Praying The Gay Away.....

Last week the Church of God in Christ held its 107th Holy Convocation in St. Louis, and estimates have it that 28,000 people gathered this year. According to statistics, some of those people are probably gay. But if COGIC Superintendent Earl Carter had his way, they’re now formerly gay because of the power of The Lord.

In a video making the rounds Monday, the superintendent laid hands on a churchgoer who claimed that he was no longer gay and would no longer wear makeup or women’s clothing because he “likes women, women, women.”

Carter was consumed with anger because the convention seemed, sadly, to be a coming-out party for its gay congregants, and he reportedly went off on pastors and gay choir directors.

The unnamed churchgoer isn’t the first one to say that prayer helped him rid himself of his homosexuality. There’s the infamous Antoine “Bedroom Intruder” Dodson, who rose to viral status after preventing a burglar from raping his sister. Two years ago Dodson claimedthat he was no longer gay because of his newfound religion.

“I have to renounce myself, I’m no longer into homosexuality; I want a wife and family, I want to multiply and raise and love my family that I create. I could care less about the fame and fortune, I’ve givin all that up to know the true history of the Bible. For I am the true chosen Hebrew Israelite descendant of Judah,” Dodson stated on a now-deleted Facebook post.

Donnie McClurkin, who is one of the most popular gospel artists of all time, also claims that prayer rid him of his gayness. McClurkin's newfound-anti gayness even got him cut from a Martin Luther King Jr. concert series last year after Washington, D.C., officials received complaints about his negative stance on homosexuality. McClurkin asserts that his homosexuality was caused by being sexually abused as a child, and prayer was the only thing that helped.

IIn a 2012 interview with Roland Martin McClurkin stated, “You can’t call me a homophobic if I’ve been a homosexual. That’s quite a stretch.”

A writer from "The Root.com" had this to say,

"But is praying the gay away even a thing? Those on social media don’t think so: Religion and homosexuality will always be a touchy subject, but with a church that boasts membership numbers upward of 6 million, let’s face it: Chances are, some of the COGIC congregation will be gay. That’s a lot of praying the gay away. Here’s a novel idea: How about just letting people be who they want to be, and let whatever higher power they believe in deal with them on their own time?"

Quotes like this are nothing more than devisive attempts to limit God by giving the impression that homosexuality is something as natural or as essential to some people as breathing. But the fact of the matter is, prayer is all inclusive, and there is nothing that God cannot do.

Philippians 4:6 - Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 - Pray without ceasing.

Mark 11:24 - Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive [them], and ye shall have [them].

NOTICE: None of these scriptures says "except homosexuality". They are all inclusive.

To believe that there are some things in this world that cannot be changed through the power of prayer, is to believe that prayer changes nothing.

ENOUGH SAID!

PR

Who Cheated Him Out of An Education?!

At what age do we become responsible adults? Is it 18, 21, or is it when we decide that we have to be. One thing's for sure, taking responsibility doesn't always feel good. In fact, it can be down right painful. Especially when it means admitting that you are the architect of your own failure. For this reason, some of us take whatever opportunity that we can to blame somebody else. You might win and you may even get away with it. But at the end of the day, YOU KNOW! 

A former UNC-Chapel Hill football player is suing the famed university. 

It comes after the 18-year academic scandal that kept athletes eligible to play sports by taking classes that never met or even existed

Mike McAdoo lost his eligibility in 2011.

McAdoo's lawsuit says that he was guaranteed a good education while being recruited by football coaches, but was ultimately guided to consider three options, one of which was African-American Studies, the curriculum that formed the basis for the long-running academic scandal.

"We're not out to vilify UNC. We're trying to restore the student-athlete principle that UNC's really been for so long in the forefront of," said Jeremi Duru, a Washington, D.C., attorney representing McAdoo who also teaches law at American University.

It's a class-action lawsuit filed by McAdoo that other students could easily join.

Rick White, UNC Associate Vice Chancellor for Communications and Public Affairs, said the school became aware of the lawsuit last Friday and will reserve comment until it has reviewed the claims.

McAdoo, who played football at UNC from 2008 through 2010, was ruled permanently ineligible in 2011 for academic violations connected to a tutor providing improper assistance on a research paper for a class in the formerly named African and Afro-American Studies department.

But the bottom line is, by agreeing to go along with the deception, Macadoo ultimately cheated himself out of an education.

The lawsuit comes weeks after a report detailing the academic and athletic scandal at UNC, which revealed that more than 3,100 athletes and everyday students took no-show classes in the formerly named African and Afro-American Studies department for nearly two decades ending in 2011.

The report by former U.S. Justice Department official Kenneth Wainstein said those classes resulted in artificially high grades while faculty and university administrators either missed red flags or looked the other way. The report also said almost half the students enrolled in the bogus classes were athletes, more than 10 times their proportion in the overall student population. Athletics staffers steered players to the classes when they struggled to meet the grades required to continue competing.

In the lawsuit, McAdoo said UNC coaches and other representatives "enticed these football student-athletes to sign the agreements with promises of a legitimate UNC education . . ."

"Instead, UNC systematically funneled its football student-athletes into a 'shadow curriculum' of bogus courses which never met and which were designed for the sole purpose of providing enrollees high grades," the lawsuit said. It also said the curriculum featured hundreds of courses which never met and never involved a professor and that hundreds of football student-athletes were steered to the courses.

Also, the lawsuit says UNC has reaped "substantial profits" from football players, but has not provided them with an education in return, thus breaching its contract with McAdoo and other student-athletes in violation of North Carolina law. The lawsuit also accuses the school of fraud by promising "a legitimate education" to McAdoo and others enrolled at UNC as football student-athletes.

Jay Smith, colleague and co-author with former UNC advisor Mary Willingham, the whistleblower who claimed some student athletes were functionally illiterate, said he thinks McAdoo has a case.

"The moral case that he's making is a very strong one -- that he was not taken care of educationally, that he was steered into courses that did not exist. Not only did they not offer the kind of intellectual enrichment you would hope to find at a great university, but they did not exist," said Smith. "He took a bunch of courses like that because he was steered into them and that was irresponsible of the university."

I've said it before and I've said it again. There is something to be said for personal responsibility. This young man and other student athletes are old enough to know the difference between write and wrong. So when they talk about being enticed, it gives the impression of ignorance, and stupidity.

PR

Father Daughter Dance In Prison

Your opinion on this story will depend on how you view of incarceration. For example, if you believe that those who are incarcerated don't deserve to indulge in some of the perks of freedom, you'll think that this is ridiculous. But if you believe that children should not have to do time along with their parents by being deprived of life's simple pleasures you might think that this is a good idea.

I am straddling the fence on this one.

In an effort to help build stronger bonds between incarcerated fathers and their daughters, a Miami detention center last week hosted its first daddy-daughter dance, which drew tears, laughter and reconciliation.

The Federal Detention Center in Miami hosted the event on Nov. 4 as part of a re-entry program to help prepare inmates to reunite with their families after leaving prison.

Thirteen fathers decked in suits, ties and tuxedos spent about two hours with their daughters in a third-floor prison meeting space that had been transformed into a fairy-tale wonderland for about 20 girls, aged 4 to 18. The fathers were all minimum-security, nonviolent offenders, the newspaper writes.

“They danced,” the Herald writes. “They swayed. They held tight. They laughed. They cried. And these fathers who have been gone for years remembered the chapters they had missed: birthdays, holidays, first tooth, first crush, first heartbreak.”

“I haven’t been there for so many special moments,” inmate Michael Rangel, 40, his eyes welling up, told the Herald. The father of three daughters has been in prison almost three years for cargo theft and is scheduled to enter a halfway house in January. “I talk to them and email them all the time, but it’s not the same as being there.”

The girls arrived with their mothers and grandmothers, who wore fancy dresses, the youngest decked in pastel gowns and patent leather shoes, the paper notes.

“I wanted to dress up to look pretty for my daddy,” said Rangel’s 15-year-old daughter, the Herald writes. Her 13-year-old sister: “I wanted to make him feel special.”

At the beginning, the fathers and daughters mingled until Luther Vandross’ ballad, “Dance With My Father,” began to play, the paper notes. The fathers escorted their daughters to the floor where they danced and hugged and wiped away the tears of their girls — and their own. Then the fathers performed a choreographed dance for their daughters to the Temptations’ “My Girl.”

“You hope this will be transformational, that this dance gives these fathers something to look forward to,” Walter T. Richardson, the Miami-Dade Police Department chaplain who delivered the keynote address, told the paper. “We want the focus not so much on what happened, what brought them here, but what kind of future they can have. Their daughters are their future.”

PR

Just When a You Thought You Heard It All News (11-8-2014)

There is absolutely, positively nothing wrong with getting high in church as long as you get high on JESUS! But one Oklahoma church is inviting parishioners to get high on Budweiser.

Eastside Christian church is inviting everyone for some suds and songs Sunday with their 'Beer and Hymns' event,l.

Church officials say it's an outreach event to discuss the future of the Christian church. 

Sure, because each and every discussion  is better with beer!.......NOT

"Everybody's welcome," said Michael Riggs with the church. "No questions are banned. No holds barred. Just come and respect each other's opinions, and just have a good honest conversation about God while having a few beers at the same time." 

But before you think the Father's house will become a frat house, they say they're keeping it family friendly. They will be checking IDs and limiting the drinking to three beers per person.

A firefighter's job went up in flames after an investigation uncovered a steamy cell-phone video and sexually explicit emails. Apparently he was using his hose to light fires instead of putting them out.

Stephen Coward's 19-year career with the Clearwater, Florida Fire Department came to an end last month after an anonymous package containing the embarrassing material emerged and led to his resignation.

The video shows Coward engaged in intercourse with a woman inside the bathroom of his dormitory room at the firehouse. 

This dummy was smiling and holding up a cell phone that is recording that sex act in a mirror.

The video and 40 incriminating emails between Coward and another woman were sent anonymously to the Clearwater fire chief in August, sparking the investigation.

A second person came forward anonymously to claim that Coward had sex with as many as eight women while on duty.........

Coward admitted to having sex with two women in the fire station's "workout room, dive truck and his dorm." But if I were those guy's I would definitely disinfect the pole! 

The funny thing is, you could kinda tell that she loves crystal meth even if you didn't read her shirt. It's kind of like me wearing a shirt that says I love food. You already know!!

A Kentucky woman arrested on meth charges while wearing an "I love crystal meth" t-shirt now has one very ironic mugshot for her records.

Deborah Delane Asher, 37, was busted on Tuesday for alleged trafficking in a controlled substance and possession of methamphetamine. Richard Jeffrey Rice, 57, was also charged in the case.

"The arrests were the result of a drug investigation conducted there after deputies located 2 subjects in possession of 3.37 grams of crystal meth and a set of digital scales", police in Laurel County said.

PR

So.....You Wanna Fire Me HUH?!

We've all heard this story before. People managing to turn one bad day into bad weeks, bad months, bad years, and sometimes even a bad life. One false move, or bad decision causes a domino effect or chain reaction that they had never dreamed of. Stories of people "snapping" on their bosses are nothing new. But the fact that some people still haven't figured ou that this is a bad idea still surprizes me to some extent. You lose too much. You lose your income, and you lose your freedom just because you lost your mind.

When a woman, (yes, this is a woman), in Mendota Heights, Minnesota, was reprimanded by her boss for being late, she allegedly reacted by hitting him five times with a metal plate.

As a result, she has not only lost her job, but now faces felony assault charges. The alleged incident happened Oct. 30, when the woman, identified as Waasohn Senite Dorliae was angry after her boss scolded her.

The victim told the accused that she would most likely not have a job the next day.

At that point, Dorliae allegedly picked up a large, one pound piece of metal and struck her boss in the face and head at least five times.

As a result, the victim suffered multiple cuts on his face, chin, and back of the head. When Dorliae's boss fell to the ground in pain, she walked away, only to turn around and strike him with the metal piece one last time in the knee, according to the complaint.

Dorliae admitted hitting her boss, but said she needed to be violent toward him because he was "discriminating" and "knit picking" on her.

Dorliae, 25, has been charged with a felony count of second-degree assault. Ifconvicted she faces a maximum seven years in prison and/or $14,000 fine.

PR

Pastor, Apostle, Pedophile?

Sometimes there are stories for which there are no words. I don't have to comment, I don't have to analyze, and I really don't have to write anything.

Pastor Albert A. Young who is known as an “apostle” at the Total Deliverance Ministries in North Philly, was reportedly arrested, after he was accused of using his ministry to not only preach God’s word but to sexually abuse his 15-year-old mentally challenged niece

The 49-year-old preacher was with his niece on August 12th, when he allegedly requested that the child sit on his lap. According to a police report, Young then proceeded to fondle the girl’s genital area and buttocks while planting kisses on her neck.  As he continued to allegedly fondle the child, he requested that she reciprocate by placing her hand on his private areas, and before the pastor dismissed his niece, he warned her not to divulge any details of what had taken place, states the police affidavit.

The child did not abide by her uncle’s warning and allegedly exposed what she had experienced; police have not released any specific information as to whom the child told about her uncle’s sexual advances.

A warrant was eventually issued for Young after detectives delved in to the complaint, and he was arrested last Thursday and charged with unlawful sexual contact with a minor, corruption of minors, and indecent assault of a child.

A judge set a $50,000 bail and Young reportedly posted 10 percent of it last Friday.  Pastor Young is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on November 19th to answer to the alleged charges. 

PR

Food For Thought

It's funny how people are. Not laughable or humorous in any way. I mean odd, peculiar, strange. You can be the best of friends today, and the worst of enemies tomorrow. But in reality, you were never really friends, just acquaintances side by side in a rat race looking out for number 1. But at what cost? Are we sacrificing our morals, and decency in a desperate attempt to not just live, but survive? We must ask ourselves if "playing the game" is worth losing. 

Food for thought. Feed your mind.

PR

He's Not The Father, But Pay Anyway!!

Family court can be a cruel to place. I've heard take after tale, story after story and nightmare after nightmare. The two words family, and court seem to be perverse polar opposites that have no business in the same sentence, much less etched into marbel or stone on the front of a concrete building. Families, and let me put this into proper context so none of you thinks that I am misapplying or misusing the word, for all intense and purposes means those who are in relation to one another or share a common thread. The word family has nothing to do with the quality of the relationship in any way. Now that I have put that into context, I believe that in most cases, families should be able to work out or overcome conflict simply because their shared bond should be stronger than their disdain for one another. You may read this and think that I'm being unrealistic or even insane.

But I do not believe that my theory is any more insane than having a stranger or an outside party, like a judge, a lawyer or a mediator make major life decisions and choices for us. Once we make the decision to allow the court system to decide how to navigate our lives it somehow removes all of the humanity from the situation. The decisions are regid, mechanical, and bias because, after alll, there is no one among us who is 100% non-biased to begin with. Even those of us who's jobs depend on us being impartial cannot escape our own cultural conditioning. 

Case in point, the following narrative.

Detroit man is facing a choice given him by the state of Michigan. The first option is to pay $30,000 in back child support for a child that is not his. His second option? Go to prison.

But wait, it gets worse. Everything and everyone involved in this story—including a paternity test, the child's mother and the court that has given Carnell Alexander the two options, recognize that the baby isn't his."I feel like I'm standing in front of a brick wall with nowhere to go," Alexander said.

Alexander said that he learned about a paternity case against him in the early '90s after a police officer called him a deadbeat dad during a traffic stop. The officer also informed him that there was a warrant out for his arrest for unpaid child support.

"I knew I didn't have a child, so I was kind of blown back," Alexander told the news station.

Alexander has been fighting since then to clear his name, with little success. Here is how the story unfolds: The state claims that in 1987 Alexander fathered a baby. The state also claims that it sent several notices to an address on file and that Alexander ignored those notices. Alexander says that he never got the notices because they were sent to an address where he no longer lived. When he heard about the child, he went to court.

"And when you were telling them in court—'That it was not my child'—they told me it was too late to get a DNA test," Alexander told the news station.

At the time, Alexander didn't know the location of the woman who claimed he was the father of the child, and with only sporadic work, lacking a full-time job, he had no money.

He eventually ran into a friend who knew where the woman was, and they got a DNA test. The test proved that Alexander had a 0.00 percent probability of being the child's father. According to the woman, the child's actual father was also in the child's life.

Story should end here, right? Wrong!

Alexander took all this information to the court, but the judge was unfazed.

"Case closed. I gotta pay for the baby," Alexander said.

The court hinged its decision on a summons that was reportedly delivered to Alexander's father's house informing him about the paternity case. The process server for the court turned in a document claiming that Alexander was served a summons but refused to sign it.

"I wasn't there. I couldn't refuse to sign," Alexander told the news station.

A local news station investigated Alexander's claims and found that on the day the server claimed he signed the document, Alexander was a guest of the Michigan Department of Corrections, serving time for a crime he committed as a young man.

So how did all this happen?

Well, years ago, the woman, Alexander's ex, had a baby. She didn't know who the father was, but she knew she needed help caring for the child. A caseworker told her that she had to name the father when she filed papers seeking government assistance.

"That was the only way I could get assistance," the woman, who didn't want to give her name, told a local media outlet. She said she had no idea that the state would go after Alexander for child support.

This woman, who chooses to remain nameless, should be charged with something........

"Everything is my fault that I put him through," she said.

She even asked to court to forgive his debt, and it did, but only the portion that was to be awarded to her. Alexander still owes around $30,000.

Alexander is refusing to pay and is being threatened with jail time.

"We know this is not my child, so let's do what we need to do, what's right," said Alexander.

PR

Smear Campaigns!

Most of us have been bombarded by numerous campaign adds on television and radio. Which is nothing special or new. But they seem to be getting dirtier and dirtier. These campaigns seemed to have evolved or should I say devolved into smear campaigns built on defamation of character. These candidates talk about what their opponents won't or don't do. Very few politicians run campaign adds where they actually talk about how they plan to make things better for their constituent's. It seems as if they focus on how they can't make things worse. With that being said the tactics are the same no matter what the party affiliation is. This makes it virtually impossible for a laymen who is not well versed in the subtle nuances of the political landscape to differentiate between the good guys and the bad guys. All you see is one smiling stranger after another mentioning names that many of us have never even heard before. While it is true that as citizens our civic duty is to know who our local politicians are, as public servants have an obligation to those they represent. These politicians should make themselves familiar faces as opposed to well dressed talking heads who pull out every trick in the book to either keep their jobs, or get a new job. None of them seem overly sincere or concerned with anything more than beating their opponent. What most don't realize is that there is a huge difference between winning an election and beating your opponent. Elections, simply by virtue of being elections mean that the people think that you are the best possible person for that office, and you are duty bound to deliver. Beating an opponent means just that. It means that they were effectively able to out slander the competition in order to convince people that he or she is a better more likable human being. But does the winner win at the peoples expense? The answer is yes, if he soul purpose was to beat his opponent as oppose to win the election. One is substanantive and the other is NOT.

PR

Just When You Thought You Heard It All News (11-1-2014)

Every now and then I like to share. I'm a man of many layers. If you peel back one layer you might discover that I love sushi. Peel back another, and you might find out that I am huge fan of Blackploitation movies, ("Avenging Disco Godfather"). Peel back just one more layer and you might even discover that I sometimes like to take a hot bubble bath while listening to spa music.....don't judge me!

 Everybody has their thing but some people are just freak'in weird!

Hello Kitty, the precious little feline with no mouth but a great bottom line, has shown the business world how to take a brand and stretch its appeal across generations. Without question, the 40-year-old character has a cult-like following that includes everyone from preschoolers to grandmothers who find the fictional kitten simply irresistible.

"Wait! Stop right there. What do you mean 'she's not real?'" asks Jann Berman, a 70-year-old super-fan who attended the first-ever Hello Kitty Fan Convention  being held in Los Angeles this weekend to commemorate Sanrio's 40th year producing the universally loved cat and the 50,000 or so products she has spawned. All 25,000 tickets to the four-day event that opened Thursday at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA have been completely sold out. Fans are scouring eBay hoping to score admission.

Berman, a principal of Berman-Singer Public Relations, has been a Hello Kitty devotee since almost the beginning. As parent company Sanrio likes to say, Hello Kitty appeals to "everyone from four to forever" and post-60 women are a large part of that customer base. Berman is a perfect example. She walks around decked out in Hello Kitty jewelry -- Swarovski crystal necklace, bracelets, earrings -- shoes, purses and headbands. She owns Hello Kitty artwork, eyeglasses and footed pajamas. She sleeps with a Hello Kitty cuddle pillow, eats toast seared with Hello Kitty's image from her Hello Kitty toaster, and her waffles are in the shape of Hello Kitty's head, made on her Hello Kitty waffle maker.

Both her Brentwood and Maui homes are museums to the Japanese bobtail cat with the trademark red bow; the homes overflow with Hello Kitty pillows, sheets, towels, kitchenware, and artwork. She has a Hello Kitty television that streams the cute kitten's image across the screen whenever you change channels or adjust the volume. Berman's BMWs are tricked out with Hello Kitty seat covers, steering wheel covers, floor mats, decals and dangling Hello Kitty dice. Her license plate holders proclaim her love of the cat. Her phone and tablet cases are Hello Kitty. She sports Hello Kitty pins, key chains, silk camisoles and jackets. Some of her Hello Kitty jewelry is so expensive it needs to be kept in her safe. Her toilet seat cover and bath mats are all Hello Kitty. And at the VIP convention preview we attended with her, much time was spent admiring the Hello Kitty toilet paper in the restroom. Yes, they have toilet paper too.

We asked Berman to explain her obsession with Hello Kitty.

"She just makes me feel happy. She is so sweet and simple and pure. How can you not be happy when you see her?," she replied, reaching for her Hello Kitty hand sanitizer. Whenever Berman's husband is in Tokyo on business, he stops at the Hello Kitty store and texts her photos of the latest merchandise. "For $200, he can be my hero," she says. And everything is relative, she says, noting that she has very wealthy friends who sport-shop for $15,000 watches. "This isn't Tiffany's, you know," Berman says. "It's my way of treating myself." Berman notes that she has always given generously to charities and makes no excuses for her Hello Kitty passion. "This is my thing."

Uber-fans like Berman are a big part of the Hello Kitty audience. Last year, Sarrio saw $8 Billion in retail sales of Hello Kitty products globally, $2 billion of that was from North America.

This is a dream come true for a carnivorous foodie like me. BUT UNFORTUNATELY IT'S ONLY IN JAPAN!! 

 Burger King Japan announced its annual all-you-can-eat Whopper promotion is returning for customers who purchase an $11 meal.

The restaurant chain announced customers at select locations will be able to order a challenge set meal Nov 4-13 for $11 and those who finish the meals -- which consist of two Whoppers and a medium fries -- will be treated to as many free Whoppers as they can eat for 30 minutes.

The annual promotion, which began in 2010 has become known as "B" King, a play on Japanese buffets' use of the word "Viking" to describe the all-you-can-eat model.

Burger King Japan said locations are selling "advance tickets" for challenge set meals priced at just over $10, saving diners nearly $1.

In Urbana, Maryland, people scrambled to grab money what seemed to raining down from heaven. It could've been an act of God that caused the armored truck's door to burst open, who knows. After all, he does worked in mysterious ways.

Maryland State Police say a lock on the truck seems to have malfunctioned, causing the door burst open Friday morning. A bag of cash fell onto Interstate 270 near Urbana and the bills flew in the air.

YES!!!

Police say a number of drivers stopped on the interstate and grabbed what cash they could before a fire department vehicle arrived and turned on its emergency lights.

Responding troopers were able to help the truck's driver recover about $200. It's not known how much cash was lost.

Police urge the drivers who took the cash to return it to the state police barracks in Frederick, or else face charges of theft if they're found.

LOL, Yeah......GOOD LUCK WITH THAT!!

PR