The day after Thanksgiving aka Black Friday aka shopping madness. I’ve never embraced the excitement of getting up at 3am the day after Thanksgiving to be ready for the 4am sales. Utter madness. You couldn’t pay me enough, let alone entice me with bargains, to crawl out of a warm bed at o-dark-thirty on my Friday off to shop with the masses. I’m not saying I don’t love bargains but I have my limits.

Thanks to black friday (dot) biz I can reap the money saving benefits of Black Friday and never get out from under my down comforter! Ahhh the wonders of the internet….. click for more…

Damn it - here we go again - Can’t anyone just be real and actually live what they preach?

Rick Ross the Gangsta Rapper is really a former Correctional Office.

Michelle Obama, supporter of the working class, served two years on the board of a major Wal-Mart vendor but resigned when Barack’s presidential stock started to rise.

Tell me, why it is okay to serve on the board and earn money from TreeHouse, a company whose largest customer is Wal-Mart - a store your family shuns for its anti-union policies?

On May 14, 2008 during an AFL-CIO forum in Trenton, N.J., Sen. Obama was asked about Wal-Mart. “I won’t shop there,” he said.

On the flip side, Sen. Obama tells Crain’s Chicago Business magazine that his views on corporate reform and social justice remain the same regardless of what happens at TreeHouse. Further, Sen. Obama says about Mrs. Obama’s TreeHouse board membership, “Michelle and I have to live in the world and pay taxes and pay for our kids and save for retirement.” I see, the ends justify the means? click for more…

Thanks to the.LIFE files for bringing this story to light -

Wal-Mart Urges Employees Not To Vote For Barack Obama

Dozens of employees from several states working at the giant chain have come forward to say that at recent meetings of store managers and department supervisors they were urged to vote for John McCain and not Barack because of his stance on labor issues. Here’s the link to their post.

Yet another strike against Slave-Mart.  I guess we shouldn’t be surprised - check my earlier post

Wal-Mart Loses Lawsuit Over Work Breaks

Sorry the doc is a little hard to read…..

click for more…

On August 15, 2008, a multimillion dollar assault and battery lawsuit was filed in the Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York by DJ Vlad (Vlad Lyubovny) against platinum recording artist Rick Ross (William Leonard Roberts) stemming from an incident that took place on August 10, 2008 at the Ozone Awards in Houston, Texas.

(image courtesy of Baller Status)

I’ve been hearing about and reading about the Ozone / TJs DJs fiasco in Houston. I can’t take it, I have to call out the hypocrisy I’m finding all over the place.

A commenter on SOHH says “it seems like there’s a lot of “jumping on the bandwagon” rather than voicing an opinion from the jump. Why not “expose” or “express” the dissatisfaction before this situation? That’s all I’m curious about.”

Hip Hop Spy called out Ozone nearly a month before the event in their post “Ozone Awards are a Joke“.

The biggest smoking gun for the hypocrisy is the December 23, 2005 Julia Beverly: Ozone Vs. The Source article on Baller Status.

STOP and read the following carefully please : )

My post isn’t about the Julia and Benzino beef, I reference the article because it provides a concentrated source of “JB” comments.

JB: In 2005 Beverly named The Source co-owner Benzino the “Most Successful Extortionist” - she claims it was meant to be humorous but was also done in part because The Source owed her money. “I just write what I feel. If that sells more magazines, cool. If not, cool,” “You could criticize Ozone for publishing “controversial” stories if you want. But if we didn’t write controversial stories, you wouldn’t be interviewing me right now, so you and I are in the same business.” & “If you don’t have haters, you aren’t doing it right.”

The Hypocrisy: In SOHH.com’s story ATL BLOG: Is Julia Beverly The Devil? Or Are Y’all Just Hatin’?? SOHH Gyant writes “The publicist from this <ozone> event [who shall remain nameless] is instructing/demanding that all media take the high road and only focus on the positive click for more…

Several of my friends drive leased cars - really nice cars - a lot more exciting than what I can afford. I’ve been reluctant to lease - just the phrase “lease a car” evokes echos of my dad’s voice, “don’t lease, you will always have car payments and in the end own nothing.”

I saw an ad for a company called swap a lease, they claim they can help you find short term car leases - no money down and if you are aren’t happy you can exit your car lease early - with no penalties. Perhaps swap a lease offers a good option to test-drive (ha ha ha) a car lease?

Hey - I found a 36 month lease on a Bentley Continental GT, only $3,629 a month……

now if I could just find a way to pay for it.

Joking aside this actually an interesting site, I found a 2005 Cadillac STS - $228/mo with only 5 months left. I could do that. Check out swap a lease and if you’ve used it let us know what you think.

One in three American adults has one or more forms of cardiovascular (heart & circulatory system) disease. A statistic near and dear to my heart (nice pun, huh?) - my mom died of a heart attack at age 36 :: YES, I REALLY SAID 36 YEARS OLD.

But here’s the good news, in many cases a Heart Attack is very preventable.  My mom was a slender, active woman who began smoking as a teen & continued to smoke - A LOT.

There are two key tools every one of us can use to help prevent heart related disabilities and death - Information & Action.

HeartLibrary.com makes getting information easier then ever.  The site contains a library of interactive videos covering tons of information, from how our hearts work to a variety of heart conditions and diseases. Real doctors explain, in simple, easy to understand language the how, what and whys of taking care of our hearts.

Don’t be a statistic - be a leader, get informed, take action and educate those you love.

Speculation about McCain’s running mate isn’t quite as sexy as the speculation about Obama’s choice.  Guessing which fifty-something white man will get the McCain nod isn’t as exciting as wading through the broader Obama field of unknown variables: gender, race & age range. Those unknowns allow us to dream and speculate about who the rising star will pick as his partner to change the country and, perhaps, affect significant changes in the world.

With that said, I haven’t written off the Republican party as powerful change makers. My prediction for McCain’s running mate is Minnesota’s Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty. Pawlenty offers some impressive stats and has shown his progressive nature in matters of gender, race and energy policy.

During his first and now second term as MN’s Governor Pawlenty has relied on Lieutenant Governor Carol Molnau. 

His twenty-three member cabinet is 30% female, unfortunately significantly less than the fifty percent gender mix in the general population.  However in a state where 85-90% of its population is white, 20% of Pawlenty’s cabinet are not white.

His most notable accomplishments include: click for more…

You’ve got to be kidding, a stay at home spa-wife with no kids reduces a man’s stress?  Can you say duh?  I almost choked on my protein shake when I read that headline. More about why I’m drinking a protein shake in a later post.

Daniel Buccino, a Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine clinical social worker and psychotherapist, says stay-at-home wives are the latest “status symbols.” Having a stay at home spouse says, ‘We make enough money that we both don’t need to work outside the home,’” he says. “And especially with the recent economic pressures, a stay-at-home spouse is often an extreme and visible luxury.”

I’m not knocking the concept but, let’s spend a little more time thinking through our headlines CNN.