The WNBA Gives Us a Good Ol' Fashion Cat Fight

DETROIT, Michigan (AFP) — A late-game brawl Tuesday in the Los Angeles Sparks' 84-81 Women's National Basketball Association win over the Detroit Shock saw three players an assistant coach ejected.

The incident began after a made free throw by Los Angeles, when Sparks rookie sensation Candace Parker got tangled with Shock's Plenette Pierson and both fell to the floor.

Pierson then charged Parker, who threw the Detroit center to the court.

Shock assistant coach Rick Mahorn came off the bench, apparently trying to restore order. But he incited more trouble when he inadvertently knocked Los Angeles forward Lisa Leslie to the floor.

Story comes courtesy of AFP.

BLACK WOMEN IN AMERICA AT RISK AND IN CRISIS

When black women hurt, the American family suffers. When we ignore black women's issues, we ignore an entire community. But by uplifting black women, especially those struggling hardest to keep their families together and their dreams on track, we lift up every American community.

The National Urban League's "The State of Black America 2008: In the Black Woman's Voice" comes out in the midst of troubling times. Last year's report concluded that our nation stood at a tipping point. Unfortunately, that magic moment now has blacks treading water.
Over the past 12 months, a recession, precipitated in part by the subprime mortgage debacle, falling house sales and values, and a tighter credit market, has reared its ugly head in a year of what promises to be one of the most competitive and historic presidential elections in decades.

All of this uncertainty grips us with both trepidation and excitement. Blacks stand at a crossroads... for the rest of the story read TO BE EQUAL, By Marc H. Morial Copley News Service

Former VP Candidate Geraldine Ferraro: It Takes A Token To Know A Token!

OH NO SHE DIDN'T!!!

Geraldine Ferraro was the first U.S. Female Vice Presidential Candidate, when she ran with Walter Mondale. In that general election they were trounced by Ronald Regan and only won one state. What Geraldine Ferraro is trying to say in offensive terms is that she was a "token", basicly the Democrats at that time were trying to make a statement by choosing a woman. She now says Democrats are making a similar statement with Hillary a woman and Barack Obama as an African American, both running for president. Obama officials aren't having it and they are not having Hillary's wink and nod to the statements.

Former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro on Wednesday stood by her comment that Democrat Barack Obama is only where he is because he is black and said the reaction by his campaign was dividing the party.

"My comments have been taken so out of context and have been spun by the Obama campaign as racist that it's doing precisely what they don't want done -- it's going to the Democratic Party and dividing us even more," Ferraro said in an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America."

Ferraro, the Democratic vice presidential candidate in 1984 and the only woman ever nominated by a major party for either of the top two U.S. political offices, ignited a flap by telling a California newspaper that "if Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position."

"And if he was a woman he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept," Ferraro said.

Every Man and Every Clinton Needs a Good Woman

In her victory speech last week in Ohio, Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke directly to one group of voters that has enabled her unlikely comeback and could decide whether her presidential quest still has hope — women.

"Together, we're going to make history. To those little girls, I say this is America, and we do believe you can be anything you want to be," she said.

Does Hillary speak to the woman in you?

In Ohio, 59 percent of the Democratic electorate were women, according to exit polls that showed Clinton thrashing Obama among women 57-41 percent, and capturing 67 percent of white women. The outpouring of female support reversed a trend that had almost doomed Clinton's aspirations. Read more of this article and hear what else Hillary is going to need to make a dent in Obama's delgate lead. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

Sacramento Kings Dancers Are Awesome, Who Cares About Their Moves On The Court?

Why Aren't The Sistahs Getting Buckwild?

A handful of racy photographs of the Sacramento Kings "White Girls Gone Wild" dancers drinking alcohol and posing in G-strings have surfaced on the Internet, if you're into that kind of thing!

The images, which have been posted on the sports blog WithLeather.com under a blog entry titled "Sacramento Kings Dancers Are Awesome," show the "ladies" drinking and posing in various states of, er... well... you know!

"The photos of Sacramento Kings Dance Team members circulating on the Internet were published without the knowledge or permission of the Dance Team members or the Sacramento Kings, and they do not adhere to the principles and values of the Sacramento Kings organization," the Kings said in a statement to The Bee.

WithLeather.com blogger Matt Ufford called his posting of the photos a "catch-22." If I help distribute these photos to the masses, then the fun dancers might get kicked off the squad and/or stop sharing their sexy photos, which could lead to a world in which naughty cheerleaders are restricted to fictional porn fantasies," he wrote.

"But then if I don't share the pictures then nobody gets to enjoy them, and what's the point of that?"Click here to see what all the fuss is about

Sports Illustrated Models Go Naked... Well, Almost!

Wearing nothing but paint, the latest issue of SI has gorgeous honeys hitting the beach practically au natural.

Additional photos can be found under the hood.




Of course we like the models of color, but check out all these women in their splender.

Quickie: So This Is How 40-Year-Old Gary Coleman Met His 22-Year-Old Bride

THOUGHTS???

2008 SPORTS ILLUSTRATED SWIMSUIT EDITON IS FINALLY HERE

THE FELLAS STILL WAIT FOR OUR FAVORITE MAGAZINE COVER

BUT WE STILL KINDA LIKE LAST YEARS COVER WITH BEYONCE

Supermodel Marisa Miller adorns the cover of the 2008 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, which hits newsstands today. The annual special issue will be read by a worldwide audience of 69 million people and features Danica Patrick, four athlete wives, 12 NFL cheerleaders, Will Ferrell and Heidi Klum in a special Semi Pro photo shoot and much more.

And don't forget about the new internet site.

Today, SI will also launch its exclusive SI Swimsuit website www.si.com/swimsuit featuring exclusive video footage, model diaries and over 1,500 photos. It is anticipated that the site will experience 250 million page views. PHOTO CREDIT: Raphael Mazzucco/Sports Illustrated. (PRNewsFoto/Sports Illustrated)

MSNBC Goes Ghetto, Accusing Chelsea Of Pimpin' For Her Momma!

Reporter Suspended For "Pimped Out" Wisecrack That Has Our Girl Hill Saying "Oh No You Didn't!"

MSNBC took swift and decisive action today after up and coming cable news personality David Shuster got a little too comfortable with his Ebonics speak. Especially when it comes to a 27-year-old white girl who's big baller-shot caller daddy already knows what it's like to be chillin at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and who's mama is trying to get back up in that piece.

Hey David, this is not an episode of Cribs my brotha. We're talking about Hillary's baby. As a result, check out the official statement from the cable network that brought you Don Imus:

"On Thursday's "Tucker" on MSNBC, David Shuster, who was serving as guest-host of the program, made a comment about Chelsea Clinton and the Clinton campaign that was irresponsible and inappropriate.

Shuster, who apologized this morning on MSNBC and will again this evening, has been suspended from appearing on all NBC News broadcasts, other than to make his apology. He has also extended an apology to the Clinton family. NBC News takes these matters seriously, and offers our sincere regrets to the Clintons for the remarks.

Hillary Clinton Responds to The Drama

Both the Clinton and Obama campaigns accepted invitations from us on Thursday evening to participate in a February 26th debate.

Our conversations with the Clinton campaign about their participation continue today, and we are hopeful that the event will take place as planned."

Why Are Women Supporting Barack Obama Over Hillary Clinton???

Don't Worry Family, Here Comes Obama Girl To The Rescue!

Who says Barack can't get the white women's vote?

Folks Who Get It: Brotha Raheem DeVaughn Sings The Praises Of Sistahs

I'm Beyonce And I'm The Richest Black Woman In Music Bee-otch!

While Madonna's the Richest Girl, Bey Ranks in The Top 5, Mariah Carey Rounds Out Top 10

Fab chick Madonna leads Forbes.com's list of the top 20 'Cash Queens of Music', earning $72 million between June 2006 and June 2007.

Barbra Streisand is No. 2 with $60 million, and Celine Dion ranks third with $45 million, largely from her five-year successful "A New Day" show in Las Vegas, Shakira is fourth with $38 million, followed by Beyonce ($27 million), Gwen Stefani ($26 million), Christina Aguilera ($20 million), Faith Hill ($19 million), the Dixie Chicks ($18 million) and Mariah "Touch My Body" Carey ($13 million).

Forbes.com said it compiled the list by examining concert grosses, merchandising revenue, album sales and other revenue from clothing lines, fragrance deals and endorsements.

Madonna's 'Confessions' world tour pulled in $260 million, Forbes said. The 49-year-old pop star also made money from album sales, her fashion line with H&M and a deal with NBC to broadcast her London concert performance.

Hilary Duff, Avril Lavigne and Martina McBride each banked $12 million. Crazy-loco Britney Spears (rushed to the hospital this morning) ranked 14th on the list, earning $8 million from music royalties and sales of her fragrances with Elizabeth Arden. Spears is followed by American Idol's Carrie Underwood and Nelly Furtado ($7 million each); Fergie, Jennifer "Max & Emme?" Lopez and Sheryl Crow ($6 million each); and Norah Jones ($5.5 million).

New Blog Focuses On Sistahs Who Absolutely Love Purses

Introducing Designs To Infinity

Why Sexy, Blond White Women Are Angry: Miss Teen South Carolina Is Making Them Look Dumb, Imagine That!

Introducing brain surgeon in training Lauren Caitlin Upton, candidate For Miss Teen USA. You know actor Mario Lopez, playing the emcee role, was busting a gut inside.

Miss Teen Colorado Hilary Carol Cruz ultimately won. Upton, surprisingly, finished third. (FYI - when in doubt, the answer is always "world peace." Miss Congeniality starring Sandra Bullock, HELLO!)

Now, for the million dollar question, WHERE WERE THE SISTAHS???

Paula White, Juanita Bynum And The Hypocrisy Faithful Black Women Face In the Church Pews

THE REAL TRUTH BEHIND THE CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP CRISIS

Why are so many, particularly women, taking this news concerning the dissolving marriages of female televangelists Juanita Bynum and Paula White so hard?

The issues surrounding these two women of God are far beyond just them, their spouses or their respective ministries. It is forcing people in the "Body of Christ" to examine some real issues that have gone unchecked in the church for far too long.

For those of you who know nothing about me, I use to work for a mega church about 9 years ago. What I saw and experienced shocked me "on the regular" - to coin an urban phrase.

From a professional and career standpoint, my experience in working for this church was one of the best experiences and career milestones of my life. Upon first working there, I saw the opportunity as a blessing. I loved working for my pastor; a humble, smart man who clearly was spiritually driven to serve as a way of being in God's will and following God's calling for his life. While not a perfect man, he most certainly was a good man with a heart for people.

However, working for the church and my pastor also meant working for congregants and the community. This part of my job at times was like working in hell.

Mind you, I will be the first to take full responsibility for the role I played in my being emotionally hurt and feeling spiritually defeated that led to my eventual departure from attending Sunday service regularly. As it is often said, if I knew better, I would do better.

I was 29-years old when I first starting working at the church and so incredibly naive to the infrastructure and unspoken rules for being part of inner workings of a large, sophisticated ministry. The church does so many incredible things for the community and I have no problem defending the value of service it has been and continues to be for the people - both members and non-members alike.

However, like most adults who find themselves attending a formal worship service on a regular basis, I chose my church based on a deep spiritual need. I sought the essence of who God really was. I wanted to know deep spiritual truths in addition to the purpose of my life as intended by God. For awhile, I found that for where I was on my spiritual journey in life, that this particular church served its purpose.

Yet, in time, I began to recognize some very disturbing social trends within the church that caused me to pause, that left me confused and made it more difficult to reconcile within my heart and spirit and justify my existence within a formal worship environment.

Comprised of mostly women, the church - especially the Black church - can be a very difficult place to grow spiritually and survive emotionally and psychologically. Once I had the opportunity to serve as an employee, I can still recall all the joy I had.

However, many women didn't like seeing such joy. So many were mean, vindictive and jealous and I...

You can't stop now>>>

No Sex In The City #10 - Sometimes Getting Out Of Dodge Is Just The Right Cure For What's Ailing You

The Ojai Chronicles (Day 1 of 3)

by Cousin Kim

"Your first responsibility to all beings on our planet is to take the very best care of your very own self." -Robyn L.

There's so much I love about Los Angeles, and not just because I was born and raised here. But hey, sometimes a city girl needs to leave La-La land to gain some spiritual perspective.

Knowing this to be the truth for myself, I retreated to Ojai, CA with my younger cousin Jana. While I planned to exercise and focus on my spiritual and physical health, Jana planned to simply relax and decompress from the stress of her divorce and the demands of being a mother of four small children.

The Oaks at Ojai, a health resort, allowed us both to experience the ideal weekend. About ninety miles from LA, the name Ojai means nest or moon in the language of the original inhabitants, the Chumash Indians.

We arrived at the Oaks just in time for lunch. We introduced ourselves to our table mates and dines on a sumptuous low calorie meal followed by a fruit dessert.

I'd warned Jana that the meals were designed to be healthy---salt and refined sugar free. Luckily, she enjoyed the food and was surprised at how tasty it was. I listened intently as Jana described her challenges as a mother, student, and full time employee to others at our table. I got to know her better through the eyes of strangers and I admired who she has grown to become as a woman.

After lunch, I wanted to play big sister and show Cousin Jana around one of my favorite towns. We browsed shops at the Arcade, Ojai's much superior version of a strip mall.

Then we walked two blocks up to Soul Centered, a metaphysical book shop which I visit every time I return to Ojai. Although the woman I usually visit with had retired, I was able to meet the owner and introduce Jana to Marilyn, the resident healer. While I experienced a healing session with Marilyn, Jana picked out clever bookmarks with sage advice that resonated with her.

Clever bookmarks -- eighty cents each. Sage advice -- priceless.

Next we visited Ojai House where I'd discovered a cute gift for parents with male babies. It's a cap that prevents mommy and daddies' little love from squirting them in the face when they change him. Unaware of the sex of my girlfriend's soon to be born child, I settled on a cute white onesie that read, "To pee or not to pee. That is the question...you know the answer."

On the way back to the spa, we stopped at Rainbow Bridge for a snack. Jana spotted a chocolate peanut butter cup at the register and we happily split one on our walk. It was like we were kids again enjoying a shared snack on a hot, summer day.

That night after dinner, we headed our separate ways to enjoy individual pursuits. Jana opted to attend an evening program on health and nutrition, while I consulted the local newspaper to find out what time the sun set would be. Armed with this information, I drove up to Meditation Mountain to watch Ojai's famous pink moment. When the sun sets over the Topa Topa Mountains in Ojai, a beautiful pink glow appears in the space between the sun and the mountains.

As I walked down to the view point at Meditation Mountain, I noted that there was a quarter moon hanging in the southern part of the sky as the sun created the pink moment in the west. In my mind I greeted a large rock and asked if I could be seated. Twenty two miles away in Ventura County, there was a fire raging that added a light blanket of smoke that clung to the pink glow.

I heard loud birds squawking and searched the sky to see where they flew. Suddenly, I spotted them flying in the middle of the sky rather than at the higher altitude into which I'd been gazing. As the sun kissed the mountains, I heard a rooster crow in the distance and a lone dog barking as if they were saying goodbye to the sun.

A couple whispered behind me as they approached the viewpoint, displaying a certain reverence that is only inspired by the most beautiful of sights. They spread a blanket and sat down to meditate as a truck roared below us, crickets began to play their body violins and the lights in the town below illuminated the night.

When the sun completely disappeared, I started the walk back to the parking lot. I contemplated my commune with the sunset. I thought, "Writing is my prayer. It is my way of appreciating moments with God over and over again."

Jesus Take The Wheel: Black Woman Calls Police After Being Sold Fake Cocaine Rocks

Juanita Marie Jones, 53, called Rochelle Police late Thursday night after she purchased what she thought was a $20 piece of crack cocaine, according to police reports.

Jones told officers she broke the rock into three pieces and smoked one, only to discover the drugs were “fake.” Insisting that she was unhappy and wanted to 'get her money back', of course the drug-addicted woman was subsequently taken into custody.

Just like singer UK soul singer Amy Winehouse, maybe it's time to go to rehab. Yes! Yes! Yes!

God-speed sistah!!!

Source

NO SEX IN THE CITY #5: YOU CAN ALWAYS TELL A MOREHOUSE MAN, BUT YOU CAN'T TELL 'EM MUCH... ABOUT LOVE!

Fine Paintings

by Cousin Kim

Ah, summertime in L.A.! Free concerts. Spending time outdoors. Catching up with good people. Running into ex-boyfriends.

It's inevitable that with more free time on my hands, I was bound to run into Morehouse Man.

Morehouse Man is a well-educated, handsome, Afro-Centric, tall, muscular, delicious specimen of manhood I met seven years ago. We were drawn to each other like moth to flame. For me it was his intellect as well as his physical appearance. For him, it was my spirituality, intellect, and the fact that I have "hips like the horn of Africa."

For those who know absolutely nothing about Morehouse College in Atlanta, it is the only Black, all male college in the country. And the men, well...

Anyway, I knew I would see Morehouse Man that day. It was a Jill Scott concert and he was the one who'd introduced me to her music years ago. How did I know that I would see him? I have learned that sometimes we have spiritual connections with people even though we are not meant to be with them.

I know that because of this, I can be at a concert with thousands of people in attendance and if he is there I will see him. Once I had a friend visiting from out of town and we were at the Los Angeles African Marketplace. I told her that I felt Morehouse Man's presence and that he was somewhere near. Less than two minutes later, there he was.

At the Jill Scott concert, I was pleasant when I saw him. We spoke briefly and I saw no reason to be rude. That night, however, at about 11 p.m. he gave me a reason. He called my land line, then my cell phone, then my land line again. I didn't answer. After all, calls after 10 p.m. are suspect; that's got booty call written all over it.

A few days later I emailed him to see what he wanted. He responded that he missed our deep, philosophical and intellectual conversations and wanted to know if we could be the kind of friends that talk on the phone sometimes. This man is not stupid. He knew that our long talks were like foreplay when we dated. Expertly massage the spirit and the mind, then loving the body relentlessly.

As I told him last summer, six years of a heartbreaking on-again, off-again romance, which felt like a taxiing plane that never took off, was enough. So I politely responded, "no, we cannot be the kind of friends that talk on the phone sometimes." Then I wished him his highest and greatest good.

My momma told me me that some men are like fine paintings.

They are meant to be hung on the wall and admired from AFAR. Morehouse Man is a fine painting never to be taken off the wall again.

BLACK WOMEN ARE DOING IT FOR THEMSELVES: BLOGGING!

When I first started blogging regularly, I did it as a way of formulating a body of work for my writing. Little did I know how technologically creative I'd become. And believe me when I say "technologically creative" it's relative.

My priority was, is and will always be to provide solid, rational, thought-provoking content, intended to mentally stimulate and encourage dialogue among the least understood among us. As a condition of my recognition, I've been asked to highlight five other blogs that make me think.

My blogroll says it all. So, here it goes:

What About Our Daughters - Sistah is doing big things like keeping sponsors from supporting offensive, not to mention just plain bad stuff on BET and anywhere else that's offensive. Keep doin' your thing Gina girl.

Mocha Momma - In a world where it seems that most of the mommy bloggers are white, this sistah is making sure that mommies of color have their rightful place when it comes to recognition. She's all that y'all.

Lynne D. Johnson - She is keepin' it real and us informed to what's really happening when it comes to technology and its impact on communication media as we know. This sister is badder than bad. She's even talking about Web 3.0 (I'll give you a hint - it has to do with widgets!). Come on now - can you say, "hand on the pulse" of all that really matters in technology and social networking on the web. Deeper than deep.

Get the rest from our sister here.