Link of the Day: Why Black Women Are Angry

As I ponder the saga of Juanita Bynum, the fabulously wealthy evangelist who has made a career out of providing advice to women on marriage, I am left scratching my head but I'm certainly not surprised. It just makes me more skeptical of these religious phonies like Ms. Bynum. Seems the "reality" that Ms. Bynum has carefully crafted has now been as exposed as phony.

It wasn't until a hotel employee pulled Ms. Bynum's husband, Bishop Thomas Weeks off of her a few weeks ago at an Atlanta airport hotel that the real truth was exposed. Bishop Weeks is alleged to have kicked and stomped his wife while she lay on the ground beneath him. He turned himself in to police a few days later. There are so many lessons to be learned from Ms. Bynum's ordeal especially after that ostentatious wedding on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) and the 8 carat ring. As it turns out, Bynum's wedding spectacle was just that, a spectacle.

Now that all of skeletons are coming out of Ms. Bynum's closet, it's worth keeping an eye on to see how she proceeds with this case. Will she actually press charges against her estranged husband? For an interesting discussion, check out one of my favorite websites: Why Black Women Are Angry: THE CONTINUING SAGA OF JUANITA BYNUM & BISHOP WEEKS: A MESSAGE IN THE MAYHEM

Link of the Day: Corporate Hall of Shame

The Corporate Accountability International has posted its Corporate Hall of Shame. With more than 8,000 voters, the survey reveals the most irresponsible and exploitive corporations based on popular vote. Want to see if your top ten choices match those in the Hall of Shame? Click here.

Travis Henry Needs Some Help

Let's get some remedial sex education classes for Denver Broncos running back Travis Henry evidently he has never heard of birth control. He has the special distinction of fathering nine children with nine different women in four different states. Like any irresponsible father, he chose to spend $146,000 on jewelry and $100,000 for a luxury car while behind on child support for his gaggle of children. Funny thing is, Henry had to BORROW $9,800 from a friend to catch-up on his child support. If I were the judge hearing his case, I would have made him return some of that flashy jewelry he bought.

No child should have to pay for the sins of their irresponsible parents. I'm talking about Henry but the babies mommas are no better. Perhaps they were seeking a meal ticket by procreating with Henry or maybe the condom broke. Maybe Henry was hoping that mother nature would be on his side. She wasn't. Its sad that he didn't think enough to use a condom to avoid sexually transmitted diseases or an unplanned pregnancy. Any man who would prefer to blow nearly $250,000 on jewelry and a car is not father material. Henry may look like a paycheck now, but I bet he has already spent his $12 million guarantee and will be broke in a few years.

Henry is as stupid as he looks. He's 28 years old with nine children and isn't married to any of his babies mommas. We've got ankle bracelets for people on house arrest and alcohol monitoring anklets, someone needs to invent some kind of monitoring device to keep irresponsible men like Henry from impregnating women. Nine children is enough! And yes, I am one of those people judging Henry for his deplorable behavior. (NOTE TO TRAVIS: unprotected sex can lead to pregnancy especially when you can't afford to pay child support)

As usual in cases where adults are behaving badly, the children are the ones who will bear the burden of their parents reckless behavior, Henry and his nine babies mommas are no exception. I've had enough of irresponsible black men who would rather spend their money on clothes, jewelry and cars rather than pay child support for their children. Henry should be ashamed of himself but he doesn't have enough sense to be. When we all shame men for not taking care of their kids, they'd think twice about going out and spending money on luxury items instead of taking care of their kids.

Don't Blame the Democrats

Gonzales 2893, originally uploaded by bgarmisa.

I don't understand why it took Alberto Gonzalez to resign his post as Attorney General. A Bush crony from back in the day, Gonzalez is the classic American dream story, the son of migrant workers who manages to become the first and only person in his family to go to college. Very impressive but Gonzalez has been a huge disappointment and has set a record for lying to under oath over the politically motivated firings of U.S. District Attorneys in the Justice Department.

Gonzalez studied the law but conveniently forgot the part about the branches of government, particularly the judicial branch. Even elementary school students learn why we have checks and balances of the legislative, judicial and executive branches of government. This kind of behavior has become standard for the Bush administration who seek to rule by decree rather than by abide by the checks and balances created in our constitution. With those signing statements and new rules regarding those enemy combatants, Gonzalez has contributed to America's worsening image of abroad by attempting to circumvent the Geneva Convention.

The arrogance of the Bush administration is beyond comprehension. For all their talk of democracy and freedom, Gonzalez and the rest of the Bush administration are a secretive bunch. Poor Alberto, his name "got dragged through the mud" by a bunch of partisan-minded Democrats but let's just overlook all that lying he did under oath. The Democrats probably made him do it.

Jesus Saves Michael Vick

Cemetary near Louisberg, N.S. 2, originally uploaded by Mattman4698.


It's always nice to know that religion is the "fall back" when you're a celebrity and you've f**ked up, just ask Michael Vick. It's funny how he wasn't so concerned about handing his life over God when he gave that woman herpes. Now that he's caught a Federal case for his dog fighting activities, he's all remorseful and apologetic. I ain't buying it.

Vick is just trying to avoid jail time. Just about every celebrity does this when they get caught and I'm not so convinced of their sincerity. Did you hear Vick hand his life over to God when he signed that $22 million dollar contract with the Atlanta Falcons? Of course, not. Now that he's lost his lucrative endorsement deals and been suspended from the NFL, he's trying to make nice.

Now ask me if any of this crossed Vick's mind when he was running Bad Newz Kennels? Uh, no but his common sense and business acumen must be questioned because it looks like he's lost millions of dollars and ruined his career all over some senseless dogfighting where he probably made substantially less. Reality check here. Vick does need something but it definitely isn't Jesus.

Brothers and Dogfighting

Academy Award-winning actor Jamie Foxx is defending the recently suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick on those dog-fighting charges. Foxx contends that Vick like most brothers didn't even know dog fighting was Federal offense. Okay, let's give Vick the benefit of the doubt on that one Jamie but what about the gambling and the moral clause in his NFL contract? Hmmmmm. I'm assuming Vick read it so he doesn't have an excuse.

Vick was rightfully suspended by NFL. With all of that new found wealth he didn't have enough business acumen to invest in some legitimate activities to keep his homies employed. He actually thought dog fighting was an excellent business investment. It goes to show that you can take the brother out of the 'hood but you can't take the 'hood out of the brother. It didn't take long for Vick's homies to fold like a card table when questioned by Federal investigators about his dogfighting activities. They provided enough evidence against Vick that he had no choice but to cop a plea.

Earlier this week, the New York Knicks Stephon Marbury came to Vick's defense by claiming that dog fighting was no worse than deer hunting. Foxx's 'hood theory about brothers and dogfighting must be true because Marbury didn't think Vick had done anything wrong. The unfathomnable cruelty that Vick has been accused of is not even comparable to deer hunting. Marbury has been backpedaling ever since. He should have kept his mouth shut.

Link of the Day: This is Zimbabwe

This week Zimbabwe's inflation rate hit a mind-boggling 7,600% this week. Defying basic economic principles, the government of Zimbabwe continues to print money and brow-beat businesses into keeping their prices low in spite of the fact that the average Zimbabwean can't afford basic necessities. Being an African nationalist at heart, Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe can't help but blame the U.S. and Britain for all the ails his country. While I agree African leaders should find solutions to their own problems, Mugabe has yet to take responsibility for his country's economic demise.

A big "up"to This is Zimbabwe, a blog devoted to human rights and democracy for the people of Zimbabwe.Sadly, Mugabe's allies in the South African Development Committee (SADC) can do nothing but stand in solidarity with this octegenarian maniac which means bad news for the people of Zimbabwe.

Annointing of the Hillary

Stanley Fish, an op-ed columnist for the New York Times has declared that its time for Hillary Clinton to pick a running mate. He has already written off the campaigns of John Edwards, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson well before the first primary kicks off in January 2008. This is more than premature speculation, it's wishful thinking on Fish's part.

He has such low expectations of the Democratic presidential candidates, the American people and the election process. Fish would like for us to bypass all of the formalities and annoint Miss Hillary. I think not. Unlike Fish, I underestimate no one and look beyond the hype. I believe John Edwards could catch fire so but so could Barack Obama. If any of these candidates thought the Democratic nomination belonged to Miss Hillary like some ridiculous political pundits are saying, they wouldn't bother wasting their time. It's not over 'til its over.

Besides cheerleading for Miss Hillary, Fish believes the American people aren't capable of picking their own candidates so he thinks he's doing us all a favor. He swears that the only way Hillary can be elected is if she picks a governor from one of those states with a bunch of electoral college votes if so she can win. He also thinks she should avoid Bill Richardson ("three quarters Mexican, but with a reassuringly Anglo-Saxon name") because he isn't a polished speaker and New Mexico doesn't have enough electoral votes to put her in the White House.

When discussing Barack Obama, Fish just rehashes some well-worn political mumbo-jumbo about the elect ability of a woman and a black and a woman and a Jew on a presidential ticket:

" . . . pundits keep wondering whether the country is ready for a woman president or a black president; it sure isn’t ready for a woman and a black on the same ticket. Nor is it ready for a woman and a Jew . . ."

It is 2007, not 1967. I'd like to think that people are much more open-minded and willing to hear what all of the candidates say and not just jump on the Hillary Clinton bandwagon because this op-ed columnist says so. People are much smarter than that, at least the people I know are much smarter than that anyway. I have to question Stanley Fish.

Link of the Day: The Rude Pundit

One of my new favorite blogs is The Rude Pundit. The tag line is "proudly lowering the level of political discourse". Love it. This blog is a nice mix of political and social commentary, I especially enjoyed the dissection of the legend that is Republican presidential candidate, Rudy Giuliani. People get all nostalgic about how great he handled 9/11 but what else did he do besides show some grace under pressure? He's already got a daughter on the Barack Obama team, an exaggerated political resume and some messy, messy family business that he needs to tend to. Besides pandering to the conservative wing of the Republican party with all of his foolishness, he really hasn't done much else. Enjoy!

David Banner vs. Al Sharpton, Part 2

I love it when black folks debate! Rapper David Banner had some choice but profane words for the Reverend Al Sharpton the other day. Sharpton's camp shot back with an equally infantile response that will not be repeated here but the good thing is that there is some dialogue. To say that there is a generation gap that separates the old guard civil rights leaders like Sharpton and Jesse Jackson from hip hop artists like Banner and Ludacris is an understatement for many reasons.

First of all, I always get rankled when black folks get appointed a leader either by default or by faux representation. Jesse Jackson has made a career out of this, Sharpton is a bit late to the game but always manages to insert himself into events that do not require his attention. Like Jesse, Sharpton is a publicity slut of the worst kind; if there's a camera and some injustice, you can count on him to be there. Jesse Jackson has always claimed to have marched with Martin Luther King Jr. and been down from day one of the civil rights movement but Sharpton's mentor is the late great James Brown.

Sharpton proudly claims that his permed out 'do was the result of a promise he made to the Godfather of Soul. Though he's never asked my opinion on the subject, I don't think Brown would mind one bit if Sharpton lets that perm go, neither will I. Like Melanie Griffith's character Tess says in the movie "Working Girl," "If you want to be taken seriously, you've got to have serious hair." Take note Al, the perm has had its day. You can't very well be criticizing rappers for using words like "bitches and hos" when you run around looking like a p-i-m-p. It's disingenuous; besides that, partnering with Russell Simmons will not improve his credibility with hip hop artists. I don't think Simmons has run Def Jam since the 1980s plus rap music and hip hop have changed quite a bit since then. I would think Jay-Z has more credibility with rappers than Russell Simmons, I bet Sharpton never thought to call Jay-Z.

The other thing that annoys me about these faux leaders is that no one seems to benefit from their boycotts, demonstrations and other acts of civil disobedience but them. Jesse Jackson can probably give you the play book on corporate shake-downs and boycotts. I haven't heard Sharpton or any of the other leaders address an issue of any substance in the last ten years especially with regard to issues facing young black men, HIV/AIDS or education. I'd love to hear Sharpton preach about the importance of education to black youth rather than hear him whine about racial profiling and racism because there's nothing he can do about either one of them. If there were no racism there would be no Al Sharpton. He's parlayed his faux leadership skills into a full time job and a six figure income. If black folks miraculously overcame all of the injustice and adversity in their lives tomorrow, Al Sharpton would not have a job. Believe that.

As for David Banner, he's a released another statement that eloquently criticizes civil rights leaders, please follow the link here.

Link of the Day: SOHH Interview with David Banner

Rappers David Banner and Talib Kweli put Al Sharpton and other alleged civil rights leaders on blast for their 'faux' activism. While Banner's commentary is laced with profanity, it doesn't make it any less true. You have to question Sharpton's motives for jumping on that Don Imus 'nappy headed hos' controversy. Sharpton was front and center, calling for Imus' firing.

Ironically, it wasn't Sharpton or any other civil rights activist that got Imus fired, it was Imus' advertisers who pulled the plug. Like any good attention slut, Sharpton made the best of this opportunity. I wasn't the only one rolling my eyes at his foolishness and permed out 'do. We shall overcome, one day.

Check out SOHH's interview here.

Link of the Day: The Real Reason Your Ass is Fat

Earlier this week, a renowned medical journal published an article that claims the reason your ass is fat because all of your friends are. You might not have heard, but obesity is contagious. I ignore every news report and medical claim that tells me if I do X, I'll get Y, I never buy into these claims. Just about every week there's some story on the news about something causing cancer, diabetes or some other kind of disease.

This latest report about the link between friendship and obesity is ridiculous. In a clinical sense I guess I could get fat if I eat everything my obese friend eats, but do I seriously believe hanging around fat people will make me fat? Hell no! That makes about as much sense as the reason why that bony-assed Paris Hilton is so thin is because she's friends with Nicole Richie! I'm not buying that one either.

Thanks to the New England Journal of Medicine, I now have reason to be fat. Let's ignore the behavior contributes to our obesity like exercise and better eating habits, let's just blame our fat-ass friends! Obesity can now be viewed as a contaigous disease like herpes, tuberculosis and the common cold. Check out the Center for Consumer Freedom's take on the obesity and friendship link. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks this article is a bunch of crap. I'm tired of hearing about Iraq, Afghanistan and the misdeeds of the Bush administration, but this latest piece of "news" is a sign of desperation.