Keepingitreal

iPhone Blog Buzz 12.31.08

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- Charles Barkley was arrested on suspicion of drinking and driving early Wednesday.An officer with a law enforcement task force that targets drunken driving saw the former NBA star run a stop sign around 1:30 a.m., said Gilbert police Lt. Eric Shuhandler.Barkley declined to submit to a breath test but was given a blood test. The results weren't immediately available.After Barkley was processed, he was cited and released. He left in a cab, Shuhandler said. As Dr. Peter Piot, the only head of the United Nations AIDS program in its 13-year history, retires on Wednesday, he reflects on the success and failures of his tenure. One of the teenagers arrested in the "Jena Six" case has been hospitalized after shooting himself in the chest, reports the Associated Press.Timbaland is being sued by a florist in Miami Beach, Fla for the balance of a holiday shopping spree. A murder indictment was handed down Tuesday against William Balfour, the man charged with killing the mother, brother and nephew of Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson, reports the Associated Press. The Presidential Inaugural Committee has announced an essay contest that offers participants a chance to witness President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration in person, reports the Associated Press. Former NFL star Andre Rison was arrested in San Antonio Tuesday morning for public intoxication, according to TMZ.com. President Obama's inspirational words relayed in his weekly YouTube address find a nation that is hurting and in search for answers.So we can all hope and pray that Obama's call for sharing sacrifice to help those in need doesn't fall on deaf or... Read more Young black men are being shot and killed at a rate 40 percent higher than in 2000, according to a new study, and something has to be done about it.In 2007, 426 black males between the ages of 14 and 17 were killed in gun crimes in the U.S., the... Read more Boo hoo! After only six episodes, MTV's Apprentice knock-off 50 Cent: The Money and the Power has been cancelled. It's speculated that shiteous ratings and 'lack of buzz' are to blame. A seemingly clairvoyant Donald Trump speculated that Fiddy's show would fail. "It will fail because he's not Trump, but he's actually a nice guy," said the Donald. So, [...] Web Site Uses MLK Name to Attack Him Type the name “Martin Luther King” into the popular Google Internet search engine, and find a surprise: among the expected university and newspaper links, one site — the third highest ranked link — stands out. It attacks the personal life of the slain civil rights leader and, by extension, the movement of nonviolence he championed. It rehashes allegations of plagiarism and adultery and accuses King of fraud, claiming he was not a “legitimate reverend” or “bonafide Ph.D.” It also invites visitors to learn about civil rights by reading the work of former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. (Continue Reading…) MTV Rolls Out ‘Daddy’s Girls’ in January  Vanessa And Angela Simmons Head For L.A. In Daddy’s Girls MTV’s Run’s House has been on the air for five seasons and now, two members of the Simmon’s family are breaking away from the pack. MTV’s upcoming reality series, Daddy’s Girls will follow Rev Run’s daughters Vanessa and Angela as they leave home in New York to move out to Los Angeles. Viewers will get to see how the two girls manage on their own. Well, not entirely on their own. Their friend Alicia and cousin Jessica will be coming along for the ride. (Continue Reading…) Did you miss Conversations LIVE! Radio's last "Business of Books" segment of 2008? If so, listen to the podcast here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/conversationslive/2008/12/31/decembers-business-of-books-on-conversations-live-radio After making history by having over 160 guests on its program since June 2008, Conversations LIVE! Radio ends a successful year with a historic all-star panel of authors who talk about their personal journey in the literary world. Timberwolves 86 at Lakers 98 DMX pleaded guilty today (December 30) to several charges dating back to arrests made in April 2008 in Arizona. T.I., Jay-Z, Lil Wayne and Kanye West's "Swagger Like Us" tops the list of Mixtape Monday's 2008 Underground Songs of the Year. Some 5,810 voting members will select which actors and movies will be nominated, with these picks then narrowed down to the nominees that will be announced at the Academy headquarters' Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills on Jan. 22. Following a series of high-profile cases of anti-gay and homophobic abuse shouted by British football fans, the Football Association is taking the unprecedented step of taping the sport's top stars to speak out against homophobia. CONTINUE READING... NEW YORK (AP) — The NFL confirmed on Tuesday that next season's Pro Bowl will be played in Miami's Dolphin Stadium a week before the Super Bowl is played at the same venue. ROAD TO THE SUPER BOWL: Matchups, game information While the Carolina Panthers' impressive backfield of DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart considers itself "Double Trouble," the go-to player in tough times is still the 5-9 wide receiver who calls himself "Little Playmaker." Without Smith's leaping, 39-yard catch on the game-winning field goal drive at the New Orleans Saints, the Panthers are likely in the wild-card round rather than recharging with a bye.The New York Giants won last season's Super Bowl as the NFC's fifth seed. Three years ago, the Pittsburgh Steelers rolled to a title as a sixth seed. Now, the Philadelphia Eagles are thinking big after claiming a sixth seed. Philadelphia won four of its last five games, since Donovan McNabb was benched at the Baltimore Ravens. he miles are adding up for the San Diego Chargers' star running back, whose eighth NFL season has been his most physically challenging. Tomlinson, whose 292 rushes and 1,110 yards are career lows, started the season with a toe injury. He left Sunday night's win against the Denver Broncos with three TDs — and a groin injury that raises concern about his playoff readiness.In becoming the second team in NFL history to post a 10-game improvement from the previous season, the Miami Dolphins added spice to their remarkable rise with the use of their unpredictable "Wildcat" formation.Two months ago, the Colts quarterback was in the midst of arguably his worst start to a season since his rookie year — a lingering effect from offseason knee surgery. His timing, rhythm, balance and leg strength were out of whack as Indianapolis stumbled to a 3-4 start.The Arizona Cardinals are the fifth team in league history to field three 1,000-yard targets (Anquan Boldin, Larry Fitzgerald and Steve Breaston) in a season. But being one-dimensional is a tough ticket in January. To advance deep, Arizona will need to run the football with authority at some point — for a tough yard on third-and-short, to milk the clock or to deal with outdoor elements.After rolling to an 11-1 start, the Giants lost three of their final four games. That's no reason to panic. The Giants bring the NFL's No. 1 rushing game and a seventh-ranked defense. And with a top seed secured, Tom Coughlin rested key starters such as Eli Manning and bread-and-butter back Brandon Jacobs for much if not all of the regular-season finale.creative coordinator Rex Ryan in tow, that identity hasn't changed under first-year coach John Harbaugh. Baltimore led the league with 34 takeaways. Still, there's more playoff mettle to prove with the offense guided by a rookie quarterback in Joe Flacco.While carted out of Heinz Field on Sunday strapped to a stretcher, the Steelers quarterback flashed a thumbs-up. Tests were negative, and Roethlisberger checked out of the hospital without staying overnight.Here's a pattern that has served the Falcons well in their amazing turnaround under first-year coach Mike Smith and rookie quarterback Matt Ryan: When Atlanta has scored first this season, it is 11-0. When its opponent scores first, Atlanta is 0-5. Fast starts undoubtedly take pressure off a 24th-ranked defense that didn't have a Pro Bowler.Being a No. 1 seed is never a sure ticket to the Super Bowl — especially in the AFC. Never mind the much-deserved perk of home-field advantage. In playoffs dating to the 1992 season, the top seed in the AFC has advanced to the Super Bowl five times.After missing two games with a broken shoulder, Minnesota Vikings Pro Bowl defensive tackle Pat Williams hopes to return for the playoff opener. The stout, 317-pounder is the best run-stuffer on arguably the NFL's best defensive line.Pro baller (ABA) and star of logo reality show "Shirts & Skins" Mike Survillion will host the 2009 Blatino Erotica Awards in Palm Springs California May 8-11 at Blatino Oasis. Because he has reportedly been quietly behind-the-scenes criticizing his fellow actor and supposed 'friend' Milk star Sean Penn for being secretly homophobic, but just this past November demonstrated just how insensitive and un-gay friendly he himself could be when he publicly called a reporter who had written a story about a rumored romance between himself and his Wrestler co-star Evan Rachel Wood a 'faggot,' aging Hollywood bad boy Mickey Rourke is the hypocrite of the week. Sundance, the fairy godfather of independent film festivals, hits the streets and screens of Utah's Park City, January 15-25, 2009, for its 25th year. While the festival itself is known as being a springboard for gay and lesbian filmmakers, there's been an extra bounce to the step of the creative community since 2004 when Queer Lounge (608 Main Street) launched. With the start of a new year, an estimated 80 million Americans will delve into new nutrition and exercise programs as they resolve to lose weight in 2009. And to help jump-start these healthful resolutions, Health magazine offers up a list of the 10 healthiest diets -- those that truly work -- and work safely -- to choose from. CONTINUE READING...HAVANA (Reuters) - Against a backdrop of economic gloom and the frail health of former leader Fidel Castro, Cuba will mark on Thursday the 50th anniversary of the revolution that turned the island into a communist state and Cold War hot spot at the doorstep of the United States.WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits slumped 94,000 last week, government data on Wednesday showed, but seasonal factors were likely behind this unexpectedly large decline with the labor market remaining very soft. A Look Back: The 2008 Reality TV Year In Review...CONTINUE READING... With air attacks on Gaza in their fifth day, Israel said it would keep pressure on Hamas but was open to future diplomacy. CONTINUE READING...

Barack Obama on 60 Minutes: "The Road to the Whitehouse"

2008 in review: Top 10 stories in the Bay Area

It'll start in two days. The calendar pages will flutter from the windows and the bad-mouthing will commence in earnest.

1. Economic collapse

The delicately balanced house of cards finally toppled over. Suddenly, upstanding borrowers were upside down and half the Central Valley seemed to have a "foreclosed" sign in the front yard. Congress pungled up $700 billion for a bailout and now that seems to be down the rathole, too, along with the average Joe's retirement stash. Brother, everyone seems to be singing, can you spare a dime?

2. Same-sex marriage

Who would have imagined that the two most controversial words in California would turn out to be "I do"? A long, loud and expensive campaign ended with the narrow passage in November of Proposition 8, writing a ban on same-sex marriage into the state constitution after the California Supreme Court overturned the state's previous ban in May. Months before the election, polls showed the proposition seemed doomed, but a well-funded coalition of conservatives, Catholics, Mormons and others came together to put an end, for now, to the wedding ceremonies seen around the world. Meanwhile, supporters of the marriages have been alternately protesting in the streets and kicking themselves for not working harder before election day.

3. Obama gets out the vote

The election campaign that seemed to last forever finally ended, and the guy who once joked that he did not look like the other people on the money came out on top, winning more votes than any presidential candidate in U.S. history. Enthusiasm for Barack Obama's historic run for president resulted in the highest percentage of California voters casting ballots in 32 years. Usually a campaign slogan means hardly anything, but not in 2008. In three weeks, when for the first time an African American takes the oath of office on Inauguration Day, there will no mistaking the meaning of the word "change."

4. Greenhouse gas emissions

California approved the nation's most sweeping plan to reduce global warming by curbing emissions, a move that state regulators hail as a nationwide model for President-elect Obama. The changes are designed to allow the state to reach its legally mandated goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, a reduction of about 30 percent. They are expected to be put into effect over the next 12 years.

5. Record gas prices

2008 proved the price of gasoline is more volatile than gasoline. Over the summer, the stuff cost $4.50 per gallon. A lot of people discovered they could get by just fine by driving less, walking more, hopping on a bus or pedaling a bike. Then the economy tanked and now the same gallon costs $1.50. Ridership on public transit has slipped a bit, but it's not clear if lower fuel prices or the rising unemployment rate is to blame.

6. Dry conditions fuel fires

For a while this summer and fall, no part of the state seemed untouched by fire. In November, 1,000 homes were destroyed in a series of devastating blazes in Southern California. Another fire torched 100 homes near Santa Barbara. In October, half of Angel Island went up in smoke. At the beginning of the summer, two dozen homes were lost to a fire in Big Sur, and a huge fire in Butte County barely missed the town of Paradise after forcing 10,000 residents to flee their homes. All told, 1,700 blazes blackened 829,000 acres of California during this year's fire season, keeping firefighters busy. A state of emergency seemed the state's perpetual state.

7. Water rationing

Gasoline and money weren't the only things running out. Two straight years of drought means that California may face water rationing next summer. The causes are complex, but they come down to more people, less rain and fewer smelt - an endangered species protected by strict rules at delta pumping stations. Fish gotta swim.

8. S.F. shields immigrant criminals

After a Chronicle story described how San Francisco was harboring rather than deporting violent youths, the city shifted gears and changed its decades-old policy of offering sanctuary to undocumented juvenile lawbreakers. The policy, which began in the 1980s as a means of protecting political opponents of regimes in El Salvador and Guatemala, wound up protecting alleged gang killers in the Mission District. Some offenders had been getting free flights to their home countries, with San Francisco taxpayers paying the tab.

9. Golden Gate Bridge's anti-suicide net

Extra patrols have been dispatched, pleading signs have been erected and crisis hotlines have been installed. Still, more than 1,000 despondent souls have leaped to their deaths from the Golden Gate Bridge. In October, after hearing years of testimony from psychiatrists, social workers and bereaved relatives, bridge directors voted to install a giant $45 million metal net beneath the bridge to catch the leapers. The actual net could be years away while directors try to figure out how to design it and how to pay for it.

10. Dellums' job performance

In Oakland, residents are grumbling more and more fervently about the job performance of freshman Mayor Ron Dellums, the former 13-term U.S. congressman and icon of the left. Critics say his detached manner and ineffectual decision-making - combined with a widely reported spate of strong-arm restaurant robberies and other city problems - have left voters wondering what's going on at City Hall.

SpeakSpit.tv in the Community feat. T.I. Part Two

SpeakSpit.TV in the Community Part 2 from Ron Fulcher on Vimeo.

SpeakSpit.tv in the Community feat. T.I. Part One

SpeakSpit.tv in the Community Part One from Ron Fulcher on Vimeo.

Ten in a million: contest offers free trips to Obama inauguration

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Ten people will be rubbing shoulders with dignitaries and stars at US president-elect Barack Obama's swearing-in next month if they win a contest launched Tuesday by the presidential inaugural committee."You and a guest could be flown to Washington DC, put up in a hotel and be part of this once-in-a-lifetime event," in exchange for submitting an essay about the meaning to them of the inauguration, an announcement on the inaugural committee's website says.Contestants have to be US citizens or permanent residents aged 18 or older, and the essays have to be submitted electronically by January 8 on the website of the inaugural committee -- www.pic2009.org/tickettohistory.

It was unclear where the winners of the contest would stay within walking distance of the Capitol, where the swearing-in ceremony will be held, but if they do, they would be spared the "crush-level" crowds that officials have predicted will pack Washington's public transportation system on January 20."DC's subway system ... is expecting 'crush-level' crowds" for the inauguration, inaugural officials said in a statement issued late Monday."Be prepared to wait for space on a train for long periods of time, during which you will have to stand in close proximity to several thousand people," the statement said, suggesting walking as the best way to get to the ceremony for those staying near the Capitol.The lucky contest winners will not have to brave the crowds on the National Mall because they will be part of an elite 240,000 guests with coveted tickets for seats for the swearing-in ceremony that will take place on the west-facing side of the Capitol.Inauguration organizers said Monday they expect "a million or more people to view the inauguration from the National Mall ... along with hundreds of thousands of others who plan on watching the inaugural parade down Pennsylvania Avenue."Officials initially put the numbers of inauguration day visitors to Washington as high as five million, but have since scaled back their estimates.Security officials have ensured that they are ready to handle crowds of any size.Entrants to the essay contest are asked to make a donation to the inaugural fund, even if doing so will not affect their chances of winning, according to the small print at the bottom of the website.The inauguration organizing committee says Obama's swearing-in ceremony and the balls and other events that will take place around it will be funded by individuals, not by lobbyists, corporations, political action committees or labor unions, as has been the case for past inaugurations.That, they say, is a first, as is the unprecedented transparency of listing all donations in excess of 200 dollars on the official inauguration website.Individual donations have been capped at 50,000 dollars and bundled donations -- where one donor gathers contributions from many individuals in a corporation or community -- at 300,000 dollars.People from all walks of life and all ethnicities are bucking the trend to pinch pennies as the United States weathers its worst economic slump since the Great Depression in the 1930s and donating to the inaugural fund for Obama, the first African-American elected to the White House.According to media reports, individuals have donated 21 million dollars to defray the costs of the inauguration.Hollywood actress Halle Berry and director Steven Spielberg have each given the maximum 50,000 dollars, and AIDS activist and former basketball star Earvin "Magic" Johnson has donated 25,000 dollars, the list of individual contributors shows. CONTINUE READING...

Defiant Illinois Governor Names Pick for Obama Seat

CHICAGO — Defying Senate leaders in Washington and a galaxy of political leaders here, Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois announced Tuesday that he would fill the Senate seat of President-elect Barack Obama, which he has been accused of trying to sell.Mr. Blagojevich said he would appoint Roland W. Burris, a former state attorney general who was the first African-American elected to statewide office in Illinois. The decision set off efforts to block the move by state legislators, the secretary of state, and, most significantly, Democratic leaders in the United States Senate who said they would not seat anyone Mr. Blagojevich chose.Still, even as the selection was clearly destined for battles on many fronts, Mr. Blagojevich sounded breezily confident as he introduced his appointee to reporters as the “next United States senator from Illinois.” Having been charged this month with conspiracy to commit fraud and bribery, he said the accusations against him should not taint Mr. Burris, whom he called “a good and honest man.”Standing beside him, Mr. Burris, who, at 71, is seen by many here as an elder statesman in Democratic politics, seemed to brush aside gaping questions about how federal criminal charges against Mr. Blagojevich might tarnish his potential Senate tenure — and whether he would really ever make it to the Senate chamber in the first place.“I’m honored that I have been appointed,” Mr. Burris said, “and we will deal with the next step in the process.” Of the criminal case against Mr. Blagojevich, Mr. Burris said, “I have no relationship with that situation.”Mr. Obama, on vacation in Hawaii and who, aides said, was surprised by the news of the appointment, issued a statement condemning the move.“Roland Burris is a good man and a fine public servant, but the Senate Democrats made it clear weeks ago that they cannot accept an appointment made by a governor who is accused of selling this very Senate seat,” Mr. Obama said. “I agree with their decision, and it is extremely disappointing that Governor Blagojevich has chosen to ignore it.”The Senate Democratic caucus, which controls the chamber, issued a statement saying that no one appointed by the governor could be an effective representative, and that Mr. Burris would not be seated. It is not clear, however, whether the caucus can bar a qualified appointee, and the issue may be headed to court.The choice of Mr. Burris immediately injected the issue of race into the appointment process, which may very well have been part of the governor’s calculation. Representative Bobby L. Rush, Democrat of Illinois, who was called to the lectern at the news conference by Mr. Burris, noted that there were no blacks in the Senate and said that he did not believe any senator “wants to go on record to deny one African-American from being seated in the U.S. Senate.” SOURCE:NYTIMES.COM

iPhone Blog Buzz 12.30.08

J.Hud To Perform at MusiCares Event Jennifer Hudson is slated to step back into the "Spotlight" with a performance at the 2009 MusiCares Person of the Year gala in Los Angeles on Feb. 6., two days before the Grammy Awards. This is J.Hud's first scheduled performance since the tragic murders of her mother, brother and nephew in October. The Oscar-winning songbird will join Coldplay, Adele and other artists in paying tribute to legendary singer-songwriter Neil Diamond. Los Angeles TimesKeyshia, Jamie Score Big Album Debuts Keyshia Cole's third effort, A Different Me, premieres at No. 1 on the latest Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart with 322,000 units moved in its first week of release, a career-best for the R&B starlet. Jamie Foxx's third disc, Intuition, follows at No. 2 with 265,300 copies sold. On the overall Billboard 200 chart, A Different Me and Intuition enter at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively. Billboard.com Anthony Gets to Point on New Disc Anthony Hamilton is known for his soulful love ballads, but on his new album, The Point of It All, the crooner steps out of the box to address societal issues. A prime example is the track "The News," which addresses crime and punishment. "I just wrote that song looking at a lot of my homeboys getting caught out there on the street life," he says. "But don't give up on them, 'cause brothers are gonna work it out."  TuneInMusicCity.com Mary, Jigga Accused of Beat Jacking Mary J. Blige and Jay-Z have been hit with a copyright-infringement lawsuit by two New Jersey-based producers. Jermaine Jump and Michael Adams are suing the Grammy-winning artists, claiming the two superstars jacked a song they produced and used it on MJB's 2005 hit "Enough Cryin'." The production duo alleges that they originally offered their song "On My Grind" to Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins in 2001, and four years later heard the same beat on the Rodney-produced "Enough Cryin'."

The Boombox The Presidential Inaugural Committee said Wednesday that the Obamas would attend 10 official balls, one more than President George W. Bush and Laura Bush attended in 2005. For ball-goers and Obama-watchers, a few questions remain: What will Michelle Obama wear? Who will perform? And will young daughters Sasha and Malia attend? No word from the committee on those fronts. Six of the official balls will be held at the Washington Convention Center, with others at Union Station, the Washington Hilton, the National Building Museum and the DC Armory. But the biggest parties this time may well be unofficial. MTV and BET are throwing televised parties, while the Creative Coalition will hold a gala to be headlined by Elvis Costello. Dionne Warwick is hosting the American Music Inaugural Ball.

The Next Generation of American Designers Fashion New Looks for a New First Lady

It's no exaggeration to say that any American designer would be thrilled to create an inaugural gown for Michelle Obama. The dress she wears to the official balls will be enshrined in history. If tradition holds, it will be donated to the First Ladies Collection at the National Museum of American History to hang alongside gowns worn by Eleanor Roosevelt, Nancy Reagan and Hillary Clinton. And making the commission even more irresistible: The first lady is tall, fit and, the record has shown, willing to take an aesthetic risk. But the challenges of creating an inaugural gown are immense. The dress not only serves as an emphatic pronouncement of the first lady's personal style, but also reflects how Americans would like to portray themselves to the world. Sophistication, class, modernity, creativity and the elusive notion of Americanness must be evoked in a few yards of silk, satin or organza. The expectation is that the dress should be designed by someone from an American company. This may be an increasingly borderless world, but the gown is an expression of patriotism. For their first inaugurations, both Clinton and Laura Bush were loyal to hometown designers. Clinton relied on Arkansas-based Sarah Phillips for her purple beaded ball gown, and Bush turned to the Dallas-based Michael Faircloth for her red Chantilly lace one. (For their second inaugurations, both decamped to the atelier of Seventh Avenue veteran Oscar de la Renta.) First ladies have used their inaugural dresses to set the tone for the incoming administration or even to make a political point. Rosalynn Carter reflected the down-home, frugal flavor of the Carter administration by wearing a six-year-old dress for the 1977 inauguration. Reagan's beaded, one-shoulder James Galanos dress marked the return of glamour, extravagance and optimism to the White House, underscoring the view of America as a "shining city upon a hill." For all the personal and political symbolism stitched into each dart, the gown is also a bit of an anachronism. It is akin to a wedding gown -- freighted with tradition and expectations. And all the guests at the celebration -- in this case, all 300 million citizens -- figure they have the right to weigh in with an opinion. Folks might be proud of Michelle Obama's Ivy League pedigree. They may respect her as intelligent and accomplished. Still, they will be disappointed if her dress isn't awfully pretty on Jan. 20. The inaugural gown is inexorably intertwined with the discomforting idea that a woman can and will be judged on her appearance. This stubborn convention has not been shattered despite generations of women's studies classes and 18 million cracks in the highest glass ceiling. One suspects that even if it were Hillary Clinton taking the oath of office in January, not many people would be interested in what the first gentleman planned to wear. Call the American people sexist, old-fashioned or just plain honest, but the inaugural gown is central to the celebration. It is part of the photographic tableau that is meant to instill pride, joy and optimism. Barack Obama may be the new leader of the free world, but it is difficult to get that excited about a one-button tuxedo that Hart Schaffner Marx says it is custom-making for him. CONTINUE READING...

Black Workers in Auto Plants Losing Ground

DETROIT — Since millions of African-Americans began leaving Southern farms for Northern factories nearly a century ago in what is still known as the Great Migration, the destinies of many of them have been entwined with the auto industry’s.Now, with Detroit reeling, many blacks find their economic well-being threatened.By last month, nearly 20,000 African-American auto workers had lost jobs, a 13.9 percent decline in employment, since the recession began last December, according to government jobs data analyzed by the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal Washington research firm. That compares with a 4.4 percent decline for all workers in manufacturing.“African-Americans earn much higher wages in the auto industry than in other parts of the economy, and the loss of these solid, middle-class jobs would be devastating,” said a report this month by the Economic Policy Institute.“The motor vehicle and parts industry, a sector of the economy that has been particularly welcoming to African-Americans, is becoming a shrinking island of prosperity,” the report said.Claudia Perkins, 55, who has worked in the automobile industry for 33 years and is now at G.M.’s assembly plant at Lake Orion, Mich., put it more bluntly. “If it wasn’t for the factory, the average black would not have been able to survive all these years, especially without an education,” she said.African-Americans occupy most rungs of the car production ladder, from plant workers to white-collar employees to auto suppliers and car dealers. Nelson White III, an industrial materials analyst at Ford Motor’s transmission plant in Livonia, Mich., said he was concerned that other African-Americans would not receive the opportunities he has.Mr. White started as an hourly worker in a Ford factory, attended college under a Ford program and made the leap to management in 1999. In May, he will graduate with a master’s degree in organizational leadership.“There’s a saying that when America catches a cold, African-Americans catch the flu,” said Mr. White. CONTINUE READING...

BET, TV One plan extensive inauguration coverage

NEW YORK — BET and TV One, the television networks aimed primarily at a black audience, haven't paid much attention to presidential inaugurations before. This time will be different. Both are planning extensive coverage for Jan. 20, when Barack Obama is sworn in as the nation's 44th president. While it will be followed as a news event, network executives said the installation of the first black president will be as much a celebration as a story. "This is an opportunity to be the best we can be," said Stephen Hill, BET's programming chief. "We see this as an opportunity to inform and inspire our audience, which is what we always try to do." BET marked President George W. Bush's last inauguration with a news brief, to say "Oh, it happened. What a shame," he said. This time, BET will cover the swearing-in and parade from four locations, including ground and rooftop sites on Pennsylvania Avenue. Anchoring the coverage will be Hill Harper of CBS' "CSI: NY," former CBS "The Early Show" host Rene Syler and Jeff Johnson, who hosts a weekly BET news program. The networks will take a particular interest in speaking to people who have traveled to Washington to witness the event. On election night, their ratings peaked shortly after the general news networks declared Obama the winner — when black viewers turned to the stations to soak it in with the people on the air. "They talked about the emotion of it," said Johnathan Rodgers, TV One's president. "Everyone talked about their own relatives and how they grew up. Almost everyone could not believe that it happened in our lifetime." TV One plans to follow the inauguration for 21 straight hours, from 6 a.m. EST on Jan. 20 to 3 a.m. EST the next day. Radio talk-show host Joe Madison and Art Fennell of CN8, the Comcast Network, will be the hosts. It's already a big week for TV One: Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday the weekend before marks the fifth anniversary of the network's launch. With all that time on the air, TV One will do its best to give its audience a real flavor of being there, Rodgers said. SOURCE:NEWSVINE.COM

Growing Marijuana With Government Money

Q. WHAT EXACTLY DOES THE MARIJUANA PROJECT DO?

A. Though cannabis had been used by man for thousands of years, it wasn’t until 1964 that the actual chemical structure of the active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol — THC — was determined. That stimulated new research on the plant.

At this laboratory, which began in 1968, we often investigate marijuana’s chemistry. We also have a farm where we grow cannabis for federally approved researchers. Our material is employed in clinical studies around the country, to see if the active ingredient in this plant is useful for pain, nausea, glaucoma, for AIDS patients and so on. For these tests, researchers need standardized material for cigarettes or THC pills. We grow the cannabis as contractors for the National Institute on Drug Abuse — NIDA. And the only researchers who can get our material are those with special permits. We have visitors at the building now and then who ask, “Oh, do you give samples?” We say, “No!”

Q. WHY BOTHER CULTIVATING YOUR OWN MARIJUANA WHEN LAW ENFORCEMENT ORGANIZATIONS SEIZE BRICKS OF IT EVERY DAY?

A. The most obvious reason is that with confiscated marijuana, you don’t really know what you have. When researchers are performing clinical tests, they must have standardized material that will be the same every time. And it must be safe. You certainly wouldn’t want to give a sick person something sprayed with pesticide or angel dust, substances we’ve detected in some illicit marijuana.

When this project first started in the late 1960s, people thought, “Oh, we’ll get materials for testing after a big bust happens.” So the first batch was acquired that way. They made an extract out of the seized material, and it turned out to be contaminated with tung oil. That brought home the point: if you’re going to do clinical trials on humans, you’d better know what you’re using and where it came from. Hence, our farm.

Another thing: pharmaceutical researchers are often looking at something they call “the dose response.” They want to know what happens to a patient smoking a marijuana cigarette with 1 percent THC versus 2 percent or 8 percent. Without standardized material, you can’t accurately test which produced the best or worst result. CONTINUE READING...

Study: Murders among black youths on the rise

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of young black men and teenagers who either killed or were killed in shootings has risen at an alarming rate since 2000, a new study shows. The study, released Monday by criminologists at Northeastern University in Boston, comes as FBI data show that murders have leveled off nationwide. Not so for black teens, the youngest of whom saw dramatic increases in shooting deaths, the Northeastern report concluded. Last year, for example, 426 black males between the ages of 14 and 17 were killed in gun crimes, the study shows. That marked a 40% increase from 2000. Similarly, an estimated 964 in the same age group committed fatal shootings in 2007 — a 38% increase from seven years earlier. The number of offenders is estimated because not all crimes are reported, said Northeastern criminologist James Alan Fox, who co-authored the study."Although the overall rate of homicide in the United States remains relatively low, the landscape is quite different for countless Americans living, and some dying, in violence-infested neighborhoods," Fox said. Seizing on President-elect Barack Obama's incoming administration as an opportunity for more funding, Fox added: "There is an urgency for reinvestment in children and families. In essence, we need a bailout for kids at risk." Obama will be the nation's first black president. The study partly blamed Bush administration grant cuts to local police and juvenile crime prevention programs for the surge in crimes by young black men and teens. Incoming Vice President Joe Biden has promised funding to put 50,000 new police officers on the street to help bring violent crime rates back to a decade-long annual decline that began in the mid-1990s, after then-President Bill Clinton provided local officials with money to hire 100,000 new cops. Nationwide, the number of murders and violent crimes overall dropped last year after increasing in 2005 and 2006, according to annual data compiled by the FBI. Overall, however, murders have risen by about 8% between 2000 and 2007.The FBI reported 10,067 arrests in murder and non-negligent manslaughter cases in 2007. Half of the people arrested — 5,078 — were black. Almost 10% of black people arrested for murder were under age 18, the FBI data show. The number of young white men who committed gun-related homicides also rose over the same period, the Northeastern study showed, but not as dramatically. In 2007, an estimated 384 white males age 14 to 17 shot someone to death, up from 368 in 2000. The numbers of homicides committed by women and teenage girls — whether black or white — were relatively few, the Northeastern study found. SOURCE:USATODAY.COM

The 10 Best Black Books of 2008 (Non-Fiction)

1. Hope on a Tightrope: Words & Wisdom
By Cornel West
Hope on a Tightrope earns the No. 1 spot at the dawn of the new political era of Barack Obama. Why? Because in spite of the uncritical euphoria surrounding Obama’s historic accomplishment, Dr. West has the guts to call attention to the pressing plight of the least of his brethren even before the President-elect has had a chance to take office.
Plus, the iconoclastic author, in urging the incoming administration to address the concerns of the poor and underprivileged, cleverly invokes “the fierce urgency of now,” the same phrase coined by Dr. Martin Luther King and appropriated by Obama as his campaign theme. Props to professor West for such a passionate reminder that the struggle for equality couldn’t possibly end automatically with the ascension of a Black man to the nation’s highest office.

2. Faith under Fire: A Memoir
By LaJoyce Brookshire
Everybody is aware of the devastating toll the escalating AIDS rate has been taking on the Black community. For this reason, inner city schools all over the country ought to consider adding this memoir to their curriculum as a precautionary measure. The book revolves around author LaJoyce Brookshire’s relationship with a duplicitous brother on the down low, who callously put his monogamous wife’s life at risk. Only well into their marriage did a bell go off in her head, but by then he already had full-blown AIDS and she was left in shock by the carousing, carelessness and sexual preferences of a partner she incorrectly assumed to be a straight, faithful spouse. Not exactly anybody’s idea of a fairy tale romance, but a wake-up call to sisters who can’t be too careful, given the rampant spread of AIDS by convicts, intravenous drug users and brothers simply too afraid to admit they’re gay or bisexual.

3. Standing Tall: A Memoir of Tragedy and Triumph
By C. Vivian Stringer
When Don Imus referred to the young women on the Rutgers University Basketball Team as “nappy headed-hos” a year ago, it deeply affected their coach Vivian Stringer, who “couldn’t shake the feeling that I had fallen down in my responsibility to protect these girls.” What almost nobody knew is that Vivian was recovering from breast cancer at the time Imus’ indefensible remarks thrust her into the national limelight and that her mother suffered a stroke right in the middle of the controversy.So, Stringer never let on that she was going through chemo and caring for her seriously ill mom while handling the crisis with the utmost poise and dignity. Poignantly written without a whit of bitterness, {Standing Tall} is as moving a memoir as I ever remember reading. The tears started flowing from the first page and didn’t stop till I finished the book.


4. Black Pain: It Just Looks Like We’re Not Hurting
By Terrie M. Williams
Social Worker Terrie Williams is most persuasive here, making the argument that life is hard in the ‘hood, that people are suffering from depression as a consequence and that the time has arrived to remove the stigma in the community still attached to seeking out psychological help. A convincing call for African Americans to trade in their self-defeating stoicism for some long-overdue mental health treatment.

5. Don't Blame It on Rio
By Jewel Woods and Karen Hunter
Did you know that Brazil has become the favorite vacation destination of a rapidly increasing number of professional African-American males? Are Black women even necessary any longer? Perhaps not, according to Jewel Woods and Pulitzer Prize-winner Karen Hunter, co-authors of this eye-opening expose’ which blows the cover off the clandestine sex trade currently flourishing in Rio.The city is apparently a popular port of call with bourgie brothers from the U.S. due to the easy availability of local women who don’t have the attitude or emotional baggage they generally find attached to sisters back home. A rather revealing look at a disturbing cultural trend.


6. Be a Father to Your Child
By April R. Silver
How do African-American males feel about fatherhood nowadays? Here’s a hint: Between 70 percent and 85 percent of Black kids are now being raised by single moms. The popular notion is that misogynistic “gangsta’” rap might have formed men generally unwilling to shoulder their fair share of the burden when it comes to parenting.But before you jump to conclusions, you might want to read this collection of empowering essays by Black men of the hip-hop generation who have not abandoned their children. For this uplifting tome, which includes contributions by rapper Talib Kweli, writer Bakari Kitwana and filmmaker Byron Hunt, offers a heartening mix of poetry, prose and pictures designed to reassure skeptics about the prospects of the Black family.


7. The Naked Truth: Young Beautiful and (HIV) Positive
By Marvelyn Brown
This bittersweet biography chronicles the author’s evolution from being diagnosed HIV positive to feeling desperate, frightened and abandoned to blossoming into a fearless AIDS activist. Now 24, this brave young lady deserves considerable credit for going public and thus putting a face on a still generally hidden and denied disease at a time when African Americans account for the majority of new infections in the United States.


8. The Race Card: How Bluffing About Bias Makes Race Relations Worse
By Richard Thompson Ford
Was it fair for Michael Jackson to turn himself White only to reclaim his Blackness when he wanted to sue his record company? According to Richard Thompson Ford, many well-off African Americans are more than willing to make inappropriate accusations of prejudice for purely selfish reasons.The author concludes that such opportunists who resort to the tactic of playing the race card “are the enemies of truth, social harmony, and social justice.” His solution? “For all decent and honest people” to join in condemning any such perpetrators. Certainly, food for thought in what has recently been dubbed “post-racial” America.


9. Letters to a Young Sister: Define Your Destiny
By Hill Harper

Actor Hill Harper received nothing but positive feedback a couple of years ago upon the release of {Letters to a Young Brother,} his inspirational how-to book for African-American males. Its uplifting message emphasized the value of a good education over the accumulation of material possessions while also stressing the importance of being the architect of your own life.So, it is only fitting that he would choose to write a companion text for Black females with the help such luminaries as Michelle Obama, Angela Bassett, Ruby Dee, Nikki Giovanni and Sanaa Lathan. This invaluable tome addresses a litany of concerns occupying the inquiring minds of impressionable girls still in their formative years. Overall, an uplifting collection of sage insights aimed at instilling self-confidence, self-respect and self-reliance.


10. Sweet Release: The Last Step to Black Freedom
By Dr. James Davison Jr.
Is it detrimental for African Americans to continue to think of their struggle for advancement as a collective as opposed to a solitary enterprise? This is the controversial contention put forward by Dr. Davison, a psychologist in private practice in California. He believes that those Black folks still viewing reality through a pre-civil rights era prism are only standing in the way of their own freedom. According to the author, the key rests in African Americans breaking the psychological bonds to their racial past by asserting their individuality, a step which he claims “has little to do with racism, prejudice, or discrimination.” A bitter pill to swallow, but so shockingly confrontational that its prescription for Black sanity is a must read, despite the doctor’s apparent right-wing political allegiances.

Bogus money goes mainstream

Amid a sour economy, one business appears to be thriving as the year comes to a close: counterfeiting. Arrests for making fake money have hit a five-year high.  Reports of counterfeit bills almost always go up around the holiday season. Yet as the economy sags, regular folks are trying to pass off fake bills to pay everyday expenses, joining what is typically the province of drug dealers, federal authorities say. Counterfeiting arrests in the USA jumped 28% this year over 2007 — the highest number since 2004, according to the Secret Service, a division of the Homeland Security Department that safeguards the nation's currency. Counterfeiters passed $64.4 million in fake cash into the economy, a 5% increase over 2007 and also a five-year high, says Special Agent Darrin Blackford, spokesman for the agency.  "It's not just the criminal element, but we're also seeing more students that maybe use a counterfeit $20 bill to buy pizza or someone trying to do it to purchase gas to get to work," says Brian Marr, Secret Service special agent in charge of the Little Rock field office. Marr says reports of fake bills spiked this year when gas prices hit record highs. The holiday surge comes as counterfeiters try to mix their bills into the crush of holiday shopping, federal agents and local police say. Counterfeiters also take advantage of technological advances in scanners and printers, which make it easier to duplicate currency. SOURCE:USATODAY.COM

Estelle feat.Sean Paul

TODAY'S PAPERS: Israel Prepares To Invade Gaza

The Wall Street Journal leads its world-wide newsbox with the Israeli government issuing a stern warning against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that Israel wouldn't hesitate to use force to retaliate if a series of recent rocket attacks continue. "I am telling them now, it may be the last minute, I'm telling them stop it," Olmert said. "We are stronger." USA Today leads with an in-house analysis that reveals more than a third of top congressional staffers who left Capitol Hill have gone on to work for groups that seek to influence the government. Out of the 193 top staffers who have left the government this year, 32 went on to register as lobbyists and 42 went to work for a variety of other influence peddlers. The Los Angeles Times leads with the horrifying killing spree that a man in a Santa suit launched at the home of his ex-wife's parents in a Los Angeles suburb. The man, who was apparently angry following the divorce, killed at least eight people at the Christmas Eve party and was found dead of a single gunshot to the head in his brother's home. The Washington Post leads with a look at how states across the country are making deep cuts in Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor. States are seeing their programs stretched to the limit due to the combination of decreased revenue at a time when more people are losing their jobs and health insurance. Nineteen states have already made cuts in payments and coverage, and many are planning even bigger cutbacks next year. The New York Times leads with a look at how a key part of President Bush's healthcare legacy will be tied to community health care centers, which have seen funding double under his watch. Almost 1,300 clinics in underserved areas have opened or been expanded during the Bush administration. To continue reading, click here.

Eartha Kitt, a Seducer of Audiences, Dies at 81

Eartha Kitt, who purred and pounced her way across Broadway stages, recording studios and movie and television screens in a show-business career that lasted more than six decades, died on Thursday. She was 81 and lived in Connecticut.The cause was colon cancer, said her longtime publicist, Andrew E. Freedman.Ms. Kitt, who began performing in the late ’40s as a dancer in New York, went on to achieve success and acclaim in a variety of mediums long before other entertainment multitaskers like Julie Andrews, Barbra Streisand and Bette Midler.With her curvaceous frame and unabashed vocal come-ons, she was also, along with Lena Horne, among the first widely known African-American sex symbols. Orson Welles famously proclaimed her “the most exciting woman alive” in the early ’50s, apparently just after that excitement prompted him to bite her onstage during a performance of “Time Runs,” an adaptation of “Faust” in which Ms. Kitt played Helen of Troy.Ms. Kitt’s career-long persona, that of the seen-it-all sybarite, was set when she performed in Paris cabarets in her early 20s, singing songs that became her signatures, like “C’est Si Bon” and “Love for Sale.”Returning to New York, she was cast on Broadway in “New Faces of 1952” and added another jewel to her vocal crown, “Monotonous” (“Traffic has been known to stop for me/Prices even rise and drop for me/Harry S. Truman plays bop for me/Monotonous, monotone-ous”). Brooks Atkinson wrote in The New York Times in May 1952, “Eartha Kitt not only looks incendiary, but she can make a song burst into flame.”Shortly after that run, Ms. Kitt had her first best-selling albums and recorded her biggest hit, “Santa Baby,” whose precise, come-hither diction and vaguely foreign inflections (Ms. Kitt, a native of South Carolina, spoke four languages and sang in seven) proved that a vocal sizzle could be just as powerful as a bonfire. Though her record sales fell after the rise of rhythm and blues and rock ’n’ roll in the mid- and late ’50s, her singing style would later be the template for other singers with pillow-talky voices like Diana Ross (who has said she patterned her Supremes sound and look largely after Ms. Kitt), Janet Jackson and Madonna (who recorded a cover version of “Santa Baby” in 1987). Ms. Kitt would later call herself “the original material girl,” a reference not only to her stage creation and to Madonna but also to her string of romances with rich or famous men, including Welles, the cosmetics magnate Charles Revson and the banking heir John Barry Ryan 3rd. She was married to her one husband, Bill McDonald, a real-estate developer, from 1960 to 1965; their daughter, Kitt Shapiro, survives her, as do two grandchildren. From practically the beginning of her career, as critics gushed over Ms. Kitt, they also began to describe her in every feline term imaginable: her voice “purred” or “was like catnip”; she was a “sex kitten” who “slinked” or was “on the prowl” across the stage, sometimes “flashing her claws.” Her career has often been said to have had “nine lives.” Appropriately, she was tapped to play Catwoman in the 1960s TV series “Batman,” taking over the role from the leggier, lynxlike Julie Newmar and bringing to it a more feral, compact energy. SOURCE:NYTIMES.COM

The 7 Days of Kwanzaa

Kwanzaa or Kwanza, secular seven-day festival in celebration of the African heritage of African Americans, beginning on Dec. 26. Developed by Maulana Karenga and first observed in 1966, Kwanzaa is based in part on traditional African harvest festivals but particularly emphasizes the role of the family and community in African-American culture. Each day is dedicated to a particular principle (unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith), and on each day one of the candles on a seven-branched candelabrum is lighted. The celebration also includes the giving of gifts and a karamu, or African feast.

The Seven Principles of Kwanzaa [Nguzo Saba]
1) Umojo (Unity) To Strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.
2) Kujichagulia (Self-Determination) To define ouselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.
3) Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility) To build and maintain our community together and make our brother's and sister's problems our problems and to solve them together.
4) Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.
5) Nia (Purpose) To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.
6) Kuumba (Creativity) To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.
7) Imani (Faith) To believe with all our hearts in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.

TODAY'S PAPERS: Bush: Regrets, I've Had a Few (Cheney: Not Me)

The New York Times leads with the dam that broke earlier this week in Tennessee and created what "may be the nation's largest spill of coal ash." As hundreds of acres are covered with the byproduct of coal burning at the Kingston Fossil Plant, environmentalists and officials are fiercely reigniting a debate over its potential toxicity and residents are unsure about what they should do. The Washington Post leads with new data that show U.S. consumers increased spending in November for the first time since May. Consumers had more disposable income, largely thanks to falling energy prices. But analysts warn this shouldn't be seen as a sign that the economy is making a comeback because energy prices aren't likely to fall much further and Americans seemed motivated to spend mostly due to the deep discounts that retailers have been offering in an attempt to save the holiday shopping season. The Los Angeles Times leads with a look at how the Great Recession is affecting colleges across the country. Alumni of some big institutions are receiving mixed messages from their alma matters that sometimes insist everything is fine only to turn around and beg for cash. "More than one president has sent out a relatively rosy assessment, only to follow up with news of cutbacks, hiring freezes and canceled projects," says the LAT. While smaller institutions have always been jealous of the huge endowments at big research universities, this may actually work in their favor this time around because they rely on tuition and other fees for most of their budget. To continue reading, click here.