operation of BP in the Gulf ?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/37519216#37521148
Could possibly be a set-up?
Anything to make Obama look bad. With all the talk and Obama blaming you would think that Obama owned BP. And that he could automatically go down and just plug up a hole nearly 5,000 feet below the water surface…leaking over 5,000 barrels of oil each day.
It is not a pin hole. And the problem really belongs to BP…without a doubt it is a major concern to not only President Obama and those people down in the Gulf/Atlantic Ocean area. And probably might affect us all…but it is clearly a concern of Obama’s youngest 
daughter just as well. We can all tell that she is well briefed…and is growing up quite civic minded.
And we should all have a sincere appreciation for all children who cares about others…not make a joke or poke fun at them for any reason.
Monday is Memorial Day. We 
should all take a moment or 2 to reflect on the sacrifices of others, that we might all live here free and out of harms way. Thankful for all the freedoms we hold so dear…never forgetting the price paid and being paid so that we might stand in our liberty here in the United States.
I hadn’t thought about it for a while… but I had all but forgotten about the war. Since stopping even turning on the television to watch the news… so those images are no longer before me. It sadden me reading the list of names per week of young men and women who were killed in Iraq. Many of them just 19. And every so often you would see a name with an age of 
28…or 29 and above…and I would think of all their families that they left behind giving of their lives for an America not yet quite grown up.
While they huddled together with bullets flying over heads… or booms dropping nearby… or 
right in their midst… yet they marched on… fought on… for an America not yet totally grown up. A place where division and strife still lives on …while they struggle in foreign lands that we might proclaim peace …while we yet still pull against 
one another.
I salute them and pray that one day this country will live up to what was the dream and the creed to which those men who signed their names…signed their names… to which they all marched off to war and became involved for… those soldier who fought and died in our name.
Well, enjoy your day off.
And…God bless.
THE BISHOP’S WIFE is now on sale…
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 ©2010
2 comments May 30, 2010
Gary Coleman passing… Parenting and those who claim to know…
I have long held that most of the supposed authorities giving out information on how to treat, displine and handle your children…are really a bunch of people who do not know what they are talking about.
Now, today I happen to come across this article…which…
Well, it proves my point.
The above LINK to the article is written by a mother who states that she is a Professor at some big time university…where she and her husband taught. And I say ‘taught’…because he is now deceased, but she still teaches there…wherever it is.
Probably in New York…or at Yale…or some place. Some place like NYU…or Harvard…M.I.T. Or Georgetown…or Princeton. But I bet you it is somewhere on the East Coast. Somewhere near Greenwich… or out in the Hamptons.
And I tell you why.
In this woman’s article…this Professor… she states that she told her daughter that it was okay for her to drop out of school.
Yes, I did say that. This she plainly states in her article where she says that she told her daughter, who wanted to drop out of high school…that it was okay to do so. In fact in the article the woman states this….”school wasn’t working for her. So, I even encouraged her to drop out.”
The so-called ‘parenting expert’ also states in her article that she is the author of numerous books on parenting.
Now, do you get my point?
For some years now these so-called ‘parenting experts’ have been telling this country how to care, chastize, woo and cuddle their child. Most of them mind you have never even had a child yet they sit around articulating on various talk shows, 
radio programs and in new articles how ‘we’…real parents should care for our children, and their discipline.
They are the ones responsible for why laws were written about what types of discipline are and are not allowable or acceptable. Laws which have given way to some of the most unruly children to walk the face of this earth. Many have no matters…and some even lack basic unbringing.
I am not, however, critiquing or criticizing all children or teens…or anyone outside of this mother who happens to claim that she is an expert in this matter. Clearly something is wrong with the picture of ‘child/parent relationships’ today. And this corrupted picture basically has stemmed from a lot of very bad advice 
from a bunch of people running around who nothing about children. And neither do most of them had any children of their own…or like this woman who wrote the above article…they failed to be able to control their own children.
So, they give in to them…and up on them.
What parent in their right mind is going tell their child in these days and times…or in past times that its okay to drop out of high school?
No one. None of them did. Though in past times many children did not have the leisure of pursuing a full education based upon family demands. But these days have changed and so has the criteria to be capable and compedent to be a part of today’s work force. It has grown and gotten much higher. You need more education today…more than ever before. And particularly if you want what is called a good job…and higher pay.
Evidently, this woman is either very rich… or she has heavily insured her 
daughter and plans for some type of accident. Because either that or she must be planning on taking care of her daughter some how for the rest of her life. Because without a college education…and many times above… her daughter’s life is going to become very hard.
Anyone who does not have an appropriate education today is as good as doomed. There is no about it…or buts about it. Everybody can’t go to Hollywood and become the next $20 million movie star…or make mega making music song deals.
I am sure that that this woman’s daughter is never going to be the next Whitney Houston or Barbara Streisand. Her daughter doesn’t stand a chance unles
s her mother has some money. It is highly unlikely that this woman’s daughter will succeed at much of anything if her mother’s attitude has always been-
“Oh, well if you can’t do it that’s okay. Just quit.”
What parent tells their child that?
What do these so-called experts know?
People who want their child or children to succeed in life push them. They push them to get up in morning…to make their beds… to clean their rooms… to brush their teeth… to comb their hair… to take a bath…etc. Parent’s push their children…and after a while the hope is our children will start pushing themselves. They must learn to get up…and make their way in life. They have to learn to clean their rooms on occasions… and how to take a bath and brush their teeth…and comb their hair without anyone having to pu
sh them.
And I do not mean by being mean and cruel to your 
children…or be overbearing in your desires for your children. No, not in that way…where the children come to dispise you because all you care about is that “A” or the winning of the ball game. No, not at all like that. But the kind of pushing that parents must do in order to get their children up and going…and to engage them in life.
It is called ‘growth and development.’
We grow…and develop over time. I am sure 
that over time even I have grown in the writing of these blogs. My first blogs are nothing like they are now…be it in their overall appearance…content…the amount of time I spend on creating them…and my total effort in doing them. I have grown…and so have they.
But I learned how to grow through my parents pressuring me to always do my best…and to never give up. Needless to say…I didn’t always like it…but it worked. Speaking of which…when my son spent 4 years in 9th grade…
Yes, I did say 4 years in 9th grade. I told him this-
“I don’t care how long it takes you to finish high school. You can sit there 
until you get old and grey if you want to. But you are going to stay there until you finish or until somebody walks up to you and taps you on the shoulders to tell you to get out. But you are going to stay there until then.”
And I meant every word of it.
It was not that my son was a bad child. But he was a social butterfly. I sat in on many of his classes just to ensure that he was doing his doing what he was suppose to be doing in school. And I often travelled in from New York… getting off the inter-state bus to catch a city bus to the whatever school he was at.
If you want your children to succeed you have got to commit yourself to 
their success. And you have to do it without surrendering. I never surrendered. Today my son is very successful. He successfully finished high school and then went on from there. Today he makes lots of money doing what he loves. But it did not come with me giving up on him or giving in to him.
It takes education to end up in life doing what you love. Must people work
doing what they have to…and oftentimes doing something that hate (and that is many times regardless of their education if they chose to study something just for the money). But those who are educated can pick and choose what it is that they want to do…and at what price. That is the beauty and difference that education can make.
This is not to say, however, that only people with good education succeed. Because there are many examples today and yesterday that prove that point as well. But, however, that road is not an easy one… and it becomes complicated with a lot of ‘no’s’…and plently of road blocks.
During the last year of my son’s 4th year in 9th grade whenever he asked me for anything I would just merely say-
“Four years-9th grade.”
That ended any further discussion about whatever it was that he was asking me for. Oh, how I loved that time…I did not buy one single thing for him that was not a need. He asked me for new pair of $100 sneakers…he asked me 
for a beeper…he asked me for all kinds of things. But he got none of them… no Christmas gifts…birthday gifts…nothing. Nothing…not that I would have bought him a beeper or spent $100 on a pair of sneakers anyways. But I still remember his face when I would say that to him…4 years-9th grade. But he made it out of 9th grade. And from that point on he began making the honor roll.
It took some time but it got there. It hit home… my saying that to him. It must have given him pause to sit back and think about the time he was wasting. He had thought of school as a fun place not a learning place. It is alright to have fun in school, but not whern it disrupts others…or hinders your learning…or that of those around you. My son did not hinder others…he just was busy not doing his work.
But after that first time of making it onto honor roll there was such a shift in my son’s attitude towards his school work. He started taking pride in 
himself and his school work. He even began to brag that he was the smartest boy in his class. And from that first moment on the honor roll he just kept on out performing all of them…because it felt better than sitting in school doing nothing…and everybody now looking up to him, and asking him to help them.
At the end of the day no child wants to do anything. I know I didn’t. We would have all rathered to have sat before the TV all day watching cartoons
or drawing and coloring on paper…where as today’s kids play all kinds of computer games…game boy and things like that. And if they could they would never set it down… or go to school if their parents let them.
So, enter this woman…who I guess is proud… Well, she states that she is proud. She feels that she has done some great thing by telling to her daughter to quit school. I would beg to differ.
And just like I said when I started this blog. It just goes to prove all along what I have always believed about these so-called ‘child experts.’ They do not have a clue. And nobody should be listening to them.
And before I forget…the reason I said that the woman (the mother) was probably some Professor from NYU or some other North Eastern college, was because her view seemed to be quite East Coast liberal. It was…or is quite liberal, which I think is how a lot of former flower children/hippy…or should I say ex-hippy…or ex-flower children liberal Eastern Professors think. And particularly if they have money…or come from families with 
money.
If you have money then it really doesn’t matter. You can say something dumb like tell your child to go ahead and just drop out. Because you have the finances t
o provide and care for that child for the rest of his or her life. And being that this woman has a daughter… Then she can do it right up until the time her daughter gets married.
Well, I was wrong…the woman who wrote the article teaches at some school in California.
But the point that made the whole article ridiculous for me was the fact that the woman…this ‘child/parenting expert’ was proud of herself for telling her daughter she should just drop out of high school. This she told her daughter because her daughter wasn’t doing well, and she didn’t like school.
Boy, if ever parent thought like this woman more than 3/4 of the school population would no longer be attending school.
What child doesn’t think that they hate school?
I didn’t…but that is beside the point. I guess I would be part of 1/4 attending school. But I don’t think I would really count. Because I only liked school because it got me out of the house and away from my sisters and brothers. When you are the oldest of 8 siblings…you fall in love with school real quick.
Now, back to this woman who wrote the article…this supposedly well educated woman…a woman of letters… having a doctorate in her field…which in turn gave way to her the claim to proclaim herself an expert in the first place. And this woman also writes books telling parents what to do concerning their children.
Real parents stand up. You better take those books by these so-called 
experts and throw them into your incinerator. Because clearly this woman doesn’t know what she is talking about. She doesn’t even have a clue. Her head must be stuck in the ground. And her hand is definitely not on the pulse of what is important in the real world.
And she teaches college students?????
If your child is going to succeed…they will need to be educated. And I hope that whoever your child is…I hope they are not in any of this woman’s classes.
Throughout history the levels of man’s success has always been measured and linked to his hard work and level of education. And education has always set the standard for the classes…separating those who have juxtapose to those who have not.
Now, on to Gary Coleman. 
While listening to Bev Smith last night on her late-night radio talk show over the internet, I heard that Gary had been emitted into the hospital and was in intensive care.
If ever you have considered getting your child involved in the entertainment business Gary Coleman’s life is definitely one which should give you pause and is worthy of another consideration.
If ever there was a group of child stars who did not fare well it was the 
group of child stars that appeared on the show with Gary Coleman. We all remember “Diff’ rent Strokes.” It ran all the way up until Arnold began to turn old before our very eyes…and therein laid his delima.
Size-wise he never grew much but his feature stopped 
ceasing to be as cute and lovable…I guess you could say. Which I have no doubt had a lot to do with his medication and kidney problem. But then too there were those storylines. They got to where they were just plain dumb. And so the show over time lost its appeal and audience.
But there was something going on in the background. Drugs came into their
midst. Then drinking added to the drugging. But we never could tell…least ways I couldn’t. But it affected the lives of the 2 other child stars on the show…more so than it did Gary.
Todd Bridges who was always good-looking, along with Dana plato all became sister and brothers. Willis…the character that Todd
played on the show, was supposedly Arnold’s real brother, who both end up being adopted into the rich Drummon family. Where Dana, Kimberly 
Drummond on the show, becomes their sister. Todd later reported that he and Dana experimented with drugs together while working on the show.
Dana later becomes pregnant by some boyfriend and got fired from the 
show. Like Gary Coleman, she too was adopted. And from articles that I have read…the woman who adopted her was hungry for money and really never cared much for the child otherwise.
Dana’s life like Willis’ and Gary’s was sad following the end of their years as stars on Diff’rent Strokes. Down and out Dana moved to Vegas with her baby. She found herself 
in a beat-up trailer park…and one day steped into a video store to rob it with a gun…got jail time…and she later died of an overdose.
Like Willis, Dana was probably the product of child 
abuse. She had the typical scars of a sexually abused child. Following her departure from Diff’rent Strokes she posed nude in a layout in Playboy…and later turned to staring in 
pronography.
Willis’ inner demons began to plague him following a friend of his father taking advantage of him sexually as a very young kid. Years later he found himself suffering 
from anger management, drinking and problems with drugs…and doing time in jail on weapons charges.
Dana at the age of 14 was already drinking and drugging long before she hit 
the set of Diff’rent Strokes. It is amazing that watching them you would have never guessed any of the inner turmoils in any of their lives.
No one can ever tell me about the demons which chase children long after the abuse stops. What a different life and end she might have had.
Arnold…or Gary suffered with kidney problems…a problem which attributed to the lack of his growth in stature. And he also became a very angry man as
the years went by. Often he was dragged into court stemming from incidents where he hit or punched a fan.
He was no longer that cute or funny little child star…but a little short man…out of 
work and turned against his then family. His adoptive parents he took to court claiming that they had robbed him.
Though he tried at different ventures…everything failed. And for a very brief time he even tried to pursue a college education…but that too failed.
Whenever his name came up in the news you always wondered who he had hit next?
It seemed that the whole world had turned against him…and he against it.
I think the one shinning moment through those years was when he and Willis teamed up on a movie showcasing their 
lives and the turmoil that followed after Diff’rent Strokes was ended. I have no doubt that that movie will pop up somewhere now that at the age of 42 Gary Coleman is gone.
http://news.puggal.com/dana-plato-playboy-june-1989-39038/
Willis…or Todd which is his real name… has since gotten his life back on track. And often I have heard him talking about God in his life. I hear that he has a re-occuring role on a soap opera. I certainly wish the continued best for him…along with his continued growth in the Lord.
Yesterday I spent most of my morning resting for my afternoon studio shoot. About 1 o’clock I was up and rushing. But by the end of the night I was tired… but quite satisfied. I had gotten most of what I wanted… and everybody who said that they would… Well, they showed up.
Now, I am on my way with that. And I feel good.
And in case you are wondering why I have not said anything about my book, THE BISHOP’S WIFE, lately. Well, for one thing I was hoping to be in New York promoting my book at the Book Expo America this week. And since you know I was in the studio shooting footage last night… So, you know that that didn’t happen…no me and New York City this week.
The other thing that happened…and perhaps you have experienced this. My flash drive died. It CRASHED…and I had all most all of website files on it. And I do mean it crashed…and I had failed to back-up those files anywhere else.
So, for the past 2 weeks I have been praying over my flash drive…and continuously sticking into this computer and that computer hoping for just anything to happen. But it has not. So, I have been trying not to think about.
What good would it do for me to get all upset over it?
None.
Because like you may have…I have learned this lesson more than once. And yet I continue to do it.
I never save anything on a back-up. And dealing with computers…which are very tempermental…you are taking a large risk if you don’t back-up everything someplace else.
And so…I have learned that lesson again. But I 
think that this time is the last time.
Enjoy your night and have a beautiful day tomorrow…and Monday, Memorial Day. I am going to try and get some sleep now.
Tempertures here are climbing again. And it has been real hot here. Better pull out the sprinkler if you don’t have a pool…get yourself some Italian ice. I love them…and popsickles too.
Oh, yes…
Today while waiting on bus. I was joined by some high school seniors in their caps and gowns. And they looked beautiful…and their was an air of excitement and happiness in each of their eyes, as well as, upon their faces.
And I just had to compliment them on their achievements, and tell them how well and beautiful they all looked.
It was beautiful.
The weekend before last we were in Jersey at Drew University cheering for my brother as he walked across the stage accepting his doctorate degree. This past weekend a niece and cousin graduated from college. And this coming coming Wednesday another niece will be graduating from college.
My parent’s children are all growing up…and our family is expanding in many different ways. In our growth and knowledge of the Lord…in our family size…and in our educational knowledge. My partents time and efforts were vested well.
So, it has been busy around here with all the graduations. All of the 
graduation receptions…and all of the tears of pride and joy…and happiness for them. Hope you have had the opportunity to do the same. And if not this year maybe next. But it does not come with people giving up…or parents telling their children its okay you can just quit and drop out of school.
What a road map for desaster.
And…God bless.
THE BISHOP’S WIFE is now on sale…
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 ©2010
[youtbe=http://www.youtube.com/v/H7_sqdkaAfo&hl=en_US&fs=1]
Add a comment May 29, 2010
Venus’ Illusion…Gulf Oil Spill… Obama at West Point… and Lena Horne passing
When I read the story I knew I was going to be writing a blog on it. At 
first I chalked it up to something not clicking in their heads. And I said ‘they’… because first it was Serena and her nude layout in Esquire magazine.
Now here comes Venus with her illusion.
Had I wrote this blog about Venus and our outfit 
yesterday I would have been far more harsh than my thinking is today. Because between yesterday and today my mind came across something.
I thought about my young indiscretions. Things I did in my youth that I would never do or think to do now. Foolish things…some even down right ridiculous. But I did them.
And the thought came to me how I used to love going out on this nude beach in New York. Where I didn’t mind taking it off…and didn’t think 
twice about doing it.
And I wasn’t embarrassed about either…nor did I think anything wrong about me doing so. Getting almost naked…top off and letting it all hang out while I laid in the sun and walked along the rolling waves.
So, when I thought of this I re-thought what I was going to say in this blog. I am now a little more tolerant of youth…and yes they do…do crazy things…we all sometimes do and have too.
Yes, I think it bad taste the choice that Venus made in her design of her tennis outfit for the French Open, in making it appear that she wasn’t wearing underwear…and thinking that it was cute… or comical… or sassy…or sexy… or even stylish.
I would never, however, compare my removing my top and enjoying a day out on the beach to being on center court in Paris at the French Open with tons of TV and news cameras flashing at me.
Nor would I ever say that what Venus chose to wear before a crowd of people…mostly upper middle class and above…and mostly white… was in good taste… or for prime time viewing. 
In fact, thinking about it made me think of Josephine Baker and her 
bananas…and the scathy way she used to dress when she performed. I very much think that if Josephine were alive today that she might re-think wrapping bananas around her waist and shaking her stuff like she was crazy.
I have always held that both Venus and Serena were great role models in all aspects of their careers…not just for young girls and the young ladies within our own race, but also to those outside of it as well. That is…up until Serena posed naked and now Venus stepping out on the courts wearing something…wanting to give the illusion of being naked.
It is all rather a bit too much for me to take at this time.
They have burst my bubble…
What are they thinking?
First Serena…then Tiger…and now Venus.
It was nice while it lasted. It used to be such a pleasure picking up the newspaper…or watching the news…or catching stuff over the internet about them. Now all 3 of them seem to be falling from the mark… loosing their barings…and the 
standards they once set for themselves… that they once up-held. And that they are now dropping down by the wayside.
My father would call it…going out of the world backwards. He was great at saying that…and especially to me. Perhaps, it has much to do with why I am as I am today.
But maybe it’s been too much money?
Too much fame?
Or maybe it is just their youth…
Or too much pressure being Black…and being so in sports that many Black people did not participate in…and then landing on the top of it. Sports which had typically been dominated by non-Black athletes…and here you go ending up being the top money makers…highest paid athletes in their games…grossing the highest earnings as a male atheletic… and as female athletes.
What an achievement. I am sure that it must come with plenty of scars… hurt… and lots of anguish. Particularily, when you were just starting out. Nobody within those circles liked you then…much less loved you. You were just a dark spot coming into a lilly white game that nobody believed would bloom and grow up dominating…and then becoming number 1.
Yeah, that had to be hard. Going out on courts where everybody snubbed you…and didn’t want you anywhere around in their ‘white only’ club houses. But then gradually over time and championships all of that changed. They came to know your name…wrote stories about you… wanted private interviews with you… and a few even sought you out for sponsorships. But not as many as you could have gotten…and should have gotten…if you were white.
But you aren’t white. Never been white…and I’m hoping never wanted to be white. But now you are ‘in like Flen.’ They can’t deny your talent… or your gifts from God. But you still remember the
pain…the time when… When things didn’t seem that they were ever going to get to where they are now…but yet you kept pushing… kept reaching …striving… and achieving.
At the time it may have seemed like a great idea when Venus sat down and decided to design it… but to take black lace and create something which looks more like a ladies bustiea was never ever a good idea…when it was her intention to wear such an outfit out in public.
Why would Venus want to go out on center court…on a world stage looking like a cheap downtown hustler or prostitute?
All I can say is…. blame it on her youth…perhaps the times.
Young women today see nothing wrong in baring it all…wearing as little as possible… or wearing their
under clothes outside in the street…and call it ‘fashion.’
Nor do they see anything wrong or filthy in wearing their pajamas out in street. Or the boys with their pants hanging down to their knees.
There is something very wrong with the way culture and fashion seem to be clashing today. Standards in etiquette, style and class have all taken a back seat to the tasteless, classless and raunchy. And it doesn’t seem to matter 
how much money you make… or whether you are our new set of athletic supper stars… or new found musical talents and movie stars of today.
All tattooed out from head to toe…and pierced all over the place. There was a time only a chosen few rebellious outcast doorned the way out hair, blacken fingernails, body piercing and tattoos. But 
not now. It’s your daughter and my nieces and some nephews…and practically all the guys who play 
professional basketball and everything else. And every drummer…and groupie alike.
Used to be that everybody was searching for their own ‘unique’ them. Now it seems that everyone wants to be like everyone else. Marked up and grossly ‘un-individual.’
I feel sorry for Venus…Serena… and Tiger. They seem to have lost their way. Once they were champions…now I am just not all that 
sure any
more.
No one could ever say that she wasn’t a class act. No, they could never say that about Lena Horne. Always beautiful…and sassy… she had an air of proud-ness about her that could not be mistaken.
Can’t say I personally met her…but I once did have an opportunity to catch her in a performance at McCormick Place in Chicago. It was an opening when the seniors of Sixth 
Grace United Presbyterian Church decided to sponsor a trip to catch Lena in her finale show she was on tour with. Though I didn’t really want to go…by the time I got in my seat and Lena started to perform I was more than happy to be there.
I had never really thought much about Lena Horne as she was before my time. But the show was a retrospect of her life in the entertainment business, obstacles she had encountered, her determination to make it to the top in spite of…and it was filled with 
plenty of spunk and humor. I thought about Lena for days after that show… I loved it. I had absolutely loved that show and fell in love with Lena. And all those seniors who dragged me there loved it too.
I remember Mother Emma Turner so well. She just would not let me say ‘no.’ Nor would Mrs. Ripperton…Minnie’s mother…they teamed up on me. And so I got a wonderful opportunity
to see and hear a legion. Someone I think I had seen her on the old Ed Sullivan Show several times…and had certainly seen in a couple of old movies. But that 
night even as an older woman…Lena was radiant and still just as beautiful.
Lena Horne passed recently a few days ago…and I had never known she was a native New Yorker. A Brooklyn girl in fact. I guess that accounts for why she had so much spunk and a wonderful attitude. And boy….did she have attitude…and in a good loving way.
http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-207_162-10003452.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/10/arts/music/10horne.html
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/05/10/theater/20100510-hornebroadway.html?ref=music
Got a ton of hits today regarding this story. So, I decided that I would comment on it.
This is the story about the ex-Detroit Mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick who just got thrown back in prison by a Judge who decided that Kwame hadn’t really learned his lesson…though he contended that he was changed and 
had become a ‘good guy.’
So, Kwame hires her as the personal assistant to the Mayor. And somewhere along the line they began carrying on romantically…texting messages and meeting up in various hotel
rooms…then chatting about it in their text messages…him and Christine.
All of this while Kwame was taking the city for a ride…and living large…and I guess a little too large. For which the City of Detroit is demanding restitution. Well, they demanded it back in 2008 when the city took him to court…sued him… and then sent him to jail for 2 months. But 
Kwame after paying $140,000.00 against a $3 million debt…claimed that he had no more money. And did not the court find out otherwise.
BAM!
Now, he is back off to jail again. And as you can see in the top courtroom picture of him…he is none too happy.
Being a supposed lawyer himself it is hard to see how Kwame failed to be more careful…smarter…or act wiser.
I have to agree with the woman below in 1 of the youtube clips.
“When you are voted in by the people you have a moral responsibility to the people.”
And you also have a debt of service…which should not be converted into a self-serving attitude.
There is something about power…if you are not careful you can become too full of yourself and abuse it. I think that is what happened to Kwame…he became too full of himself. And then started thinking he was untouchable.
I have to say that after watching this footage I feel sorry for her… Christine Beatty. Almost everybody deserves a chance… and an opportunity to be forgiven. We have all done some foolish things. I know that I have.
It is highly unlikely that Ms. Beatty will resume her studies in law…or become that lawyer. But perhaps she will… sometimes these kinds of things come to prove to us who God is… and to make us better…stronger and more determined to succeed… and to labor to do the right things.
I wish her well… both of them really.
Some of us have to rise up out of the pits of hell to find ourselves and our true calling in life.
Worst oil spillage ever?
I thought that the oil spill that hit Alaska some years ago was the worst. 
And based upon what I hear the effects of it are still being felt. Perhaps it is time…or way past 
time that a little more time and oversight should be spent on ensuring that these type of things just do not happen. And at the very least certainly not to this extent.
The oil spill that hit Alaska in 2009 was due a boat transporting oil owned by Exxon. The Exxon Valdez ran aground spilling nearly 11 million gallons of oil upon a clean and scenic Alaska water way. Now the BP oil company is currently dealing with a oil rig which exploded killing 11 of its workers releasing an inestimable 
amount of crude oil which is now beginning 
to wash up on the shores of Louisiana and Florida. And is threatening to not only damage the Gulf and its coast line but also that of shores on the Atlantic Ocean side.
It is terrible seeing the birds covered with oil trapped down under the weight of it covering them, near dead in the muck of muddy tar like waste just waiting to die. The pollution that has filled their air, shores and an ever enlarging area destroying lives…and undoubtedly causing plenty of soon to come health issues. And while destroying the beauty of our dear Mother Earth.
Besides having to deal with the news of the oil spill President Obama was at West Point this past weekend delivering their Commmencement Speech. He has grown to not look Presidential but also sound it.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/37519216#37521148
Though in reading the story I could not help but notice how whenever the writer spoke of the President…he always used the lower case ‘P’ …like when he wrote ‘and the president…’, as opposed to a capital ‘P.’ Which in the past has always been the custom in this country when referring to our Presidents in print. And that is why it always leaps out at me now whenever I come across it this way. Because I am not accustom to seeing that done at any other time in reference to the President of the United States.
It would the equivalent of using a lower case ‘q’ whenever someone wrote something in reference to ‘the Queen.’ Which is a definite no-no…just ask the British. You never see that…nor did I ever see a lower case ‘P’ ever being used in newspaper articles or anything else in reference to our other Presidents… past Presidents of the United States prior to Barack Obama. That is until this time. To be sure Barack Obama is ‘our’ President…and he definitely got voted into the White House. He is owed the respect that is due him as any other man who has operated in that capacity. And I have read several articles now written with that lower case ‘p’ when referring to him…and I find it to be a slap in his face…an insult and total lack of respect.
It speaks volumes as to the state of mind and hidden agendas… and bias feelings which still exist here in this country. And I do speak of racism.
At least Barack Obama got voted in…whereas George W. Bush stole his way into the White House. And what a set-up that was…not to mention a mess he created of this country under him.
Now, if they…those newspaper columnists and others could refer to George W. Bush in their writings…their news articles and the like with a capital ‘P’…then I see no reason why they have a problem and cannot do so when referring to President Obama. Who by the way…got voted in…and by a resounding number.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/25/louisiana.spill.town.hall/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/30/louisiana-oil-spill-2010_n_558287.html
I am so sleepy I can barely keep my eyes open.
I started this blog near 7 PM and it is now 5:45 AM. And I really can’t go a step further.
So, I will say…good-night. And hope you enjoy your day…and some time later today I will go over this blog and try to weed out the errors.
I can’t do it now…because I just can’t keep my eyes open. It gets like that sometimes.
But I just had to try to finish this as so many people have been hitting my blog to check on some things. Now, I feel much better…because it is done. And if I think of anything else I will add it later. Good-night….
And…God bless.
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2 comments May 26, 2010
Celebrating women… Mrs. Dorothy Height’s passing… and women we cannot applaud …what some women won’t do…
I don’t know where you live…but here where I live it’s cold. And I do mean cold.
This morning before leaving out I made me a bowl of Cream of Wheat. Then I made sure I put on a coat.
Yes, a coat. Because… Well, because it is cold.
Though in speaking with one of my mother’s cousin’s I found out that they are having 90 degree weather in Florida. Wow…90 degree weather already. It is going to be smoldering there in Florida this coming summer if those kind of temperatures hold up.
But here it has been cold. And though I had been denying it.
I am now ready to face the hard and very cold facts…it’s cold. And I am not imagining it.
So, getting off the bus with my mind set on getting in the house an
d having myself a big hot bowl of steaming soup, but I decided to head in the opposite direction upon stepping off the bus instead.
Yes, my conscience was bothering me… because I haven’t blogged in a short while. So, I decided that even if I just started it tonight then I could finish it tomorrow. And that would be so much better than not getting started with this at all.
So, that is just what I am doing. Because I have so much I want to talk about… I just know that there is no way that I am going to be through before this lab closes 
at 11 PM tonight…and it is just about 7:30 PM now.
First, let me start by mentioning the passing of Mrs. Dorothy Height. Though I had never met her, I certainly did know of her.
Mrs. Height along with her many years of 
work as a Civil Rights activist, and as head of the National Council of Negro Women… she was also known for her signature hats which she always sport without fail through the years.
She passed on Tuesday, April 20th in Washington, DC after several weeks of illness. It is sad to hear that she suffered. But truly she exemplified all the
strengths and character of the women with whom she had the great fortune and I am sure pleasure to walk 
among… such as Mary McLeon Bethune, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Betty Shabazz, Coretta 
Scott King, Myrlie Evers, Ida B. Wells, Shirley Chisholm, Fannie Lou Hamer, Barbara Jordan, Bernice Reagon, Bessie Coleman and so many others.
daughters now stand. And what I see in these women is a vast amount of humility and a humbleness you do not see in the spirit of people of today. When you view the video clips BELOW of Mrs. Height you will exactly what I mean.http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/beth-mar.htm
http://hubpages.com/hub/Freedoms-Sisters–Twenty-Great-Arfrican-American-Women
http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-201_162-10003285-4.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2010/04/20/GA2010042001303.html
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g1wclP0PXt3NaBWLcwbFUjRs9bawD9F73F081
It is odd that I am writing this blogg on this topic today. I never plan these things 
and never have any idea where I am going when I first start. And believe me that some people have written me pointing that out to me. But I welcome your comments…good or bad…or indifferent feel free to comment or drop me a note or 2.
Since this past Sunday was Mother’s Day…you really would have thought I had planned this. But I did not.
I love celebrating women…and it has nothing to do with me being a past lesbian.
Maybe it is that my mother was a woman…my grand-mother was one…my great grand-mother 
was one… and all my aunts and nieces and most of my friends are one. And I think of them as being 
phenomenal people…and women. Clearly, Mrs. Height and all the women that I mentioned above were phenomenal women…but the women I am going to mention now are not. Some how they both fell well below the mark.
Many times while surfing over the internet looking for things…mostly to buy…I sometimes come across things or an article that sparks my saying something. And these 2 stories did just that…though one of them I saw on the Oprah Show.
But this story I came across over the internet. In reading it …it made me wonder-
“What women won’t do for a man.”
What this women did was insane…and she is not the first. Though if I were a Judge…she would have never been able to walk into my court with such an excuse…though I do not know exactly what her lawyer or lawyers plead for during her court trial. But if I had been the Judge it would not have been that…because what this woman did and the reason behind it was so sorted and sick …and just plain selfishness.
This woman was a grandmother…and had been a school teacher…who at the time
she committed this heinous crime against a young mother…she was 42 years old.
She was not some uneducated woman out in the streets. But I guess we may all very well agree that her mind wasn’t half as good or as decent as many of those women who we so often look down upon, when we come across them.
I will not call this woman’s name…not because I fear being sued or anything. But I do not want to add to her ever becoming famous or known. I feel she should go down into the depths without fanfare or pity. She was indeed evil. Her mind was without a doubt twisted…and she did it for a man.
This is what she did…she sought out some woman who was pregnant along with a group of thugs…beat and killed…and tortured. Then she stole the woman’s infant child to pretend that the child was her’s in an attempt to fool some man…with the hopes of being able to keep him.
You can read the story if you like…the LINKS are BELOW. But what kind of woman would have done such a thing?
And I think what bothered me more about this story is that there are those rallying to keep her from being executed for the insane criminal act which she committed.
I am sorry…and yes I am very much a Christian. But I have no tolerance for people who allow the devil to use them in such a vile and evil way. And by judging my her most recent picture she seems to be highly content.
We have all…I imagine…been the recipient of some vile and most evil thoughts. The kind of thoughts that came to us that were so foreign to us. It was some insane maybe even immoral act…or something that we would never imagine doing. Something that we totally rejected even the thought of it…or thoughts of it.&usg=__jCyJ3XcOIc5WYiC0WMPbzTWOrMc=&h=350&w=350&sz=42&hl=en&start=78&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=2HeceDh_4i2fXM:&tbnh=120&tbnw=120&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpicture%2Bof%2Blittle%2Bafrican%2Bamerican%2Binfant%26start%3D60%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1R2HPND_enUS361%26ndsp%3D20%26tbs%3Disch:1)
And yes…I too have experienced it.
I have a cousin who told me of such an incident which occurred with her. She told me that she used to be an alcoholic, and once while sitting at a table the thought came to her to get up from the table where she was sitting. She said she was told to take up a fork and begin stabbing a baby…a little infant that was nearby…and to stab it to death.
My cousin told me that at that moment is when she realized she had to 
stop drinking. She recognized the thought at being crazy and that it had frightened her…because the impulse to do it was so strong. And she said that she never drink again since that night.
In looking up info for this blog I came across information on Malcolm X’s 
grandson. The grandson who set his grand-mother on fire while she laid sleeping. Betty Shabazz suffered for nearly 2 months or more before finally succumbing to those injuries.
I have often 
wondered about her grandson whom she loved so much…a problem child…and perhaps is still troubled today. A child that she loved so much that she rather to have him come live with her than to see him placed some place and locked away, because no one could control him. And at the age of 12 he killed his own grand-mother.
What I have thought about on the times I have since reflected on him…was what went through his head that he would have done such a thing to someone who loved him so dearly?
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/26/nyregion/malcolm-shabazz-moved-to-center-to-serve-term.html
It cannot be argued that some of toughest demons to resist are those which live inside of us. It is sad. But when crazy thoughts come into our minds we must with all our might resist them. A very large part of it is learning how to pray…and how to call upon the name of the Lord. It is what my cousin did. And it works…I know it for myself.
Now, on to the story I watched on Oprah last Thursday or Friday.
I had been in New York when the story broke…but like most people over time I had
forgotten it. But if I thought the woman I wrote about above was evil that goes doubly for Vanessa Jackson…whom one of my brothers informed me was a member of the Church of God in Christ.
Note in the picture above…you will notice that 4 of the children look like something is wrong with them. They are different from the other children…not quite as well dressed…and if you look real closely you see that they were not as well…
Well, healthy looking…meaning not well nourished. Because they were not. That woman and her husband straved those little boys…while she, her husband and their biological children all eat well and seemed to be quite happy.
I do remember this story when it first broke…
Some neighbors called 911 because late one night they heard a noise outside their window. And when they looked out they thought they saw what looked to them like a very young child rampaging through their garbage looking for food.
That young child was the boy in the picture to the right of the woman. The little tiny boy who looks so light and fragile. He was actually 19 years old and weighed under 60 pounds. And look at her own children…some of them quite plumb… as well as, she and her husband.
I was dumbfounded when I listened to Oprah interview the brothers of that boy.
How could anyone be so heartless and so cruel?
These people called themselves ‘saved.’ They took those boys to church with them and their other children every Sunday. These people adopted those boys.
On the show the boys told how the woman would dress them in 3 or 4 sweaters under their clothes to make them appear fatter. How we gave them pancake mix to eat…and would tell them that they only had ‘x’ amount of time to eat it.
What kind of depraved people exist in this world?
Is money that important?
Vanessa Jackson and her husband, who has since died while in prison, went to church where they…I hope…were taught ‘love’…and that it is better to give than to receive. But somehow they felt that taking and cheating…and being evil and cruel was a better way.
They straved those little boys…and aided in seriously debilitating their growth, physically and mentally.
I could never love money that much. The world is filled with sick and degenerate people. I am so thankful to God that He gave me a mind to not to be 1 of them. And I hope that you aren’t either.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/11/nyregion/11starve.html
My Mother’s Day started with my cousin Jean…who loves reading 
her name in my blogs…waking me up early. It was then followed by my son telling me to get up and get dress because he was taking me to breakfast.
He greeted with a large bouquet of flowers in a tea cup. They are so beautiful…and I love my tea 
cup.
I hope your Mother’s Day was great too…or that you did something especially special for your mom or wife.
And what do you know it is not 11 o’clock yet. I must be getting better at this…because I am just about finish with this blog.
Well, God bless…and hope that 
you have a beautiful day tomorrow.
And if it is cold where you are… Don’t forget about a bowl of Cream of Wheat before going out…or a nice hot bowl of oat meal.
And don’t you dare leave out without your coat.
And 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 ©2010
THE BISHOP’S WIFE is now on sale…
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