PAULA NEAL MOONEY

by Paula Neal Mooney When I first heard of the One Day Blog Silence badge going around to honor the angels of the Virginia Tech shooting , I thought to myself: Oh boy, here goes another meme designed to go viral off the blood of gun shot victims. But now that I'm closer to the day that http://onedayblogsilence.com has chosen to honor them -- Monday, April 30, 2007 -- I feel compelled to observe it. It feels less about selfishness and more about honor -- like the bell that tolled 33 times for 33 human beings that I listened to in my car. "Do not ask for whom the bell tolls...it tolls for thee..." There might always be a smidgen of the voyeurism set forth in the exposing truth of Don Henley's Dirty Laundry lyrics when writing about stuff like death. There's a reason that song is so popular so many years later. But it's good to give myself a gut-check daily and ask God to "create in me a clean heart" anew. Receiving forgiveness for any wrong motives...

by Paula Neal Mooney Before you read any further, please fave me and I'll fave you. Clean blogs only! I've found out so much good stuff about cracking Technorati's Top 100 Blogs list I'm so excited to post this! For my new blogging readers, Technorati is a site that tracks 77 million blogs and ranks them. The Top 100 Blogs list is ranked by: 1 - The number of inbound links a blog has 2 - The number of people who've made that blog their favorite As of this writing, the guy in spot #100 (ranked by the #2 method above) only has 170 members who've made his blog a favorite, while the TV Squad blog in spot #100 (ranked by the #1 method above) has 3,126 inbound links, so you can see that the #2 way is the easiest way to get your blog near the Top 100. Here's what I've learned from my blogging buddies on how to get closer to cracking Technorati's Top 100: 1 - Do a Technorati favorites exchange Gary V. Vaughan at azazil.net has an excellent post up called...

by Paula Neal Mooney Today has been dubbed Fearless Friday by those of us blogging about Arianna Huffington's latest tome, On Becoming Fearless: ...in Love, Work, and Life . Sure it would be apropos to blog about the debate last night, but seeing as though I haven't watched what I've TiVo'd yet, and have only found this blurb of a democratic debate video , I'll hold off. I only rolled my eyes as I caught Barack Obama droning on with the same tired "between a woman and her doctor" schtick , a litany shared by others within my earshot, so I vowed to watch it later. Fearlessly Get Your Posts on the First Page of Google's Search Results I'll blog instead about fearlessly doing what I love -- writing and consistently driving up my traffic by landing on Google's USA home page , or, more specifically, Google's search-engine results pages (SERPs) -- so I thought I'd pass on my fearless tips to my blogging readers who aim to do the same. 1 - ...

by Paula Neal Mooney Here's how we can stop him: 1 - Mail a letter today. Yours may be the one letter from one district that can save her ! First find your full 9-digit zip code here Plop it here to find your representative Then go here to find their district mailing address Copy and paste the letter below into Word or somewhere and change the address to your state representative and put your address in place of mine and send it snail mail. 2 - Make free phone calls to your governor until your state divests from Sudan. 3 - Give money to these people risking their lives . Over half of our money will help protect people being slaughtered. At first I only gave $2 -- about all I had left in my PayPal account right now. Then I realized that my Amazon affiliate earnings and Google Adsense referral fees hit my checking account today, so I went back and gave $25 more. Yes, most of us have debt and bills, but whatever we all give will go a long way. 4 - Buy a "Genocide Olympics...

by Paula Neal Mooney So scientists -- God love 'em! -- have discovered this new planet . Our new planet might turn into another space destination, once we're all jetting around like the Jetsons or Tom Cruise in Minority Report -- minus the melee. If this new planet holds water, and if we don't all start changing over to energy-efficient light bulbs and such on Earth, the new planet may be our only planet... I used to be a software tester. Any bad programs we rolled into production only caused some ruffled feathers, not lost lives. The folks who eventually test out living on this new planet will surely be heroes. My question is: Would you be one of the first to test out living on this new planet?

by Paula Neal Mooney The internet mania over Alec Baldwin's ranting voicemail message to his daughter has caused one desperado to claim that there's a second voicemail message making the rounds. I listened to the supposed "2nd Alec Baldwin voicemail message" and instantly picked up that it's a fake phone prank. In actuality it's Alec Baldwin's famous "coffee is for closers" speech from David Mamet's cult-like (and expletive-filled) Glengarry Glen Ross -- with a voicemail message "beep" added at the end for effect. I hate that Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger are fighting in public. I like them both and have followed their careers for years. But I'm not sorry that Alec Baldwin's voicemail message to his daughter Ireland has been leaked to the public. Listen to Alec Baldwin's voicemail message to see what all the hubbub is about. After a judge heard the tape, he barred Baldwin from having any contact with Ireland for a sh...

by Paula Neal Mooney Did Seung-Hui Cho have a demon? Was he a Christian? Islamic? Was the Virginia Tech killer possessed by the devil? These are the questions that most intrigue me now, one full week after the tragic events . Bible Girl Julie Lyon's take on Cho and his demons is the most interesting I've read all week. I don't know for sure what Cho believed, and I felt pangs of sorrow for him upon reading reports that a few of his former classmates teased "Go back to China!" when he read aloud once in class. Either way, Cho didn't have to go to the dark side and turn himself over to legions of demonic forces . If only he'd known how believers can fight demonic urgings , things would have gone much differently. "And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons..." Mark 16:17

by Paula Neal Mooney Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth— for your love is more delightful than wine. Song of Solomon 1:2 This is the pic of me and my husband that hangs on our bedroom wall. I had it blown up and hung it on the wall to help foster and flame that romantic atmosphere, reminding us both that before we became "mommy and daddy" we first became "husband and wife" -- lovers. Marital love can be hot . Watching Robin Thicke interact with his beautiful wife in his 'Lost Without U' video reminded me of that fact, after watching it I wept and read the entire Song of Solomon in one bathing, soaking up its intense imagery and wisdom, not only of the Lord's relationship with Israel, but also of a man's changing relationship with his wife. Be ye not deceived Turn on any Desperate Housewives episode and you'll see women jumping in and out of bed with a new man each week. Those writers would have you believe that plenty-o-sex-with-v...

by Paula Neal Mooney "Robin Thicke on Oprah" That's the search term some blessed soul just typed into Google and found my Robin Thicke's Race? Wife? Lyrics? Dad? Hot, hot, hot and still hot! post instead. Could it be true? Is Robin Thicke really going to be on Oprah? I checked Oprah's site and voila! Yes, Robin Thicke will be performing his "Lost Without U" smash hit from Evolution of Robin Thicke on Oprah, April 19th. I just screamed and punched both hands straight in the air. Think I'm just a tad excited? I'd already called and bugged my hubby to make sure American Idol was TiVoing last week, then I realized Robin Thicke won't appear on American Idol till May 2nd . This is a good thing, as ol' Martha would say.

by Paula Neal Mooney Oprah is conducting two days worth of town hall meetings taking hip-hop to task , asking the oh-so-poignant question: Now that Don Imus has been fired for calling black women hos, what should happen to the rappers that do the same thing? It's the same question I asked in my recent post about Imus, and I'm gladder than glad that Oprah is bringing it to her show. Though parts of Oprah's hip hop town hall weren't shown due to coverage of yesterday's truly tragic Virginia Tech shootings , a good portion of Oprah's show about rap still played. I'm praying above all else that these hip hop town hall discussions will lead sponsors to pull the funding from only those rappers who unapologetically call women bitches and hos and objectify naked booty-shaking women in their videos. Hip-Hop Hypocrisy? I could kiss award-winning newspaper columnist Jason Whitlock, a writer for The Kansas City Star , who noted that we as a people have yet to attack o...

by Paula Neal Mooney At about 7:15 this morning a 911 call came in regarding a shooting in West AJ Hall -- a Virginia Tech dorm -- that caused one confirmed fatality. About 2 hours later, more shooting occurred in Norris Hall, the engineering building at Virginia Tech. Police have confirmed that the shooter in Norris Hall is deceased...at this time the authorities are still determining how he died and if he was indeed the lone shooter. However, authorities say the Virginia Tech campus is secured. The number of fatalities has been reported as at least 22 dead at this time, including the gunman, who has been described by a student as "an Asian kid" who was "unloading rounds" from a handgun. The shooter was reportedly wearing many clips on his black vest as he fired. Students barricaded themselves inside rooms and fled when they were able. Watch the video of the Virginia Tech shooting as cops running outside of Norris Hall here as shot after shot rings out. The event ...

by PAULA NEAL MOONEY Don Imus should not have been fired…at least before these men who call black women a lot worse things than hos are taken off the airways and lose their sponsors, too ! I just watched every single one of their videos and read their words. (Be warned, cussin’ and lewdness abounds.) I admit, I don’t watch a lot of hip-hop videos any more since they turned so hateful and sex-filled. But checking out the top six videos has me pondering why some folks are so outraged by what Don Imus has said, but not enough to take real action against our own “brothas.” Compared to them, I really wasn’t outraged by what Don Imus said. I don’t care about Imus. Like I wrote Manchild (the epitome of a man who respects his wife, KWiz ), I’m more outraged by our black men who call black women bitches and hos -- because they -- of all people -- are the ones who should have our backs. Essence ran a great campaign to fight against this sexist music, and there was that hip-hop summit. But wh...

by Paula Neal Mooney Last week I stopped frozen in my tracks at the sight of two black violin players on Jack’s Big Music Show. (You gotta roll thru the pics to the right till you see their faces and click on them.) Now -- I love that "Jack’s Big Music Show" is already good at featuring diverse types of music. But something about seeing black men exquisitely playing violins in a hip-hop style (though they don’t like to be labeled hip-hop) was so foreign to me. At first I wondered if it was one man in a split-screen display on the "Jack’s Big Oops!" episode. Turns out they were in fact two men -- Damien and Tourie Escobar – who make up the group known as Nuttin’ But Stringz, or NBS . They were so stunningly good, I became obsessed and vowed to find out more about Nuttin' But Stringz. Here’s what I’ve found: Damien and Tourie Escobar (gotta love that last name, visions of Scarface abound) aren’t twins, but 18- and 20-year-old brothers from Jamai...

by Paula Neal Mooney Google's Inside AdSense team just sent out an email the other day describing how to use their Onsite Advertiser Sign-up to add an ‘ Advertise on this site ’ link to your blog. Since the ' Advertise on this site ' link was removed from the Google Adsense ads during their recent ad format change , the Goog team (specifically a guy named Etienne Jambou, freaky 'cause I was just talking to my hubby about the name Etienne...) sent instructions on breaking the link out. So here are their detailed instructions on getting that cool ' Advertise on this site ' link on your site, which here's hoping some gazillionaire will click on and pay us handsomely to buy real estate on our blogs. And I didn't evek know an Onsite Advertiser Sign-up page was available on Google Adsense, so check it out and customize your page following those good instructions. Then we won't be a broke as Jennifer Aniston in Friends With Money . Good reference p...

by Paula Neal Mooney A little while ago I blogged about the sad condition of actress Maia Campbell in the post called Maia Campbell Internet Video Shows a Sad Display of a World Gone Wrong . Readers responded with open hearts -- wanting to desperately help the beautiful Maia. She has gone from a working TV actress to a woman famous now for a sick internet video that many presume was only created in exchange for drugs. One reader recently took this new picture of Maia Campbell and has written me pleading email messages titled: "Please help Maia..." "Maia is in Philly right now having sex for drugs... please help her," the reader wrote. "Can she be arrested?" I wrote back. I thought of what Bebe Moore Campbell, Maia's deceased mother -- whose Spirit I hear crying out like only a mother's can right now for her daughter -- might have done, getting clues from the title of her last novel, 72 Hour Hold . "I tried calling the cops today. They came bu...

by Paula Neal Mooney I feel like the last person on Earth to finally figure out who Robin Thicke is. His 'Lost Without U' song from his 'Evolution of Robin Thicke' CD drew me away from my gospel channel, compelling me to absorb the falsetto lyrics with wonder: Baby you're the perfect shape Baby you're the perfect weight Is that a man singing? I asked myself, before feeling like a fool falling in love yet again. You don't want this guy You don't want that guy Okay, Robin Thicke is a brotha, I naturally assumed. One harkening back to the height of Maxwell, shouting out an ode to D'Angelo with his "how does it feel?" hook. Treat me like it's my birthday I want it this way, I want it that way Then I caught the tail end of Robin Thicke's Today Show performance, actually just the interview seen in this video . Aha! Something finally clicked in my brain, after all these months of making a mental note to "Google Robin Thicke" ...