Friday, August 7, 2009
Look at This !!!!!!!!!!!
This is exactly what I mean.
Elderly woman slammed hard by police at Walmart
Elderly woman slammed hard by police at Walmart
Thursday, August 6, 2009
WHAT?
Global Grind - WTF: Whites Only Station In Philly
THIS MAY BE the ultimate indignity.
Lawrence "Lonnie" Powell, 58, a semiskilled laborer at the city's Northwest Transfer Station, in Roxborough, said that since he began working at the trash-handling plant in 2003 he has had to seek the superintendent's permission to go to the bathroom — then descend five flights of stairs to use it.
Powell, who is black, said that white employees have been permitted to use a bathroom just 25 feet from his work station.
"On several occasions I've actually defecated on myself, trying to get down to the bathroom," said Powell, who operates a machine that packs trash into tractor-trailers to be taken to landfills.
Powell is one of five current and former employees, all in their 50s, who allege, in legal documents and interviews with the Daily News, that the station's white superintendent has discriminated against them because they are black.
US Army New Rules: Tweet or Die!
The U.S . Mari ne Corps has banned Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and other social media sites from its networks, effective immediately.
“These internet sites in general are a proven haven for malicious actors and content and are particularly high risk due to information exposure, user generated content and targeting by adversaries,” reads a Marine Corps order, issued Monday. “The very nature of SNS [social network sites] creates a larger attack and exploitation window, exposes unnecessary information to adversaries and provides an easy conduit for information leakage that puts OPSEC [operational security], COMSEC [communications security], [and] personnel… at an elevated risk of compromise.”
The Marines’ ban will last a year. It was drawn up in response to a late July warning from U.S. Strategic Command, which told the rest of the military it was considering a Defense Department-wide ban on the Web 2.0 sites, due to network security concerns. Scams, worms, and Trojans often spread unchecked throughout social media sites, passed along from one online friend to the next. “The mechanisms for social networking were never designed for security and filtering. They make it way too easy for people with bad intentions to push malicious code to unsuspecting users,” a Stratcom source told Danger Room.
Yet many within the Pentagon’s highest ranks find value in the Web 2.0 tools. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has 4,000 followers on Twitter. The Department of Defense is getting ready to unveil a new home page, packed with social media tools. The Army recently ordered all U.S. bases to provide access to Facebook. Top generals now blog from the battlefield.
Go Sonia it's your Birthday
Global Grind - And She's In... Sotomayor Gets The #9 Spot
**UPDATE** Sonia Sotomayor has received enough votes to be confirmed as the Supreme Court's first Hispanic justice Thursday, elevating the daughter of Puerto Rican parents after a summer-long debate filled with ethnic politics. She is the first justice nominated by a Democratic president in a decade and a half. The vote was 68 to 31. The Democrats' heavy majority ensured confirmation of President Barack Obama's first nominee, though many Republican senators were voting against her. GOP senators typically praised her personal story but said they were concerned that she would be too liberal and would rely on personal sympathies rather than legal precedents in her votes on the nation's highest court. The Senate's deep divisions over Sotomayor reflected partisan politics but also profound philosophical disagreements that will shape future battles over the court's makeup as Obama looks to another likely vacancy – perhaps more than one_ while he's in the White House. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., 91, the longest-serving senator, who has been in frail health, planned to make just his second return to the Senate since his release from the hospital in June to cast a historic vote for Sotomayor. ____________________________________________________________________________________
Sonia Sotomayor is poised to make history as the Supreme Court's first Hispanic justice despite staunch opposition from Republicans who call her ill-suited for the bench, a pending victory for Democrats who believe her confirmation will pay off politically.
The Senate is ready to vote Thursday to confirm President Barack Obama's high court nominee, a 55-year-old appeals court judge of Puerto Rican descent who was raised in a New York City housing project, educated in the Ivy League and served 17 years on the federal bench.
Sotomayor picked up more GOP support Wednesday even as nearly three-quarters of the Senate's 40 Republicans said they would vote "no" and contended she would bring liberal bias and personal sympathies to her decisions. With all Democrats expected to back her, she has more than enough votes to be confirmed, barring a surprise turn of events, in one of the Senate's last actions before it breaks for the summer.
Democrats, praising her as a well-qualified judge and a mainstream moderate, are warning Republicans that they risk a backlash from Hispanic voters ? a growing part of the electorate ? if they oppose her. But Republicans bristle at the suggestion, noting that Democrats used extraordinary measures several years ago to block the confirmation of GOP-nominated Miguel Estrada, a Honduran-born attorney, to the federal bench.
GOP senators say their opposition to Sotomayor is based on her speeches and record, pointing to a few rulings in which they argue she showed disregard for gun rights, property rights and job discrimination claims by white employees. They also cite comments she's made about the role that a judge's background and perspective can play, especially a 2001 speech in which she said she hoped a "wise Latina" would usually make better decisions than a white man.
HIP HOP RUCKUS - THE S.I.C.K.
Ok everybody, we're gonna sharpen up the mood right now and take you deep in the abyss of the underground. Check it, I got the crazy video from the nice hip hop duo called S.I.C.K (Supreme Intellect Cultivates Knowledge). It's entitled "Spitt" from their upcoming release "The Price Of Dreaming". The video may be a little blurry but the hooks, sound production, and originality are extremely viable I think for the listeners of progressive Hip Hop. This is just another example that you don't have to go to the mainstream to find a gem. Yo, give some support to these brothers and while your at it read up on these cats (see below for info on the group). Damn, I love it when hip hop is well done.
S.I.C.K. Supreme Intellect Cultivates Knowledge
Over the span of 15 years the S.I.C.K has an underground act preferring to produce for independent acts and perform at small venues and community gatherings. The promise that Hip Hop music held for those Of the inner-city and the cultures ability To transform lives for the better was always first and foremost to us. We come out of a rich musical and cultural heritage that spans time and genres.
Some so called Rappers look at the music as a way to get rich; others see the music as a means to crush opponents. And still others to purely entertain. We like to think that we embody all of those facets in our music at one time or another but our primary objective has always Been to move the listening and viewing audience to do and be more.
In the tradition of BDP, Public Enemy........ and all those people who have used art as a way to further dialog & humanity. We span the gambit of the human experience from the heights to the depth of human being. No, it is not all Good but it is the truth . We view our creations as sonic tapestry ,woven to evoke emotion and to keep the people dancing.
S.I.C.K. Supreme Intellect Cultivates Knowledge
Over the span of 15 years the S.I.C.K has an underground act preferring to produce for independent acts and perform at small venues and community gatherings. The promise that Hip Hop music held for those Of the inner-city and the cultures ability To transform lives for the better was always first and foremost to us. We come out of a rich musical and cultural heritage that spans time and genres.
Some so called Rappers look at the music as a way to get rich; others see the music as a means to crush opponents. And still others to purely entertain. We like to think that we embody all of those facets in our music at one time or another but our primary objective has always Been to move the listening and viewing audience to do and be more.
In the tradition of BDP, Public Enemy........ and all those people who have used art as a way to further dialog & humanity. We span the gambit of the human experience from the heights to the depth of human being. No, it is not all Good but it is the truth . We view our creations as sonic tapestry ,woven to evoke emotion and to keep the people dancing.
http://hiphopruckus.blogspot.com
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
TO PROTECT
MediaTakeOut.com 2009
DECATUR, Ga. -- The DeKalb County police department is investigating two officers who have been accused of running a criminal background check on President Barack Obama.
County public safety director William Miller said in a prepared statement Wednesday that the officers have been put on leave pending the outcome of the investigation. The officers' names were not released.
Miller said the police department was notified by the U.S. Secret Service that DeKalb County computers were used to run a query on Obama. He did not say what investigators believe was the officers' motive.
Miller said the officers' behavior will "not be tolerate
WOW !
MediaTakeOut.com 2009
President of black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha sued by members over funds, including $900,000 wax statue
Suits says president of Chicago-based, national group also lavished $400,000 on herself
Comments
July 29, 2009
BY CHERYL V. JACKSON Staff Reporter/cjackson@suntimes.com
Members of a prominent Chicago-based sorority are suing to oust their national president -- former Chicago Housing Authority comptroller Barbara McKinzie -- saying she misappropriated funds and commissioned a $900,000 wax figure of herself.
She also is accused of taking nearly $400,000 for personal expenses and arranging for a $4,000 monthly stipend to be paid to herself after she leaves office.
» Click to enlarge image
Members of Chicago-headquartered Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority are suing to oust their president -- former Chicago Housing Authority comptroller Barbara McKinzie, left, who had a wax figure made of herself, shown right.
» Click to enlarge image
Members of Chicago-headquartered Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority are suing to oust their president -- former Chicago Housing Authority comptroller Barbara McKinzie (center).
(Courtesy)
RELATED STORIES
Interest wanes after considering whole ball of wax
McKinzie, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and its current and some former board of directors members are targeted in a lawsuit filed by eight sorority members last month.
Among the allegations:
• • AKA directors violated the group's rules when they approved a four-year "pension stipend" for a total of nearly $192,000. They also purchased a $1 million life insurance policy for McKinzie.
• • McKinzie used the group's American Express card to buy designer clothing, lingerie and jewelry, then redeemed points racked up on the card to get a 46-inch HDTV, gym equipment and other items for personal use.
• • The president started a campaign to raise $100 million for an endowment fund to be run by her management firm -- BMC Associates.
McKinzie denied any wrongdoing Tuesday, saying the lawsuit was backlash to "enforced stringent financial standards as part of a professionalization of our organization."
"Change never comes easy," she said. "The malicious allegations leveled against AKA by former leaders are based on mischaracterizations and fabrications not befitting our ideals of sisterhood, ethics and service."
McKinzie's likeness, along with one of the first national AKA president Nellie Quander, cost a total of $45,000, she said. All other figures are of group founders or first national presidents. The $900,000 "was allocated by the AKA board of directors to help defray overall expenses for our 2010 convention,' McKinzie said.
The wax figure of McKinzie is being prepped at the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum in Baltimore, where it will be in a growing exhibit of predominantly black fraternity and sorority representatives.
Parks, King, Keys, Donda West members
Founded at Howard University, AKA is the oldest predominantly black Greek-lettered sorority.
Members have included civil rights icons Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King; former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt; musician Alicia Keys; astronaut Mae Jemison; poet Maya Angelou; actresses Jada Pinkett Smith and Roxie Roker; singer Gladys Knight; TV personality Star Jones; educator Marva Collins, and Kanye West's late mother, Donda West. Michelle Obama accepted honorary membership in 2008 but has yet to be inducted.
Mattel Inc. created the limited-edition AKA Centennial Barbie, the first Barbie based on any sorority.
The suit also alleges that McKinzie persuaded the board in 2008 to approve $250,000 -- later increased to about $375,000 -- in compensation to her for services rendered on behalf of the sorority. McKinzie's pay was based on her securing $1.6 million in cost savings to AKA, but there was no proof that there were any savings, the members said.
The suit contends the expenditures should have been approved by AKA members last year. It seeks to have the board removed and money returned.
Leadership also is accused of overcharging for the group's 2008 conference, one that observed Alpha Kappa Alpha's 100th anniversary.
The registration fee was doubled to about $500 per member for the 2008 meeting, which brought in about $13 million. The complainants say expenses for that gathering were about $9 million, and the surplus was spent at McKinzie's discretion.
The dispute is being played out on open-access Web sites and blogs, a rarity among the black heritage fraternities and sororities that typically value handling internal discord more discreetly.
In another dispute, members of Illinois-incorporated Zeta Phi Beta Sorority are contesting the 2008 election of comedian Sheryl Underwood as national president. A D.C. Superior Court dismissed a lawsuit seeking to unseat Underwood.
The ABCs of AKA
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. has initiated more than 260,000 members since its 1908 founding at Howard University in Washington, D.C.
About 50,000 members are active in the group’s 950 chapters worldwide.
At its 2008 centennial celebration in Washington, D.C., AKA set a Guinness record for the largest sit-down dinner, drawing about 20,000 guests.
Mattel Inc. created the limited-edition Alpha Kappa Alpha Centennial Barbie, the first Barbie based on any sorority.
The group settled a $100 million wrongful death lawsuit after the 2002 deaths of two California college students who drowned in the Pacific Ocean while attempting to pledge the sorority.
The group has offices at 5656 S. Stony Island Ave., and is incorporated in D.C. Its educational foundation, also being sued, is incorporated in Illinois.
Dues from active members range from $70 to $200 per year, and along with meeting registrations are the primary revenue source for the group’s operations.
5 Jamaicans in doping scandal
MediaTakeOut.com 2009
Hearing set for 5 Jamaicans in doping scandal
Posted 5d 11h ago | Comment | Recommend E-mail | Save | Print | Subscribe to stories like this
KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — A Jamaican disciplinary committee will hold the first hearing for the five track athletes caught up in doping scandal on Friday or Saturday.
Chairman Kent Gammon said he wants the athletes to explain their side of the story before Monday's deadline to set the team for the upcoming world championships in Berlin.
The nine-member committee, part of the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission, can issue bans for the five athletes, who tested positive for a banned substance at June's national championships.
Jamaican officials and track's governing body have not identified the athletes or the drug. However, the manager for Sheri-Ann Brooks has confirmed she is involved in the scandal, as has runner Allodin Fothergill. Lansford Spence is also involved, according to his coach Henry Rolle.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Report: August Provost Murder Suspect was on "Suicide Watch"
Rod 2.0:Beta
Report: August Provost Murder Suspect was on "Suicide Watch"
2009_07_01_PROVOST
Yet another twist in the investigation into the murder of Seaman August Provost. The Navy now admits the petty officer charged with murdering the Camp Pendleton sailor who committed suicide over the weekend ... was on suicide watch, reports the Associated Press.
Jonathan Campos was under video surveillance because he'd made two previous suicide attempts. [He] was on suicide watch when he apparently stuffed toilet paper in his mouth and suffocated Friday.
Pendleton spokeswoman Maj. Kristen Lasica-Khaner said Monday that a guard visually checked Campos every five minutes as Navy regulations require. However, there may have been a 36-minute gap between physical inspections. The base is investigating.
On Sunday, the Navy maintained it will continue investigating the homicide even after the suspect's suicide. Now the reasons become more obvious.
Twenty-nine-year-old Seaman August Provost of Houston, who gay and out to family and some coworkers, was gunned down in a Pendleton guard shack on June 30. The shack also was set on fire. Provost told his family he was harassed and ostracized at Pendleton for at least a year because he was gay and black. The Navy says there is "no evidence" of a hate crime.
Campos was accused of a month-long crime spree that included murder, solicitation off murder, drugs and weapons violations, and breaking and entering.
If the suspect in a drug- and alcohol-fueled crime spree was in on "video surveillance" and "suicide watch", how exactly was he allowed to kill himself? Why were there gaps in the "surveillance"? And how was one man able to allegedly storm a United States military installation? Perhaps Jonathan Campos' suicide was very convenient, because we may never learn what really happened that night at Guard Shack 3.
GOOD JOB
// 'CONCRETELOOP.COM' - QUALITY NOT QUANTITY
‘ROUND THE WAY: KIMORA & DJIMON SHOW OFF THEIR SON, KENZO
Wednesday, August 5, 2009 |
OKmagazine.com has just posted new exclusive baby pics of Kimora Lee Simmons’ and Djimon Hounsou’s new son Kenzo (born in May) from a photo shoot and interview with the couple and their family.
Kimora tells OK!, “I just never thought it could be this good.” Simmons also has two daughters Ming, 9 and Aoki, 7 (with ex-husband Russell Simmons).
Whitney Houston's New Album Gets Pushed Up
BlackNews.com - Photos: Whitney Houston's New Album Gets Pushed Up
Whitney Houston's New Album Gets Pushed UpLooks like all the Whitney fans out there couldn’t wait and Clive decided to push the album up to an August release date. Whitney’s new highly anticipated album “I Look to You” will be released on August 31st instead of the original date, Sept. 1st. Whitney also has an ABC Special about her comeback that will be released in August as well. And if that wasn’t enough you can also get the title track for free on her website!
Whitney Houston New Album
Looks like all the Whitney fans out there couldn’t wait and Clive decided to push the album up to an August release date.
Naomi Sims Dies at 61
BlackNews.com - Black News | African American News | Black America
Naomi Sims, Among First Black Models, Dies at 61
Naomi Sims, Among First Black Models, Dies at 61
Naomi Sims, whose 1968 Ladies' Home Journal cover shot was a breakthrough for black fashion models, has died. She was 61. Sims, said by some to be the first black supermodel, died Saturday of breast cancer in Newark, N.J., said her brother-in-law Alexander Erwiah, the president of Naomi Sims Beauty Products. [Read More]
Naomi Sims, Among First Black Models, Dies at 61
Supermodel Naomi Sims DiesNaomi Sims, whose 1968 Ladies' Home Journal cover shot was a breakthrough for black fashion models, has died. She was 61. Sims, said by some to be the first black supermodel, died Saturday of breast cancer in Newark, N.J., said her brother-in-law Alexander Erwiah, the president of Naomi Sims Beauty Products. [Read More]
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When rapper Method Man’s Lincoln Navigator was recently repossessed due to his tremendous amount of back taxes most people assumed the rapper wasn’t doing so well financially.
Why did Method Man forget to pay his taxes? Because he was "too high."
But according to The Daily News, Method Man could have easily written a check to clear up his back taxes but was too high to do so.
In an interview with The Daily News Method Man revealed that when the tax department was sending him letters he was on the road and simply forgot to pay them.
“Myself, I’m a pothead. It’s no secret. Everyone knows that,” Method Man told The Daily News. “I go on the road and forget everything else. Sure, [the tax department] sent letters to my house saying, ‘We need this money.’ They started sending them in 2002. Here it is, 2009, and I never paid this s— because I don’t think like that! I could have easily just written them a check for whatever amount, but no — I waited until they knocked on this door and were like, ‘We got your truck and we outta here,’ ”
Method Man owed the Department of Taxation a staggering $52,503 in overdue payments.
And when the Department of Taxation did seize Method Man’s Navigator he was too caught off guard to be bothered by the possession.
“I knew why they were there,” Method Man explained to The Daily News. “It wasn’t like ‘Oh my God! Noo!! Don’t take it!’ like it is on that TV show [“Operation Repo”]. I was half-dressed, and it was so early that I just said, ‘Okay, you’re taking the truck. ... Aight.’”
TRU BLOOD "MUST WATCH TV"
A Room Full of Matches: Red Candles, Romance, and Rage on "True Blood"
http://www.televisionaryblog.com/ 2009/ 08/ room-full...
Wow. That was my immediate reaction upon seeing the most recent episode of True Blood ("Release Me"), written by Raelle Tucker and directed by Michael Ruscio, which I was lucky enough to snag an advance screener for about a week ago. (I teased my reaction to this shocking and visceral episode on Twitter here.) This week's episode offered a major turning point in the second season of True Blood, fracturing some alliances (possibly forever), revealing a traitor, and solving one of the season's most enduring mysteries. All while things heat up in a major way in Bon Temps and Tara begins to see things more clearly than she has in a long time.
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