Chris Brown And Rihanna Back Together

Rihanna and Chris Brown back together

A news magazine is reporting that singers Rihanna and Chris Brown are back together just weeks after the highly publicized incident where Brown allegedly battered Rihanna, whom he was dating, and was arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department.  An unidentified source provided the information that is bound to make waves in the media and make people debate the issues of love and domestic violence again.

It was the night of the Grammy’s, February 8th, when Chris Brown was arrested for suspicion of making criminal threats, while under investigation for domestic violence charges.  Even though the female victim was never identified, it was widely reported to be his girlfriend Rihanna.  In the following weeks we saw a horrific photo taken of the beaten and bruised Rihanna, an apology from Chris Brown, not to mention the dozens of other celebrities who have spoken out for or against him.  It would have been easy to believe that Chris Brown’s life, career, and definitely his relationship with Rihanna would be crashing to a disappointing end. 

But here we are.  According to the People magazine exclusive, it started with a phone call one week ago, where Brown had called Rihanna to on her birthday to wish her a happy birthday, and apparently it was rekindled then.  The source told People, “While Chris is reflective and saddened about what happened, he is really happy to be with the woman he loves.”  The two are reported to be currently spending time at one of Sean “Diddy” Combs home’s in Miami Beach.

Not for nothin’, but while Rihanna’s in the forgiving mode and Chris Brown is in the grovelling mode, she better use this time wisely and get herself some new shoes or some jewelry or something.

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US Combat In Iraq To Cease

Obama makes speech on troop withdrawal

This is the type of announcement that millions have been waiting to hear for years, but Friday President Obama made it official, “By August 31, 2010 our combat missions in Iraq will end.”  So within the next 18 months close to 75 percent of the troops will be gone.  The president said in a news conference Friday, “The United States will pursue a new strategy to end the war in Iraq through a transition to full Iraqi responsibility.”

President Obama called the Iraqi Prime Minister and former President George W. Bush on his way to give the speech to brief them on what he was going to say.   Within the expressed time period, about 90,000 out of the current 140,000 troops will be gone, leaving anywhere from 35,000 to 50,000 still there to help with training, equipment, and other types of support of the Iraqi government.

But even though many were excited to hear the news, and various politicians have shown their support, there’s is still opposition.  Naturally, many on the republican side do not agree, as many of the presidential candidates during the primary season insisted that leaving forces present in Iraq was a must.  Senator John McCain, Obama’s rival in the election, said “We have not yet completed the mission in Iraq, and the gains we have made there remain fragile.”  President Obama would even find opposition from within his own party with those such as Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi believe that this withdrawal isn’t good enough.  There’s criticisms with those being surprised that there still so many being left in the region and others who think that 18 months isn’t fast enough. 

Not for nothin’, but with this troop withdrawal, the closing of Guantanamo Bay, and of course the economic stimulus that just passed, seems like Obama is wasting no time in taking care of all of his campaign promises.  Lets just hope it works out the way he wants it.

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Not A Bailout, But Money To Aid Teams?

NBA getting money

When many of  us see the headline, “NBA to borrow $200 million to aid teams,” particularly in this day, we’re inclined to think one thing, ‘bailout’.  But NBA commissioner David Stern assures us that it is not.  The National Basketball Association is in the process of acquiring $200 million which they will distribute to several teams to help them deal with operating losses incurred because of the economy.  JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America initially went to the league and said that $150 million was available, a figure that eventually turned into $200 million, which is what they are set to get.  Twelve teams have express interest in the bailout…I mean aid money.

In a time where banks, creditors, automakers, and etc are taking money from the government and several other businesses such as retailers, newspapers, and construction are doing really bad and laying off and closing down, why would professional sports be immune to the economic downturn.  Various professional sports teams are already eliminating jobs, cutting salaries, and slashing prices.  You may still see superstar salaries with contracts worth millions of dollars, but their business essentially still boils down to the consumer or the fan.  Whether through ticket sales or advertisements, they money still has to be generated somehow.  The NBA does not have unlimited funds to pay their players and maintain their league and teams.

But it’s not a bailout, insist commissioner Stern, “It’s the exact opposite,” he told the Associated Press.  ”This was a show of strength in credit worthiness of the NBA’s teams.”  Stern believes that it’s sign of confidence that the market is opening up.  We all know how hard it is to get a loan these days, being that the credit market is frozen up.  But investor’s believe the NBA is a safe bet.

Not for nothin’, but its hard to convince someone that it isn’t a bailout if you are getting hundreds of millions of dollars from the government or any other investor, to help run your business, especially in these economic days.  If it looks like a bailout, walks like a bailout, then it’s not a duck. 

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A Vow To Recover

President Obama addresses Congress

In President Barack Obama’s first speech to a joint session of Congress, six specific words will be echoed as a lasting impression to many, “we will rebuild, we will recover,” he told those in attendance and watching around the world.  The president  laid out words of optimism throughout the speech, and also some harsh words and he reminded all of us the realities we face.  He laid out his vision in what we face as a country in economic crisis and his strategy on how to get it to work.

The State of the Union style speech lasted just over 50 minutes much of which was filled with pockets of applause.  While much of the speech was geared towards explaining his initiatives on the bailout and repairing current economic conditions, he also touched on the budget and he’s three priorities of energy, healthcare and education.  Even though he addressed it will not solve every problem, he called it a “blueprint for our future.”  A blueprint that will hopefully cut two trillion from the deficit we inherited along with fixing the financial crisis, and ending a costly recession.  

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal gave the Republican response following the address by the president.  In typical cross party mudslinging, he called the stimulus package pushed through by the president and congress “irresponsible”.  He along with other republicans agree that Obama relies on too much spending than tax cuts to help with economic crisis, a strategy that will not work.  He added,”the way to lead is not to raise taxes and put money and power in the hands of Washington politicians.  The way to lead is by empowering you, the American people.”

Not for nothin’, but in this case talk is not cheap.  There’s $787 billion riding on this speech, this president, our government, and our economy.  If there’s any solution to this current crisis, we have to believe that this is a start.  Rebuilding and recovering may involve the perfect storm of budgeting spending and tax cuts.  A lot of people will have to work together.  We have to rebuild, we have to recover, if not, those could be some of the most expensive words uttered.

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The Catholic Celebration For All

Mardi Gras celebration

It’s that time of year again.  The time of year where we see all of the colors, mask, parades, singing, dancing, firecrackers, masquerades, face paint, body paint, the beads, and the boobs.  Yes, it’s Mardi Gras.  And while you see thousands upon thousands flocking to New Orleans, and their favorite local watering spots to drink it up and celebrate the coming of the day, I have to question whether if many of them know exactly what they are celebrating.

Well if you ask a lot of people they say this day ranks up there with St. Patrick’s Day and Cinco De Mayo.  A day when many bars and restaurants have various drink specials and have a great big party.  But to hundreds of millions of people around the world, it’s much more than just a party.  But the term Mardi Gras means to them exactly how it’s translated, Fat Tuesday, which is the season, but more specifically the day before Ash Wednesday and Lent starts.  To the millions of Catholics who recognize the season of Lent, they know that it starts 40 days before Easter and as tradition goes Catholics used this time as a time of fasting and penance.  So because of the mass fasting going on they have the one day, the last day they can, for any last minute consumptions or celebrations, that will cease on Wednesday. 

But yet, nothing will cease for many of those who are out celebrating on the day.  Even to a lesser extend people recognize the season as Carnival, as Mardi Gras season is also known as.  But Carnival is also a translation that signals the coming of the Lent season.  Since meat is identified as the most prohibited item during Lent, its easy to believe that Carnival actually means “farewell to flesh”. 

Not for nothin’, but if you’re celebrating Mardi Gras, then should you recognize Lent as well?  Even though you may not be Catholic, if you’re going to have a drink or two Tuesday, what’s the big deal if you gave it up for the next 40 days?

And The Award Went To…

Slumdog Millionaire wins big

Were you one of the millions who watched the 81st Academy Awards Sunday night?  Well the producers of the awards telecast hope that you were.  They’re actually hoping for anyone, as they look to improve over last years ratings which were the lowest ever for an Academy Awards show.  But nonetheless, Hollywood’s best gather together to find out who would received the world’s most prestigious awards in film.  They weren’t as worried about who watch, but instead who won?

There were some surprises and a few predictions come true.  But as many people thought, the independent movie Slumdog Millionaire made sure everyone knew that, Slumdog was no underdog.  The film took home the most Oscars of the evening with eight, including one for Best Film and one for Best Director.  But in other awards, one that surprised many was actor Sean Penn winning his second Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Milk.   In the buzz, speculation and hoopla heading into the night The Wrestler’s Mickey Rourke was a favorite among many.  Also a favorite in the leading role category was Kate Winslet, who essentially completed a sweep of receptions this awards season. 

Other awards were handed out to Penelope Cruz for a Best Supporting Actress and Heath Ledger indeed posthumously won for his portrayal of the Joker in The Dark Knight.  Wall-E won for Best Animated Feature and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button took one for Art Direction, Makeup, and Visual Effects.  All the other sub-major categories seemed to go to the big winner of the night Slumdog Millionaire.

So after it was all said and done, did this year’s show fulfill expectations?  Well early estimates are putting it up six percent higher than last year’s numbers, but still rather low in comparison.  But the show brought us things that were obvious attempts in putting on a good production.  Host Hugh Jackman showed off musical skills in an opening skit with Anne Hathaway and again with Beyonce.  Also in a bold move, this year’s show had special presentations for the four biggest awards.  They brought out past winners of each category to give a special tribute to each nominee.  Not sure if that did it for the show, but it definitely helped.

Not for nothin’, but is it really that important to care how high the ratings get for the Academy Awards?  It’s not a Super Bowl afterall.  As much as the Super Bowl and other sporting events are competition we enjoy, the Oscars, while its a type of competition, seems to be more of a grandstand, or a “let’s show everyone how good we are.”  A type of show that’s usually highly unnecessary, but somehow always fun to watch. 

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The Excellence In Making The News

Our own award ceremony

In the spirit of Oscar weekend, I figured I’ll bring to you a different type of awards presentation.  This will not be for filmmaking or film production, but since this blog specializes in news and information, I’d like to bring you those who have brought us the best (and worst) for our news so far this year.

Well lets start off with some supporting roles.  And what better supporting role out there than someone who actually supported President Obama’s stimulus package.  There were actually three of them, Senators Specter, Snowe and Collins stood out from their Republican mates and helped push it through.  But while they were good, and for the sake of keeping it recognition of the sexes, let’s go ahead and give our best “actress” in a supporting role to Henrietta Hughes who played a small but instrumental part in showing us how hard times are.  And as far as the male version, definitely would have to go with Alex Rodriguez’s cousin.  Literally there supporting A-rod through thick and thin.

Best Male Performance

Moving on with our awards ceremony, let’s get to the flashy awards.  And similar to the Academy Awards with a posthumous nomination, I have also elected to give a posthumous award.  The best female in a leading role goes to Beverly Eckhart.  I’m sure we all remember Beverly, who tragically lost her life in the plane crash in Buffalo.  Beverly will remain an excellent example of how anyone should lead their life.  While that election was easily to me, the best male in a leading role will be rather hard.  We have some excellent talent involved.  There’s President Barack Obama, the afore mentioned Alex Rodriguez, Michael Phelps from his infamed pot smoking, and of course there’s Captain Chelsey “Sully” Sullenberger.  And to prevent President Obama from making a clean sweep this year, and because he did a damn good job anyway, the best male performance goes to Sully. 

So because we gave the male performance award to Sully, President Obama has to be involved in the Best Picture…or Story of the year.  There’s so many to choose from, stimulus battle, economy troubles but the award for the best story of the year, the Inauguration.  Hollywood really can’t write a better story.

Not for nothin’, but I guess we can give an honorable mention to the Chris Brown and Rihanna incident for best drama.

OMG! Is UR Child Sexting?

Is sexting child porn?

To go along with the World Wide Web, cellular phones, and digital technology, the Information Age being the era we’re presently in, has bought us yet another innovation.  But this one carries a negative stigma with it.  The term “sexting” is one of the newest terms of the Information Age that we have before us.  The word, a combination of the two words of “sex” and “texting”, is the practice of sending nude pictures to others by way of text messaging.  Many of us know that as the popularity of text messaging increased, so has this practice.  The bad thing about it is that its not unusual for all of the text messaging public and that includes its largest demographic…teenagers.

Just recently a 15-year-old girl from central Pennsylvania was charged with possessing, distributing and creating child pornography.  The teenage girl allegedly sent nude pictures of herself to an older man over the Internet.  Last month, also in Pennsylvania, six high schoolers were charged with child porn charges from an incident where three of them sent nude photos to the other three. 

Unfortunately child pornography has only become prominent over the past 10 to 20 years due to the height of the Internet, so child porn charges are not that advanced or relaxed just because you’re a teenager.  These laws take no exception.  If you’re charged with possessing and distributing child pornography you risk automatic jail time and risk being lumped together in a crowd of America’s most undesirable people. 

Not for nothin’, but it may seem innocent as a teen just to send photos of yourself to the person you’re dating, I mean, you’re not actually having sex, right?  Well if those pictures are sent out, you cannot get a do-over, you can’t get them back, they’re gone for anyoneto see.  And if the wrong person gets a hold of them, you’re now forever labeled a child pornographer.  But it’s kind of sad to have to ask, but will sex be the preferred option now?

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A View To Abuse

Photograph of beaten singer Rihanna

A photograph that appears to be singer Rihanna’s face shown cut, bruised and swollen in some places after her alledged attack by Chris Brown a couple of weeks ago was leaked and published by the celebrity gossip site TMZ.  The photo was apparently in possession of the Los Angeles Police Department, but somehow got released to TMZ.  Now that the photo is out and being circulated around the Internet, its making many others speak out about it, mostly negative, but some others finding some positive out of it.

The photo has the singer’s face with her eyes closed.  The beating she took is obvious.  She has welts on both sides of her forehead, cuts on her cheeks, and her eyes and lips are severely swollen as well.  The picture almost begs the question, not who she was beaten by, but what she was beaten with?

Los Angeles Police have launched an internal investigation into finding out exactly who released the photo.  They released a statement pertaining to the unauthorized release of the photograph saying, “the Los Angeles Police Department takes seriously its duty to maintain the confidentiality of victims of domestic violence.”  It continued, “a violation of this type is considered serious misconduct, with penalties up to and including termination.”

Some say there’s some good to the picture being released, including Rihanna’s father who said people could “grasp the situation a lot better.”  But even himself along with many others say that the simple fact that it was released is “sloppy”.  Could this photograph even harm other domestic violence victims?  Seeing this makes brings it back and makes it real.  Will victims, already having a hard time, be able to deal with it?

Not for nothin’, but this wasn’t the run-of-the mill beating, if there ever is one, but this picture shows us the face of domestic violence.  The picture being release is even further abuse.

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America’s Big Pink Elephant Is Back

Eric Holder: "a nation of cowards"

Well its there, its in the room, in the way, no way around it, and you can’t ignore it.  You can pretend it isn’t there, but you have to ask yourself, do big pink elephants really exist?  Well in this case, they probably do.  The big pink elephant we’re talking about is racism in America.  The topic reared its head twice this week, which was two more reminders to America that there’s a topic has to be talked about, but no one really wants to, and others constantly ignore.

That specific question was touched on by the recently confirmed Attorney General Eric Holder.  Holder, the nation’s first African-American elected in that position, stirred up much talk on the sensitive subject.  He was speaking to Department of Justice employees at a Black History Month Event.  The highly publicized comment of his, “a nation of cowards,” was said in the reference that Americans are afraid of the topic of race saying that talking about the “off-limits” subjects risk embarrassment and questionable characterizations.

But yet to further crumble your cookie, we have another incident that tugged on the elephants trunk.  A New York Post cartoon that sat out to satirize two of this weeks water-cooler topics, the shooting of a wild chimpanzee and the signing of the economic stimulus bill.  The cartoon that depicted two police officers, after shooting a chimpanzee dead, had one saying “they’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.”  The outrage spawned by the cartoon has raised a variety of comments from funny, outrageous, to lame and of course racist.  Many relating the depiction of the monkey to that of President Barack Obama, and naturally drawing to racist conclusions, considering the racial association of African-Americans and primates.  People would argue both sides, “the monkey isn’t referring to Obama, but to lawmakers who wrote the bill,” to “on the danger scale of 1 to 10 the chimp cartoon scored a 9.”

Not for nothin’, but these two issues are forcing Americans touch on the issues of racism in America.  And with our president being the first African-American president and other African-Americans in prominent positions such as Attorney General and head of the Republican National Committee, this issue may make us take it head on.  But are we ready for it? 

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