I Miss My Friend

One of the most difficult things about being a man is the fact that you usually have few true intimate friends. We have boys, and partners and fellas, but I think everyone needs that one true friend.

That one person who you can be less than perfect around and its alright. No its not like having a spouse, sexual issues complicate matters and radically change the complexion of a relationship. I am talking about that person usually same gender who loves you (platonically) just because you are you.

I guess men who are close to their brothers understand this. But my friend is a guy who I met in college and over the last many years we have always kept in touch. I don't know but I guess things are changing, we don't talk like we used to, he doesn't fly in or hang with the kids anymore. (I know this sounds weird, but I miss my friend)

He was always hard to catch up with, maybe just maybe I will call him to see what's up.

He is a real blessing in my life, and although I could never say anything like that to him, I thank God for he has helped me through many a difficulty. Judgment free.

Hey Jimmie--holla man.

Maybe it's just me...

But I don't get Republican Party politics. In most if not all states they proclaim to be pro-life, yet in Missouri and others they are spearheading an effort to reduce benefits to low income women or to defer costs to unwed dads.

One Missouri legislator noted that people have come to see medical care as an entitlement. After all if you don't pay your electric bill they cut you off, then why should someone think healthcare should be free?

Wow. I need some help in understanding this kind of logic. If I am a member of the party in most cases, I could not support a woman's right to choose an abortion and now I must support an effort that would disuade most women from identifying the paternity of their children less the unwed father be saddled with debt that he cannot afford.

So much for family values. In many ways I do understand the goals of the legislation which is to reduce the states Medicaid burden, but what's more important in the long run, families where the dad is more than a check or families where parenthood is considered an important and tangible part of the child's life?

I recently read where this same state (Missouri) has eliminated benefits for a paralyzed man and his blind wife stating that they need to find jobs with health care coverage. Maybe it's just me but this doesn't make much sense.

Fake Phone Call--Whitney Houston

Hello.

Harold this is Whitney. What's goin on?

Whitney who?

Aw hell to the naw. This is Whitney Houston don't play like you don't remember me.

The singer?

Who the f**k else?

Wow.

Hell yeah it's a wow for you.

I mean what can I do for you?

Nothing. Bobby handles everything.

So why did you call?

Aren't you a pastor?

No, I am a counselor.

I want to give my life back to Jesus.

Cool do that and go to church


Damnit Bobbi Kristina just ate a whole dozen Krispy Kremes.

"Girl, says Whitney, your ass is going to fat as hell."


"Bobby says Whitney I am talking to the pastor come and get u some prayer."

I am not a pastor I am a counselor.

"I don't need prayer, I ain't back in jail--yet."

What the hell says Whitney. I didn't need you after all.

Good bye

What Now

Today at my job a man was fired. A manager was fired.

This man had been on the job for 30 years and this morning he was dumped like a turd a messy turd into the toilet and flushed away quickly before the fumes kill you.

30 years and now no job. What the --.

When I heard the news, Whitney rose up and possessed me and I found myself saying Hell to the naw.

Of course there is no official word on what or why but "hell to the naw" how could 30 years disappear in a vapor no gold watch, no tribute no nothing.

Damn imagine going home to say honey guess what, "I'm unemployed."

Bitter or Better?

For most of the 15th chapter of Exodus we find Moses and the Israelites, having a hearty praise party in honor of what Yawheh has done at the Red Sea. That party goes on for the first 21 verses. Yet in verse 22 things change and by verse 24 the complaints are in full effect.

The problem they were complaining about had to be small compared to parting a sea, yet the people complained. I don't think people have changed much here in the 21st century. So when are we going to stop acting bitter every time there is a bump in our road and start acting better knowing that the same force that parted the Red seas of our lives can handle a cold sore?

Help a brother understand.

London

The news of the bombings in London on Thursday reminded me of those scriptures that continually warn us that life as we know it is just a vapor, a mist, that lasts for just a moment.

Truly it is not how long we hang around, but what we do while we around that is important.

Nobody should die just because they were going to work.

My heartfelt condolences to all of the families affected by the bombings.

Luther Vandross--The King of Gentleman Soul

Long live Luther.

I was slightly taken aback at the death of Luther Vandross. It knocked me down a bit because Luther has been my background music for much of my adult life.

I loved his music when he was heavy and I love his music when he was slim and all of the weight swings in between.

What I will always love about Luther is the way he honored the women who influenced his musical stylings. He always treated their work with the greatest respect that showed a real love for the music and their work. Luther Vandross was the king of gentleman soul, he never degraded or villified women instead he put them on a pedestal.

Luther's music also had a spiritual twinge for me that often surpassed the sensual. His So Amazing reminded me of God's precious and overwhelming love for me in spite of my manifold sins and weaknesses. His Here and Now (a wonderful wedding song) also had a way of turning my thoughts to the goodness of God and his love.

Luther as you dance with your father, I give praise to the Father for endowing you with a wonderful gift, I give honor to the Father for allowing Roberta Flack to compel you to use your gift and give thanks to the Father for allowing me to be touched over and over again by the beauty of your music.

AMEN.

Not in My Neighborhood

Happy Independence Day Weekend Everybody!

I find it interesting that as I start my celebration of American freedom and patriotism I am reminded that not all of us are as free as we ought to be.

ABC just scrubbed a new reality series were a group of white homeowners were given the task of deciding who gets to live next door to them. What the fuss?

The contestants were a diversity goulash including a gay white couple with a black child, a wiccan family, a hispanic family with a lot of children, a religous black family, a white family with a secret and a white family that goes right and tats all over.

The White couples could decide to vote someone off because of their religion, ethnicity etc. Why? Because this is television and everybody on television is white unless its Jerry Springer and on the UPN.

ABC forgot one thing we have these pesky laws, about fair housing that prohibits discrimination based on thinks like ethnicity. It eliminated restrictive racial covenants that sort of stuff.

Exciting reality television. Damn I am beginning to think Bamboozled ain't so far fetched.

"I, too am America." wrote Langston Hughes a complex tour de force of talent and angst.

"I'm not convinced." wrote Harold Gibson, a simple man who still don't get it.

The next thing I read was from my favorite city that I never want to live in--NYC. Thugs beat up on thugs and now its a hate crime.

Some white thugs beat up on some black thugs who were trying to find a car to steal. The black men are crying "we got rights!" The white men are crying "what were they doing here at 3 am?"

I have had my car stolen twice from in front of churches by black males so I have no real love for car theives. I also believe that I should be able to go where I want to go. But I also believe that you don't have any business in my subdivision at 3 am if you don't live here or know somebody in here. I don't espouse vigilante violence at all but damn it, dickheads that get their asses beaten on a "let's steal some cars adventure" ain't worthy of my racial angst.

Having said that and because I be one of them conflicted Christians, I am praying for the recovery of the man who got his head bashed. I hope he learns a lesson.

One of the cries of the black victims is that we can go where we want to go.

Go ahead and roll over in your graves, you civil rights martyrs. Go ahead and do some flips all you folks who felt water hoses, mad dogs and constant danger.

We are some real fussed up people if we think the movement was about gaining unlimited access to case joints to steal automobiles.

Marvin I need ya man to tell me "What's Goin On."

Happy 4th of July--in Amerika.