LAWT 12-08-2011

W E E K E N D E R

L.A. Watts Times Vol. XXX, No. 1261

www.lawattstimes.com

Thursday, December 8, 2011

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Thursday, December 8, 2011

HOROSCOPES

Dec. 8 - 14

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RIES ~ One of your most unique gifts is the power to change your mind. You know how to change the way you think, and it gives you great versatility. This week you may be called upon to change the way you think about someone you love. Be kind! Soul affirmation: I am on the watch for those who need me.

AURUS ~ Focus intently on the personal this week. Others may seem scattered or impersonal, but that’s not for you. Keep your thoughts and feelings to yourself until others are more receptive to your steady vibrations. Soul affirmation: Money and happiness are closely related this week.

EMINI ~ A personal decision is made, and you are happy for the person who makes it.

This person may be younger than you, but you’ve got a karmic bond between you. Enjoy the excitement of shared moments. Use your imagination to create a better world for both of you. Soul affirmation: The pictures in my head give the greatest joy this week.

ANCER ~ A relationship may be heating up this week. Make sure you know what you want, then go ahead. Minor challenges on the home front are easily dealt with if you keep your sense of humor. Secrets are important.

Keep them. Soul affirmation: My goodwill is my best weapon.

EO ~ You may feel an extra burst of energy this week. This is a good time for you wrap up any miscellaneous details on a project that you’ve been working on. Your vibrations are very conducive towards generosity and general well-being that you’ll want to extend to friends and family. Soul affirmation: Communication is a skeleton key that fits many doors.

IRGO ~ Start setting goals. Do a periodic cleaning of your home and get rid of the junk that has been cluttering your life! Start saving your money for a big vacation that you and that special someone have been planning! Do something extravagant. Soul affirmation: Clinging to the old will inhibit my growth this week.

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IBRA ~ Flexibility is needed to deal with a work issue. You’re sure you’re right but compromise will be necessary to overcome someone’s objections. Don’t think they are being spiteful.

They simply see things differently than you do.

Your insights this week are special and specialized.

Don't expect agreement. Soul affirmation: Slow and easy is the best way for me to travel this week.

CORPIO ~ If you need a good week to put away the memorabilia of a past love; this week’s that week. Tuck away his or her photograph. If it’s over and now it's time to move on, don’t stall your love life dwelling on what was.

Get ready for what can be. Soul Affirmation: I slow down and take the feelings of others into consideration.

AGITTARIUS ~ Your harmony with your business or domestic partner should improve as you take steps to strengthen communication.

Slow down and give everyone a chance to get on the same page. Plan well before you act. Enjoy hanging loose. Soul affirmation: I trust my gut instincts concerning all matters.

APRICORN ~ A little child will lead them is certainly something you should keep in mind this week. Wisdom from a little person, a son, daughter, younger brother or sister can be very helpful to you. Lighten up on yourself. Self-criticism is not a good idea this week. Soul affirmation: I loosen up and enjoy my life without worry.

QUARIUS ~ Trials and tribulations are damaging this week only if you let them be. You are a master at living above day-to-day concerns.

Enjoy looking at the big picture. Watch bright skies gathering above a distant horizon. Bring the future into the present and enjoy. Soul affirmation: I enjoy the fruits of past labor.

ISCES ~ This week is a good week for remembering that without the help of your colleagues it would be impossible for you to expedite the tasks that need to be done. Cultivate relationships with those who can help you get important stuff done. Thank them graciously and celebrate with them. Soul affirmation: I am everybody’s sweetheart.

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Inside This Edition

10 A steady decline: Charts tell the story.

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L.A. Watts Times

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Cuts to mail to slow delivery in US in 2012

BY HOPE YEN | AP WASHINGTON (AP) — The cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service says it wants to move quickly to close 252 mail processing centers and slow first-class delivery next spring, citing steadily declining mail volume.

At a news briefing Monday, postal vice president David Williams said the agency wants to virtually eliminate the chance for stamped letters to arrive the next day to help avert possible bankruptcy next year.

Williams says the postal service is not "writing off first class mail" but that it must respond to new mar-

ket realities in which people are turning more to the Internet for email communications and bill payment.

After reaching a peak in 2006, first-class mail volume is now at 78 million. It is projected to drop by roughly half by 2020.

BlackFacts.com December 8, 1850 On this day, the first woman to graduate from Oberlin College is Lucy Ann Stanton. She completes the two-year ladies’ course and receives the bachelor of literature degree.

“A CRY FOR JUSTICE”

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MY HUSBAND HAS BEEN IN PRISON FOR 6 YEARS NOW, FOR A CRIME HE DID NOT COMMIT! “WHERE IS THE NAACP AND BENJAMIN JEALOUS? WHERE IS THE JESSIE JACKSON’S, AND AL SHARPTON’S, NOW?”

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Thursday, December 8, 2011

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Thursday, December 8, 2011

Calif., Nevada team up in mortgage fraud probes

BY GREG RISLING | AP LOS ANGELES (AP) — The attorneys general in California and Nevada said Tuesday they are partnering in investigations into the mortgage meltdown that crippled the two states with the highest rates of foreclosures in the nation.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris and her Nevada counterpart Catherine Cortez Masto said they will combine resources and share information about mortgage fraud probes each have launched in recent months.

“This strong partnership will allow our states to make an even more concerted effort to hold fraud perpetrators accountable and ensure law-abiding homeowners receive justice,” Masto said.

Both states were decimated during the economic downturn when housing prices fell and led to a wave of foreclosures. Nevada has the nation's highest foreclosure rate; California ranks second.

Harris recently subpoenaed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, looking into their lending practices. Masto has indicted two Southern California title officers of running a so-called “robosigning” scheme to sign and file thousands of fraudulent foreclosure documents in Las Vegas between 2005 and 2008.

Talks have been dragging on for more than a year between major U.S. banks and attorneys general from all 50 states over fraudulent foreclosure practices that drove millions of Americans from their homes during the housing crisis.

Major banks temporarily suspended foreclosures in October 2010 following revelations of widespread deceptive foreclosure practices by banks. The negotiations have been designed to institute new guidelines for mortgage lending nationwide. It was anticipated to be the biggest overhaul of a single industry since the 1998 multistate tobacco settlement.

But attorneys general of different states have disagreed over what terms to offer the banks. In September, California announced it would not agree to a settlement over foreclosure abuses that state and federal officials have been working on for more than a year.

New York, Delaware, Nevada and Massachusetts, which sued five major banks earlier this month over deceptive foreclosure practices, have argued that banks should not be protected from future civil liability.

The decision to partner up would have little impact on the broader 50state talks, Masto said, but Harris noted her frustration about how long the negotiations have taken.

Nevada is not a member of the

AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes

Attorneys Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, left, and General Kamala D. Harris of California announce a joint investigation alliance to assist homeowners who have been harmed by misconduct and fraud in the mortgage industry, during a news conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

10-state executive committee working directly on the deal with the banks but is still receiving informa-

tion about new developments, Masto said.

AP writer Ken Ritter in Las

Vegas and AP business writer Derek Kravitz in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.

CA high court tosses gang leader’s death sentence

BY PAUL ELIAS | AP SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The California Supreme Court on Monday tossed out the murder convictions and death sentences of a Los Angeles gang leader who authorities believe was the "shot caller" responsible for as many as 60 killings.

Cleamon "Big Evil" Johnson led the 89 Family Bloods during the 1980s and early 1990s. Authorities allege the 80 members of Johnson's gang were responsible for more than 60 slayings on their turf, which stretched for a quarter of a square mile in the heart of South-Central Los Angeles.

Johnson was convicted in 1997, along with Michael "Fat Rat" Allen, of murdering two rival gang members six years earlier. Prosecutors allege that Johnson ordered Allen to kill the rivals with an Uzi. The rivals were killed at a South-Central car wash before dozens of witnesses, but no one would admit to witnessing the shooting. A task force with the help of federal officials finally got witnesses to come forward and put Johnson behind bars.

A unanimous high court found that the judge presiding over the 1997 murder trial erred in removing a juror accused of deciding the case before deliberations. The juror denied making up his mind before deliberations began, and the Supreme Court said it appeared he was a responsible juror.

Allen's conviction and death sentence also were overturned.

Los Angeles prosecutors will have to seek a new trial if they want to reinstate those convictions and death penalties.

BlackFacts.com December 13, 1903 Ella Baker is born in Norfolk, Va. A civil rights worker who will direct the New York branch of the NAACP, Baker will become executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in the 1960s during student integration of lunch counters in the southern states.

She also will play a key role in the formation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and its voter registration drive in Mississippi.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

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Obama pledges to fight for middle class OSAWATOMIE, Kansas (AP) — President Barack Obama took aim at Republicans and delivered a sweeping indictment of economic inequality in the U.S. on Tuesday as he pledged to fight for fairness for the middle class.

Only a month before Republican voters begin choosing a presidential nominee, Obama traveled to smalltown Osawatomie, Kansas, where he summoned the memory of a beloved Republican president.

Theodore Roosevelt delivered his "New Nationalism" address in 1910, to embrace the progressive reformer's calls for a "square deal" for regular Americans.

Obama warned of the unraveling of the American dream, and called for giving struggling middle-class workers a fair shake and restoring financial security — themes he's certain to return to throughout the 2012 campaign.

"This isn't just another political debate. This is the defining issue of our time. This is a make-or-break moment for the middle class, and all those who are fighting to get into the middle class," Obama told a crowd in the Osawatomie High School gym, where red, white and blue bunting lined the bleachers.

Of Republicans, Obama said: "Their philosophy is simple: we are better off when everyone is left to fend for themselves and play by their own rules. Well, I'm here to say they are wrong."

Obama's speech delved into the theme of inequality of income and opportunity, which the White House sees as a major force in current politics, but it was short on new ideas for pulling the country out of its economic doldrums.

For Obama, after focusing recently on mostly small-bore executive actions he can take without Congress, and on pressing reluctant lawmakers to pass pieces of his jobs proposal including a payroll tax holiday, Tuesday's speech was a chance to lay out a more sweeping philosophy for his re-election campaign.

Noting that the typical CEO now earns 110 times more than his workers, Obama attempted to sum up the pain and peril for a society where the gap between rich and poor is widening, and the middle class is struggling.

Obama said that the wealthiest should do more — but that the Republicans have refused to ask them to.

Republicans, meanwhile, noted that Roosevelt had also used the speech Obama cited to denounce broken promises in politics. They said Obama had fallen short of rebuilding the economy, reducing the debt and curtailing special interests.

Republican National Committee spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski

said the president was "desperately trying new slogans and messages to see what sticks because he can't figure out how to sell his last three years of high unemployment and more debt."

Obama also took aim at the big banks that took bailouts from American taxpayers, pointing to "a deficit of trust between Main Street and Wall Street." He said banks that were bailed out had an obligation to work to close that trust deficit and should be doing more to help remedy past mortgage abuses and assist middle-class taxpayers.

Obama said he'd be calling for new legislation imposing tougher

penalties for Wall Street firms that repeatedly violate anti-fraud laws.

And the president renewed his call on Congress to extend his payroll tax cut, and called for Senate Republicans to confirm his nominee to head a new consumer protection bureau.

Obama said that transforming the economy and growing the middle class will require everyone to take more responsibility and see that they have a stake in each other's success. And in a challenge to the private sector, he said it will "require American business leaders to understand that their obligations don't just end with their shareholders."

AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

President Barack Obama speaks about the economy, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2011, at Osawatomie High School in Osawatomie, Kansas.

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Thursday, December 8, 2011

Cain suspends campaign shifting GOP race

BY SHANNON MCCAFFREY | AP ATLANTA (AP) — A defiant Herman Cain suspended his faltering bid for the Republican presidential nomination Saturday amid a drumbeat of sexual misconduct allegations against him, throwing his staunchly conservative supporters up for grabs with just one month to go before the lead-off caucuses in Iowa.

Cain condemned the accusations as “false and unproven” but said they had been hurtful to his family, particularly his wife, Gloria, and were drowning out his ability to deliver his message. His wife stood behind him on the stage, smiling and waving as the crowd chanted her name.

“So as of today, with a lot of prayer and soul-searching, I am suspending my presidential campaign because of the continued distractions and the continued hurt caused on me and my family,” a tired-looking Cain told about 400 supporters.

Cain’s announcement came five days after an Atlanta-area woman, Ginger White, claimed she and Cain had an affair for more than a decade, a claim that followed several allegations of sexual harassment against the Georgia businessman.

“Now, I have made many mis-

takes in life. Everybody has. I’ve made mistakes professionally, personally, as a candidate, in terms of how I run my campaign. And I take responsibility for the mistakes I’ve made, and I have been the very first to own up to any mistakes I’ve made,” he said.

But Cain intoned: “I am at peace with my God. I am at peace with my wife. And she is at peace with me.”

White’s attorney said in a statement after the announcement that Cain had disparaged his client and should apologize. Cain had called her a “troubled Atlanta businesswoman” whom he had tried to help.

“We continue to encourage Mr. Cain to retract these statements and apologize for the way he has characterized these women in the media,” Edward Buckley said. Cain’s campaign had no immediate response.

Cain’s announcement provides a new twist in what has already been a volatile Republican race. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has, so far, been the biggest beneficiary of Cain’s precipitous slide. Polls show Gingrich and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney atop the field in what is shaping up as a twoman race heading into early voting states.

But others, such as Texas Gov.

AP Photo/David Tulis

Standing by her man: Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, right, bows, and his wife Gloria listens as her declares,” I am suspending my presidential campaign because of the continued distractions and the continued hurt caused on me and my family.”

Rick Perry and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, will likely make a strong play for Cain’s antiestablishment tea party backing as they look to rise as a viable alternative to Romney, whose conservative credentials are suspect in some GOP circles.

Cain said he would offer an endorsement, and his former rivals

were quick to issue statements on Saturday praising his conservative ideals and grassroots appeal.

At a tea party rally in Staten Island, Gingrich praised Cain for bringing optimism and big ideas to the race.

“He had the courage to launch the 9-9-9 plan, which, whether you liked it or disliked it, was a big idea

and started to elevate the debate toward big solutions and not the usual nitpicking, consultant-driven negativity,” Gingrich said. He was referring to Cain’s catchy but controversial plan to scrap the current tax code for a 9 percent tax on personal and corporate income as well as a new 9 percent national sales tax.

See CAIN SUSPENDS, page 19

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Thursday, December 8, 2011

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Megachurch’s future uncertain after pastor leaves

BY ERRIN HAINES | AP

BY SUZANNE GAMBOA | AP

North Carolina president and a pastor. “... Jim Crow used blunt tools.

James Crow, Esq. uses surgical tools, consultants, high paid consultants and lawyers to cut out the heart of Black political power.”

For example, a law passed in Florida reduced its early voting period from 14 to 8 days, including the last Sunday before Election Day. In 2008, 54 percent of Black voters in Florida cast their ballots early, and Blacks comprised 32 percent of the entire statewide turnout on the last Sunday before the election, said Ryan Haygood, director of political participation for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

“It’s widely known in Florida that Black churches would organize what they called ‘Get Your Souls to See NAACP, page 19

Let me assist you.

There is NO Fee until we win.

Jacquelyn Brown, Disability Appeals Rep.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The NAACP has been collecting information about early voting advocacy

by Black churches in Florida, hoping to convince the Justice Department to strike down a slew of new state voting laws it claims are intended to thwart growing minority participation at the polls ahead of next year's presidential election.

In a report released Monday, the NAACP argues that the new laws amount to a coordinated and comprehensive assault on minorities’ voting rights at a time when their numbers in the population and at the ballot box have increased.

NAACP President Ben Jealous said he personally delivered a copy of the report over the weekend to Assistant Attorney General Tom

Perez, who oversees the agency’s civil rights division. Jealous said the NAACP wants to diligently document how the laws affect African Americans and Latinos and provide the attorney general ample evidence for finding the laws unconstitutional.

Several states have passed laws requiring voters to present specific types of photo identification and proof of citizenship to vote; creating new rules for voter registration drives; reducing early voting days and voter registration periods; and further preventing ex-felons from voting. The NAACP refers to these in its report as “block the vote” tactics.

“In some ways, these tactics are not Jim Crow. They do not feature Night Riders and sheets ... This is in fact, James Crow, Esq.,” said the Rev. William Barber, NAACP

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NAACP wants new voting laws struck down

AP Photo/John Amis

A sabbatical, of sorts: Bishop Eddie Long speaks at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga. His spokesman, Art Franklin, said that the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church leader told his congregation Sunday that he will continue to serve as senior pastor at the church in Lithonia.

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KaCey Venning said she left New Birth about a month after the allegations because she wanted a smaller church. She believes New Birth can get past its challenges “if they are able to stick together and not rally behind somebody in blind support.”

“They need to focus getting back to their outreach, getting out in the community,” Venning said. “If the focus is going to be around this particular person, if there’s no New Birth without him ... there might be a problem.”

Long’s wife, Vanessa, filed for divorce last week after 21 years of marriage. The couple has three children and a fourth from Long’s first marriage. In a statement released by the church, Vanessa Long said she may reconsider her decision to divorce, but her filing followed “attacks in the media that frustrated and overwhelmed me.”

The Rev. Kenneth Samuel, who preceded Long, said the allegations hurt.

“With New Birth being as large and prevalent as it is, every church in the area has felt the impact,” Samuel said. “And rightly so. I think there has to be a level of accountability. I think it’s certainly possible for the church to carry on. My prayer is for growth and progress and to become more committed to open, honest dialogue and discussion.”

Marshall said the church can be healed, but also thinks Long needs to step down permanently.

“All things can be renewed, but I think he needs to leave,” she said.

“Why continue to lead people when you are being dishonest? It shames the church, it shames the followers, and it shames him.”

business

ATLANTA (AP) — When Bishop Eddie Long was accused of sexual misconduct by former church members, his congregation rallied around him and his wife stood by his side. About a year later, the Atlanta megachurch pastor is headed for divorce and stepping away from the pulpit.

Long announced Sunday at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church that he needed a break from preaching to focus on his family. The hiatus leaves New Birth, which once boasted 25,000 members, at a crossroads, its reputation battered and membership dwindling. Their pasts inextricably linked for nearly a generation, both Long and his church face an uncertain future.

“A church is bigger than its pastor,” said Goldie Taylor, who has attended New Birth in the past. “For too long, the New Birth family has acted as if it is smaller than its pastor.

Its challenge going forward will be its ability to flip that and become a church without walls again.”

For many members, Long has been the only pastor they have ever known. He became senior pastor in 1987, taking the helm of a flock of only a few hundred members. Not long after he arrived, the former Ford salesman and Honeywell executive dismissed New Birth’s board of directors and took unilateral control of the church, ensuring that he would be the one to determine the date of his departure.

New Birth grew quickly under its charismatic, dynamic young leader, swelling to 8,000 members in five years. A decade later New Birth

boasted 18,000 members and the church paid cash for the land and sprawling property it currently occupies in DeKalb County — including a 10,000-seat sanctuary. In addition to its Lithonia, Ga., headquarters, the church has satellites in several cities including Miami, Charlotte and Denver and television and international ministries.

Many who joined the church under Long’s tenure were attracted to the prosperity gospel that he preached and practiced. It was a message that mirrored an emerging Black middle class in and around Atlanta. Unlike the traditional Southern Baptist preacher, Long owned a $350,000 Bentley and private jet, lived in a $1.4 million house with six bedrooms and nine bathrooms, adorned himself with diamond jewelry and read his sermons on an iPad. Long’s spiritual swagger inspired a loyal and protective congregation.

In September 2010, when accusations swirled that he used his lavish lifestyle to seduce four young men into sexual relationships in exchange for cars, clothes and trips, New Birth members supported around their embattled leader, who vowed he was innocent and would fight the cases.

Long settled out of court eight months later for an undisclosed amount and has never admitted any wrongdoing. After that, some changed their opinion of him.

“Once the money was paid, it was like you’re hiding something,” said Donielle Marshall, who joined New Birth as a college student in 1999. “Did you lie to us? I look at him as just a common man, full of fault, but also a disgrace.”

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Thursday, December 8, 2011

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Next time you’re at the store eyeing those funny looking energy-efficient light bulbs, remember that they drastically cut down on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. It’s a greener way of thinking, something that Toyota knows well. From hybrid technology to waste reduction.

Can a new way of thinking save the world?

The Toyota Green Initiative can help you think greener, too. Check out ToyotaGreen.com for ways to help the planet.

You may want to start with a lightbulb.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

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Missing Detroit girl’s dad pleads for her return

BY COREY WILLIAMS | AP DETROIT (AP) — The father of a 2-year-old Detroit girl believes police are looking at him as “suspect number one” in her disappearance.

D’Andre Lane told reporters Tuesday that he wants his daughter returned home and that the person who has Bianca Jones, not he, is “the villain” in the case.

Police and volunteers continued Tuesday searching the Detroit North End neighborhood where Bianca lives and where Lane claims he was carjacked Friday morning while she sat in a rear car seat. The car was found Friday, but she was not in it.

“Soon after everything happened I was talking to police and I heard some officers off to the side say, ‘Oh, he has a criminal record,’ ” said Lane, accompanied by his attorney, Terry L. Johnson. “I know what that means. He has a criminal record. He’s suspect number one.

“I don’t know what people are thinking. My main concern is my daughter coming home safely.”

According to Michigan prison records, Lane was jailed for more than three years on drug and firearm possession charges stemming from a 2003 arrest and was paroled in 2007.

He also served a more than fouryear probation starting in 1996 after being convicted of assault with intent to commit armed robbery and a conspiracy charge.

He was held over the weekend in the Oakland County Jail, north of Detroit, on a personal protection order warrant unrelated to Bianca’s disappearance. On Monday, a judge there ordered Lane to attend anger management classes, Johnson said.

Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee said the father’s story is under “intense scrutiny” by investigators.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Lane had not been questioned again by Detroit police, his lawyer said.

“This man has been vilified as public enemy number one. He needs someone to speak on his behalf,” said Johnson, concerned about what he sees as police leaks to the media, including claims that Lane failed a lie detector test.

“We’re not saying he failed.

We're saying it was administered improperly,” Johnson said. “You take someone under that kind of stress and put them in a room; he’s not free to leave. He’s in custody. He talks to you and now you want to strap him up to a machine. No one who gives a polygraph properly

AP Photo/Paul Sancya

Missing: Banika Jones holds a photo and poster of her daughter Bianca Jones, 2, in Detroit on Monday. Detroit police are seeking volunteers from the public to help search for 2-year-old Bianca Jones since a reported carjacking Friday.

would do anything like that.”

Investigators also have searched Lane's home several times, taking flash drives, laptops and sheets from the girl’s bed.

Lane said he is not returning home because of threats he and his family have received over the past few days.

“It’s been told to me that it’s in my best interest to just relax for a minute and kind of let things die down,” he said. “If something was to happen where (Bianca) comes home tomorrow and someone does something to me tonight, what would be the tragedy then?”

More than 150 volunteers have helped investigators in the search for Bianca. About 75 to 80 law enforcement officers, including city and state police officers and FBI agents, are searching for the girl and following up on tips from the public, Detroit police Sgt. Eren Stephens said Tuesday.

The reward for information in the case has been rising. An anonymous $5,000 reward has been added to a $15,000 anonymous reward and one for $2,500 from Crime Stoppers, Stephens said.

AP Photo/Paul Sancya

‘I am not the villain’: D’Andre Lane speaks about his missing daughter, 2year-old Bianca Jones on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2011. He told reporters that he wants his daughter returned home and that the person who has Bianca Jones, not he, is “the villain” in the case.

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Thursday, December 8, 2011

BACKGROUND Let me make two things clear up front: This is in no way intended to be an indictment of fraternities, sororities and marching bands or any individuals. It goes without saying that fraternities, sororities and marching bands are revered and beloved with good reason for all the good their members have historically done and continue to do in the Black community.

There is untold pride in having become a member of an organization of men and women that gives you, sight unseen and seen, its unwavering support. One frat man shares his fraternity-related practice: “When I travel, I always have something [from this frat] on me because I know if I need help, I can count on [any] frat brother [around], no matter where I am.

“Once I was getting on a plane and going to my seat in the back of the plane and I had my [frat] hat and waaay down in the front of the plane a [non-Black] man came all the way back to me and oơered me his [frat] jacket and T-shirt — just ’cause he was a frat brother.”

But in the wake of the death of Florida A&M University drum major Robert Champion, there’s been a groundswell of support for a re-examination of the hazing as that has been linked to frats, sororities and bands on college and university campuses.

I focused on those organizations (as opposed to, for example, the military) and spoke with a number of members and leaders of all three of these institutions and/or persons closely associated with the three in order to present a fair and balanced view of hazing.

This was a small sampling, by no means a statistically significant number of interviewees, but of folks who belonged to fraternities, sororities and marching bands in California, down South, back East and in the Midwest; who ranged in age from 30s to 70s; and who attended and “crossed over” at HBCUs, non-NBCUs, state colleges and universities and private schools.

Secondly, given any definition of what one leader called “the sensitive subject of hazing,” there was understandably a lot of resistance and reluctance to talk to me on the record. Understandably so. If you consider any definition of hazing — which pretty well matches the definition of some of the people interviewed — there’s no escaping the fact that the potential for criminal prosecution for any number of crimes pops up: from a simple battery to assault and battery to assault with a deadly weapon — to even involuntary manslaughter.

So, for many and varied reasons, no one was willing to talk to me “on the record.” In fact, a few really uncomfortable people referred me to their organization’s headquarters and/or leaders for an oƥcial anti-

F E AT U R E

hazing policy statement, not wanting to admit to being hazed or hazing another or to misspeak.

Most interviewees in no way wished to be identified as to name or as to fraternity, sorority or band membership or as to school where they crossed over made or year they were made.

HAZING, HOLLYWOODǧSTYLE Spike Lee’s 1988 “School Daze” takes place at a mythical historically Black college — Mission College, founded in 1883. Its mission: Uplift the race.

In the opening scene, it’s the Friday of homecoming weekend. In the middle of a call to action by militant student leader Dap (“Larry” Fishburne, as he’s called in the credits) to divest in South Africa, we hear, then see, the eight Gammites, pledges of hypothetical fraternity Gamma Phi Gamma.

Dressed in matching hoodies, silver boots and sunglasses and chained together, they’re boasting rhythmically in unison, “G Phi G, that’s what we wanna be” and “It takes a real man to be a Gamma man ’cause only a Gamma man is a real man.”

The Gammites are being accompanied by five big brothers, led by Julian aka “Big Brother Almight-ty” (played by Giancarlo Esposito.) The pledges are barking and woofing like dogs and being yelled by their big brothers.

Harmless fun, right?

A couple of scenes later, we learn that first there were 10, now just eight pledges, that they’ve been on the line for six weeks and they still don’t meet the approval of their big brothers to “cross the burning sands to the oasis of Gamma Phi Gamma.” At one point, we notice that Julian is holding what appears to be some kind of bat — or paddle. It’s not used — at least not in this scene.

It’s not for another couple of scenes that another G Phi G big brother, who’s holding with a paddle marked “Gamma Phi Gamma,” asks the pledges to bend over and pull down their sweatpants, whereupon he pro-

L.A. Watts Times WEEKENDER

ceeds to whack each of the eight on the butt.

Just a little horseplay, right?

There’s another scene: After a step show that provokes an inter-fraternity/group brawl, G Phi G’s big brothers gather to plot their revenge. Says Julian: “There’s even talk of a ‘death march,’ the details of which “can be found in ‘the Gamma good book.” But Julian discourages the brothers’ desires to strike back And in discouraging a desire to strike back in connection with the brawl, noting, “Discretion is the key …

Look, all we need is to be put on probation again … ” Of course, this is a movie, a “Spike Lee Joint.” One interviewee suggested that the movie was full of exaggerations; another said it showed only a fraction of what really goes on.

The question is, Is it at all accurate?¬¬Now let’s switch scenes.

One night she finds her collegeaged daughter in the shower with a head full of mayonnaise.

She’s trying to wash all of it out before her mom sees her: too late. Though her mom asks her if she’s pledging a sorority, the daughter just calls it “fun times” with her “friends.”

“Just some crazy games,” her mom figures.

After another night with these friends, her daughter shows her a tooth that’s been knocked out of her mouth. Now the mom really begins to pay attention, questioning the daughter much more.

The mom, who’s not a Greek but whose two sisters are 50+ year sorority members, eventually chides her daughter into admitting that she is pledging. The mom’s advice: Get out.

Now it’s a Monday night and her daughter has gone out with her pledging group: four girls on her line and their big sisters. Around 1:30 or 2 in the morning, the doorbell rings. As she’s walking down the hallway, she yells to her daughter, at the door, she’s thinking, “Where are your keys?” Her daughter doesn’t respond.

She walks to the door and cracks it open: There

www.lawattstimes.com

LEFT: Marching Band members show their support for President James Ammons at a rally on Monday night, Dec. 5, 2011, in Tallahassee, Fla. Ammons said in statement that the university is committed to breaking a conspiracy of silence that has for decades shrouded hazing practices at the school that finally resulted in a band member’s death.

Student government leaders at FAMU asked students to join them in pledging to end hazing at the school.

AP Photo/Tallahassee Democrat, Glenn Beil

stands a Marine police oƥcer along with a crisis prevention person. When they identify themselves, she knows immediately that her “daughter was gone.”

That was nine years ago when the daughter and the daughter’s fellow pledge, blindfolded and tied together, at the direction of their big sisters, walked into the ocean at night and were pulled under by the waves.

Both drowned.

This is not a scene from a movie. It’s real life. The families of the two girls believe they died as the result of hazing.

The sorority denies that it was hazing, saying “they do not allow it.”

DEFINITIONALLY SPEAKING Hazing, according to Merriam-Webster online, is defined as: (1) harass[ing] by exacting unnecessary or disagreeable work; (2) harass[ing] by banter, ridicule or criticism; or (3) hazing by way of initiation — as in hazing the fraternity pledges.

One sorority member articulated a definition, shared by others, which was, “It’s a rite of passage for people trying to become a part of a group who believe that without the particular exercise and challenges [associated with “hazing],” you really haven’t paid your dues to show that you deserve to be a part of group.”

Whatever definition is used, most agree there’s an abuse aspect to hazing. So, though some of the interviewees, particularly those in fraternities and marching bands, had undoubtedly been hazed or they had hazed someone else (some recently, others back in the day), no one acknowledged it.

HAZING? OR SOMETHING ELSE? Nowadays all Black fraternities, sororities and marching bands have zero tolerance, anti-hazing policies that are distributed to and acknowledged by members and that can be viewed online or obtained from organizational headquarters. Despite those policies, however, hazing in Black organizations — most with their 100+-year traditions of the practice — has continued, most often shrouded in secrecy. And even

Thursday, December 8, 2011

though folks never sign a ‘we-will-never-admit-tohazing’ statement, the veil of secrecy surrounding the mere mention of hazing confirms there’s a tacit understanding around hazing.

Women from two diơerent sororities said, though they themselves had never been hazed, they’d both endured “silliness,” like “somebody making you stand in cold water and telling you that you were at the ocean and adding sounds to make you think you were … ” “All mind control!” one added. But, she recalled, “There was a really strong initiation for the FAMU marching band … and those accepted as neophytes had to go through a process much like the Greeks — and that consisted of being out in the rain, being blindfolded and going somewhere and having to find your way back, being told you were eating worms … and I’m sure there was some padding [in the fraternities] because that was the mark of a good initiation.”

Her husband, she said, had partial hearing loss as the result of hazing.

Back in the 1960s, it was just a matter of going through rituals designed to teach you about the sorority’s history, says another soror. “I personally didn’t know of any hazing,” she says.

Yet another soror, who entered through the graduate-level process, said, “Hazing? No way!” I believe most of this type of behavior occurs more on the undergraduate level. It is forbidden for most organizations. If it happens, it is usually an underground connection. Unfortunately, hazing is a universal thing … big/little, HBCU/non-HBCU, private, state, ivy-league schools. When will it stop? … Who knows?”

Interestingly, one frat brother, who reluctantly admitted to being hazed as well as meting out hazing in his undergraduate days, gave me a heads-up, saying “Look, if you ask any of my frat brothers whether they were hazed or they hazed others, they’ll say, ‘The fraternity does not sanction hazing,’ or something like that.” Sure enough, when I talked with one of the leaders in his organization, all he was able to say was, “The fraternity frowns on hazing … .

Very recently, a police department arrested some young men in an alleged fraternity hazing incident involving several men, one of which was admitted to the hospital having allegedly been beaten and shot at close range with a BB gun.

They were charged: assault with a deadly weapon, torture and conspiracy.

Hazing is no joke.

SEARCHING FOR SOLUTIONS As one person put it, “It’s hard to get rid of hazing: It’s a practice that, for Black fraternities and sororities, is steeped in a 100+-year tradition. So it’s a struggle:

Old-school, hard-line guys don’t think it needs to stop though they understand the detriment of it.

“But ‘Think about this,” he adds: “One of the challenges for people who support hazing, who say that they believe it’s necessary because it makes stronger members and who simultaneously say they truly love their frat, they are risking the very institution they say they love by condoning and supporting the behavior … ” About hazing, he revealed, “It’s kinda like, ‘What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.’”

But it may be time to change that: As President James H. Ammons says in a recent message to the FAMU family in connection with Champion’s death, “Hazing is a hidden culture …, a well-kept secret among the students.

That needs to change.”

Is a task force the way?

Currently there is a call out to the Black community to develop a national anti-hazing task force that would be made up of HBCU presidents, celebrities, educators and religious leaders.

Now that the death of Robert Champion has ratcheted up the subject of hazing in fraternities, sororities and marching bands, at colleges and universities and in the media, the time is right to address hazing and all its many complexities.

Note: The writer, though African American, is not Greek.

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Thursday, December 8, 2011

“Occupy the Hood ... Now!”

BY MARC H. MORIAL NNPA COLUMNIST “I just want to help somebody’s child go to college.”

— Oseola McCarty, recipient of 1995 Presidential Citizens Medal The Black “twittersphere” and “blogosphere” are abuzz with talk about ways to engage more African Americans in the “Occupy” movement. There are even social networks forming under the banner: “Occupy the Hood.” From Zuccotti Park in Manhattan to Westlake Park in Seattle, the participants in Occupy events tend to be overwhelmingly young, white, and middle class. This is the case even though the ills the Occupy Movement has identified — income inequality and the corrupt and predatory actions of big banks — are hitting communities of color the hardest.

In pondering the potential reasons for this disconnect, I thought that maybe the stress of unemployment and lack of opportunities are so draining in the “hood” that there simply isn’t enough time or energy to join a rally. Or maybe with more of a focus on racism’s role in structural inequality more people of color would join.

But then I thought about a woman named Oseola McCarty from Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

In 1995 at the age of 85, Ms. McCarty, an African-American woman, who earned a living washing and ironing other people’s laundry, donated her entire life savings, $150,000, to the University of Southern Mississippi to give Black children the chance she never had to attend the previously segregated university. Her actions inspired many and led President Clinton to award her the Presidential Citizens Medal. Osceola McCarty’s only wish was that she be allowed to attend the graduation of the first recipient of the McCarty Scholarship. She developed a friendship with that student, Stephanie Bullock, and died a few months after Stephanie’s graduation in 1999.

I tell that story because it reminds us of the legacy of community service and philanthropy that have always been at the heart of the Black community. There is no way we could have survived the hardships of slavery, Jim Crow, the Great Depression and the Great Recession without leaning on one another — whether that meant assisting travelers on the Underground Railroad or sharing

Marc H. Morial

food with an out-of-work neighbor.

Giving back has always been front and center in the AfricanAmerican experience.

The Black church has led the way. Community “giving circles,” where individuals collectively pool their resources and decide what projects to fund, are on the rise.

And for years, philanthropic organizations such as the National Urban League, National Black United Fund and the United Negro College Fund have been providing critical and in some cases, life-saving, assistance to millions of African Americans. A new generation of African American philanthropists is also making a difference – people like Oprah Winfrey, Bill Cosby and Alphonse Fletcher are empowering the most vulnerable to dream and create better tomorrows.

As we enter the holiday season, we should draw strength from that wellspring of compassion. And we should remember, while public protest has its place, African Americans who have walked through the doors of opportunity and achieved economic success, as well as all of us, have an absolute responsibility to make a difference and to give back.

You don’t have to be rich. You don't have to be a college graduate.

And giving back can be in the form of time and talent as well as money.

Occupy the Hood with whatever gifts you have.

As Oseola McCarty put it, “If you want to be proud of yourself, you have got to do things you can be proud of.”

Marc H. Morial is president and CEO of the National Urban League.

Cain’s Presidential Bid was Asinine-Nine-Nine

BY GEORGE E. CURRY THEDEFENDERSONLINE.COM NEWS ANALYSIS Herman Cain’s asinine campaign to become president of the United States is now toast. Not just toast – burnt toast. He officially flamed out Saturday on the heels – or, shall we say, high heels – of yet another woman accusing him of sexual misconduct.

The latest of five female accusers, Ginger White, claimed she and Cain had a 13-year affair and produced telephone bills and text messages proving that she and Cain had been in constant communication, sometimes at 4 a.m. Moreover, she said, Cain had lavished her with money and gifts and flew her to cities across the country where they rendezvoused at posh hotels.

“It wasn’t a love affair. It was a sexual affair, as hard as that is for me to say and as hard as it is for people to hear it,” White said in an interview with MSNBC. Cain fought back against Sharon Bialek, the first woman to go public with allegations of sexual harassment.

Cain supporters tried to contain the damage by asserting it was simply a case of “he said, she said.” But a second woman Karen Kraushaar, came forward and before it was over, the total was five women and counting.

“He said, she said,” quickly became he said, she said, she said, she said, she said and she said.

After the initial story was published by Politico, Cain vehemently denied the two allegations of sexual harassment; he also subsequently denied two more charges and the assertion of a long-term extramarital affair with an Atlanta woman. But much of the public remained skeptical, remembering New York Congressman Anthony Weiner’s week-long denial last summer and later confession that he had used his twitter account to send a nude photo to a woman who was not his wife.

Sex scandals are nothing new to politicians, including Weiner, President Bill Clinton, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey, United States Senators Gary Hart, Bob Packwood, David Vitter and John Edwards and Congressman Gary Condit.

A recent poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that 46 percent of those interviewed said they would be less likely to vote for a candidate who had an extramarital affair in the past compared to 49 percent who said it wouldn’t matter and 2 percent who said they would be more likely to vote for the flawed candidate. A majority of Republicans – 57 percent – said they would be less inclined to vote for an unfaithful candidate.

While slightly more than half of the public expressed forgiveness toward infidelity, the problem becomes magnified for conservative candidates campaigning on family

values and morality. And that goes double for someone such as Cain, an ordained minister.

Although it was White, the lone Black accuser, who sealed Cain’s political fate, Cain’s quixotic campaign had been fading for weeks, largely because his explanations became less believable by voters and his failure, in some cases, to directly deny the specific charges.

Politico broke the story on Oct. 30 that at least two females who were employed by the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s, a period when Cain was president, had filed sexual harassment claims against him.

In an appearance at the National Press Club on Halloween, Cain said he was “unaware of any settlement” with the women.

Later that day, however, he said he recalled one complaint in which a woman was given the equivalent of three months’ salary. The following day, he said on CNN that the payout had been “somewhere in the vicinity of three to six months.” The New York Times subsequently reported that the two women were awarded a year’s salary after filing complaints against Cain.

In a Republican presidential field known for flip-flopping, Cain proved he can switch positions with the best of them. On CNN, he said that in the case of rape, a woman should make the decision about whether to have an abortion. But in an interview on CBS, he took a contrary position, objecting to abortion in all cases, including rape, incest or when the life of the mother is threatened.

Cain ran an unorthodox campaign to win the Republican nomination for president. When his competitors were crisscrossing Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina – the first states to hold Republican primaries or caucuses – Cain was promoting his new book in Alabama, Tennessee, Illinois, Texas and Indiana. In the week leading up to his withdrawal, Cain campaigned in Ohio, which has next to the last primary in the nation.

In addition to having a third-rate political operation, Caine simply wasn’t ready for prime time. He was a male Sarah Palin. In debates, his 9-99 tax plan seemed to be his answer to every question. He blamed the media, Democrats and Republicans for his various missteps. He pointed fingers everywhere except where they belonged – at himself.

Even when his camp tried to blunt the sexual harassment charges by presenting his wife, Gloria, for a television interview, Cain overshadowed the story line by inviting himself to an editorial board meeting in Wisconsin – another state that does not vote early – and showing appalling ignorance about Libya, which was prominent in the news at the time.

At an editorial board meeting at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Cain was asked a simple question: Do you agree or disagree with President Obama on Libya?

George E. Curry

A videotape of the interview shows Cain, leaning back in his chair, staring at the ceiling and asking whether Obama had supported the removal of Moammar Gaddafi.

After saying he disagreed with Obama, he said, “Um, nope that’s a different one.” Looking at the ceiling again, he said, “I gotta go back, see, got all this stuff twirling around in my head.”

Evidently stuff was twirling around in Cain’s head during his visit to a Cuban restaurant in Miami.

When asked how he liked his snack, Cain asked, “How do you say ‘delicious’ in Cuban?” Of course, Cubans speak Spanish. There is no such language as Cuban.

Ironically, the candidate who sought to minimize the impact of racial discrimination in the U.S. said he was disliked by Democrats and the media because he was an “authentic” Black candidate. Cain said AfricanAmericans were brainwashed into voting for Democrats. He predicted that he would receive one-third of the Black vote, proving that if Cain isn’t brainwashed, he’s brain-dead.

What Cain failed to realize was that conservatives weren’t so much interested in supporting him as they were ABM – Anybody But Mitt.

First, there was flirting by Donald Trump and, to a less extent, Sarah Palin. After the rapid rise and fall of Michelle Bachman, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Cain, Newt Gingrich, who has so much baggage that even Southwest Airlines charges him a baggage fee, is the flavor of the month. And much of Gingrich’s rise has been at the expense of Cain, who will probably endorse him.

A month ago, a poll by the Des Moines Register showed Cain was favored by 23 percent of Republicans in Iowa. By the time the darling of the Tea Party exited the contest, his support had fallen to only 8 percent.

Similarly, support for the Tea Party has also taken a nose dive.

A Pew Research Center for the People and the Press poll taken last month shows that since the 2010 midterm elections, the Tea Party has not only lost support nationally, but in the 60 congressional districts See CURRY, page 14

Thursday, December 8, 2011

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Network aimed at Black audience debuts in Philly

BY JOANN LOVIGLIO | AP PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The nation’s first free broadcast network targeting African-American audiences arrived in the nation’s fourthlargest media market on Thursday.

Atlanta-based Bounce TV is an over-the-air free channel supported by sponsors and is geared toward Black viewers ages 25 to 54. Unlike cable channels, Bounce TV is one of a growing number of networks carried on the broadcast digital signals of local television stations.

Bounce TV executives — among them Martin Luther King III and former Atlanta mayor and U.N. ambassador Andrew Young — said the new network’s targeted demographic is vastly underserved and hungers for positive programming that speaks to them.

“I believe that a network, while its primary purpose is entertainment, can have a balance so that there is information or education, or ‘edutainment,’ that is created by certain content,” King said at a news conference Thursday to publicize Bounce TV’s launch on Lenfest Broadcasting’s WMCN-TV in Philadelphia, ranked by the Nielsen Co. as the No. 4 media market after New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

The popular cable network BET, or Black Entertainment Television, focuses on a 25-and-under demographic with a heavy rotation of hiphop videos that have alienated many older viewers. The cable networks TV One, owned primarily by Radio One and Comcast, and Centric, a two-year-old BET spin-off, also court the over-25 niche but Bounce TV officials said there is plenty of room for growth — especially in the non-cable realm.

According to Nielsen’s latest annual television audience report, African-American households with televisions watch an average of 46.5 hours of TV every week. By comparison, the weekly average is 34.1 hours for U.S. households overall and 29.3 hours for Hispanic households.

Since launching in a handful of markets Sept. 26 with an inaugural showing of the 1978 movie-musical “The Wiz,” the network has made deals with broadcast station groups that include Fox, Gannett, Raycom Media, Belo Corp. and Meredith Broadcasting.

Bounce TV is live or coming to more than two dozen cities including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, New Orleans and Washington D.C. Network executives said Bounce TV is in markets representing more than 70 percent of African American households. Network executives

said the name comes from an expression in the African American community to “bounce on over” somewhere, meaning to move forward with energy and enthusiasm.

Bounce has reached licensing agreements with NBC, Sony and others to offer hundreds of movies traditionally popular with Black audiences, from “Do the Right Thing” to “Ray” and “Mo’ Better Blues.” The round-the-clock programming also features children’s shows, gospel music, reruns of TV series such as “Soul Train” and “Backstage Pass,” plus live football and basketball games from historically Black colleges and universities.

Original programming and live concerts are on deck for early next year, and talks are under way to bring the network to Comcast Cable early next year, Bounce executives said.

“There is definitely room in the TV landscape for an African American-targeted, over-the-air digital network like Bounce,” said longtime TV-industry analyst and researcher Shari Anne Brill. “For those African American homes that don’t have access to cable TV, Bounce offers a programming alternative that doesn’t really exist anywhere else.”

“I believe the network will be here to stay especially because of the people associated with it,” she added.

Households not subscribing to paid cable or satellite television have a growing number of options.

Bounce TV is among more than 20 digital networks that can be accessed over the air, from the majors NBC, NBC, CBS, PBS and Fox to Telemundo, Univision, Ion and Create. A regional broadcast network for Black audiences, Song of the South, is slated to go live next year in several southern states.

“It’ll be interesting to see how this goes,” said media analyst Brad Adgate of Horizon Media. “They should go for slow and steady growth. They won’t become a hit overnight because it’s already too crowded and congested out there.”

Though there appears to be a dearth of Black-oriented networks, the entertainment landscape is much broader in an era of tablet computers, DVRs, on-demand, free online content on Hulu and YouTube, and streaming subscription sites like Netflix. That makes it tougher for any network to get established, he said.

Adgate said 12 percent of Black households in the U.S. do not receive TV programming from cable, satellite or broadband operators. The overall national average is 10 percent.

AP Photo/Matt Rourke

“Bouncing on over”: Bounce TV co-founder Martin Luther King, III, left, accepts a gift depicting City Hall from City Representative Melanie Johnson, during a news conference Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011, in Philadelphia. The country’s first broadcast network aimed at African-American audiences goes live Thursday in Philadelphia with free movies, sports and documentaries. Atlanta-based Bounce TV will be an over-the-air channel supported by sponsors, showing programs for Blacks ages 25 to 54.

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Thursday, December 8, 2011

Magic Johnson joins bid to buy Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers could be ready for a little Magic

AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez

Leniency sought: Prosecutors are expected to submit their sentencing recommendations in the Barry Bonds' case this week. His sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 16.

Barry Bonds’ attorneys seek probation, not prison

BY PAUL ELIAS | AP SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Barry Bonds’ lawyers asked a federal judge Tuesday to follow a federal probation officer’s recommendation and give Major League Baseball's career home run leader probation when he’s sentenced for obstruction of justice this month.

Bonds, 47, was convicted in April of obstructing a grand jury's sports doping investigation with an evasive answer. Prosecutors dropped three other perjury counts after the jury deadlocked on those charges, which accused Bonds of lying to the grand jury when he denied knowingly taking performance-enhancing drugs.

Federal sentencing guidelines for conviction on the charge recommend a prison sentence between 15 months and 21 months. But Bonds’ lawyers cited an investigative report prepared by a federal probation officer for the judge that also recommended a sentence of probation.

The lawyers said they disagreed, however, with the probation report’s recommendation that Bonds spend an unspecified time under “location monitoring,” a form of house arrest.

In their motion, Bonds’ lawyers said the probation department cited Bonds’ “significant history of charitable, civic and prior

good works” as a major reason for leniency. The probation officer also noted that Bonds’ conviction appears “to be an aberration when taken in context of his entire life,” according to the lawyers.

“The behavior for which Mr. Bonds is to be sentenced relates to his obstruction of justice conduct before the grand jury,” lawyers quoted the probation officer as reporting in the sentencing recommendation. “The sentence to be imposed should not be about steroid use and how this use impacts his stature.”

The lawyers said the probation officer recommended probation because other sports figures convicted of similar charges stemming from the same sports doping investigation also avoided prison.

Juries convicted cyclist Tammy Thomas of perjury for testifying she never used steroids and former track coach Trevor Graham for lying to investigators about his involvement with a steroids dealer.

Both were sentenced to periods of house arrest, which is considered a form of probation.

Former professional football player Dana Stubblefield pleaded guilty to lying to investigators and was sentenced to probation.

Prosecutors were expected to submit their sentencing recommendations in Bonds’ case this week. His sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 16.

AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes

Laker turned Dodger owner?: The news that Magic Johnson is interested in buying the Dodgers was greeted with enthusiasm from fans across Los Angeles.

ASSOCIATED PRESS Magic Johnson has joined a group bidding to buy the beleaguered Dodgers, hoping to restore the luster of a once-glamorous franchise that has been sullied during owner Frank McCourt’s messy tenure.

Johnson, the longtime Los Angeles Lakers superstar and former part-owner of the NBA club, is partnering with former Atlanta Braves executive Stan Kasten and wealthy investor Mark Walter in the upcoming auction for the Dodgers, who filed for bankruptcy protection in June. McCourt finally agreed last month to auction the team at an undetermined future date.

“I’m excited to have the opportunity to be part of the Dodgers legacy & bring a World Series championship back to LA,” Johnson tweeted Friday.

Johnson has joined a heavyweight group in what’s expected to be a tough competition for the Dodgers: Kasten is the former president of the Braves and Washington Nationals, while Walter is the CEO of a global financial services firm managing more than $125 billion in assets.

Their organization will be called Guggenheim Baseball Management, and Walter’s vast financial resources could put the group up front in the bidding.

The Los Angeles Times first reported Johnson’s interest in the Dodgers. The news was greeted with enthusiasm across Los Angeles from fans who count Magic among the most popular athletes in Southern California sports history.

The three-time NBA Most

Valuable Player has become a successful businessman since his second retirement in 1996, with investments in several sectors of commercial real estate. But Johnson’s passion still is sports, and he has spent several years looking for an ownership role in a pro franchise, most recently expressing his interest in returning the NFL to Los Angeles.

Johnson amicably left his ownership position with the Lakers in October 2010, selling his 4.5 percent

equity stake to Dr. Patrick SoonShiong in what’s widely thought to be a wildly lucrative transaction for the former Lakers point guard.

The Lakers would love to see Johnson with a large ownership role in the Dodgers. Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak regularly speaks with Johnson, who has said he'll never leave his influential role behind the scenes with the Lakers and the Buss family.

“I know he’s sitting on a pile of cash, which is maybe why I take his calls as often as I do,” Kupchak said Friday. “He’s been incredibly supportive as an owner. Never once did he say, ‘Mitch, this is what you should do.’ He would be a great owner (of the Dodgers).”

Johnson played baseball growing up in Michigan, where he rooted for the Detroit Tigers.

The full list of bidders for the Dodgers is still unclear, but it will be studded with accomplished businessmen and famous athletes who realize a cash machine is sitting up in Chavez Ravine for the proper ownership.

Former Dodgers owner Peter O’Malley is in the mix, and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has said he’s investigating the prospect.

Former Dodgers Steve Garvey and Orel Hershiser have been vocal about pursuing the club, while former Dodgers general manager Fred Claire, Los Angeles developer Rick Caruso, supermarket mogul Ron Burkle and former Buffalo Sabres owner Tom Golisano have been linked to the bidding.

The price likely will break the record for a baseball franchise, topping the $845 million paid by the Ricketts family for the Chicago Cubs in 2009.

CURRY Continued from page 12 represented by members of the House Tea Party Caucus.

More Americans (27 percent) say they disagree with the Tea Party movement than agree (20 percent). A year ago, amid large GOP gains, 27 percent agreed and 22 percent disagreed. According to Pew, support for the Tea Party ran high in Tea Party districts throughout 2010. Now, however, 25 percent of the voters in those districts agree with the Tea Party and 23 percent disagree.

The Republican Party has also taken a beating in those districts, according to the poll. As recently as March, voters in Tea Party districts favored Republicans over Democrats by a margin of 55 percent to 40 percent. Today, Democrats have almost pulled even in those districts, with the GOP enjoying a slight 41 percent to 39 percent edge over Democrats.

Cain may have gotten out of the race at just the right time.

It was hard to take Cain seriously.

His ever-present fedora hat made Herman Cain, the presidential candidate, look like Big Daddy Kane, the rapper. And some say his political journey was all about promoting the Herman Cain brand, which was nonexistent before he entered the presidential race last May. He sold many books while pretending to be a serious presidential candidate. Getting out now, before he embarrassed himself in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina allows him to exit the stage without facing certain defeat at the polls. Closing one door at this time opens up other doors for yet more books, high-paying speeches and perhaps a network show on Fox. That’s not as asinine as you may think. Eliot Spitzer had a short-lived program on CNN and far more women have implicated Cain than the former New York governor. If that happens, it might not be the last time we hear Cain’s trademark, “Awwww, Shucky Ducky Now!”

Thursday, December 8, 2011

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Shorter NBA schedule has Ex-NBA star gets 42 back-to-back-to-backs probation in Vegas casino case

BY KEN RITTER | AP

AP Photo/Los Angeles Times, Irfan Khan

Back in the game: Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant.

BY BRIAN MAHONEY | AP NEW YORK (AP) — The Los Angeles Lakers will play games on the first three nights of the NBA season, the first of 42 back-to-backto-back sets teams will face during this lockout-shortened season.

The NBA announced the compacted, 66-game schedule on Tuesday night, one that will require every team to play on three consecutive nights at least once. And it will force every team to navigate demanding stretches that are never seen during a full season, such as the nine games in 12 nights the Atlanta Hawks face starting with their Dec. 27 opener.

The league’s 66th season begins with five games on Christmas, including the Lakers hosting the Chicago Bulls. Los Angeles then visits Sacramento the next night before returning home to host Utah on Dec. 27.

Teams will play 48 conference games and 18 against the opposing conference, meaning they play only three nonconference opponents home and away. The league did preserve its most storied rivalry, with the Lakers traveling to Boston for a Feb. 9 matchup before the Celtics open a stretch of eight road games in 13 nights in March with games on back-to-back nights at Staples Center.

Dallas and Miami also will play twice, following their Christmas NBA finals rematch with a March 12 game in Miami. The Heat and

Lakers also play two games.

The 50-game 1999 season featured 64 sets of back-to-back-tobacks and was plagued by sloppy basketball being played on fatigued legs. The NBA faces a similar predicament now after failing to reach a new labor deal in time to save the Nov. 1 start to the season.

Instead, a tentative agreement was reached on Nov. 26. Lawyers for the owners and players are still finalizing the rest of the deal, with both sides expected to vote on it Thursday before training camps and free agency open on Friday.

Aging teams such as the Celtics, Lakers and NBA champion Mavericks will have to pace themselves, while younger teams such as Oklahoma City figure to be better prepared for the grind.

“You’re not going to have those breaks of three or four days that you sometimes got in the old 82-game schedule, when it was the normal regular schedule,” former NBA coach and current analyst Mike Fratello said during the schedule announcement on NBA TV. “Now with everything being compacted, games come that much more quickly, you’ve got to gear up back up again, you move onto the next one immediately.”

The Denver Nuggets, hit hard by free agency with three of their players in China, face another difficult obstacle in the schedule: They play five games in six nights spanning the new year, including a

home-and-home set with the Lakers on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. The Nuggets do not host Carmelo Anthony, whom they traded to the Knicks last February.

Deron Williams, sent from Utah to New Jersey days later, is scheduled to return to Salt Lake City on Jan. 14.

Other quirks of the schedule include: — Toronto plays a franchiserecord 19 games in 31 days in January, including five games in six days from Jan. 9-14.

— Cleveland has its longest home stand ever, nine games from Feb. 8-28 — including a visit from LeBron James and the Heat on Feb. 17.

— Philadelphia plays its first five games on the road, its longest season-opening trip ever.

Miami will appear on ABC or ESPN 16 times, the most allowable, followed by 15 appearances apiece for the Lakers and Bulls. The Lakers and Celtics each appear a league-high 10 times on TNT. The Nets’ final game in New Jersey after 35 years before heading to Brooklyn will be April 23 against Philadelphia. The Kings could play their finale in Sacramento on April 26 against the Lakers without a plan for a new arena.

The regular season is scheduled to conclude April 26 and the playoffs will open two nights later. The last possible date of the NBA finals is June 26.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Former NBA star Antoine Walker was sentenced Tuesday to five years of probation and ordered to pay $770,050 in restitution to three Las Vegas casinos after pleading guilty to failing to repay gambling debts.

Walker and his lawyer declined to comment after his brief appearance before Clark County District Court Judge Valorie Vega.

Walker has repaid some of his Las Vegas casino debts since his arrest in July 2009 in Lake Tahoe, where he planned to play in a celebrity golf tournament.

The felony charge could be dismissed if Walker fully repays the remaining debts incurred in 2008 and 2009 at the Planet Hollywood, Red Rock Casino Resort and Caesars Palace casinos, prosecutor Samuel Bateman said. Walker faces a year in prison if he violates probation.

Walker, 35, starred on Kentucky’s 1996 NCAA national title team and was a three-time AllStar with the Boston Celtics before winning a 2006 NBA championship with the Miami Heat. He also played in the NBA for the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2008.

Walker filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation in 2010. He played last year with the Idaho Stampede of the NBA Development League.

Black Facts.com December 14, 1939 Ernie Davis is born. Davis becomes a star running back at Syracuse University. He is the first Black player to win the Heisman Trophy in 1961. He is drafted by the Washington Redskins and traded to Cleveland but dies the following year of leukemia before playing a pro game.

December 14, 1980 Elston Howard dies. He becomes the first Black player to play for the Yankees in Major League Baseball. He’s also an outstanding catcher for the Yankees during the 1950s and 1960s and a nine-time All-Star.

AP Photo/Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation Dept.

Former NBA basketball player Antoine Walker was sentenced Tuesday to five years' probation and ordered to pay $770,050 in restitution to three Las Vegas casinos after pleading guilty to failing to repay gambling debts.

16

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Jay-Z Restraining order granted against Terrence Howard provides the

BY ANTHONY MCCARTNEY | AP LOS ANGELES (AP) — Terrence Howard was ordered Tuesday to stay 100 yards (90 meters) away from his estranged wife after she claimed the Oscar-nominated actor repeatedly threatened and hit her during their marriage.

The star denies the allegations.

Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon granted the stay-away order sought by Michelle Howard after she filed a lengthy declaration alleging that the abuse began within a week of the couple's January 2010 marriage.

Michelle Howard filed for divorce a year later.

The restraining order remains in effect until a Jan. 17 court hearing.

In a text message last week, she claimed Howard, 42, repeatedly hit her and threatened her. She stated in a sworn declaration that she was in constant fear of Howard and that she has chronic health issues caused by the actor's treatment.

AP Photo/Dan Steinberg Howard in his own sworn declara- Trying times: A Los Angeles judge tion wrote that he has never threatened on Tuesday granted Terrence his wife and that she has repeatedly Howard's estranged wife Michelle vowed to ruin his reputation and release a temporary restraining order private details. after she alleged the Oscar-nomi“I live in constant fear of Michelle’s nated actor had repeatedly threatendeavors to ruin my reputation; even ened her. providing this declaration may well lead to my being subjected to a paparazzi blitz, which would not be good for my career,” Howard wrote.

Michelle Howard wrote that Howard has hit her several times and threatened to throw her from a hotel balcony in South Africa last year. She included a text message she said he sent to her on Thursday in which he begged her not to pursue the divorce and threaten his career, ending the missive, “I can’t promise how I will respond.”

Howard wrote in his filing that he immediately followed up the message with another text stating that he wasn't threatening her.

“Despite my efforts to remove myself physically from (Howard’s) life, his periodic mood swings from anger, threats and violence to statements of love and requests for reconciliation continue and have not subsided,” she wrote.

Howard appeared in the first “Iron Man” film and received an Oscar nomination in 2005 for his role in “Hustle and Flow.”

His attorney Christian Markey III did not immediately return an email message seeking comment.

France honors Lenny Kravitz with highest award

BY RACHID AOULI | AP PARIS (AP) — France has paid tribute to Grammy winner Lenny Kravitz with its highest award, the Legion of Honor.

Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand hailed the 47-yearold singer-songwriter at a Paris ceremony on Wednesday, telling him “you freed yourself of the barriers between black and white sound.”

Kravitz told The Associated Press that he got his first big break at a 1989 music festival in the western French city of Rennes, which transformed his career “overnight.” He said “I know it sounds like a fairy tale but it’s true.”

Kravitz was born to a Black mother and White father, and his latest album, “Black and White America,” tackles interracial issues — notably what his parents experienced in 1960s New York.

AP Photo / Christophe Ena

U.S. singer Lenny Kravitz delivers a speech after being awarded “Officier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” (Officer of Arts and Literature) by French Culture minister Frederic Mitterrand in Paris.

blueprint for college course

BY ERIC TUCKER | AP WASHINGTON (AP) — Jay-Z’s riffs on luxury cars and tailored clothes and boasts of being the “Mike Jordan of recording” may make for catchy rhymes, but to Professor Michael Eric Dyson, they also reflect incisive social commentary.

Dyson, a professor, author, radio host and television personality, has offered at Georgetown University this semester a popular — if unusual — class dedicated to Jay-Z and his career.

The course, “Sociology of Hip Hop: Jay-Z,” may seem an unlikely offering at a Jesuit, majority-White school that counts former President Bill Clinton among its alumni. But Dyson insists that his class confronts topics present in any sociology course: racial and gender identity, sexuality, capitalism and economic inequality.

“It just happens to have an interesting object of engagement in Jay-Z — and what better way to meet people where they are?” Dyson said. “It’s like Jesus talking to the woman at the well.

You ask for a drink of water, then you get into some theological discussions.”

Classes centered on pop culture superstars like Bruce Springsteen have sprouted on college campuses in recent years; Dyson himself says he’s previously taught classes on Tupac Shakur and Marvin Gaye at the University of Pennsylvania. He says Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, is a worthy subject because of his diversity of business interests — a clothing entrepreneur, he’s also a part owner of the NBA’s New Jersey Nets (soon to move to his native New York borough of Brooklyn) — as well as his immense cross-cultural appeal and “lyrical prowess” in articulating contemporary black culture and his place in it.

“I think he’s an icon of American excellence,” Dyson said.

Though hardly as rigorous as organic chemistry, Dyson parses Jay-Z's lyrics as if analyzing fine literature — and the course does have midterm, final examinations and required readings, including from Jay-Z's book, “Decoded.” The 75minute classes — the final one is Wednesday — focus more on AfricanAmerican culture and business than on the particulars of the rapper’s biography, which include millions in record sales, Grammy Awards, a marriage to Beyonce with a baby on the way and tours with Kanye West and Eminem.

One recent lecture centered on how popular Black artists reflect their culture and race to the public at large, with Dyson name-dropping LL Cool J, Diahann Carroll and Bill Cosby. The professor and one student went back and forth on whether the rapper's lyrical depictions of his extravagant lifestyle — “Used to rock a throwback, balling on the corner/Now I rock a Teller suit, looking like an owner” is one of many examples — amounted to

In a Georgetown University sociology class, Professor Michael Eric Dyson parses rapper Jay-Z’s lyrics as if analyzing fine literature.

AP Photo/Evan Vucci

bragging and rubbing his taste for fine living in the faces of his listeners.

The student took the position that Jay-Z appears overly boastful, but Dyson countered that the rapper, who grew up in a Brooklyn housing project but has since become a multimillionaire, has never lost his ability to relate to the struggles of everyday people and has continued giving voice to their concerns.

Though Jay-Z raps about SaintTropez and expensive cigars, he also talks about being nurtured by Brooklyn.

And in one song, “99 Problems,” he attacks racial profiling with a stark depiction of a racially motivated traffic stop: “Son, do you know why I’m stopping you for?” the officer asks. Jay-Z replies: “Cause I’m young and I’m black and my hat’s real low.”

The chairman of Georgetown’s sociology department, Timothy Wickham-Crowley, says he supports Dyson’s course for trying to show how Jay-Z’s music fits into American society, and Steve Stoute, an author and marketing executive who has done business with Jay-Z and has spoken to the class, said the course has practical value for students interested in business.

But others have concerns.

Kevin Powell, who writes about hiphop and has run unsuccessfully for Congress in Brooklyn, said any discussion of Jay-Z should account for what Powell says are the rapper’s derogatory lyrics toward women and his expressions of excessive materialism. Kris Marsh, an assistant sociology professor at the University of Maryland who specializes in the black middle class, said that while she appreciated Jay-Z’s cultural significance, she was wary of structuring an entire course around him and using his narrative alone to reflect Black America.

Though hip-hop artists can focus a lens

on urban life, she said, “sometimes these artists use poetic license” and blend fact and fiction to an audience that is often suburban and White.

“We’re not sure if it’s fiction or real life. It can be almost indistinguishable sometimes in hip-hop,” she said.

In an opinion piece published in the student newspaper, The Hoya, junior Stephen Wu dismissed as “poppycock” Dyson’s belief that Jay-Z could be compared to Homer or Shakespeare.

“It speaks volumes that we engage in the beat of Carter’s pseudo-music while we scrounge to find serious academic offerings on Beethoven and Liszt. We dissect the lyrics of ‘Big Pimpin’,’ but we don’t read Spenser or Sophocles closely,” Wu wrote.

Danielle Bailey, a senior international business and marketing major who is taking the class, said she was a Jay-Z fan before enrolling but now has greater appreciation for his business acumen.

“I know a lot of people are upset, but I think the point of college is to think outside the box. I rarely have classes that allow me to look at things differently,” she said, adding, “It’s not always about Mozart and Homer.”

Dyson makes no apologies, saying the course is a conduit for studying the “major themes of American life” and that hip-hop artists at their best deserve to be classified alongside literary luminaries.

Jay-Z was on tour and not available for an interview, his representative said. But Dyson, who considers himself a friend of the rapper, says Jay-Z has told him he appreciates the course.

And Bailey said she heard Jay-Z give a “shout-out” to the class at a recent concert of his she attended.

“You’re doing the class there,” Dyson says Jay-Z told him. “I’m doing kind of the master class while I’m in concert.”

AP Photo/Evan Vucci

At the core of Professor Michael Eric Dyson’s sociology course at Georgetown University is this textbook, which focuses on rapper Jay-Z.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

17

Easy does it: Mosley brings back detective hero

BY CHRIS TALBOTT | AP NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — When author Walter Mosley announced the beloved Easy Rawlins detective series was likely at an end, he got an immediate and powerful reaction.

“Oh, people were upset,” Mosley said with a smile, “just so upset. Really terribly upset — which is funny. I kept telling them, ‘There are 11 books. If you’ll go reread them. What’s wrong with you? I don’t belong to Easy.’ I’ve written a lot of really good books. Now we’ll see if I can write any more good books. I mean there’s a chance I won't, but I’m going to try.”

Mosley recently announced he'll write two more Easy novels, a resurrection worthy of one of his favorite comic books. The first for Doubleday is due in 2013 and picks up where the once terminal “Blonde Faith” left off. Of course, that’s not all for the obsessively prolific author. His latest book, the paperback version of “The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey,” just came out and his new Leonid McGill mystery “All I Did Was Shoot My Man” hits shelves in January.

He’s working on another new novel outside the mystery genre and he’s extremely excited about a series of science fiction novellas out next year from Tor — “THE science fiction publisher” — that will appear as flipbooks.

Even with all this going on, Easy is always first on everybody’s mind. On a recent visit to Nashville, Mosley took time to talk with The Associated Press about the return of Rawlins, his constant fight against pigeonholing and his love of comics: AP: Last we heard, you were predicting the end for Easy. What changed?

Mosley: I thought it could have been.

I mean it didn’t have to be, but it might’ve been. I just didn't know. Then I decided not that long ago, “Yeah, I’ll write a couple of more and see what it's like.”

AP: Does a popular character like Easy weigh on a writer?

Mosley: No, not at all. I think it

would if I didn’t have any success with other books or if I felt that Easy was keeping me from writing other books.

Now, it is true that publishers try to stop me from writing anything but mysteries, but whenever they do, I go to another publisher. And they know I'm going to do that, so they have to make some kind of room for me.

AP: Really?

Mosley: We live in capitalism and capitalism is defined by the production line and the production line is defined by specificity. ... If you see yourself as an artist, which I do, then you can’t be limited by that. You can’t let somebody tell you, “Well, you can only draw this kind of picture or write that kind of book.”

AP: What do you get from these books that you don’t get from mysteries?

Mosley: Different kinds of books do different kinds of things. So, for instance, my most recent non-mystery is “The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey.” I was writing a book about a man facing and dealing with dementia. Now, if I had tried to fit that in a mystery, it would've had to be a side story. It couldn't have been the main story. There's some mystery in that story, but not much. And so that book, I needed to write something else. “Fortunate Son,” “The Man in My Basement,” all of these books deal with issues that mysteries don’t comfortably deal with.

AP: Science fiction is another genre you write in that gets overshadowed by your mysteries.

Mosley: I’ve always loved science fiction. I think the smartest writers are science fiction writers dealing with major things. People talk about Toni Morrison, who is a great writer, but she’s not a better writer than Samuel Delaney. Because it’s science fiction, no one takes him seriously and that’s too bad because he’s a great writer and a really smart writer. It takes me a long time to read one of his books. It’s like,

BY CURT ANDERSON | AP

“Uh oh, I better spend the next year reading this one because I don’t even know what’s happening.”

AP: One of your loves growing up was comic books. How have they affected your work?

Mosley: My hero in comic books is (artist) Jack Kirby: Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Captain America, Marvel Comics.

He was really the basis for Marvel Comics. ... There was a certain kind of physicality, imagery, motion, movement, things happening — things existing in space that I’m drawn to, no pun intended, in fiction. What people look like and what they act like and what they’re feeling. I’m very interested in action. The action doesn’t have to be violent action — in sex, in walking, or even how the mind acts. ...

There from the beginning with the Fantastic Four, then the Hulk and SubMariner, you have characters who have complex story lines. They’re good and they’re bad. They’re good if you look at them from this direction and they’re bad if you look at them from this direction.

They’re threatening. Spider-Man was like the Black hero. All the power in the world, but he couldn’t make any money. He lived in a single-parent home. The newspapers were against him and the police were after him and the public was afraid of him, but he was a hero. That’s a Black male hero as far as I’m concerned.

MIAMI (AP) — A feud has erupted within the first family of reggae. The widow and nine children of Bob Marley are suing his halfbrother in Florida to stop use of the Marley name to promote an annual Miami music festival and other businesses.

The lawsuit contends businessman Richard Booker and several affiliated companies are violat- Rasta family drama: There’s a little infighting going ing copyright and on in Bob Marley’s family. trademark laws by using Marley’s name and other intellectual property.

That includes the annual Nine Mile Music Festival in Miami and a tour business at the Nine Mile area of Jamaica, where Marley grew up and is buried.

Marley died in 1981 at age 36.

The federal lawsuit filed in Fort Lauderdale seeks unspecified damages and to stop unauthorized use of Marley’s name.

Booker did not immediately return a call Friday seeking comment.

!

AT $39 G N I RT TS STA code E K C I T use

EAT B O R AF

Book by

Music and Lyrics by

Directed and Choreographed by

JIM LEWIS AND BILL T. JONES

FELA ANIKULAPO-KUTI

BILL T. JONES

Dec 13, 2011 – Jan 22, 2012 Ahmanson Theatre 213.972.4400

CenterTheatreGroup.org/Fela season sponsors

photos by monique carboni

AP Photo/Peter Kramer, File

At last: Author Walter Mosley has announced he’ll write two more Easy Rawlins detective series novels, a resurrection worthy of one of his favorite comic books. The first for Doubleday is due in 2013 and picks up where the once terminal “Blonde Faith” left off. His new Leonid McGill novel “The Thrill is Gone” hits shelves in January.

Bob Marley heirs sue halfbrother in U.S. over name

18

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Obama gets laughs at Kennedy Center Honors WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama, in lauding the actors, musicians and others receiving Kennedy Center Honors Sunday night, also was looking for advice.

“Everybody likes him,” Obama said of Yo-Yo Ma, one of the several artists honored. “You’ve got to give me some tips.”

Obama noted that the cellist has appeared on Sesame Street and said, “I thought about asking him to go talk to Congress.”

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was home for less than 36 hours between diplomatic travels but found time to honor the artists.

On Saturday night, between her historic visit to Myanmar and a trip to Germany to discuss Afghanistan’s future, Clinton hosted a dinner for some big names from Broadway, jazz, pop, classical music and Hollywood. Ma, Barbara Cook, Neil Diamond, Sonny Rollins and Meryl Streep also were saluted by Obama and their fellow artists with tribute performances at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

After visiting the isolated Southeast Asian country also known

as Burma, Clinton said such U.S. artists have worldwide influence by using their freedom of creativity and expression.

“You may not know it, but somewhere in a little tiny room in Burma or even in North Korea, someone is desperately trying to hear you or to see you, to experience you,” Clinton told the crowd. “And if they are lucky enough to make that connection, it can literally change lives and countries.”

Entertainers who have gathered for the event include Stephen Colbert, Kevin Kline, Tracey Ullman, Anne Hathaway and others. A surprise lineup of stars will perform as part of the nation's highest honor for those who have defined American culture through the arts.

CBS will broadcast the show on Dec. 27.

Obama said each was receiving an award, not for a single performance but a lifetime of greatness. “Just to be clear, this doesn’t mean that they’re over the hill.”

Drawing one of the loudest laughs of the evening, Obama made passing reference to Diamond’s 70sera wardrobe, saying, “Now, his

shirts aren’t as flashy as they used to be. I notice you’re buttoned up all the way to the top.”

Diamond said it’s a “great coincidence” that his work is being honored in a show hosted by Caroline Kennedy. The song “Sweet Caroline” is a story about him and his former wife, but the name is Kennedy’s, he said on the red carpet.

“I’m going to have to thank her for that,” he said.

Obama said all the honorees felt the need to express themselves and share it.

“That’s why we dance, even if, as Michelle says, I look silly doing it,” he added to laughter.

In a toast to Streep on Saturday night at the State Department, writer Nora Ephron warned Clinton that the person who would someday play her on screen is the same woman who played Julia Child in “Julie and Julia” and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the upcoming “The Iron Lady.” Streep stood up for a better look at the nation’s top diplomat.

“It’s inevitable,” Ephron told Clinton, drawing big laughs. “You met her tonight, and I’m sure you thought she was charming, but she was just soaking you up.”

Streep, 62, has made more than 45 movies and won two Oscars in a career spanning Shakespeare to ABBA with the movie “Mamma Mia!” For her part, Streep said she is in awe of the accolades.

“Look where we are, look who’s here,” Streep told The Associated Press. “It’s overwhelming. I feel very proud.”

While in Washington, she has also met with women in Congress to push for a National Women’s History Museum because, “as you’ll notice, we don’t have one,” Streep said.

Emily Blunt, a co-star from “The Devil Wears Prada,” said Streep is unique for her devotion to her characters, taking on parts of their personas.

“It’s funny. I feel like when we were doing ‘The Devil Wears Prada,’ she definitely adopted a certain cool on set, sort of remained very much in this reserved territory,” Blunt said.

“And then when my husband John (Krasinski) worked with her, she was playing a very vivacious, gregarious character, so she was just a ball of fun.”

Lionel Richie told the AP that he got into the music business because he wanted to be Diamond.

“He’s a great storyteller,” Richie said, as with the hit single “America.”

“He’s not an acrobatic singer.

Basically, he told the story in a very simple voice.”

Ma, one of the best-known classical musicians, has played the cello since he was 4. Now at 56, he is hailed as a musical ambassador whose work has spanned styles around the world from Bluegrass to sounds from the Silk Road. His star power has drawn fans including Colbert, conductor John Williams and even Elmo from “Sesame Street.”

“Thank God for Yo-Yo,” said Sharon Robinson, a cello player who long played in a quartet with Ma, her husband Jaime Laredo and the late violinist Isaac Stern. “He has spread the love, proselytizing for all kinds of

AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

President Barack Obama makes remarks at a reception for the recipients of the 2011 Kennedy Center Honors in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Sunday. music, particularly classical music.”

Cook, 84, made her Broadway debut in 1951 and later had her breakthrough in Leonard Bernstein’s musical version of Voltaire’s “Candide.”

She topped that performance as Marian the Librarian in 1957’s hit musical “The Music Man,” for which she won a Tony Award.

Glenn Close called Cook an icon for anyone who has worked on Broadway, adding that Cook went on to a successful solo career and is still performing.

“I think we have the biggest respect for her because she really has survived, survived and prevailed,” Close said.

Rollins, 81, is a jazz saxophonist

has shared the stage with Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie, among others.

He is one of the last surviving giants from the golden era of jazz.

“America is the home of jazz. It’s what we started,” he said. “By the way, hip hop music is a part of jazz, believe it or not.”

Fellow sax player President Bill Clinton said he has been a fan since the age of 15 or 16 when he bought his first Rollins LP and played it until it was worn out.

“His music can bend your mind, it can break your heart and it can make you laugh out loud,” Clinton said. “He has done things with improvisation that really no one has ever done.”

AP Photo/Kevin Wolf

Kennedy Center honoree Sonny Rollins, left, arrives at the State Department for a dinner and reception for the Kennedy Center honorees on Saturday in Washington.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

19

November 29, 2011 The Los Angeles Urban League N@W Milken Family Literacy and Youth Training Center will respond to the Request for Proposal offered by the City of Los Angeles Community Development Department and Workforce Investment Board. The Workforce Investment Act Youth WorkSource (formerly OneSource) Center will be responsible for developing a single system of support that provides a comprehensive array of youth services. The Youth WorkSource Center is primarily (70%) designed to serve youth ages 1721 with a focus on dropouts and engaging out-of-school youth with school or work, improving student retention and bolstering academic proficiency. In-school youth are those who may be in danger of dropping out of school or not completing high school, functioning below grade level, and/or have not passed the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE ), and have excessive absenteeism. The System will proactively assist in preparing youth to decide what next steps they need to take after high school. An emphasis will be placed on guiding youth through an assessment and self-inventory process that helps them identify their interests, preferences, motivations and options.

The Los Angeles Urban League N@W Milken Family Literacy and Youth Training Center is seeking subcontractors for components that may include case management, assessment, supportive services, youth development, education, employment skills training, career guidance and job placement. All services will be provided in the South Planning Area of Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles Urban League N@W Milken Family Literacy and Youth Training Center will maintain full responsibility of all ordinances set forth in the contract.

Subcontractors who are awarded subcontracts will be invited to attend an informational meeting to obtain information needed to be in full compliance of bond issues, lines of credit and/or insurance requirements. Interested subcontractors should contact Joyce Ashley, Director of the Los Angeles Urban League N@W Milken Family Literacy and Youth Training Center at 5414 S. Crenshaw Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90043, Phone Number (323) 292-8111. Minority Business Enterprise (MBE), Women Business Enterprise (WBE), Small Business Enterprise (SBE), Emerging Business Enterprises (EBE), Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise (DVBE), and all other Business Enterprise (OBE) are encourage to respond. The proposal deadline is December 22, 2011.

GOVERNMENT

TUTOR-SALIBA CORPORATION IN RESPONSE TO CALTRANS’ (OWNER) UDBE PROGRAM REQUEST SUB-BIDS FROM QUALIFIED UDBE’S FOR:

LOS ANGELES COUNTY METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY (METRO)

CALTRANS LOS ANGELES COUNTY ROUTE 710 ROADWAY PAVEMENT AND WIDENING, CONTRACT NO. 07-202114

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

BIDS DUE JANUARY 12, 2012 AT 2:00 PM

Metro will receive proposals for PS12714025 Cartographic Servicesper specifications on file at the LACMTA Office of Procurement & Material Mgmt, One Gateway Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90012 (9th Floor).

(818) 362-0443 [BID DAY ONLY] · (818) 362-8391 [ALL OTHER DAYS] · (818) 364-8128 [FAX]

All proposals must be received on or before 2: 00PM January 11, 2012 Pacific Timeat the address listed above, sent to the attention of Linda Wasley.

Proposals received later than the above date and time will be rejected and returned to the proposer unopened.

You may obtain a copy of the RFP, or further information, by faxing Linda Wasleyat (213) 922-1005 or on-line at www.metro.net.

12/8/11 CNS-2221580# WATTS TIMES LOS ANGELES COUNTY METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY (METRO) REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS Metro will receive proposals for RFP No. PS12714026 Marketing Field Repsper specifications on file at the LACMTA Office of Procurement & Material Mgmt, One Gateway Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90012 (9th Floor).

All proposals must be received on or before 2: 00PM January 10, 2012 Pacific Timeat the address listed above, sent to the attention of Linda Wasley.

Proposals received later than the above date and time will be rejected and returned to the proposer unopened.

You may obtain a copy of the RFP, or further information, by faxing Linda Wasleyat (213) 922-1005 or on-line at www.metro.net.

12/8/11 CNS-2219646# WATTS TIMES

CAIN SUSPENDS Continued from page 6 Some disappointed Cain supporters were clearly in search of a candidate on Saturday following his withdrawal.

“I don’t know where I will go now,” Janet Edwards, 52, said following Cain’s announcement. “I guess I have to start looking at the rest of them.”

Cain told supporters he planned to continue his efforts to influence Washington and announced “Plan B” — what he called a grassroots effort to return government to the people.

“I am not going to be silenced, and I am not going away. And therefore, as of today, Plan B,” he said.

Plan B includes formation of TheCainSolutions.com, which he described as a grassroots effort to bring government back to the people. It would also continue to push his signature 9-9-9 plan.

Cain’s announcement was a remarkable turnabout for a man that just weeks ago vaulted out of nowhere to the top of the GOP field, propelled by a populist, outsider appeal and his tax overhaul plan.

Saturday’s event was a bizarre piece of political theater even for a campaign that has seemed to thrive on defying convention.

Cain marked the end of his bid at what was supposed to be the grand opening of his new campaign headquarters in Atlanta. Minutes before he took the stage to pull the plug, aides and supporters took to the podium to urge attendees to vote for Cain and travel to early voting states to rev up support for his bid.

“Join the Cain train,” David McCleary, Cain’s Georgia director, urged the audience.

Volunteers had been up through the night preparing the former flooring warehouse to open as the new hub of Cain’s early-state outreach.

He marveled at rising from a

childhood in Atlanta marked by segregated water fountains and poverty to what he called “the final four” of the presidential contest.

The former Godfather’s Pizza chief executive, who has never held elective office, rose just weeks ago to lead the Republican race. But he fumbled policy questions, leaving some to wonder whether he was ready for the presidency. Then it was revealed at the end of October that the National Restaurant Association had paid settlements to two women who claimed Cain sexually harassed them while he was president of the organization.

A third woman told The Associated Press that Cain made inappropriate sexual advances but that she didn’t file a complaint. A fourth woman also stepped forward to accuse Cain of groping her in a car in 1997.

Cain has denied wrongdoing in all cases and continued to do so Saturday.

Polls suggest his popularity had suffered. A Des Moines Register poll released Friday showed Cain’s support plunging, with backing from 8 percent of Republican caucus goers in Iowa, compared with 23 percent a month ago.

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NAACP Continued from page 7 the Polls’ where they urged their members, after fulfilling their spiritual duties on Sundays to discharge their civic ones by voting,” Haygood said.

Florida’s Black and Latino populations grew during the past decade, inching it closer to being a majority-minority state.

Jealous said the NAACP also will send its report to other federal agencies, secretaries of state and attorneys general in the 50 states, congressional committees and the United Nations. The NAACP holds special status with the U.N. that allows it to make presentations to a committee overseeing race and discrimination.

Asked about the report, the Justice Department cited a copy of a speech Perez gave last Thursday. In the written speech Perez said several of the states’ laws are being reviewed for compliance with protections for minority voting rights under the Voting Rights Act. Perez said those states bear the burden of showing the new laws are not inten-

tionally discriminatory and will not have a retrogressive effect.

Supporters of the new laws, including at least one group funded by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, have said the new laws are designed to prevent voter fraud. Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, said voter ID laws have wide support, including in the Black community.

“It”s hard for me to believe a serious group like the NAACP would come out to say there’s some grand conspiracy to deny people the right to vote,” von Spakovsky said.

The NAACP has planned a protest march and rally that will start at the Koch brothers’ offices in New York on Saturday.

Besides Florida, other states that have new voting laws include Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

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