21st July, 2009
Video: Obama Gives Tough Speech at NAACP Anniversary Celebration
Stirring. Honest.Controversial.Bold. But what do you think of the speech? Do you agree with President Obama's view on responsibility? Do you think his words were too harsh?
President Barack Obama had a tough-love message for fellow African-Americans on Thursday, urging black parents to push their children to think beyond dreams of being sports stars or rap music performers.
Obama's election as the first African-American president buoyed the black community. At the 100th anniversary celebration of the NAACP, the country's oldest civil rights group, he urged blacks to take greater responsibility for themselves and move away from reliance on government programs.
"We need a new mindset, a new set of attitudes -- because one of the most durable and destructive legacies of discrimination is the way that we have internalized a sense of limitation; how so many in our community have come to expect so little of ourselves," he said.Obama told a packed ballroom at a Manhattan hotel that blacks need to recapture the spirit of the civil rights movement of a half century ago to tackle problems that have struck African-Americans disproportionately - joblessness, spiraling healthcare costs and HIV-AIDS.
"What is required to overcome today's barriers is the same as was needed then...the same commitment. The same sense of urgency. The same sense of sacrifice," he said.Obama said parents need to force their children to set aside the video games and get to bed at a reasonable hour, and push them to set their sights beyond such iconic figures as NBA star LeBron James and rap performer Lil Wayne.
евтини мебелиmach zehnder modulator"Education is the path to a better future", said Obama. "Our kids can't all aspire to be the next LeBron or Lil Wayne. I want them aspiring to be scientists and engineers, doctors and teachers, not just ballers and rappers. I want them aspiring to be a Supreme Court justice. I want them aspiring to be president of the United States," he said. (From Yahoo News/MSNBC)Tags: barack, love, music, obama, parents, rap, sports, style
Posted at 12:43 pm | Comment (0)
29th December, 2008
Jealous killer William Balfour
Jennifer Hudson's brother-in-law allegedly killed the actress' mother, brother and nephew in a jealous rage.
William Balfour - who was officially charged with murdering Darnell Donerson Hudson, Jason Hudson and seven-year-old Julian King on Tuesday (02.12.08) - is said to have been overcome with envy after seeing Julia, Jennifer's sister, receive a birthday present from her new boyfriend.
Prosecutor LuAnn Snow told a Chicago court yesterday (03.12.08) that William had arrived unannounced to Julia's workplace in early October to confront her about rumours she was seeing another man.
Speaking after the hearing, Snow added: "He told her at the time that her family would suffer if she saw other men."
However, Julia did not take Balfour's intimidation seriously as he "had not followed through on any of those threats" before.
Snow also claimed Balfour had stolen the gun from Jason Hudson in the summer, and then used it to shoot him.
Reading from a legal document, Snow told the court: "Defendant then entered the home at gunpoint. He shot Darnell Donerson several times while she was in the living room area. He then went into Jason Hudson's bedroom, where he was in bed, and shot him two times in the head.
Defendant shot Julian King in the head while the seven-year-old was laying behind the front seat of the white SUV (sports utility vehicle)."Balfour's attorney Joshua Kutnick maintains his client is innocent of the three charges of first-degree murder and one of home invasion, despite police insisting they have physical evidence linking him to the crime.Balfour, who was denied bail yesterday, is next scheduled to appear in court on December 30.
Source
Posted at 10:55 pm | Comment (0)
3rd December, 2008
Season Over for Plaxico Burress
I have no words for this moron ::SMH::
Plaxico Burress reported to Giants Stadium to learn his season is over. The New York Giants placed Burress on the reserve/non-football injury list Tuesday, officially ending his season. The anticipated move came one day after Burress was charged with two counts of criminal possession of a weapon after suffering a self-inflicted gunshot wound at a Manhattan nightclub the previous weekend.
The Giants fined Burress and suspended him for four games for conduct detrimental to the team for multiple and repeated violations of club rules. Should the defending Super Bowl champions make the playoffs, which is a mere formality given their 11-1 record, Burress will not be allowed to return to the Giants’ active list.
“As we have said since Saturday morning, our concern is for Plaxico’s health and well-being,” Giants president John Mara said. “This is an important time for him to take care of his body and heal up and also deal with the very serious legal consequences and other issues in his life.“When I spoke with Plaxico, he expressed great remorse for letting down his teammates.”
It marked the second suspension this season for Burress, who likely has played his final game in a Giants uniform.
One of the heroes of New York’s surprising victory in Super Bowl XLII, Burress posted $100,000 bail Monday after being charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon - a Glock semiautomatic pistol - and third-degree possession for carrying the ammunition clip.
Both are Class C felonies, for which Burress could be sentenced to a mandatory minimum of 3 1/2 years in jail if convicted.
Per league rules, Burress was required to report to work Tuesday to receive mandatory treatment on both the gunshot wound and the strained right hamstring that initially sidelined him for this past Sunday’s game against the Washington Redskins.
The veteran wide receiver, who caught the winning pass in Super Bowl XLII, met with Mara, general manager Jerry Reese and head coach Tom Coughlin to learn of his plumpe. For more on the dubious incident that is sidelining Plaxico, read here. (From Yahoo Sports)
Tags: football, guns, injury, jail, sports, style
Posted at 4:36 pm | Comment (0)
18th November, 2008
Hijacked Ship Holds $100 Million in Oil
What does a modern day pirate look like anyway? In my mind, pirates are the characters of fables.. you know patch over the eye....like Captain Hook. How ignorant is that? lol
The owner of a Saudi oil supertanker hijacked by Somali pirates over the weekend said the company is working to win the release of the crew and vessel, which is carrying about $100 million in cargo.
Dubai-based Vela International Marine Ltd., a subsidiary of Saudi oil company Aramco, said in a statement Monday that company response teams have been created. The MV Sirius Star is the largest ship ever taken by Somali pirates, according to the U.S. Navy.The statement gave no further details. Employees who answered the phone said no one was immediately available to comment and that Vela executives were meeting to discuss the situation. They declined to give their names.
The Navy said the brand-new MV Sirius Star, with a crew of 25, was seized far off the coast of Kenya on Saturday and the bandits were taking the ship to a Somali port known as a hub of pirate activity. It announced the hijacking on Monday when it first received the information.
The statement posted on Vela's Web site late Monday said the ship was hijacked Sunday. The discrepancy could not immediately be explained.
Attacks by Somali pirates have surged this year as bandits have become bolder, better armed and capable of operating hundreds of miles from shore. A coalition of warships from eight nations and from NATO and the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet is patrolling a critical zone in the Gulf of Aden leading to and from the Suez Canal. The gulf is where most of the more than 80 attacks this year have taken place.
The Saudi tanker, however, was seized far to the south of the patrolled zone, about 450 nautical miles southeast of Mombasa, Kenya, according to the U.S. Navy. Maritime security experts said they have tracked a southward spread in piracy over the last several weeks into a vast area of the Indian Ocean, noting with alarm that the area would be almost impossible to patrol.
The U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet said Tuesday it was monitoring the situation but did not expect to send warships to surround the vessel as it has done with a Ukrainian ship loaded with tanks and other weaponry the was seized off the Somali coast on Sept. 25 and remains in pirate hands.
"I don't anticipate any U.S. ships on station," said Lt. Nathan Christensen, a spokesman for the 5th Fleet, speaking from its headquarters in Bahrain.
He would not elaborate on how the Navy was watching the hijacked tanker.
"We remain deeply concerned because this attack represents a fundamental change in pirates' ability to hijack bigger vessels farther out at sea," he said.
The Sirius Star is the "largest pirated vessel in the region" to date, Christensen said.
At 1,080 feet, the Sirius Star is the length of an aircraft carrier and can carry about 2 million barrels of oil.
"We are very concerned that a (ship) of this size has been hijacked. We have safety concerns, security concerns, environmental concerns," said Noel Choong, the head of the International Maritime Bureau's regional piracy center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
"Of course, as long as there is no firm deterrent, pirates will continue to attack. The risk is low and returns are extremely high. You will see more and more of such attacks," he told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Somali fishermen and witnesses on shore said the pirates apparently anchored the ship last night in Harardhere, a pirate stronghold some 265 miles by land from Eyl. The Saudi tanker was just a few miles from shore Tuesday morning, said Abdinur Haji, a fisherman.
"As usual, I woke up at 3 a.m. and headed for the sea to fish, but I saw a very, very large ship anchored less than three miles off the shore," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
He said two small boats floated out to the ship and 18 men — presumably other pirates — climbed aboard with ropes woven into a ladder.
"I have been fishing here for three decades, but I have never seen a ship as big as this one," he said. "There are dozens of spectators on shore trying to catch a glimpse of the large ship, which they can see with their naked eyes."
Vela, the ship's owner and operator, says it is one of the largest crude oil tanker companies in the world. Including the Sirius Star, Vela owns and operates a fleet of 19 vessels classed as Very Large Crude Oil Carriers and five product tankers of various sizes. It transports supplies primarily between the Middle East, Europe and the U.S. Gulf Coast, according to the company's Web site.
The Sirius Star was sailing under a Liberian flag and its crew includes citizens of Croatia, Britain, the Philippines, Poland and Saudi Arabia. A British Foreign Office spokesman said there were at least two British nationals on board. (From AP/AOL News)
Posted at 1:21 pm | Comment (0)
1st October, 2008
President Bush calls on Howie Mandel to help broker bailout deal
In an extraordinary meeting in the West Wing of the The White House, President Bush met with key lawmakers including John McCain and Barack Obama as well as the host of NBC's "Deal or No Deal," Howie Mandel.
"The nation is facing a serious economic crisis and we need quick action from Congress on this $700 Billion financial bailout," said President Bush. "All of these people in this room take this situation very seriously. Howie Mandel is very familiar with money and making deals, and of course, no deals."
Washington insiders are surprised that Mandel was called to the meeting, but his Hollywood star status may be a key in trying to convince skeptical lawmakers to pass the Bush Administration's bailout plan. Although, there are some complaints from Washington officials that briefcase girl number 18 was allowed into the meeting.
Mandel interrupted the President twice during the meeting as he received two calls from the Banker from "Deal or No Deal" and kept offering various amounts of money to the lawmakers in the room if they took the proposed deal.
Tags: barack, hollywood, love, obama, photos, sports, stylePosted at 10:20 am | Comment (0)
8th September, 2008
Simpson tries on leather gloves at robbery trial in Vegas
In a stunning move at his roberry-kindap trial, OJ Simpson stood up from the defense table and struggled to put on a pair of black leather gloves. Jurors are not even seated yet as jury selection just got underway today.
"They don't fit. I cannot put them on. I am struggling. There is no way that these are my gloves, " said Simpson to an empty juror box.
Simpson and co-defendant Clarence "C.J." Stewart are accused of robbing two sports collectibles dealers at a Las Vegas hotel last year. The judge had court officers escort Simpson back to his table and his gloves were promptly removed. Simpson then asked the judge for a mistrial. The judge asked Simpson on what grounds he was making his request. Simpson responded, "I would just really like one."
Tags: hollywood, love, photos, sports, stylePosted at 3:44 pm | Comment (0)