STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FROM: Eddie G. Griffin 817-721-7439
March Against Tasers Targets City
FORT WORTH, Texas – On Saturday, November 7, people will march from downtown City Hall to the uptown County Courthouse, starting at noon, to highlight the increasing number of deaths related to tasing. The march dubbed as a March for Dignity is part of a growing movement around the country and the world to end the use of tasers deployed by law enforcement.
The Fort Worth demonstration is aimed to make a statement to city leaders and law enforcement.
The controversy arises at the same time the number of taser related fatalities approaches 500. At the same time, however, Taser International, the maker of the electronic control device (ECD), continually insists the weapon is non-lethal.
In Fort Worth, when Carolyn Daniels (#138) was died on the floor in the county jail after being tasered on June 24, 2005, hardly anyone paid notice. They said she had crack cocaine in her system. Had she not, we were led to believe, she would have survived the shocking.
But Michael Jacobs Jr. (#424) had no such foreign substance in his system when he was tasered and died on April 18, 2009.
As an emissary who stood over the coffin of the 24-year old young man, I delivered a Resolution to the family on behalf of the international community, and a network of supporters. From Amnesty International to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, and bloggers around the world, we raised our voices against this form of torture and death.
I shed a tear for Michael. I shed a tear for Carolyn. I shed a tear for Deacon Fredrick William (#56) whose video electrocution was shown all over the internet, shocked repeatedly in the neck until dead. The remaining 22 minutes of the video was devoted to trying to bring him back to life, and the egg-look on the face of the officers.
But I shed more tears for the living and the unborn. When Valreca Redden was tasered by Trotwood police, she was pregnant. No one can imagine the trauma to the unborn fetus as his mother was being electrocuted with 50,000 volts of electricity. She was guilty of nothing except being distraught. The baby was completely innocent.
We are just now realizing some the lingering after-effects of tasing. Some who have been tasered in the past are now beginning to show signs of involuntary neuromuscular convulsions, what we otherwise would call the “twitches”.
Imagine, if you will, the last minute of Michael Junior’s life, for that is just about how long it took Officer Stephanie Phillips to summarily electrocute him and terminate his life.
For one minute, hold your breath, and close your eyes, and imagine sticking your finger into a light socket. Hold it there for one minute, while 240 volts of electricity race through your body. Are you still holding your breath?
That is what happened to Michael Jacobs Jr. But instead of 240 volts, it is 50,000 volts, blazing inside his body, for one whole minute. At the first jolt, the muscles contract and hold, and hold, and hold, until there is a release. If there is no release, the organ muscles shut down and organs began to pop.
Michael could not breathe, even if he wanted to. The lung muscles shut down. The heart muscle shut down. The bile burst, and the organs fried like chicken, for one eternity of a minute. Thus, what the coroner saw was ruled a homicide.
Consider the Poem by Willie Jolley:
I have only just a minute, only sixty seconds in it
Forced upon me, can't refuse it
Didn't seek it, didn't choose it,
But it's up to me to use it
I must suffer if I abuse it.
Just a tiny little minute
But Eternity is in it.
In memory of Michael Jacobs Jr. by Eddie G. Griffin (BASG)
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Larger than Life Limbaugh: REJECTED
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Bite the bullet, Rush. It’s not personal, it’s only business. Where you seek to plow and profit is a ground cursed to you. You will profit, but only at the expense of the league, the players, and the integrity of the game. As your revenues go up, America’s image goes down the tube.
Sorry, Rush, the NFL is looking for tunas that taste good, not tunas with bad taste.
Whatever distractions you bring to the game would cost your business partners dearly. I assure you, even I would hate to watch my favorite pasttime sport, knowing you were part owner of a team.
And even if you represent as much as 49% of the American listening audience, 51% owners say NO, NO, NO… HELL, NO!
Have a good day, Rush, and give your ego a break and your tonsils some rest. You are beginning to sound like a spoiled brat.
And, don’t even think about suing.
Eddie Griffin, BASG
Seek Peace
Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. (1 Peter 3:8-12 KJV)
Bite the bullet, Rush. It’s not personal, it’s only business. Where you seek to plow and profit is a ground cursed to you. You will profit, but only at the expense of the league, the players, and the integrity of the game. As your revenues go up, America’s image goes down the tube.
Sorry, Rush, the NFL is looking for tunas that taste good, not tunas with bad taste.
Whatever distractions you bring to the game would cost your business partners dearly. I assure you, even I would hate to watch my favorite pasttime sport, knowing you were part owner of a team.
And even if you represent as much as 49% of the American listening audience, 51% owners say NO, NO, NO… HELL, NO!
Have a good day, Rush, and give your ego a break and your tonsils some rest. You are beginning to sound like a spoiled brat.
And, don’t even think about suing.
Eddie Griffin, BASG
Seek Peace
Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. (1 Peter 3:8-12 KJV)
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Nobel Peace Prize Committee Honors President Barack Obama
What it means
By Eddie Griffin
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. The key word here is not Barack Obama, but “Peace”, something people seems to have a lost a sense of, here, recently.
Rush Limbaugh called the Peace Prize “a joke”. He obviously mistakes the message with the messenger. Hence, he announces that he and the Taliban are “on the same side”, as if an irony. Barack Obama, says Limbaugh, should not receive the honor.
Ross Douthat, New York Times News Service, writes this article for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, “Barack should have turned down the Nobel Peace Prize” (excerpted):
Obama gains nothing from the prize… He’s the Nobel laureate who’ll probably fail… the prize leaves Obama more open to ridicule. It confirms, as a defining narrative of his presidency, the gap between his supporters’ cloud-cuckoo-land expectations and the inevitable disappointments of reality... "the world’s biggest celebrity," famous more for being famous than for any accomplishment… Great achievements may still await our Nobel president. If Obama goes from strength to strength, then this travesty will be remembered as a footnote to his administration, rather than a defining moment.
But by accepting the prize, he’s made failure, if and when it comes, that much more embarrassing and difficult to bear.
Eddie Griffin from Cloud-Cuckoo-Land to Ross Douthat @ New York Times News Service
Notwithstanding, according to the bible, there will be wars and rumors of wars, Ross Douthat now elevates Rush Limbaugh’s hope of President Barack Obama’s failure to a prophecy of inevitability. Note that he says “the Nobel laureate who’ll probably fail”, followed by “failure, if and when it comes”.
Notice in history: Failure and black men go together like white on rice… bleached, processed, and conditioned.
Otherwise, those of us who voted for Obama and support him have been relegated by the writer to Cloud-Cuckoo-land, with our idealistic Utopian expectations. Far enough, except when I hear Rush Limbaugh says that he is “ironically” on the same side as the Taliban, I wonder who is on Cloud-Cuckoo-land. It seems to me, birds of a feather flock together.
The Taliban hates peace, because the conditions of peace favor the Americans more than the Taliban. That, I can understand. But when an American talk show radio host identifies with and agrees with the Taliban, he spurns the message of peace because he hates the messenger. He insults the very people who voted for Obama. He assails our hope.
Says Limbaugh, Barack Obama should not receive the Nobel Peace Prize honor. But then, what does Limbaugh know about “honor” and giving honor to who honor is due? Instead, he slanders the award in order to demean the man.
Critics say Obama has only been in office 10 months, and the award is premature, that he has not earned it yet. And then, there is that “thin narrow minority” (which Jimmy Carter described) who hate to see a black man honored at anything. They hate the fact that he is President to begin with, let alone winning the Peace Prize.
I’m not surprised. I’ve heard it all before. Martin Luther Coon should not get the Nobel Peace Prize because he is a Communist, and the most dangerous man in America. The advocate of Peace won. The Prince of Peace was crucified on the cross. Martin was martyred, not as a saint, but a man they hated because of the color of his skin.
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (John 14:27)
In Martin’s day, they were enemies of peace, because keeping Negroes in their place was the only type of peace they wanted. Now, they extol MLK as some kind of saint, posthumously, of course, with all the other so-called saints and prophets.
When Christmas time comes, they will do like the typical hypocrite. They'll send out a card that proclaims: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, and good will towards men. (Luke 2:14) Needless to say, good will is needed before we can ever hope for peace.
That was the message.
The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. (James 3:18) The hateful cannot make peace nor can they find peace within.
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask. (James 4:1-2)
BlogBlast For Peace: November 5, 2009
By Eddie Griffin
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. The key word here is not Barack Obama, but “Peace”, something people seems to have a lost a sense of, here, recently.
Rush Limbaugh called the Peace Prize “a joke”. He obviously mistakes the message with the messenger. Hence, he announces that he and the Taliban are “on the same side”, as if an irony. Barack Obama, says Limbaugh, should not receive the honor.
Ross Douthat, New York Times News Service, writes this article for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, “Barack should have turned down the Nobel Peace Prize” (excerpted):
Obama gains nothing from the prize… He’s the Nobel laureate who’ll probably fail… the prize leaves Obama more open to ridicule. It confirms, as a defining narrative of his presidency, the gap between his supporters’ cloud-cuckoo-land expectations and the inevitable disappointments of reality... "the world’s biggest celebrity," famous more for being famous than for any accomplishment… Great achievements may still await our Nobel president. If Obama goes from strength to strength, then this travesty will be remembered as a footnote to his administration, rather than a defining moment.
But by accepting the prize, he’s made failure, if and when it comes, that much more embarrassing and difficult to bear.
Eddie Griffin from Cloud-Cuckoo-Land to Ross Douthat @ New York Times News Service
Notwithstanding, according to the bible, there will be wars and rumors of wars, Ross Douthat now elevates Rush Limbaugh’s hope of President Barack Obama’s failure to a prophecy of inevitability. Note that he says “the Nobel laureate who’ll probably fail”, followed by “failure, if and when it comes”.
Notice in history: Failure and black men go together like white on rice… bleached, processed, and conditioned.
Otherwise, those of us who voted for Obama and support him have been relegated by the writer to Cloud-Cuckoo-land, with our idealistic Utopian expectations. Far enough, except when I hear Rush Limbaugh says that he is “ironically” on the same side as the Taliban, I wonder who is on Cloud-Cuckoo-land. It seems to me, birds of a feather flock together.
The Taliban hates peace, because the conditions of peace favor the Americans more than the Taliban. That, I can understand. But when an American talk show radio host identifies with and agrees with the Taliban, he spurns the message of peace because he hates the messenger. He insults the very people who voted for Obama. He assails our hope.
Says Limbaugh, Barack Obama should not receive the Nobel Peace Prize honor. But then, what does Limbaugh know about “honor” and giving honor to who honor is due? Instead, he slanders the award in order to demean the man.
Critics say Obama has only been in office 10 months, and the award is premature, that he has not earned it yet. And then, there is that “thin narrow minority” (which Jimmy Carter described) who hate to see a black man honored at anything. They hate the fact that he is President to begin with, let alone winning the Peace Prize.
I’m not surprised. I’ve heard it all before. Martin Luther Coon should not get the Nobel Peace Prize because he is a Communist, and the most dangerous man in America. The advocate of Peace won. The Prince of Peace was crucified on the cross. Martin was martyred, not as a saint, but a man they hated because of the color of his skin.
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (John 14:27)
In Martin’s day, they were enemies of peace, because keeping Negroes in their place was the only type of peace they wanted. Now, they extol MLK as some kind of saint, posthumously, of course, with all the other so-called saints and prophets.
When Christmas time comes, they will do like the typical hypocrite. They'll send out a card that proclaims: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, and good will towards men. (Luke 2:14) Needless to say, good will is needed before we can ever hope for peace.
That was the message.
The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. (James 3:18) The hateful cannot make peace nor can they find peace within.
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask. (James 4:1-2)
BlogBlast For Peace: November 5, 2009
Friday, October 2, 2009
I Just Saw the Doctor:
Sobbering words from Michael Burgess, M.D.
I just came from seeing the doctor. I’m fine. But the doc is kinda sick, at least by my diagnosis. That would be my congressman, Dr. Michael C. Burgess, U.S. Representative for the 26th District.
One on one, we talked at each other, some hits, some misses, and how much really stuck, I don’t know. I am sick and tired of hearing about healthcare. All I want for my people is that they get medical treatment, when they need it, at an affordable cost. That’s the bottom line.
It was not my job, as a constituent, to read a 1,000-page healthcare proposal, and follow and track every major and minor change. That’s why we sent him to Congress.
Had I ever wavered in my confidence in him? No. I even publicly recommended that he and President Barack Obama meet and go through the bill, line by line. [Obviously, the President had said some idiocy like he would meet with any member of Congress and go through the bill, line by line, and Burgess called his bluff and got snubbed.]
I liked Burgess' healthcare co-opt financing plan, as a compromise, and a few other good ideas. And, as for healthcare cost reduction through tort reform, there was room for negotiations (less legal fees and support from the legal and labor industries). We understood the bill was being shaped by competing interests.
But cost reduction by efficiency never came into the discussion. Instead, the congressman only wanted to do was explain his NO vote against the healthcare proposal, and why he would probably vote NO at the end, and why he did not conduct a town hall meeting in the minority community.
He was concerned also about how the economic downturn was impacting this, the poorest community in his district. One of the reasons he opposed the healthcare bill, he claims, was because all the new healthcare clinics was going to Democratic districts. And, it was appearing that all the stimulus money was going up North.
How were we fairing in Southeast Fort Worth?
"To the victor go the spoils", I reminded him. He had had his heydays, during the last Republican administration, when our community was most neglected. To the victor went the spoils, then. To the victor should go the spoils, we agreed... end of that discussion.
Poverty was being mitigated, but infant mortality was still high.
The congressman described some of the town hall meetings he had conducted on the healthcare issue. Some forums were vocal and volatile. He could not see inviting such volatility into our minority community, which was mainly pro-Democratic, and contrary to his party line vote. To do so would be like inviting the Tea Party to The Hood. At the very thought, I could see the terror in his eyes, as we sat nose to nose at a table over a cup of coffee. "Security," he muttered.
The African-Americans in our community would act civilly, I assured him. That wasn't the problem. He wasn’t too sure about his people.
“Teach them how to be more civil,” I said, alluding to Rep. Joe Wilson's recent gaff remark, and how he, Burgess, had been caught flatfooted on MSNBC TV. The reported had asked him pointedly, if he thought Joe Wilson's remarks were civil. Burgess replayed about how Bush was booed, and evaded answering the question, altogether.
“You," he He laughed, "a former Black Panther, are going to tell me about being civil?”
I replied, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.” And that was that.
We have our work cut out for us ahead. He concedes that healthcare reform, in some form or another, will pass, without his approval. The insurance companies want mandatory coverage, with a punishment clause for those who do not purchase insurance. There will be no public option. Although he supports co-opts, in lieu of the public option, he will probably not support any bill.
He assured me of his precarious political position as a Republican representative of our district. Just talking to me, he would be branded as a traitor. On the other hand, I know Democrats who depises my talking to a Republican.
"That’s why we put you in the hot seat," I reminded him, "in order for you can take the flack. It’s not my job to take heat."
In the next election, he may be opposed by a member of his own party, and he assured me that if he had a successor, his opponent would be East of Eden in conservatism.
I must acknowledge the forces that would make Barack Obama, a disappointed one-term president like Jimmy Carter, who, in my opinion, the best man ever to hold the office before now. Burgess, on the other hand, still calls George W. Bush “his president”, and refuses to recognize the presidency of Barack Obama.
There is a page in obscurity reserved for the presidency of Barack Obama, if the revisionists ever have their way. Other one-term presidents have been rendered into obscurity. Therefore, all I can say is:
Let us work, while it is day. For the night cometh when no man can work (John 9:4).
I just came from seeing the doctor. I’m fine. But the doc is kinda sick, at least by my diagnosis. That would be my congressman, Dr. Michael C. Burgess, U.S. Representative for the 26th District.
One on one, we talked at each other, some hits, some misses, and how much really stuck, I don’t know. I am sick and tired of hearing about healthcare. All I want for my people is that they get medical treatment, when they need it, at an affordable cost. That’s the bottom line.
It was not my job, as a constituent, to read a 1,000-page healthcare proposal, and follow and track every major and minor change. That’s why we sent him to Congress.
Had I ever wavered in my confidence in him? No. I even publicly recommended that he and President Barack Obama meet and go through the bill, line by line. [Obviously, the President had said some idiocy like he would meet with any member of Congress and go through the bill, line by line, and Burgess called his bluff and got snubbed.]
I liked Burgess' healthcare co-opt financing plan, as a compromise, and a few other good ideas. And, as for healthcare cost reduction through tort reform, there was room for negotiations (less legal fees and support from the legal and labor industries). We understood the bill was being shaped by competing interests.
But cost reduction by efficiency never came into the discussion. Instead, the congressman only wanted to do was explain his NO vote against the healthcare proposal, and why he would probably vote NO at the end, and why he did not conduct a town hall meeting in the minority community.
He was concerned also about how the economic downturn was impacting this, the poorest community in his district. One of the reasons he opposed the healthcare bill, he claims, was because all the new healthcare clinics was going to Democratic districts. And, it was appearing that all the stimulus money was going up North.
How were we fairing in Southeast Fort Worth?
"To the victor go the spoils", I reminded him. He had had his heydays, during the last Republican administration, when our community was most neglected. To the victor went the spoils, then. To the victor should go the spoils, we agreed... end of that discussion.
Poverty was being mitigated, but infant mortality was still high.
The congressman described some of the town hall meetings he had conducted on the healthcare issue. Some forums were vocal and volatile. He could not see inviting such volatility into our minority community, which was mainly pro-Democratic, and contrary to his party line vote. To do so would be like inviting the Tea Party to The Hood. At the very thought, I could see the terror in his eyes, as we sat nose to nose at a table over a cup of coffee. "Security," he muttered.
The African-Americans in our community would act civilly, I assured him. That wasn't the problem. He wasn’t too sure about his people.
“Teach them how to be more civil,” I said, alluding to Rep. Joe Wilson's recent gaff remark, and how he, Burgess, had been caught flatfooted on MSNBC TV. The reported had asked him pointedly, if he thought Joe Wilson's remarks were civil. Burgess replayed about how Bush was booed, and evaded answering the question, altogether.
“You," he He laughed, "a former Black Panther, are going to tell me about being civil?”
I replied, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.” And that was that.
We have our work cut out for us ahead. He concedes that healthcare reform, in some form or another, will pass, without his approval. The insurance companies want mandatory coverage, with a punishment clause for those who do not purchase insurance. There will be no public option. Although he supports co-opts, in lieu of the public option, he will probably not support any bill.
He assured me of his precarious political position as a Republican representative of our district. Just talking to me, he would be branded as a traitor. On the other hand, I know Democrats who depises my talking to a Republican.
"That’s why we put you in the hot seat," I reminded him, "in order for you can take the flack. It’s not my job to take heat."
In the next election, he may be opposed by a member of his own party, and he assured me that if he had a successor, his opponent would be East of Eden in conservatism.
I must acknowledge the forces that would make Barack Obama, a disappointed one-term president like Jimmy Carter, who, in my opinion, the best man ever to hold the office before now. Burgess, on the other hand, still calls George W. Bush “his president”, and refuses to recognize the presidency of Barack Obama.
There is a page in obscurity reserved for the presidency of Barack Obama, if the revisionists ever have their way. Other one-term presidents have been rendered into obscurity. Therefore, all I can say is:
Let us work, while it is day. For the night cometh when no man can work (John 9:4).
Thursday, October 1, 2009
We are a Hopeless Society
By Eddie Griffin
Thursday, October 01, 2009
I know it is not a nice thing to say, but our society is Hopeless. To that end, I am glad that I have not put much hope in the people that make up this society. That many people are hopeless comes as no surprise. Just pick up the newspaper: “Man abducts 11-year old and holds her captive for 28 years.” This is insane. How could such a person live among us for 28 years without notice? The answer is: He looked and acted “normal”.
The Bell Curve of Normalcy is totally out of whack.
What would make it acceptable to a group of juveniles to bash another kid in the head and kill him? Isn’t this insane?
No, it is too much like sane acceptable behavior, because everybody thinks they have a right to do their own thing. There is no forethought of consequence. Who ever does consider the consequences, anyway? Society is so hopelessly self-satisfied and perfect in its own eyes.
Consider this contradiction: President Barack Obama ran on a campaign of Hope… hope for the future, hope for the nation, hope for the children, and hope for the downtrodden. Another man, Rush Limbaugh has hope also. He hopes the President fails. Too many people agree with the latter hope.
But hope for failure is self-destructive, but it own motive. Hope for success is plowed in high expectations. It takes collective work and responsibility to succeed. It takes nothing to fail.
That our society is hopeless does not kill my joy, because my hope is not in this world, neither is my hope in fallible man. My hope is in the life after.
And so, I rejoice in a hope that the world does not have, nor can receive. The house is on fire. Nero played the fiddle because it was hopeless. I rejoice in hope of a rescue from Christ Jesus out of the flames.
I voted for Barack Obama because he espoused and inspired hope. That there are hope killers goes without saying.
Former President, Jimmy Carter, was right, including his assertion that the majority of the white people in the South oppose the President because of the color of his skin. People will admit to the abstract existence of racism, but they will never put the tail on the donkey. It is always: “I know racism exists, but not me.” It is the wolf in sheep’s clothes to deny, deny, deny.
Like Carter, I didn't just fall off the turnip truck in Texas.
It is prudent for President Barack Obama not to acknowledge it publicly, less he gives it more life, credence, and legitimacy. For all intent and purpose, however, the wolf has lost its teeth. It can only espouse hatred and violence.
I am propounded daily by select colleagues professing: The wolf is over here. Come and help us before we are eaten.
The Republicans are coming. The Republicans are coming. They are going to try to take back the Whitehouse in 2012.
What is that to me when society is hopeless? Should I care if the next president is black or white, Democrat or Republican? Who holds the future, anyway?
This does not say that I do not care. No, I just do not care for the path our society is following. I care for those who are being led into self-destruction, particularly the innocent children.
A speech by the President aimed at school children was dubbed as “propaganda” and an attempt at “brainwashing”. This being said long before the words of the speech were published.
It’s the same old same old. I teach your kids and we call it education. You teach my kids and we call it brainwashing. What is brainwashing except the selective exclusion of facts, and inclusions of myths, distortions, and lies?
I often asked myself, while growing up in Texas, why there were no Negroes in the history books. I discovered a deliberate attempt many years ago to exclude Colors out of the newspapers, except for negative image stories. Where can I learn of my forefathers contributions to society? It was never intended that I should.
The talk about propaganda and brainwashing is a pure hoax, in the context of advocating hope, because hope is without substance, something yet unmade. Hope is not seen. It is only envisioned. And, without a vision, the people perish.
Which brings us back to today, and why we are a hopeless society.
Thursday, October 01, 2009
I know it is not a nice thing to say, but our society is Hopeless. To that end, I am glad that I have not put much hope in the people that make up this society. That many people are hopeless comes as no surprise. Just pick up the newspaper: “Man abducts 11-year old and holds her captive for 28 years.” This is insane. How could such a person live among us for 28 years without notice? The answer is: He looked and acted “normal”.
The Bell Curve of Normalcy is totally out of whack.
What would make it acceptable to a group of juveniles to bash another kid in the head and kill him? Isn’t this insane?
No, it is too much like sane acceptable behavior, because everybody thinks they have a right to do their own thing. There is no forethought of consequence. Who ever does consider the consequences, anyway? Society is so hopelessly self-satisfied and perfect in its own eyes.
Consider this contradiction: President Barack Obama ran on a campaign of Hope… hope for the future, hope for the nation, hope for the children, and hope for the downtrodden. Another man, Rush Limbaugh has hope also. He hopes the President fails. Too many people agree with the latter hope.
But hope for failure is self-destructive, but it own motive. Hope for success is plowed in high expectations. It takes collective work and responsibility to succeed. It takes nothing to fail.
That our society is hopeless does not kill my joy, because my hope is not in this world, neither is my hope in fallible man. My hope is in the life after.
And so, I rejoice in a hope that the world does not have, nor can receive. The house is on fire. Nero played the fiddle because it was hopeless. I rejoice in hope of a rescue from Christ Jesus out of the flames.
I voted for Barack Obama because he espoused and inspired hope. That there are hope killers goes without saying.
Former President, Jimmy Carter, was right, including his assertion that the majority of the white people in the South oppose the President because of the color of his skin. People will admit to the abstract existence of racism, but they will never put the tail on the donkey. It is always: “I know racism exists, but not me.” It is the wolf in sheep’s clothes to deny, deny, deny.
Like Carter, I didn't just fall off the turnip truck in Texas.
It is prudent for President Barack Obama not to acknowledge it publicly, less he gives it more life, credence, and legitimacy. For all intent and purpose, however, the wolf has lost its teeth. It can only espouse hatred and violence.
I am propounded daily by select colleagues professing: The wolf is over here. Come and help us before we are eaten.
The Republicans are coming. The Republicans are coming. They are going to try to take back the Whitehouse in 2012.
What is that to me when society is hopeless? Should I care if the next president is black or white, Democrat or Republican? Who holds the future, anyway?
This does not say that I do not care. No, I just do not care for the path our society is following. I care for those who are being led into self-destruction, particularly the innocent children.
A speech by the President aimed at school children was dubbed as “propaganda” and an attempt at “brainwashing”. This being said long before the words of the speech were published.
It’s the same old same old. I teach your kids and we call it education. You teach my kids and we call it brainwashing. What is brainwashing except the selective exclusion of facts, and inclusions of myths, distortions, and lies?
I often asked myself, while growing up in Texas, why there were no Negroes in the history books. I discovered a deliberate attempt many years ago to exclude Colors out of the newspapers, except for negative image stories. Where can I learn of my forefathers contributions to society? It was never intended that I should.
The talk about propaganda and brainwashing is a pure hoax, in the context of advocating hope, because hope is without substance, something yet unmade. Hope is not seen. It is only envisioned. And, without a vision, the people perish.
Which brings us back to today, and why we are a hopeless society.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
GOOD MORNING: Good News
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
GOOD MORNING:
What’s so good about this morning? I have good news. The doctors say that my 9-year old grandson, Little Ed, is cancer free. After 13 weeks of radiation treatments, he will not require surgery for cancer in the colon and lower intestine. The bleeding ulcers are gone also.
I am still guardedly hopefully and prayerful that his recovery will be complete. His stomach and intestines are still raw from the treatments. He must drink Ensure three times a day until his insides heal.
Through it all, he never lost a beat. Maybe a few days out of school, otherwise his illness never took one iota of joy from his being a nine-year old kid. He has been vibrant, energetic, and no one could tell that he was so sick. In fact, everybody thought he was faking, at first- his school, his parents, and even his little sisters.
One day, he got sick while eating some cheese at school. [He is allergic to cheese]. It was a mistake, only to be repeated. However, I fault no one for the mistake. But his daily visits to the nurse’s office caused grandpa some concerns, because no conceived how seriously he was ill. I intervened and insisted on a full diagnosis, and that is when they discovered the cancer after extensive examination.
The X-ray pictures and scopes looked good at first. This reinforced the suspicion that he was faking. But the biopsy came back positive.
I was devastated, and made some vows that I must now keep. I vowed to shave my head, cut off my beard, and shave my mustache, so that Little Ed and Big Ed could be hairless together. It was an expression of the depth of my pain. Afterwards, I felt as weak as Sampson with no hair. I looked and felt like the 63-year old grandpa that I am. In fact, hairless, nobody recognized me, not even my own 84-year old mother.
I would tell Little Ed that he would be fine by the time our hair grew. Today, he is cancer free and back at school, with special doctor’s orders and permits.
The treatment took its toll, of course. At church, we had put him on our continuous prayer list. Then he was stricken with pneumonia and had to miss a few early school days. We updated our prayer list. Then, he fell off a trampoline and required seven stitches in his bottom lip.
He claims that some kids pick on him at school because they know he is sick, and he is also biracial. He was suspended for punching a girl who pushed him into another boy. [Needless to say, grandpa will be fighting for to expunge the disciplinary record.] He tells me that it is painful whenever a kid hits him in the stomach. And now, his stomach will get a chance to heal. He is on an Ensure diet.
He and I have been hanging out together more and more, since shaving our heads. We talk, grandpa to grandson, and visa versa. Never once, in all of our conversations, did he express fear, dismay, or hurt about his illness. There was not a hint of self-pity. In fact, he has been chipper all the while and even a bit mischievous at time. So, we talked about his punching the little girl and using poor judgment. [He is grounded for a month].
So, we talked extensively about behavior at school, church, home and everywhere, about being good and doing the right thing. I put a question to him. While driving along, we passed a neighborhood store where winos and drug addicts hang out. I told him that I did not want him to waste his life like this.
He is a kid who speaks so matter-of-factly. That was the way he spoke of his illness, and that was the way he replied. “I know I’m not going to wound up like that,” he replied, confidently.
He has a reputation in the family as being Mr. Know-It-All, so I asked, “How do you know?”
“I’m going to be a Christian,” he matter-of-factly answered.
For once, grandpa was dumbfounded and proud. His reply put a ton of lead in my belly. This was the same 9-year old who told me that he wanted to be like Barack Obama. He wanted to be President of the United States. How will he overcome the obstacles of poverty, deprivation, and degradation? He wants to be a Christian.
To show his sincerity and seriousness, he picked up the church bulletin in the car seat, looked at the church calendar, and said: “And I want to go to this, this, and this.”
Woe is grandpa on the spot. Now, I must pick him up for church, every Sunday, every Wednesday night, and every time the church doors open. Grandpa must now go to the nursing homes with the church on our given Saturdays, and preach when it is his time to preach.
Didn’t he know that grandpa was exhausted?
I wish and pray that I can make all the events at church and at school. Everybody and everything else in my life has been re-prioritized.
Eddie Griffin
http://eddiegriffinbasg.blogspot.com/
http://eddiegriffinbiblestudy.blogspot.com/
[This is the story of just one of my 10 grandchildren. They each have a different and unique story with grandpa]
GOOD MORNING:
What’s so good about this morning? I have good news. The doctors say that my 9-year old grandson, Little Ed, is cancer free. After 13 weeks of radiation treatments, he will not require surgery for cancer in the colon and lower intestine. The bleeding ulcers are gone also.
I am still guardedly hopefully and prayerful that his recovery will be complete. His stomach and intestines are still raw from the treatments. He must drink Ensure three times a day until his insides heal.
Through it all, he never lost a beat. Maybe a few days out of school, otherwise his illness never took one iota of joy from his being a nine-year old kid. He has been vibrant, energetic, and no one could tell that he was so sick. In fact, everybody thought he was faking, at first- his school, his parents, and even his little sisters.
One day, he got sick while eating some cheese at school. [He is allergic to cheese]. It was a mistake, only to be repeated. However, I fault no one for the mistake. But his daily visits to the nurse’s office caused grandpa some concerns, because no conceived how seriously he was ill. I intervened and insisted on a full diagnosis, and that is when they discovered the cancer after extensive examination.
The X-ray pictures and scopes looked good at first. This reinforced the suspicion that he was faking. But the biopsy came back positive.
I was devastated, and made some vows that I must now keep. I vowed to shave my head, cut off my beard, and shave my mustache, so that Little Ed and Big Ed could be hairless together. It was an expression of the depth of my pain. Afterwards, I felt as weak as Sampson with no hair. I looked and felt like the 63-year old grandpa that I am. In fact, hairless, nobody recognized me, not even my own 84-year old mother.
I would tell Little Ed that he would be fine by the time our hair grew. Today, he is cancer free and back at school, with special doctor’s orders and permits.
The treatment took its toll, of course. At church, we had put him on our continuous prayer list. Then he was stricken with pneumonia and had to miss a few early school days. We updated our prayer list. Then, he fell off a trampoline and required seven stitches in his bottom lip.
He claims that some kids pick on him at school because they know he is sick, and he is also biracial. He was suspended for punching a girl who pushed him into another boy. [Needless to say, grandpa will be fighting for to expunge the disciplinary record.] He tells me that it is painful whenever a kid hits him in the stomach. And now, his stomach will get a chance to heal. He is on an Ensure diet.
He and I have been hanging out together more and more, since shaving our heads. We talk, grandpa to grandson, and visa versa. Never once, in all of our conversations, did he express fear, dismay, or hurt about his illness. There was not a hint of self-pity. In fact, he has been chipper all the while and even a bit mischievous at time. So, we talked about his punching the little girl and using poor judgment. [He is grounded for a month].
So, we talked extensively about behavior at school, church, home and everywhere, about being good and doing the right thing. I put a question to him. While driving along, we passed a neighborhood store where winos and drug addicts hang out. I told him that I did not want him to waste his life like this.
He is a kid who speaks so matter-of-factly. That was the way he spoke of his illness, and that was the way he replied. “I know I’m not going to wound up like that,” he replied, confidently.
He has a reputation in the family as being Mr. Know-It-All, so I asked, “How do you know?”
“I’m going to be a Christian,” he matter-of-factly answered.
For once, grandpa was dumbfounded and proud. His reply put a ton of lead in my belly. This was the same 9-year old who told me that he wanted to be like Barack Obama. He wanted to be President of the United States. How will he overcome the obstacles of poverty, deprivation, and degradation? He wants to be a Christian.
To show his sincerity and seriousness, he picked up the church bulletin in the car seat, looked at the church calendar, and said: “And I want to go to this, this, and this.”
Woe is grandpa on the spot. Now, I must pick him up for church, every Sunday, every Wednesday night, and every time the church doors open. Grandpa must now go to the nursing homes with the church on our given Saturdays, and preach when it is his time to preach.
Didn’t he know that grandpa was exhausted?
I wish and pray that I can make all the events at church and at school. Everybody and everything else in my life has been re-prioritized.
Eddie Griffin
http://eddiegriffinbasg.blogspot.com/
http://eddiegriffinbiblestudy.blogspot.com/
[This is the story of just one of my 10 grandchildren. They each have a different and unique story with grandpa]
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
The Texas Tea Party Deluge
Dear Bill O’Reilly,
I am writing to clear my conscious of any ill will I may have had against the Tea Party rally in Fort Worth on Saturday. I admit that I was dismayed to learn of the Glenn Beck inspired rally, when I wrote: “It is a somber gray rainy day in Fort Worth. To everything, there is a season.” (See email, Sept. 12, 2009, 1:11 pm). I had watched the rally broadcasted by FOX, and I received an email invitation to attend.
I was sad for America, because in the midst of it all, some of our children were being taught to hate… hate the President… hate his race… hate the poor and uninsured… hate whatever else is “hateable”, because there is not love within them.
I saw the rally in Fort Worth on FOX, and my own Congressman Michael C. Burgess in attendance. I thought he was my friend.
Then I wrote another email (See email, Sept. 12, 2009, 4:19 pm) with this P.S.: I'm disappointed that the rain in Fort Worth was so light. But then, God knows best.
I am ashamed that I wished more rain upon the heads of those who attended the rally for hateful purposes. I wished no ill-will upon the good-hearted people. After all, our church children had a picnic on the same day, at the same time, and it was forced inside.
No, I did not pray for more rain. Instead, I tried to find comfort in the scriptures which said: God causes it to rain upon the just and the unjust. I found it in Matthew 5:45. But I found, also, more than what I was looking for. It reads:
That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Accordingly, I have adopted a different attitude.
Nevertheless, it has rained and rained and rained in North Texas, from the time that the first drizzle dropped on the head of the Tea Party attendees. Surely, the Lord causes it to rain on the just and the unjust. And, if you listen to the unjust, they will blame the rain on the just.
I am reminded to be careful not to pray for ill-will upon those who hate me.
Yet the rain fell... and the floods came... Who considers God in these matters.
Eddie Griffin (BASG)
http://eddiegriffinbiblestudy.blogspot.com/
I am writing to clear my conscious of any ill will I may have had against the Tea Party rally in Fort Worth on Saturday. I admit that I was dismayed to learn of the Glenn Beck inspired rally, when I wrote: “It is a somber gray rainy day in Fort Worth. To everything, there is a season.” (See email, Sept. 12, 2009, 1:11 pm). I had watched the rally broadcasted by FOX, and I received an email invitation to attend.
I was sad for America, because in the midst of it all, some of our children were being taught to hate… hate the President… hate his race… hate the poor and uninsured… hate whatever else is “hateable”, because there is not love within them.
I saw the rally in Fort Worth on FOX, and my own Congressman Michael C. Burgess in attendance. I thought he was my friend.
Then I wrote another email (See email, Sept. 12, 2009, 4:19 pm) with this P.S.: I'm disappointed that the rain in Fort Worth was so light. But then, God knows best.
I am ashamed that I wished more rain upon the heads of those who attended the rally for hateful purposes. I wished no ill-will upon the good-hearted people. After all, our church children had a picnic on the same day, at the same time, and it was forced inside.
No, I did not pray for more rain. Instead, I tried to find comfort in the scriptures which said: God causes it to rain upon the just and the unjust. I found it in Matthew 5:45. But I found, also, more than what I was looking for. It reads:
That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Accordingly, I have adopted a different attitude.
Nevertheless, it has rained and rained and rained in North Texas, from the time that the first drizzle dropped on the head of the Tea Party attendees. Surely, the Lord causes it to rain on the just and the unjust. And, if you listen to the unjust, they will blame the rain on the just.
I am reminded to be careful not to pray for ill-will upon those who hate me.
Yet the rain fell... and the floods came... Who considers God in these matters.
Eddie Griffin (BASG)
http://eddiegriffinbiblestudy.blogspot.com/
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