Author: Robert Barrimond

Yes, United We Can Stand

A friend called him America’s Mandela. I agree. Yeah, I said it! will.i.am is a hell of an artist.

Dipdive: A friend called him America’s Mandela. I agree. Yeah, I said it! will.i.am is a hell of an artist.

(Via DipDive.)

B.E.T. Honors

For much of the network’s life, I have not been a big fan of it’s social impact. Far too many booties shakin’, gangstas, and not enough positive images or ideas. But as of late, I’ve seen some pretty good programming. The kind of stuff the community has been clamoring for years despite Bob Johnson. This program is a great example of what I hope to be a mainstay of the network. If it doesn’t, we can always watch more of the Boondocks!

You Go Cheap; You Get Cheap

I recently bought an external drive for my MacBook Air and ran into some issues not with the new drive but a drive I purchased 8 months ago. The vendor was not the cheapest but with experience has proven to be the most value. Why? I was able to call for an RMA, get an advance replacement for the older drive sent to me, and send me software that I didn’t even buy. I had made an equivalent purchase to a bundle that included the software. They agreed to mail it to me at no cost. This kind of treatment is well worth the couple of bucks I pay more per item. That “cost” provides me value far in excess of what I paid.

The Truth about Santa Claus

Today I was inspired by remembering a personal story that I think does justice to explaining where I’m coming from. It shows how I can disagree with my fellow Christians about the Bible’s ontological nature vis-á-vis the Word of God, yet agree to its Truth.

Over the years, I’ve been given to expressing an increasingly strong conviction of mine about the Bible as it relates to the Word of God. I’ve often expressed it as simply that the two are not one and the same, specifically that the former is a reflection of the latter. Simply said (perhaps overly so), “The Bible is not the Word of God,” any more than I am Jesus Christ. The Bible being faulted, limited, human while the Word of God is Truth transcendant and divine. This has gotten me in no little trouble with my fellow Christian brothers and sisters, esp. of those given to more fundamentalist leanings.

In trying to explain my point of view, I’ve noticed that I’ve had trouble conveying my thoughts, beliefs, and convictions because when I speak with my brothers and sisters in Christ we often use the same words to name very different perspectives on things. Today I was inspired by remembering a personal story that I think does justice to explaining where I’m coming from. It shows how I can disagree with my fellow Christians about the Bible’s ontological nature vis-á-vis the Word of God, yet agree to its Truth.

Continue reading “The Truth about Santa Claus”

Broken Record

I sometimes confront white hostility to “all that black crap” when discussing race with friends or acquaintances. Their exasperation with what they view as black obsession over victimization or beating the dead horse of slaver is clear. The want to stop the broken record of black complaint.
It’s easy to sympathize with them. I have felt much the same exasperation but with white ignorance, sometimes willful ignorance. When I hear things like, “MLK would never want affirmative action to exist today,” or that Emmett Till was a sexual harasser for whistling at a white woman, I have to hold my tongue and cool my impatience/annoyance. (Affirmative action is a pale ghost [no pun intended] of what MLK advocated for in society and Emmett Till was brutally murdered for simply whistling at a white woman.) It’s a teachable moment and I have to bear the burden of playing the broken record if only in an attempt to dispel ignorance with knowledge.
It doesn’t have to be this way. If black and white would listen to one another with respect and concern, then perhaps we can finally throw away each other’s broken records!

Protecting the Guilty

ABC News: DNA Clears 200th Wrongfully Convicted:

“What’s also troubling is how common these exonerations have become since the first reversal in 1989. It took 13 years to reach the first 100 DNA exonerations, but just five to double that number [emphasis mine]. For prosecutors and judges, as well as defense attorneys, the exonerations raise a larger question: How many others, innocent of their crimes, are behind bars?”

(Via ABC News.)

Black people know the answer: a whole lot!

In a world where people still assume your guilt based on your skin color, where class determines punishment or leniency, this number shouldn’t be all that shocking. Black folk have known all too many of their number are in prison wrongfully. Science is forcing white society to confront evidence of its personal and institutional racism, its sometimes overt and sometimes subtle racism among other social pathologies (e.g. lust for vengeance instead of a thirst for justice, etc.). I wonder how much will it take before people start to reconsider their positions? This country is not accustomed to looking in the mirror.

Cheney: House is undermining the troops – Yahoo! News

Cheney: House is undermining the troops – Yahoo! News:

“Cheney called it a myth that ‘one can support the troops without giving them the tools and reinforcements they need to carry out their mission.'”

(Via Yahoo! News.)

I agree. Providing body armor at the outset of the war would have been nice. Funding proper medical facilities for the wounded after they’ve sacrificed limb. They went to war with “the army you have.” And this is when the administration had a blank check. Actually, this administration has done far more to undermine the troops than the hand-wringing, rubber-for-backbone Dems have ever done. But then again, what else should we expect from a Dick whose every prediction turns out to be wrong?

Why I’m not a Conservative

Facts. They are a show stopper! Ignorance mixed with a touch of condescension and a complete lack of self-knowledge make for a very strong common pattern among these so-called conservatives: they come off like sophomoric fools. The recent interview by Jon Stewart of John Bolton on a recent episode of The Daily Show is a grand example of this common pattern. Bolton’s comment, “[Officials in the administration] should be judged on their performance,” is particularly poignant. By that standard alone, Bush’s presidency is a near-complete failure. (To those who think that the lack of a major terrorist attack in the US is proof of competence, I have one word: Katrina.)
Bolton interview (about 9 minutes):

And the recap setting the record straight (about 5 minutes):

“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” –Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Real Hip Hop


“Age don’t count in the booth when ya flow stay submerged in the fountain of youth.” –Rakim Allah

What is Hip-Hop

I was asked recently what I thought was the state of hip-hop today. I felt inspired:

Hip-hop is an art form that in classic African style, unites the word and the drum. It lives on in the hearts and minds of the true heads. You, me, that white girl with the nipple rings that knows every word spit by Talib Kweli, that Korean cat in Seoul who memorized every one of Rakim’s joints. It is alive and well and forms the nucleus of an entire urban culture to which you and I take part. Rhymes, skills, things of that nature…
Now that segment of the music industry (as opposed to art) often misnamed “hip-hop” and confused with the art form is a pimp game with large corporations as the pimps, “artists” as the whores (“This is Why I’m Hot”), and the music buying public as the johns. It too is alive and well and with some hubris purports to BE the former. Don’t get it twisted…
Make your next move, your best move. 😉