After a brief pause — several days — we will be right back!

The AJC.com has another article detailing the latest information about Bishop Eddie Long. It appears that Maurice Robinson, one of the civil lawsuit litigants, received a “pretrial diversion program for his alleged participation in a burglary at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia earlier this year.” AJC — Shelia M. Poole

Before the actual “sexual misconduct” civil lawsuit, “Robinson and Anthony Boyd were charged with breaking into Long’s office and taking an iPod, iPad and jewelry, according to a police report.” It will be interesting to see how the criminal charges impact the civil lawsuit.

The washingtonpost.com has a fascinating article on Lillian McEwen — the former girlfriend of Justice Clarence Thomas.

The former assistant U.S. attorney and Senate Judiciary Committee counsel had dated him for years, even attending a March 1985 White House state dinner as his guest. She had worked on the Hill and was wary of entering the political cauldron of the hearings. She was never asked to testify, as then-Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), who headed the committee, limited witnesses to women who had a “professional relationship” with Thomas.

More at the WaPo

It seems that Virginia Thomas’s voicemail message to Anita Hill has sparked McEwen to come forth and give more background on Clarence Thomas as private citizen. My guess is Virginia Thomas is regreting that phone call and that a lot fo conservative bloggers and analysts will have to rethink their initial thoughts on Thomas.

“He was always actively watching the women he worked with to see if they could be potential partners,” McEwen said matter-of-factly. “It was a hobby of his.”
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Presented with some of McEwen’s assertions, Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said Thomas was unavailable for comment.

However bizarre they may seem, McEwen’s recollections resemble accounts shared by other women that swirled around the Thomas confirmation.

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Good Bye Juan Williams “controversy,” hello Justice Thomas…

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Fairly interesting stuff, while folks like Marc LaMont HIll are fired from Fox News for going against the dominant paradigm on the network, Juan Williams was just rewarded for being fired from NPR — to the tune of $2 Million dollars over three years (h/t thedailybeast.com)

Interestingly, Mr. Williams has just penned a piece for his new full-time employer entitled : ” JUAN WILLIAMS: I Was Fired for Telling the Truth.” I hope he is happy to know how his “truth” will be used to support bigotry against Muslims (or African Americans, Jews, Irish, etc…) as just the “truth.”

Google has updated it’s colorful logo with a dedication to jazz great Dizzy Gillispie on October 21, 2010. If Gillispie were alive today, it would be his 93 birthday.

Google Doodle of Jazz Great Dizzy Gillispie

Embattled Bishop Eddie Long addressed the followers of his 25,000 strong New Birth Baptist Missionary Church on Tuesday at an “empowerment service.” As we addressed earlier, the pastor faces four civil sexual harassment lawsuits and another lawsuit that claims he and business partners owe 1.8 million in on a defaulted property loan.

Although Bishop Long did not address any specific allegations, he told followers to remain steadfast “in the wake of life’s storms.” In another interesting segment from Bishop Long’s sermon, he told parishioners “I didn’t build New Birth and because I didn’t build it, I can’t kill it… God started this. I’m not worried about the future of New Birth because hell can’t stop what God has started.”

You can get more on Bishop Long’s sermon here at the AJC.com

The NAACP has just issued a report linking Tea Party Leaders to racism. I’m going to download and take a look at the report later today, but it is clear that the NAACP sees a way to climb back into the media spotlight by examining the Tea Party influence on modern political discourse.

The current page launching the report on “Tea Parties” on the NAACP states:

Tea Party Nationalism is a new report by Devin Burghart, Leonard Zeskind and the Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights that exposes the connection between numerous tea party leaders and racism.

At TeaPartyTracker.com you’ve seen the examples of racism at tea party events and rallies. Tea Party Nationalism digs even deeper into the histories of tea party leaders around the country, and the results are shocking.

Naacp.org

I find the emphasis on a political organization quite interesting — the NAACP has continued to play with fire with the latest pronouncements on the American political sphere.

There have been numerous stories about the charges against Eddie Long in both the news media and blogosphere. However, even while Long is accused of horrible acts, It is important to note that the legal action against him has been civil in nature, and not criminal.

The Atlanta JOurnal Constitution has the latest lawsuit against Bishop Long in a new exclusive article:

The suit filed Monday asked the DeKalb County State Court to order Long and the others to pay off the debt in 10 days or incur additional fines and attorneys’ fees.

This is the fifth lawsuit filed against the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church leader in less than a month. The other four suits, which were also filed against the DeKalb County megachurch, accuse Long of coercing four young men into sex in exchange for cars, lavish trips and jobs. The AJC is the only media outlet to obtain the latest suit.

AJC Latest on Eddie Long