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As we all know, unless you have been in hiding, we are going to inaugurate the first Black President of these United States of America in a couple of weeks.  BET and TV One will be covering the inauguration on January 20. The Associated Press says that  BET will be covering the parade and swearing in from four different angles, while TVOne will be doing 21 straight hours of live coverage, especially since this is their big fifth anniversary weekend.  With BET and TVOne investing all of this coverage into the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama (D), I have to ask…why?

Why are these two networks, who have not cared about news coverage before Barack Obama ran for office (although BET did have some moments,) all of a sudden decide to cover a presidential inauguration.  I understand that this is suppose to be a great celebratory story, but they were not covering JACK before Barack Obama ran for president.  As a matter of fact none of them lifted a finger until get got the nomination.  For me to sit here and say, hey that’s great would be a lie because I don’t think that it’s great.  I think it’s a sad commentary on how these networks , especially BET, would rather entertain more than they would inform.

BET had a news department, then they canceled it, and now…well, they do not have much of anything.  MTV News has more of a news department than BET.  TVOne was an entertainment channel from the start, however, they should of had some committment to public affairs.    Although TVOne is at least tasteful (sans Michael Baisden), BET has been mired in controversy for it’s choice in programming content.  They have been in existence for nearly 30 years, yet they have not consistently kept a stronger News or Public Affairs presence.  The reason why is between Viacom’s budget cutting and Bob Johnson’s lack of interest.

Here is the problem, we have two strong black networks that can level the playing field at the drop of a hat (probably not so much now because of the economy,) but they would rather not do anything unless there is something in it for them.  For them to all of a sudden give live coverage as if they were in the know the entire time, is an insult to the many black journalists (or should I say journalists who are black) who are trying to give a fair and balanced view of the world.  I would rather have them film it as the entertainment spectacle they are planning to do live for playback whever they feel like, than to play pretend.  Especially since one person (Joe Madison) more than likely did not think that Obama was Black enough at some point.

OK, I’m sure that you all have heard me bemoaned (or bitched) about my experience on election day, having my blackness questioned because of my choice for president.  Well since that time, Barack Obama has become the President-elect, and sadly, those who voted based on race got their way.

Ever since that day though, something did not seem right to me as far as how one man, who says he is for empowering the community, is keeping the very community he claims to love, ignorant.  This is the same situation I notice with pro-choice advocates when it comes to abortion.  They spend more time trying to silence a dissenting viewpoint as opposed to relying on their beliefs and defending them in public.

Truth be told, I was thinking about launching a podcast anyway, but based on what happened in Baltimore on Election Day, it only accelerated the need to level the playing field.  I guess I should thank the guy, but I don’t want to boost his racist ego in anyway.  He probably still thinks I’m an Uncle Tom who is afraid to show my face around his studio because Obama won.  I have a series of emails that says otherwise, but I digress.

Next month, I will be launching The Kenny Burns Podcast.  It will be a multimedia marriage of this blog and my other blog, Maryland Politics Today.  This will be a weekly affair that will have interviews and commentary that you expect from my cracked frontal view.

So look for The Kenny Burns Podcast starting next month.  Details to follow.

First thing’s first.  The last time I took an Algebra class was the Fall Semester of 2000.  I failed it miserably.  I did not take another math class until this past fall.  That’s right, almost a decade later.  I am happy to say that I have passed that class.  Now I can move on and graduate with the first of two, possibly three degrees.  I am still debating on whether to get a Master’s or not.  I probably will.  In case you were wondering, I am still leaning towards not attending commencement.  However, the smartest man in the Maryland liberal blogosphere Bruce Godfrey makes a great argument on why I should go.  I should also note a couple of people also said that I should go.  Thankfully, I have time to decide on this.

In the meantime, I am glad that I didn’t cancel my doctor’s appointment today.  I am disappointed however that my prescription was $133 WITH insurance.  I learned about a loophole with the insurance.  It has a prescription deductible of $125 before I could get charged co-pay prices.  Thankfully I had the money to pay for the prescription.  Which leads me to point out that Allegra is too darn expensive.  Why does Allegra cost over $100?   It has been out for a while and you would think that it would have been available over the counter by now.

OK, It’s been a week later and I am starting to get use to my new phone.  Some quirks that I discovered:

- I cannot use my custom tone for text messages.

- I had to edit down my ring tones.

- I am having trouble getting my Gmail, so I will have to go to the website directly.

I am very satisfied with it regardless of the quirks so far.