For the record, I'm not currently on any prescribed medications. Nor am I one of the eccentric Jackson fans still living in Neverland and disbelief on exactly who Michael Jackson was. And for the sake of clarity, he was a gifted and talented man who had a penchant for young boys and controlled substances--and what Michael wanted, he often got. Case in point, let's just say he finally got the sleep he was looking for. Too bad he'll never awaken to tell us how it was to finally go to sleep.

Now onto Dr. Conrad Murray and this charge of involuntary manslaughter for his use of the operating-room anesthetic propofol as a sleep aid for Jackson--at the deceased's request.

Michael Jackson was a grown man capable of making grown decisions on his own. He knew exactly what he was doing when he directed his doctor to give him propofol.

Look--I know smoking is bad for my health and will eventually lead to cancer and more than likely my death. I know it, the execs at Lorillard Tobacco Company of Greensboro, North Carolina know it, and the clerk at the gas station who sells them to me knows it too. Like Michael Jackson, I am grown and I know with every inhale and exhale exactly what I am putting into my body and the danger it causes. Am I trying to kill myself? No, just like I don't believe that the suits over at Lorillard Tobacco Company or the businesses that sell cigarettes are trying to kill me. Like Dr. Conrad Murray--they're in it for the money. So if I die, well then that's on me. I knew the risks from the first puff.

My decision to smoke is no different from morbidly obese adults who still insist upon eating fast food and refuse to do anything to get down to a healthy weight. When they roll over and die from that Big Mac, large fries, and Coke, whose fault is it, McDonald's or their own? What about lawmakers whose indecisiveness and partisan bickering over healthcare reform indirectly contribute to preventable deaths because universal or even affordable healthcare wasn't an option? Are prosecutors going to charge politicians with involuntary manslaughter?

If Dr. Conrad Murray is guilty of anything, it's ambition, greed, and stupidity. Being the personal doctor of the world's most famous pop singer isn't a bad gig if you can get it, nor is the dough associated with it. Now was it worth it? Probably not, but that's a question only Dr. Murray can answer. As for the stupidity aspect of the whole thing, I truly believe the ambition and greed contributed greatly to it.

Still not convinced Dr. Murray should go free? Consider this.

My grandmother is a diabetic who the doctor told in no uncertain words that if she didn't leave the salt and the sweets alone, she was going to lose a leg, maybe two, and more than likely die. So when I take her out to eat at Sizzler's where she piles fried chicken legs onto her plate which eventually lead to her demise, according to L.A. Prosecutor's reasoning, I should be guilty of involuntary manslaughter as well. I knew she was a diabetic. I knew what the doctor said was going to be the outcome if she ate specific foods. I took her to Sizzler's and I paid for the bill. There you have it. I am guilty.

It's obvious I love my grandmother, so there's no malice or intent, not that prosecutors have to prove it anyway for an involuntary manslaughter charge. But if my grandmother should die and the cause was proven to be what she ate well that qualifies as a lawful act performed "without due caution and circumspection." Lock me up cause' I'm guilty as charged. And like Dr. Murray who had Jackson's permission, I had my grandmother's permission to take her to Sizzler, in fact she specifically asked me to take her to Sizzlers so she could eat those fried chicken legs. Although unlike Dr. Murray, my grandmother wasn't paying me, but in my defense, she sure does know how to lay the guilt on me when I don't do what she asks.

If L.A. prosecutors want to charge someone with involuntary manslaughter, they can start with parents who smoked around their children that eventually led to their children being diagnosed with cancer and dying. And if the children didn't die but contracted asthma or some other form of illness, charge them anyway.

Another good start would be admitting that overweight and obese children whose parents do nothing about their children's weight and continue to feed their children fast food and sweets are the victims of child abuse therefore holding the parents accountable in a criminal court of law. You see, I believe that unlike Michael Jackson who was grown, children are not adults responsible for their own behavior.

Perhaps even more puzzling in the drama known as the death of Michael Jackson, is that while prosecutors in Chicago couldn't manage to charge a certain other pop singer with rape or even the possession of child pornography even with video of the crime, here in L.A., our prosecutors found the time to pull a rabbit out of hat under the guise of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a grown man who had a penchant for young boys and controlled substances.

Until we're ready as a society to reexamine what constitutes a criminal offense, including the offenses I cited earlier, anyone looking to blame someone for Michael Jackson's death should start here... 1712 South Glendale Avenue otherwise known as Forest Lawn Memorial Park.

Yeah, I know Michael Jackson's music was loved, as with that other singer from Chicago, I was a fan too before I found out the truth. But let's not get crazy here. It's not like he was cranking out the hits before he died and blaming Dr. Conrad Murray for his death isn't going to bring Michael back--not that he was "here" technically when he was alive. And if you charge Dr. Murray, why not charge everyone else who technically aided and abetted in the committing of said crime by knowing what was transpiring between Jackson and his doctor and doing nothing about it?

Bottom line--if Dr. Conrad Murray is guilty of involuntary manslaughter I guess the only thing left for me to say is, where is my "Free Dr. Conrad Murray" t-shirt?

Asked by a moderator to identify her top three priorities, Palin first mentioned the need to cut spending. Then she looked down at the palm of her hand and appeared to be reading notes of what to say next. The words "Energy," "Tax" and "Lift American Spirits" were visible in a photograph of her hand that appeared in the media. The phrase "Budget cuts" also appeared with the word Budget crossed out.

Ironically, Palin had just finished criticizing Obama for using a teleprompter to give his speeches. "This is about the people," she said in her speech. "And it's bigger than any king or queen of a tea party. And it's a lot bigger than any charismatic guy with a teleprompter."

During the question and answer session, Palin was also asked for her response to President Obama's policies. "We hear about the Obama plan. What's the Palin plan?" the questioner asked.

"The Palin plan is quite simple and I kind of get a kick out of it," she said. "I think it probably drives some of the elitists crazy that I don't get angry out about it, I get a kick out of it when they say that I'm too simple minded and too plain spoken, but my plan is quite simple and that is to support those who understand the foundation of our country."

She then tried to provide more specifics on the economy and national security. "When it comes to the economy, it is free market principles that reward hard work and personal responsibility," she said. "And when it comes to national security, as I ratchet down the message on national security, it's easy to just kind of sum it up by repeating Ronald Reagan when he talked about the Cold War. And we can apply this now to our war on terrorism, you know. Bottom line, we win, they lose. We do all that we can to win."

Palin also made headlines on Fox News Sunday, where host Chris Wallace asked her why it was okay for Rush Limbaugh to use the word "retarded" but not for White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Palin, a new Fox News contributor, also criticized the McCain campaign's "poor" media strategy as an explanation for why she had never appeared on a Sunday morning show before this weekend.

"Our politically correct society is acting like some giant insult's taken place by calling a bunch of people who are retards, retards," Limbaugh said last week. But although cited her Down's Syndrome baby and took offense at Emanuel's use of the word "retarded," she defended Limbaugh from charges that he should apologize. "They are kooks, so I agree with Rush Limbaugh. Rush Limbaugh was using satire to bring attention to what this politically correct," she said.

Wallace interrupted: "But he used the "R" word." Palin replied: "Using satire. Name calling by anyone -- I teach this to my children, you teach it to your children and your grandchildren, too. Name calling by anyone, it's just unnecessary. It just wastes time."

Asked to distinguish Limbaugh from Emanuel, Palin added: "I didn't hear Rush Limbaugh calling a group of people whom he did not agree with 'F-ing retards.' And we did know that Rahm Emanuel, it's been reported, did say that. That's a big difference there."

The new numbers come as President Obama and the White House are trying to push a major jobs bill to encourage businesses to hire workers again and not long after the government reported that gross domestic product rose in the final quarter of 2009.

The official unemployment rate, however, does not include those who have left the workforce and are no longer looking for jobs.

Nonfarm payroll employment was essentially unchanged, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. About 20,000 jobs were lost last month. Jobs were added in temporary help services and retail but fell in construction, transportation and warehousing.

The total number of unemployed persons decreased to 14.8 million.

The official unemployment rate for blacks (16.5 percent) was nearly twice as high as that for Asians (8.4 percent) and significantly higher than the rate for Hispanics (12.6 percent).

The new number is more than 30 times more than the official $700 billion that Congress authorized to bail out the big banks and failed Wall Street financial houses. The $700 billion figure tossed out quickly became etched in financial stone. Then President Bush, President Obama, Congress, and the Wall Street and banking industry and every financial pundit cited the $700 billion payout as the maximum that taxpayers would be stuck with. Now almost as an afterthought, Webb and Boxer casually toss out the $23 trillion number.

Boxer and Webb made mention of it in a press statement to bolster their call for passage of the Taxpayer Fairness Act. This would levy a one time 50 percent surtax on bonuses on amounts over $400,000 in compensation and bonuses that the big banks and firms ladled out to their executives. Don't hold your breath on this one, though. Boxer, Webb and the Senate were unwilling to impose this tax on the obscene bonuses that the big bank execs paid each other as a condition of getting the TARP money. The only thing that's changed since then is that public fury at the non-stop record bonuses they pay each other has risen to fever pitch. And even if there was a congressional epiphany and payment required, the big banks that got the taxpayer cash will argue as they have every time a squawk is made about their obscene money that they've paid the money back.

Boxer and Webb's move smacks of yet another empty gesture by two Senators feeling election heat to tap into popular rage at the bankers by appearing to be anti-Wall Street crusaders.

The outrage, though, should be over whether Boxer, Webb, the White House and Congress have come clean over how much the banks and financial houses dinged taxpayers for. One, two, or three federal agencies involved in the fed giveaway is one thing but fifty different agencies is another. The agencies that may have shoved more money to the banks and houses were known as early as April 2009. In testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Tarp's Inspector General listed the agencies and the projected dollar amounts.

Federal Reserve: $6.8 trillion
Treasury -Non-Tarp: $4.4 trillion
National Credit Union, Veterans Affairs, the Government National Mortgage Assn, the Federal Housing Administration, Federal Housing Finance Agency: $7.2 trillion
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) $2.3 Trillion
US Treasury: $7.4 trillion

Several House reps screamed loud then that the Treasury was mute silent or had stonewalled every effort made to find out exactly how much of the cash that the Treasury actually doled out to the banks and financial houses. Nearly a year later they still really don't know. The issue from the beginning has been transparency or the absence of it by the Treasury. Congress has failed to force the federal agencies to tell what they have spent, and how they spent it.

At the time of his congressional testimony last April, the Tarp inspector general had 35 criminal and civil investigations of banks and financial houses for accounting fraud, securities fraud, insider trading, mortgage service misconduct, mortgage fraud and public corruption false statement and tax investigations going. This wasn't enough to trigger bells and whistles that Treasury had grossly low balled the figures on the bailout.

Boxer and Webb had ample opportunity to demand the Treasury and other federal agencies fully open their books on the amounts that were being spent. The White House and Congress have repeatedly publicly assured us that bailout money ladled out came in way under the official $700 billion that Congress authorized, and that much of the money has been repaid. That still doesn't tell what other help the big banks and financial houses got in the form of loans, grants, insurance or asset guarantees, and what federal agencies were involved. Boxer and Webb haven't told us that either.

The meeting came just days after the president took questions from Republicans in an unprecedented live telecast from his fiercest critics.

Obama took on the institution of Congress and the media echo chamber for creating a climate that has stifled change in Washington.

"Do you know what I think would actually make a difference," Obama said. "If everybody here -- excuse all the members of the press who are here -- if everybody turned off your CNN, your Fox, just turn off the TV, MSNBC, blogs, and just go talk to folks out there, instead of being in this echo chamber where the topic is constantly politics. The topic is politics."

Asked by Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) what lawmakers need to do differently to fix Washington, Obama said the problem is that the institution of Congress is increasingly not adapted to the demands of a 21st century. Nonetheless, he said the problem is not the individuals but the system. "I am a fierce defender of the integrity and hard work of individual members," Obama said.

Despite a stinging loss of Senator Ted Kennedy's former Senate seat in Massachusetts last month, Obama told his fellow Democrats to continue pushing their agenda. "We still have to lead," he said.

The president rejected GOP arguments for tax cuts as a solution to the nation's economic woes. "What you're going to start hearing [from Republicans] is the only way to provide stability is to go back and do what we were doing before the crisis," the president said. "The result is going to be the same. I don't know why we would expect a different outcome, pursuing the exact same policies that got us into this fix in the first place."

Obama also criticized the GOP for complaining about the lack of bipartisan legislative achievements. "We'll call them out when they say they want to work with us, and we extend a hand and get a fist in return," he said.

The president reminded Democrats of his message to Republicans last week. "The challenge I gave to Republicans ... is if you want to govern, you can't just say no."

The New York Times' Caucus Blog:

"In the almost 17 years since the 'don't ask, don't tell' legislation was passed, attitudes and circumstances have changed," General Powell said in a statement issued by his office. He added: "I fully support the new approach presented to the Senate Armed Services Committee this week by Secretary of Defense Gates and Admiral Mullen."

When Mr. Clinton tried to end the ban on gay soldiers, General Powell was the Joint Chiefs chairman and opposed the move on the grounds that it would undermine discipline and order in the military but he supported the "don't ask" compromise. In his statement on Wednesday, General Powell said "the principal issue has always been the effectiveness of the Armed Forces and order and discipline in the ranks." He noted that he has said for the past two years that it was "time for the law to be reviewed," but his new statement of unequivocal support for the effort by Mr. Gates and Admiral Mullen could be an important factor as the debate moves forward this year.

Powell said during the 2008 elections that it was time to "review" the 1993 the to repeal the 1993 law that bans openly gay men and women from serving in the military.

On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates Joints Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen told lawmakers they supported President Obama's proposal. Mullen became the first sitting JCS chairman to endorse the repeal.

[Original Entry]

So I was surprised to learn that O's right hand man, Rahm Emanuel, used the word when referring to some left wing groups last summer. Seems my man was pretty ticked off that they were going to fund some ads against some blue dogs, and old Rahm let it fly.

"Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Emanuel, exasperated upon learning that liberal special-interest groups were planning to run ads against conservative Democrats not supportive of health care reform, blasted the plan as "f------ retarded" over the summer.."

Shame on you Rahm, be more careful with your language next time. And apologize to all the folks who are involved with the learning disabled here in A-merry-ca, be it professionally or personally.

Now, having said that, I have to get with our girl Sarah again. Apparently she sees a political opportunity here, and she isn't wasting anytime before taking advantage of it.

"Naturally, some outrage ensued after Emanuel's words came to light, with former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin taking to her Facebook page to call on President Obama to fire him for what she saw as the equivalent of a racial slur. Palin, whose son Trig is afflicted with Down syndrome, said she was informed of Emanuel's comment by a fellow parent of a special-needs child and pleaded with the president to "show decency" to the political process by "eliminating" the Chicago native from his inner circle. In a post titled "Are You Capable of Decency, Rahm Emanuel?," Palin wrote, "Just as we'd be appalled if any public figure of Rahm's stature ever used the 'N-word' or other such inappropriate language, Rahm's slur on all God's children with cognitive and developmental disabilities -- and the people who love them -- is unacceptable," adding, "it's heartbreaking."

Sarah, stop it! You wouldn't be outraged if Rahm used the N word anymore than you were when Trent Lott longed for the days of segregation. I swear you wingnuts can use the race card when you think it benefits you. The R word as used by Emanuel was a bad word. The N word as used by___[fill in the blank], is wrong. But please, let us not compare them when you want to score cheap political points. We all know that if this had been a republican president and his chief of staff had said these things, you would have been silent. Trig would have not had mommy standing by him. Besides, it looks like Rahm reached out to some folks.

"A Politico story today reports that an administration official informed them that Emanuel had already reached out to Special Olympics chairman and CEO Tim Shriver, who recently launched a campaign to end the use of "the R word.""Rahm called Tim Shriver Wednesday to apologize and the apology was accepted," the unnamed official said."

Story over? Sarah, if Trig had a say, I am guessing that he would say, yes. [Story]

[Original Entry]

Answer: Gold.

The Lee Daniels directed film "Precious: Based On The Novel By Sapphire" was nominated for six Academy Awards on Tuesday, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress.

The film itself was nominated for Best Picture, while leading star Gabourey Sidibe, who plays the role of Precious, was nominated for best actress, and Monique was nominated for best supporting actress, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Tuesday.

Director Lee Daniels was nominated for best director, Joe Klotz was nominated for best film editing and Geoffrey Fletcher was nominated for best writing for an adapted screenplay.

The film features acting performances by several big names, including Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz and Sherri Shepherd. After the film was made, Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry joined on as producers.

The Academy Awards will be presented Sunday, March 7 at 8 p.m. Eastern Time in Los Angeles.

[Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story inadvertently mentioned the Golden Globes. We apologize for the error._

Their paperwork was not in order and they are currently awaiting a hearing before a Haitian judge.

In the aftermath of the earthquake many do gooders have come to Haiti to help, but many children have been taken out of the country fairly quickly. The adoptions were supposedly in the works prior to the tragedy, but situations like this current one need to be looked at closely.

In this case, some of these children claimed to have parents, uncles and aunts that were on other parts of the island, but they were still herded into the bus for a trip to this new "orphanage."

I am not here to determine whether the motives of the Idaho group were pure or not, but I am happy to see some semblance of law is questioning whether or not these children are going from a bad situation to a worse situation.

Haiti has experienced an incredible crisis but their children are not throwaways. Some people are there to offer these children a real future, but others are offering these children a life of unpaid servitude, and that would be a second tragedy that the Haitian government is trying to stop.

My only hope is this is not too little too late. It has been three weeks since the quake and many children have left the island never to return. Most of them do not speak English, so wherever they go it will be difficult for them to communicate and sometimes that barrier works to the benefit of those whose motives are not pure.

At this point we can pray for those who are already gone, but it is the responsibility of the Haitian government to make sure the rest of the children are actually moving on to a better future.

[Original Entry]

Lowery, who gave the official benediction at the inauguration of President Barack Obama as the first African American president, served as head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in the 1970s. He was the group's third president, after Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and his immediate successor, Rev. Dr. Ralph David Abernathy.

Lowery, 88, was admitted at Emory University Hospital complaining of respiratory problems and was taken into the intensive care unit, but he was later reported to be in stable condition, according to the Associated Press.

Who Is Paul Shirley?

With a total of 33 points scored over a 18 game NBA "career", Paul Shirley never did diddly-squat on the court worth mentioning. The only reason to notice him now is because saying something dumb got him the attention that sitting at the end of the bench guarding the Gatorade never did.

While the rest of the world looks to do the right thing and help those in need there's always one in every crowd whose contribution is demonstrate there's no situation where selfishness and stupidity can't be interjected.

In this case it's Paul Shirley. Insert one big "WHO?" here.

Paul Shirley, a former NBA player whose greatest accomplishment prior to popping off about Haiti was being the tall stiff and 12th man holding down the end of the benches of the three teams he briefly "played" for. Shirley took time out from picking splinters out of his backside to pen a long, boring and mean-spirited essay about the world's response to the earthquake in Haiti for the blog FlipCollective.com.

I haven't donated a cent to the Haitian relief effort. And I probably will not.

I haven't donated to the Haitian relief effort for the same reason that I don't give money to homeless men on the street. Based on past experiences, I don't think the guy with the sign that reads "Need You're Help" is going to do anything constructive with the dollar I might give him. If I use history as my guide, I don't think the people of Haiti will do much with my money either.

Shirley goes on to address a "letter" to the Haitians. He's going to speak for the whole world. How nice of him to work so hard so the rest of us don't have to.

Dear Haitians -

The Rest of the World

My mind reels searching for just the right response to such blatant stupidity should be, but I keep coming back to "who the hell is Paul Shirley and why should anyone care about what he says about anything?"

Here's the important numbers you need to know about Paul "Splinters" Shirley: played in 18 games in the NBA for a total of 121 minutes over three seasons for three teams and scored 33 (count 'em) points. He's bounced around to no less than 13 basketball teams in the NBA, to the Yakima Sun Kings to Greece, Russia and China. Which just proves that as long as you're tall (6?10?) you'll get a shot even if you got no game.

Having no skills beyond being White and tall, Shirley garnered more notoriety by writing for ESPN.com about his journeys around the world playing basketball badly for numerous teams. ESPN fired him for his "put on a condom" remarks. Seems they didn't dig what he had to say either.

Paul Shirley is the personification of a non-entity. Plus, he's got the last name of a girl. But at least Rush Limbaugh and Pat Robertson can say "Thanks, Paul" for taking some of the heat off of them as Stupid White Men saying incredibly dumb stuff about something they know nothing about. A week or so from now when this all blows over Shirley can return to the obscurity he's worked for, he's earned and nobody can take away from him.

Darlene Etienne, a 16-year-old girl, was pulled out of the rubble alive some 15 days after the earthquake. By any standard that qualifies as a miracle. Not to someone like Paul Shirley. He'd probably just shrug "so what" and he wouldn't offer her any help.

Maybe he'd toss her a pack of Trojans and tell her to make good usage of it when she feels better.

Shirley should be ashamed for his callous and selfishness. Even a journeyman like him can afford to cough up a lousy ten bucks to help Darlene Etienne and those like her in Haiti. If that's too much to ask perhaps he shouldn't pass up on a perfectly good opportunity to keep his lip zipped if he has nothing positive to add.

In lieu of cash maybe Shirley's has a pair of old sneakers he can donate. Lord knows with all the time he's spent sitting on the bench he sure hasn't worn them out.

Among rich nations, the United States, without question, has the worst health care system. We are the only rich nation that this problem of the uninsured. In Australia, everyone has health care. In Japan, everyone has health care. In Switzerland, everyone has health care. In the United States, almost 50 million do without.

Not only do we have a large population that lacks good access to health care, we pay more for it. Other rich countries pay less per capita in health care costs than we do. The Australians and the Swiss pay about half what we pay per capita. The Japanese pay even less. Again, these countries cover their entire population. We don't.

If we do not find a way to reduce the cost of health care and slow its growth, health care will bankrupt the country. By the end of the century, rising Medicare and Medicaid costs are projected to cripple the federal government. A step in the right direction would be to make our health care system more like Australia's or Switzerland's or Japan's which could cut current costs in half.

The final cherry-on-top of our health care dysfunction is that we have some of the worst health outcomes among rich countries. We have the highest infant mortality rate, the highest obesity rate, and, in life expectancy, we are near the bottom. Americans should be screaming for health care reform, not against it.

If reason played a role in American politics, we would have spent part of last year being educated about how other countries manage to provide health care for all, pay less than we do, and deliver high quality health care. (See PBS' Frontline: Sick around the World for what this education effort would look like.) The fact of the matter is that different countries do different things to provide universal health care. We could have reviewed a menu of options and voted for what we liked. That would have been the reasonable thing to do.

Reason, however, does not seem to work in American politics. Now, it seems that the only way the American health care system will ever be reformed is when the millions of uninsured mobilize and demand it from our politicians. Until then, petty politics will ensure that we continue to have the worst and the most expensive health care.

Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag explained the budget this way on the White House and OMB site:

Serena Williams defeated Justine Henin to take the Australian Open on Saturday.

Williams's win gave her the title for the fifth time and 12 Grand Slam singles titles.

She beat Henin 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 and now stands at 5-0 in finals at the Grand Slam.