…but I see this as racist.

This cartoon, drawn by Ed Gamble, appeared in the Jacksonville Times-Union nearly two weeks ago. It is glaringly obvious that Gamble knows nothing about which he speaks or this would not have come of as clumsily as it did.

Perhaps the most disrespectful part is seeing the word “ho” being used to refer to a black girl on the pages of a city newspaper.

The editor of the newspaper, Mike Clark, said he regrets not editing out the word. He stated that, by the word being there, it offended law-abiding Jacksonville citizen and did simply focus on the “rise” of the stop-snitching culture (personal note: just because you are just now paying attention to it does not indicate a “rise” in a certain thing).

Like I stated, I’ll leave it to others to draw their own conclusions…

Popularity: 26% [?]

I often use this phrase to describe the price at which some black folks will sell you down the river. Today, I saw something that made me wonder how good the money must have been for Creflo Dollar to totally lose his mind. To be honest, I never trusted the dude. Really, how can you trust a minister whose last name is “Dollar”? But, seriously, what I saw displayed a new low for evangelical ministers, in my eyes, and should clearly indicate how people are being propagandized by this government and its appointed mouthpieces. Just look at a recent letter from Creflo Dollar to his followers, titled “United We Stand, Divided We Fall”.

When a nation is on the brink of war, the worst thing its citizens can do is allow themselves to become divided. The Bible says that there is a time for war and a time for peace (Ecclesiastes 3:8). In fact, Jesus said that in the last days there would be wars and rumors of wars (Matthew 24:6). When this country was attacked on September 11, 2001, there was a fierce public outcry. America wanted her enemies to pay. Now, two years later, those same Americans are protesting the war against terrorism.

President Bush is worthy of your prayers and support. He is a man who rises early every morning to seek God and His wisdom through prayer and the study of the Word. This is not the time for Christians to picket, carry protest signs or throw their opinions around. The election is over, and the man in the Oval Office is the one we, as Americans, voted in. Numbers 32:7-13 makes it clear how God feels about a nation divided during a time of war.

This country needs unity, and it begins with the church. It is your responsibility as a believer to pray for the president, others in leadership, this nation, the men and women serving in the Armed Forces and our enemies–whoever they may be. Forget about your political affiliation or preference. You are first and foremost a Christian.

Begin by making these confessions:.

• In the name of Jesus, I declare that I will not allow any corrupt communication to proceed out of my mouth concerning President Bush or others in leadership (Ephesians 4:29).
• I declare that he is a man of wisdom, and he is strengthened and guided by the Holy Spirit. I wholeheartedly support the decisions he makes for this country (1 Timothy 2:1-2).
• I lift up every man and woman serving in the Armed Forces. I declare that they walk in favor, wisdom and safety and that their lives are redeemed from destruction (Psalm 91:7; Psalm 103:1-6).

If you have taken part in any protests or have allowed any corrupt communication to flow out of your mouth concerning the president, repent and begin to show your support for him by calling his name out before God. Pray for wisdom and wise counsel regarding the decisions he must make for this nation. Obey what the Word says in 1 Timothy 1-2 and 1 Peter 2:13 and: 1) continue to pray for those in authority over you; and 2) submit to that established authority. In doing so, you honor God, our president and thousands of service members. When the temptation comes to murmur or complain, rejoice that there is a man in the White House who walks and talks with God daily. Remember, united we stand, divided we fall (Matthew 12:25)!

—Dr. Creflo A. Dollar

Did you catch this part — “Obey what the Word says in 1 Timothy 1-2 and 1 Peter 2:13 and: 1) continue to pray for those in authority over you; and 2) submit to that established authority. In doing so, you honor God, our president and thousands of service members.”

Creflo Dollar is equating following George Bush with following God? The saddest part about this is that there are some sheep people who will be dumb enough to fall for this foolishness.

Creflo Dollar, TD Jakes and others have shown me that they are truly the masters of multitasking — they are both full-time pimps and full-time hoes. So, they get their money on both ends (pun intended). However, what we are seeing is not just something to shake your head about, it is a reason to be really concerned. Anytime a so-called “man of God” instructs you to stop using the brain God gave you, it is time to walk…no, run away from that man.

Popularity: 41% [?]

Okay, I’m not done yet.

I’ll have to rate this one PG-13 so, you might not want to let the kiddies read this one over your shoulder.

Glenn Murphy, former head of the Clark County, Indiana GOP Chair, was recently elected the Young Republican National Federation Chair. Unfortunately, he had to leave his position a little early.

Murphy was seen as an up-and-comer in the GOP (pardon the pun) but, he had a little problem.

According to a police report obtained by the site Taking Down Words, Murphy tried to impose himself sexually upon a sleeping male victim.

In a nutshell (ooh, another pun, sorry), the story goes as follows (from The Northwest Indiana and Illinois Times):

Copies of a police report related to the investigation were provided to The Evening News and also posted on a political internet blog. In it, a 22-year-old man told investigators he awoke after the party at a relative’s house to find Murphy, who also had attended the event, performing a sex act on him.

According to the police report, Murphy and his attorney have tried to keep a lid on this but, somehow, this report was leaked to the aforementioned web site.

However, there is yet another twist to all of this. The report above also mentions that Murphy has a prior arrest for doing the exact same thing to another young man in 1998.

And to think, this are the people always trying to claim the moral high ground.

Popularity: 22% [?]

Okay, this is a two-fer. You get to see Republican hypocrisy and racism at work all at once.

Florida state senator Bob Allen was arrested July 11, 2007, charge with soliciting an undercover MALE officer for sex. Yes, the party that campaigns on a love for God and a hate for gays has a lot of individuals tripping and falling out of the closet.

But, that’s not the best part. Allen explained why he offered the officer $20 to allow Allen to perform oral sex on him:

“This was a pretty stocky black guy, and there was nothing but other black guys around in the park,” Allen, who is white, told police in a taped statement after his arrest. Allen said he feared he “was about to be a statistic” and would have said anything just to get away.

You catch that? According to Allen, he was not there to have sex. He just figured that the big black man would kill him for $20 and a B.J.

I could say more but, in the interest of good taste, I’ll stop here.

Popularity: 16% [?]

Ahh…the power of parody!

Check out this vid (warning: explicit language):

“Read A Book” 

Popularity: 26% [?]

Okay, who told Intel this was a good idea? (click on the pic for a larger image)

In an advertisement that the company says is supposed to convey an image about the speed of their Core Duo processors, they have six black sprinters crouched down in a starting position. However, what this ad comes off looking like is 6 black men bowing down to a white man.

Intel has pulled the ad and is apologizing profusely. In a statement from their web site, they say the following.

We made a bad mistake. I know why and how, but that simply doesn’t make it better.

The intent behind our ad campaign “Multiply Computing Performance and Maximize the Power of Your Employees” was to convey the performance capabilities of our processors through a number of visual metaphors. Unfortunately, while we have used a visual of sprinters in the past appropriately, this ad of using African-American sprinters did not deliver our intended message and in fact proved to be culturally insensitive and insulting.

I think Intel might want to hire some people of color who are in touch with themselves culturally. That way, you might not see ads like this repeated.

Also, if they have any ads about how intelligent their processors are that involve a group of Asians with abacuses, they might want to pull those, too.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Regardless of how one feels about our presence in the Middle East, there are two thing irrefutable about the general sentiment of people there in regards to our involvement in Iraq:

1. We are there for the oil.
2. We are highly motivated by Israel’s interests.

So, what if the U.S. did something that would only solidify this belief in the minds of people who had this concern? What would be the outcome?

Well, we may soon find out.

Currently, the U.S. is exploring the possibility of pumping oil out of Iraq into Haifa, Israel via Jordan.

Check this out:

The Prime Minister’s Office, which views the pipeline to Haifa as a “bonus” the U.S. could give to Israel in return for its unequivocal support for the American-led campaign in Iraq, had asked the Americans for the official telegram.

The new pipeline would take oil from the Kirkuk area, where some 40 percent of Iraqi oil is produced, and transport it via Mosul, and then across Jordan to Israel. The U.S. telegram included a request for a cost estimate for repairing the Mosul-Haifa pipeline that was in use prior to 1948. During the War of Independence, the Iraqis stopped the flow of oil to Haifa and the pipeline fell into disrepair over the years.

So, help me out, Iraqis are having to deal with issues of terrorism and death on a daily basis and have no real infrastructure to speak of but, we are interested in pumping their oil out of Iraq into Israel?

Yet another stupid idea, brought to you by the same people that brought us the war in the first place.

Edit: A user has brought to my attention that the dateline on this article is incorrect.  This story is actually from 2003.  My apologies for this mistake.

Popularity: 15% [?]

If you believe former chairman of the Roger Williams University, Ralph Papitto, this is what happened.

Pappito was a board member for nearly 40 years so, I can only imagine how he might have used his position to make it harder to recruit black students and staff. I say that because last May, when the board met, there was a heated discussion on the university’s difficulty in recruiting black people to the school.

Then it happened.

Barbara Roberts, then a board member, said Papitto became irate when he discussed pressures to make the board more diverse, at one point using the slur to refer to black candidates.

She said he then told the board he knew he couldn’t say that because of Don Imus, the radio host who was fired after referring to Rutgers University women’s basketball team members as “nappy-headed hos.”

“There was, like, this complete and utter silence, and I was shocked beyond belief and very angry,” Roberts said.

Papitto has given the school at least $7 million, and his name is on the law school, the only one in Rhode Island.

He said he had never used the term before.

“The first time I heard it was on television and then rap music or something,” Papitto told WPRO.

Awww…hell no. You’ve never used the word before and your old a$$ first heard it while listening to rap? Please stop. There’s no fool like an old fool. The sad part is that he’s been able to hold this attitude while overseeing the direction of an institution of higher learning. This says a lot about Roger Williams University.

Popularity: 48% [?]

Okay, you know how I feel about this.

However, I thought that I’d share a perspective on this that is much more on-point than mine. Mary Schulken of the Charlotte Observer explains, very nicely, I might add, that, no matter how unintended, performing in blackface brings with it certain racist inferences.

Here’s a brief excerpt, just to give you a sample;

The blackface minstrel shows died a long time ago. But the harm they did lingers. They cemented stereotypes and proliferated racist images and attitudes.

To pretend you’re a black person when you’re not a black person by painting your face like racists used to do isn’t a celebration or a tribute. It’s a mockery.

A lot of white people still don’t get why that matters. Why can’t we be friends? That’s one reason.

It’s not about political correctness. It’s about respect. The caricatures that are the legacy of blackface persist to this day.

Well-put, Ms. Schulken…very well-put, indeed.

Popularity: 24% [?]

Some things defy logic.

Why in the world would any person, knowing the history of why performing in blackface is so offensive to African Americans, then don the makeup, if they don’t intend to offend? Even worse, why would they do so in a church setting?

Believe it or not, this is what happened at a Pilgrim Baptist Church of Gastonia, NC. For a mother-daughter banquet the weekend before Mother’s Day, a skit was performed where some members of the church dressed like 19th-century Americans. Well, someone had the brilliant idea to have some of the people perform in blackface. That someone was the pastor’s wife, Teresa Holbrooks.

Of course, to show how clueless she is, she offers the following:

Church members were told to dress like Americans in the 19th century for the skit held at the church’s mother-daughter banquet on the weekend before Mother’s Day, said Teresa Holbrooks, the pastor’s wife. The black makeup was her idea, she said.

Performers also lip-synched to gospel music by white artists such as Loretta Lynn and Randy Travis.

“A little tiny blond woman sang Randy Travis. So I guess Randy Travis should be offended,” Teresa Holbrooks said. “My husband pantomimed playing the piano. So I guess the piano should be offended.”

No, Mrs. Holbrooks, Randy Travis or a piano player would not be offended. Blackface was used to mock black people. It was used to promulgate stereotypes that, as a whole, did not reflect who we were — stereotypes that, to this day, still live. Perhaps, if she left her her ivory tower and traveled outside the lily-white fields, she would have seen how stupid her idea really was.

Oh, was that a dig, playing on color? I guess lilies should be offended?

Popularity: 25% [?]