I am proud of my Nobel Prize Winning Prez!

President Barack Obama reaffirmed his campaign pledge to end the ban on homosexuals serving openly in the military in a speech Saturday at the annual Human Rights Campaign dinner.

The 2009 Nobel Peace Prize Winner said he's working with Pentagon and congressional leaders on ending the policy.

"We should not be punishing patriotic Americans who have stepped forward to serve the country," Obama said. "We should be celebrating their willingness to step forward and show such courage ... especially when we are fighting two wars."

Obama said it was no secret "our progress may be taking longer than we like." He followed this by asking supporters to trust his administration's course.

"I appreciate that many of you don't believe progress has come fast enough," Obama said. "Do not doubt the direction we are heading and the destination we will reach."

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/10/obama-says-he-will-end-do_n_316524.html

Here is the entire speech! Be you straight, lesbian, gay, bi, or transgendered you have to agree that love and loving who you love is a right we should all enjoy.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Question for you all

In April 2007, a dark brown leather sofa set, sold by Vanaik Furniture and Mattress Store in Toronto, Canada was labelled as "Nigger-brown" colour. Investigation determined that the Chinese manufacturer used an outdated version of a Chinese-to-English translation software for writing the tags; it translated the Chinese "dark-brown" characters to "Nigger-brown", and neither the Canadian supplier nor the store owner had noticed the incorrect translation the tag carried. Subsequently, Kingsoft corrected its translation software.

So I have a question for you all...Are you incensed? Were you shocked?

How do you feel about the word "nigger" There.... I said it..it was like ripping off a bandage with no warning or preparation.

I am curious and here is why. I was watching Oprah and she had Jay-Z on and they have agreed to disagree on the use of the word Nigger. Oprah feels the word should be abolished for life and Jay feels that this generation has taken the power out of the word and feels that when you start to remove words from use - another word will just fill the space to be the same all over again. He argues the real villain is racism not the word.

Oprah felt that every time she has heard the word all she can see is that it was last word many men and women heard just before they were lynched.

What do you think?

JONATHAN E. MCCOY'S SPEECH: A New Petition

Pay attention...be proud..take heed!

When the legend becomes fact..print the legend

Watch these...It will awaken you to the fact that History is a myth that people agree to believe. It means that one day Bush will be deemed something other than what he was... Scary huh

I AM GONNA SCREAM!!!!!!!!

OK so today's blog is a rant. And yes I know I have not written in a while..I've been swamped with work and life..sorry....

Every night I turn on my TV and watch the news...I read newspapers daily and I try to stay as informed as possible. But there is one thing that is killing me to no end. Everyone says "begs the question" I'll give you an example. "It begs the question, what else are they lying about?"

This is a gross misuse and it is KILLING ME!

Let me explain..."Begging the question" is a form of logical fallacy in which a statement or claim is assumed to be true without evidence other than the statement or claim itself. When one begs the question, the initial assumption of a statement is treated as already proven without any logic to show why the statement is true in the first place. In other words it means to present as true a premise that requires proof.

A simple example would be "I think he is unattractive because he is ugly." The adjective "ugly" does not explain why the subject is "unattractive" -- they virtually amount to the same subjective meaning, and the proof is merely a restatement of the premise. The sentence has begged the question.

Another example would be:

Person A: "God must exist."
Person B: "How do you know."
Person A: "Because the Bible says so."
Person B: "Why should I believe the Bible?"
Person A: "Because the Bible was written by God."

To beg the question does not mean "to raise the question." (e.g. "It begs the question, why is he so dumb?") This is a common and ridiculous error of usage made by those who mistake the word "question" in the phrase to refer to a literal question.

Sadly, the error has grown more and more common with time, such that even journalist and broadcasters who I respect and watch nightly are saying it as common as you can imagine. It grates me every time! EVERY TIME!!

Now its in advertising and all areas of major mass media entities have been using it and it is killing me because it is the "dumbing" down of civilization! We will have an entire generation who have no idea.

I ask you...No..I implore you - if you say it now..please stop...if you know someone who says it...stop them and correct them... If you hear a news person say it..write the station...if you see it in print..write the author... help turn back the tide of this madness!

Do it for the children!

Célébrez la diversité

I am currently on a few days vacay - thanks to a dear friend's insistence - in Toronto and had one of the most amazing experiences of my life yesterday.

We decided to go down to the city and take in the annual LGBT Pride Parade in all of its glory and splendor. It was by far the most amazing display of people celebrating each other's diversity in its purest form. The parade itself draws approximately 2.5 million people and is 8 days of celebrations culminating in what is now the largest pride parade in North America.

I saw all kinds of people, from all walks of life, having a myriad of professions all marching and singing and celebrating each other's diversity and the fact that diversity is beautiful and should be celebrated. The Mayor of TO, all of the major party leaders, religious leaders, policemen, firemen, nurses, doctors, kids in college, babies, grandmothers and parents - all marching in support of one common cause - the right for everyone to be simply who they were born to be. Gay dancing with straight, lesbians hugging big burly men, kids waving their flags in support of people they don't even know.... it was awe inspiring.

What a simple notion, live your life in its purest authentic form and be allowed to thrive and flourish in your own beauty. How amazing.

From fabulous drag queens to moms and dad's marching with their kids...everyone was having a blast. And I thought to myself - Toronto gets it. They get that a city without diversity will fail, they get that a city that celebrates and honors its citizens for who they are is a true global city!

So, whether you're gay, straight, fat, tall, short, black, white or polka dot - I urge you today to celebrate YOUR diversity and know that you are perfect - just the way you are!

Le Roi est mort

I promised my sister I would write in my blog and that is the only reason I am actually sitting here now. Because to be honest, my fingers feel as if my brain is lying when it is asking me to write about how I feel about the death of Michael Jackson. Michael Joseph Jackson, born Aug. 29, 1958 is dead. It doesn't make sense. The King of POP is dead. Dead...how is that even possible?

I awoke yesterday to the news that Farrah Fawcett had died and although I was very sad for the family and friends and smiled silently to myself as I remembered Charlie's Angels and that iconic poster (which I had), I knew she had been ill for 3 years battling anal cancer and she was really on borrowed time.

But at about 3PM, I checked out TMZ to see if there was a Farrah update and there it was - Michael Jackson rushed to UCLA Hospital and then for the next hour I sat there stunned until TMZ updated that what I feared had come to pass. Michael died. It still feels so odd to say it.

To say that he was talented, seems trite, to declare that he is an icon is obvious. I do not think there has ever been or will ever be another artist that has impacted so many lives across the world as MJ did. He is known in all four corners of this earth as the King of POP and rightly named so by Dame Elizabeth Taylor many years ago. He was a freakin genius!

Michael Jackson as odd as it seems has been a major part of my process of growing all of my life. The song "Ben" was the first song I learned to sing all of the lyrics to as a small child and I still love that song till this day. In fact thru all of this shock and numbness, the only time I cried is when I listened to the song today. When I had my first heartbreak in love the song - She is out of my life was there to help me thru it. His humanitarian efforts inspired me to find out more about those less fortunate than myself. No other artist in history has influenced, fashion, music, dance, business - the arts as much as Michael. We all swooned when little Michael sang ABC, we all ran out to buy Off the Wall, rushed out to get the white glove, we all wanted the cool red jacket from Beat It. We ALL learned the dance moves from Thriller and we all desperately tried to learn to Moon walk.

I can still remember that like it was yesterday. I was in our family room watching the Motown special and I remember when he came on and threw the hat off stage and started singing and when he moon walked I screamed out like a middle school girl and fell off of the sofa to the floor! It was the most incredible thing I had ever seen in my life - and I think it is still up there!

A shy boy who became a shy and misunderstood man, Michael was never truly understood by anyone. I think in many respects we - the citizens of the world - felt more comfortable to label him "Wacko-Jacko" and "Pervert" as it made us more comfortable now that we had conveniently found a box to put him into, some neat little package we could live with now we knew what to call him. But really - so what if he wanted an oxygen chamber? So what if he loved playing with chimps and adored animals and kept away from many industry peers. Like most geniuses, he lived in his own world, - a world he created to help him cope with the pressures of being Michael Jackson. Something none of us will ever truly comprehend. I never believed the accusations and I still don't. What I believe is that kindness was trumped by greed and opportunity. What I believe is that while we may not understand his own thought process or agree with how he conducted his life - who are we to judge?

I grieve for the loss of talent, for the loss of life and for the loss of a voice that to this day makes me smile when I hear him sing. I wanted oh so badly to go to London to see his comeback tour and I know that I was not alone! Millions across the globe were awaiting the return of the King and we almost made it - just shy by two weeks.

Michael Jackson will forever be the King of POP, and I will forever be a fan. For all of the conjecture about his life and the accusations and innuendos and slurs - all I know for sure is that he was a star, a humanitarian, a child at heart and a lover of his craft who gave the world and the industry all he had to give and when there was nothing else left to give, he moved onto Glory.

I found this song on YouTube and I had never heard it before but I think it truly says all that Michael Jackson truly felt and was.



Rest in peace King of POP..Long may you reign!

RIP FARRAH

This I know for sure...

I believe this is my Karma. This is how my life was to supposed to unfold. I believe our purpose in life is to express our divinity by transcending our limitations both real and imagined..

.

Something meaningful

My dad sent the below to me.... I love that man!

Something Meaningful
The results you get do not come from a situation. The results you achieve are determined by what you choose to focus on and what you choose to do.

From the very same set of circumstances, two different people can achieve two vastly different results. The outcome is not based on what they're given, but on what they do with what they are given.

If the results you are getting are not the results you desire, stop looking for someone or something to blame. Start looking for the possibilities that you have not yet considered.

Make your most positive and compelling purpose the filter through which you view everything that happens. That will cause outstanding, powerful possibilities to come into focus. The world around you is constantly changing. There is always a way to harness the energy of the ever-changing landscape to suit your purpose.

Look calmly and confidently at the situation in which you find yourself. Then step gratefully forward, and make something beautiful, valuable and meaningful out of it all.

Everyone needs a Sergio

(ITS LONG..)

Today is a very dark day for me and I really don't even know how to put one foot in front of the other today to be honest and more importantly I don't know that I want to. After much soul searching and looking for a brighter day my best friend, Sergio has decided that now may be the best time for him to take a break from the daily grind and return to Costa Rica to the love and support of his family and while there find the necessary clarity he seeks.

I would be lying if I said I didn't feel like I was dying inside but I know that in the long run Sergio must do what is best for his physical and emotional well being and for his life in general. Someone far smarter than me told me last night that we must not make this about us and that it must be about Sergio and what he needs for his life at this time. So I am trying, but I can not lie - it is unimaginably hard. Today when I took him to the airport I thought I would expire because I could not breathe - it was one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life. Every fiber of my body was screaming to not let him go...but I did cause it's what he needs at this moment in time.

Most of you know Sergio is my best friend, what you may not know is that for 9 yrs we have been completely inseparable - there has not been a Sergio without Brian close by for 9 full yrs and we have been the truest form of best friends you could ever imagine.... In fact, the longest we have ever been apart physically is 14 days and the longest without talking is one day.

He left today - this morning actually and as I stood there at the airport I felt such sadness but also a little hopeful that he would find his center and the light in his eyes would return again soon. For those of you who know him and love him, you can imagine this decision could not have been easy for him and it is tearing him apart because he is concerned he is letting me down and all of you who love him as well. Which as you know is typical Sergio....loving, sweet, and just the biggest heart of anyone I know.

So I really don't know what to do... So I will write and say all the things I could not say to his face for the last few weeks when I knew of his decision.

How do you begin to thank someone who gave you the courage to live your life in its truest authentic form? How do you even say to that person that you love them more than life itself without sounding melodramatic? I have been thinking about that very thing since January 6, 2000 when I met and became connected for the rest of my life to my best friend, my soul mate, Sergio.

Most people tell you that your soul mate is your spouse or life partner or whatever phrase you use, but I don’t necessarily agree. I think it can happen for some, but my soul mate is Sergio. Not taking anything away from anyone I have ever loved or love, but it’s different with "boo" as I call him. From the time we met we both knew we shared an amazing connection that has bound us inextricably to each other for the rest of time.

That is why I feel everyone should have a Sergio. If I could bottle him I would because his is the kind of support, friendship and love that everyone should get to experience in their lives. He is kind, sweet, generous, funny, crazy, lovable and one amazing man. Everyone who meets him immediately falls in love with him, so much so that after they have met him if they see me without him their first and sometimes only question for me is where is he?

We actually started talking to each other in 1999 online in a chat room and became chat buddies, but never met. It was hurricane season 1999 and I was freaked out and staying at another friend’s house and chatting on line and I was designated to give the updates to the rest of the room and Sergio was one of the guys who would constantly ask me for the updates while laughing at the fact that I was freaking out over the bad weather. Having now lived through Katrina and Wilma I have to agree that wasn’t even a bad rainy day in comparison to those horrific forces of nature.

From those first exchanges we started to chat more often and when the person I was seeing at the time finally revealed themselves to be the psycho they really were, Sergio was there for me to lean on and shed all my worries. I guess at that time it was easier to talk to a stranger than to share my grief with someone who knew me personally.

But from there the seeds were sewn. We exchanged telephone numbers and the first time we spoke on the phone we talked for hours and it felt like it was only minutes and I had found a great friend for life.

They say if you listen to the voices inside and get out of their way that you would have experienced God’s divinity. Well I think that is what Sergio has been for me all these years living in America since. He was divinely sent to help me through this journey I have been on in the last 9 years. Without him, I would have been lost and definitely not had all these wonderful life experiences we have shared. So many that they could fill a lifetime for another person, but for us, they have been 9 incredible years of laughter, friendship and self discovery.

He is probably the only person in the world that I know that can put up with my BS and also call me on it and I won’t walk away from him in anger.

He is the only person that knows the true me, the full me, all of me, warts and all and doesn't care. It almost feels wrong to call him my best friend. He is far more than that, but there is no word yet in our language for what we share. I would lay down my life for him, and that says it all.

What I cherish the most is that we have laugh together a lot. I think it’s the laughter that I cherish the most. We crack each other up like you could not imagine. We can sit together and spend hours making each other laugh. Stupid things like sitting in a movie together and we’ll look at each other and one of us will stick out a tongue or tickle the other for no reason at all.

We quickly discovered years ago that we finished each other’s sentences and that we also said the same things at the same time. I think one of the funniest was one day we were at Banana Republic and I was backing him and he me, and we both said to each other at the same time “Ohh you have to see this thing” and when I turned around and he did as well, we were holding the same item. It’s what Sergio refers to as our “freakishness!” Well, whatever it is, I love it!

We have traveled together to some of the most amazing places on earth. Traveling as a duo we have certain shared guidelines for any trip. We don’t do lines, time schedules, or anything obligatory. Paris, Prague, Rome Milan, Berlin, Amsterdam were all left in our wake. I have loved every minute of every trip. I’m the scrap-booker, so I have been the keeper of our physical memories of every trip we have taken together. I have been looking at them a lot recently and the one common thread no matter the location is how much fun we are having.

Our friendship however is more than about just having fun. Sergio has been there to support me at every step of the way in my career. When I started to do more major marketing events it was him I turned to for help and guidance. I know that if for a single minute that I have doubts about my abilities or talents, he is right there lockstep with me assuring me that I can do it and that he is going to be there with me to make sure it all goes well. He was there when I had the boss from hell and wanted to quit every single day, assuring me I was better and bigger than her and that I would prevail.

His warm huge heart belies what he tries to project as a serious exterior. He is a true angel, sent to watch over me. Sometimes I think my family ordered him to watch over me in America, he is so perfect. He is the child my parents didn't have and the other big brother to my sister.

If I could bottle whatever IT is that is his essence, I would because when I tell you that I truly believe that everyone should have a Sergio, I mean it. Thank you boo, for being the best friend anyone could ever ask for. For being the one person I know will always be there to cheer me on, and who I know will tell me the ugly truth no matter what not because you get pleasure from my pain, but because you want to help me avoid the pain that delusion causes.

But now he is gone and I am going to have to try to figure this out till he gets back.

I have always felt that in life there is a wind behind each of us, pushing us on our life's journey taking us often times to paths unknown and unplanned. My wind has taken me all over the place and now it is his turn. Now, his wind is taking him in a new direction away from me and all that we have enjoyed together over these years. I don't know where it is going but I do know that I will miss him more than any of you can ever imagine and I will wait right here and pray that he finds what ever it is that he seeks and more importantly deserves.

I pray that he has felt as much love and support from me over the years as I have felt from him... I send him home to his family with a very heavy heart, but grateful that I know he will go home and have some distance to find the clarity he so desperately seeks but can't find here right now. I hope that path leads him right back here to all of us who love him for more life experiences and laughter and I hope it is soon. But if it isn't, I let him go knowing that we have a bond that is unbreakable and while the distance may be more than we planned to ever exist, it will not, can not and shall not dampen our friendship.

I pray to God that he watches over my boo and brings him all things good while he is away. I love you boo with all my heart and will miss you every day until I can see your face again. Until then - here is a song for you....

ummmm Thanks Gilette...

Soome more talented Bajans

Here are two childhood friends working it out at the Jacksonville Jazz Festival - Arturo Tappin who is a bad hush your mouth Saxophonist and Grammy nominated Nicky Brancker - here with legendary Roberta Flack who is an adopted Bajan!

Welcome the South Bronx to the Supreme Court BABYYYYYY!!

On Tuesday morning, President Barack Obama picked federal appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor to be his first Supreme Court Justice appointee, succeeding retiring Justice David Souter.

If confirmed, Sotomayor, 54, would become the first Latina in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court!!!!

A graduate of Princeton University and Yale Law School, a former prosecutor and private attorney, Sotomayor became a federal judge for the Southern District of New York in 1992. She grew up in the Bronx in a housing project after her parents moved to New York from Puerto Rico. She has dealt with diabetes since age 8 and lost her father at age 9, growing up under the care of her mother in humble surroundings.

Congratulations, Sonia!

Welcome Livvi Franc

The next Bajan Superstar has finally released her first two songs! Livvi Franc - signed to Jive Records is about to become the newest Barbadian sensation! Look out world..here she comes! Hell yeah I am proud!!!!

FREE



NOW I AM THAT B.I.T.C.H (Babe in Total Control of Herself)

This week's Flash back pick me up!!

Have always loved this song! This one is dedicated to my best friend Sergio!

I LOVE KEITH OLBERMAN!!!!!!!!!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Prez Obama Slays 'em at the WH Correspondents Dinner 2009

Grey's Anatomy tore out my heart!!!

OMG! Did you all see Grey's Anatomy season finale last night?

It left me exhausted, crying and shouting at the TV. Now you all know I am a big softee and cry at NAACP ads but last night Grey's took me on a roller coaster ride I did not expect and then
dumped me out at the end with not one but two plot lines that raised the emotional level so high I had a headache and had to go to bed immediately.

So, in case you didn't see it here is a synopsis. In a stunning climax to the season, Izzy (Katherine Heigl) flat-lined after a risky surgery performed by McDreamy (Patrick Dempsey) to remove a brain tumor and George (T.R. Knight) appeared set to meet his maker after getting hit by a bus.

But before we could hear anybody call “time of death,” the screen faded to black and “Grey’s” headed off for summer hiatus leaving me hanging and screaming at the TV. Now I know that it has long been speculated that Heigl and Knight wanted out of the show, her because of her burgeoning move career and him because of how his character has been minimized the last two seasons. So the safe assumption is that both characters are now among the carnage of May sweeps. On the other hand, the scenes played out very much like a good old fashion "Dallas" cliff-hanger — as epic as the Who Shot JR one... and thus leaves the door open to new life and new contracts for the two.

Shonda Rhimes did an excellent job of keeping us in the dark until the very end. In Izzy’s case, she agreed to go under McDreamy’s knife, despite the risk that she could turn out to be a vegetable. That plot line alone was an emotional roller coaster because my spirits were lifted when the surgery was successful and she woke up speaking, but then dropped again when short-term memory problems came to light. Then for a moment it appeared as if Izzie would recover fully after Alex Karev yelled at her and she remembered it — then the final drop - she lost consciousness in the arms of a horrified Alex. And I freaked out!

The George plot line was even more of a mean and a complete shock. At one point, they showed him signing up for the army to become a trauma surgeon - I knew that was going to be him) and then we spent the rest of the show thinking he was in surgery and the team would have an intervention to make him change his mind only to discover the chief sent him home early and I thought he would simply disappear from Seattle Grace, leaving us to assume he was on his way to Iraq.

It wasn’t until the very freaking end we discovered he never made it out of Seattle — and was, instead, right under our noses all along, clinging to life as a bloody and unrecognizable John Doe when he took Meredith's hand and wrote "007" in her palm and I screamed out GEORGEEEE.

It appears, he was on his way out of the hospital when he heroically pushed a woman out of the path of a bus and was struck and dragged by it himself. Such a George thing to do!

So what did you think of the finale? Were you stunned by the ending — or did you see it coming? Can “Grey’s Anatomy” survive without Izzie and George? Let me know..

Wanda Sykes KILLS at WH Correspondents Dinner 2009