MUHAMMAD ALI… GONE AND I DOUBT THAT ‘THE GREATEST’S’ FLAME WILL EVER BE FORGOTTEN… OR GO OUT… and ORLANDO GAY CLUB KILLINGS…

Well, even his illness Muhammad Ali managed to avoid having passed long ago.   For sure

some will say he fought a great fight… and perhaps his greatest was out side the ring fighting Parkinson.

I really do not know many people who have had the staying power of Muhammad Ali when it comes to battling the disease of  Parkinson.   And I guess 1 can say Ali fought and won because he managed, regardless of all the shaking… to keep his humor and be able to see the world in a light that most of us have no idea of… and the blessings we all have who do not have to battle to live or do for ourselves.

I will never forget when Ali stood before the cameras and said because he did not believe in killing people based upon his religious belief… he, therefore, refused to be drafted and go to war, and fight in the Vietnam war.  That action caused many who hated this young black kid, who was so skillful in the boxing ring to get the ammunition to really go after him.  But though that action did color his earlier boxing achievements… and ended up with his title being taken from him, Muhammad Ali never let that stop him from being  the regal sportsmen he continued to be until the day he died.

Another time I will never forget is when Ali during his time from being not allowed to box by the U. S. government… came to visit our college campus.  He was in our Black House… the black student organization building… and he came to talk to us.  I cannot remember what Ali talked about… as all I can remember about that day was that there were a number of us black students in the our Black House that day… and Ali took a hundred dollar bill and bought McDonald’s for all of us.  This may not sound like much to you but to a whole bunch of mid-afternoon starving college students it was something truly great.  We were ecstatic that this great boxer was on our campus and we had a chance to  meet him 1 on 1.  Could not get home quick enough to tell my daddy… who was a major Muhammad Ali fan.

Those of us who were fortunate enough to witness Ali from the

beginning until his end can truly say that he was indeed ‘the greatest of all times.’  No other box has bought to the prize ring the kind of interest and excitement of an Muhammad Ali fight… which was always colorful and full of rhythms such as, ‘Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.’   Or give us a thrill like the ‘Thriller in Ma’nilla.’

Not many have lived to see the greatest basketball player of all times... Michael Jordan.   Or the greatest female sister tennis players of all times… Venus and Serena Williams.  Or the greatest base ball players of all times… Hank Aaron.  The greatest golfer of all times… Tiger Woods.   Or the greatest female vocalist of all times… Whitney Houston… and the greatest entertainer of all times… Michael Jackson.  And Muhammad Ali the greatest heavy weight boxer of all times… from the Olympics into the professional boxing ring.  And what a gift for trash talking

…until 1 day God shut all that down… but did not take his life until now.

Yes, he was pretty.   No boxer prettier… or sharper or more on point than Ali.  And an Ali fight was guaranteed to be exciting and filled with the unexpected.

Watching the funeral on the television and seeing all the religious leaders seated on the stage at Ali’s funeral, and being fully aware of Ali’s own religious beliefs… I could not help but think, ‘If you serve anything other than the 1 and only living God, and his son Jesus… than you can belong to as many religion groups as you want, and be the very best person in the world and never make it to heaven.’

It is my hope that Muhammad Ali’s last and fight battle was 1 he also won… and came to professed that Jesus is Lord, and not a lower prophet under Allah.

Odd how that massive and very powerful man was never stopped by any of his opponents,  who were also big strong  massive heavy weight men with plenty of strength.   But having

suffered so many head injuries brought about a disease that ‘the greatest’ wrestled with for a very long time… and now probably never was overcome by it… but by age instead.  And he went out of here smiling at the ripe old age of 74…smiling because he defeated Parkinson too… but could not overcome age though many have tried.

One thing is for sure …Foreman… Frazier… and all the rest would never be nothing if there had not been an Ali, who allowed them the privilege to claim into his ring…

Well, God bless… and hope you have a beautiful weekend this weekend.  But as I close I cannot help but think about the terrible chain of events that took place in Orlando just this week.

After over a hundred people were shot and more than 50 killed it is insane to me to hear any pastor or supposed religious man laughing and stating from his pulpit that the cold blooded murder who shot and killed those people should have killed everybody who was in that gay club?

I have wonder what Bible are people studying from?

What manner of doctrine are they reading where it says, ‘God hated homosexuals enough to want them all dead.”   If that were the case I am more than sure that God even back in Biblical times surely would not have stopped with merely Sodom and Gomorrah… especially since it is widely known as recognized as almost customary for such things as that among men in Greece during that time.

There is no way that this Orlando gay night club shooting should not be classified as a ‘hate crime’ irregardless of the ethnic background of the shooter and his religion… because this crime was perpetrated solely against the gay men in that club for reasons of hate… due to their sexuality … perhaps because he found them to be attractive… and of interest to his sick perverted sexual desires, which to the shooters ethnic group were both against his religion and ethnicity.   Whom himself frequent that club trying to date many of those men… and met up with Hispanic gay men over the internet.   And there can be denying that this all came about just as we entered into June, which is gay pride month.

Our God has not given unto us the spirit of hate… or hate mongering.   But of love.  Biblical scripture tells us that we are to love one another as we lover ourselves… this comes without conditions or any special exemptions.

http://www.advocate.com/religion/2016/6/14/baptist-pastor-who-cheered-orlando-murders-isnt-alone

I’m off my band wagon for now.   But I pray that God sincerely touch every heart and change ever deprived mind that seeks to do evil.

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…” http://www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2016

/news/190704_muhammad_ali_remembered_during_islamic_funeral_prayer_service/

 

Add a comment June 18, 2016

LONDON…2012 Olympics….

They say a picture speaks a thousand words…

Allyson Felix…got it!  She’s going home with gold.

Yea, America!

Gabby Douglas…got a $90 million endorsement deal with Kellogg’s.  Didn’t you…

and don’t you still love Kellogg’s’ corn flakes?

The tag team known as Serena and Venus…took away the gold

in the Women’s Tennis Doubles.  And

Serena sweep the Women’s Single’s to walk away with its gold.

Yeah, I do…think it.  A picture really does say a thousand words.

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  ©2012

Add a comment August 8, 2012

I’M BLESSED… Celebrating Gabrielle and Dominique… Olympic Games 2012

Wow, over the period of a few short months it is amazing how quickly things can change.

I just finished getting a text from a friend… and she began laying out to me just how very different this summer has been for her …juxtapose to last summer.  Last summer we were breezing around eating hot dogs and ice cream cones here and there.  While this summer we have yet to even see 1 another… and she just told me why?

For 1 thing her husband has been ill.  So, she has been in and out of the ER… and doctor’s offices all summer long, she texted me.

The other thing is she has also been shuttling her daughter around… because her daughter’s car blew its engine.  And they kindda just within a few months or so… just bought her that car to get around in at school.

And on top of all of this …she has her own health issues… and to top it all off…  just last year her mother passed.

Did somebody say, “When it rains it pours?”

I guess my friend can attest to that.

And I thought I was facing something.

While sitting there texting back and forth with my friend with her laying out her summer woes to me… some workers on the college campus came in and sat down in the school cafeteria near me.  And Jim, 1 of the workers, began laying out his summer to me… saying what a nightmare it has been for him on the job.

It seems that the whole campus heating system blew… which also effected the school air conditioning system.  This in turn it seems forced all the summer classes to be placed in his building… the building he cleans.  Which meant that while most of the summers he has only had to strip floors and do some waxing here and there at his leisure… not so this summer.   This summer the floor stripping and waxing had to be put off… as his cleaning responsibilities had been far more than just doubled … say trippled by the additional people now using his building for classes.

But what Jim also told me kind of gave me reason to pause.  He said that the school heating system was going to cost the school $2 million to replace… and that the school just did not have the money to get it fix.   Jim also said that this winter students may be sitting in the cold all over the campus.

Wow… and I thought I was dealing with something.

Two million dollars????

And I thought I had heating problems.

While sitting there texting my friend and talking to Jim… I then got a phone call from a niece asking for some money.  She said she was short on her rent, and that she had no money for food.

It is funny just how quickly your prespective on your own problems can change…  when you come to realize just what other people are going through.

You know what?

I just realized  just how blessed I am.

I am blessed.  I am truly blessed… doesn’t matter what it looks like… or what it sounds like …land court… foreclosure notices… bills… repo’s… shut-off notices… etc…etc…etc.   I want you to know that I AM BLESSED.

Hey, I would like to take this time to acknowledge all of you  who have purchased my book, THE BISHOP’S WIFE… can’t believe it.  I definitely hope that each of  you are enjoying it and have found it to be a good read.  Please let me know what you have to say about it… I would love to hear from you.  You can reach me by either emailing me… of which my email address appears in my book.  Or you can just leave a comment right here on my blog.

Well, it looks like rain… so I have to get out of here gotta get downtown to pay something on my parent’s taxes.

Well, God bless… and enjoy your weekend.   I need some real rest.  Lately been waking feeling tired…but I guess if you went to sleep most nites after 3 AM you would be too.   But I think that I am going to try and take it this weekend… in between pulling out and trying to kill some weeds around the yard. 

The Olympic Games… haven’t said much about them… because I no longer watch much tv.  But happy about Gabby grabbing that gold… hadn’t missed that since it is all over the internet.  She is stepping in the steps of another great gymnast… Dominique Dawns.  And what a champion she was… and still is.

Usain Bolt “the Bolt” proved again during the Olympic Games that he is unbeatable.  He is the world’s fastest man… nobody can even touch him.  “The Bolt” is in a class all of his own… just proves what ‘yard’ cookin’ (as they say in Jamaica) …and having to walk for miles can build strength like nothing else can.  Yea, Jamaica!

And I really cannot say enough about Serena this year… she has turned it all the way up.  In spite  of earlier health issues she has the determination of a true winner to not give in to it.  Because to win… to win big… and to continuously perform on a very high level takes a lot… and whatever that lot is… lets say it is desire… a deep desire to win… and a desire to win all the time.  Truly Serena has it.

But what amazes me more and more about the Williams Sisters is their great passion not only for the game of tennis… but for each other… and their family.  What a family…  It is wonderful to watch their great out-pouring of love for one another and dedication.  Even though their mother and father are no longer together it has never prohibited them, mom and dad… from being in stadium for their daughters.

I like through thick and thin stories… and this Olympic Games has more than a few of them.  Truly all the athletes are to be applauded.  It takes a lot of lonely hours… mixed with sweat to be at the top of your sport… and they do it.  They do what it takes to not only get to the top… but stay there.

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  ©2012

Add a comment August 3, 2012

More on the Olympics… Jamaica, yes…

What a season for Jamaica.  They are taking the Track & Field events by storm… from Usain Bolt…the lightening bolt...to Jamaica’s other lightening bolts…the ladies on the track…Veronica Campbell, Shelly Ann Fraser,  Sherone Simpson,     Kerron Stewart etc…etc…

CLICK the following LINK BELOW to see the Lightening Bolt take the 400 meters in Bijing.   http://newscenter.zideo.nl/index.php?                                            Shelly Ann Fraser taking the gold followed by Jamaica also tying for double silver.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0628/p01s01-woam.html

Jamaica went crazy seeing Bolt take gold in the 200 meters…CLICK BELOW to watch.

             Shelly Ann Fraser

http://newscenter.zideo.nl/index.php?option=com_youtube&tag=veronica+campbell&tubeid=l6zPNkMQcCc&zideo=6b773d3d

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/olympics/2008/08/21/jamaica.200.ap/index.html

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=207187&cl=9413754&ch=6527422&src=sports

 

 http://newscenter.zideo.nl/index.php?option=com_youtube&tag=veronica+campbell&tubeid=dEBfGC9jK2I&zideo=6b773d3d

 http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080814/sports/sports2.html

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0807/olympics.track.stars.to.watch/content.8.html

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/olympics/2008/08/track_flash_americans_jamaican.html

http://www.nationalpost.com/sports/beijing-games/story.html?id=737528

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/olympics/2575781/More-joy-for-Jamaica-as-Shelly-Ann-Fraser-heads-clean-sweep-in-Beijing—Olympics.html

Audio only on the next clip…but well worth listening to as they call the race. 

Now, watch it below…

This is so much fun.  I enjoy putting these things together…and I hope that you are enjoying it as well.

http://newscenter.zideo.nl/index.php?option=com_youtube&tag=veronica+campbell&tubeid=gSCLKEPnAMo&zideo=6b773d3d

 http://newscenter.zideo.nl/

http://newscenter.zideo.nl/index.php?option=com_channel&channel=6c346957&zideo=6c4971596e413d3d&playzideo=6c3453526d31773d&channel=6c346957

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,404804,00.html 

http://www.spikesmag.com/news/usainboltfliestoolympicdoublein1930125.aspx

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2007/12/09/2007-12-09_jamaican_track_star_remembered.html

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0628/p01s01-woam.html#

http://www.radiojamaica.com/content/view/10935/48/ 

A few positive words from USA’s Allyson Felix on being positive and believing in yourself.

You have got to watch this clip below…and I only thought they won metals that went around their necks. Wooa!

Some pre-warm up tips from Sanya Richardson.

Thanks, Sanya…good looking out. We appreciate the tips.

Most have been disenchanted with the coverage of the Track & Field events which always draw huge amounts of interest…but unfortunately NBC felt it was much more important to watch Michael Phelps…following and watching his every move…rather than to watch records being broken in other equally important events…and of interest to wider audiences than swimming.  Causing many who would have loved to see some of these other records being shattered in other sporting events to have missed out.

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/track_field/news?slug=jo-200meterbolt082008&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=207187&cl=9335715&ch=6527422&src=sports

In other Track & Field news at the Bijing Olympics…Bryan Clay, USA, is working his way towards his decathlon metal.  CLICK LINKS BELOW to read more on that. the.honoluluadvertiser.com/…/01/sp/sp02a.html  http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/track_field/news;_ylt=AjsXbQYKTOdCPXWpgcM.Q_fQ1Zl4?slug=ap-ath-trackandfield-heats&prov=ap&type=lgns

More USA Track & Field news…both the men and women relay teams dropped the baton during the 400 relay…CLICK LINK BELOW to read more on the story….

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/track_field/news?slug=ap-ath-relays&prov=ap&type=lgns

http://www.nbcolympics.com/trackandfield/news/newsid=242887.html?_source=rss&cid=

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/track_field/news;_ylt=AojKliOxcQarSlbGlskYJbc1o5N4?slug=po-winnerslosers082208&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Well, if you have spent the past week getting your sport’s craze on…good for you.  There has been much to digest…and it has been exciting…seat clutching in fact.  And if you are like you have can’t get enough of Track & Field.  Well, I hope that this blog along with my other one on the Olympics has aided in some small way to help you get your dose of sports…and caught you up on things that you may have missed.  

And as I close…don’t forget…to ‘pass it on’   www.bsmith101.wordpress.com     …God bless and have a beautiful day tomorrow.

I’m suppose to be working on my book, THE BISHOP’S WIFE.  But I can’t stand hold ups.  When I finish a thang I finish it…and move on to the next thing.  I don’t like having to come back unless there is some type of benefit to doing so…in this case there was.  But it doesn’t mean I don’t hate it nonetheless.  But this delay has probably saved me a lot of money.  In fact, it has saved me money…at corrections costing $2/per correction…then consider me being ahead of the game. 

I caught stuff this time that would have definitely sicken me if my book had been published with them.  Even with these blogs…I have to keep going over and over them…often resting between reading them…so, that I can read them with a fresh eye.  That way my mind won’t read the text as I believed how it typed it…but as it is.

It is not easy…so, bare with me.  

Follow your dreams…and hold fast to your vision.

Finally, took an iron tablet today…can’t remember when last I took one.  I am trying to be diligent in taking them…but sometimes I just forget.  Then as my energy level sinks, I remember them.  But I thank God that all I need is a little iron tablet.  I am bless…and hope that you are too.  ©2008

Add a comment August 21, 2008

Olympics 2008… Williams’ …Track & Field, baby

The Bijing Olympics Games 2008 are almost over…and to date we’ve have only grabbed 22 gold metals compared to China’s 39…and Great Britain l2.  If you have been like me and haven’t watched any of  Olmpics yet…it is till not too late.  There are still plenty of events straight through to the 24th of this month.
       1. Track & Field
       2. Basketball
       3. Canoeing
       4. Equestrian
       5. Gymnastics
       6. Swimming
       7. Volley Ball
       8. Diving

CLICK BELOW for scheduling of events….

http://www.chinaorbit.com/2008-olympics-china/olympics-2008-timetable.html

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92642187

For their second time in the Olympics, Serena and Venus have walked off the courts with the gold in the Women’s Double’s match…they walked all over the competition delivering 6-2, 6-0 to take home the gold.

And if you’re like me…and missed them during the Olympics…but can’t get enough of the Williams’…here’s something for your Williams sisters’ habit.

Just love those Williams sisters…Venus and Serena. Now, that is what I call family…and as all families should be.  CLICK BELOW for the full story.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/olympics/la-sp-olytennis18-2008aug18,0,2450347.story

Cannot close without mentioning a little Track & Field…just love the sport.  In fact, many would not believe this…but when I was growing up…I used to fantasize about being a Track and Field star. 

Well, lets face it if you’re going to fantasize…why not put yourself at the very top.  So, yes…star.  And I really really did fantasize about it…and often.  In 9th Grade, I was the fastest girl in my class.  During gym…as a warm up the teacher would take us outside (our school had a track) and he would have us all line up and then count us down to ‘go.’  For the first 50 yards…no one could catch me…but I would always be the last one walking around track…into the finish.  But I prided myself on that first 50 yards…I could not be caught. 

Once my father took us out to one of the local tracks and raced us.  He shouted ‘go’ and let us all start running before he started running…but once he started running he blew right pass us.  I recall feeling the wind as he sweep pass me, my other sisters and brothers.  I will never forget that day…because I never knew daddy could run.  But he’s a Jamaican…and even though he was years older than us…and we were not young kids when he did it…nevertheless, he beat us hands down.  I marvelled at it…I was amazed by it…I thought about it all the way home as daddy drove us first to get some ice cream cones, and then home from the track.  I wondered how he had done it.  And when I say ‘flew pass us’…you would’ve had to have been there.  It was definitely one for the books.  Today, when I think back on it…and realize that maybe I could have been that Track & Field star…as speed evidently was and is in my genes.  “Go, Jamaica!”

Boy, I could have been a Wilma Rupdolph or an Evelyn Ashford…Flo-jo…Marlene Ottey…if only somebody could have seen my potential.  I could have been the Tiger Woods…Venus and Serena…Cullen Jones…all wrapped in one of the track.  And yes…as you see I am still fantasizing.  But I could have been it though…I could have…   I know I could have.

http://www.2point6billion.com/2008/08/14/asians-win-31-gold-at-the-olympics/

Jamaica…1-2 & 2…in for gold and a tie for double silver…what an Olympic story.  Go Jamaica…go!

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/olympics_blog/2008/08/jamaicans-1-2-3.html

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/track_field/news;_ylt=Ah24XJNC6a6GcIOmprJ5SabQ1Zl4?slug=ap-ath-womens400hurdles&prov=ap&type=lgns

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/track_field/news?slug=ap-ath-trackandfield&prov=ap&type=lgns

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/track_field/news?slug=ap-ath-mens200&prov=ap&type=lgns

More men track & field events….

And of course Cullen Jones…taking home his gold…

To read more regarding the Bijing Games CLICK on the LINKS below…and check out the info on the Women’s and Men’s basketball beneath it.

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/basketball/news;_ylt=Aljh9uKZD4lc_j89VmEfzE2qvZ14?slug=ap-bkw-unitedstates-australia&prov=ap&type=lgns

Congratulations to Lisa Leslie and American Women’s Basketball team from bringing home yet another gold metal…their 6th total…straight.  Go, USA!

http://www.abc.net.au/olympics/

http://news.yahoo.com/fc/Sports/Olympics

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing

http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2008/news/olympics/

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/olympics2008/index.html

http://www.examiner.com/x-426-Sports-Examiner

Women’s basketball…

http://www.lsusports.net/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=5200&KEY=&SPID=2167&SPSID=27830

http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/basketball/story/2008/08/11/olympics-basketball-women.html?ref=rss

Men’s b-ball…

http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/lateNews/fibaEven/olymMen/p/openNodeIDs/3818/selNodeID/3818/teas.html

http://www.sportsline.com/olympics

http://www.usabasketball.com/news.php?news_page=2008molyschd

Enjoy your day…and the Olympics. 

Bring home the gold…

Had a busy weekend.  But it was a good weekend…I am paying for it now.  But I won’t regret it.

Be encouraged…love the Lord…and always believe.   God bless…

And keep reading…thank you for reading. 

And I do hope that some of this is making sense to you…if so ‘pass it on…’ www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2008 

Loving You – Minnie Ripperton

Don’t forget that your vote counts…so, please get registered if you are not.  And if you are registered…stop by your local Voter Registration Office to double check on your registration…so, there won’t be any surprises on Election Day.  It has happened to me a couple of times.  Once they claim I hadn’t filled out a US Census form…and I hadn’t.  But did that have to do with my vote?  It is a game…to keep down certain numbers…any ol’ thing to hinder you.  That is what they will do…throw up anything ol’ thang to stop you from voting.   So, don’t be hindered…double check your registration before November just to ensure you won’t have any problems casting your vote come Election Day November 2008. ©2008

Add a comment August 18, 2008

Cullen Jones, Venus & Serena …Michelle O

It’s 4:00 and I’m just getting up.   Didn’t go to sleep until after I mopped the kitchen and bathroom early this morning and scrubbed down the tub.  Sometimes you just can’t sleep until you have done some things…and that was after 5 AM this morning.

I guess I should have turned on the television yesterday so I could have seen Cullen Jones shatter the World Record at the Olympics in China. He is classified as the fastest swimmer in the world…#1, baby. Ching-ching…I hear the cash registers now.

And they said we couldn’t swim.

Born in the Bronx…as in New York City…all the more reason why he should not be a swimmer…but maybe a ball handler.

So much for stereotyping.

New York is known as the concrete jungle…simply because there isn’t much green.  Few trees, grass, parks etc.   But plenty of playgrounds and basketball courts.  It is a wonder that more champion basketball players don’t come from it…which by the way is the home of LaBron James…Brooklyn in the house.

Raised in New Jersey…Irvington…which at one point was rated as the having the higest rate of auto thief in the U.S.    It’s part of the Newark, East Orange part of Jersey…and it can be very rough.

Did I say can?

It is very rough.

In fact it is so rough…that Whitney Houston made a point of reminding Wendy Williams that she was from Newark.

When I heard Whitney say that…I had to laugh…because I knew what it meant. It meant that Whitney was not afraid of storming up into that radio station and taking care of Wendy on-air or off of it. That is how those folk in Newark think…those Jersey people.   They are rough.

I never really listened to this Wendy and Whitney interview (all the way through) until after I posted this blog…and though I am not a cursing woman…and hate to hear such language…I can only say that one day Whitney will look back (as many of us have) and wished she could remove all of these things which are in the public domain…because she will regret them.  Maybe the not telling off of Wendy part…but she will regret the state that she was in at the time. 

I know a changed Whitney Houston is going to emerge one day…one who will proclaim that this was who she was…’but today I am a new creature through my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.’    And she shall walk in the steps that God has ordered for her.

Once I started looking up in youtube for the Whitney stuff and Wendy…I could not resist these other videos.

Let me take the time to say that I am praying for Whitney Houston who after a concert at Radio City (some years ago) where I had an opportunity to be at the after party…and everybody who is anybody was there…LaToya Jackson, Cicely Tyson…I can’t even think of half of the people who were there…just everybody…Stevie…every artists and New York City media person and politician etc.   All of them clamoring for a piece of Whitney.  She was the diva of the hour.  In demand at every turn.  My how they seemed to love her then.

I think back on that night and Whitney’s fall…and all the jokes that have come upon her since having fallen…and I think about how people truly are.  Everyone loves you when you’re up…but don’t fall. They’ll make jokes about you and call you outside of your name.  There is something about kicking people when they are down…that so many seem to love to do.  I suspect it all stems from some level of envy of the person while they were up…and of course, there is money in being mean…just ask Wendy.

It is sad…I pray that Whitney’s life will turn drastically around and that she will become a true witness and testimony about the goodness of God…because He is capable of doing all things.  I can say this because I know what He did for me.

How could I have been so deep into lesbianism…and yet He pulled me out…and turned me around?

I was far from seeking a change in my life…but God wasn’t.

I see it in her…Whitney…particularly in that youtube clip where she talks about her daughter…of one day sitting back and seeing her daughter as a woman of God.  That speaks volumes…for Whitney and the training that her mother instilled in her.

***She is on her way back!!!

Praise the Lord.  

I serve a God who can do all things…but fail.   I am happy to see that Whitney is getting her life back on track.  And hopefully at some point that she will begin to walk in the steps that God has ordered for her life. 

Though you can see the scars from the years of  the drug abuse…but she  looks great… and more and more like her aunt…Dionne.

The  prayers of  the righteous availeth much.

Now back to Cullen…that other person from New Jersey…the Jersey boy…or should I say young man who will be coming home an Olympic Champion…and had left for China as already being one.

I used to work at a radion station in Jersey, WNJR…and had to go through those mean streets many a days to get to and from work.  Newark…Irvington…Union and the Oranges are no joke…New York was a lot milder.

Ranked #1 in the world the 50 meters freestyle, Cullen already has a 7 year deal with Nike which is reportedly worth more than $2 million.  Not bad for a bright young man with some really fast swimming skills.

At 24 years of age…Cullen having broken 3 world records can look forward to many more endorsements…which will surely be for quite a lot more money since he will be returning home all wrapped in gold after last night’s race through that beautiful water of that Olympic pool in China…and the team gold he also managed to acquire.

An English Major with a Minor in Psychology from North Carolina State he is said to be very humble. And he is a champion who wants to give back to his community and that is oh so…so important.

Cullen is to be saluted…for his valour, his devotion, his God given skills, humility and generosity of spirit…a real champion.  His mother and father taught him well.

http://www.usaswimming.org/usasweb/DesktopModules/BioViewManaged.aspx?personid=51c2fb07-a280-4c57-8196-9e874d4f690d&TabId=388&Mid=597

 

Serena and Venus have won 3.  On Tuesday they won in their singles matches and in their doubles game.  CLICK below to read more.

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/tennis/news?slug=ap-ten-tennis&prov=ap&type=lgns

Shame on China for deciding that one little girl was not good looking enough…but that she had a great voice.  So, they elected to allow a more visually attractive little girl to lip-sync while the other little girl, 7 years old, with her crooked teeth and lack of stage presence was hid away from the public eye…as she sung their Olympic song.

What a sad story that is.  And that 7 year old will probably grow up to be such a beauty…and still have a fantastic voice…probably even better.  And she’ll have the last laugh then.

What a disgrace for China.

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=ap-china-lip-synchedsong&prov=ap&type=lgns

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=207187&cl=9247790&ch=6527422&src=sports

The Democratics are getting ready for the Democratic National Convention set to kick off on August 25th in Denver, CO.  During the first night of the convention Michelle Obama is set to be speaking.

I guess I will have to turn on the television…I do not want to miss a minute of the convention.  This is as much history in the making as when the founding fathers decided how this country was going to be run…and formed the policies for its operation…called the Constitution of the United States.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080812/ap_on_el_pr/democratic_convention_speakers

Xia xia…that’s is Chinese for thanks or thank you…for reading.   And pass it on… www.bsmith101.wordpress.com   to all your friends, family and foe.  Enjoy the rest of your day…and God bless… ©2008

Add a comment August 12, 2008

John Edwards… biggest con job …Hayes & Mac

For some reason I just can’t get out of my head how John Edwards had me completely fooled.

It has to be the biggest political con job in the world.

I will tell you this…if I had known anything about that video footage that that woman had shot of John behind the scene…I would have been able to tell that he was not what he projected in public…on the political stage.

Where I had thought of  him being quiet and comtemplative…in the footage he is chatty and laughs a lot…such as the time in his behind the scene footage  where he is in the car.   He tells how he told the television host that if  he were going to run for President then he would announce it on his show.  In that sequence…you see a John Edwards who marvels at his own craftiness…something that you totally would not expect of him.  Then there is another sequence where he looks into the camera playfully teasing with the woman (Rielle Hunter) and calls her ‘camera-girl.’   Yeah…and that was not all  she was.

 Yes, in that footage of John Edwards behind the scenes…you do see a side of Edwards that you didn’t know was there.

It would seem that the person whom I thought he was…was really just a fake.

Media is a great tool…but you better know how to use it.  And use it wisely.

If you are going to have a camera following you shooting behind the scene footage of you as a mean of aiding in people getting to know you…you better not forget that there is a camera there catching your every nuance and word. 

In fact, if a camera is there…you better remember that you are still on stage.  Something that Jesse Jackson, I think, recently just learned.

But Edwards…I thought he was a family guy.

I thought his wife was his childhood sweetheart…and the only woman he had ever known. 

Well…that is what he made it sound like every time I ever heard him tell the story.

The Nightline interview was a disaster for poor John…whom  in  watching  you got the  distinct  idea that maybe his wife told him  that  she wasn’t going on the show with him.  It was in how when  he tried to explain her not being there…he stammered and stuttered through it…which is something he did through much of  that interview. 

Finally, poor John just broke down saying he was a man who needed to do it alone…talking about the interview.  And I am sure he was right…as it seems he had no problem doing a lot of other things alone…I mean without his wife.

A novice filmmaker whom Edwards met in a bar in New York City, Rielle Hunter managed to land a job on Edwards’ staff during his 2004 bid for the White House.  And he paid her $100,014.00 to do it…to shoot behind the scene video footage???

Hiring that woman…putting her upon his payroll was more than a one time thing…she got to fly around the world with him pretending to just be shooting behind the scene video footage.

For Edwards to claim that being 99% honest is not enough…shows just how far off the mark he really is.

What kind of a dumb statement is that?

Ninety-nine per-cent?

His claims of no affair…and not being unfaithful to his wife…were 100% untrue.  He wasn’t even 1% honest.  So, how could he lay claim to being 99% honest…when he was not being honest at all?

What a con job.

What a con job.

To read and see more on this CLICK the 2 LINKS below and then check out the youtube footage.

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=9217808&ch=4226716&src=news

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=9217808&ch=4226716&src=news

How do you throw away everything just like that?

People do it everyday…they just take everything and flush it down the toilet for something that later on they mostly all come to regret…all for a few fleeting  moments of  supposed ecstasy.

Being in media as a woman you come in contact with a lot of men.  Sometimes it can be quite sickening.  There seems to be something inside men that can’t stop them from trying to chase down women…young and old…no matter what they look like.  And, of course, the opposite can sometimes be equally as true of  women chasing down men…particularly rich and powerful men…or men in the arts and media.

But lets stick with men for the moment…maybe it is a thing of trying to see if they still have it going on.  Who knows.

Sometimes it is just about seeing how many women they can get sexually.

I recall getting into a cab and the cabby telling me out of the clear blue sky that he was not one of those 30 second men.  Which he followed up by asking me to have sex with him.

I acted as those I had not heard him…and never commented on the subject.

He was not a bad looking guy…but why bring up something like that?   Or ask me something like that?

I recall once in New York City having to rush a package to Fed-ex on 42nd Street…as it was the last Fed-ex office open any where in the city at that hour which near midnight…and my package needed to be in the mail and postmarked before  midnight.

I jumped into the cab in the Wall Street area and asked the cabby to rush.

Through the whole ride, from Wall Street to mid-town, the cabby was trying to seduce me.  He would not hear anything I was saying…no matter how many ways I said ‘no.’

When I was getting out of the cab to rush inside Fed-ex…happy to final reach my destination and get out, he took my money asking me-

“Do you want me to wait?”

And I said, “No, it is going to take me a while.”

“That’s okay.  I don’t mind waiting.”

I told him no…but  that cabby waited and waited just outside that Fed-ex office on me.

Once I was through getting my package off…I stood inside wondering what I was going to do…as I could clearly see the cab outside throught the window of the Fed-ex office…he was really waiting on me.

Of all the women in New York…why me?

Luckily that Fed-ex office stayed open through the night.  But also very fortunate for me…I noticed that there was a bus stop right outside it’s door.

A group of people were waiting on the bus…and as the bus pulled up…I dashed out of the Fed-ex office and leaped on the bus taking it to the nearest train station so I could jump the train to Brooklyn.

Talk about ‘Sex n da City.’

But why are men like that?

I once got a job offer to do radio…I forget where really but it was somewhere South.  The radio station manager/program director and I were talking on the phone trying to work out all the particulars for my arrival…when I asked-

“So, where will I be staying?”

“I thought you could stay with me until we can find you a place.”

He went on to tell me about his house and how much room he had.

There went that  job.

That was it for him.  Needless to say…I never set one foot in that radio station or his house.  But thank God he had be truthful in saying what he did…otherwise I may have been stuck. 

Enjoy you day.   and God bless….

UPDATE on EDWARD’S STORY:   It is amazing to me just how many men… and I guess women also…  toss aside a good decent relationship.  They chose trash over class… and seem to at the time be obssessed with what they are doing and who they are doing it with… until it all starts to fall apart.  And they find out they lost more than they can ever hope to regain.  

Below is the LINK to Elizabeth Edward’s story of her final battle with cancer.  But let me preference this by saying… I truly believe that no matter what doctors say… God has the final word.  And I pray that she will yet some more time… and without pain.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101207/ap_on_re_us/us_elizabeth_edwards

Oh, yeah.  I’m usually excited about the Olympics but this year for whatever reason I could care less.  Haven’t turned on the television one time to watch anything…and probably won’t.  May regret it…but for some reason I am just not interested.

Can’t believe that Issac Hayes, 65, just died.  And right after Bernie Mack, 50.  They say that death comes in 3’s.

I have 2 funerals this week that I must attend.  Thursday is the funeral for my friend whom I informed you in earlier blogs that we believed that she was in the process of passing.  The following day after she had passed I received a call that a cousin in Florida had just passed, as well.  I am happy for them both to be  released from the cares and pain of this world.  As I know that in the end they both were suffering and had lingered in states that they really didn’t want to be in. 

It is so hard to loose love ones.  But it is exceedingly   hard to see someone suffer…and get so far down that they can  do nothing for themselves. 

My friend whom we had believed was passing had gotten into a state where she could not walk, eat or talk…and could not  even turn herself  having become bed ridden.  It was hard seeing someone who had been so active and alert in that state…someone with whom I had shared some much and her with me.  I wanted to take her out of the rehab center and take her for one last drive around the city…but I was told she was unable to leave.

All I could think about was giving her one last time out in the fresh air.

When I was in LA…one morning we went for brunch on Sunset Blvd at some vegetarian place.  We were seated at the table…and I heard a voice.  The voice caught my hear and it was right beside me.

I knew immediately who it was…I afterall had played his music over the radio airwaves for years.  And at college when his  ‘Black Moses’ album came out…if you worked overnight…or late into the AM…we would just put it on and let  a  whole side play.

When I heard the voice I didn’t dare look over.  I looked down instead.  And there to my surprise was this long leg stretched over near me…with a loose sandal on its foot.

I knew that voice anywhere…and had often debated who was greater…more talented…him or Barry White.

It was of course, Issac Hayes…in my opinion.   He was seated at the table with a white woman…who I thought was an agent or PR person…as they were talking business.

I could not believe that I was in LA…and seated right next to me was Issac Hayes…the Black Moses.  And when I say seated next to me…he wasn’t even 5 inches away.

I didn’t say anything to him…we never interrupted him…as I made everyone at the table aware that I was sitting next to Issac Hayes.

You don’t interrupt the Black Moses.

Then a few weeks after getting back into New York…there was that voice again. He was now on my radio…aiding in doing the KISS-FM morning radio show…Issac Hayes, Linda Tripp and the whole 98.7 FM morning crew.

Sorry, but I don’t have any Bernie Mack stories except I liked his TV show…the few times I had an opportunity to watch it.  It definitely was an intelligent program that not only entertained but tried to pass along a lesson or 2…Bernie style.

There is much death all about.

The Bible says…we know not when…or where.

Thanks for reading.    and pass it on…share this blog address with all your friends and family…and anybody and everybody else…. www.bsmith101.wordpress.com   pass it on…and have a beautiful day.  

Don’t forget that if you are not registered to vote…please get out and get registered…and take everybody with you who you know is not…or bring them back the registration forms to get registered.  And we will see you all in the voting booth come November…Obama…all the way!   © 2009 

Add a comment August 11, 2008