“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” – Marianne Williamson

This quote is often attrtibuted, incorrectly, to Nelson Mandela.

On Wednesday, Senator Barack Obama criticized the Democratic part for not competing for the support of evangelicals and other church going Americans. At a recent faith based conference, he said:

“Not every mention of God in public is a breach to the wall of separation. Context matters,” the Illinois Democrat said in remarks to a conference of Call to Renewal, a faith-based movement to overcome poverty… It is doubtful that children reciting the Pledge of Allegiance feel oppressed or brainwashed as a consequence of muttering the phrase `under God. Having voluntary student prayer groups using school property to meet should not be a threat any more than its use by the High School Republicans should threaten Democrats.”

On its face, Obama’s commentary is a thoughtful and appropriate response to the Democratic Party’s post-Clinton political practices. In many ways, Obama was rearticulating the suggestion made by Howard Dean in the 2004 election –without the racist overtones—that Democrats begin to court people “with Confederate flags on their pickup trucks.” The reality is that religion is a central part of American life and Democrats would be fools to continue conceding control of moral and religious discourse to the Right. To do so would not only be counterproductive but unethical.

Unfortunately, few decisions in politics are made on principle alone. Obama’s recent moves have me worried that he’s positioning himself for a spot on the nation ticket by moving even closer to the center than before. While this is not fundamentally problematic, his tactics raise serious questions about the price he’s willing to pay for the ticket.

Like Hillary Clinton, Obama’s comments are sounding more and more foreign to progressive ears. I’m suddenly desperate to figure out how far he’s willing to bend to please alienated conservatives. How much ground is he willing to give on so-called moral issues? Will he hold his ground on Iraq? Only time will reveal the answers to these questions, but his comments don’t inspire hope.

In the last few days, I have received more than a dozen phone calls from newspapers asking me to comment on the Star Jones/Barbara Walters controversy. Although I have a lot of thoughts on the matter, many of which I’ve offered in public, I simply don’t have the energy to invest in writing about this topic right.

Nevertheless, I’m pretty sure that my readers are interested in the subject since it’s the hottest story in the country at the moment. So, here’s a piece from the good folks at BlackProf.com.
A Falling Star

by Shavar Jeffries

On Tuesday, Star Jones of ABC’s television show “The View” announced that the network had decided not to renew her contract and that her nine-year tenure with the show would end by mid-July. On Wednesday’s telecast of “The View,” Star was — literally — nowhere to be found. Not only was she conspicuously absent from the host’s table, but also her name and picture had been removed from the introductory credits. Co-host Barbara Walters announced that Star was expected to announce her departure on Thursday’s show, not Wednesday’s, and that unexpected occurrence caused the network to determine that she should leave immediately.

Later on Wednesday, People Magazine reported that Walters was also upset with Star because in an interview with People, Star had told the magazine that her contract had not been renewed, and that she felt like she had been fired. Walters claimed that these statements to People constituted “betrayal,” as Star was told that she could leave on her own terms, announcing any reason of her choosing for her departure — by which Walters apparently meant any reason other than the truth that she had been fired. Closing the loop, on a Thursday night telecast of “Larry King Live,” ABC took things further, publishing a long list of critiques of Star’s job performance — from claims that Star had wrongfully used her celebrity to obtain wedding services to contentions that Star had misrepresented the way in which she had lost large amounts of weight.

For the remainder of the piece, click here.

A few days ago, I encouraged all of you to buy India Arie’s latest LP, Testimony: vol. 1, Life & Relationship. As I made clear at the time, my recommendation was based on the two or three songs that I heard through her MySpace page and the VH1 Soul specials that ran ad nauseum throughout the week. Later that day, I began to worry “What if the album stinks except for the few songs she released early?”

That night, I bought the CD and gave it a thorough listening, hoping that India didn’t pull an LL Cool J on me. Fortunately, the album was filled with satisfying, if occasionally overbearing, testimonies of lost love and renewed possibility.

Like her previous album, Arie shows her growing comfort in her own skin with self-affirming tracks like “Private Party” and the hit single “I Am Not My Hair” featuring Akon. Expect the latter, which was curiously put on the album instead of the original, to become the summer anthem for recovering bohos.

The best part of Testimony is its unflinching honesty. Unlike many contemporary pre-packaged R&B albums, these words come straight from India’s recently broken heart. On songs like “The Heart of the Matter,” “This Too Shall Pass” and “Wings of Forgiveness” (my favorite), Arie works through her pain in full public view. The results are marvelous, as she sonically embodies Henry Nouwen’s notion of the “Wounded Healer.”

Unfortunately, her musings often slip from the sincere to the didactic. Songs like “Better People” and “There’s Hope,” make Arie seem more naïve than hopeful in her attempts at healing the world. Still, the interesting musical arrangements and upbeat vocals keep the tracks interesting in spite of their hokieness.

Overall, Testimony is an interesting and fun, though occasionally saccharine, album. Like the other two projects, Arie’s latest will satisfy the Iyanla Vanzant reading, granola crunching, “spiritual but not religious” crowd that comprises her primary fan base. Also, her willingness to expose her pain in full public view will win her a well-deserved new crowd of people looking to heal their wounded hearts.

BARBERSHOP RATING: 3.5 out of 5 clippers

My homegirl sent this to me the other day and I enjoyed reading it. I figured I’d share it with you. (Plus, I don’t feel like writing today).

1. Your houseplants are alive, and you can’t smoke any of them.
2. Having sex in a twin bed is out of the question.
3. You keep more food than beer in the fridge.
4. 6:00 a.m. is when you get up, not when you go to bed.
5. You hear your favorite song in an elevator.
6. You watch the Weather Channel.
7. Your friends marry and divorce instead! of “hook up” and “break up.”
8. You go from 130 days of vacation time to 14.
9. Jeans and a sweater no longer qualify as “dressed up.”
10. You’re the one calling the police because those damn kids next door won’t turn down the stereo.
11. Older relatives feel comfortable telling sex jokes around you.
12. You don’t know what time Taco Bell closes anymore.
13. Your car insurance goes down and your car payments go up.
14. You feed your dog Science Diet instead of McDonald’s leftovers.
15. Sleeping on the couch makes your back hurt.
16. You take naps.
17. Dinner and a movie is the whole date instead of the beginning of one.
18. Eating a basket of chicken wings at 3 a.m. would severely upset, rather than settle, your stomach.
19. You go to the drug store for ibuprofen and antacid, not condoms and pregnancy tests.
20. A $4.00 bottle of wine is no longer “pretty good stuff.”
21. You actually eat breakfast food at breakfast time.
22. “I just can’t drink the way I used to” replaces “I’m never going to drink that much again.”
23. 90% the time you spend in front of a computer is for real work.
24. You drink at home to save money instead of going to a bar.
25. When you find out your friend is pregnant you congratulate them instead of asking “Oh Shit! What the hell happened?”