Monthly Archives: November 2008

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BB&G C-Notes ~ Mid Week Musings

From the Good News/Bad News Department

Good News – Eric Holder Jr. will accept the post of Attorney General in the Obama administration.  This means we won’t be seeing any more Jena 6 episodes where local prosecutors and judges run wild with making up the law as they go in trying to take the country back to Jim Crow.  Holder who has a long history of working in the big time, was appointed to an Associate Judge position by Ronald Reagan and was deputy Attorney General under Clinton.  He’s also the son of immigrants from Barbados.  I am confident he will bring some justice back to the justice department: where in previous years the Ashcroft and Gonzales terms fired many great lawyers to satisfy Bush’s personal agenda of government by dictatorship.

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Bad News – With the approval of Barack Obama the Democratic Caucus allowed Joe Lieberman to retain his post chairing the Senate Homeland Security Committee.  I can imagine there are reasons Obama allowed this snake to come back.  It could be cause he wants to show the example of new starts and letting bygones be bygones.  Certainly he has been the most graceful president elect ever especially with his political rivals.  It also may have to do with the fact that Lieberman is Jewish.  Regardless there is no way this guy doesn’t flip again at some point.  He is a disgrace!   

Dems spare Lieberman, let bygones be bygones

What in the hell is up with these pirates over in Somalia?  When did pirating come back in style?  I guess it’s not like the peg-legged cats I’m used to seeing on TV back in the day.  Nor are they like the Johnny Depp character in the film.  These dudes are now taking over oil tankers and shit.  WTF?  Where is the funding coming from?  Is the booty that phat or is this a new game for drug lords?  I don’t know, but somebody needs to put a stop to this shit!

An undated photo of the Sirius Star in South Korean waters.   story.depp.jpg

Memo to horrible ass parents who are too gutless to take care of their kids –  If you can afford to fly or drive your kids across the country to Nebraska to drop them off at a hospital, you can afford to take care of them.  I didn’t know this many people were that selfish and stupid as to drop 5 year old kids and teenagers off to get over on a law in Nebraska that was created to give new mothers who are scared of motherhood a safe haven to leave kids without prosecution.  In Nebraska’s haste to have a law similar to the rest of the country, the dummy’s forgot to put an age limit on the kids that could be left on hospital doorsteps.  So instead of it serving the purpose of it’s intent, which is to basically prevent teen mothers from leaving their newborns in dumpsters, people from around the nation are making a fast trek to the Nebraska border to ditch their “chillin‘. (That’s “children” for those of you who don’t have any of those Southern roots.)  Anyway – that’s whack!  And ya’ll should be ashamed of yourselves!  In the words of Mike Tyson, “You’re scared cowards!”

Four children have been dropped off at Nebraska hospitals in the last two days.

This week’s hypocrite award goes to our hometown baseball hero, Sir Albert Pujols.  You see Albert won Major League Baseball’s MVP award this year. (His second one.) And don’t get me wrong, he is one of the very best baseball has to offer.  Dude can flat out play.  But in 2006 when Philadelphia Phillie Ryan Howard won the award, because his team didn’t make the playoffs, Albert threw some haterade on Ryan’s party.  Said Sir Albert at the time when asked about Ryan winning the award, “I see it this way: Someone who doesn’t take his team to the playoffs doesn’t deserve to win the MVP.”  (The Cardinals went to the playoffs and won the World Series that year.)

Well this time Howard’s Phillies finished in first place and won the World Series.  Howard also finished second in the MVP voting behind Pujols. The Cardinals did not make the playoffs.  It’s the exact same situation in reverse.  But somehow Albert feels he deserves to win the award.  Although he admits now that Ryan Howard deserved the award in 2006, he doesn’t admit that he was wrong for the statement.  It’s almost as if he is saying, “Well since I won it this time it’s all good.”  Make up your mind Albert!  Is it about the playoffs or “all the numbers” as you say now?

Pujols MVP

 

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Corporate CEO Daily Check List

 

 A daily roundup of editorial cartoons

1. Wake up in 5 million dollar home.

2. Make sure prostitution errrrrrrr “spa” bill is paid, but that the details are kept on the down low.

3. Take Mercedes SL500 company car to the office.

4. Pinch concubine errrrrrrr secretary on the behind.

5. Go to high level meeting to decide how many employees to lay off.

6. Lay off employees.

7. Make layoff announcement and cry broke to the media.

8. Ask congress for bailout money and threaten that the whole company will fold if you don’t get it.

9. Receive bailout money, fill personal coffers with more loot and promote the virtues of the “free market”.

10. Visit the “spa” again for more “treatments.”

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My President’s A Baller!

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People may think that Barack Obama just likes to play ball for the heck of it.  But the game of basketball is a thinking man’s game.  And there are many metaphors between the game itself and life.  I am sure that his ability to understand the game, teamwork, and strategies will help him lead his administration as he plays the most important role of his career.

Still I’m wondering… if you play ball with the president, can you argue a foul call with him?  If you foul him too hard will the secret service take you to jail?  If you steal his ball or dunk on him, will your life as an American be toast? 

I’m just saying… I notice no one is trying to block that shot!  Hmmmm……

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The Blossoming Butterfly, Part 2

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Part II 

It was June of this year.  School was out and my sons were to arrive from Atlanta and live with me for the summer.  Of course they wanted to see their sister and she wanted to see them as well.  I hadn’t seen my daughter in almost a year.  When they arrived they stayed at her house first because I was very busy working and preparing to give my other daughter away in marriage.  The original time I was given to expect the boys was changed by a week with one days notice.  The older sis was happy to have her brothers.  Once things settled for me I had to pick them up from her home.  Of course I had no idea where she lived.  I got the address and arrived to pick them up.

It was also the first time I saw my grandson just over 4 months old.  I only had a texted photo of him from his great-aunt.  When I saw my daughter we were both polite and courteous, though I could feel her apprehension as I surveyed her new home.  I truly felt like an outsider.  Still I made some small talk and added some jokes to loosen things up.  I let her know that she could see her brothers whenever she wanted to, and if she needed a babysitter, I was game.  This was only my 54th request for babysitting – but what the heck right?  

After several months passed, finally I got an opportunity to keep my grandchildren for an evening.  Even overnight!  I was blessed to keep them on my granddaughter’s 3rd birthday.   My daughter was so glad to get a break.  She called to check on them that night.  She expressed how tired she was, how her boyfriend wasn’t helping out as much, and how much she was about to go crazy.  She sounded loose, at ease.  She talked about things about her personal life… things she would normally never tell me.

What is this happening?  Is she opening up?  

I assured her that I understood.  And that there are times when a girl needs a break. I said that life is tough, and if she doesn’t learn how to balance things out and take care of her spirit, she will burn out with the responsibilities and cares of the world.  I said, “Girl look, when you need to get out, if you can’t do it on your own call your dad? Shoot you’re 21 now.  I don’t have to take you to Applebee’s.  I can take you to Café’ Eau at the Chase Park Plaza!”  (One of my favorite watering holes) She laughed and said, “I don’t know what that is.. but it sounds good to me!  I’m ready to go!”  We laughed. She said she was so appreciative that I took her kids for her, and that she really needed to hear that I was there for her.  (Something I had said for years but for the first time she heard me.  She then said, “You know daddy, we have had our times you know.”  (talking about the estrangement between us)  Then she got quiet.  And I then said, “But you know what?  That is all in the past.  It’s all about what we do from here.  I look forward to being an important part of your life, as well I need you in mine.  “Yea daddy that’s cool.  I am glad you said that.” 

Since then things have been very positive.  She went from unemployment to gaining two jobs quickly.  We talk about more things now.  Not just the common stuff.  Adult stuff that she thinks and goes through.  She even talks some about her “not so cool” relationship which before was totally off limits.  Its like for the first time since she was kid, she looks at me like the daddy she needs.  Except now its as an adult not as a little kid.

The other day she sent me a text message. “Daddy, can you pick me up from work today?”  We worked out the times and from there I squeezed her in between work and a meeting I had to attend that evening.  We picked up the kids from the babysitters.  My granddaughter, who knows me well now in her surprise to see me yelled, “Hi PAW PAW!”  The older lady who keeps the children said to me, “Your daughter is really sweet.” 

I got them home and went about my business.  On the way to her house she went on and on about how appreciative she was about me picking her up.  Back in the day, hell I was “supposed to do that.”  But she was so genuine.  It was like she was a new person.  She even texted me later that night cause she knew I was in a hurry.  “Did you make it to your meeting on time?”  

A few days before she sent me another text.  Talking about how she was going to be getting her stuff together and for me to just watch.  She was going to be blossoming before my eyes.  Ha!  To quote Sarah Palin, “You bet she is.”  I can tell she is a new woman. It brings tears to my eyes just writing this.  Oh that she would know that I love her so and that nothing compares to her in her daddy’s eyes.  I think I’m starting to get my daughter back.  And I am thankful for that!   

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Charelle… I love you, Daddi (that’s how she spelled it when she wrote me notes as a kid)

*Above: Charelle after graduating high school with dad and her daughter Chariah

*Below: Charelle pictured with her son Cameron.  A grown ass woman!

 

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The Blossoming Butterfly, Part 1

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Parenting is a tough job.  To be a single parent is even tougher.  And if you are the parents of a child who had to experience a divorce between the first role models he/she ever had, it’s that much more challenging for the child growing up.   

Let me say up front, that there is probably nothing more devastating to a child directly or indirectly than to witness the breakup of their parents.  I regret that my children experienced that pain – and though I know for sure that my ex-wife and I were not meant to last forever, still I regret the affect it had on my children – especially my oldest daughter.  It has taken my first born most of her years to cope with and struggle in finding her identity and get a glimpse of her potential.  It also put a terrible strain on our relationship.

A major part of the reason for this (outside of the normal pains of divorce which would have been enough) is because she was given a lot of negative and at times false information about me from her mother.  She painted a picture of me that my daughter could not seem to shake regardless of what she saw with her own eyes.  Even as she witnessed me coming through to aid her mother and her brothers (my two sons) above and beyond child support, whether it was monetarily, morally etc. it wasn’t enough to take the villain tag off of my head.  Eventually she started keeping her distance in her mid teen years.  I understood that to be a growing up thing and I didn’t push her.  But after she got involved with her first love interest, soon after she pretty much decided she didn’t need me.  

As much as it hurt, I always made it clear to her that I was there for her no matter what.  And that I love her more than life itself.  Things got worse instead of better.  She got further and further away – resentful for some reason and I found I was always the one reaching out trying to prove myself with no positive feedback from her.  One day we had a big argument on the phone.  She went “adult” on me and said some horrible things.  It was the most disrespectful she had ever been.  I remember being so angry and hurt, that I called my mother screaming into the phone.  Mom actually ordered me to pull the car over till I calmed down, because she feared for my personal safety.  Speaking of safety, I remember thinking to myself that if she were not pregnant at the time, she would have gotten an old fashioned East St. Louis project beating for acting like she was grown and forgetting who the hell her daddy was!  I remember going ‘Godfather’ and telling my mother, “That’s it!  If we never talk again thats up to her!  I will never reach out again!  I am done…FINISHED!”  

Well my mom in all her wisdom explained that I couldn’t do that.  “You can’t disown your kids son.  You just can’t do it no matter what they say.”  She and those close around me said that my daughter will come back.  That she will come to herself after experiencing some hard times in life.  At that time I should be there ready.  Whew… I could never imagine that happening. 

Oh there were troubles alright. Sometimes there were fights with the boyfriend – me having to track him down for her car, house keys and cell phone.  Sometimes he was such a jerk I wanted to kill him.  Flat out!  But no matter what I did to help, I never got a thank you, kiss my ass or anything from her.  I would think, “Surely she saw what I just did right? I was Super Dad!  I just saved the day for all man-kind.”  NOPE!  She just got further and further away.  She had child one and two and neither of them would recognize me from T.I.  I pretty much gave up the fight and decided that I would love her unconditionally, and hope one day I could be a grandfather to my grandchildren.    

To be continued…

* Picture: My daughter age 9

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Televangelism At It’s Worst ~ Is that Al B. Sure?

I have a question for you.  What is worse than day time television with it’s numerous judge shows, them cackling female gossipers known as, “The View” and the assorted, “You are NOT the father” nonsense garbage programs?  Perhaps you’d say late night television with its infomercials about getting rich from sending in all your loose gold – or how that guy with the wacky jacket and glasses can get the government to fund all of your ideas.  What about the latest Chuck Norris workout – or perfect ball that will make your abs look like Michael Phelps for two installments of $19.99?   

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If you get too bored day or night you can always turn on one of the Law And Order/ SVU/ Missing Persons, CSI, DNA, CBS, NBC, ABC, ESPN and FOX detective shows.  I mean are they ever NOT on?  Don’t even get me started on Lifetime.  They won’t even use the script unless the righteous woman is trying to avoid some obsessive jerk who wants to steal her money and kill her family. “If I can’t have you Barbara, nobody can!”

All of these pale in comparison however, to my favorite ridiculous TV program of all time; The Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) fundraising programs.  Now this is entertainment at its finest.  First let me give you a little history.  TBN, what I now call the “Takin Bank Network” was founded by Paul and Jan Crouch, as well as Jim and Tammy Bakker back in 73.   

According to Wikipedia: TBN generates nearly $200 million in revenue annually.[3] The network does not make its finances available and Crouch family members control the boards of all TBN entities, which makes Trinity “ineligible to join” the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, an evangelical self-regulating group.[4] It does not air commercials (excluding TBN Italy); rather, two-thirds of its revenue comes from viewer contributions and one-third from other televangelists’ payments for running their programming. Its $120 million donation revenue is larger than any other television ministry. It has posted average annual surpluses since 1997 of about $60 million. It holds two week-long fundraising telethons (known as ‘Praise-a-Thons’) per year, as well as numerous other solicitation drives. It maintains a direct mail database of 1.2 million names.

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As of 2002, TBN boasted $583 million in assets, including $238 million in government-backed securities and $31 million in cash. Also among its assets are a $7.2 million Canadair Turbojet and thirty houses in California, Texas and Ohio with values ranging up to $8 million.[5] The elder Crouches and their son Paul Jr. earn an estimated combined annual income of $900,000.[6] In September 2004, the Los Angeles Times characterized their personal lifestyle as a “life of luxury.”[7] According to Charity Navigator, TBN earned $188,152,079 in 2007 and has a 2 out of 4 star rating (47%).[8]

In June 2007, TBN purchased the bible-themed adventure park Holy Land Experience for $37 million.[9] The Orlando, FL based theme-park was in a slump with falling ticket sales and a reported $8 million debt when TBN purchased it.  In October nearly 100 employees were cut from the payroll.[10]

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With that as a backdrop – I was flipping the channels when I saw one of the Marketing Preacher Reps (MPRs) Bishop Clarence E. McClendon (aka. Al B. Sure) making his pitch for people to call their toll free number to pledge them dollars.  He talked about how the economy was going down but that God’s economy was still strong and that The Almighty would give the TV audience money if they gave these multi-millionaires their hard earned loot.  Bishop B. Sure was “night and day” quoting scripture after scripture, using his most traditional Southern Baptist theatric tone as he jerked and soared as if the spirit was taking over his body riling up the audience.  Then came the highlight of the rant!  He said, “You just don’t know what happens in hell when you call the number and pledge your financial support.  God magnifies the ring!”  Huh?  You mean to tell me that God is broadcasting the sounds of the phones ringing at the TBN offices in hell so as to gloat to Satan and his little demons?  Yep!  That’s what he said. 

 

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Bishop B.Sure isn’t the only one – when he’s not on there shuffling and jiving, there are others like Juanita Bynum, Rod Parsley, Benny Hinn, Eddie Long, and other heavy hitter big name MPRs.  They go on the program and appear before the television audience to get all deep, mystical, and spiritual as they give you reason after reason why you need to invest your dollars into their coffers – even if you are broke!  It’s not as if they are not already a billion dollar industry.  Still in all, while hundreds of thousands of jobs are being lost every month, they want to make sure they get their grubby hands on what little you have left. 

I am a firm believer in supporting local ministries especially when they are available to giving back.  Try asking “Takin Bank Network” for help the next time your gas is about to get shut off or if there is no food on the plate.  The most you’ll get is a prayer and some more junk mail asking for donations. 

I couldn’t stomach Bishop B. Sure any longer.  I had to finish with some serious informative and educational programming. I watched the last few minutes of the Arizona Cardinals beating the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football.  I hear the Devil was watching the football game too.  Though there was no word on whether he could hear the sound with all that ringing noise going on.

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I Am Sam

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I am sure for many of you I am way behind in the game.  But I just saw the movie, “I Am Sam over the weekend and it was one of the best films I have ever seen in my life. 

Sean Penn, Michelle Pfeiffer were absolutely wonderful.  And Dakota Fanning showed a depth to her character thats rarely seen in young actors/actresses.

The script was brilliantly true to life, though the writers seemed to have some obsession with The Beatles.  This is not meant to be an official movie review.  I just wanted to suggest that if you’ve never seen this incredible movie you should.  And if you have, now may be the time to see it again.

The performances really reminds me of how terriffic the artist are who make such characters believable.  And the themes give us reason to be thankful and shows us the magic of unconditional love and acceptance of others who are not like us.

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Celebrating The Life Of Miriam Makeba

Over her career, Miriam Makeba sang with performers including Nina Simone, Harry Belafonte and Paul Simon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A special BB&G celebration for the life of Miriam Makeba who passed away doing what she loved best, performing on stage.

Miriam was not just a performer, but a reformer who was banned from her country of South Africa during the apartheid struggle for over 30 years.

Miriam performed with some of the best in the world including Dizzy Gillespie and Harry Belafonte.  She performed for President Mandela as well as John F. Kennedy.  She truly was a world treasure.

You can sing with the angels now!  We will miss you.

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My Oh My, America’s Pastor Retires (Just in the Nick of Time)

  The Rev. Billy Graham speaks at a crusade in Kansas City, Missouri, in October 2004.

After decades of dedicated service to not only the world, but to sitting presidents since Truman and Eisenhower, The Rev. Billy Graham decided that he does not want to serve in this role any longer.  How ironic is this?

Generally speaking I would give Graham the benefit of the doubt.  After all he has done great work around the world and has preached to more people than anyone in the history of the world from what I know.  His crusades have circled the globe many times over and his gentleman’s approach to evangelizing the gospel is digestible to even babies.  He just turned 90 and his health can’t be as good as it once was.

What I question however in terms of his work with presidents, is that while he has been there to pray and counsel these world leaders he has not always stood on the side of righteousness.  With President Nixon he, not only supported a man who promoted the Southern Stategy of disenfranchising African-American voters, he himself spewed his own anti-semitic views while speaking with Nixon.  These comments were a part of the Nixon Tapes released some years later. 

In addition, if one is to follow the bible in terms of being a prophet who has access to kings and world changers, the calling is not merely to pray but to speak righteously as the mouth of God in terms of a moral compass.  With Nixon we know for sure that he spoke the opposite by disparaging a people.  In addition when we think of the W terms, with the lies of the War in Iraq with it’s killings of innocent Iraqi citizens, the failure to equip soldiers and care for them at places like Walter Reed,  the debacle of Hurricane Katrina which killed many and displaced thousands of families, to the white collar criminals like Scooter Libby and Bush’s pardons of such criminals, Graham did not find it in his heart to take these things to task.  In biblical history, when God used a man to speak to leaders, he was sent to proclaim the truth not to merely be the president’s friend.  Take Moses for instance.  He wasn’t cozening up to Pharaoh.  Instead he told the wicked leader time and time again that God said to, “Let my people go,” less God’s judgment fall upon Pharaoh’s land.  (Book of Exodus)  Nathan the prophet didn’t pat King David on the back when he has Uriah killed because he was trying to cover up the fact that he impregnated Uriah’s wife. (2 Samuel 12)  Nathan told David straight up he was tripping!  Graham’s silence or acquiesce over the years from Vietnam to Iraq has no such implications.  He like many preachers are more flattered to be in the presense of presidents than they are about the calling and purpose for which God wanted them access in the first place.

And yet as Graham’s son Franklin (the most vocal right winged conservative of the family) noted he is perfectly fine with publically taking Obama to task for his views on abortion and gay marriage. So of all the injustices done by men in the White House over the years, Graham decides within two days of President Obama being elected – the first black president – that his work with presidents is over.

But according to Franklin, the elder Graham wants to “meet and pray with Obama.”  What is that some kind of token concession?  Pray about what?  That Obama changes his views on gay marriage and abortion? Graham did say by the way that he hopes God moves on Obama’s heart to change his views.  Funny he didn’t want God to change W’s heart on anything of the last 8 years.  Oh please spare me!

That’s OK Bill and Franklin.. F’ it!  I am pretty sure Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s phone number hasn’t changed.

For real though… as far as prayer goes,  I think we’ve got it covered.

(* AME pastors pray for Obama after he spoke at their National Convention in St. Louis this past summer. Pic courtesy of The St. Louis American)

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