Lalah Hathaway Is More Than Donny's Daughter

Alas, suddenly self-employed, yet surprisingly ...

What an incredible day this has been. First I finally completed the design and development of the website for my new business technology venture (AspiraTech) just in time to rush over to the temple to meet with my Lama for a lunch he cooked for me and another student. He made Tibetan momos for us, plus soup, and it was delicious! Plus hanging out with him for a few hours was pretty sweet in general, meal or no meal.

After all the tumult of the last couple months (with the company I used to do contract business technology consulting for deciding to eliminate its Western region offices after the local director quit, propelling me out on my own unexpectedly) it feels good to have a solid public presentation of my work, which a website represents. I was fortunate enough to have my previous clients recognize the value of what I was doing for them so much that they decided to stay with me after the transition, so I'm not starting completely from scratch. However I still need to attract new clients too, and that's where the website comes in. One simply isn't fully established as a business so long as they don't have an online presence.

If you hear of anyone who needs the types of services I provide, it would be so greatly appreciated. The work I do teaching meditation to incarcerated teens is only possible so long as I don't have to go into a 9-5 in-office position to support myself, and the technical consulting work I do is also incredibly valuable to businesses that need help in and of itself. So you'd be doing both them and me a favor, as well as helping to make it possible for me to keep doing the afternoon service work.

I specialize in SalesForce.com CRM Implementation work, CRM Management for businesses that already have SalesForce set up but need help running it or optimizing it, as well as web development (particularly search engine optimized sites), software training, saas database design, and pretty much anything related to online business technology.

I know this is a very business-y, techie post while I am a blogger who is primarily spiritual inspiration oriented (check out my Indigo Ocean blog for my many articles on enlightened vision), but this is what is up for me right now. Living here in samsara, all parts of life have got to be incorporated into the realization of nirvana within what is. Dealing practically with survival needs is an intrinsic part of the path of realization, and every step of progress in that regard can be part of progress on all fronts. It's all about one's perspective, not about the thing itself.

Whenever I work with a business, I literally pray for them. In every interaction I go in with the intention of blessing them in some way, and at some level they seem to pick up on this. The relationship I develop with them goes beyond the business objective we are working on together, as we become humans in right relationship, healing our hearts and our lives together, while also getting work done.

I see it as holy work, bringing the light of spirituality into the lives of people who may have no idea it has anything to offer them. They feel the influence and that is all they know. That was my same motivation when I wrote my book. I know a lot of advanced theories and I thought of targeting the book to an advanced audience, but decided against it because I really wanted to reach those people who had yet to embark upon the spiritual path formally, and whet their appetite for spiritually opening. In the same way, I love going into the places where spirituality usually is thought to have no home, whether the prison or the boardroom, and lighting a spark of self-remembrance. You wanted an e-commerce website? Sure, and how about a shakti shot to go with it? Love it.

What would our world be like if even half the people who are deeply devoted to spiritual awakening decided to bring the work into the world of commerce? Would that not change business as usual? Is it needed there any less than in the prisons the less financially fortunate find themselves in? There are many types of prisons, some less comfortable than others, but all equally soul stifling.

Abiola Hits Her "Dare" Book Release Party

Down Low Brothers In Hip Hop

I'm Through With White Girls!

Abiola Meets Lil Wayne's Twin Sister

Zahara Jolie-Pitt Is America's Next Top Model!

How Ugly Is Your Beauty? Abiola & Michael Beach Ask

Abiola Gets Into Busta Rhymes' Business

Abiola And Gorilla Zoe Take It Uptown

Man Hunting With Abiola & The Funky Brown Chick

LADIES!

Hey I'm still here - good to see you posting!!! we should knock the cobwebs off this old Edsel and take her for a spin. Thanks one and all for keeping this place our place. :)

Pelosi / CIA Song Parody

Wow! It's quiet here. Where did everybody go?

Anyway, I took a brief break from limericks, just long enough to write a new song parody about the Pelosi / CIA brouhaha: The “We Did Nothing Wrong, & Nancy Should Have Stopped Us” Song.

ABIOLA ASKS: Do You Use Sex Toys?

Abiola Gives Eric Benet Tough Love

Abiola, VH1’s Tough Love & The Sexy Cupcakes

Dems Still Being Blackmailed By GOP

"It looks like the Senate may end up passing a stimulus bill that’s smaller (spending-wise), larger (tax-cut-wise), and far less likely to work than the bill
passed in the House.

I don’t know about you, but I’m sick and tired of Senate Democrats letting Republicans blackmail them with the mere threat of a filibuster. Here’s a thought: Instead of caving in to GOP demands, how about telling them to go filibuster themselves? ..."

Continued here, including my double limerick on the
topic.

Alpha-Farewell To George Bush

"Back in 2004 I summed up George Bush’s first term in my Alpha Politics. So it seems only appropriate to do the same for the Bush-Cheney second term:

A is for Jack Abramoff who’s big in pay-to-play.

B’s for greedy bankers who have fleeced the USA.

C is for Rep. Craig who isn’t gay, except in bed.

D is for democracy which Dubya hasn’t spread. ..."

The rest of my Alpha-Political Farewell to Bush and Cheney is here.

Take the Lead - Help Stop HIV and AIDS

For 20 years, people around the globe have observed Dec. 1 as World AIDS Day. It's a time to remember those we have lost, to thank the people who give of their time to care for those infected and affected by the disease, and to rededicate ourselves to finding a cure. AIDS has not gone away -- not by a long shot. Therapies have improved, and many HIV-positive people are living longer and healthier lives, but many challenges lie ahead.

According to the World AIDS campaign web site, 8,000 people die from HIV disease every day, and there are millions of new infections each year -- despite increased commitments from government leaders and health-care institutions. This means we need even more leadership, more ideas, deeper commitments, and increases in funding.

Many people lacking insurance and health care simply do without necessary treatment -- and if they don't know that they are infected with HIV, they unknowingly put themselves and others at risk. With the global economic meltdown, there are likely to be more of them, especially among groups of people who already have little access to HIV education. Too many people don't get tested and some do not discover their HIV status until after they have progressed to full-blown AIDS.

As daunting as these challenges will be, we all have some reason to cheer on this Dec. 1. In the past year alone, reasearch has told us that people undergoing HIV therapies have similar survival rates as those of uninfected people. Newly discovered and approved treatment options make medication regimens safer and simpler to follow. Numerous states are making big headway in permitting routine HIV testing within everyday health care settings. This is all great news, and with renewed focus by government, research institutions, and health care administrators, hopefully we will see even more news to celebrate by this time next year.

In the meantime, health educators need new ideas for delivering potentially lifesaving information on HIV and AIDS to populations still not getting the word: young people, non-English speakers, disadvantaged communities in the US and overseas. There must be a renewed commitment to collaboration between health-care providers, researchers, and government officials so that they can bring necessary changes in diagnosis,a decrease in the number of new infections, and increased access to care and treatment -- especially during an economic crisis that will leave more people uninsured and under-insured.

HIV/AIDS organizations throughout the US hope the new Obama administration will bring needed change in prevention, access to care, civil rights, and research within its first 100 days. They call for a bigger federal investment in domestic HIV/AIDS programs, including research and prevention efforts, and in care and services for those with HIV/AIDS through the Ryan White CARE Act. They also urge the president-elect to get to work promptly on a national HIV/AIDS strategy that deals realistically with the HIV epidemic, which, despite the efforts of thousands over the past two decades, continues to grow.

HIV is everyone's problem -- that is most clear on this, the 20th World AIDS Day. We all must take some sort of leadership role to stop infections, to care for the sick, and to halt the dying. Since 1981, I have lost more than 100 loved ones to the disease, so ending this scourge is a very personal matter to me. Every person infected by HIV creates a group of people also affected by the disease. That adds up to a whole lot of misery -- and it must be stopped. With stronger leadership, fresh ideas, and renewed commitment, we can end the HIV/AIDS epidemic. I know we can. But we need you to do your part: Write to lawmakers and political leaders and remind them of the urgency. Volunteer at your local AIDS service provider -- you can serve as a caregiving buddy or deliver meals to homebound patients or visit people in hospitals or in a host of roles. Talk about the importance of testing, abstinence, and safer sex in your schools and within your community, your church, your home. If you can't give time, donate. Just do something.

On this World AIDS Day, I ask you to take time to inform yourself and to think: What will you do to make a difference before Dec. 1, 2009? Once you have found your answer, get busy. There are lives to save.

Prop 8 and DoMA: Defining Marriage Isn't the Issue

My colleague at LA Progressive, Carl Matthes, makes a great point. While all of these people are bandying about trying to determine what the definition of marriage should be, they really should look at the definition of another word -- equality.

After the election, a close liberal friend of mine, who happens to be Jewish, said that she and her husband went to the dictionary to check the definition of the word “marriage” to help guide their vote on Prop 8. They wanted clarification on how marriage is defined. I assume they felt that by defining marriage clearly, this would give them direction for granting equal rights to gay men and lesbians.

Hmmm?!

She said her dictionary defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman. (As does my older Webster’s dictionary.) She then asked, “I wonder how your Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines marriage?” So, for those who like to swallow their sense of equality with a big dose of dictionary, I submit the definition of “marriage” from volume IX of the XX volume OED which reads, “The condition of being a husband or wife; the relation between married persons; spousehood, wedlock.” Spousehood? And, no mention of man or woman. Those English must have known something which must have gotten lost in translation on the trip across the Atlantic. And, for those who like to play word games, notice the word “or” between husband or wife and not the word “and.” Oh, there could be two wives? Two husbands? A female as husband or a male as wife? My mind is reeling with possibilities.

I then thought that a better place to look in the dictionary for guidance on how to vote on same-sex marriage would be the word “equal.” My OED says that equal means, “Identical in amount; neither less nor greater…having the same measure, number, value, intensity, etc.” So, in the context of constitutional equality, I would expect to see next to the definition of equality a picture of Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi. Maybe in my friend’s dictionary there would be a picture of Strom Thurmond or Rush Limbaugh.

Not a lot of wiggle room with the word “equal.”

For years, people have told me that I need to compromise on the matter of the state permitting legal marriage for the GLBT community. Accept second-class citizenship in the form of civil union, they say -- it's good enough. Many gay and lesbian people do accept the diminishment meekly in the interest of peace. Good on them. Civil union is not equal, so it cannot be good enough. Ever. Grown-up people can and should compromise whenever possible, and on any other issue, I certainly am willing to make allowances or take less than I truly require or want. But not when it comes to equality: As the Supreme Court ruled a half-century ago, separate but equal isn't equal. We are either equal or we are not. This nation claims to offer equality under secular law for all. Therefore, equality, in a legal or non-theocratic sense, cannot be compromised.

Look it up:

equality (noun) - i kwóllətee, ee kwóllətee

equal (noun) - i kwól, ee kwól

MSN Encarta:

state of being equal: rights, treatment, quantity, or value equal to all others in a specific group
* full equality under the law

Merriam-Webster:

the quality or state of being equal (of the same measure, quantity, amount, or number as another; identical in mathematical value or logical denotation; equivalent - like in quality, nature, or status c: like for each member of a group, class, or society)
* provide equal employment opportunities>

Merriam-Webster Law Dictionary:

the quality or state of being equal: as 1. : sameness or equivalence in number, quantity, or measure 2.: likeness or sameness in quality, power, status, or degree

Dictionary.com:

the state or quality of being equal; correspondence in quantity, degree, value, rank, or ability; equal - as great as; the same as (often fol. by to or with); like or alike in quantity, degree, value, etc.; of the same rank, ability, merit, etc.; evenly proportioned or balanced; uniform in operation or effect; adequate or sufficient in quantity or degree; having adequate powers, ability, or means; impartial or equitable

American Heritage Dictionary:

The state or quality of being equal

WordNet:

the quality of being the same in quantity or measure or value or status

Unless one wants a theocracy, nope, you won't find wiggle room here. Equal is equal, period. The United States and all but two states in the union do not provide equality for all. I don't care how religious one claims to be -- no decent person should accept inequality. Frankly, I don't see how they could. And if the US is supposedly the greatest, fairest nation on the planet, it should act like it and acknowledge the full equality of all its citizens.