By Zamira Loebis and Jason Tedjasukmana/Jakarta


Each of us lives a life of contradictory truths. We are not one thing or another. Barack Obama's mother was at least a dozen things. S. Ann Soetoro was a teen mother who later got a Ph.D. in anthropology; a white woman from the Midwest who was more comfortable in Indonesia; a natural-born mother obsessed with her work; a romantic pragmatist, if such a thing is possible.

Obama's mother was a dreamer. She made risky bets that paid off only some of the time, choices that her children had to live with. She fell in love—twice—with fellow students from distant countries she knew nothing about. Both marriages failed, and she leaned on her parents and friends to help raise her two children.

"She cried a lot," says her daughter Maya Soetoro-Ng, "if she saw animals being treated cruelly or children in the news or a sad movie—or if she felt like she wasn't being understood in a conversation." And yet she was fearless, says Soetoro-Ng. "She was very capable. She went out on the back of a motorcycle and did rigorous fieldwork. Her research was responsible and penetrating. She saw the heart of a problem, and she knew whom to hold accountable."

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By Entertainment Correspondent, John Frazier

Legends are of those who long have left this sometimes "bitter earth" are spoken about, books are written, movies are made of and the original music of that individual is still played. We hear of different situations where that unique personality gave a look, or said a word in a certain way and before long became a diva in her (or his) own lifetime. It's been 45 years now since this grand lady past away from this life into the next dimension. Her name is Ms. Dinah Washington.

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By Karen R. Long

Cleveland - Maya Angelou danced with Langston Hughes in Harlem, drank with James Baldwin in Paris, had her picture snapped in Ghana by Malcolm X. Six feet tall and mesmerizing, she had men crossing the room to call her the most beautiful woman on the planet, but few mistook her for arm candy.

 

Angelou turned 80 last month, unabashedly enjoying center stage at parties in four states, from an everybody-is-invited fete in Winston-Salem to an A-list gala in Palm Beach, Fla., hosted by surrogate daughter Oprah Winfrey. The decades have burnished Angelou's unique place on the American scene, cemented partly in Bill Clinton's decision to ask her to read an original poem for his 1993 inauguration.

Scholars describe Angelou as a Mother Figure and a Living Ancestor, while everyday readers still memorize and recite her words. She is reported to earn $43,000 each time she speaks.

In poems, film, plays and, most centrally, her six autobiographical books, Angelou's voice continues to casts its spell. "Caged Bird" has sold about 4 million copies and is third on the American Library Association's list of the 100 most challenged titles.

It has been parodied on "The Simpsons" ("I Don't Wanna Know Why the Caged Bird Sings") and lionized in book clubs. It tells of the author's rape at age 7 by her mother's boyfriend, of his subsequent slaying and her decision to stop speaking for some five years.

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Barack Obama erased Hillary Clinton's once-imposing lead among superdelegates when he added more endorsements from the group of Democrats who will ultimately decide the party's nomination for president.

Obama added superdelegates from Utah and Ohio, as well as two from the Virgin Islands who had previously backed Clinton.

The additions let Obama surpass Clinton's superdelegate total for the first time in the campaign. He had picked up nine superdelegate endorsements on Friday.

The milestone is important because Clinton would need to win over the superdelegates by a wide margin to claim the nomination.

They are a group that Clinton owned before the first caucus in Iowa in early January, when she was able to cash in on the popularity of the Clinton brand among the party faithful.

Those party insiders, however, have been steadily streaming to Obama since he started making wins in early voting states.

"I always felt that if anybody establishes himself as the clear leader, the superdelegates would fall in line," said Don Fowler, a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

"It is perceived that he is the leader," said Fowler, a superdelegate from South Carolina who supports Clinton. "The trickle is going to become an avalanche."

Superdelegates are the party and elected officials who will automatically attend the Democratic national convention this August in Denver. They can support whomever they choose, regardless of what happens in the primaries or caucuses.

They are key because the Democratic race has been so close that neither Obama nor Clinton can win the nomination without them.

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By Rod McGuirk

CANBERRA, Australia  — Australia's new government won praise for its plan to eliminate discrimination against gay couples in more than 100 laws, but even those applauding said it should go further and approve same sex marriages.

Attorney General Robert McClelland announced that the government will change federal laws to ensure that gay couples in long-term relationships are treated the same as married couples on issues such as taxation, pensions and welfare payments.

Australia. Many people believe it would undermine the institution of marriage, while gay rights advocates say it is a key test of authorities' willingness to end discrimination.

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Philadelphia Congressman Among 17 Veterans Co-Sponsoring Repeal Legislation

Congressman Joe Sestak

WASHINGTON, May 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Congressman Joe Sestak (D-PA), the highest ranking military veteran in Congress, on Saturday urged fellow lawmakers to join him in repealing the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law banning lesbian, gay and bisexual personnel from serving openly in the
military.

Sestak, who had served as a three-star Admiral and who spent thirty-one years in the Navy is one of seventeen veterans in Congress who are co-sponsors of legislation to lift the ban on openly gay service. Sestak's remarks came before a panel discussion hosted by Equality Forum on the topic of congressional developments in the movement to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

"Veterans like Admiral Sestak, who have dedicated their lives to serving this country, are leading the movement in Congress to repeal 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell," said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director for Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN). "These lawmakers agree with senior military officers, including former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalishkashvili and retired Army Major General Vance Coleman, that when it comes to defusing IEDs, tending to injured troops, deciphering enemy codes and flying reconnaissance missions -- sexual orientation is irrelevant. Seventy-nine percent of the American people agree with them and it is time that Congress finally repeal this law."

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By Ocean Morisset, Sr. Photojournalist

Reverand Al Sharpton's National Action Network planned a series of six "pray-ins" at strategic locations in New York. The images that follow are from the carefully orchestrated demonstration at New York City Police Headquarters, also known as One Police Plaza. On this bright spring day, hundereds of protesters came out in force for a day of civil disobedience. And that's just what it was. Not a brick was thrown, and people actually signed up to be arrested. Now that's deep! By the end of the day, over two hundered and twenty people were arrested, all for Sean Bell, an unarmed black man who was shot to death by police on his wedding day.

This was a tough shoot given the large number of protesters and media, but I was proud to be there because after all, I AM SEAN BELL!

Feel free to post your comments about the Sean Bell case. 

Protester shouts at police officer. Crowd of protesters and media swarm the Reverand AL Sharpton, Nicole Paultre Bell, Sean's fiancee and the Bell family as they walk towards Police Headquarters. Nicole Paultre Bell. A picture of grace, dignity, and determination. Shooting victims Trent Benenfield and Joseph Guzman. We are ALL Sean Bell!

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By Hilary Leila Krieger

SHINGTON - A new Gallup survey found that 61% of Jewish voters prefer Obama to McCain, who got 32% of the Jewish support.

That number is far greater than the rate found for the general population, who only preferred Obama to McCain 45-43, according to the poll. Obama also still trails Clinton in Jewish support, according to the survey, with Clinton winning against Obama in the Jewish community 50%-43%.

Though the results showed Obama is favored by the Jewish community, the Republican Jewish Coalition pounced on them to attack Obama.

"In 2004, John Kerry received 75% of the Jewish vote and George W. Bush received 25%. The recent polling numbers demonstrate Obama's weakness among Jewish voters. This data comes on the heels of the exit poll data from the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania. Hillary Clinton beat Obama among Jewish voters 62%-38%," said RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks.

But the Obama campaign dismissed his comments, with one adviser calling it, "a desperate attempt to squeeze one drop of lemonade out of a mountain of lemons."

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Barely six months after the end of the Civil War, and just two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, three men — John Ogden, the Reverend Erastus Milo Cravath, and the Reverend Edward P. Smith — established the Fisk School in Nashville, named in honor of General Clinton B. Fisk of the Tennessee Freedmen's Bureau, who provided the new institution with facilities in former Union Army barracks near the present site of Nashville's Union Station. In these facilities Fisk convened its first classes on January 9, 1866. The first students ranged in age from seven to seventy, but shared common experiences of slavery and poverty — and an extraordinary thirst for learning.

The work of Fisk's founders was sponsored by the American Missionary Association — later part of the United Church of Christ, with which Fisk retains an affiliation today. Ogden, Cravath, and Smith, along with others in their movement, shared a dream of an educational institution that would be open to all, regardless of race, and that would measure itself by "the highest standards, not of Negro education, but of American education at its best." Their dream was incorporated as Fisk University on August 22, 1867.

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While somewhat bizzare, Akhenaten was one of the most influencial, significant Pharoahs.

Controversial in death as in life, Akhenaten was first known as Amenhotep IV. He was a Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt. He is especially noted for attempting to compel the Egyptian population in the monotheistic worship of Aten, although there are doubts as to how successful he was at this. Never the less, to some scholars Akhenaten is considered the father of the western concept of monotheism... the worship of one god.

He was born to Amenhotep III and his Chief Queen Tiye and was their younger son. Akhenaten was not originally designated as the successor to the throne until the untimely death of his older brother, Thutmose.

Amenhotep IV succeeded his father after Amenhotep III's death at the end of his 38-year reign, possibly after a short coregency lasting between either 1 to 2 years. Akhenaten's chief wife was Nefertiti, made world-famous by the discovery of her exquisitely moulded and painted bust, now displayed in the Altes Museum of Berlin, and among the most recognised works of art surviving from the ancient world.

The appeal of the Amarna period

Some people are drawn by interest in Akhenaten himself or his religion, others by a fascination with the unusual art which appeals strongly to the tastes of modern viewers and provides a sense of immediacy rarely felt with traditional Egyptian representation. The radical changes Akhenaten made have led to his characterisation as the 'first individual in human history' and this in turn has led to endless speculation about his background and motivation; he is cast as hero or villain according to the viewpoint of the commentator.

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By Alex Dominguez

BALTIMORE - Akhenaten wasn't the most manly pharaoh, even though he fathered at least a half-dozen children. In fact, his form was quite feminine, which has puzzled experts for years. And he was a bit of an egghead.

Dr. Irwin Braverman, a Yale University physician who analyzed images of Akhenaten, has a new theory on why. He'll be presenting his findings at an annual conference Friday at the University of Maryland School of Medicine on the ailments and deaths of historic figures.

The female form was due to a genetic mutation that caused the pharaoh's body to convert more male hormones to female hormones than needed, Braverman believes. And Akhenaten's head was misshapen because of a condition in which skull bones fuse at an early age. The pharaoh had "an androgynous appearance. He had a female physique with wide hips and breasts, but he was male and he was fertile and he had six daughters," Braverman said. "But nevertheless, he looked like he had a female physique." Braverman, who sizes up the health of individuals based on portraits, teaches a class at Yale's medical school that uses paintings from the university's Center for British Art to teach observation skills to first-year students. For his study of Akhenaten, he used statues and carvings.

Akhenaten (ah-keh-NAH-ten), best known for introducing a revolutionary form of monotheism to ancient Egypt, reigned in the mid-1300s B.C. He was married to Nefertiti, and Tutankhamun, also known as King Tut, may have been his son or half brother.

Egyptologist and archaeologist Donald B. Redford was interested in Braverman's findings and looked forward to the conference but said he currently supports an older theory. He believes that Akhenaten had Marfan syndrome, a genetic disorder marked by lengthened features, including fingers and the face.

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By Ashley Coleman

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- Jacksonville is normally known as the "river city." But now, the city has a new title.

The national magazine, The Advocate, named the city one of the "top five emerging cities for gay and lesbians."

"I think that it's great that they're becoming open-minded enough to do that and to have no shame," said Roy Buice, who works at Rainbows and Stars in Riverside.

The publication based the ranking on U.S. Census numbers. For every 1,000 Jacksonville households, there are 7.75 same-sex couples.

Plano, Texas ranked number one, before Jacksonville, which was number two on the list.

The magazine points to Jacksonville's strenths -- the river, ocean, parks, museums and growing population. It also mentions Riverside, San Marco, Avondale and the beaches as areas where the majority of same-sex couples live.

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By Photojournalist, Ali Burafi

Last year, Buenos Aires hosted the first Queer Tango Festival, which drew about 500 people from around the world. Buenos Aires has become a very popular destination for gay travelers. According to Hector Aguilar, an architectural historian who gives lectures for Lugar Gay, "It now rivals Rio as the gay destination in South America."

Augusto Balisano (showing back) and Miguel, a gay couple, dance the tango at La Marshall. Known as "milongas," tango socials are a longstanding part of Argentine culture. La Marshall is the first in Buenos Aires to host a gay milonga. Photo: Ali Burafi

Augusto Balisano (left) tours internationally to teach gay tango. When he's in the capital city, he teaches at Lugar gay, a guesthouse exclusively for men. Photo: Ali Burafi

By Justin Smith, Sr. Correspondent

Its LIFE, ACTION, HOLLYWOOD!!!! As CEO and Founder of the infamous DEMOUR INC, this fresh young beautiful young man Tianthony "Andrew" Roby is believed to be what we call a New Era.

Since 2004, Andrew has been working with various photographers, stylist and models who have graced magazines, fashion week and a wide array of public events. From planning to participating in Fashion Shows, designing photo shoots, and styling models, Andrew knows a thing or two about modeling. Born and raised in the glamour of Miami, Andrew quickly realized that the entertainment industry was and is his heart's desire. To incorporate a person's concept and totally bring forth reality is his ultimate goal when in the event planning field. Don't let the model side sleep on you either, because with an exotic look as this, you can't really think that planning events is the only thing this CEO has under his belt.

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By Entertainment Correspondent, John Frazier

Black folks, some, not all, are upset with Tavis Smiley which drove him to quit the Tom Joyner show, according to some sources. It's been said that Tavis really loves Black America and is extremely hurt that he's been criticized for not being favorable of Senator Barack Obama.

 

Smiley resigned, his last day is the end of June 2008. He's gone on record to say that he's catching hell on his refusal of accepting the offer for Mrs. Obama to stand in for her husband, the possible new President of the United States. It appears that Tavis invited the candidates to appear on his show and Obama declined the invitation, offering to send his wife, Michelle. Smiley refused. "I love Michelle Obama, and I have a great respect and admiration for her, but we have a precedent," he said. "This is about the candidates. If Hillary Clinton had offered me Bill Clinton, I would have said no.", end quote. Personally, if Tavis had been offered President Bill Clinton, I'm not sure that he would have said no.

However, in the same voice, Smiley claims that he never received any communication from Obama's people offering Michelle Obama, never received a call or a note or e-mail.

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By Arifa Akbar

Britain's most talented black and ethnic minority actors, writers, producers and directors have been picked to meet the most powerful studio executives in the American film industry.

Kwame Kwei-Armah, the first black Briton to have a play staged in the West End and whose credits include the award-winning Elmina's Kitchen, was among 12 talents selected by a UK Film Council panel for his role as a writer and producer. The group also includes Noel Clarke, the writer of the cult film Kidulthood, and Florence Ayisi, the award-winning documentary writer.

The group will leave for America at the end of the month to attend a gala night in Los Angeles at which they will be showcased in front of an audience of American film executives who are hungry to discover new talent from across the Atlantic. It would take them weeks to secure such appointments if they were representing themselves individually.

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The story of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, who turned the Negro spiritual into a mainstream art form

By Mark Stryker

Detroit - It's midnight when the Fisk University Jubilee Singers arrive at the Memphis train station. It's 1871 and the former slaves are in the midst of an arduous tour to raise money to prevent their failing school from bankruptcy.

The choir finds the door locked, the station deserted. Suddenly, a mob materializes out of the darkness wielding torches, rifles and clubs. The singers shiver with terror.

George White, the white Northerner and Fisk treasurer who organized the tour, steps in front of the lynch mob.

He raises his hand and his students begin to literally sing for their lives:
In the morning when I rise/ Give me Jesus.

The song, a plaintive Negro spiritual, dissolves the evil in the air the way that the sun melts ice. The rioters retreat, their leader reduced to tears.

The scene, a turning point in the history of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, and in the history of American music, stands at the center of "Sing Jubilee," a play by OyamO (Charles Gordon) that receives its world premiere this weekend by Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit. The play tells the remarkable story of the Fisk Jubilee Singers who, facing brutal social conditions and segregation, introduced white audiences to Negro spirituals, the religious folk songs of African-American slaves.

The Fisk Jubilee Singers were the first to transform the spiritual from a folk form into concert music, forging a tradition inherited in the 20th Century by black classical singers like Marian Anderson and Paul Robeson and continuing today with Jessye Norman, Denyce Graves, Detroit's Brazeal Dennard Chorale and others.

The first black idiom to cross over to mainstream America, spirituals would have a profound impact on the development of blues and jazz, and their influence can be heard in composers as diverse as Gershwin, Dvorak and Charles Mingus.

"The Fisk Jubilee Singers were the fountainhead of a continuing stream of musicians who trace their sources back to the praise and sorrow songs that Ella Sheppard and her schoolmates first shyly performed for their white mentor ... in the curtained dark of Fisk's decaying barracks," writes Andrew Ward in "Dark Midnight When I Rise," a now out of print history of the Jubilee Singers that was published in 2000.

By Misha Berson

There is a very visible, sharply dressed, hipster ghost hanging out in "Fathers and Sons," Michael Bradford's new play at ACT Theatre.

According to the program, his name is Benard. And he circles the periphery of the action, just as this heartfelt but diffuse and repetitive drama of broken kinship keeps circling around itself.

A world premiere from ACT's Hansberry Project, "Fathers and Sons" contains many pungent exchanges, and a meaningful subject: the estrangement of fathers and sons through several generations of African-American men and how it might be healed.

The omnipresent phantom Benard Goodwater (Wilbur Penn) is the bad daddy incarnate — a trumpet-toting, be-bopping ne'er-do-well, who serves as a jive Greek chorus.

He was clearly a lousy father to his haunted son Leon (William Hall Jr.). And Leon returned the disfavor to his own offspring Marcus (Reginald André Jackson), by becoming a coke-sniffing, child-neglecting womanizer himself.

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Dallas - Jubilee Theatre continues its successful 2007-2008 season with, Blue, a play by Charles Randolph-Wright with original music by pop composer, Nona Hendryx. Internationally renowned director, Akin Babatunde, will direct Jubilee Theatre’s production of Blue.

 

Blue previews May 16, 17, 18, and 22; the show opens May 23; and the show runs May 24 through June 15, 2008. Performances are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings at 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday matinees at 3 p.m. -- www.jubileetheatre.org

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From The Baltimore Police Department to Local Stages, Actor Jefferson Russell Has Always Sought Where He Needs to Be

By John Barry

At 11 a.m., the New Wyman Park Restaurant at 25th and Howard streets is buzzing with the late breakfast/early lunch crowd. Line cooks fling hash and flip burgers, waitresses are hassled. A wiry, middle-aged line cook who identifies himself as Purnell gets asked if he knows Jefferson Russell. "Jefferson Russell--," he muses. "Oh, sure. He's been going here for years."

Did he know that Russell was an actor? "No, I didn't," he says. "Not until I saw his picture in The Sun. He works at . . . what is that place? Everyman Theatre."

The New Wyman isn't the first place a stage actor would go to get recognized. And that's perfect for Jefferson Russell. He's squeezed into the corner of a booth, negotiating a full-sized breakfast platter and skimming a book about August Wilson, author of Gem of the Ocean, in which Russell currently stars at the Everyman.

As Purnell notes, Russell's cover was blown last December when The Sun interviewed him for its "Five Things I Have to Have Now" series. In it, Russell revealed he was a local actor and an ex-cop. His list: a book of common prayer, a photo album, a Batman comic-book collection, a role in a blockbuster movie, and a new car.

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By Entertainment Correspondent, John Frazier

CHILD? Part of "Webster's" definition is "recently born person", "a female infant." Pornography? partly defined: the depiction of erotic behavior (as in pictures or writing) that cause sexual excitement; the depiction of acts in a sensational manner so as to arouse a quick intense emotional reaction. RAPE: 1. An act or instance of robbing or despoiling or carrying away a person by force. 2.a. sexual intercourse with a woman by a man without her consent and chiefly by force or deception - compare STATUTORY RAPE. b. unlawful sexual intercourse by force or threat. 3. Outrageous violation.

 

Five years later and the court system is still trying to prove that R. Kelly is g-u-i-l-t-y guilty of rape. And he's still fighting against the system to prove his innocence. Why has it taken so long to come to a decision on the fate of this R&B singer? According to the Chicago Sun Times, there's a young lady who claims that she was 13 or 14 years old when R. Kelly video taped a 3 some with, she, another girl and R. Kelly himself. Perhaps the delay is because he's in his hometown. On June 6, 2002, Mr. Kelly was indicted on 21 counts of having sex with minors, of which was reduced to 14. As to date he's sold over 24 million copies of his music worldwide and written songs like "Bump N Grind", Michael Jackson's beautiful song, "You Are Not Alone", to his signature song, "I Believe I Can Fly", however I don't believe that these young ladies are lying.

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By Entertainment Correspondent, John Frazier

Announced on the Oprah Show, Tina Turner will be touring the United States one more time! I think that after performing with Beyonce at the Grammys on February 7, 2008, the lady from Nutbush, born Anna Mae Bullock on November 26, 1939, who is one of American's Treasures, she dances, she's a songwriter and it an actor, may be coming your way.

I've seen her a few times just before the "What's Love Got To Do With It" and just after its release when it was making some musical noise and I must say that this warrior-lady is "simply the best!" Both shows were at NYC's Ritz. She now lives in Switzerland with her lover of 20 plus years and this grandmother can move better than most 20 year olds. She performed with another ageless lady of rock, pop and disco, Cher on the Oprah Show and the two of them on stage were magic. Hopefully Vegas will offer Tina a 3 year gig, like Cher or for that matter, I hope Vegas will offer Diana Ross, Patti LaBelle, Aretha Franklin this kind of deal. I'm sure the divas of color would/could sell out the Vegas houses. Ms. Turner will start her tour on October 1, 2008 in Kansas City.

"I will never give in to old age until I become old. And I'm not old yet!" -Tina Turner.

When her ex-husband "Heavy Handed Ike", died, it was said that she refused to offer her condolences. Some disagreed with her reaction, however, she was being true to herself, Ike Turner was not a good husband to her. You have to respect her for that.

Now the "Queen of Rock and Roll" is doing it one more time, when she comes to your city, don't miss this event.

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By Entertainment Correspondent, John Frazier

What can be said that hasn't been said about this beautiful brother of color? The more I see and read about him, the more there is to love. It's seems that whatever this brother touches professionally, is golden. Movies that will be seen over and over again like "Hustle & Flow", or the Martin Lawrence's "Big Mama's House", Terrence shines. And his performance on Broadway will probably earn him a Tony Award. He also has a jazz CD, that he's working on that may be released sometime this year.

When you watch him on television or when he gives an interview, he's always Terrence. You wonder it he sees what his fans see. And yes, he has gay fans and he's comfortable with that, not like many other Black American male actors who pretend that we don't exist.

The other evening when Terrence was on the Jimmy Kimmel Show, he mentioned that a rumor had been started, stating that he's gay and his son came across this on the Internet. Jimmy, who's also gay friendly, asked, "So what did you say to your son, when he mentioned this?" Terrence laughed and answered calmly, "My son knows who I am." And he smiled, which I thought was priceless.

This was after he discussed playing on Broadway, this season's smash, "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof." He mentioned that his character, which was played by Paul Newman, in the movie, is gay. He was the first actor, I believe that just put it out there. And he was secure. There was so much said in what he didn't say, in other words, being gay is normal and a part of the human existence. He also mentioned that he takes his son on dates with him, and shows his son how a man should treat a woman. More fathers should be like that.

All men of color should watch and learn by Mr. Howard's example. Be true to one's self and you can encounter many different ways of life and not be fearful.

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By Entertainment Correspondent, John Frazier

I didn't see this coming but Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon married as reported by E-On-line, People magazine have released photos of the wedding. This is a second marriage for Mariah, first marriage was to Tommy Mottola- Columbia Records CEO. Even close friends are surprised but happy for them.

Strange bedfellows, indeed, Nick Cannon just seems like a big old adult kid to me, but hey, when love happens what can you say?

Sources close to Mariah, age 38, and Nick, 28, said that they have a lot in common, both are into religion. Hopefully Mariah's superstar status will not interfere, as people can be rude and might start to call Nick, Mr. Carey. Before the marriage, the engagement ring given to Mariah was once wore by Nick's former girlfriend. Mariah is said to have been extremely embarrassed by this act, especially when she was informed by the media, and not Nick. Perhaps this is the reason for the quickie marriage. As for Mariah's money, I'm sure that's a pre-nup, Mariah is one smart women. The odds are against them, as the haters are waiting for this quickie to end just as quick. "We really do feel we are soulmates," Carey tells, following their sunset ceremony at the pop star's Bahamian estate. "I never felt a love like this was in the cards for me." quote from People magazine. If this is God's will, no one will be able to break them apart. Good luck Mariah and Nick! We wish you well.

FYI: Mrs. Mariah Cannon will appear on Ellen (NBC) this coming Tuesday, May 13th.

We send our best wishes to the happy new couple.

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By Entertainment Correspondent, John Frazier

It appears that Rose O'Donnell has forgiven Ms. Barbara Walters and has had nice things to say, calling Babs an icon.

However, Ms. Star Jones has told "US" Magazine and I quote, "It is a sad day when an icon like Barbara Walters, in the sunset of her life, is reduced to publicly branding herself as an adulterer, humiliating an innocent family with accounts of her illicit affair and speaking negatively against me all for the sake of selling a book ... It speaks to her true character." Did somebody say slut?

Of course Star is referring to the affair that Ms. Walters had with the Black Senator, Edward Brooke in the 70's.

Also in Barbara's tell all book, she states that Star had her lie about the gastric bypass surgery, that everyone knew about anyway. For some reason Star felt that she couldn't be honest about it. During this time, Rosie came out fighting, stating that Star wasn't honest about how she lost the weight.

It appears that Ms. Star Jones could care less about what Ms. Rosie O'Donnell had to say, but I get the feeling that for some reason Star feels that Barbara betrayed her.

This cut will never heal.

Barbara told reporters that she has nothing but good thoughts of Star Jones.
Hey, right? If you believe that let me sell you the Brooklyn Bridge.

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CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE PRAY-IN

Sean Bell & fiancée Nicole Paultre Bell with daughter Jada

There has been a call to justice for the slain Sean Bell. A pray-in has been called for tomorrow May 7th, 2008 at 3:00 pm EST., which will end with participants being arrested while on their knees praying.

The protest will be lead by the president of the National Action Network, Rev. Al Sharpton.

If you are interested in participating in the pray-in or in any other supportive role please contact Michael Hardy (212) 690-3070 at the Action Network

PROTEST LOCATIONS:

Sharpton is asking protesters to rally Wednesday at 3 p.m. around New York City:

125th Street and Third Avenue; 60th Street and Third Avenue; 34th Street and Park Avenue; Varick and Houston streets; One Police Plaza; House of the Lord Church on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn

 

Sean Bell's fiancée, Nicole Paultre Bell, and Trent Benefield, one of the wounded men are expected to be at the pray-in

The reason why this pray-in must be a success is because of the police brutality that seems to be plaguing our streets. Whether or not you are LGBT this is a problem. Police officers are supposed to be people that we go to when we need help. They are not supposed to be people that we fear. Police brutality has been problem, especially if you're black.

Black people do not trust the police, especially not the "boys in blue" from NYC. Are black people justified in being scared of NYPD? Looking at the recent past there have plenty of cases where the NY Police Department has overstepped their bounds and abused there powers. This listing doesn't include the cases that have not been reported, or where people have been intimidated to keep silent.

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From Paul Steinhauser

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A new national poll suggests the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination between Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama is a tie.

1 of 2 Forty-six percent of registered Democratic voters questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Thursday support Obama as their party's nominee and 45 percent back Clinton. It's a statistical tie when taking into account the poll's 4.5 percentage point sampling error on that question. "In mid-March, Obama had a 52 percent to 45 percent edge over Clinton,

but his support has dropped six points while she has not gained any ground," said Keating Holland, CNN polling director.

He said "6 percent now volunteer that they want neither one to be the nominee; no Democrats in the March poll felt that way."

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HardBall Discussion of the Rev Wright Effect on Obama