23 Vacant Positions

My mother, wife, and the other member of Verily Prime are always

laughing and re-telling the story behind twenty-three vacant positions. Over four years ago, I answered an ad which said that they had 23 vacant compliance positions. During the initial process, I spoke to the lady in charge via a telephonic interview; she lauded me with praise about my being an attorney, my writing samples, and my knowledge of the subject matter. I was told to come down for a formal interview…so I was attired in my best business suit, polished black shoes, and the expensive leather brief-case the other member of Verily Prime gave me for graduating law school. I have deliberately left out an important variable that is germane to this story-that is when I spoke to the would-be-employer, I spoke in a fake British Accent. I have being doing so for a long time…since I was a boy in California. Within my West Indian family, I spoke what is called “Patios,” but among my American friends and colleagues, who had a difficult time understanding the above mentioned Patios, I spoke the Queen’s English. Now, let us get back to the story. I go to the interview to this fancy building in lower Manhattan…and as I waited in the lobby, a representative of the lady that lauded me on the phone came and said that the positions were filled. At that moment, I understood racism and how people in similar situations, all of sudden, resort to deadly violence that they hadn’t known before. I thank Christ Jesus that I wasn’t “packing,” and moreover, that He gave me the grace to walk out peacefully. The funny thing is that before I became a Christian, I seldom drank alcohol, yet when I was refused the interview, I went to Apple-Bees on and ordered two Budweiser beers. Now, because I had such a low tolerance for the spirits, I found myself having to wait along time for the two beers to wear off. I tell this story because we, as blacks, in this part of America, tend to have this feeling that racism is only rampant and blatant down South or what is pejoratively call “Dixie.” I have had Army basic training in Alabama and Army training down at Georgia and I could honestly say that the South has nothing vis-à-vis racism on some of my Italian, Jewish, and Irish brothers and sisters in New York City. When the renown Lehman Brothers went out of business, I happened to be working upstate New York in a compliance capacity; my dear mother called me lamenting about the fate of all those people who lost their jobs as a result of Lehman’s collapse-she then made the astute observation that all she saw coming out of the Lehman building, with their card board boxes with their belongings, were whites….

-Verily Prime

THE PRESIDENTIAL “DISSED” OF THE THIRD BRANCH

What if during President Bush’s presidency and during the convoking of the August body, which is the gathering of those who attended The State of The Union address, that we, along with the rest of the world, witnessed a Presidential Bully-Pulpit “dissed” by Bush of the other two equal branches (Legislative and Judiciary) of our government? We would have heard what a dunce that Presidential Bush was and is for breaching such a protocol. Yet, this is what took place when President Obama during his State of The Union Address did when he disrespected the Judiciary--Third Branch of our government--over one of its recent decisions. It is the constant refrain of the author of this blog that President Obama was a Constitutional Law professor; it must be underscored that Obama was on “Law Review” and graduated top of his Harvard Law class, yet he often says and acts otherwise. The only conclusion we can come to is that President Obama is depending on his “cult of personality,” whereby no matter how egregious his actions are-he gets a past because of supposedly his Adonis looks and the fact that supposedly he speaks with the tongue of angels or more aptly like the famous Roman orator, Cicero. Now those who are biased is blaming Supreme Court Justice Alito for mouthing back to President Obama that he was mistaken about the law in question, which the latter took umbrage to. How dear a member of one the equal branches of our government speak back to the secular messiah? Now, if former president Bush, during his State of The Union Address, had said to the members of the court who support Roe (the case that codified the whole-sale slaughter of the unborn under the auspices of women’s rights) and, moreover, to the one member of Roe’s author that is still on the Supreme Court, that he was a murderer, the press and the world would have had a stroke. Ironically, the second Executive Order President Obama signed when he took office was to restore the funding to foreign countries for abortions-yet, President Bush is the one known as a murderer. Last week, in the wake of the Democrats losing in Massachusetts, one retiring Democratic, from Arkansas, perhaps reading the political tea leaves, told President Obama that to prevent the loss of many seats in the coming mid-term elections, he must compromise or shelve health-care reform. President Obama replied that the reason health-care failed under former President Clinton was because, “they did not have him.” Not even the cult evangelist Jim Jones drank his own Kool-Aid, which he supplied to his flock down in Guyana that killed over 900 hundred souls-Jones’ body was found riddled with bullets. Apparently, our current secular messiah president drinks his own Kool-Aid….

-Verily Prime

THE DEMISE OF CAMELOT AND ITS COATTAILS

Imagine you wake one day, and witnessed an Orthodox Jew governing Iran or turning on the Country & Western video channel and seeing one of their white females stars kissing a black man in one of their music videos-this is the situation we are witnessing in the election of a Republican to represent the seat held for over four decades by the late Ted Kennedy. It is said that the demise of Camelot, which was ascribed to the Kennedys, like the fabled Camelot of King Author’s fame who wielded Excalibur and who sought the Holy Grail to make the land plentiful, etc, came to an official end when the Massachusetts Senator died recently. No one could have predicted that the beating that the Democrats took would happen in fair Camelot, the bastion of Liberalism. President Obama campaigned for the Democratic contender and lost...this happened in Virginia and again in New Jersey, yet our president is not connecting the dots that he must abandon the loons on the far left of his party. In one of our past blogs, we wrote about the troika-like government--Obama, Pelosi and Reid governance--and its folly. All the past presidents have accomplished at least one major campaign promise in their first year, except President Obama. This dearth of accomplishment is even more conspicuous because President Obama has the bully pulpit and the benefit of a majority in both houses in Washington DC. The problem lies in the fact that those who speak for the president and he himself come off as elitist...thumbing their Ivy-league noses at the common man. And those of us who think like the common man and have walked the halls of academia..they relegate us as aberrations. The common man drinks coffee from 7-Eleven; some drive trucks; most believe in a deity and they go to church to pay homage to said deity; they hunt and believe in animal husbandry; they think that the truth is not relative; they think that political correctness is a cancer; and that the seat of Government belongs to the people; and they do not like to be insulted or talked down to...as is the wont of most elitists. Case in point, President Obama explained the loss in Massachusetts akin to his ascent to the presidency...opining that the people who voted him in, did the same by voting in the Republican-Did you get the disconnect? Mind you, our Narcissist in Chief said this with a straight face and the savant reporter (pun intended) did not say to our president, that, as recently as Sunday, you were stumping in Massachusetts on the Democratic candidate’s behalf. Mark our words, they will bring out the boogie-man George Bush to blame for all our ills because nothing negative that has happened is President Obama’s fault. I am afraid to say what I am about to say because I fear it may embolden our secular messiah president and make his narcissism chronic-but it must be said for objectivity’s sake. Two predecessors, Clinton and Reagan, were in similar situation during their respective presidencies and corrected the course and are deemed successful by presidential historians...so President Obama can do the same, especially if the economy starts humming. In conclusion, let me convey to our secular messiah president by borrowing from history a lesson that seems appropriate to his psychosis; the great Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius was so popular that he employed a man just to remind him that, "he was just a man...not a god."

-Verily Prime

POTPOURRI OF OPINING

First, to our fellow Kittitian, Mr. Huggins, we thank you for exposing our blog to the people of St. Kitts/Nevis and the U.S. Virgin Islands. We also understand that our countrymen are vexed with us because we said in a recent blog that light-skinned blacks were in all the positions of authority-I should have qualified my statements by saying that when we were growing up there. We are told now that the positions of power in St. Kitts/Nevis are held by hues of all stripes. You have also asked Mr. Huggins what essentially is the two members of Verily Prime’s philosophy; simple, we approach all that we do from a traditional Christian point of view-meaning, if a given behavior was wrong when the Christ walked the earth in the flesh, it is still wrong...no matter how many of us are engaged in said proscribed behavior (s). Case in point, over a weak ago, someone on Craigslist loved the blog and wanted us to write for his online venture. Only thing is that this potential employer wanted the members of Verily Prime to be Conservative just for the sake of being Conservative–this is why we cannot watch the likes of Hannity or listen to Rush Limbaug--. Of course, we refused our potential suitor...although we could have used the mammon. What this potential employer was proposing was that even if a staunch Democrat like our father was correct on a given issue, because we are supposedly Conservative, we would have to oppose him. Our mantra or refrain is that the truth is not relative and there are times when Democrats are right too. We will not oppose President Obama when he is telling the truth or engaging in Christian endeavors because the members of Verily Prime strive to be objective, and moreover, our faith requires it. In New York, where we reside, we do not like ex Mayor Giuliani...because we think that he is rank racist--yet, we are objective enough to say that he cleaned up New York when he was mayor. The reason we hold the ex mayor in low esteem is that during Giuliani’s campaign for mayor to replace New York’s first Black Mayor, Dinkins, we watched as cops on the courtroom steps, called Mayor Dinkins, "nigger" this and "nigger" that, over some dispute about benefits. The salient fact was that Giuliani never chastised those racist police officers for the disrespect showed to his predecessor. In addition, during the wrongful shooting of Amandou Diallo by some of New York’s finest, then Mayor Giuliani was brutal in the way he treated the mother of the victim. Back then, we were struck on the fact that here was a mayor wrapping himself in moral superiority and he was once married to his first cousin. We conveyed these facts to show that we will take on all comers and if we are being hypocritical, we also will let you know we are being so. Another example is that when the author of this blog served in the US Army, I did what most young men did...sowed my wild oats. Now, as a Christian, my God calls my exploits then, sinful (fornication); so because my flesh enjoyed the sex and it felt good, should I say it was ok-of course not...because the tenets of my faith say otherwise. I conveyed this to show that we do not even spare ourselves...I do not even want to get into what the other member of Verily Prime have engaged in...before he saw the proverbial Light.

-Verily Prime

IN DEFENSE OF PAT ROBINSON

Recently, in the wake of the tragedy in Haiti, Pat Robinson, the tele-evangelist, opined that Haiti have had all these woes because of a literal pact its leaders--L’ouverture, Faustin, and Christophe--during their revolution signed with the devil. This member of Verily Prime is not privy to the verity of the supposed Faustian pact..but I can say that if this is so, then Pat Robinson, from his traditional Christian beliefs, is right! Political correctness has no place among those of us who call ourselves traditional Christians-it’s akin to us like compromising the Word of God as we interpret it. I know from the get go, this will not be a popular blog and that the atheists and others who read it will be rolling their eyes. We may even be looked upon a loons, but we believe, like Pat Robinson, everything he said concerning our faith on this particular issue. It is no coincidence to us that the very First Commandment says that, thou should have no other Gods, but Me...Many Haitians practice voodoo, or as it is called in the Bible, Necromancy. Now, Mr Robinson who have read the Word and the members of Verily Prime who knew this before we were twelve years old--the consequences of those who practice voodoo--etc; were surprised, even more so, by Christians who berated Reverend Robinson-he was not making up what he said from whole cloth. Where was the political correctness in the brutal punishment God doled out on the Jews for worshiping a false gods and engaging in what He deemed wickedness? When Moses came back from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments and the Jews were worshiping a false god-were they not punished by death-many ironically were swallowed up by the earth; In the Book of Genesis, when God came down and had dinner with Abraham and as He was leaving with his two angels, didn't He asked the two angels if He should tell Abraham what He was about to do with Sodom & Gomorrah, because Abraham’s nephew, Lot, lived in Sodom-where was the political correctness then? When God told the prophet Ezekiel "To warn them for me" because of the Israelis serving of false gods and their pending destruction-where was the political correctness then? Didn’t God tell Saul, Israel’s first king, to wipe out all the necromancers-and when Saul refused, didn't the prophet Samuel carried out God’s order. All of these accounts you could readily read in the Bible, and for us traditionalists, no stretch of interpretation can chalk it up to analogy or symbolism. Again, you may say we and other traditional Christians are loons or worse, but it is what we believe and even upon the pain of death, the members of Verily Prime always ask Jesus, the Christ, for the courage of our convictions in such matters of eschatology. To Reverend. Robinson’s critics, focus upon all he has done for Haiti by the way of aid long before the current tragedy...focus upon all the homes he has build down in Louisiana from his own coffers (you may research this). I conclude by positing this rhetorical question-what is the singular similarity that is common among the dire straits suffered by certain parts of Africa, Louisiana, and Haiti....

-Verily Prime

The Prodigals of Capitol Hill

I am certain that the great chasm supposedly found around Bermuda (The Triangle) has relocated somewhere near Capitol Hill and the Democrats are privy to this fact and feed it the peoples’ money. No one knows for sure when the Triangle changed its diet from transports conveyors to greenbacks-but it has happened. And no need for you to investigate, the scientists are all Democrats–or Democrats lite (Olympia Snow, etc) and like the global warming data, it is all doctored to show the merits of profligate spending. In addition, like the data surrounding the mostly bogus science surrounding the new secular religion, Global Warming, there is also no room for scientific peer review, and moreover, dissent. Most of us who benefit from this spending are short sighted and lack the discipline needed to say, No. Such largess from Congress is like an attractive nuisance; think dangling ice-scream in front of a child or corruption in front of a Chicago politician, unless you are the current secular messiah president. I am hoping that the Triangle changes its diet again and becomes a head hunter, specifically for profligate spending politicians and that its appetite will be triggered and sated by these prodigals governing our fiscal house. In the mean time, we the people who see and know the merits of securing a fiscally responsible future for our children should be vigilant in persuading those who are hooked on the drug of free money. This war to throw out the mammon-like drugs dealers out of Washington will be a formidable battle because charts and projections are poor substitutes for the tangibles offered from the prodigals from DC. Our greatest appeal is to the filial nature of our people by posing to them the hard questions that must be asked: Do we really want to leave our children owing to the future loan sharks, (Chinese and the Saudis), who are more dangerous than those who dressed in wife-beaters, wielding Louisville sluggers to collect? The latter may break bones, but the former will take our children’s souls, via their way of life, because of their brutish, respective means of curtailing Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness? I conclude by saying that unlike the Prodigal Son in the Bible whose father gained riches by practicing animal husbandry and had a visible, tangible abundance of animals (the currency then) to replace his son’s loss, we do not. So come on Bermuda Triangle, your mouth is wider and your appetite more insatiable than the 435 ogres managing our fiscal house on Capitol Hill. Bon Appetit!

-Verily Prime

IN SUPPORT OF SENATOR HARRY REID

Over the weekend, Senator Reid had to apologize to President Obama for writing that the President was only elected because he was light skinned...coupled with the fact that he did not speak the way typical Negroes spoke. All the so-called Civil Rights leaders opined on the matter and Political Correctness held sway in the media. The truth is that Senator Reid is correct in his assessment. There has always been a disparity in how the dark skinned blacks were treated as opposed to those that were light skinned. Be it here in the USA, Cuba, Haiti, Brazil, Jamaica, Trinidad and my very own birth place of Saint Kitts/Nevis--all these countries treat their light-skinned blacks better than those of a darker hue. In my country, it is not an official policy sanctioned by the authorities that there be deference afforded lighter hued blacks, it just is. I may even back up Senator Reid’s take by positing evidence. Look at those black beauties who have had interracial relationships on the silver screen-they all have had Halle Berry’s hue. The few black models who have adorn the cover of Sports Illustrated have all been light skinned; those who have been past Miss America, Miss Universe , etc, overwhelmingly have been light skinned. The naked truth is that it is not only the late Michael Jackson who bleached his skin-it has been a practice rampant among some darker hued blacks. During the OJ trial, even Time Magazine darkened OJ’s hue, so as to make him more ominous because the magazine rightly surmised that most people associated evil with darkness, which is replete in our literature. As to the speaking like a typical Negro–that too is true. Even the rapper" Snoop Dog," who gives credence to Ebonics, every time he is in court to defend his chronic use of Marijuana, does not have his expensive mouthpieces speak to the judge in Ebonics, but have them speak the Queen’s English or when he is allocuting, he too put the "fu-shizzle’ nonsense aside. It was why during the Inauguration of our First African American President, his daughters chose the Jonas Brothers to perform-instead of some rapper whose every couplet in his or her song would have had the word "bitch" or "ho." The Biblical Solomon said that there is nothing new under the sun-Senator Reid should take heed that even in the Bible that Moses’ sister, Miriam, was mad at Moses for marrying an Ethiopian; ironically, God punished Miriam by cursing her with Leprosy for her prejudice.

-Verily Prime

A DIRE WARNING TO BRITANIA

The British in their secular wisdom have been trying to seek and punish Israeli Army officers for so called war crimes against the Palestinian people. I say to the English-try enforcing such a biased edict! In 1982, when I joined the armed forces of this country, I pledged, because of my beliefs in traditional Christian values, that there is one country I will not and cannot fight against was Israel. Back then, I did not know what it was I was doing, but later on I realized that it was what in the USA we call a conscientious objection. To those in England, be wary what you are about to undertake; as we have written in past blogs, you are not going after the Israelis out of adherence to International Law, you are doing so because you are deadly afraid of the jihadists in your midst. It is ironic that it was the British who sought through the Belfour Declaration in 1917 to find a home for the Jewish Diaspora-incidentally, their second choice for a home for the Jews was Guyana in South America. The latter choice could not be made because Israel was given to the Jews by the Almighty God. Someone tell me why do we see the Jews bowing and placing prayers in the crevices of Herod’s temple, which was partially destroyed in A.D. 70? Did this temple suddenly appear in 1948 when Israel became a country? Why is that the Dead Sea Scrolls, have among them intact, the Book of Esther and Isaiah, those same two books found in the Old Testament? Was there a conspiracy against the Palestinians to place these books that give empirical evidence to the Jewish claim to land of Israel too? The Members of Verily Prime belief in God is rooted in faith-so we place no credence in carbon dating or scrolls to know that Israel belongs to the Jews. I say to the British, three times, Israel, a country as small as Rhode Island, has placed a shellacking on her enemies and although the Iranians bloviate, among the other hordes, about its destruction…Israel still stands. I will admonish the world, along with the Brits, that even if the whole world, including these United States, were to go up against Israel, no matter how formidable an army-THEY WILL LOSE!

-Verily Prime

MAKING OUR CONSTITUTION SUICIDAL

Once again, our secular messiah president, Barack Obama, has failed for the third time when he was confronted with the pressing issue of Muslim terrorism. The normally smooth operator is often discombobulated when confronting those who practice the so called religion of peace. We all are privy to the Nigerian would-be-Jihadist who tried unsuccessfully to murder innocents, via his underwear bomb, during the Christmas holidays. Because of our secular messiah and his minions’ relentless efforts to make our Constitution suicidal, we have, for the first time in our storied history, going to treat our Nigerian terrorist as regular criminal--affording him the panoply of rights bequeathed to American citizens--instead of those of an “enemy combatant.” As consequence, the Nigerian Jihadist is not talking and we cannot use enhanced methods (water boarding) to glean Intel as to other conspirators who are desperately trying to kill us. Now, what is the utility in treating jihadists as citizens of the United States? To appease the world and nudge them into liking us? Can anyone legislate emotions? To the secular messiah, your speeches have not engendered much love and respect for us, lately. Case in point, Hugo Chavez, who lauded

Obama's elevation to Mecca, is now saying that he still smell sulphur/brimstone (a reference to Satan) when you recently spoke at the United Nations—what gives? Fidel too is now berating you and the Actor Danny Glover from “Lethal Weapon” fame, as recently as last week, was deriding you. I say to the secular messiah, you have barrowed, to your detriment, from the Bob Seger song where he sings about those who take a lesson from the trees…swaying to the current, prevailing breeze. One thing about President Obama’s predecessor, George Bush, he had principles and he stuck by them. Lest we forget again, our secular president was a Constitutional Law professor who gave credence to the concept that our Constitution is a “living, evolving document.” It is safe to say that our president’s posture vis-à-vis Muslim terrorism is suicidal, which is polar opposite to the “living evolving document” concept. The members of Verily Prime have concluded that hearing an Obama speech is like eating Chinese food--soon after, you get this feeling of emptiness. P.S., permit us to stray from the main topic discussed above, but as I am blogging, it is bone-chilling cold in New York and most of these United States—again, the Almighty God is making a mockery and exposing the charlatan Al Gore with his nonsense about global warming….

-Verily Prime