NYC GOVERNOR IS CLIENT #9 IN NEW YORK SEX RING

The sex scandal du jour involves New York Governor Eliott Spitzer, the former Attorney General.

Eliot Spitzer took office as New York's governor on the first day of 2007, with a record margin of victory and a profound sense of promise. Over the previous eight years as attorney general, Mr. Spitzer, a Democrat, gained national recognition as the 'Sheriff of Wall Street' for his pursuit of corporate corruption and his self-styled role as the defender of the American investor. During his campaign, his signature promise was to change state politics "on Day One" of his new administration, with ethics reform high in his sights.

The governor learned that he had been implicated in the prostitution probe when a federal official contacted his staff last Friday, according to the person briefed on the case.
The governor informed his top aides Sunday night and this morning of his involvement. He canceled his public events today and scheduled an announcement for this afternoon after inquiries from the Times.

The governor's aides appeared shaken, and one of them began to weep as they waited for him to make his statement at his Manhattan office. Mr. Spitzer was seen leaving his Fifth Avenue apartment just before 3 p.m. with his wife of 21 years, Silda, heading to the news conference.
The man described as Client 9 in court papers arranged to meet with a prostitute who was part of the ring, Emperors Club VIP, on the night of Feb. 13. Mr. Spitzer traveled to Washington that evening, according to a person told of his travel arrangements.

The affidavit says that Client 9 met with the woman in hotel room 871 but does not identify the hotel. Mr. Spitzer stayed at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington on Feb. 13, according to a source who was told of his travel arrangements. Room 871 at the Mayflower Hotel that evening was registered under the another name.

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New Whitney Houston On Target For Holiday Release

Whitney Houston's first album of original material since 2002 will be out this year, according to BMG Label Group chairman/CEO Clive Davis.Speaking during Billboard's Music & Money Symposium this morning (March 6) at New York's St. Regis Hotel, Davis said four songs have been completed for the as-yet-untitled project, and four more will be put to tape later this month."We're on track for a holiday release," he said. "We're not going to compromise who she is to fit into today's hip-hop radio market. The public wants Whitney material."

Tracks earmarked for the album have been produced or written by will.i.am, Sean Garrett and Akon, who told Billboard.com last year, "The voice is there; I don't think anyone could ever take that from her. As long as we apply that voice to hit records, she'll be right back where she left off."

Houston has been dogged in recent years by drug and health issues -- including rehab stints in 2004 and 2005 -- a legal dispute with her father, John Houston, rumored financial problems and a troubled marriage to fellow singer Bobby Brown that ended in divorce.
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Flash Back - Minnie Ripperton And Steve Wonder Tribute

Aside from her various hits, Minnie Riperton is perhaps best remembered today for her ability to sing in the whistle register, in which she had rare facility (imitated today by Mariah Carey, Christine Aguilera and others).

Riperton possessed a five-octave vocal range talent (the liner notes to her Petals legacy album ascribe to her a five and a half octave range). What set Riperton apart from most other whistle register singers was her ability to enunciate in the high registers. This feature is most notably heard in the song "Here We Go," where she sings "here we go" in the high register.

In 1976, Riperton revealed to Flip Wilson, who was guest-hosting for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show, that she had undergone a mastectomy due to breast cancer. At the time of her diagnosis, Minnie found out that her cancer had already spread to the lymphatic system. Despite such a grim prognosis, Minnie continued touring in 1977 and 1978, and became the National spokesperson for the American Cancer Society 78-79 campaign.

Eventually the cancer would take its toll, and by June 1979, Minnie was confined to bed. She entered Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California for the last time on July 10. On Thursday July 12, 1979, Minnie Riperton died peacefully in her husband's arms. According to Jet magazine's August 3, 1979 issue, Minnie and her husband were listening to a recording of a song Stevie Wonder had written for her when she died. Her family inscribed her headstone with a lyric of her most famous song, "Lovin' you is easy cause you're beautiful."

Minnie Ripperton Video - Lovin You

Stevie Wonder's Tribute To Minnie Ripperton After Her Passing On Soul Train.

Flash Back - Ready For The World - OH SHEILA

Ready For The World

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Dangerous Cracks Appearing in Job Market

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Dangerous cracks are appearing in the nation's job market. Employers slashed jobs by the largest amount in five years - and hundreds of thousands of people dropped out of the labor force - an ominous sign that the country is falling toward a recession or has already toppled into one.

For the second straight month, nervous employers got rid of jobs nationwide. In February, they sliced payrolls by 63,000, even deeper than the 22,000 positions cut in January, the Labor Department reported Friday. The grim snapshot of the country's employment climate underscored the heavy toll the housing and credit debacles are taking on companies, jobseekers and the economy as a whole.

"It sounds like the recession bell is ringing for the U.S. economy, although it is still faint," said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group.

The worsening situation will prompt the Federal Reserve to cut a key interest rate deeply - perhaps by as much as three-quarters of a percentage point - at its next meeting March 18, or possibly sooner, to help brace the teetering economy, analysts predicted.

The shower of pink slips was widespread. Factories, construction companies, mortgage brokers, real-estate firms, retailers, temporary-help firms, child day-care providers, hotels, educational services, accounting firms and computer designers were among those shedding jobs. All those cuts swamped job gains at hospitals and other health care sites, bars and restaurants, legal services and the government.

Complete Story At Source Here>>>

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You Are A Monster Hillary....Oops

Samantha Power, a senior foreign policy adviser to Sen. Barack Obama, resigned Friday morning after calling Sen. Hillary Clinton a "monster" in an interview with a European newspaper.

"With deep regret, I am resigning from my role as an adviser the Obama campaign effective today," said Power in a statement issued by the Obama campaign. "Last Monday, I made inexcusable remarks that are at marked variance from my oft-stated admiration for Senator Clinton and from the spirit, tenor and purpose of the Obama campaign.

And I extend my deepest apologies to Senator Clinton, Senator Obama and the remarkable team I have worked with over these long 14 months."

Power's statement came scarcely an hour after congressional supporters of Clinton demanded that Obama fire Power for the remarks.
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TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY

I remember when my son was about 13 and "acting up," I would say to him that if he didn't get his act together, I was gon' whoop dat ass! He would say, "I can't wait 'til I get in my twenties and then you will be in your forties and you will be too old to catch me." My son is now 25 years old and I am now in my mid forties and today just like back then...I will still whoop dat ass!

Thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes yesterday and today and I will be celebrating my birthday next Saturday at Shashamane Bar and grill in Oakland on Saturday, March 15, and my boy Dj Chris "The Maestro" Johnson of L.A.'s Catch One Disco will be on the digital wheels of steel. See you there.

Classic Beauty

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Bill Cosby On Oprah Discussing Controversial Comments

Bill Cosby appeared on Oprah today in an effort to further clarify past statements that he made about the plight of lower income African Americans. Over the last few years, Bill Cosby has traveled the country to spread the word about the violence and lack of education faced by minority youth in the United States. Mr. Cosby came under fire by many in the African American community for being insensitive to the institutional racism that pre-disposed black youth to negative behaviors and for airing the black community's dirty laundry.
According to Bill, the desperate situation of many minorities has resulted in some of these shocking statistics:

*At least a third of all homeless men are African-American.

*African Americans make up 12 percent of the general population, but they account for almost half of the prison population.

*According to the U.S. Justice Department, 28 percent of black men born today will go to prison in their lifetimes.

*Black youth are six times more likely to die of homicide than white youth and seven times more likely to commit a homicide.

*Homicide is the leading cause of death among African-American males ages 15 to 29.

Frustrated by these numbers, Bill gave an unexpected, uncensored speech in 2004: "In the neighborhood that most of us grew up in, parenting is not going on," he said. "They're buying things for the kid—$500 sneakers. For what? They won't buy or spend $250 on Hooked on Phonics."It's not what they're doing to us. It's what we're not doing. … Brown vs. the Board of Education—these people who marched and were hit in the face with rocks and punched in the face to get an education, and we've got these knuckleheads walking around who don't want to learn English. I know you all know it, but I just want to get you as angry as you ought to be," he said. The Clip below is from meet the press.

Watch The Republican Puppetry Machine In Action

Rolling Stone Endorses Obama And Time Magazine Calls Hillary A Fighter

Barack Obama has the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, but Hillary Clinton gets Time.
Both Democratic contenders get rather flattering billing. Rolling Stone declares Obama "A New Hope" and Time calls Clinton "The Fighter."

Which pretty much sums up their core messages at this stage of the nomination fight, which shows no sign of ending soon after Clinton's comeback on Tuesday.
And the demographics of each magazine's readers probably fits each candidate as well -- younger and more upscale for Rolling Stone, more middle-America for Time.

In Rolling Stone's endorsement of Obama, editor and publisher Jann S. Wenner calls him a politician with rare gifts who "can unite a deeply divided nation" and appeals to the "better angels" in Americans.

In one of the articles in Time, Joe Klein reports that one reason for Clinton's resurgence is that "tiny fissures were starting to appear in Obama's shining armor."

Patrick Swayze has pancreatic cancer

LOS ANGELES - Patrick Swayze’s doctor is “optimistic” about his prognosis for battling pancreatic cancer, and the “Dirty Dancing” actor’s upcoming cable pilot is still in contention to become a series.

With the writer’s strike over, the A&E pilot “The Beast,” starring Swayze as an unorthodox FBI agent, is being considered to be turned into a series by the cable network. If that happens, the “Dirty Dancing” and “Ghost” star hopes to continue to be part of the show, his representative Annett Wolf told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Swayze has been undergoing treatment for the disease, Wolf confirmed in a statement. The National Cancer Institute estimates there will be 37,680 new cases of pancreatic cancer in 2008 with 34,290 deaths in the U.S.; only five percent of patients live more than five years after being diagnosed.
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Kimora Lee Simmons And Boyfriend Djimon Hounsou Out On The Town

The stars came out last night for the Los Angeles premiere of the action flick “Never Back Down.” The movie depicts the world of street Mixed Martial Arts and stars two-time Academy Award-nominated actor Djimon Hounsou. The actor came out with his rumored fiancé Kimora Lee Simmons. The couple talked to Hollyscoop about their relationship and children.

Warren Buffett And Bill Gates Top Rich White People List

Now that we know that white men still have the most wealth in the world (again) and that Warren Buffet knocked Bill Gates off his proverbial tuffet.

Although I was not too surprised to learn that no "Black/African" person made the Forbes richest people in the world list, I must say that it was quite sobering to review the pictorial of the Forbes top 400 richest people in America.

Not one black male made the list of the 390 people displayed on Forbes website, and Oprah was the only black woman coming in at #165.

This is the real story of the election and America and shows that white people including white women in America (like Hillary Clinton) are a very powerful force against a relatively speaking, poor black man. Shit, white women helped make Oprah a billionaire! Barack Obama should be very proud of his success given the odds against him winning the democratic nomination.

Below, see the ethnic makeup of the Forbes 390 (since the pictures stopped there):

Breakdown of the Top 400 Richest People In America:

White men - All the rest

White Women - 15

Black Women - 1
Asian - 7 (all men)
India - 3 (all men)

Israeli - 3 (all men)
Latin - 2 (all men)

Middle Eastern - 1 (male)

Joe

The B.Scott Touch My Body Dance Battle Is On

Well, the hillarious and uber popular B.Scott of LOVE B SCOTT has launched a Youtube dance battle featuring Mariah Carey's new song "Touch My Body". If you want to enter the B. Scott Touch My Body dance off click here. Below see a clip submitted by one of the competitors. I give him a 10!

Janet's New Video - Rock With U

Janet’s latest album, Discipline, has reached number one in the United States. The CD, which has sold 181,000 units in its first week is Janet’s first number one album since All For You.

MARIAH CARY'S NEW VIDEO - TOUCH MY BODY

Joan Walsh Takes On Clinton, Obama, Political Media Mess

Joan Walsh (Salon.com)

The talking heads on MSNBC and CNN had a mind-meld Tuesday night: Hillary Clinton threw "the kitchen sink" at Barack Obama, and her negativity paid off big time. She won Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island, by large margins in two of three states, while losing Vermont. That sets up what they all pretend is a nightmare, but it's really a hot media fantasy: Mutant Superdelegates Pick Nominee! Cable television ratings aside, let's all hope it doesn't go there.

First of all, let's take the stories apart. After 11 losses in a row, Clinton won three impressive victories in big, diverse states. The "kitchen sink strategy" analysis is silly. The Nevada and South Carolina races were arguably nastier. Yet over and over Tuesday night, the talking heads lumped together a supposedly toxic trifecta of NAFTA, Rezko and "the 3 a.m. ad" as having carried the day for a newly nasty Clinton. But in fact, only the 3 a.m. ad -- you saw it, the White House Terror Phone ringing when your adorable kids are asleep -- was Clinton's debatable creation. The NAFTA gaffe was entirely the Obama camp's doing, when they failed to figure out what economics guru Austin Goolsbee told the Canadians, and when.

And Clinton didn't decree that the trial of Tony Rezko would begin March 3. On the other hand, Obama is still ahead in delegates, he's still the likely nominee, and while he's had a bad week, he's run a great campaign until now. The notion that he has to panic or suddenly change course seems silly. More here>>>>

New Gnarls Barkley video too crazy for MTV

NEW YORK (Billboard) - The video for Gnarls Barkley's new single, "Run," may feature a cameo from Justin Timberlake, but it's still not quite ready to air on MTV.
That's because of its strobe effects, which caused the clip to fail the Harding Test -- guidelines established to prevent TV images from triggering epileptic seizures.

However, the video is available on various online outlets, and Gnarls Barkley member Danger Mouse was hopeful the situation could be resolved shortly.
"I don't know exactly what's going on, but we're having issues. I think (the video) is cool. It works for me. But I'm not necessarily that easily seasick," he told Billboard.com. "We can't predict how people are going to interpret it."

"Run" centers around the fictional public access TV show "City Vibin'" and is set in the early '90s. Timberlake appears as the host of the program, on which Danger Mouse and fellow Gnarls Barkley principal Cee-Lo then perform the track.

With its new album, "The Odd Couple," nearing its April 8 release date, Gnarls Barkley are about to shoot a video for the second single, "Who's Gonna Save My Soul."
The group is also rehearsing for summer tour dates, which include a July 27 show at Los Angeles' Hollywood Bowl and both U.S. and European festivals.

"We didn't plan last time to do a whole bunch, and we don't plan to do a whole bunch this time, but you just never know how it's going to feel until you go out there," Danger Mouse said.

Source Reuters/Billboard>>>>

Janet Hits The Talk Show Circuit Promoting Her New Album

Janet appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live & Tyra this week. In the interview with Jimmy Kimmel, she alludes to the recent publicity surrounding the host’s sketch about Ben Affleck. Tyra discusses Janet's butt and smells her armpits. Watch the clips below.