-
Cali Can't Balance Its Checkbook…or Yours
California and in particular, Los Angeles, is famous for harboring residents who will try to stunt on you in a brand new Audi but can barely afford to cover the cost of an entrée off the value menu at Carl’s Jr. Unfortunately, the botched budgeting that is spending more than what you bring in has…
-
Funerals, Memorial Services, Doing The Right Thing
Unless you’re one of the 17,000 or so who got a confirmation number in your e-mail box, you won’t be going to Michael Jackson’s funeral today, but that doesn’t mean we outside the Staples Center can’t use this whole sad past week as an object lesson in the business of remembering the dearly departed. For…
-
Washington's $1.4M Revolving Door
The lede to this WASHINGTON POST story on health care says all we need to know about the purported debate over creating a public plan to compete with private health insurance companies: The nation’s largest insurers, hospitals and medical groups have hired more than 350 former government staff members and retired members of Congress in…
-
Law School Can't Save You
Those of you seeking to enter law school under the impression that the confines of a classroom beat competing in a dismal job market may want to revisit that idea. The University of Miami Law School has offered 1L law students the opportunity to defer their admission for a year. The feelings of the law…
-
Michael Jackson Overload Blues
Last night I was hanging out at a friend’s July 5 BBQ in Brooklyn. In between eating roasted corn and sipping on some Blanc someone suggested Michael Jackson didn’t really die. This someone introduced the possibility that MJ set up his own death to remove himself from the horrors of mankind forever. Of course, no…
-
Mr. Obama Goes to Moscow
Today, President Barack Obama arrives in Moscow to meet with his Russian counterpart, Dmitri Medvedev, for a three-day summit. It will be their first face-to-face exchange since meeting in London in early April, when Obama was in Europe for the G-20 and NATO summits. After a frosty U.S.-Russian relationship during most of President George W.…
-
Air McNair's Fatal Crash
It’s not unusual for former pro-football players to die at an early age. The violence of the game, the ravages of maintaining an NFL-ready physique take a toll on routine longevity, but none of that could have prepared anyone for the shock of Steve McNair’s death on July 4. McNair, only 36, and Sahel Kazemi,…
-
TV's Golden Age of Rage
This is the modern face of cable television news: angry, emotional, mouth agape in the midst of some hateful monologue. Oh, and in case you hadn’t noticed, the worst purveyors of cable news rage are all white men over 40. The era of the angry white man is officially here. There’s Bill O’Reilly, commanding “bad…
-
Save Pat Buchanan!
The thing is, Pat Buchanan shouldn’t be fired. His rants, while offensive, aren’t persuasive to anyone who doesn’t already agree with him. But they discredit the notion that the Republican Party has entirely moved on from its regressive views on race. For the most part, people have been inclined to shrug off Buchanan’s unapologetic racism,…
-
Video: Michael Jackson Minus Mystique
For a few brief moments, Michael Jackson is a man without mystique. He is a man with a common name who is being questioned on his behavior and activities with children. His face, so often the subject of much conversation and ridicule, is captivating for another reason: it seems filled with a humanity, good or…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
