The Count Down

There are 386 days until Bush is ousted from the Oval Office. Until that day lets compare him to the old guy that always hangs out at the Frat house.

• resorts to belligerence rather than admit a mistake.


• has summers off.


• encourages others to perform comunnity service, but only shows up for the cameras.


• the smart kids provide him answers using a hidden audio transmitter.

(from www.toostupidtobepresident.com)

Kwanzaa

Today is the sixth day of Kwanzaa.

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.

New Years resolution

Today is new years eve. Though it doesn't seem like it for me, probably because I have to go to work, its time to reflect on your life and see what your have done right, wrong, or just need to step you game up on. I like to take stock of all the things that have gone right and wrong in my life over the past year and how I can make that wrong list shorter and the right list longer.

So here are some things I resolve to change in my life, unlike most people I hope to keep these resolutions throughout the year.

• lose weight.
• become more confident.
• become more aggressive.
• blog more.
• work on my grammar and punctuation.
• refine my editing skills.
• read more.
• not sweat the little things.
• be a better friend.

What do you resolve to change? Have fun tonight and be safe. Don't drink and drive.

The Count Down

There are 387 days until Bush becomes a civilian again. Until that day lets compare Bush to a college Fraternity leader.

• encourages minions to run three miles in 100-degree heat, then taunts them as he rides his bicycle.


• refers to everyone only by the nickname he has bestowed. Brownie.


• should have been gone after four years, but he just wont leave.


• cheats to secure a second term.

(from http://www.toostupidtobepresident.com/)

Kwanzaa

Today is the fifth day of Kwanzaa.

Nia (Purpose) To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

And in other news

Deborah Tang dies at 60

Terry Armour dies

Fighting over James Brown

No longer on top - an end to an era

The Count Down

There are 388 days until Bush is ousted from the oval office. Until that day lets try and understand his ramblings.

"I don't know why you're talking about Sweden. They're the neutral one. They don't have an army."
-George W. Bush, during a December 2002 Oval Office meeting with Rep. Tom Lantos, as reported by "The New York Times"

Kwanzaa

Today is the fourth day of Kwanzaa.

Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.

The Count Down

There are 389 days until the end of the Bush administration. Until that day lets look at some of the people he associates with.

During Vice President Cheney's tenure as CEO of Halliburton (1995 - 2000), the company had substanial interests in two firms that soldd more than $73 million of oil-production equipment to Saddam Hussein's Iraq. In September 1998, Cheney oversae Halliburton's acquistion of Dresser Industries Inc., which sold pumps, spare parts, and pipeline equipment to Iraq through two subsidiaries (of which Halliburton later divested itself, in 1999). Although the subsidiaries made sales to Iraq of $30 million during his tenure, Cheney claims he was unaware that the corporations were doing business in Iraq. Upon leaving Halliburton in 2000, Vice President Cheney received stock options of 433,333 shares of the company (worth about $150 million in August 2006).

Halliburton and its subsidiary KBR have received substantial noncompetitive contracts for the rebuilding of Iraw and have been the subject of US Army investigations regarding the costs of their work.

Kwanzaa

Today is the third day of Kwanzaa.

Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility) To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers' and sisters' problems our problems and to solve them together.

The Count Down

There are 390 days until the end of the Bush administration. Until that day lets look at some of his many idiotic statements.

During the November 2006 Elections:
"Absolutely we're winning [in Iraq]."

- George W. Bush, Oct. 25, 2006

One month later:

"We're not winning."

-George W. Bush, Dec. 19, 2006

Kwanzaa

Today is the second day of Kwanzaa.

Kujichagulia (Self-Determination) To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.

The Count Down

There are 391 days until Bush makes his final descent from the White House. Until that day lets hear some more of his foolishness.

"President Bush met with the president of South Korea. Things got off to an awkward start when President Bush asked, 'Are you from the good Korea or the bad Korea?'"

-Conan O'Brien, June 2005

Kwanzaa

Today is the first day of Kwanzaa. For all of you who don't know what Kwanzaa is, it is an African-American holiday created in 1966. It was created by An African-American scholar and social activist, Karenga. He said his goal was to "...give a Black alternative to the existing holiday and give Blacks an opportunity to celebrate themselves and history, rather than simply imitate the practice of the dominant society."

Kwanzaa is derived from the Swahili phrase "matunda ya kwanza", meaning "first fruit."

Kwanzaa is founded on seven principles which are represented in the seven day celebration.

Today is Umoja (Unity) To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.

Former NABJ president died

Thomas Morgan III, a reporter and editor at the New York Times, Washington Post and Miami Herald who led the National Association of Black Journalists from 1989 to 1991, died Monday morning in Southampton, Mass., where he was visiting. His friend Sheila Stainback said he suffered a heart attack.

Morgan, 56, had lived with the HIV virus, which developed into full-blown AIDS, for 20 years.
NABJThomas Morgan IIIMorgan was NABJ's first gay president, and while he did not dwell on his sexual orientation while in office, he later became an inspiration to other black gay journalists and sat on the board of New York's Gay Men's Health Crisis organization.

He was inducted into the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association's Hall of Fame in 2005.
"He made us a more tolerant organization,'' Marcus Mabry, then of Newsweek, said after the awards presentation. "There are those ridiculous attempts to divide. What are you black first or gay first? A human being or a child of God? The dichotomies are ridiculous."

Under Morgan's tenure as NABJ president, the association expanded its student projects to include a broadcast component, which today is known as NABJ TV, established NABJ "Short Courses," formalized its fellowships to Africa, and created the NABJ Hall of Fame, Lisa Goodnight noted in an article about the Hall of Fame induction. Morgan additionally served on the programming committee for the first Unity convention in 1994, an event that boosted NABJ membership. In 1989, when Morgan became NABJ president, the organization had about 1,900 members. At last summer's convention, it stood at 3,714.

Morgan also brought this columnist into a more active role with the organization, asking him to co-edit the organization's newspaper, the NABJ Journal, covering the association as a watchdog and journalist would. It was in the NABJ Journal, in 1991, that the "Journal-isms" column originated. The Journal remained edited by a rank-and-file member until recently.

NABJ evicted the CIA from its job fair in 1989 and did the same to the FBI in 1991 after members were outraged by being associated with the two agencies. NABJ voted in 1989 to exclude government programs from its job fair, and it was Morgan who went to the booths and asked the agencies to leave. "The FBI is not a journalism organization. It's inappropriate for them to be here," Morgan said in 1991. The FBI recruited again at the NABJ convention last summer without controversy, and the CIA was at the National Association of Hispanic Journalists convention.

"Morgan's singular regret was giving the New York Daily News, its workers on strike back then, NABJ's membership list," Katti Gray wrote in an NABJ series on its former presidents, "Committed to the Cause." "Not that such a move was unprincipled to him, Morgan said, but it was untimely and not very smart."

"'I was called all kinds of names. Traitor. Uncle Tom,' he said. 'When the dust cleared, a number of black journalists still wanted to work at the Daily News. We should not be in the business of telling anyone where to work.'"

Morgan served on NABJ's board of directors for 10 years, and before he was president, he was treasurer, at a time when the organization was not used to handling large sums of money. In his book "The NABJ Story," Wayne J. Dawkins describes how in 1986, Morgan "discreetly summoned four board members to his hotel room. Morgan was carrying $20,000 cash from . . . onsite convention revenues.

"He was scared. he did not have the means to secure the money in an account. A robbery or burglary at the hotel could rob NABJ of crucial funds."

"We were journalists. We knew how to write and edit, not run an organization. It was a big experiment for us," Morgan told Dawkins.

With what some called an idealized, member-service-oriented vision of NABJ, Morgan sometimes found himself at odds with leaders who followed. In 1997, for instance, he spoke out against a decision by the NABJ board, taken on the advice of its executive director and its lawyer, to erase the tapes of meetings in order to reduce the board's liability. "We are journalists, not lawyers," Morgan said. Members eventually overruled the board.

"Tom was a great servant of NABJ and a heck of a president. He was always dapper and dignified through it all. We lost a good soul and we're all going to miss his presence and friendship," Greg Moore, editor of the Denver Post and former NABJ board member, told Journal-isms.

Morgan, a St. Louis native and the oldest of four sons, was born to a father who worked for the Postal Service and a mother who was a schoolteacher. After finishing high school in 1969, he won an ROTC scholarship to the University of Missouri and, after his 1973 graduation, served as an Air Force officer until 1975.

He then went to the Miami Herald, and spent six years reporting and editing at the Washington Post. In 1983, Morgan went on to the New York Times, where he was a reporter, editor and took a turn on the business side. He was a Nieman fellow from 1989 to 1990.

When he retired in 1995, the Times created the Thomas Morgan Internships in Graphics, Design and Photography.

"He was always, always a gentleman. Just kind and sympathetic and thoughtful," Times Senior Editor Sheila Rule, who administers the program, told Journal-isms. Rule said she had known Morgan since she was 14, in St. Louis, and credited Morgan with boosting her career at the Times.

When Morgan was on the metro desk in 1984, he assigned Rule a nontraditional Easter story. He suggested that she follow around a black family. After the piece appeared, A.M. Rosenthal, the editor, complimented her on the piece and before too long she was a correspondent in Africa.

Stainback said funeral arrangements have yet to be made. Among his survivors are his partner, Thomas Ciano, of Brooklyn, N.Y., where they lived. Ciano sent word that contributions in Morgan's name would be welcome at Gay Men's Health Crisis.

In the May 1995 issue of the NABJ Journal, Audrey Edwards asked Morgan why he wanted to be interviewed.

"I wanted a chance to share with the NABJ membership my hopes for the future. And I want members to know that AIDS is a disease no different than things like breast cancer or prostate cancer. It is simply a disease. We are all mortal, and we will all die of something," he said. -Richard Prince

News from a different source

A black man in New York was recently convicted of killing a white teen who showed up to his home with a gang of people wanting to cause trouble. The man claimed he feared the gang would try to lynch him and his family in his Long Island home. The jury didn't buy that story. Now BET.com writer Ed Wiley will tell what will happen to the 54-year-old family man.

In a decision that defense attorneys say set African Americans back to the slave days, a jury late Saturday found a Black man guilty of shooting to death a White teen who showed up with his posse at his Long Island, N.Y., home in the middle of the night.

“What this jury has done is basically nullify 400 years of history and said that what you feel and the fear that you have when someone calls you names and rolls up on you as though they’re coming to a modern-day lynching is irrelevant … is a real concern,” defense attorney Frederick Brewington told reporters in the courthouse corridor following the verdict. “It’s a real concern when we are denied our history.

It took a Suffolk County jury four days to conclude that John White was guilty of manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon in the 2006 killing of an unarmed teenager, 17-year-old Daniel Cicciaro Jr., on Aug. 9, 2006.

White, 54, never denied shooting Cicciaro. He said that when the group of five angry Whites appeared, yelling racial slurs and demanding to see his son, whom they said had insulted a girl, he grabbed a handgun and told them to back off his property.

What happened next is what landed White in court. “Some little guy popped up on me,” White said during his testimony last week as tears streamed down his face. “He tried to snatch the gun. I pulled back and it fired. I didn’t mean to shoot this young man — he’s another child of God.”

During the trial, White said that seeing an angry White mob in the dark of night, calling him the “N”-word and insisting that he serve up his son took him back to when he was a scared little boy at his grandfather’s farm in Alabama.

In my family history, that’s how the Klan comes,” White said. “They pull up; they blind you with their lights. They burn your house down. They threaten your family. That’s how they come. They were like a lynch mob.”

Brewington said that his client’s state of mind at the time he retrieved the loaded Beretta and started waving it at the group is critical. “John White and his family were scared to death, and the fact that that was not taken in and considered as an important aspect of the justification to go out and protect your home and protect your family is taking away from the value of that history,” he told reporters, adding that this is all about race.

But prosecutors argued that the case has little to do with race and a lot to do with White’s recklessness.

"Mr. White was faced in an unfortunate situation, in a difficult situation," District Attorney James Chalifoux said. "But he reacted to it poorly, recklessly and now a jury has said that he acted criminally." He noted, too, that he never heard White mention anything about lynch mobs before the trial.

The Cicciaro family was elated after the verdict.

“Thank God for the power of prayer. Thank everyone who prayed for us,” the victim’s mother, Joanne Cicciaro, told the crowd gathered in the courthouse. “We did it! We did it! My son is finally vindicated.”

Added Daniel Cicciaro, the victim’s father, “Thank you to the jury. Maybe now they’ll stop slinging my son’s name and stop accusing him of all this racism.”

“This was never about race. It’s about individuals and individual actions,” the mother chimed in again.

But a disappointed Marie Michel, another of White’s attorneys, said the Cicciaro family is ignoring reality.

“If the races were reversed, there would not have been an indictment and you would not be in the courthouse today,” she said.

“If five African-American young men had gone to a White homeowner’s home in the middle of the night, threatening the family, and the homeowner came out and intentionally or accidentally shot any of them, there would not be an indictment, there would not have been an arrest, and there would be no case.”

John White is free until sentencing on Feb. 21. He faces a maximum sentence of 12 to 22 years in prison.

The Count Down

There are 392 days until Bush is ousted from the White House. Until that day lets look back at some of his tactical errors.

Since the beginning of the Bush administration, the government has been selling U.S. currency to finance the trade deficit. In the last six years the Japanese have bought up $700 billion in U.S. currency and the Chinese $200 billion. The most pressing danger this presents is that if they stop buying dollars, we will effectively lose the low interest loans we are using to finance our debt. Many economist worry that they will dump their holdings, sending the dollar into a free fall.

As James Surowiecki wrote in The New Yorker, "The Chinese and the Japanese could decide that the costs of the falling dollar are too great, and suddenly stop (or, at least, cut back sharply) their lending to the United States. This would lead to a so-called 'hard-landing' for the U.S. economy: high inflation, punitive interest rates, collapsing stock prices and housing prices."

Milwaukee police officer deported

A Mexican man was deported Sunday after taking his dead cousins identity and attempting to join the Milwaukee police department.

Oscar Ayala-Cornejo, 25, was arrested after an anonymous tip and charged with falsely claiming to be an American citizen.

In a November, Ayala said his father helped him change his identity to Jose Morales, a cousin who was a U.S. citizen but who died as a child of stomach cancer. He had told his father he wanted to become a police officer after the department recruited at his high school.

He said he would have had to go back to Mexico when he became an adult to wait years before becoming a citizen, and his father did not want to separate the family. His sister was married to a citizen, his brother was born in this country and his parents were on their way to becoming permanent residents.

His father died of leukemia in 2004, before he could see his son become a police officer that December.He accepted a plea deal and was deported instead of being jailed. He also resigned from the Milwaukee police department.

Ayala was to return to Guadalajara, Mexico on Saturday, but intense weather delayed the flight.

In a cell phone interview as he arrived at the Milwaukee airport on Saturday, Ayala-Cornejo said he was sad to leave his family and friends but was optimistic. He plans to stay with relatives in Guadalajara and study computer engineering.

"I enjoyed my time here and I have no regrets," he said.

He said being a police officer was his dream job."I love this country," he said Saturday. "I love everything it has to offer."Ayala-Cornejo's family moved to the U.S. from Guadalajara in 1992. He will be staying with relatives who remained behind.

The Count Down

There are 393 days until the end of the Bush administration, until that day lets look back on the sage words of wisdom from a borderline retarded man.

"My thoughts are, we're going to get somebody who knows what they're talking about when it comes to rebuilding cities."

-George W. Bush, on New Orleans reconstruction, Biloxi, Mississippi, Sept. 2, 2005

The Count Down

There are 394 days until the end of the Bush administration, until that day lets look back on some of his many idiotic statements.

"There's only one person who hugs the mothers and the widows, the wives and the kids upon the death of their loved one. Others hug but, having committed the troops, I've got an additional responsibility to hug and that's me and I know what it's like."

-George W. Bush, Washington, DC, Dec. 11, 2002

News Break

Sharpton opposes change of venue

High suspension rates for black students

High blood pressure high in LA

Eminem a lier sez mom

You know what really grinds my gears?????

When a grown ass person acts like a child. Dude grow up. Get up off your moms couch and do something with yourself. You look like a damn fool watching music videos all day long when your 30 years old. And 106 and Park is not cool to watch past the age of 16.

I know some people peak at 17 and its all down hill from there for them but dammit. Try and make the best of your shitty life. Making the best of it is not sitting on the computer for five hours straight looking at cartoon porn and watching obscure music videos from the 90s on youtube. Neither is playing mortal kombat with an eight-year-old on a school day saying "you can't beat me. Do you know who I am."

Apparently you are a loser. No one likes you. You are unwelcome in places where other adults are. Little kids might like you because your silly and play cool reckless games, but once they hit 14 they start to realize your crazy and going nowhere fast.

So grow up, get a life, get a job, and take a shower, you dumb ass.

The Count Down

There are 402 days until the end of the Bush administration. Until that day lets look back at the "war on terror."

"The best way to find these terrorists who hide in holes is to get people coming forth to describe the location of the hole, is to give clues and data."

-George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Dec. 15, 2003

News Break

Wyclef, Akon, Henchmen Haitian benefit

Blacks want Obama

Maya Angelou supports Hilary

Urban league offers finishing school

Taking Sharpton Down

Police are using any means of attaining Rev. Al Sharpton's financial records - even harassing his constituents.

"It was like a sting or a raid," said Carl Redding, Sharpton's former longtime chief of staff, who said FBI agents roused him at about 6:30 a.m. and slapped him with a subpoena to testify and bring records to the grand jury. "They converged on everybody."

According to the New York Daily News the feds are investigating the finances of Sharptons National Action Network as well as his personal finances. The ten associates who received subpoenas will appear in court on Dec. 26.

This is not the first time Sharpton had a brush with the Federal Government. Two years ago Sharpton agreed to repay $100,000 plus interest for missteps during his 2004 presidential campaign. He had used more private money in seeking the Democratic nomination than federal elections rules allow.

News from a different Source

For the past few decades the "war on drugs" has been known as the war on colored people. With sentencing for drugs like crack-cocaine, which is typically used by blacks and Latinos, caring much higher sentences than cocaine, which is typically used by whites. Recently debate on the inequality of drug sentencing has arise. NPR has the story on reducing sentencing for crack-cocaine.

It used to be that judges had wide discretion in sentencing, but in 1984, Congress set up a commission to establish guidelines that would promote more uniformity in sentencing. For all practical purposes, the guidelines were binding. But two years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that the guidelines could only be advisory, otherwise they would be unconstitutional.

Since then, however, federal prosecutors, backed by the appellate courts, have continued efforts to limit trial judges' discretion, telling them that any significant deviation from the guidelines was not acceptable.

On Monday, by a 7-to-2 vote, the Supreme Court basically put an end to that practice, telling the lower courts that advisory means exactly what it says: that judges should consider the guidelines, but not be bound by them.

The court's first ruling Monday involved the widely disparaged disparity in sentences for people convicted of crack cocaine versus powder cocaine crimes. Under the federal sentencing guidelines, crack cocaine offenders have typically been sentenced to 50 percent more jail time than powder cocaine offenders.

In the case before the court, a judge sentenced a Gulf War veteran with no felony record to 15 years in prison for dealing 50 grams of crack — the mandatory minimum under the statute. But the judge refused to add on an additional four and a half years required under the guidelines.

The 15-year penalty was enough punishment, he said, adding that the guidelines were ridiculous. A federal appeals court reversed the sentence, declaring that anything outside the guidelines is per se unreasonable. But Monday, the Supreme Court sided with the trial judge.

Writing for the Court, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg emphasized that the guidelines are purely advisory. She said that a sentencing judge must consider the guidelines but he is not bound by them. Although Congress in the 1980s apparently believed crack more dangerous, she said, subsequent research by the sentencing commission has disproved that theory. And judges are free to try to ameliorate the enormous disparity, as long as they stick to the mandatory minimums called for by the statute.

In a second case Monday, the court upheld a sentence of probation only for an Iowa man named Brian Gall who had been part of a drug Ecstasy ring while in college. Gall had been addicted to drugs himself and, after buying and selling Ecstasy for seven months, he had some sort of a wake-up call. He quit and told the dealers he'd been doing business with that he wanted nothing more to do with them. Gall went on to graduate from college and start a successful business.

Five years after Gall quit the ring, the drug dealers were caught and implicated him to win favor with prosecutors. Contacted by federal agents, Gall admitted his one-time involvement, and after he was indicted, pleaded guilty. The district court judge rejected the three-year sentence called for by the sentencing guidelines and instead sentenced Gall to three years' probation.

But a federal appeals court overruled the sentence, calling it unreasonably light. On Monday, the Supreme Court disagreed, calling the decision reasonable. Justice John Paul Stevens, writing for the seven-Justice majority, said the appellate court had abused its discretion by substituting its judgment for that of the trial judge, who had a better appreciation of the facts.

The dissenters in both of Monday's decisions were justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.

The rulings will likely lead to less uniformity in sentences. Trial judges will have more discretion to sentence as they see fit, meaning that there is the possibility for both lighter and harsher sentences. For the most part, though, the scales of justice are likely to tilt a little more toward lighter sentences. That's because prosecutors have, until now, been very successful in appealing sentences they consider too light and getting them reversed, as they did in the two cases Monday. Now the Supreme Court has weighed in and told the appellate courts to butt out.

In addition, the U.S. Sentencing Commission has recently changed its own crack and powder cocaine guidelines in an effort to reduce the disparity between penalties for the two drugs. On Tuesday, the commission is set to vote on making the new guidelines retroactive. That would cut the disparity by 17.7 percent for as many as 19,500 prison inmates. On average, that would mean a reduction from 12 and a half years in prison to 10 and a half.

First and foremost I want to apologize for not posting for the past few days. Some problems beyond what I can change, has made it difficult for me to access my computer on a regular basis.

Secondly, I wont be posting today because it is my graduation from college. (Yay for me)

So today is commencement day. Commence means to begin, which is strange because the ceremony is actually the end of your time and effort in an educational setting. However, I believe the word commencement is used because while you are ending your college years, you are beginning the rest of your life. You are leaving your childhood behind you and starting a new chapter, better yet a new book in the trilogy called YOU. The first book being childhood, the second being adulthood (21-65), the third being the last leg of the marathon the senior years. Some of us don't get to finish our books, but I hope to have a nice long interesting book that I can be proud of wherever it ends.

So to all those who are graduating today, or just in Dec. 2007, congratulations. It doesn't matter how long it took you to finish this race, you finished and that's all that matters. So I will be heading up to my Alma mater (I actually finished school in August and got my degree, this is just a formality) tonight, to say my final farewell. Then I will return to continue Book Two, chapter One in the book of Ms. Fung. Stay blessed.

Ms. Fung

The Count Down

There are 404 days until Bush leaves the White House. Until that day lets look at war in Iraq, God only knows when that is going to end.

In November 2006 the Iraq Study Group, a team member bipartisan commission released its long-awaited report, finding that:

• U.S. forces seem to be caught in a mission that has no forseeable end.
• Sustained increases in U.S. troop levels would not solve the fundamental cause of violence in Iraq, which is the absence of national reconciliation ... if the Iraqi government does not make political progress, "all the troops in the world will not provide security."
• The report concluded that the war in Iraq should be internalized, and U.S. troops, except for embedded advisors, withdrawn by spring of 2008.

In January 2007, Pres. Bush said the report had "some really very interesting proposals," then proceeded to ask for the deployment of 20,000 more troops,whether Congress agreed or not.

The Count Down

There are 405 days until Bush leaves the White House. Until that day lets look back at some of his nonsensical statements.

"It's a myth to think I don't know what's going on. It's a myth to think that I'm not aware that there's opinions that don't agree with mine, because I'm fully aware of that."
-George W. Bush, Philadelphia, Pa., Dec. 12, 2005

The Count Down

There are 406 days until the end of the Bush administration. Until that day lets look back at some of his attempts at humanity.


"You know, it's hard work to try to love her as best as I can, knowing full well that the decision I made caused her loved one to be in harm's way."


-George W. Bush, discussing the difficulty in consoling a woman who lost her husband in Iraq, at the first presidential debate, Coral Gables, Fl., Sept. 30, 2004

News from a different source

A few months ago a noted scientist made comments that blacks are inherently dumber than whites because of their genetic make up. Since that day he has come under fire in the United Kingdom and the United States. Recently information about his own genes might have this scientist rethinking his hypothesis. Goes to show often times, it is a level of self hatred that causes hatred for other that have a common bond with you.

A Nobel Prize-winning scientist who provoked a public outcry by claiming black Africans were less intelligent than whites has a DNA profile with up to 16 times more genes of black origin than the average white European.

An analysis of the genome of James Watson showed that 16 per cent of his genes were likely to have come from a black ancestor of African descent. By contrast, most people of European descent would have no more than 1 percent.

"This level is what you would expect in someone who had a great-grandparent who was African," said Kari Stefansson of deCODE Genetics, whose company carried out the analysis. "It was very surprising to get this result for Jim."

The findings were made available after Dr Watson became only the second person to publish his fully sequenced genome online earlier this year. Dr Watson was forced to resign his post as head of a research laboratory in New York shortly after triggering an international furore by questioning the comparative intelligence of Africans. In an interview during his recent British book tour, the American scientist said he was "inherently gloomy about the prospects for Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours – whereas all the testing says not really".

The Science Museum in London cancelled a lecture by him, while the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, branded his comments "racist propaganda".

Other scientists working in the field of molecular biology quickly distanced themselves from the comments, saying that it was not possible to draw such conclusions from the work that had been done on DNA.

The study of the DNA of Dr Watson – who shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for medicine – adds another twist to the controversy surrounding the American scientist's comments.

In addition to the 16 per cent of his genes which were identified as likely to have come from a black ancestor of African descent, a further 9 percent were likely to have come from an ancestor of Asian descent, the test indicated.

The Count Down

There are 407 days until Bush leaves the White House. Until that day lets look back on some of the foolish things he has said.

"President Bush was on Meet the Press Sunday ... He didn't seem very well prepared ... See, Bush thought he was just gonna meet the press, he didn't know there was gonna be questions ... There was one kind of embarrassing moment where President Bush was asked if he was ever AWOL, and he said, 'No, no, no, I have Earthlink ... we use Earthlink, can't get AOL.'"

-Jay Leno, Feb. 2004

Book Signing

Los Angeles based nonprofit organization BOND - Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny, will hold a book signing for Duane "Dog" Chapman's book "You Can Run But You Can't Hide" along with a Christmas toy giveaway for kids on Saturday.

Chapman's television show, "Dog the Bounty Hunter" was taken off the air after a racist telephone conversation between Chapman and his son was released.

BOND founder and president Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson began working with Chapman following the suspension of his show.

"We don't condone racial slurs, but upon hearing Dog's apology and after meeting with him and his family, we don't believe he's a racist. We also believe that Duane "Dog" Chapman sincerely wants to make amends to the black community, and deserves a second chance," said Rev. Peterson.

BOND (Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to "Rebuilding the Family by Rebuilding the Man." BOND operates programs and services geared towards helping families. For information, call 323-782-1980 or visit www.bondinfo.org.

Activist Beating

The Miami activist community displayed outrage after the beating of a 74-year-old civil rights activist that has put him in a coma.

Miami Beach police are accused of beating Bernard Dyer on Nov. 23. He has been in a coma at Mount Sinai Medical Center since that day.

''We're outraged,'' said his sister, Gloria Dyer-Davis. ``The family is outraged. My sons in Newark are outraged. When is this injustice going to stop? When does it stop?''

Details of the night Dyer was beaten have not been released by the police or his family.

''I share our community's concern with the current medical condition of Mr. Bernard Dyer and my hopes and prayers go out to him and his family. I remain hopeful about his chances to recover even as I recognize the extreme seriousness of his present condition,'' State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle said in a statement.

Fernández Rundle noted that she has requested that Miami-Dade Medical Examiner Bruce Hyma conduct an autopsy if Dyer dies ``so that the true circumstances of Mr. Dyer's condition can be forensically determined.''

Bus Beating Statement

Congressman Elijah E. Cummings (Md.-07) released the following statement following the assault of a 26-year-old woman, her male companion, a third passenger, and the bus operator who came to his assistance on a Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) city bus:

"The physical assault of any human being, regardless of motivation, is conduct that is unacceptable. As police continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding this terrible crime, we must rise together as a community to take a stand against violence toward any of our neighbors.

"We must also use this incident to examine the safety of our public transit system. While the rate of crime occurring on or near MTA property is low, we must continue to work with transit authorities to strive toward making it even safer for our families to travel throughout the city—including exploring alternative methods for transporting children to and from school."

Police Fight

A New York family is seeking justice in the beating and arrest of two 16-year-old by New York City Police.

Ryan Nunez and Justin Cabrera were arrested at 1 a.m. on Nov. 25 outside a Washington Heights McDonald's after police broke up a fight between the two teens.

Nunez, who was drunk, said police hit him so hard he was knocked unconscious.

"Instead of the police calling the ambulance right there on the corner, they took him like that to the precinct," said Nunez's mother, Rebecca Nunez.

Police were called to the fight, which involved several other teens, after responding to another call for a stabbing at a church.

When police searched the teens outside the McDonald's, they found a knife on a friend of Nunez. They boys ran into the McDonald's. The police went into the eatery to disperse the crowd and another fight broke out.

While the police were able to subdue most of the teens, Nunez was forced to be restrained. Nunez claims the police hit him with a baton and sprayed mace in his face.

Nunez was charged with obstructing justice, disorderly conduct, inciting a riot, unlawful assembly and resisting arrest, according to his family. Police confirmed the charges. Nunez is free on bail and is due back in court in February.

Nunez suffered a black eye he initially told police he got during the fight, cops said. He later changed his story to say an officer hit him and let him lie unconscious on the precinct floor, according to cops.

News from a Different Source

Recently there has been a great debate on illegal immigration. Many feel immigrants who enter this country illegally are reaping the benefits that citizens and legal immigrants have. They consider that unfair. However, with the crackdown on illegal immigration, there is an element that was not considered, business. Many businesses hire the work of illegal immigrants, in an article from the Reuters wire service, a look on how immigration and business work together may change the minds many advocates of immigration crackdowns.

A crackdown by scores of U.S. states and municipalities on illegal immigration threatens the competitiveness of businesses across the country, a U.S. Chamber of Commerce report said on Friday.

The report looked at more than 1,500 measures proposed throughout the United States. Of these, more than 240 have become law in 46 states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

State lawmakers and some employers told a news conference that the laws — some of which target services sought by illegal immigrants and others the people hiring them — amount to a confusing patchwork that would prove unworkable for smaller businesses such as construction firms.

"What these state and local laws are requiring our builders to do, small business people, is to comply with the various immigration laws across all these counties," said Jerry Howard, executive vice president of the National Association of Home Builders. "It's very, very difficult. It literally can't be done."

The Chamber of Commerce report follows a study by the National Conference of State Legislatures last month that showed states came up with more than twice the number of immigration-related bills this year compared with last year.

Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos, a Democrat in the Washington State House of Representatives, argued that a lack of federal action on immigration had also affected large firms.

She said software giant Microsoft decided to move one of its units to British Columbia, Canada, after an effort to legalize an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants and create a temporary worker program sought by business groups failed in the U.S. Senate in June.

"That means millions of dollars that are lost to my state and the economy of our country when we fail to offer legitimate economic employment opportunity to legal permanent resident immigrants," she said.

But some were skeptical that state and local immigration laws threatened business competitiveness.

Steven Camarota, research director at the pro-enforcement Center for Immigration Studies think tank in Washington, said most illegal immigrants were unskilled workers.

"Before you buy into that kind of argument you have to take a step back and ask what kind of labor do illegal immigrants provide?" Camarota said.

"I find it very hard to take seriously the argument that the key to a state's economic success depends on having a lot of high school dropouts."

The Count Down

There are 408 days until the end of the Bush White House. Until that day lets look back at his many wise statements.

"The great thing about America is everybody should vote."

-George W. Bush, Austin, Tx, Dec. 8, 2000

News Break

NAACP condemns New Jersey Governor

Obama pop concert

File sharing not so bad

Gay blacks highest AIDS risk

You know what really grinds my gears?

When a person takes their animal to public places that aren't meant for pets. Please, I don't need to see your cat on the train with me when I'm heading to work in the morning. Your dog does not belong in the Best Buy. Especially a German Shepperd. Beethoven is not allowed.

It's like do these pet owners ever take into consideration that the other train riders or customers might have a fear of certain pets or are allergic. I don't need to be breaking out in hives and having my throat close up because you don't want to leave fluffy at home.

If you want to take your pet somewhere, put them in your car and take them to PetSmart. I don't mind you walking them on the streets (please scoop as they poop) but not in the stores not on the train. This city is crowded enough, I don't need your four legged friend humping my leg during rush hour.

Or leave them outside. I know its a dangerous world and someone could steal your pet, but really Fido doesn't belong inside the Starbucks. Please leave him outside. I know lots of people treat pets like their kids but at the end of the day, a dog is a dog, and it doesn't have the rights of the child. So riding the train, jumping around in the department store, or crying in the coffee shop is not allowed for the animal.

The Count Down

There are 409 days until the end of the Bush administration. Until that day lets look back on some of his cabinets strategic decisions.

On Dec. 8, 2004, at a base in Kuwait, Army Specialist Thomas Wilson of the Tennessee National Guard 278th Regimental Combat Team asked Secretary Rumsfeld, "Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to up-armor our vehicles?"

Rumsfeld replied, "As you know, you go to war with the army you have. They're not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time."

The Count Down

There are 410 days until Bush leaves the White House. Until that day lets ask what we can do for our president, not what our president can do for us. Because evidently he can't do much.

In his first year in office, President Bush turned the $127 billion budget surplus he inherited from President Clinton into a deficit. When Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill told Vice President Cheney after the 2002 midterm election that a second round of Bush tax cuts would be irresponsible, given the cost of 9/11 and the war in Afghanistan, the vice president replied, "Reagan proved deficits don't matter. We won the midterm elections. This is our due."

O'Neill was fired before the end of the year.

The Count Down

There are 411 days until the end of the Bush White House. Until that day lets look back at when he is actually being honest, these moments are few and far between but a sight to be seen when they happen. Like a lunar eclipse.

"It's bad in Iraq. Does that help?"
-George W. Bush, after being asked by a reporter whether he's in denial about Iraq, Washington, D.C., Dec. 7, 2006

A Train Beatdown

The videotape of black teens beating a white A train passenger has caused a city wide manhunt for the culprits and the alleged victim.

The film, which is was placed on the Internet, shows a girl - with a sharp tongue -taunting a seated passenger. The passenger pleads with the girl to calm down.

The camera then focuses on a frightened passenger, then turns to a teen in a pink coat. The camera person then asks, "Do you have something to say about this?"

Both passengers shake their heads no.

The girls continue to taunt the passenger then another participant waves a plastic soda bottle in the victims face.

As the train pulls into Broadway-Junction train station, the victim stands ups and another passenger was heard in the background saying, "They gonna hit him. They gonna hit him. I know it."

The group then jumps on the man and beats him viciously. As the video ends, the victim is smacked in the face with a plastic soda bottle.

Detectives are also looking into the possibility that the whole attack might have been staged - a suspicion stoked by the fact that the footage was first posted Nov. 7 on YouTube by a 17-year-old aspiring filmmaker, Kadejra Holmes of Harlem.

In an interview with The Smoking Gun Web site, Kadejra admitted taking the footage but denied being part of the pack that attacked the man.

Immediately after the interview, she took down the footage and closed her YouTube page, said Smoking Gun editor William Bastone.

Click here to see the video.

The Count Down

There are 412 days until the end of the Bush administration. Until that day lets look back at some actions of his employees.

"The United States does not permit, tolerate, or condone torture under circumstances ... The United States does not transport, and has not transported, detainees from one country to another for the purpose of interrogation under torture. The United States does not use the airspace or the airports of any country for the purpose of transporting a detainee to a country where he or she will be tortured."

-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in a statement at Andrews air Force Base on Dec. 5, 2005, 17 months after CBS released the first photographs of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison.

News Break

Jena beating victim sues

Racial Bias in juror selection

White student leader of Georgetown NAACP

Rapper Pimp C dies of natural causes

The Count Down

There are 413 days until the end of the Bush administration. Until that day lets back on the poor quality of the Harvard education.

"This morning my administration released the budget numbers for fiscal 2006. These bedget numbers are not just estimates; these are the actual results for the fiscal year that ended Fenruary the 30th."

-George W. Bush, on the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, Washington, D.C., Oct. 11, 2006

What's going on in the world????

Theives added insult to injury by leaving a taunting note after stealing 16 metric tons of ham.

Workers at Zammit Bacon and Ham Curers in Sydney, Australia went intowork Monday to find a hole in the building wall.

When inside the building they found 16 tons of ham missing, worth more than $88,000,and note stating, "Thanks... Merry Christmas."

Local reports say, the theives carried the meat through the wall to a refrigated truck.

Police Inspector Rodney Ormes said the crime should not be takenlightly.

"You're talking about a business that's been a victim of aserious crime, it's lost a significant amount of Christmas stock."

The business owner is offering $4,420 reward for anyone who can helprecover the meat.

News Break

Call for end to violence at Taylor's funeral

Bell takes plea deal

Malcolm X honored

Chamillionaire on Larry King Live

The Count Down

There are 414 days until Bush is put out from the White House. Until that day lets look back at some of his tactical errors.

"I am determined to keep the process on the road to peace."
-George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., June 10, 2003

News Break

Montel threatens reporters

Black men thugs

Harlem Holiday Program

Slave Museum donations drop

The Count Down

There are 415 days until the end of the Bush administration. Until that day lets look back at some of his errors in judgement.

"I will not withdraw, even if Laura and Barney are the only ones supporting me."

-George W. Bush, talking to key Republicans about Iraq, as quoted by Bob Woodward in a 60 minutes interview, Oct. 1, 2006

You Know What Really Grinds My Gears?

When you go to a bookstore and in the "Black Fiction" section (that also grinds my gears because why do black people really need a seperate section like books written by black people are a different kind of fiction) they have books like "A Gangsta Girls Saga" next to books like "Invisible Man."

Really you're going to put classics written by some of the best black writers of the past century next to ghetto books that lack any kind of depth. Really it angers me when I go to Barnes and Noble or Borders and the table they have for black books is filled with these books that have no right next to Baldwin and Angelou.

I respect the hustle of books written by the ghetto novelist but in my open it has no place next to classics. They found a way for people to read, even though the books are often poorly written and have simplistic plot lines. Honestly I think the classics should be mixed in with all the other novels, but I already stated my opinion about that earlier.

Tell us what really grinds your gears. If we feel the same way, your pet peeve or minor irritation can appear on our blog.

The Count Down

There are 416 days until the end of the Bush administration. Until that glorious day arrives, lets look at some of our honorable presidents tactical reasoning.

"One has a stronger hand when there's more people playing your same cards."

-George W. Bush on holding six-party talks with North Korea, Washington, D.C., Oct. 11, 2006.

Missing Mississippi Woman found decomposed

The body of a missing Jackson State University student was found yesterday. The victim's ex-boyfriend is in police custody following the discovery of the body.

Latasha Norman's, a 20-year-old accounting student, body was found partially decomposed in the woods of Jackson, Miss.

Norman's ex-boyfriend, Stanley Cole, 24, was charged with murder after being questioned by Jackson police. He then lead the police to her body.

The university has cancelled classes for Friday in honor of Norman.

"I want to extend my deepest and most profound sympathy to the Norman/Bolden family, Latasha's friends and others who loved her," JSU President Ronald Mason Jr. said. "There are simply no words that can take away the anguish felt in the face of such a heinous and senseless act."