There’s a fast food joint in Beijing now open for business that is attracting attention because their name is called Obama Chicken! Offensive or ok? You be the judge!

Among the outspoken African-American political and social figures that have criticized President Obama for not doing more for black Americans in these tough economic times, Al Sharpton has emerged as the voice of support for Obama’s presidential initiatives designed to help all Americans.

According to an article written for The Wall Street Journal, “President Barack Obama has turned to Mr. Sharpton in recent weeks to answer increasingly public criticism in the black community over his economic policy. Some black leaders are charging that the nation’s first African-American president has failed to help black communities hit hard by the downturn, leaving party strategists worried that black Democrats will become dispirited and skip November’s congressional elections.”

Sharpton used the platform of his national radio show to fire back stating that “The president does not need to get out there and do what we should be doing,” adding that if the President did just that, it would create just the right climate for conservatives and other Obama critics to defeat legislation that would actually assist blacks, rather than hurt them.

On one particular show, Al Sharpton and Tavis Smiley, prominent black talk show host, butted heads over this issue where Mr. Sharpton stated that “…it was a ‘double standard’ for Mr. Smiley and other critics to expect more from a black president than they would demand of a white Democratic president.”

Although during most of his campaign, President Obama steered clear of historically radical black civil rights leaders, Al Sharpton is now an unlikely ally in addressing the concerns of some black leaders and establishing solidarity for the president.

To read the entire article “Obama’s New Partner: Al Sharpton,” visit The Wall Street Journal online.

Listen to the big debate between Tavis Smiley and Al Sharpton:

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama took aim Monday at the nation’s school dropout epidemic, proposing $900 million to states and education districts that agree to drastically change or even shutter their worst performing schools.

Obama’s move comes as many schools continue to struggle to get children to graduation, a profound problem in a rich, powerful nation. Only about 70 percent of entering high school freshmen go on to graduate. The problem affects blacks and Latinos at particularly high rates.

Obama described the crisis as one that hurts individual kids and the nation as a whole, shattering dreams and undermining an already hurting economy.

“There’s got to be a sense of accountability,” Obama said in announcing his latest get-tough school proposal at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The president’s plan would seek to help 5,000 of the nation’s lowest-performing schools over the next five years.

“In this kind of knowledge economy, giving up on your education and dropping out of school means not only giving up on your future, but it’s also giving up on your family’s future,” Obama said. “It’s giving up on your country.”

Obama has been pushing schools — using federal money as his leverage — to raise their standards and prod them to get more children ready for college or work. It is a task that former President George W. Bush and Congress, along with many leaders before them, have long taken on, but the challenge is steep.

Obama’s 2011 budget proposal includes $900 million for School Turnaround Grants. That money is in addition to $3.5 billion to help low-performing schools that was in last year’s economic stimulus bill.

To get a share of the new money, states and school districts must adopt one of four approaches to fix their struggling schools:

_Turnaround Model: The school district must replace the principal and at least half of the school staff, adopt a new governance structure for the school, and implement a new or revised instructional program.

_Restart Model: The school district must close and reopen the school under the management of a charter school operator, a charter management organization or an educational management organization. A restarted school would be required to enroll, within the grades it serves, former students who wish to attend.

_School Closure: The school district must close the failing school and enroll the students in other, higher-achieving schools in the district.

_Transformational Model: The school must address four areas, including teacher effectiveness, instruction, learning and teacher planning time, and operational flexibility.

The administration also is putting $50 million into dropout prevention strategies, including personalized and individual instruction and support to keep students engaged in learning, and better use of data to identify students at risk of failure and to help them with the transition to high school and college.

Obama announced his plan Monday at an education event sponsored by the America’s Promise Alliance, the youth-oriented organization founded by former Secretary of State Colin Powell and his wife, Alma. Obama also planned to discuss ways to better prepare students for college and careers.

VIA:  SmokeyRobinson.Com

The dictionary defines the popular term “comfort food” as “food prepared in a traditional style having a usually nostalgic or sentimental appeal.” It has been known to have a buffering effect as it soothes the soul and spurs memories of more “comforting” times. If that concept holds up in the kitchen, then it makes perfect sense that it should hold true in the living room with its aural equivalent. While it’s already a known fact that popular songs often connect with listeners in a highly personal way, often recalled alongside life’s more personal moments, only a few distinctive voices in popular music can achieve that same effect with instantaneous familiarity. With his eternally smooth and instantly recognizable falsetto alone – without the strings, bass, guitar or drums – legendary singer/songwriter/producer SMOKEY ROBINSON’s honey-coated voice absolutely is the audio equivalent of comfort food…comfort food for the soul…with soul. In following with the aforementioned definition, the Motown legend’s forthcoming ROBSO Records CD, Time Flies When You’re Having Fun has certainly been “prepared in a traditional style,” while that oh-so-familiar, highly identifiable crooning has an indisputable “nostalgic or sentimental appeal.”

Indeed, the “traditional” element of Time Flies When You’re Having Fun had already been determined while Robinson was recording his last CD, 2006’s pop/jazz standards collection Timeless Love. Just as that particular project had been recorded live in the studio with musicians – the first time he had recorded a full LP that way in years – Smokey knew he wanted to record his newly-written contemporary R&B songs in the very same fashion. In fact, he was so inspired by recording the “old school way” that the recording schedule for both projects actually overlapped. “I was having such a ball making that project (Timeless Love),” he explains. “I hadn’t intended on doing them simultaneously because I knew that Timeless Love was the one I was going to come out with. But things were going so well with that project that I said, ‘I’m gonna start putting in some of the original material I’d written for my new CD (Time Flies When You’re Having Fun) and record it this way too.’ I knew I was going to do these particular songs, but I didn’t realize I was going to wind up recording them live like I did with Timeless Love. So I did and we had a ball.” Though he’s the first to acknowledge and appreciate the technologically advanced way that recording for most releases are done today, like the cleaner sound and creative lee-way afforded by ProTools, Robinson was steadfast in his penchant for live instrumentation for this CD. “I think that you still don’t get that feeling that you used to get in the old days when everybody was in the studio together,” says Robinson, whose early Motown classics were recorded in this fashion. “That way was like doing a concert, because everybody was feeding off of each other. It’s just that live vibe.”

Click here to read more on Smokey Robinson…

Check out “Ebony Eyes” by Smokey Robinson and Rick James:

VIA:  AltheaGibson.Com

Born August 25, 1927 in Silver, SC, A right-hander, grew up in Harlem. Her family was poor, but she was fortunate in coming to the attention of Dr. Walter Johnson,
a Lynchburg VA physician who was active in the black tennis community. He became her patron as he would later for Arthur Ashe, the black champion at Forest Hills (1968) and Wimbledon (1975). Through Dr. Johnson, Gibson received better instruction and competition, and contacts were set up with the USTA to inject her into the recognized tennis scene.

A trailblazing athlete who become the first African American to win championships at Grand Slam tournaments such as Wimbledon, the French Open, the Australian Doubles and the United States Open in the late 1950s. Gibson had a scintillating amateur career in spite of segregated offerings earlier in the decade.

She won 56 singles and doubles titles during her amateur career in the 1950s before gaining international and national acclaim for her athletic prowess on the professional level in tennis.

Gibson won 11 major titles in the late 1950s, including singles titles at the French Open (1956), Wimbledon (1957, 1958) and the U. S. Open (1957, 1958), as well as three straight doubles crowns at the French Open (1956, 1957, 1958).

Check out this tribute to Althea Gibson:

Watch Althea win @ Forest Hills 1957:

Washington, D.C., native Taraji P. Henson didn’t always know that her smoldering charisma and beautiful face would make her a professional actress.

On the contrary, she originally studied electrical engineering when she enrolled at North Carolina Agric & Tech. She later transferred to Howard University, where she attended classes while working as a secretary at the Pentagon, and as a singer and dancer aboard a cruise ship. She eventually changed her academic focus to theater and graduated in 1995.

Henson’s career began with appearances on Homicide: Life on the Street and ER, but it really took off when she was cast in a major supporting role in 2001′s Baby_Boyand 2004′s Hustle_&_Flow, in which she also showcased her vocal talents, singing on the track “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” for the movie’s soundtrack, which took home the Best Song Oscar that year. Henson later moved on to take major roles in Smokin’_Aces and Talk to Me. Henson made the most of her work as the mother of the backward-aging man in David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and her performance garnered Best Supporting Actress nominations from both the Screen Actors Guild, and the Academy.

VIA:  YAHOO MOVIES.COM:

Denzel Washington burst onto the big screen with an Oscar and Golden Globe-winning role in the Civil War epic “Glory” (1989). But over the following decade, the matinee-idol handsome actor became the first of his generation’s African-American movie stars to land squarely on Hollywood’s A-list – as likely to be tapped to play a heroic lead as any white actor would have been a shoe-in for only a decade prior.

Likened to Sidney Poitier for his ability to appeal to a multiracial audience, Washington’s grounding force was a critical and audience favorite in historical dramas like “Cry Freedom” (1987), “Malcolm X” (1992) and “American Gangster” (2007), as well in more action-driven dramas such as “The Pelican Brief” (1993), “Remember the Titans” (2000) and “Training Day” (2001). Rising above the “black actor” moniker, Washington not only held a firm position as one of Hollywood’s top dramatic leads well into the new millennium, he also earned industry respect for his filmmaking efforts – directing and producing both “Antwone Fisher” (2002) and “The Great Debaters” (2007).

Washington has been awarded three Golden Globe awards and two Academy Awards for his work. He is notable as the second African Americanman (afterSidney Poitier) to win the Academy Award for Best Actor, which he received for his role in the 2001 film Training Day.

Are you a true Denzel fan?  Take the Denzel Washington trivia quiz below and test how you rate.

1) On with 1980′s television drama was Denzel Washington a regular?

a) E.R.
b) St. Elsewhere
c) Chicago Hope

2) One of Denzel Washington’s early movies was the comedy Carbon Copy but he’s only made three comedies in his long career. The second was The Preacher’s Wife, what was the third?

a) Heart Condition
b) The Mighty Quinn
c) Mo’ Better Blues

3) Denzel Washington’s character was paralyzed in which movie?

a) Virtuosity
b) The Bone Collector
c) Ricochet

4) Denzel Washington won an Academy Award for which movie?

a) The Hurricane
b) Malcolm X
c) Training Day

5) American Gangster wasn’t the only movie Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe appeared in together – what was the first?

a) Virtuosity
b) Fallen
c) Devil in a Blue Dress

6) What was Denzel Washington’s first feature film?

a) A Soldier’s Story
b) Carbon Copy
c) Cry Freedom

7) Denzel was in a movie version of which William Shakespeare play?

a) Hamlet
b) Much Ado About Nothing
c) Othello

Answers:  1) b;  2) b;  3) b; 4) c; 5) a; 6) a; 7) b

Denzel Washington responds to the debate over why some of his roles haven’t been honored by the Academy. Check local listings for airdates of Tavis Smiley on PBS.

VIA: SpeakOutNow.Org

Through her activism and her scholarship over the last decades, Angela Davis has been deeply involved in our nation’s quest for social justice. Her work as an educator – both at the university level and in the larger public sphere – has always emphasized the importance of building communities of struggle for economic, racial, and gender equality.

Professor Davis’ teaching career has taken her to San Francisco State University, Mills College, and UC Berkeley. She has also taught at UCLA, Vassar, the Claremont Colleges, and Stanford University. She has spent the last fifteen years at the University of California Santa Cruz where she is Professor of History of Consciousness, an interdisciplinary Ph.D program, and Professor of Feminist Studies.

Angela Davis is the author of eight books and has lectured throughout the United States as well as in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and South America. In recent years a persistent theme of her work has been the range of social problems associated with incarceration and the generalized criminalization of those communities that are most affected by poverty and racial discrimination. She draws upon her own experiences in the early seventies as a person who spent eighteen months in jail and on trial, after being placed on the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted List.” She has also conducted extensive research on numerous issues related to race, gender and imprisonment. Her most recent books are Abolition Democracy and Are Prisons Obsolete? She is now completing a book on Prisons and American History.

Click here to read more on Angela Davis…

Check out this video of Anglea speaking at UCLA:

Check out this video of Angela’s 1984 appearance on Buchanan/Braden debating Racism:

After the media frenzy that surrounded Tiger Woods’ car accident and alleged affairs, he finally speaks publicly to a select group of friends, colleagues and associates at PGA headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL.

According to CNN.com, a statement on Woods’ Web site elaborated: “While Tiger feels that what happened is fundamentally a matter between him and his wife, he also recognizes that he has hurt and let down a lot of other people who were close to him. He also let down his fans. He wants to begin the process of making amends, and that’s what he’s going to discuss.”

Just days after the National Enquirer reported that he was having an affair with New York hostess, Rachel Uchitel, Woods crashed his truck into a fire hydrant just steps away from his home in Florida. Within the weeks that followed, at least eleven additional women surfaced alleging they had affairs with Tiger.

What is unknown still is will Elin, his wife, stay or will she go?

It’s been a tough time for Tiger, but it didn’t stop the jokes from coming.

VIA:  JudgeMathisTV.Com

The real-life story of Judge Mathis is heartwarming and inspirational.  Greg Mathis was a gang member who dropped out of school, was in and out of jail and then overcame these adversities to become the youngest judge in the history of the state of Michigan.

The inspiration for his own TV court show, the Judge’s personal story is also the subject of a book, “Inner City Miracle,” released by Ballantine/One World Books in October 2002.

When he is not on the bench, Mathis makes it a point to give back to the community and to those in need of guidance.  In May 2002, Mathis hosted his first Self-Empowerment Expo in Detroit, designed to encourage individuals to develop and achieve worthy goals, and prepare themselves for a more prosperous future.  The Expo has since become an annual event in Detroit and has now branched out to other cities.  The fifth annual Detroit Youth & Education Expo will take place August 19, 2006.  The Expo offers speakers, workshops and other resources that offer today’s youth a chance to better themselves.

Click here to read more on Judge Greg Mathis…

Check out this video of an episode of his syndicated TV Court show:

Judge Mathis speaks on his book “Street Judge”:

Street Judge: Judge Greg Mathis – The most amazing home videos are here