Her_Royal_Blaqueness

Monday 12/4: Mandate for Peace Call-in Day

2006-12-04T06:25:00.000-08:00

National Mandate for Peace Congressional Call-in DayMonday, December 4th

On November 7, American voters issued a mandate for peace. Is Congress going to listen?
Call your Representative and Senators at 202-224-3121 and tell them:
Bring the troops home now by cutting off funding for the war!
Members of Congress return to Washington on Monday, December 4. The Democrats in the House have a meeting on December 5 to discuss Iraq strategy. The Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group will release its report on December 6. We must let every member of Congress know that the time for discussions is over. It is time to rein in an outlaw President and cut off the funding for his illegal war.
Call the Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121
You can find out who your Representative and Senators are and their direct phone and fax numbers here:http://www.usalone.com/get_instantcongress.htm
Please make 3 phone calls: to your Representative and both Senators.
Background:
The United States has now been engaged in Iraq for longer than our engagement in WWII, and as long as our occupation of Iraq has gone on the situation there has grown worse. As long as we stay, we can expect it to worsen further. Only a negotiated peace that follows a commitment by the United States to quickly and entirely depart, and to fund a real reconstruction of Iraq by Iraqis, can give Iraq and all of us a chance at a better future.
A Johns Hopkins/Lancet study estimates that 650,000 Iraqis have died as a result of this war. The U.S. military has suffered 49,369 casualties, including 24,237 from hostile causes, of which 21,921 are wounded and 2,316 killed in action. Another 567 troops have died from "non-hostile" causes, and 147 U.S. contractors have been killed.
The Constitution gives Congress the power to end this war by cutting off the funding, as well as the power to investigate the war's justifications and to impeach its architects. Let Congress know that forgetting the message of the November 7th elections is an option that we're taking off the table!
For more information about the Mandate for Peace campaign, a joint effort of dozens of peace and community groups, go to http://www.mandateforpeace.org

Dallas Official Aims To Ban Baggy Pants

2006-10-26T07:21:00.000-07:00

DALLAS -- A Dallas City Councilman wants to ban baggy pants in the city.School board trustee Ron Price said banning saggy slacks might be the only way to get children to pull up their pants.A look around school campuses leaves some wondering just how low baggy pants can go."Pull them up. That's just my first thought," parent Shalonda Alexander said.Alexander said it is embarrassing to see children wearing pants so low that their underwear shows."It just doesn't present a good image," she said.Price agrees and said he has had enough."It's something wrong when we say it's OK for people to walk around our city with their underwear showing," he said.Price said he would ask the Dallas City Council to make it illegal to wear the baggy pants by either drawing up a new ordinance, or by adding the ban to an existing ordinance related to public lewdness."If all citizens, regardless of race or gender, understand in the city of Dallas, we refuse to let you walk around with pants showing your buttocks, that's a message for all people," he said.Price did not say how the ban would be enforced if it did become law.

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What do you think about this? Do you think making baggy jeans illegal is a good or bad idea?

Share your thoughts on my discussion forum.
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Judgement

2006-06-17T09:09:00.000-07:00

Judgement is one of those words nobody wants to own. "Well, I’m not
judging you, but …"
So often, we want another person to know they are wrong, but we
don’t want to acknowledge we are judging him or her.It’s as if we
instinctively know that to have the words ‘judgmental’ or ‘judging attitude’
attached to us won’t show us off in a good light either. Basically it's
because people who judge presume to put themselves in the place of God.
Many people devise ways to put other people ‘in the wrong’ while
seeming to be virtuous ourselves. My grade school teacher use to
say, "When you point the finger at someone else, there are three
more pointing back at you". That is so true. God knows I am not
perfect, and would never claim to be. I just don't know where some
people get off being so judgemental by trying to call other people out.
I know that in life, no one can avoid being judged. But there is
definatly a difference between
good judgement and bad judgement. There will be times in life
where we have to judge. But instead of always judging others and
pointing the fingure, we should instead judge ourselves and make
sure that WE are living right and following the right path.

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What's Happening To Our Youth?

2006-06-12T15:07:00.000-07:00

Car kills woman sitting on her sofa - Two juveniles appear in court

The two boys accused of crashing a car into a Hampton home
Saturday appeared in court Monday.
The 14-year-old faces charges of felony murder, grand larceny,
felony hit and run, reckless driving and no operators license.
The 12-year-old is being held on charges of felony murder and
grand larceny.
Under Virginia law the 14-year-old can be tried as an adult, police
just have to prove they have enough evidence to uphold the murder charge.
Both boys will be back in court later this month.
Saturday, the two teens are accused of stealing a black Jeep Cherokee
from the parking lot of a nearby convenience store. Police say the keys
were left in the ignition.
Michelle Hart was sitting on her sofa watching TV when the boys are said
to have crashed the Jeep into her living room. Hart was pinned under the car,
and pronounced dead by medics.
Hart's husband had left a few minutes before to run an errand, and their two
girls were upstairs playing.
Hart's husband is in the Navy, and his orders were up in August. The
couple was hoping to return to Jacksonville, FL where she is from and her
family lives.
Michelle would have celebrated her 34th birthday and her
wedding anniversary at the end of this month.
The Hart family had lived in Hampton for a year.

I don't know what is happening to our youth today. When
I was growing up, 12 and 14 was still considered babies.
Now, 12 and 14 year old kids are stealing cars, shooting each
other, doing drugs...yuou name it and they are doing it.
Where are the parents? I know that parents can't watch
their children 24 hours a day, but someone must be responsible
for this bad behavior.
I know it sound cliche, but I really don't know what this world
is coming to.

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AIDS TURNS 25

2006-06-06T07:34:00.000-07:00

BOOKER RISING COMMENTARY: AIDS Turns 25
Today is the 25th anniversary of the first documented case on June 5, 1981. Since that time, HIV/AIDS has spread into a epidemic and claimed more than 25 million lives. About 40 million people are now living with the disease. Last week, news reports discussed how India - the world's second most populous country - surpassed South Africa as the country with the largest number of HIV/AIDS infections. However, sub-Saharan Africa continues to have the highest per capita rates.Of course, there are the inevitable arguments that governments and churches are not doing enough to stem the epidemic. However, government cannot legislate morality. The bottom line is that then, as in 1981, HIV/AIDS remains mostly (note: not entirely) a disease of bad lifestyle choices: while it is often spread from mother to child during pregnancy, the disease is mainly spread because of (1) unprotected, often promiscuous sex; and (2) intravenous drug use. Until this fact is acknowledged and thoroughly incorporated into societies, then rates will continue to rise or remain stagnant in various nations. When men are resorting to raping young girls, believing that it will "cure" them of HIV/AIDS (as happens in many sub-Saharan countries), then we have a ways to go to get the message out.In the United States, many AIDS activists still blame President Ronald Reagan for not saving them from themselves....as though government should be big daddy and monitor what they should have been doing on their own by being more discriminate in selecting sexual partners. And homophobia is a weak explanation, given that while gay and bisexual men are a high-risk group, the lowest-risk group - lesbians - is also a gay group. Why the differences in AIDS rates, when both are gay groups? Answer: in large part due to dramatically different lifestyle choices, especially on the promiscuity front. This is also a point to make, when some evangelical Christians start talking nonsense that AIDS is punishment to gays for their behavior (if so, then why did God overlook the gay women....whose HIV/AIDS rates are lower than that of heterosexual men and women)?And HIV/AIDS is taking more of a toll in Black America, with rates for women (who are catching it through unprotected sex, often with gay or bisexual men on the "down low") particularly up. This has led to many folks charging that black churches aren't doing enough to address the epidemic. I agree, but for different reasons. As a deist, I very rarely attend church. When I do go, I have noticed that preachers tiptoe around railing against promiscuity....lest it alienate much of the congregation (which features more than enough single moms and their out-of-wedlock kids). I have yet to hear a preacher go all out on the issue, with no qualifications or light touch. Monogamy needs to be promoted much more, as promiscuous sex is harming many blacks on several fronts (HIV/AIDS, out-of-wedlock births and fatherlessness, etc.) with particular impact on black women. And while I don't expect a church to promote it...strap on that condom or use a dental dam when you do have sex.

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Happy Birthday Travis

2006-06-04T13:17:00.001-07:00

Today was my son's 6th birthday. Birthdays and holidays are always bitter sweat. It was just he and I today. All of his cousins live out of state, but I bought a cake, that I'll have to eat it. He did enjoy the ice cream and balloons. I try to imagine what it would be like to see him ripping open his presents and blowing out candles. But we made the best of it today. We went to the park and I sat in a swing, put him my lap, and we swung for about an hour. Then I put him back in his wheelchair and I walked through the park. It has an oceanview and it was such a nice day. I think next year he and I will go on vacation for his birthday. Maybe to the beach, just the two of us.
Even though it gets hard sometimes, he is my little ray of light.

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Happiness

2006-06-02T11:13:00.000-07:00

There is a quote in a book that I read once that reads: "truly happy women drive some men and almost every other woman absolutely crazy." I find that to be very true. We cannot decide if we love or hate someone who is happy. Some people are drawn to them, some people resent them and some just cling to them hoping that happiness really is contagious. There is nothing I hate more than the Mary Poppins type when I am having a bad day. Personally, I think that people who walk around happy ALL the time are fake. On everyone's life, a little rain must fall. It's ok to admit that you are having a bad day. It's ok to admit that someone has angered you. I feel horrible admitting it but there is a calm satisfaction in knowing that other people are struggling just as much as I am sometimes. We all struggle at times and that is ok. Now, I am not advocating a permanent state of depression either. That's the opposite end of the spectrum. People who are always down in the dumps, always complain, and are forever the victim...that's another post.
People should allow themselves to feel whatever it is that they are feeling. You don't have to put up a front for the rest of the world as though everything is coming up roses when it's actually not. I believe that happiness is a choice, and that positive thoughts bring forth positive results, but at the same time, when it's not genuine people can see right through it.
Be real!

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Darfur 05/26/06

2006-05-26T18:07:00.000-07:00

The Black struggle isn't limited African Americans. It's about our people all over the world.Every week, I am going to list a way that we can have a hand in stopping genocide in Darfur.
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Join the Genocide Intervention Network because you care deeply about protecting civilians from genocide, and GI-Net can help you translate that caring into effective action. GI-Net is not just a handful of lobbyists pleading with leaders, but rather a movement of concerned citizens whose actions and electoral influence matter: we are building the first-ever permanent anti-genocide constituency!

http://www.genocideintervention.net

Help someone who can't return the favor.

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Black Pride

2006-05-24T13:05:00.000-07:00

When I look in the mirror at my Black skinI see centuries of determination and pride
When I look at the color of my Black skinI think of all the pioneers that bled and died
When I wash my black skinI think of the struggles of the enslaved
When I look at my dark skinI think of the road for ME they paved
When I bleed from my Black SkinI think of Martin and Malcolm X
When I love a Black womanI know it will be the best and hottest sex
When I die a Black man..I know I will have lived a warriors life
When I get to heaven as a Black manI'll thank God for every bit of strife
Why....Because I was proud to be a Black man

The Panther

A friend of mine wrote this poem and I thought it was one of the most powerful poems I have read in a while.
I love everything about being a Black woman. And I am offended when I watch movies and television and see women like Vivica and Tyra transform themselves into something unrecognizable. Are we still proud of our ethnicity? Why are so many celebrities bleaching their skin, having nose jobs, and sewing fake hair into their heads? Black people are disappearing. If it's not from race-mixing, it's from doing everything in our power to look European. Admittedly, I relax my hair, but it's MY hair, I didn't buy it. I'm a fair skinned woman but I have very ethnic features and I wouldn't change anything about myself. I look at pictures and movies from the 70's and I long for the days when Black was really beautiful. But when you have Black celebrities distancing themselves from their ethnicity and HBCUs like Hampton University making policies that prohibit braids and dreads, I can't help but to feel that Black people are doomed. Hopefully, we as a people will wake up before it's too late.

I am America. I am the part you won't recognize. But get used to me. Black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own; get used to me. ~ Muhammad Ali

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The nerve of some people

2006-05-23T16:17:00.000-07:00

Here's my situation. My son's father broke his ankle and tore some ligaments in his leg. He is can't get around and claims he doesn't have anyone to help him out. He keeps calling me trying to give me a guilt trip because I haven't come over to help him in any way.We haven't been a couple in many years.When we were a together he wasn't the greatest boyfriend in the world.But more importantly, he hasn't been the greatest father to our son either.He said if I were hurt he would be there for me. (Not that I would call him). I don't know how many people would offer assistance to their ex in a situation like this. I don't have any intentions of helping him and I don't feel bad about it. God forgive me, but I don't have it in me to be the bigger person. If he had been a better father, maybe.

Some people change when they see the light, others when they feel the heat.

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3121

2006-05-22T09:11:00.000-07:00

Admittedly I am a huge Prince fan and he can really do no wrong in my eyes. But I was ecstatic when I bought 3121 and played it for the first time. The old Prince is definitely back! He is as fearless as ever, combining disco-funk, rock, and hip-hop atop soul-tinted jazz supports, and slamming Latin rhythms against old-school R&B riffs. He is simply a genius.

3121 echoes his classic middle-80s period, the run from Purple Rain through Sign O' the Times, when the music was as colorful as it ever was, and when Prince painted with his broadest palate.

If I had to pick a favorite, (and on this album, that is hard to do) I would have to say it's "The Dance". It is very theatrical. "It's a pleading, sad, haunting eminently listenable minor key tune that (a signature move) goes major on the chorus; like most of the record, just Prince on the track. It's amazing song that stays with you long after you've put down the CD.

I read the following review that pretty much sums this album up:

"I cannot stress enough how dangerous this album is. Prince has released his most agrevating and heaviest work to date. The main offenders on 3121 are "Black Sweat, Love & Fury" Prince has ruined my life, It is so funky I cannot go about daily duties without violently headbanging to "Black Sweat or "Love" this should be contraband. Please do not drive while listening to this CD or operate heavy machinery. Prince is a criminal and will be brought to justice for excessive use of funk"

Indeed, his name is Prince, and he is funky.

GO GET 3121!!!

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12 Things The Negro Must Do For Himself

2006-05-20T05:46:00.000-07:00

I saw this on a message board and found it very interesting:

12 Things The Negro Must Do For Himself
by Nannie Helen Burroughs (Circa Early 1900's)

1. The Negro Must Learn To Put First Things First. The First Things Are: Education; Development of Character Traits; A Trade and Home Ownership. · The Negro puts too much of his earning in clothes, in food, in show and in having what he calls "a good time." The Dr. Kelly Miller said, "The Negro buys what he WANTS and begs for what he Needs." Too true!

2. The Negro Must Stop Expecting God and White Folk To Do For Him What He Can Do For Himself. · It is the "Divine Plan" that the strong shall help the weak, but even God does not do for man what man can do for himself. The Negro will have to do exactly what Jesus told the man (in John 5: to do--Carry his own load--"Take up your bed and walk."

3. The Negro Must Keep Himself, His Children And His Home Clean And Make The Surroundings In Which He Lives Comfortable and Attractive. · He must learn to "run his community up"--not down. We can segregate by law, we integrate only by living. Civilization is not a matter of race, it is a matter of standards. Believe it or not--some day, some race is going to outdo the Anglo-Saxon, completely. It can be the Negro race, if the Negro gets sense enough. Civilization goes up and down that way.

4. The Negro Must Learn To Dress More Appropriately For Work And For Leisure. · Knowing what to wear--how to wear it--when to wear it and where to wear it, are earmarks of common sense, culture and also an index to character.

5. The Negro Must Make His Religion An Everyday Practice And Not Just A Sunday-Go-To-Meeting Emotional Affair.

6. The Negro Must Highly Resolve To Wipe Out Mass Ignorance. · The leaders of the race must teach and inspire the masses to become eager and determined to improve mentally, morally and spiritually, and to meet the basic requirements of good citizenship. · We should initiate an intensive literacy campaign in America, as well as in Africa. Ignorance-- satisfied ignorance --is a millstone abut the neck of the race. It is democracy's greatest burden. · Social integration is a relationship attained as a result of the cultivation of kindred social ideals, interests and standards. · It is a blending process that requires time, understanding and kindred purposes to achieve. Likes alone and not laws can do it.

7. The Negro Must Stop Charging His Failures Up To His "Color" And To White People's Attitude. · The truth of the matter is that good service and conduct will make senseless race prejudice fade like mist before the rising sun. · God never intended that a man's color shall be anything other than a badge of distinction . It is high time that all races were learning that fact. The Negro must first QUALIFY for whatever position he wants. Purpose, initiative, ingenuity and industry are the keys that all men use to get what they want. The Negro will have to do the same. He must make himself a workman who is too skilled not to be wanted, and too DEPENDABLE not to be on the job, according to promise or plan He will never become a vital factor in industry until he learns to put into his work the vitalizing force of initiative, skill and dependability. He has gone "RIGHTS" mad and "DUTY" dumb.

8. The Negro Must Overcome His Bad Job Habits. · He must make a brand new reputation for himself in the world of labor. His bad job habits are absenteeism, funerals to attend, or a little business to look after. The Negro runs an off and on business. He also has a bad reputation for conduct on the job--such as petty quarrelling with other help, incessant loud talking about nothing; loafing, carelessness, due to lack of job pride; insolence, gum chewing and--too often--liquor drinking. Just plain bad job habits!

9. He Must Improve His Conduct In Public Places. · Taken as a whole, he is entirely too loud and too ill-mannered. · There is much talk about wiping out racial segregation and also much talk about achieving integration. · Segregation is a physical arrangement by which people are separated in various services. · It is definitely up to the Negro to wipe out the apparent justification or excuse for segregation. · The only effective way to do it is to clean up and keep clean. By practice, cleanliness will become a habit and habit becomes character.

10. The Negro Must Learn How To Operate Business For People--Not For Negro People, Only. · To do business, he will have to remove all typical "earmarks," business principles; measure up to accepted standards and meet stimulating competition, graciously--in fact, he must learn to welcome competition.

11. The Average So-Called Educated Negro Will Have To Come Down Out Of The Air. He Is Too Inflated Over Nothing. He Needs An Experience Similar To The One That Ezekiel Had--(Ezekiel 3:14-19). And He Must Do What Ezekiel Did · Otherwise, through indifference, as to the plight of the masses, the Negro, who thinks that he has escaped, will lose his own soul. It will do all leaders good to read Hebrew 13:3, and the first Thirty-seven Chapters of Ezekiel. · A race transformation itself through its own leaders and its sensible "common people." A race rises on its own wings, or is held down by its own weight. True leaders are never "things apart from the people." They are the masses. They simply got to the front ahead of them. Their only business at the front is to inspire to masses by hard work and noble example and challenge them to "Come on!" Dante stated a fact when he said, "Show the people the light and they will find the way!" · There must arise within the Negro race a leadership that is not out hunting bargains for itself. A noble example is found in the men and women of the Negro race, who, in the early days, laid down their lives for the people. Their invaluable contributions have not been appraised by the "latter-day leaders." In many cases, their names would never be recorded, among the unsung heroes of the world, but for the fact that white friends have written them there. "Lord, God of Hosts, Be with us yet." · The Negro of today does not realize that, but, for these exhibits A's, that certainly show the innate possibilities of members of their own race, white people would not have been moved to make such princely investments in lives and money, as they have made, for the establishment of schools and for the on-going of the race.

12. The Negro Must Stop Forgetting His Friends. "Remember." · Read Deuteronomy 24:18. Deuteronomy rings the big bell of gratitude. Why? Because an ingrate is an abomination in the sight of God. God is constantly telling us that "I the Lord thy God delivered you" --through human instrumentalities. · The American Negro has had and still has friends--in the North and in the South. These friends not only pray, speak, write, influence others, but make unbelievable, unpublished sacrifices and contributions for the advancement of the race--for their brothers in bonds. · The noblest thing that the Negro can do is to so live and labor that these benefactors will not have given in vain. The Negro must make his heart warm with gratitude, his lips sweet with thanks and his heart and mind resolute with purpose to justify the sacrifices and stand on his feet and go forward-- "God is no respector of persons. In every nation, he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is" sure to win out. Get to work! That's the answer to everything that hurts us. We talk too much about nothing instead of redeeming the time by working.
R-E-M-E-M-B-E-R · In spite of race prejudice, America is brim full of opportunities. Go after them!

I posted this on my board and some found it offensive. I think it was intended to be an "in general" piece of writing. Nothing that is ever written about Blacks speaks to every single one of us. This list reminds me of the book, The Mis-education of the Negro. I didn't find it offensive, I found it more as a tool to do some self-evaluating...but that's just my opinion.

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Confessions of an Online Addict

2006-05-19T05:14:00.000-07:00

I saw this cartoon and instantly related to it. Message board addicts like myself really need support groups. It has been so hard to sever ties with online friends but not at all hard to walk away from toxic relationships in the real world. Someone should really do a study on this because it is absolutely fascinating. Looking back, I’m amazed at how effortless it has been to develop friendships with people that I have met on various message boards. Although I hear about so many horror stories, I have met and/or spoken with some really cool people. I read somewhere that like 30% of Americans say they know someone who has used a dating website and about 30 million people say they know someone who has been in a long-term relationship or married someone he or she met online. While I’ve never used a dating website it has been so easy to form bonds with people whom I "font with" everyday in various discussion forums. I met one of the best friends I’ve ever had on a message board. She’s like a sister to me and I am so glad that we have each other to talk to and vent with. But on the opposite end of the spectrum are those crazy pseudo relationships that I have developed with men. You would think that after the first time I would have learned my lesson. I don’t know what it is about me that makes me want to fix every monster disguised as someone who just need to be loved. I don’t know if it is because I got to know (or so I thought) these people via message board private messages, emails, and phone calls and felt I knew their life stories. Or maybe it’s because I "saw" them everyday online. It could be that a part of me wanted to believe in the fairy-tale, I don’t know. In any event, it seems as though friendships develop at a much faster pass online and can quickly spiral out of control. If that friendships is with the someone of the opposite sex, whenever it comes to an end it is hard to achieve closure because you still cross paths on the boards that you "met" on. It is really insane. Anyway, although I have had a couple of men who wanted to make me their online harem honey, the genuine friendships that I have formed far outweigh the bad experiences. I have been fortunate enough to talk with and meet some very nice, very normal men and women and for that, I am thankful....Thank you Lord that I didn’t end up in a pine box after some of these meet ‘n greets.

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Danielle wins!

2006-05-18T09:10:00.000-07:00

I am delighted and so thankful that Danielle won this season's title of America's Next Top Model.
No offense to Eva and Niema, but I feel as though this is the first time a Black woman has
really won the title. Kudos to Tyra and the panel for choosing a beautiful Black sister who
looks like a sister.

Danielle was a star from the very beginning. She kept it real and tried to stay true to herself.
In my opinion, she is the first young lady who has model potential. The other girls were
pretty, but Danielle LOOKS like a model. I got a little misty when Tyra announced her name
last night.

Cosby: Blacks Should Fix Own Communities

2006-05-17T16:56:00.000-07:00

Comedian Bill Cosby told a forum on family and education Tuesday night that African Americans should be proactive and fix their own communities.
"I have a problem with people sitting there and saying God and Jesus will find a way," Cosby said.
He also said he had a problem "with churches who allow drug dealers to set up two blocks away." The audience cheered several times during Cosby's remarks.
The star of the hit situation comedy "The Cosby Show" was at the University of the District of Columbia as part of his nationwide tour, "A Call Out with Cosby," which is designed to spark debate about family and educational issues among black communities.
Cosby joined a panel of local agency officials and other experts and took questions from the audience during two sessions: one to help foster parents and grandparents who are rearing children and the other geared toward the general public.
Cosby wasn't as biting as he was in Washington in May 2004, when he made headlines telling the NAACP Legal Defense Fund that blacks spoke poor English and spent money frivolously. But he touched on similar themes during Tuesday's panel and maintained that blacks shouldn't blame their problems on others.
Washington Mayor Anthony Williams presented the comedian with a ceremonial proclamation naming May 16 as "Bill Cosby Day" in recognition of the work Cosby has done to support black communities. (AP)

If I build it, will you come?

2006-05-16T03:58:00.000-07:00

Brothers and sisters, I need your help. I recently created a new website and I am in need of registered members who are interested in warm interaction, stimulating intellectual exchange, growth, and fun.It’s called The Blaque Experience. It’s a community/group for but not limited to people of color. This is a group that you should visit if you want to have fun but at the same time learn about others in the process. The Blaque Experience is a place to make friends and meet new people, discuss anything from current events, political issues, social issues, love & relationships, music, or whatever. Nothing is off topic. Our members define the group and what its going to be about. As a matter of fact, if you join my board and think there should be a section dedicated to a particular topic, send me a PM. I’ll create it. If you have something that you would like to promote, promote it at The Blaque Experience. I want to make this YOUR home. Why not visit and tell me what you think? I’d love to have you on board. Feel free to stop by and join in the fun. Also, if you are interested in Moderating let me know that too.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. ~ Martin Luther King

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What's a Player?

2006-05-15T14:39:00.000-07:00

"What's a Player?" by kwell

You may as well ask for the definitions of "Pimp" & "Mack" while your at it...IME- A "player" seduces women with charm, ladies invariably feel good/happy in his presence. He diciplines women with his absence(s) and withdrawal of attention. He checks their tests and outbursts of drama before they gain strength with the (non-verbal)threat of moving on. If the woman is "good" to Daddy, then she is rewarded with his presence and affections.ONCE A PLAYER ALWAYS A PLAYER...If a player has one lady in his rotation or twenty, it doesn't affect his status. Even if for some reason he settles down with 1 or 2 women to live as man and wife(s) he will remain a player.A player doesn't approach women with a finacial goal in mind. A player fills his life with women because he loves women, and never tires of them physically or socially.Macks are players with financial needs of the women they invite into their circles. Biggest difference: a true mack will drop a very (physically & personally) attractive female if she is unable to do anything for his pockets, and keep a less attractive woman in rotation if her pockets are right.Pimps are all about the $$$. They seduce with dreams and insecurity.Where a player communicates the main theme: I like who/what you ARE, I think you ARE very attractive & interesting! Lets enjoy ourselves.A pimp communicates the theme: You've got great potential.I like what you CAN be with my help.If I show you the way, you WILL be very interesting, and together we WILL be successful -providing you are willing to work, sacrifice and do the hard things success demands...Pimps dicipline with emotional\ mental manipulation to keep a hoe's self esteem low. With the goal of becoming like air or water to the hoe, where the hoe is unable to contemplate the possibility of survival without him.

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Ok, this is one of those things that you read and can’t decide if it’s entertaining or idiotic. On the one hand it’s entertaining because as the writer describes a player, I have a very vivid image of someone I know in my head. Idiotic because I can’t believe that someone actually took the time to break this down so meticulously. For me what this all boils down to is self-respect. If people had more respect for themselves they would never try to run these types of mind games on people, nor would they allow themselves to be played in such a way.

Not respecting yourself, is the same as committing suicide at a slow rate.

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Mother's Day

2006-05-14T04:46:00.000-07:00

Most Gracious Heavenly Father,
We thank You for our mothers to whom You have entrusted the care of every precious human life from its very beginning in the womb.
You have given to woman the capacity of participating with You in the creation of new life. Grant that every woman may come to understand the full meaning of that blessing, which gives her an unlimited capacity for selfless love for every child she may be privileged to bear, and for all Your children.
Watch over every mother who is with child, strengthen her faith in Your fatherly care and love for her and for her unborn baby. Give her courage in times of fear or pain, understanding in times of uncertainty and doubt, and hope in times of trouble. Grant her joy in the birth of her child.
To mothers You have given the great privilege and responsibility of being a child's first teacher and spiritual guide. Grant that all mothers may worthily foster the faith of their children, following the example of Mary, Elizabeth, and other holy women who follow Christ. Help mothers to grow daily in knowledge and understanding of Your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and grant them the wisdom to impart this knowledge faithfully to their children, and to all who depend upon them.
Assist all "spiritual mothers", those who, though they may have no children of their own, nevertheless selflessly care for the children of others -- of every age and state in life. Grant that they may know the joy of fulfilling this motherly calling of women, whether in teaching, nursing, religious life, or in other work which recognizes and fosters the true dignity of every human being created in Your image and likeness.
We beseech You to send Your Holy Spirit, the Comforter, to all mothers who sorrow for children that have died, are ill or estranged from their families, or who are in trouble or danger of any kind. Help grieving mothers to rely on Your tender mercy and fatherly love for all your children.
We ask your blessing on all those to whom You have entrusted motherhood. May Your Holy Spirit constantly inspire and strengthen them. May they ever follow the example of Mary, mother of Our Lord, and imitate her fidelity, her humility, and her self-giving love. May all mothers receive Your Grace abundantly in this earthly life, and may they look forward to eternal joy in Your presence in the life to come.
We ask this through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. AMEN.
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Blessed are those who are able to spend today with their mother and for those mothers who can spend it with their children.. Mother’s Day is one of those holidays that provokes mixed emotions. I think about my aunt who lost her only son to suicide 5 years ago. I think about my co-worker who lost baby after only 17 days. What do you call a woman who has lost the only child that she had?
I pray for all of the men and women who are spending their first Mother’s Day without their mother.
I pray for all who are still grieving the loss of their mother regardless of how many years it’s been.
I think about my own situation. I am blessed because my mother is still with me and because I am a mother. However I will never be able to hear my son say "Happy Mother’s Day Mom" nor will I ever receive a hand-made mother’s day present or card from my son But we laid on bed and played this morning. His laugh and the way he looks at me are all the present that I need.
People don’t realize how blessed they are if they are fortunate enough to still have their mother. Everyone who is able should pick up the phone an extend an "I love you" to the person who gave them life.
God bless.

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Charges dropped

2006-05-12T07:36:00.000-07:00

Charges dropped against Suffolk woman
All charges have been dropped against a Suffolk woman who shot herself in the stomach, killing her unborn child.
Tammy Skinner appeared in court Monday morning for a preliminary hearing. The judge dismissed the case.
Skinner had been charged with illegally inducing an abortion.
The 22-year-old admitted to WAVY News 10 that she shot herself in the stomach to end her pregnancy in February.

Unbelievable! This is just unbelievable! How does a woman take the life of her unborn child and then walk away without any repercussions? It’s just like these women who take drugs during their pregnancy and give birth to crack addicted babies. Nothing is ever done. There has to be an enforceable law in these situations. It just angers me because there are too many ways to prevent pregnancies. This woman who shot herself in the stomach knew that she had issues. If she was smart enough to concoct a story about being shot by an unknown assailant, then she had enough brain power to pop a pill every day so she wouldn’t get pregnant in the first place. I don’t have a lot of sympathy for women like this. I don’t care what the situation is. Being blessed with a child is the most amazing gift that a woman can be given. Even with the challenges that I face with my own son, I feel extremely lucky and blessed to have him. I love being his mother despite having to deal with his disability. This woman who shot herself should be in jail today. It just doesn’t seem fair.

"Becoming a mother makes you the mother of all children. From now on each wounded, abandoned, frightened child is yours. You live in the suffering mothers of every race and creed and weep with them. You long to comfort all who are desolate." -- Charlotte Gray

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My Hero

2006-05-11T16:59:00.000-07:00

Today has been a long day. I'm still trying to rap things up at work so I can go home and start my second and most rewarding job...Mother. After you’ve been out fighting for everything you have, you just want to come home and feel appreciated and feel loved and know when you get home, you don’t have to fight anymore. Everything I ever wanted is at home waiting for me.My son is my hero. No matter how bad my day is, looking at his face always make everything better. He makes it all good!I can't wait to get home and get some much needed love.

Love is the best medicine, and there is more than enough to go around once you open your heart.

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