Quickie: Are Current Gas Prices Really That Outrageous? You Betcha!

This week gas. Next week, maybe my family can afford groceries! SMH!!!

300,000 Dead Haitians Later, Billions Have Been Pledged But Little Spent In Haiti Recovery Effort

Young Haitian Girls, Trying To Maintain Normalcy
(photo by Leslie Alessandro)

Three months after donors at a U.S.-sponsored conference pledged more than $5.3 billion to rebuild Haiti, just a small fraction of the money has been disbursed and a special reconstruction commission has barely started to function, according to U.N. and aid officials.

U.S. lawmakers and international aid officials have expressed mounting concern about the slow recovery in the hemisphere's poorest country, where about 230,000 people died (Associated Press puts the number at around 300,000) and about 2 million were displaced in January's earthquake.

Despite ambitious plans to "build back better," as U.N. and American officials have promised, the reconstruction has been hobbled by a lack of coordination and cash and a virtually incapacitated Haitian government, officials and experts say.

The United States has not yet disbursed a penny of the roughly $900 million it pledged for reconstruction this year, according to the U.N. Web site www.haitispecialenvoy.org. Although the U.S. government has spent hundreds of millions on short-term emergency aid, the rest of the funds are in a supplemental budget bill that has been held up in Congress by an unrelated dispute over state aid.

"There are worrisome signs that the rebuilding process in Haiti has stalled," said a recent report issued by Sen. John F. Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Indeed, about 180 million square feet of rubble is still piled where it sat after the Jan. 12 quake, according to U.N. estimates; only 5,000 of the 125,000 temporary shelters promised by the international community have been built.

To be sure, there have been some successes: the provision of thousands of tents, as well as clean water, food and medical care for more than 1 million people. There have been no widespread outbreaks of disease.

U.S. officials point out that even a successful reconstruction after a disaster can take years. They noted that it took about eight months to set up an international reconstruction commission in the Indonesian region of Aceh after the 2004 tsunami. But Indonesia's government had far more money and expertise, and its capital wasn't destroyed, experts say.

"The Haitian government is not really capable of providing the kind of leadership that is required here, unlike the Indonesian government," said Robert Perito, a Haiti specialist at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Already weak before the quake, the Haitian government lost 30 percent of its public employees in the disaster, as well as many of its buildings and sources of tax revenue, officials say.

The March 31 donors' conference at the United Nations was supposed to launch Haiti on the path to recovery. Its president, Rene Preval, unveiled an ambitious plan to rebuild infrastructure and decentralize jobs and homes away from the overcrowded capital.

A centerpiece of the plan was to be the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission, which would coordinate donor aid with the Haitian government's plans and monitor for fraud. U.S. officials saw the commission, which was to be co-chaired by former President Bill Clinton and Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive and staffed with technical experts, as a sort of stand-in for the shattered government.

But Preval was slow to warm to the commission, U.S. officials say, and it took weeks to get Haitian government approval and assemble a staff. The commission's board has held only one meeting, on June 17, at which it approved $31 million in projects.

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Sure Baller Athletes Are Going Broke, But Why Are People So Happy About It?

The Hateration Nation

From President Obama to the white hot Betty White, the entire world waits with baited breadth over superstar Lebron James' decision to stay with the Cleveland Cavaliers or go somewhere else like, say New York or Chicago.

While we could be looking at the first billionaire basketball player, most of these guys will end up looking like idiots when it's time to hang it up and retire.

The stats and Miss Betty, after the jump.

Almost 80 percent of National Football League players are flirting with bankruptcy two years after they retire, according to Sports Illustrated. NBA players aren’t faring much better. 60 percent of former National Basketball Association players end up broke within five years of retirement. Athletes squander millions of dollars due to bad decisions, lavish spending and poor financial planning.

Here's an article that details why so many African Americans are unfazed about many of these guys hitting rock bottom after the rise.

By Ricardo Hazell

This fact has been peppered throughout the media as of late with the trials and tribulations of these one-time millionaires: Kenny Anderson, Antoine Walker, Latrell Sprewell, Derrick Coleman and Scottie Pippen.

Each of the aforementioned players were dominant at one point, commanded double-teams and All-Star accolades, and were given long term contracts worth tens of millions of dollars. And, sadly, each of them is a black man who came from humble beginnings and has returned to those “roots” all too unceremoniously.

Not that any of this matters to NBA fans who all have something to say.



This subject matter may be something to grin and smile about for some who are reading this article. But prior to the modern predominance of the phenomenon of the “Hateration Nation” in which we currently live … black athletes were looked up to, idolized and seen as something to aspire to.

We looked to take some of their attributes and embed them in ourselves. We wanted to be tenacious; never quite play (or work) injured; show leadership skills and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Today athletes are looked up to, to a point, but what we’re really waiting for is the calamitous fall. We’re looking for him/her to go broke so we can feel better about our miserable little lives.

So now you no longer have to speak negatively about the millionaire black man – with the white wife, who used to date your sister or who you used to be better than in high school or who you beat up in high school – making it out the hood.

Why is that you ask? Because he’ll be back any day now and you can feel better about your measly little ant-like existence.

But for me it’s a little bit sad, not depressing, but sad. I always believed the more black millionaires there were, then the better off black people were in general. From a pseudo Black Nationalist perspective that may be true, but in reality it matters very little to the common man. Prior to president Obama’s election black athletes were what many in the community admired and aspired to be.

Admittedly, I am also vulnerable to the effects of the Hateration Nation, but this line of thinking is in part due to me succumbing to stereotypical ideas of the black athlete and the visceral poison aimed at black athletes from the black community in many instances. Growing up in a subtle racist society, in a community that secretly hates itself, means one has to constantly un-brainwash oneself.

So, I decided to do some research and found some not too surprising facts that say not only are black athletes going broke, but athletes of all races and creeds.


But when black athletes go broke it is highly publicized. Here’s a Sports Illustrated article that listed the myriad of ways athletes lose money.

It’s one thing to invest in a criminal scheme, but athletes are losing money on legal ventures like hot-cakes at a lumberjack convention. In May 2007 former quarterbacks Drew Bledsoe and Rick Mirer and five other NFL retirees invested at least $100,000 apiece in a now-defunct start-up called Pay By Touch-which touted “biometric authentication” technology that would help replace credit cards with fingerprints-even as the company was wracked by lawsuits and internal dissent.

There’s also the phenomenon in which people portray themselves in a false light to gain an athlete’s trust. Luigi DiFonzo — a former felon who claimed he was an Italian count defrauded players such as Hall of Fame running back Eric Dickerson before committing suicide in August 2000; William (Tank) Black, a disgraced agent who built a pyramid scheme that took a total of about $15 million from at least a dozen players, including Patriots running back Fred Taylor; Kirk Wright, a hedge fund manager, was convicted on 47 counts of fraud and money laundering in a scheme involving more than $150 million.

His client list included at least eight NFL players. Wright committed suicide in prison.

An article in the New York Times ran down some reasons why there is such a high divorce rate among athletes in general and NFL players in particular. Athletes are seen as walking dollar signs and are seen as marks more often than not.

The article mentions the reasons why NFL and other pro sports marriages fail: “rampant infidelity, women who target athletes, trophy wives, lifestyles not conducive to marriage and players being surrounded by entourages, which can discourage intimacy.”

In 1994, when NBA center Dikembe Mutombo was engaged to Michelle Roberts, a med student, Roberts refused to sign a premarital contract the day before the wedding. Five hundred guests-including a large party from Mutombo’s native Democratic Republic of Congo-had begun flying in to Washington. “[Roberts] never signed,” David Falk (his agent) says, “and Mutombo never married the girl.” Calling off the nuptials reportedly cost him $250,000. But it was better to pay a little then than a lot later on.

Everybody thinks they’re smarter than they actually are. Except for Magic Johnson, he knew he was smarter than everyone thought he was. The success of his businesses is a testament to that. But pro-athletes who run their own business are rarely successful.

Saints all-time leading rusher Deuce McAllister, who filed for bankruptcy protection for the Jackson, Miss., car dealership he owns and Panthers receiver Muhsin Muhammad, who put his Charlotte mansion on eBay a month after news broke that his entertainment company was being sued by Wachovia Bank for overdue credit-card payments.

Former MLB All-Star Lenny Dykstra had been sleeping in his car after his magazine, Players Club, failed and he reportedly owes creditors between $10 to 50 million.

The aforementioned financial pains pro athletes encounter are racially neutral, but brothers’ seem to have the market corner on senseless stupidity: Michael Vick, dog-fighting, New York Giant Plaxico Burress, accidentally shooting himself at a New York City nightclub last November — right after signing a five-year, $35 million contract. NFL first-round pick Adam “Pacman” Jones has twice been suspended by the NFL for off-field incidents.

Jones had signed a four-year contract with the Cowboys worth $13.3 million and is currently looking for work. And oh yeah, he’s not black, but we’ve gotta mention Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps who was caught smoking a bong; he lost his Kellogg’s endorsement deal, as well as financial support from USA swimming.

Imagine walking in the dark minding your own business when, suddenly, a huge spotlight swung your way illuminating all of your financial and personal affairs like runner Marion Jones?

Would you be able to handle that? Of course no one in the “Hateration Nation” will show any love or understand to a recently broke athlete, especially not a black athlete. Most people believe it’s the fast cars, big mansions and mink coats that are breaking these men.

No, it’s the hangers on, the leeches, and their own egos that’s causing their lucrative fortunes to disappear and, much to the chagrin of the haters, the list of those going broke is divided evenly along racial lines.

Source

Bossip & MediaTakeOut Fail To Make The Twenty Most Valuable Blogs In America

It has been a year since 24/7 Wall St. did its latest edition of the Most Valuable Blogs. Valuations have moved up significantly since then, with advertising CPMs having improved markedly since the beginning of 2009. If you're looking for a black-owned site -- keep looking.

All of the blogs analyzed here are private companies. Blogs owned by larger firms are not measured. Blogs used primarily as fronts for other businesses have also been excluded. Some of the blogs on the list have raised VC money and those sums can be used as guidelines if they are disclosed.

The only worthwhile value is what an acquirer will pay, so any estimate needs to take into account the value the blog may have to an outside buyer. Several blogs from earlier versions of this list were sold, among them Ars Technica and PaidContent. Some of the largest blogs based on audience measurements do not have significant revenue and are also excluded.

For instance, “The Daily Beast”, a large news commentary site controlled by IACI, takes almost no advertising. In theory, it has little if any economic value at all.

To determine value, 24/7 Wall St. looked at unique visitor and page view information from several public sources including Alexa, Quantcast, Compete, and comScore. These services are often criticized for estimating website traffic too low and we have taken that into account to the extent possible. We also looked at audience measurements provided by the blogs themselves when it seemed credible.

Our estimated CPMs for ads are based on the current display and text ad environment, the quality of ads at each blog, and the number of ads that it runs on the average page. The CPM value assigned to each blog is based on all the ads it runs on its typical pages.

Large blogs with big “moats” got higher multiple that smaller ones. Recreating Huffington Post or TechCrunch would be extremely difficult, even in a moderately good economy. Blogs with one founder who does most of the writing were given lower multiple because the presence of that single person is essential to the company’s value. Finally, blogs which have operated for a long time or have recently received funding received higher valuations because they are more likely to survive.

1. Gawker Properties, $300 million. This group of blogs which includes Gawker, Deadspin, Gizmodo, and Lifehacker has about 23 million monthly unique visitors and 250 million page views. Owner Nick Denton has pointed out the business is highly profitable and growing and that advertising revenue has performed better than expected. Almost all the advertising at the family of websites is premium marketing from major companies. The average CPM on a page is estimated to be $20. That would drive $60 million in annual revenue. Gawker is not expensive to run. Its writers are paid relatively low wages. Many of the blogs Gawker owns have only five or ten writers and editors. Gawker keeps at least 50% of its revenue as operating income. The valuation is based on 10x operating income.

2. The Huffington Post, $112 million. The Huffington Post is ranked first among all blogs on the Technorati 100, which means it has a huge number of websites linking to it. Quantcast puts its global unique visitor audience at 20 million. The site is set up to encourage navigation from page to page and uses editor slide shows to build page views which are probably about seven per visitor. Huffington advertisers are a mix of high and middle CPM marketers. Average CPM per page is about $10. The company’s annual revenue run rate should be up to $16 million. Huffington executives say that the company does not make money. Huffington’s prestige and its strategic value to a buyer make it extremely valuable. The 24/7 figure is based on seven times revenue, a much larger-than-normal premium for a media property.

3. Perez Hilton, $44 million. The entertainment and gossip site have over 7 million unique visitors. 24/7 estimates twelve page views per visitor. The site carries very little premium advertising although its text link ads probably do well. CPM per page is $6. The site has revenue of about $6.2 million a year. Perez Hilton has very little staff and appears to have very low operating costs. The company’s margin should be 60%. This site would be very valuable to a large media company with online entertainment content.

4. Drudge Report. $42 million. Most measurements of the blog show that traffic trends are flat to down. The site has about nine million unique visitors. Page view estimates published by Drudge are absurdly high. The site carries a very modest amount of premium advertising and it is unlikely that the CPM per page is above $5. Revenue is about $8 million. Drudge appears to have very low staff levels and extremely small operating costs. Operating income should be about $6 million.

5. TechCrunch. $32 million. The sites that make up TechCrunch have almost 4 million unique visitors and the network has about eighteen million page views. CPMs are very high due to the quality and number of advertisers. 24/7 Wall St. estimates them to be $35 per page. Advertising revenue is about $7.5 million. Other related businesses bring in another $2 million. TechCrunch has a staff of about thirty. Company margins are about 30%, or just less than $3 million.

6. PopSugar Properties. $26 million. The Sugar Network has 11 million unique visitors to its site which include PopSugar, FitSugar, GeekSuger, and SavvySugar. The visitors to the sites are young and predominantly female. The quality of the advertising is low and the sites probably do not get a CPM per page of much more than $6. The company has revenue of about $7.5 million a year. The sites have a very large staff, probably more than 60 people. Operating profits are no better than 25% of revenue, or $2 million. This company would have tremendous value to a media company that targets young women.

7. Politico. $23 million. The site is the largest single media property in the US devoted exclusively to national politics. It has more than 5 million unique visitors and 40 million page views a month. Politico needs a better sales operation. It carries a number of high quality advertisers from corporate image and policy marketers mixed with a number of very low CPM campaigns. Advertising CPM per page is $10. Politico has a great deal of value to a national news organization. It does, however, have very high costs and employs at least 80 people. Politico loses $5 million a year on $5 million in revenue.

8. MacRumors. $20 million. MacRumors has 6.5 million unique visitors per month and 45 million page views. The quality of the advertising is weak. The company’s revenue is about $4.4 million. MacRumors staff is small and the publishing platform the site uses is probably very inexpensive. MacRumors margins are at least 50%. Competition in the “Apple” news website business has gotten fierce.

9. Boing Boing. $18 million. This leading tech and gadget site has 3 million unique visitors a month and probably over twenty-four million page views. CPMs should be relatively high–$14. Boing Boing has revenue of $4 million. The company has thirty or more people so its margins are probably only 50%.

10. Mashable. $17.5 million.This is the top blog in the country that concentrates on social media. It has 4.2 million unique visitors a month. Mashable employees about thirty people. The site has 30 million page views a month. Some of the advertising is from the tech industry and should carry high CPMS, but a fair amount of the inventory is sold to more generic marketers. Total CPM per page is $12. Total revenue for Mashable is $4.3 million. The site is in a highly competitive part of the blog market and is not the leading site in size or reputation. Margins are about 45%.

11. Seeking Alpha. $16 million.Seeking Alpha, the financial content aggregation site, is now nearly as large as some major media websites like SmartMoney and FT.com. The site has 2.5 million unique visitors and 18 million page views. Revenue is $3.5 million a year because of the high quality of the financial advertisers that the site runs. The company has a large staff in Israel and the US. Seeking Alpha has a complex publishing structure. The company makes a very small operating profit. It would be very valuable property for a large media conglomerate that has business and financial websites. Unlike some other sites on the list, SA does not rely heavily on its founder and CEO for its future success.

12. GigaOm. $15 million. This network of websites, founded by Om Malik, includes Tech Insider, CleanTech, Open Source, and Mac Lovers. GigaOm also has a paid research operation and runs several conferences. The sites have about 1.7 million unique visitors and 12 million page views. CPM per page $20. Total advertising revenue is $2.8 million. Sales from other divisions are $1 million. The company has close to 35 employees and high costs of operating conferences. Operating profit is $1.7 million.

13. Breitbart Sites. $11 million. This family of sites includes Breitbart, Big Hollywood, Big Government, and Breitbart TV. Total unique visitors across all sites are 3.2 million and 18 million page views. The site carries a reasonable amount of premium advertisers. CPMs are $12, putting total revenue at $2.5 million. Staff levels seem to be very low and the publishing platforms are simple. Operating profit is about $1.5 million.

14. SB Nation Network. $8 million. The company has a network of about 200 relatively small sites across all major sports. The network has 4 million unique visitors. SB Nation has about twenty employees. The sites are a page view machine but the advertising is low quality. Total revenue of $2 million with very modest margins.

15. ReadWriteWeb. $7 million. The site covers online trends. It bills itself as a site for tech innovators. The site has 1.2 million unique visitors and 10 million page views. The company has a staff of ten. CPM per page is very high with some pages carrying as many as 10 premium ads. CPM at $20 brings total revenue to $2.4 million. Margins are probably close to $1 million. ReadWriteWeb is in an extremely competitive part of the online content business.

16. The Business Insider. $7 million. The Business Insider is a family of websites covering media, the internet, business, and finance. The sites together have 1.8 million unique visitors and 14 million page views. The sites carry a large amount of premium advertising. The Business Insider revenue is about $2 million. The firm has a large staff of about 20 people and probably losses a modest amount of money.

17. Destructoid. $5 million. Mega-gamer site with 1.1 million unique visitors and ten million page views. The website is game reviews meets social networking. It appears to have very loyal audience. Most of the content is user-created and the staff appears to be small. There are not a lot of ads, but those that run are from the game industry and should have high CPMs. Annual revenue is $1.4 million and margins are at least 50%.

18. Apple Insider. $4.5 million. Another of the many websites about what goes on in the land of Steve Jobs and his many spectacularly successful inventions. The site has 1.2 million unique visitors and eight million page views. Advertising is a mix of high-end consumer products, which tend to pay low CPMs, and business electronics. Apple Insider appears to have a small staff. Revenue is about $1.3 million and the site should make $700,000 in operating profit.

19. //film. (SlashFilm). $4 million. The audience for this film blogging site has dropped about 15% over the last three months, but unique visitors are still 1.3 million and eleven million page views. The site carries very little premium advertising, averaging CPMs at less than $10 per page. Revenue for //film is about $1.3 million a year. The company probably is keeping more than half of that as profit.

20. SearchEnginLand. $4 million. This site, which covers the search engine industry, makes most of its money from conferences called the SMX Search Market Expos. The company that runs the site and conferences is Third Door Media. The main site has about 400,000 unique visitors and 3.5 million page views. That means the internet part of the company has revenue of just over $600,000. Revenue from the conferences is probably $2 million. The parent firm has a large staff.

Source

Another Historic Black Church Faces Extinction

Despite Scarce Funds, Volunteers Push On

The historic Wesley United Methodist Church, the second oldest African American church in New Orleans, the eighth oldest in the United States and a symbol of the struggle for emancipation and human rights in the state of Louisiana, is in jeopardy of being demolished due to extensive hurricane damage.

Around the 1830s, enslaved Africans built Wesley United brick by brick. “The church was built voluntarily by our people while they were in slavery,” said Sakura Kone, who is leading the movement to save the church.

Not only did they work on the church every evening after working tirelessly in the fields, but they also worked all day on Sundays, their only “day off.” They used the bottom level of the church for entertainment, gatherings and other meetings, while on the second floor is the sanctuary filled with hand crafted pews.

During the abolitionist movement to end slavery, Wesley United was a stopping point and hiding place for people fleeing to freedom. Walking through the church gives a sense of communion with the builders who worked so hard for something they could call their own.

The story continues...

Black Woman Wins 112 Million Through Lotto, Starts Hollywood Film & TV Studio

By Lisa Horowitz of The Wrap

While Hollywood goes chasing to Abu Dhabi and Mumbai for ever-scarcer funds to finance its movies, the industry might do better just heading to 7-Eleven.

The latest film fund, $30 million to make romantic comedies, thrillers and faith-based dramas, comes from the lottery winnings of Cynthia Stafford, who shared a $67 million jackpot with her father and brother in 2007.

Now the African American single homemaker from Hawthorne, California wants to make movies.

"What I like about movies is it's something ongoing," Stafford said. "Movies from the '20s, '30s, '40s -- I still see them today and think, 'Wow, this is something that can go on forever."

The film fund, which follows the creation of her production company Queen Nefertari Productions, will be repped by the Gersh Agency. The banner already has four projects lined up.

Stafford is CEO and executive producer of Queen Nefertari.

The production funding, which comes from private investments, will be used to finance or co-finance commercial feature films. They aim to expand the fund over the next 18 months by recruiting other investors or forming partnerships.

Given the difficult financing climate in Hollywood of late, with even big names such as Imagine Entertainment, George Clooney and Brett Ratner turning to outside sources like India's Reliance Big Pictures, Stafford definitely has a leg up with her lottery winnings.

With the assistance of the Gersh Agency, specifically Jay Cohen, the Queen Nefertari partners have been setting up meetings and putting together projects. Gersh's film financing and packaging division represents the banner.

Stafford was quietly raising her late brother's five children in Hawthorne, California, when she and her father and another brother bought a $2 Mega Millions lottery ticket. They won $112 million, but took a lump-sum payment of $67 million.

Since that life-changing event, Stafford has become a philanthropist, donating $1 million to the Geffen Theater and becoming part of its outreach efforts. She said she named her company after the Egyptian queen Nefertari because she was a patron of the arts, and “a queen for peace. She had tremendous power, a great love of herself and her family – that's who I am.”

Stafford recently produced a pair of independent movies, multicultural coming-of-age tale “Polish Bar” and supernatural thriller “The Gathering.”

Queen Nefertari expects to have its first film in production by the end of this month or, at the latest, the first of the year.

The company is looking primarily at commercial projects in four broad genres: comedy, romantic comedy, thriller/horror and faith-based.

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AT&T Doesn't Want You To Use Skype or Google Voice, But It's Their Horrible Service That's Driving Customers Away!

HEY AT&T, CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW???

By Kevin Ross, CEO of 3BAAS Media Group

So I pulled up to this AT&T store at 6:57pm on Sunday August 2, 2009. The front door said clear as day that this location closes at 7:00pm. Now admittedly, no one was in the store except three employees, including two ladies behind cash registers. When I walked up to the door it was locked, so I knocked on the glass and a late 20-something man gestured that they were closed.

I then asked him to walk over to the where I was. He complied.

After indicating that I was there to pay a bill, the man told me they closed at 7:00pm I said “It’s not 7:00, it’s only 6:59.” His retort was the registers were already closed out. My response was, “Why are registers closed when the store is still officially open?” The man shrugged his shoulders, and walk away. I don't have these issues with Skype, and AT&T knows it.

Initially deciding to just drop the whole thing and move on, I began walking towards a nearby take-out restaurant to get some dinner. Suddenly, I just happened to look at my ATT Blackberry, which was showing 6:58. I paused for a moment, turned around and headed back to the store. I asked the gentleman to come over again.

When he did, I showed him my AT&T phone with the time now reading 6:59. “Your company phone is even showing that you guys should not be closed yet,” I said. He then pulled out his black iPhone (the one some AT&T users have been complaining about) and showed it to me. At that point, it read 7:00pm.

“My phone says 7:00 p.m.,” the man replied. Well, it’s clear that even with his phone now reading 7:00. I should have initially been allowed to transact business. When I asked for his name he indicated he was Jarrett and he was in charge. I asked for his last name and he refused to give it to me.

When I asked for the manager’s name, he indicated his name was Adam. I advised him that I would be contacting his manager. Jarrett rudely replied, “Well, you do that – contact him.”

That's when my Blackberry camera came in handy. After snapping the picture above, I did contact Adam Garcia, the store manager. While apologizing for the situation, he went on to defend the stores actions based on several robberies that AT&T stores had been experiencing whereby criminals are waiting right up until these stores close before stealing from them at gunpoint.

As a result, AT&T, unbeknownst to the general public, has began instructing stores to close 30 minutes early then the time stated, lock the doors, and not allow additional customers to enter.

While I understand the safety precautions be implemented, it stills doesn’t excuse poor customer service being shown to customers trying to spend money with AT&T.

Mr. Garcia asked me to send him this piece before posting which I did. He said he would make sure he got back to me to discuss further. To date, Adam remains missing in action. No phone call, no email. Nothing. Nada. Zilch! Am I the only one who's experiencing this?

And yes, this is the same AT&T who’s chum (term used to measure the number of customers who leave or switch to another service) is increasing due to consumers experiencing constant dropped calls in areas where various phones show a full signal.

This is the same AT&T who is covertly trying to prevent Apple from accepting the Google Voice application because they don’t want consumers to have options. Instead, AT&T wants to subject customers to unprofessional employees. Employees that may soon need to find work in other industries, as VOIP becomes more widespread and the society finds less need for traditional phone service.

Don’t take my word on this - ask one of those 8,000 employees Verizon is laying off due to reduced demand for their product. And that’s taking place despite there aggressive marketing campaign for FIOS.

All I can say is AT&T, you need to get it together. Right now, it seems that the FCC is on you too, which means my world that has you in it does not feel close at hand. Is this thing on???

If Snoop Had His Way, Taxing Weed Would Already Be The Norm In Cali

Can The Golden State Smoke Its Way To Prosperity?

While everybody's favorite stoned rapper prepares to release his latest iphone application, “Snoop Dogg’s iFizzle” California lawmakers are busy pushing a bill in Sacramento that would generate nearly $1.4 billion in revenue by taxing and regulating marijuana. The State Board of Equalization report estimates marijuana retail sales would bring $990 million from a $50-per-ounce fee and $392 million in sales taxes.

Clearly West Coast politicos "don't see nothing wrong" with a little puff and swallow, but are the rest of us really trying to walk around in public with a perpetual buzz?

Apparently more Americans are getting use to the proposition, with a recent CBS News poll reporting that 41% support legalization. The question is, at what cost?

This latest attempt to tax folks into oblivion was introduced by San Francisco Democratic Assemblyman Tom Ammiano. The bill would allow adults 21 and older to legally possess, grow and sell marijuana.

Meanwhile Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn has proposed that the council consider imposing a tax on sales of medical marijuana.Oakland voters will decide Tuesday on a medical marijuana tax.

"In this current economic crisis, we need to get creative about how we raise funds," Hahn said in a statement. "A tax on medical marijuana could enable the city to continue providing services we might otherwise have to cut."

Hahn's motion was supported by Councilman Bill Rosendahl and Republican Councilman Dennis Zine.

Advocates and opponents do agree that California is by far the country's top pot-producing state. Last year law enforcement agencies in California seized nearly 5.3 million plants.

For the record, marijuana is not completely harmless. As Atlantic Journalist Daniel Indiviglio noted, "Regular use can cause lung cancer, just like cigarettes. Sure, the latter are already legal. And what about productivity? A joint-break in the office isn't exactly going to have the same ramifications to productivity as a cigarette-break. Although snack machine profits will certainly soar."

Overall, there will be undeniable fiscal benefits for any state through taxing marijuana. Not to mention the reduced criminal caseloads, with these misdemeanors filings that accomplish nothing more than bogging down already overcrowded court dockets. Does that, however, outweigh the message it sends our children?

And is that even a legitimate argument in this bleak period where California is issuing IOU's, requiring workers take mandatory work furloughs, laying off employees, reducing wages, and essentially putting the entire region into a deepening funk?

Time will tell.

Obama Had Me At $150 Million!

Senator Barack Obama’s announcement on Sunday of his record-shattering $150 million fund-raising total for September underscored just how much his campaign has upended standards for raising money in presidential campaigns.

This Black man's campaign has now raised more than $600 million, almost equaling what all the candidates from both major parties collected in private donations in 2004.

It is a remarkable ascent to previously unimagined financial heights — Mr. Obama’s September total more than doubled the record $66 million he collected in August — that has been cheered by some and decried by others concerned about the influence of money in politics. The impact on the way presidential campaigns are financed is likely to be profound, potentially providing an epitaph on the tombstone of the existing public finance system.

Campaign finance watchdog groups said Sunday that Mr. Obama’s September haul bolstered their arguments for the need to revamp the presidential public financing system to restore its relevancy. It is an effort that both Senator John McCain and Mr. Obama have supported but that has faltered in Congress recently.

Democrats, though, may be reluctant to surrender the significant money-raising advantage they have developed over Republicans, saying that Mr. Obama, by cultivating millions of small donors over the Internet, has built what amounts to a parallel public financing system that is arguably more democratic.

“I think there’s going to be a fight inside the Democratic Party on this,” said David Donnelly, a director of Campaign Money Watch, a watchdog group.

In this election cycle, all of the major presidential candidates, except for former Senator John Edwards, opted out of the public financing system for the primary. Mr. Obama became the first major party candidate to bypass the public money for the general election since the system began in the 1970s, backing away from an earlier pledge to accept it if his opponent did as well. It was a move the McCain campaign and campaign finance watchdog groups harshly criticized.

But any effort to fix the system would be complicated by loopholes that permit wealthy individuals and moneyed interests to exert outsize influence, including through 527 groups, which can accept unlimited contributions.

“If you locked me up in a room and said, ‘You fix it,’ I’m not sure there is a way,” said Joe Trippi, the former campaign manager for Howard Dean’s presidential campaign in 2004 and a senior adviser for Mr. Edwards in the Democratic primary last year.

Tad Devine, a former senior strategist for Senator John F. Kerry’s presidential campaign in 2004, said there were plenty of arguments that what Mr. Obama had done was healthy for the democratic process.

“What we’re going to have to figure out,” Mr. Devine said, “is why this is not only good for the Democratic Party but it’s good for the country.”

An examination of Mr. Obama’s intake in September lends credence to arguments by both sides. David Plouffe, the Obama campaign manager, said in a video message sent to supporters that Mr. Obama had 632,000 new donors in September, bringing the campaign’s total to 3.1 million. The average contribution, Mr. Plouffe said, was less than $100.

The full details of how the Obama campaign raised its money in September will not be available until Monday, when it files its official report with the Federal Election Commission. But a separate filing by the Obama Victory Fund, which is the campaign’s joint fund-raising operation with the Democratic National Committee, underscores that Mr. Obama has also been powered by major donors, many of them with interests in Washington, as well.

Mr. Obama’s joint money-raising committee, which can take in checks of more than $30,000 that are divided between the campaign and the D.N.C., collected $69 million in September. The fund funneled $32 million in September to the Obama campaign’s coffers and $26.5 million to the national committee.

The D.N.C., which can spend money on Mr. Obama’s behalf with certain restrictions, announced Sunday it collected nearly $50 million in September and had $27.4 million in cash on hand at the end of the month.

Coupled with his appeals to small donors over the Internet, Mr. Obama has maintained an aggressive, high-dollar fund-raising schedule. More than 600 people wrote checks of $25,000 or more to the Obama Victory Fund in September. They included Dwight Howard, the Orlando Magic basketball star; Andrea Jung, the chief executive of Avon; Gregory Brown, president of Motorola; and Charles E. Phillips Jr., president of Oracle.

McCain finance officials and other campaign finance experts initially anticipated that the Republican National Committee’s stockpile of cash and strong fund-raising, along with the $84 million Mr. McCain received in public financing, might be enough to stay within range of the Obama financial juggernaut.

The R.N.C. announced this month that it raised $66 million in September, which exceeded fund-raisers’ expectations, and officials said it had finished the month with about $77 million in the bank. But the Obama campaign has been outspending the McCain campaign on television by three-and-a-half-to-one, even with spending by the R.N.C. factored in, according to the Campaign Media Analysis Group, which analyzes advertising spending. Source

STOP TELEMARKETERS FROM RIPPING YOU OFF BY CALLING YOUR CELL PHONE!!!

All phone numbers became public family as of July 19, 2008

REMINDER....

all cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing and you will start to receive sale calls and BE CHARGED FOR THOSE CALLS!

To prevent this, call the following number from your cell phone: 888-382-1222.

It is the National DO NOT CALL list. It will only take a minute of your time. It blocks your number for five (5) years. You must call from the cell phone number you want to have blocked. You cannot call from a differentphone number.

King Family Takes The Game Family Feud To A New Level

One of the unexpected surprises of attending Morehouse Collge was going to classes with two of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's four children.

I remember always seeing Marty (noone called him Martin) out and about in the city. Then there were those student government meetings with Bernice, who was elected ASB vice-president at Spelman. And Dexter, who resembled King but had a reputation for never going to class, was just one of several "famous brothers" on campus who happened to smoke a pipe and snag this fine sister named Susan from South Carolina. My, times have changed!

Bernice King and Martin Luther King III filed a lawsuit Thursday in county court to force Dexter King to open the books of their father’s estate.

The lawsuit claims that Dexter King, the estate’s administrator, is refusing to provide his two siblings with documents concerning the estate’s operations. That includes financial records, contracts, financial affairs and other documents, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit claims that Dexter King and the estate “converted substantial funds from the estate’s financial account … for their own use” on June 20 without notifying his siblings. The lawsuit also claims that Dexter King may have taken assets from the firm “for his own benefit” and that the assets may have been “misapplied or wasted.” Source

Seeking To Rebuild His Life And Career, Michael Vick Files Bankruptcy

Imprisoned NFL baller Michael Vick filed for bankruptcy protection while serving time for federal dogfighting charges, saying he owes between $10 million and $50 million to creditors.

The African American quaterback filed Chapter 11 papers in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Newport News on Monday. The seven largest creditors listed in the court papers are owed a total of about $12.8 million.

The debt includes part of a signing bonus that the Falcons are seeking to recover.

After the plea on dogfighting charges, the Falcons tried to recover about $20 million in bonuses Vick earned from 2004 to 2007. But a federal judge held that Vick is entitled to keep all but $3.75 million of the money paid to him for playing football through the 2014 season.

According to the filings, Vick's other debts include $4.5 million owed to Richmond-based Joel Enterprises Inc., and $550,0000 owed to Radtke Sports Inc. for breach of contract.

Vick is serving a 23-month prison sentence at the U.S. Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kan., after pleading guilty last year to bankrolling a dogfighting ring. The Atlanta Falcons superstar was subsequently suspended indefinitely without pay and lost all his major sponsors, including Nike. He also faces state charges related to dogfighting.

In May, a federal judge ordered Vick to repay about $2.5 million to a Canadian bank for defaulting on a loan. The Royal Bank of Canada had sued Vick in September, arguing his guilty plea to a federal dogfighting charge — and the resulting impact on his career — prevented him from repaying the loan.

A default judgment for $1.08 million also was entered in January against Vick and a business partner in a lawsuit brought by Wachovia Bank over a loan for an Atlanta-area wine shop and restaurant. (AP)

BEST BUY, MY FOOT!

Best Buy has some bad policies....

This could happen to you or your friends, so be forewarned.

If you purchase something from, Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, JC Penny, Sears etc. and you return the item with the receipt they will give you your money back if you paid cash, or credit your account if paid by plastic.

Well, I purchased a GPS for my car, a Tom Tom XL.S from 'Best Buy'. They have a policy that it must be returned within 14 days for a refund!

So after 4 days I returned it in the original box with all the items in the box, with paper work and cords all wrapped in the plastic. Just as I received it, including the receipt.

I explained to the lady at the return desk I did not like the way it could not find store names. The lady at the refund desk said, there is a 15 % restock fee, for items returned. I said no one told me that. I said how much would that be. She said it goes by the price of the item. It will be $45.00 dollars for you. I said, all your going to do is walk over and place it back on the shelf then charge me $45.00 of my money for restocking? See, this is why more and more people are shopping online at places like Newegg.

She said that's the store policy, which apparently others have a problem with just like me. I said if more people were aware of it they would not buy anything here! If I bought a $2000.00 computer or TV and returned it I would be charged $300.00 dollars restock fee? She said yes, 15%.

No wonder their stock price is falling!

I said OK, just give me my money minus the restock fee. She said, since the item is over $200.00 dollars, she can't give me my money back!!! Corporate has to and they will mail you a check in 7 to ten days.!! I said 'WHAT?!'

It's my money!! I paid in cash! I want to buy a different brand..Now I have to wait 7 to 10 days. She said well, our policy is on the back of your receipt. I said, do you read the front or back of your receipt? She said well, the front! I said so do I, I want to talk to the Manager!.

So the manager comes over, I explained everything to him, and he said, well, sir they should of told you about the policy when you got the item. I said, No one, has ever told me about the check refund or restock fee, whenever I bought items from computers to TVs from Best Buy. The only thing they ever discussed was the worthless extended warranty program. He said Well, I can give you corporate phone number.

I called corporate. The guy said, well, I'm not supposed to do this but I can give you a 45.00 dollar gift card and you can use it at Best Buy. I told him if I bought something and returned it, you would charge me a restock fee on the item and then send me a check for the remaining 3 dollars. You can keep your gift card, I'm never shopping in Best Buy ever again, and if I would of been smart, I would of charged the who le thing on my credit card! Then I would of canceled the transaction.

I would of gotten all my money back including your stupid fees! He didn't say a word!

I informed him that I was going to e-mail my friends and give them a heads up on this stores policy, as they don't tell you about all the little caveats. Even as they are trying to promote themselves in a positive way.

So please pass this on. It may save your friends from having a bad experience of shopping at Best Buy. It's true! read it for yourself: Best Buy's return policy

Evander Holyfield Broke? Has The Talented Boxer And Father Of Nine Bitten Off More Than He Can Chew???

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is reporting that the mother of Evander Holyfield's 10-year-old son — one of nine children he's fathered — says the boxing icon has missed two child-support payments, filing a petition for contempt in the Fayette County Superior Court.

Having made over 200 million in fights and endorsements, has this black man suddenly found himself in financial straits?

Toi Irvin, who lives in Clayton County, said she was told by Holyfield's representatives not to expect the payments — $6,000 total — for May and June."It wasn't so much that he didn't pay," said Irvin's attorney, Randy Kessler. "She was told they didn't know if she would be paid at all."

The former heavyweight champion and popular "Dancing With The Stars" contestant appears to be in serious financial trouble. Is he looking for maybe a little "Respect":


Holy's palatial estate in Fayette County is under foreclosure, according to a legal notice that appeared in a local newspaper, and is set to be auctioned by Washington Mutual Bank on July 1. The home is worth an estimated $10 million. Source

We Still Support Rep. Laura Richardson, Despite Her Housing Woes

Drudge Put Her On Blast, But Richardson Fights On!
While South Bay politician Laura Richardson says the foreclosure on her Sacramento house was due to a miscommunication, the congresswoman has also defaulted on properties in Long Beach and San Pedro, records show.

Clearly the mortgage crisis facing the nation is affecting more than just the average Joe.

Dropping Home Prices Worse In 20 Years

Richardson, who represents Long Beach, Carson and other areas of Southern California with a sizeable African American community, was able to bring her payments up to date on the Long Beach home relatively quickly, but the San Pedro property lingered in the foreclosure process for almost eight months, and still has a pending auction date.

The Long Beach Press Telegram has all the details.

Ghetto Fab Cars That Won't Ever See A Penny Of Profit

The creativity speaks for itself, but how are these folks benefitting???

Eating Cheetos In My Cheetos Ride!

More under the hood

Kraft would never have thought to do this!

Just think of the $$$MILLIONS$$$ in advertising dollars that these companies are saving by NOT paying these guys money.

Iran, Money & Steely Dan: Who Knew?

Growing up, as now I am and will forever be a music buff. Outside of Funkadelic, Prince, Led Zeppelin and the Almon Brothers, Steely Dan was one of my favorites. Now we ain't talking about individuals, cause that would mean Al Green, Nina Simone, and Dinah Washington among a whole lot more folk would have to be included. But that’s not the point; the point is the song Peg.

The lyrics I like the most are:

Peg
It will come back to you
Peg
It will come back to you
Then the shutter falls
You see it all in 3-d

It's your favorite foreign movie

Rumor has it that Iran is about to change what they and the world have traditionally peg the price of oil on (the US Dollar) to the Euro and the Yen. In all honestly, I hope they do it while George W. Bush is in office because I would hate for it to fall in the lap of Obama (for obvious reasons) or in McCain’s (it may proffer a myocardial infarction). This makes it so clear to me as to why these political big wigs and Neo, neo cons are always at the fence throwing rocks at Iran. This will be more f**ked up to the US than anything Saddam Hussein could have done. Not to mention he was on our payroll when he poisoned the Kurds and the Iranians.

If this happens it will be on, petro dollar warfare. Talk about divide and conquer, if this happens Europe will once again be king if its unit of currency becomes the standard for the rest of the world (yet another reason why I ridiculed McCain in the previous post regarding his restricted understanding of macroeconomics).

Raw Dawg Buffalo continues...

Who Cares If He's Marrying Beyonce, How About Jay-Z's New $150 Million Dollar Record Deal

Superstar Rapper Shawn Carter Flips The Script

Is this Black hustler turned rapper mogul creating a new model for music business?

Could be. In a move that reflects the anarchy sweeping the music business, Beyonce's jumpoff, who released his latest album to lukewarm sales five months ago, is on the verge of closing a deal with a concert promoter that rivals the biggest music contracts ever awarded.

Jay-Z plans to depart his longtime record label, Def Jam, for a roughly $150 million package with the concert giant Live Nation that includes financing for his own entertainment venture, in addition to recordings and tours for the next decade. The pact, expected to be finalized this week, is the most expansive deal yet from Live Nation, which has angled to compete directly with the industry’s established music labels in a scrum over the rights to distribute recordings, sell concert tickets, market merchandise and control other aspects of artists’ careers.

As CD sales plunge, an array of players — including record labels, promoters and advertisers — are racing to secure deals that cut them in on a larger share of an artist’s overall revenue. Live Nation has already struck less comprehensive pacts with Madonna and U2.

In Jay-Z, Live Nation has lined up with a longtime star who, after toiling as a self-described hustler on the streets of Brooklyn, earned acclaim as a rapper and cachet as a mogul.

Live Nation’s core business has revolved around major rock and country tours, and with Jay-Z it is making an unexpected foray into hip-hop. The company is also placing an enormous wager on a performer who, like many others, has experienced declining record sales. (Last year’s “American Gangster” sold one million copies in the United States; “The Black Album,” from 2003, sold well over three million.)

But the arrangement would also position Live Nation to participate in a range of new deals with Jay-Z, one of music’s most entrepreneurial stars, whose past ventures have included the Rocawear clothing line, which he sold last year for $204 million, and the chain of 40/40 nightclubs.

Jay-Z, 38, whose real name is Shawn Carter, owes one more studio album to Def Jam, where he was president for three years before stepping down in December after he and the label’s corporate parent, Universal Music Group, could not agree on a more lucrative contract.

His first undertaking with Live Nation is his current 28-date tour with Mary J. Blige, his biggest live outing in more than three years. After that, Live Nation envisions integrating the marketing of all Jay-Z’s entertainment endeavors, including recordings, tours and endorsements.

“I’ve turned into the Rolling Stones of hip-hop,” Jay-Z said in a recent telephone interview.

The deal answers a question that had been circling through the rap world for months: Where would Jay-Z take his next corporate role? As part of the arrangement, Live Nation would finance the start-up of a venture that would be an umbrella for his outside projects, which are expected to include his own label, music publishing, and talent consulting and managing. Live Nation is expected to contribute $5 million a year in overhead for five years, with another $25 million available to finance Jay-Z’s acquisitions or investments, according to people in the music industry briefed on the agreement. The venture, to be called Roc Nation, will split profits with Live Nation.

The overall package for Jay-Z also includes an upfront payment of $25 million, a general advance of $25 million that includes fees for his current tour, and advance payment of $10 million an album for a minimum of three albums during the deal’s 10-year term, these people said. A series of other payments adding up to about $20 million is included in exchange for certain publishing, licensing and other rights. Jay-Z said Live Nation’s consolidated approach was in sync with the emerging potential “to reach the consumer in so many different ways right now.” He added: “Everyone’s trying to figure it out. I want to be on the front lines in that fight.”

The popularity of music downloads has revolutionized how music is consumed, and widespread piracy has contributed to an industry meltdown in which traditional album sales — composed mostly of the two-decades-old CD format — have slumped by more than a third since 2000. (The best seller in 2007, Josh Groban’s “Noël,” sold 3.7 million copies, compared with 9.9 million for the top album in 2000, according to Nielsen SoundScan.)

That has further pressured record-label executives to rewrite the economics of their business and step beyond the sale of albums in an attempt to wring revenue out of everything from ring tones to artist fan clubs.

Jay-Z said that his future as an artist could involve elevating the role of live performances, long a mixed bag even for popular rap acts.

“In a way I want to operate like an indie band,” he said. “Play the music on tour instead of relying on radio. Hopefully we’ll get some hits out of there and radio will pick it up, but we won’t make it with that in mind.”

Though sales for Jay-Z’s tour with Ms. Blige have been strong since it began on March 22, with almost all the early dates resulting in sold-out arenas, it is unclear when Live Nation could carry out other aspects of the deal. (Jay-Z said that he hoped to deliver his final album for Def Jam later this year.)

Critics of Live Nation, which lost nearly $12 million last year, predict that it would be difficult to turn a profit on the arrangement, given the continuing decline in record sales and the mixed track record of artist-run ventures. Shares in the company have suffered since October when Live Nation negotiated a reported $120 million deal with Madonna.

Michael Cohl, Live Nation’s chairman, said he was not worried. Though he declined to discuss terms of the Jay-Z arrangement, he said it did not require an increase in record sales to be profitable. “He could be doing more tours and doing great,” Mr. Cohl said. “There could be endorsements and sponsorships.” He added, “The whole is what’s important.”

He cited Jay-Z’s forays into a host of other businesses as a model for Live Nation. “What he’s done has kind of mirrored what we want to do and where we think we’re going.”

Some executives at major record labels have privately portrayed Live Nation’s artist deals as overly expensive retirement packages for stars past their prime.

Others disagree. “I’d much rather be in the business of marketing a superstar who cost me a lot of money than taking the 1-in-10, demonstrably failing crapshoot” of signing unknown talents, said Jeffrey Light, a Los Angeles entertainment attorney, referring to the traditional record company model.

But the dimensions of the competition could change if Live Nation begins vying for the same emerging artists that the labels hope to sign. Live Nation is negotiating with a Georgia rock act, the Zac Brown Band, after apparently wooing it away from an offer by Atlantic Records, according to music executives briefed on the talks.

Jay-Z, for his part, suggested that the string of stars to exit the major-label system would also signal to younger acts how to plot their careers. He said that rising artists will be thinking: “ ‘Something must be happening. Madonna did it, she’s not slow. Jay-Z, he’s not slow either.’”

Los Angeles Loses ANOTHER Black Owned Radio Station As Radio One Unloads Unprofitable V-100

So long Cliff Winston. Adios John Monds. Want to hear Michael Baisden do his thing? Well, you soon may just be out of luck.

Financially strapped Radio One has just announced that it is selling its Los Angeles station KRBV (100.3 FM) to Bonneville International for about $137.5 million, a decision that means the Lanham urban radio giant will no longer have a presence in the nation's largest radio market by revenue.


The sale of what was once the popular 92.3 The Beat will close in the second quarter of this year.

Alfred C. Liggns III, Radio One's chief executive and president, announced in a statement that the sale will enable the firm to reduce its debt, focus on its Internet strategy and initiate a $150 million stock buyback program.

"This is an attractive transaction for Radio One, as it frees up capital and management resources which can be re-deployed to execute our long-term strategy," he said.

In 2000, not long after Liggins took the helm of the company founded by his mother, the legendary Catherine Hughes, he brokered a $1.3 billion deal with Clear Channel to buy 12 stations in such major markets as Houston, Dallas, Miami and Los Angeles. At the time, Radio One's strategy had been to buy struggling stations and turn them around, programming them with music and talk shows aimed at African American and urban listeners.

In metropolitan Los Angeles, where the Hispanic population is nearing 50 percent, the Radio One station, former home to such radio personalities as Tom Joyner, Steve Harvey and the outrageous Wendy Williams, struggled to maintain and expand its audience share. Like many other media companies, Radio One has faced stiff competition from new media such as MP3 players, and satellite and Internet radio.

Last year, the company announced that it would sell 10 underperforming stations to improve its cash flow and reduce its debt. Over the past year, Radio One stock lost about 80 percent of its value as revenue declined when advertisers shifted to other media, including the Internet.

J.P. Morgan analyst John Blackledge said the $137.5 million sale price reflects the value of a station that has no audience or revenue. Last year, according to his analysis, the station lost about $5 million.

At one time, Los Angeles was home to powerhouse R&B black stations such as 1580 AM KDAY and 103.9 FM KACE. With this new development, Stevie Wonder's 102.3FM KJLH will be the only remaining station in Southern California that is owned by African Americans.

"The sale of the troubled L.A. station makes sense for [Radio One] at this point, in our view, as reformatting and focused efforts could not turn around the station's fortunes over the past few years," Blackledge said in a statement.

Yesterday, Bonneville president and chief executive Bruce Reese said he expected federal regulators to take up to 90 days to approve the Los Angeles sale. In the meantime, Bonneville plans to enter an agreement that would allow it to take over the station's airwaves sooner.

But here's the kicker:

"We're not acquiring the personnel or the format from [Radio One]," Reese said. "We basically bought the operating equipment . . . the antenna, the transmitter and the studio to operate out of. When they move out, we'll move in."

With the recent merger news surrounding XM and Sirius Satellite, where does this leave the black community in terms of getting it's news and information?

In a word, it's all about the Internet family, and creating our own outlets. Which is what we'll be tonight, on BlogTalkRadio for a new edition on The Content Black Woman Show.

Meanwhile, Bonneville is moving right along. "We know we'll get the right people, we think we'll get the right ideas and we think we can do well in L.A.," he said. "It's obviously a huge radio market, and we're excited about the opportunity."

Radio One's stock price rose sharply on the news, adding 65 cents, or about 59 percent, to $1.76. The company's stock has ranged from 99 cents to $7.73 over the past year.

Remember When All You Ever Wanted To Be Was A Member Of The Jackson 5?

The New York Post has a distressing article about The Jackson Clan's climb up Brokedown Mountain. The road to riches is paved with folks who were at one time living high off the hog. Exhibit A:

Marlon Jackson, 51, an original Jackson Five member who stocks shelves at a Vons supermarket in San Diego, had to temporarily move into an extended-stay hotel. It's gets worse family.

Randy, 46, does odd jobs, including fixing cars in a Los Angeles garage owned by a family friend. He recently claimed Michael was going to give him $1.7 million - “a pipe dream,” said another brother last week.

Jackie, 56, the oldest and most debonair of the brothers, is struggling to manage his son Siggy’s aspiring rap career after an Internet clothing business startup and attempts to produce music failed.

Jermaine, 54, shuttles back and forth from his girlfriend’s home in Ventura County, Calif., to his parents’ mansion in Encino, where Jackie and Randy still bunk.

Tito, 55, is the only brother still making music, but it’s a meager living. The guitarist fronts a blues and jazz band that plays small venues and nets him $500 and $1,500 per occasional gig - a far cry from the days when the Jacksons could pull in 50,000 people at $30 a ticket.

While the verdict is still out on Rebbie and LaToya, we all know Mike’s financial status. And apparently Janet’s trying to suport everybody at this point. It doesn't take Ben Bernake to give us the sum total of the family's net worth. Then again, they could still be on some corner turning tricks and slinging rocks in Gary, Indiana.

At least it was one helluva ride!