Trevor Coleman thinks it's time for President Obama to get a new speech for black audiences. The personal responsibility finger-wagging, delivered most recently Sunday at Morehouse College's commencement, is getting old.

The half-hour speech in Atlanta drew a rousing response from those who had sat in pouring rain waiting for the president to speak.

Coleman, a former speechwriter for former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm, said that although parts of the talk were strong and lofty, including passages honoring Morehouse graduate Martin Luther King Jr., he was disappointed that Obama almost always defaults to the clean-up-your-act message when talking to predominantly black audiences. First lady Michelle Obama issued a similar tongue-lashing last week at Bowie State University's commencement ceremony. She told graduates at the historically black Maryland school that too many young people are "fantasizing about being a baller or a rapper."

"The first couple of times, it was okay, but I and a lot of other people are beginning to grow weary of it," said Coleman, adding that the message was particularly galling at Sunday's event at the historically black Georgia school. "What made it so gratuitous was this was Morehouse College! In the African American community, the very definition of a Morehouse man is someone who is a leader, who is taught to go out and make a difference in his community." (The White House declined comment.)

Obama has been making this point -- and stirring controversy -- since he was a candidate in 2008. Jesse Jackson Sr. was incensed by what he saw as Obama's "talking down to black people," yet it was Jackson who was criticized. Many in the black community believed that Obama's chastisements were necessary to make himself politically palatable to white voters.

The president's most recent such remarks -- there were only a few Sunday, but they were widely reported -- triggered a debate on blogs and social media that, in part, asked why Obama continued his lecturing.

Leola Johnson, an associate professor and chair of the Media and Cultural Studies Department at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn., said the Obamas' speeches "are actually not aimed at black people."

"They're actually for white people, liberals especially," she said. Liberal bloggers were brimming with praise for Obama after the Morehouse speech. "It's the legacy of Daniel Patrick Moynihan and that whole group of white liberals who want to say it's not just about structural problems that black people aren't doing well, it's about their own values."

Kevin Powell, an activist based in New York who travels the country encouraging black men to take responsibility for their lives, said he has no problem with Obama challenging the black community, but . . .

"You also have to challenge the system, just as you challenge the people. It's not an either/or," said Powell, president and founder of BK Nation, an organization focused on education and civic engagement.

Everything had to come together just perfectly to create the killer tornado in Moore, Okla.: wind speed, moisture in the air, temperature and timing. And when they did, the awesome energy released over that city dwarfed the power of the atomic bomb that leveled Hiroshima.

To get such an uncommon storm to form is "a bit of a Goldilocks problem," said Pennsylvania State University meteorology professor Paul Markowski. "Everything has to be just right."

For example, there must be humidity for a tornado to form, but too much can cut the storm off. The same goes with the cold air in a downdraft: Too much can be a storm-killer.

But when the ideal conditions do occur, watch out. The power of nature beats out anything man can create.

"Everything was ready for explosive development yesterday," said Colorado State University meteorology professor Russ Schumacher, who was in Oklahoma launching airborne devices that measured the energy, moisture and wind speeds on Monday. "It all just unleashed on that one area."

Several meteorologists contacted by The Associated Press used real time measurements, some made by Schumacher, to calculate the energy released during the storm's 40-minute life span. Their estimates ranged from 8 times to more than 600 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb, with more experts at the high end. Their calculations were based on energy measured in the air and then multiplied over the size and duration of the storm.

An EF5 tornado has the most violent winds on Earth, more powerful than a hurricane. The strongest winds ever measured were the 302 mph reading, measured by radar, during the EF5 tornado that struck Moore on May 3, 1999, according to Jeff Masters, meteorology director at the Weather Underground.

Still, when it comes to weather events, scientists usually know more about and can better predict hurricanes, winter storms, heat waves and other big events.

That's because even though a tornado like the one that struck Moore was 1.3 miles wide, with a path of 17 miles long, in meteorological terms it was small, hard to track, rare and even harder to study. So tornadoes are still more of a mystery than their hurricane cousins, even though tropical storms form over ocean areas where no one is, while this tornado formed only miles from the very National Weather Service office that specializes in tornadoes.

"This phenomenon can be so deadly you would think that something that catastrophic, that severe would lend itself to understanding," said Adam Houston, meteorology professor at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. "But we're fighting the inherent unpredictability of these small-scale phenomena."

Unlike hurricanes, which forecasters can fly through in planes and monitor with buoys and weather stations, usually over a period of days, tornadoes form quickly and normally last only a matter of minutes. While meteorologists and television hosts chase tornadoes and try to get readings, it's not usually enough. This storm lasted 40 minutes - long for a regular tornado but not too unusual for such a violent one, said research meteorologist Harold Brooks at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Okla.

Still, the conditions needed to form such a violent and devastating tornado were there and forecasters knew it, warning five days in advance that something big could happen, Brooks said.

By Monday morning, forecasters at the National Weather Center, home of the storm lab and storm prediction center, knew "that any storm that formed in that environment had the potential to be a strong to violent tornado," he said.

"This is a pretty classic setup," Brooks said.

"The Fighting Temptations" is one of the funniest, tongue-in-cheek depictions of the Pentecostal Baptist church. The 2003 movie stars Cuba Gooding Jr. and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, and uses humor to expose the wickedness flowing through some church pews. In the film, Gooding navigates church politics to organize a viable choir for a gospel competition.

Though Paulina is a caricature, my then 14-year-old brain couldn't comprehend how any Christian could be so devious and conniving. Paulina was the polar opposite of what I was fed in church, so I turned to my mother for answers. My mom's answer was succinct: "All Christians don't follow God's word."

I've held onto my mother's impromptu teaching, adding it to an ever-growing arsenal of lessons about the Christian church's hypocrisies. Her words to me resurfaced this weekend as I watched the latest episode of OWN's "Iyanla, Fix My Life." Spiritual life coach Iyanla Vanzant was offering guidance to the Pace Sisters, a world-renowned gospel group in crisis.

Most of their conflict stems from one sister's struggle with her sexuality. DeJuaii is attracted to women and is angry because she sees this as ungodly and an embarrassment to her family. Her sisters agree and shun DeJuaii instead of supporting her.

Their lack of love and support led to a major confrontation between one of the sisters, June, and Vanzant.

June left the room and refused to return while DeJuaii was discussing her dilemma. When Vanzant requested June's presence, she put her hands on her hips and responded, "I mean, we know better," as if 'knowing better' can quell same-sex attraction. This defiant act initiated an important conversation about how June perceives Christianity and what it actually entails.

Vanzant made a stark clarification when she said, "What you need to understand is what that look, that energy, that vibration does to your sister."

She continued, "That is not a godly energy you're giving off now! I don't understand being so saturated in a dogma and a theology that you would not embrace your sister in her deepest need and pain... I just want you to be mindful of how your energy hurts her."

And ...scene.

Elevate Church Pastor Steven Earp didn't expect his Sunday sermon to be a prophetic message--at least not so soon.

Earp's message was titled, "Strength From Struggles: Preparing for Struggles." He didn't realize the connection until mid-afternoon Tuesday.

"It didn't even dawn on me about that for a long time," says Earp, whose church is 19 months old. "I talked about how to prepare for struggles to come. It's amazing. The thing that jumps out specifically about it was that I said, 'While we're in this life, we're going to have struggles. If we're not prepared for them emotionally, the struggles are going to be intense.'

"I know that you can't prepare for something like this. But the big idea behind my message was when preparation meets problems, and how you can overcome them. It's going to obviously take a while to get over this, but this city is blessed, and we will recover."

The National Weather Service reported Tuesday that the tornado, which spanned 2 miles wide, was categorized as an EF5, the topmost catastrophic tornado there is, with winds up to 200 mph.

Early Tuesday morning, Earp said his home didn't suffer a power outage, but he and his family were without running water. A few members of his congregation that had lost their homes in the storms were staying with the Earps.

Residents in the tornado-battered town of Moore, Okla., spent the day trying to recover and clean up as the governor asked America to pray for Oklahoma.

The massive EF4 twister packed wind speeds of up to 200 miles per hour, killed at least 24 people, including seven children Monday.

"Just in the matter of 30 minutes, your whole life is whole life is torn upside down," one Moore resident said.

Resident Daniel Garbelman spent the day cleaning up debris and trying to salvage what's left of his home.

"Long time to clean up," he said. "It's going to take a while."

It's a scene that played out across the Oklahoma City suburb as emergency workers searched the ruins for survivors. 

Dozens were killed as a historic tornado moved through the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20 prompting the North American Mission Board to direct all incoming disaster relief funds to the area.

Many of the victims were children, after the tornado severely damaged two elementary schools. The search for survivors continued Tuesday, and it was unclear how many could still be trapped in rubble, dead or alive.

Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) President Fred Luter expressed concern for the tragedy in the nation's heartland.

"On behalf of the Southern Baptist Convention, our prayers and thoughts are with the families and victims of the tragic tornado in Moore, Okla.," Luter said in a statement May 21. "Not only our prayers but disaster relief teams from across the SBC are there to assist in any way possible. May God give the citizens of Moore, Okla., comfort, strength and hope during this trying time."

Hundreds of people were injured as the two-mile wide tornado stayed on the ground for 40 minutes, cutting a 22-mile path in a heavily populated area. An early estimate rated the tornado as an EF4, CNN said.

North Carolina Baptists stand ready to respond as well. The N.C. Baptist Men have alerted Oklahoma Baptists of their availability.

 

"We have equipment and team leaders on alert for a possible response," according to Baptist Men's Facebook page. "We are maintaining situational awareness and in contact with national leadership. Pray for the survivors as they face the challenges of today."

 

Recovery volunteers were urged to contact their team or regional leaders to let them know of their availability.

The North American Mission Board, in charge of the national Southern Baptist Disaster Relief operation, used Twitter Monday night to signal an exclusive allotment of funds.

"We are currently directing all donations to our disaster fund to Oklahoma City relief. #prayforoklahoma," NAMB tweeted with a link to a donation form.

More than 250 Southern Baptist Theological Seminary students received degrees ranging from certificates to doctorates during spring commencement exercises on the seminary lawn.

"You will go to churches of all shapes and sizes and contexts. You will go into the streets with mercy and into the cities with compassion. You will go into homes with care and into places marked by both light and darkness," Mohler said. "You will go to preach the Word, to declare the good news of salvation, to make disciples. You will teach and preach and care and pray. You will lead and learn and point people to Jesus.

"Our fervent prayer is that, as you go, you go with the longing to be asked the question that was so famously asked of Peter and John: 'By whose power or by what name did you do this?' We long to hear you answer, 'This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.'

"That question may land some of you in jail," Mohler said. "It will be asked of others in jungles. But wherever you are asked and regardless of who does the asking, the answer is always the same: 'In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!'"

"Most Latino Protestants are Pentecostals, which means that most of the students in the Hispanic Center are already in ministry and do not need a degree from Fuller to pastor. They study at Fuller as part of their continuing education, not to be ordained. Many of these students are on the fringe of U.S. Protestantism and do not regularly have to interact with the power structures of majority-culture churches," Martinez writes in Aliens in the Promised Land.

Fuller Theological Seminary, which describes itself as "an evangelical, multidenominational, international and multiethnic community," is located in Pasadena, Calif., and has an average enrollment of 4,300 students. The evangelical school, one of the largest in the world, asked Martinez in 2001 to take on leadership of its Hispanic Center. Fuller has been in the business of equipping Hispanic men and women for ministry for 35 years. In fact, Martinez, a Mennonite Brethren pastor who calls himself a "Latino leader," earned his Ph.D. and Th.M. degrees at Fuller.

Sharing his experience, views and suggestions in a chapter entitled "Serving Alongside Latinos in a Multiethnic,Transnational, Rapidly Changing World," Martinez asserts that engagement of minority communities is a necessity for U.S. evangelicals, especially considering the steady growth of the Latino and Hispanic population. Currently, U.S. residents of Hispanic or Latino heritage are nearly 17 percent of the population, with that figure projected to hit 29 percent in 2050, according to the Pew Research Center.

Seminaries should not only be "attentive to the different histories of minority groups," but also place Latinos in leadership roles to help guide their programs and outreach. The same goes for Protestant churches and denominations, says Martinez, who wonders if these groups are intentional about empowering Latino pastors and leaders and value their voice. "Or do they want Latinos only as long as they 'look (and act) like them'?" he questions in the book, speaking partly from his early experience in the Mennonite Brethren.

The Fuller Theological professor says that expecting assimilation to the point of voiding cultural identity does a disservice to the history and culture of minority groups, whose input should be valued precisely because they bring a different perspective to the table. But such engagement is a two-way street, according to Martinez, who says a polycentric reality requires an understanding of various ethnic communities as well as an understanding of the majority, white culture.

"All minority peoples have to be polycentric. They always have to take the majority into account. The majority does not have to do that. For them it has to be a conscious decision," he told CP.

A statement signed by 48 Christian leaders asks the Boy Scouts of America to maintain its current policy of not allowing gay scouts.

Earlier this year, the Boy Scouts was considering changing the policy to allow each chapter to decide whether to allow gay leaders, volunteers or scouts. After some pushback from some host churches, it decided to delay a decision on any policy change. The Boy Scouts will now consider a proposal on Thursday at its national meeting on whether to change its current policy to allow gay scouts, but not gay leaders or volunteers.

More than 40 rallies have been held across the country this week to show support for the current policy, according to CBN News.

While the Boy Scouts is not tied to a specific religious group, most of its troops, almost 70 percent, are hosted by various churches and religious groups, the statement notes. To maintain this collaboration between the Boy Scouts and churches, "upholding traditional morality is vital," the signers argue.

"In our current culture, it is more important than ever for our churches to protect and provide moral nurture for young people and for the Scouts," the statement continues. "We implore members of the upcoming BSA Council to affirm the BSA's present policy, which the U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed, and which has served BSA well."

This week, President Barack Obama gave the commencement address to the young men at Morehouse College.  I was happy to see the president speak to these men, for I'm sure they were inspired by his presence.  The achievements of Barack Obama are nothing short of legendary and inspirational, he deserves to be recognized as such.  Morehouse College President John Wilson should also be commended for his extraordinary leadership.  Dr. Wilson was gracious enough to join the presidents of Spelman and Clark in co-signing the open letter on mass incarceration written by myself and Russell Simmons.

The president's decision to speak in ways that he knew would resonate with Morehouse men and their older black parents was an intelligent political move, without question.   The president's speeches tend to be more conservative when he speaks to African Americans (I even noticed his use of the word "Lordy" early in the speech), and this is a good fit, since black people are also very conservative. The truth is that many African Americans would be Republicans if the party would just stop being so blatantly racist.

Another thing about black people is that many of us suffer from the low self-esteem that tends to afflict oppressed individuals.  We're not much different from the housewife who believes her husband wouldn't have had to beat her if she had not burned the cookies.  When her husband is out with other women, she is simply thankful that he took the time to pay the rent.   She's ecstatic about any form of acknowledgement from her husband whatsoever, and when he berates her, she knows that she deserves it.  To some extent, she comes to embrace her oppression as the natural order of things, and the tranquility of her marriage is built upon the idea that his views, needs and status are superior to her own.

When President Obama graces us with his presence, we are simply honored that he took the time to even acknowledge us.   Any symbolic gesture, no matter how scant and meaningless, becomes precious to us, because for some, there is no greater achievement that any black man could aspire to than to get validation from white people.  Had President Obama passed on the presidency and taken a position at an all-black school and educated thousands of black children, we would have considered it to be a wasted opportunity.  Why would such an important man spend his time with us?  The political harmony between black America and the Obama Administration is a carefully-designed relationship in which our job is to shut up and cheer for anything the administration chooses to do with our votes.

Part of this asymmetric partnership with the Obama Administration is that we are actually HAPPY when the president berates us.   We like being told that we don't try hard enough and that the reason so many of us struggle is because we have come to embrace an inferior set of habits and cultural norms.   We ENJOY the abuse, because deep down, many of us have bought into the myth of white superiority as much as white people themselves.

So, when Obama comes to Morehouse and says, "Stop using racism as an excuse and start taking more responsibility," we LOVE it.  We also nod our heads in agreement because for the educated elite, Obama isn't talking about us.  He's talking about "them."  You know, those n*ggaz who keep getting sent to prison, who can't get jobs, and who are killing each other in the street.   They deserve their plight because they don't work as hard as the rest of us, at least that's the logic. It's easy to grab onto the simple answers:  Black men love their kids less than white men do, black women are only capable of raising incompetent children who eat Popeye's chicken for breakfast, and black people are slightly less human than whites, thus prone to more criminal activity.

But here's the issue.  Telling black Americans to stop using racism as an excuse allows President Obama to create a set of excuses for his own significant, even embarrassing, lack of action to help alleviate the clearly documented, undeniable, legislatively-enforced poison of racial inequality that continues to impact our society.   As he tells the Morehouse men to take more responsibility for their own lives, the mirror of personal responsibility should also be turned on the most powerful black man in the history of the world to use his massive platform to help confront systematic racism that affects us all.  I also wonder if the president is going to follow this speech with one telling gay men that they can't use homophobia as an excuse to complain, or that women shouldn't be speaking out about s****l assault.   The double standard is actually borderline frightening:  The president's skin color creates a human shield protecting the White House from being attacked for saying things that would lead to riots were Obama 100% white instead of just 50%.

Mary J. Blige continues to have money troubles.

In early February, Blige was sued by Bank of America for allegedly defaulting on a $500,000 loan. She reportedly took out the loan in 2005 and made steady payments through June 2011. She now owes more than $511,000.

In November, the singer and her husband, Martin Kendu, were the target of a lawsuit filed by Signature Bank of New York Supreme Court for allegedly defaulting on a $2.2 million loan. The couple apparently took out that loan in October 2011 and began defaulting on it in July of 2012, Reuters reports.

Gabby Douglas is back in the gym.

Chow won't put a timeline on Douglas' return, saying she has to get back in gymnastics shape before they can put a training plan together. But he says 2014 is an "excellent opportunity" for her to be back in competition.

Douglas has always said she'd like to keep going through the next Olympics. But she's been in such demand since London that she hasn't had time to train.

Her last nine months have been a whirlwind of appearances. She was part of 40-city tour last fall with fellow Fierce Five members Aly Raisman, Jordyn Wieber and McKayla Maroney.

It's been only a week since the president told the world that he had learned about the "outrageous" actions of the IRS' Cincinnati office from "news reports" on May 10. We now know that those reports stemmed from a disclosure the administration had planned and that, in fact, "senior officials" in the White House knew the essence of a damning inspector general's report on the matter as early as April 24.

From the start, the White House's response on this potentially explosive matter has been grudging at best and, in retrospect, ignorant or arrogant or both.

Last Tuesday, I asked White House press secretary Jay Carney about a passing reference he had made the day before in his briefing: that the White House Counsel's Office had been informed about the impending report "several weeks ago."

How did that square, I wanted to know, with the president's own statement that he hadn't learned about the matter until May 10? And what did the counsel's office learn in April? Weren't those explosive matters worth being passed on to higher-ups?

"What you are quoting is the president's description of his reaction to news reports," Carney answered in an email, "not the notification of the WHCO [White House Counsel's Office]. As the president said, he first learned about the situation from news reports. So did I.

"Previously, in the week of April 22, the WHCO was notified, as is common, about the fact that an IG was reviewing actions of IRS personnel, and that the IG report would soon be completed and made public. The content of that notification was very limited."

In a later response, Carney told me, "WHCO was not told what the IG's findings would be."

That was last Tuesday. And now we know from Carney himself on Monday that the White House counsel, Kathryn Ruemmler, not only knew the gist of the damning report, but informed top staff at the White House about it -- though apparently not Carney, who was put in the position, apparently through no fault of his own, of telling the wrong story to the press corps.

Carney wasn't the only one peddling the wrong story -- one that easily and instantly could have been corrected by Ruemmler herself or, perhaps, others in the White House Counsel's Office who might have been working on the matter of the IG report.

Instead, another top White House aide gave me the same song and dance last week after Carney did.

"Since we deal with a bunch of IG reports all the time," this top aide told me, "I wouldn't be so skeptical about a notification involving a general subject matter and limited information. There are hundreds of IG audits/investigations going on every day."

He went on to say that the IG report wasn't final when the counsel's office first heard about it, so the conclusions weren't final and, therefore, there was no reason to inform White House higher-ups.

Source: Huffington Post | Howard Fineman

Demonstrators protest school closings outside the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) offices prior to the start of a school board meeting on April 3, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. CPS plans to close more than 50 elementary schools at the end of the school year to help rein in a looming $1 billion budget deficit. The school closings would shift about 30,000 students to new schools and leave more than 1,000 teachers with uncertain futures. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

After a day of marching from the South and West sides of the city to Downtown Chicago, protestors who blocked off elevators on the main floor of City Hall were arrested, then cited for trespassing, according to Chicago Police officer Joshua Purkiss.

Ahead of a Wednesday vote by the Chicago Public Schools Board of Education, 54 schools have been slated for closure, which if approved, could be the largest mass school closing in the country.

"These school closures and all of these reforms in Chicago and in the nation are just budget cuts in disguise," said Jeremy Peters, a teacher at Paul Roberson High School in Englewood.

As he took a lunch break, he said, "They want to close down the most underutilized (schools) which is really a symptom of neighborhood health, rather than anything else, because these neighborhoods that they're closing schools are suffering long-term issues from segregation, discrimination, home foreclosures."

Fifty-three elementary schools and one high school, primarily in Hispanic and African-American neighborhoods, are planned for closure. Protesters contend it's an attack on minorities and the most vulnerable neighborhoods in the city.

Source: The Grio | Renita D. Young

"We pay all the taxes we owe -- every single dollar," Cook said. "We don't depend on tax gimmicks."

Cook, who is more accustomed to commanding a stage in front of investors and techies than facing a congressional committee, took a defensive tone with his opening statement. He punched out words when stressing the 600,000 jobs that the company supports and noting that Apple is the nation's largest corporate taxpayer. Cook said he advocates an overhaul of the U.S. tax code.

The company came under fire on Tuesday at the Senate hearing over an investigation claiming that the high-tech giant has kept billions of dollars in profits in Irish subsidiaries and paid little or no taxes to any government.

"Apple effectively shifts billions of dollars in profits offshore--profits that under one section of the tax code should nonetheless be subject to U.S. taxes, but through a complex process avoids those taxes," said Sen. Carl Levin.

As chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Levin frequently dives into complex tax matters. His latest probe targets one of America's most successful companies, with a powerful global brand.

Offshore tax avoidance by multinational companies has become a high-profile issue. Cash-strapped governments worldwide are increasingly focused on wringing more tax revenue from corporations that often have interests in many countries and easily shift capital and assets across borders.

The Levin probe comes at a turbulent time in tax circles, with the Internal Revenue Service under investigation over agents' targeting conservative political groups.

The impact of that controversy and the hearings on the potential for a thorough overhaul of the tax code are hard to predict. Tax law writers in Congress had been inching forward on such a project before the IRS scandal erupted this month. The senator's investigation has been underway for months.

Levin, a Democrat, urged closing "unjustified tax loopholes" like those he said Apple used to avoid $9 billion in U.S. taxes in 2012.

"Closing these kinds of unjustified loopholes could provide hundreds of billions of dollars to reduce the deficit and avert damaging budget cuts," he said at the hearing.

"We should close them and dedicate the revenue that generates to these important priorities, whether or not we reform the overall tax code," he said.

Sen. John McCain praised Apple as a success story but said that its tax strategy "reflects a flawed corporate tax system."

The former Republican presidential nominee said, "It is a system that allows large multinational corporations to shift profits offshore to low-tax jurisdictions. For years, Apple has opted to forgo fully contributing to the U.S. Treasury and to American society by shifting profits and circumventing U.S. taxes."

Subcommittee staffers said Monday that Apple was not breaking any law and had cooperated fully with the inquiry.

Apple said in a comment posted online Monday that it does not use "tax gimmicks." It said the existence of its "Apple Operations International" unit in Ireland does not reduce Apple's U.S. tax liability and the company will pay more than $7 billion in U.S. taxes in fiscal 2013.

At the hearing, Levin's subcommittee issued a 40-page memorandum focused on explaining allegations that Apple used three subsidiaries with no "tax residency" in Ireland, where executives manage those companies.

The main subsidiary, a holding company that includes Apple's retail stores throughout Europe, has not paid any corporate income tax in the last five years, the subcommittee said.

Source: Reuters

All 11 directors of the bank's board were also re-elected.

Shares of JPMorgan were up more than 2 percent in midday trading.

The votes were a convincing show of shareholder support for Mr. Dimon and the board even amid persistent questions about the bank's controls and its dealings with regulators. Those questions have emerged after a multibillion-dollar trading loss in the bank's chief investment office in London surprised investors last year.

The few notes of disapproval by shareholders came in the weak vote totals for the three directors who serve on the board's risk policy committee. One of them, Ellen V. Futter, who was the only director not to attend the meeting in Tampa, barely eked out a majority, receiving about 53 percent of voting shares.

The two other directors on the committee did just a little better: James S. Crown received about 57 percent of the vote; David M. Cote got 59 percent.

The three directors had been singled out for criticism by the influential shareholder advisory firm, Institutional Shareholder Services.

In comparison, Mr. Dimon received 98 percent of the vote for the board, while Lee R. Raymond, the lead director on the board, received 95 percent.

The shareholder vote on the proposal for an independent chairman was closely watched and provided some uncomfortable scrutiny of Mr. Dimon's leadership.

Yet some industry analysts have said that a vote in support of Mr. Dimon was assured by the complexity of JPMorgan Chase. A vote to divest Mr. Dimon of the chairman title might have prompted him to walk away, threatening to disrupt the rosy stream of profits the bank has earned for three years.

Source: The New York Times Dealbook | JESSICA SILVER-GREENBERG AND SUSANNE CRAIG

While the report pointed to some examples of progress toward religious tolerance, its main focus was on persecution and abuses carried about by authorities in nearly every corner of the globe. Eight nations officially listed by the U.S. government as "Countries of Particular Concern" are highlighted for having played host to "severe violations" to religious freedom during 2012: Myanmar, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan.

The same eight countries made the "particular concern" list in the State Department's 2011 report. U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Suzan Johnson Cook told reporters that the findings are built on a year-by-year evaluation of the different religious landscapes in individual nations -- as well as the evolving postures of different governments.

"There are some governments that are not moving whatsoever," said Mrs. Johnson Cook, who joined Mr. Kerry in releasing the report at Foggy Bottom. The Saudi government, she said, does not "allow non-Islamic persons to have freedom of religion."

According to the report's executive summary, authorities in Saudi Arabia even beheaded at least one individual for engaging in "sorcery" in 2012.

Despite "considerable political reforms" in Myanmar, meanwhile, the report's summary cited local government participation "in ethnic and religious violence" against the Southeast Asian nation's Muslim community. The report was released the day President Obama hosted Myanmar President Thein Sein at the White House.

And in China, "the government's respect for religious freedom declined during" the year, according to the summary, which cited harassment and detention of individuals in the mainly Muslim Uighur Autonomous Region of northwest China and, as well in the Buddhist Tibetan area.

Negative trends were also cited in the Middle East, where -- in addition to Saudi Arabia -- some governments were showing little or no tolerance for non-Muslims.

In Egypt, for instance, where the Muslim Brotherhood religious and political movement has taken power after the nation's recent revolution, the "government generally failed to prevent, investigate, or prosecute crimes against members of religious minorities, including Coptic Christians," the report's summary said.

The report "also documents a continued global increase in anti-Semitism," which cited "expressions of anti-Semitism by government officials, by religious leaders, and by the media, particularly in Venezuela, Egypt and Iran."

Source: The Washington Times | Guy Taylor

Sadiq Muradi, the deputy police chief of Baghlan Province, said that Mr. Mohseni had arrived at the provincial council offices in Pul-i-Kumri, Baghlan's capital, with his bodyguards and a group of elders who wanted to meet with him and was walking toward the council building when the bomber joined the group. Dressed in a police uniform, the bomber mingled with officers until the group got inside the building, where he detonated an explosive device hidden on his body.

Mr. Mohseni, who was viewed as more powerful than either Baghlan's governor or its police chief, had been accused of quietly rearming militia fighters in the north in case the Taliban again proved to be a threat. His brother Mustafa Mohseni is an Afghan general, and another brother, Azim Mohseni, is an influential member of Parliament.

Source: The New York Times | ROD NORDLAND

In the exchange, an Israeli jeep came under fire during an overnight patrol in the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau which Israel captured from Syria in 1967 and later annexed. Syria claimed it destroyed the vehicle after it crossed the cease-fire line.

Israel said the jeep was on the Israeli side of the line and suffered minor damage, and no one was hurt. It said it returned fire at the source and scored a "direct hit." It gave no further details. Syria did not comment on the Israeli fire.

It was the latest in a string of incidents in which gunfire and mortar shells have struck the Israeli side of the Golan in recent months. Israel believes that most of the fire has been incidental spillover from the Syrian civil war, but that several cases, including Tuesday's, were intentional.

Israel's military chief, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, accused the Syrian leader of encouraging and directing operations against Israel. He said the Israeli patrol was targeted several times Tuesday by a "clearly marked Syrian position."

In his speech, he clearly alluded to the possibility that hostilities could erupt between Israel and Syria, which have fought several full-scale wars over the years and are bitter enemies.

"We will not allow the Golan Heights to become a comfortable space for Assad to operate from," Gantz told a conference at the University of Haifa. "If he escalates (the situation on) the Golan Heights, he will have to bear the consequences."

Gantz said the situation is extremely combustible, and "a day doesn't go by" where there could be a "sudden uncontrollable deterioration." He warned, "Instability will be the only stable thing that will happen here."

Israel has been warily watching the Syrian civil war since it broke out in March 2011, fearing the conflict could spill across its borders at any time.

Israel is concerned that Assad, if he is facing defeat, might try to draw Israel into the fighting to divert attention away from his internal struggles. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the civil war, and rebels now control large swaths of Syrian territory.

Israel is also concerned that Assad's arsenal of advanced arms, including chemical weapons, anti-aircraft systems and sophisticated missiles, could be transferred to Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon or fall into the hands of radical rebel groups.

Islamic extremists linked to al-Qaida are among the groups trying to oust Assad, and Israel is concerned they could turn their attention toward the Jewish state if they overthrow Assad. Although Assad is a sworn enemy of Israel, he is also a known quantity, and his family has been careful to keep the border with Israel quiet for most of the past 40 years.

But tensions have been rising between Israel and Syria in recent weeks, particularly following the airstrikes, which targeted alleged Syrian arms shipments bound for Hezbollah. Israel has not confirmed carrying out the attacks.

The airstrikes marked a sharp escalation of Israel's involvement on the periphery of the Syrian civil war.

Syria vowed to retaliate, and Assad said Syria is "capable of facing Israel" and would not accept violations of its sovereignty. Firing at an Israeli target, like the incident Tuesday, appears to be in line with the tougher rhetoric that followed the airstrikes.

Gantz visited the area after the exchange and told soldiers stationed there to "stay alert during these challenging times."

Downplaying the immediate dangers, Moshe Maoz, a Hebrew University expert on Syria, described Tuesday's events as "mostly rhetoric," saying neither Syria nor Israel has an interest in sparking a region-wide war.

Israel's powerful military is capable of toppling Assad, he said, while an outbreak of hostilities could potentially drag in Syria's key allies, Iran and Iranian proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hezbollah is already active in Syria, sending hundreds of fighters to back Assad's troops.

"At this stage, neither side wants it, not Israel and not Syria," Maoz said. "It's rhetorical escalation, not strategic escalation. It's more talk. Each side is flexing its muscles."

Source: The AP

On Monday, a 2-mile-wide tornado tore through Moore, Okla., killing at least 24 people, although the estimated number of fatalities is reported to possibly top 90. Tragically, some of these deaths were children, as the tornado destroyed an elementary school while class was in session. Right now rescue teams are searching the area for survivors.

Please pray with us for the state of Oklahoma and the entire Midwest:

1. Pray for the comfort and peace of God to sweep over the families and friends of those who have lost loves ones in this tragedy (Matt. 5:4).

2. Pray for Oklahoma, particularly the city of Moore, as they work to rebuild and restore what was destroyed (Is. 61:4).

3. Ask God to give wisdom to the leaders of the rescue efforts, and pray that they would continue to find more survivors (Jer. 1:8).

The Church of Scotland's General Assembly on Monday passed a historic vote to allow actively gay men and lesbians to become ordained ministers.

The decision will now need to be endorsed by the church's 48 regional presbyteries and, if it survives the regional ratification, will become official at next year's General Assembly.

Echoing similar controversies that consumed the life of the Presbyterian Church (USA) for more than a decade, the church's new moderator, the Rev. Lorna Hood, said: "This is a massive vote for the peace and unity of the Church."

The debate over gay ministers has been simmering in Scotland for years. It exploded in 2009 when the General Assembly voted to uphold the appointment of an openly gay minister, the Rev. Scott Rennie, to Queen's Cross Church in Aberdeen. That led two congregations and six ministers to leave the Church of Scotland.

In 2011, the General Assembly agreed to allow openly gay ministers appointed prior to 2009 to remain in their posts but placed a moratorium on further appointments of any gay clergy. Upwards of 60 congregations have already threatened to split from the Church of Scotland.

While both Obamas made extraordinary points, Michelle was spot on about education issues that affect African Americans and Barack stressed the importance of giving back to the community.

Check out our favorite excerpts and lessons from both must-hear speeches below.

"I know some of you came to Morehouse from communities where life was about keeping your head down and looking out for yourself. Maybe you feel like you escaped, and you can take your degree, get a fancy job and never look back. And don't get me wrong - with the heavy weight of student loans, with doors open to you that your parents and grandparents could scarcely imagine, no one expects you to take a vow of poverty. But I will say it betrays a poverty of ambition if all you think about is what goods you can buy instead of what good you can do. Yes, go get that law degree. But if you do, ask yourself if the only option is to defend the rich and powerful, or if you can also find time to defend the powerless," the President said. "Sure, go get your MBA, or start that business, we need black businesses out there. But ask yourself what broader purpose your business might serve, in putting people to work, or transforming a neighborhood."

"The most successful CEOs I know didn't start out intent on making money, rather, they had a vision of how their product or service would change things, and the money followed," he added.

"We know that too many young men in our community continue to make bad choices. Growing up, I made a few myself. And I have to confess, sometimes I wrote off my own failings as just another example of the world trying to keep a black man down," he said. "I had a tendency to make excuses for me not doing the right thing. But one of the things that all of you have learned over the last four years is, there's no longer any room for excuses."

"I still wish I had a father who was not only present, but involved. And so my whole life, I've tried to be for Michelle and my girls what my father wasn't for my mother and me. I've tried to be a better husband, a better father, and a better man." he said. "Even now, I'm still learning how to be the best husband and father I can be. Because success in everything else is unfulfilling if we fail at family."

"I know that when I'm on my deathbed someday, I won't be thinking about any particular legislation I passed, or policy I promoted. I won't be thinking about the speech I gave, or the Nobel Prize I received," he continued. "I'll be thinking about a walk I took with my daughters, a lazy afternoon with my wife, whether I did right by all of them."

Source: Black America Web | Myeisha Essex

The family will in all likelihood appeal this decision, asking first of all for an en banc rehearing before the entire Sixth Circuit and then for their day in court before the Supreme Court. I do not have high hopes for them. After all, I have a hard time disagreeing with with George W. Bush appointee Judge Jeffrey Sutton that:

There was a time when a member of Congress could have offered a private member's bill to deal with hardship cases like these, but that time is, as I understand it, long since past. More to the point, the Obama administration could have left well enough alone by not seeking to overturn the initial decision to grant asylum to the family.

I'm tempted to advise the Romeikes to start behaving like other immigrants who have no legal permission to be here and await the almost-inevitable immigration reform deal that would put their status on the road to normalization. But I want homeschooling parents to teach their children to obey the law. Perhaps some sympathetic member of Congress could find room in the current immigration reform proposals for a provision prying open our gates to foreign homeschoolers whose countries treat them harshly.

Bishop Rudolph W. McKissick Jr., co-senior pastor at Bethel Baptist Institutional Church in Jacksonville, has gone public with his recent prostate cancer diagnosis to prompt other men to get screened.

"I want to make sure people get tested. I have been tested annually and that led them to catch it," he said.

But he said he anticipates a full recovery and no negative impact to the 12,000-member church he has pastored with his father, Bishop Rudolph W. McKissick Sr., since 1996.

Also, the planned December retirement of the elder McKissick, who has been in the pulpit of Florida's oldest African-American church for 47 years, will stay on track.

Prostate cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed type of cancer among U.S. men and the second leading cause of their cancer deaths, according to cancer.org. But African-American men are more likely to be diagnosed at an advanced stage and are more than twice as likely to die of prostate cancer as white men, according to the website.

As an advocate for African-American men getting prostate exams, McKissick's prominence and age make him "almost perfect," said Apoorva Vashi, chief of urology at Baptist Medical Center and director of the McIver Clinic's robotic prostate surgery program.

Doctors recommend African-American men begin getting annual prostate screenings at age 40, far earlier than the 50 to 55 recommended age for white men.

When any well-known person announces they have been diagnosed with a disease and are receiving treatment, Vashi said, it is "definitely a huge thing to educate the public."

"Everybody talks about it," he said. "Locally, it can be even bigger. They can relate to that person a lot more."

McKissick Jr., who is married with three children, said the diagnosis initially gave him pause.

"What it does to you emotionally ... It takes a lot of prayer to detach the word 'death' from cancer," he said.

But his strong faith kicked in.

"God is not through with me yet," he said.

Apple CEO Tim Cook on Tuesday vigorously defended his company on Capitol Hill against charges that the tech company stashes billions of dollars overseas to lower its U.S. tax bill.

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Howard Wolfson, the 2008 communications director for Hillary Rodham Clinton, has said he will not return for a 2016 presidential campaign. Neither, for that matter, will Neera Tanden, the campaign's policy director. Ditto for Mark Penn, the chief strategist, and Patti Solis Doyle, the embattled campaign manager.

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Sony BMG Music Entertainment has settled a lawsuit filed in 2005 by attorney James J. Walker of Walker and Associates, a Black-owned, Atlanta-based law firm that represents gospel artists. After almost a decade of litigation, the settlement is a major win in the battle for the rights of urban artists, the attorney said.

"We felt strongly all along that this was a case we had to fight in order to protect artists and their right to choose effective legal representation and other forms of representation, including the best manager, attorney, publicist, accountant in protecting themselves as artists," said company spokesman Kenny Walker.

Filed in 2005 in federal court in Connecticut, the lawsuit alleged that Verity Records, now called RCA Inspirational, and its president, Max Siegel, along with Verity parent company, Zomba Enterprises, and Provident Distribution "set out to deprive gospel artists of effective representation in their contract negotiations" to hack down their compensation from the use of their copyrights and intellectual property. Walker said company representatives coerced his clients into firing him and defamed his character, robbing him of income. Zomba Enterprises is now owned by Sony.

When contacted by the AFRO, Elizabeth Young, the spokeswoman for Sony Music Entertainment, said the company had no comment.

Walker said the case shines a light on the persistent exploitation of Black artists within the music industry.

"It's endemic to urban music, in general," he said. "There's an undercurrent that 'These are Black folks; they're not that smart.' There's a racial undertone that no one wants to talk about.... You walk into the labels and everyone's White and all the artists are Black."

Industry observers agree that Walker is one of a few lawyers who successfully represent gospel's leading artists. From 1999-2002, for example, Walker said he secured top-dollar royalty payments for nearly two dozen artists on the popular "WOW" albums. The series, launched in 1998, became a vehicle for lesser-known artists to gain exposure, revolutionizing the music genre.

Sony representatives, according to the lawsuit, employed "trickery and deceit" to convince those gospel artists--including high-profile clients like Grammy winners Hezekiah Walker, Donald Lawrence and Twinkie Clark and legendary songwriters like David Frazier and V. Michael McKay--to terminate Walker. The ploys included threats that they would not be included in future projects if they brought the assertive attorney to the negotiating table, according to the lawsuit.

Some of those artists folded, according to news reports.

Problems infecting and affecting the black community must be addressed in a serious and sincere manner.

 

To deal with this crisis, there should be a focused and concentrated effort, originating within black churches, that renews hearts and minds.  This renewal should focus on Christian moral values as the answer to the pervading psychological ills that now afflict black America.

That blacks are in need of spiritual, social and economic renewal is no secret.  A certain segment of blacks have succumbed to behaviors that most would label as counterproductive and undignified.  Frankly, these behaviors are embarrassing and morally disturbing.

What's worse is that these behaviors are now being accepted as "culturally authentic."

Under the current societal trappings of "tolerance," "diversity" and moral relativism, blacks have willingly relinquished the painful but necessary process of self-critique. This behavioral and spiritual deficiency leads black culture to define "authenticity" as comporting oneself with stereotypes that the generations of many of our grandparents and great grandparents sought to avoid and overcome.  In other condescending terms, this "authenticity" is often equated with "acting black."

In assessing the situation, we can conclude that the black church has failed its moral and spiritual obligation of leadership, because, despite the many claims to the contrary, the behavioral effects and cultural degradation are now too abundant to ignore.

Of course, not all black churches have failed.  Collectively, however, churches have failed black America.

Further, many well-meaning white people, Christian and non-Christian alike, also are silently complicit in this failure due to fear of reprisals such as being labeled "racist" or "insensitive."  In refusing to speak out and condemn unacceptable behaviors, these people passively accept and legitimize a form of conduct that they likely would vigorously oppose if it came from someone in their own family.

Recognizing the impotence of so many black churches, we must assume that many black ministers are evading discussions of personal and communal sin.  Sermons regarding the guilt and shame of socially self-limiting and damaging behaviors obviously don't contain the potent condemnation they once did.  It's a self-evident truth predicated upon the preponderance of detrimental activity that proliferates within black culture.

These activities represent moral and spiritual captivity.

But I do question why the pastors chose to participate in the show. Are they truly hoping to use the program to minister to those who need spiritual guidance? Or are they simply using the high-profile media platform to rake in more cash and bask in the spotlight of a national television audience?

"Pastors of L.A.' will give viewers a candid and revealing look at six boldly different and world renowned mega-pastors in Southern California, who are willing to share diverse aspects of their lives, from their work in the community and with their parishioners to the very large and sometimes provocative lives they lead away from the pulpit," says a press release from Oxygen.

Like many viewers, I'll watch the show with an open mind and see what revelations are presented and hope - and pray - that the show isn't a mess. Some say the concept of a show about black pastors is "madness."

There's no doubt that Oxygen has assembled six charismatic characters to star in the show, some of whom have checkered pasts  and questionable backgrounds, others who are living large in ocean front mansions and enjoy rock-star status in their churches and communities.

So what can folks hope to get from the show? An entertaining hour of life behind the pulpit? Or will viewers actually learn more about how God works in our lives?

Meanwhile, the show already has its detractors.

Source: Black America Web | Michael H. Cottman