From FOXNews.com:

President Obama is not worried about the “procedural” debate over whether House Democratic leaders should go ahead with a plan to approve health care reform without a traditional vote, he told Fox News on Wednesday.

President Obama is not worried about the “procedural” debate over whether House Democratic leaders should go ahead with a plan to approve health care reform without a traditional vote, he told Fox News on Wednesday.

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The president, in an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, was responding for the first time to the controversy over a plan to use a parliamentary trick to allow the House to pass the Senate’s health care bill without forcing members to vote for it directly. The esoteric procedure has drawn fierce protest from Republicans who say Democrats are trying to avoid accountability, but the president said there will be no doubt about where lawmakers stand on health care reform.

Watch the Obama interview in its entirety on Special Report Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET on Fox News Channel.

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Via: WRAL.com

The sentencing phase of the Abdullah Shareef murder trial begins today. Yesterday Shareef was found guilty on eight of nine charges, including first-degree murder. Shareef had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to running over five people and killing one of them. During the near month-long trial, defense attorneys argued that Shareef is schizophrenic. Shareef could face the death penalty.

For more of this article CLICK HERE

You can’t keep a good man down. Can’t keep him hidden behind the scenes either. Myron Butler was almost one of gospel music’s best kept secrets, but now the cat’s out of the bag. From the late 90s as the director of Kirk Franklin’s hit-making crossover ensemble God’s Property, to the present as the sought-after arranger behind hit records from Tamela Mann, Marvin Sapp, and others, Myron has steadily gained momentum.

Five years ago, Myron Butler & Levi launched their debut album Set Me Free that scooped up five Stellar awards and a Grammy nomination. Their 2007 sophomore set Stronger handily lived up to its name. Now, as if his arms weren’t already cluttered with enough accolades, Myron Butler & Levi returned to their hometown to record their first live album: Revealed… Live In Dallas.

“The album is a snapshot of my continual pursuit of God.  Pursuit is something on-going …we as Christians should be on a lifelong process and pursuit of the knowledge of God. I want to encourage listeners in their own process to continue to pursue God. It is one of our life long duties – to know and to relate to God.” – Myron Butler

The first track and lead single “Revealed” is the grand affair you would expect from Myron Butler & Levi. All the elements are present: youthful energy driven by a pocket drummer, radiophilic band hits, and an intelligent horn arrangement to boot. Its meaty chord changes carry the sophistication of an Earth Wind & Fire piece and give the gospel a comforting presence and weight. Of course, it wouldn’t be what it is without Levi’s hallmark: airtight, churning, harmonies that invert climactically up the scale like acrobats in a Cirque du Soleil show.

Revealed keeps its cameo appearances purposeful and impactful with Kirk Franklin leading the charge on the Jackson-fantastic “I Just Can’t Live.” In case you’re wondering, it has more than a little in common with “Can You Feel It,” and that’s never a bad thing! Someone’s got to keep the torch of real music burning right? And since so much of popular music’s sound is owed to a church genesis, it’s only fitting that some of that cream rises to the top of this song’s polished surface.

The prize for most sonically intriguing goes to “Holy God,” a rock-edged song of adoration that takes a familiar cue from the hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty.” Its call-and-response vamp allows Levi to show off some satisfying and colorfully dense vocal arrangements.

“I Choose To Believe” follows in the fancy footsteps of the first track “Revealed.” It’s fun to get lost in the changes of this musically commanding number. And it should be known that the drummer on this song is earning his/her paycheck. Trust.

“I Am God” presents the simple yet profound sentiment of Mark 8:27-33 in a cleverly offset 5/4 time signature. The spiritedly sung chorus is one that will easily get repeat plays. Clearly an adroit writer and arranger, Myron’s elegant musical nuances might come off as grandstanding if the song wasn’t so pleasant to listen to.

In my opinion, the centerpiece of album is “Run To The Cross,” which takes full advantage of the only other guest appearance on Revealed, a penetrating lead vocal from Grammy-winner and EMI labelmate Smokie Norful. Even if you were to try and pass over this release, “Run To The Cross” is not likely to be a song you’ll be able to ignore. If gospel radio knows what’s good for people, it will embrace this song with open arms.

“Moving Closer” provides a tenderly sung coda in the album’s sequence. For those who embraced Israel Houghton’s “Moving Forward,” this song will sit nicely by its side. Its light and crisp layers of percussion, strings, and vocals that build to a rapturous Fifth Dimension-inspired climax will fit nicely into the prayer closet playlists of saints everywhere. Here’s a spoiler alert that you’ll thank me for, though: the song fades out just as Myron threatens to go into another hands-up hymn favorite “Draw Me Nearer Blessed Lord.” So before you get ready to ascend to the upper room, saints, just remember… I told you so. What a tease! Hopefully the full performance is revealed on a DVD of the live performance.

Revealed withholds some late term surprises for the end when Myron & company pull out a slick cover of Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time.” While the verses stay true to the original, Levi makes the song their own before it reaches the halfway mark. The group injects appropriate emotion into this otherwise quiet composition. Notably, “Time After Time” is one of few female-leads on Revealed. You might notice that Myron steps up and confidently handles most of the lead vocals on the album this time around.

I have a theory that instead of Revealed, the album was supposed to be called Covered. And it was supposed to start off with its title track as the lead single. Instead, the DC-inspired go-go jam “Covered” brings Revealed to a bouncing close, but not before getting a visit from soprano superstar Candy West who makes every song an event.

is the type of album where the first time you listen you’ll immediately pick two or three favorites. The second time you listen you’ll really be able to get into another three or four. A few more spins and you’ve got the type of album where you just press play and you like everything. And that’s worth my $10.

Revealed… Live In Dallas will make its grand entrance in stores and online everywhere on March 30, 2010. You can pre-order it now on Amazon.com.

For more info on “Myron & ‘nem”… visit Myron Butler & Levi’s official website, or follow @MyronButler on Twitter.

To look competent when you know very little about the anatomy of gospel choirs and live recordings, consult my friend Minister Tonee Sherrill who knows all the stuff I only smile, nod, and pretend to in this article. Thanks for puttin’ me up on game, Mandofgod.

Written by Mark Chappelle Coston for Elev8.com (@MarkChappelle on Twitter).

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• Top 10 Gospel Albums of 2009
• Top 10 Gospel Music Videos of 2009

Via: News14.com

Vice President Joe Biden will visit the Cree Company in Durham Thursday. He and Energy Secretary Steven Chu will tour and speak at the facility. The company manufactures energy efficient LED lighting. The Obama administration is pushing its clean energy economy advancement and the creation of manufacturing jobs.

For more of this article CLICK HERE

Via: News14.com

The NBA Board of Governors has unanimously approved Michael Jordan’s bid to buy a controlling interest in the Charlotte Bobcats.

Jordan is the sole investor in the ownership group, but he’s expected to try to find local partners. The deal includes taking on more than $150 million in debt, covering future losses and putting forward capital to make improvements. Jordan’s agreed purchase price…$275 Million Dollars.

For more of this article CLICK HERE

Among the outspoken African-American political and social figures that have criticized President Obama for not doing more for black Americans in these tough economic times, Al Sharpton has emerged as the voice of support for Obama’s presidential initiatives designed to help all Americans.

According to an article written for The Wall Street Journal, “President Barack Obama has turned to Mr. Sharpton in recent weeks to answer increasingly public criticism in the black community over his economic policy. Some black leaders are charging that the nation’s first African-American president has failed to help black communities hit hard by the downturn, leaving party strategists worried that black Democrats will become dispirited and skip November’s congressional elections.”

Sharpton used the platform of his national radio show to fire back stating that “The president does not need to get out there and do what we should be doing,” adding that if the President did just that, it would create just the right climate for conservatives and other Obama critics to defeat legislation that would actually assist blacks, rather than hurt them.

On one particular show, Al Sharpton and Tavis Smiley, prominent black talk show host, butted heads over this issue where Mr. Sharpton stated that “…it was a ‘double standard’ for Mr. Smiley and other critics to expect more from a black president than they would demand of a white Democratic president.”

Although during most of his campaign, President Obama steered clear of historically radical black civil rights leaders, Al Sharpton is now an unlikely ally in addressing the concerns of some black leaders and establishing solidarity for the president.

To read the entire article “Obama’s New Partner: Al Sharpton,” visit The Wall Street Journal online.

Listen to the big debate between Tavis Smiley and Al Sharpton:

This company’s reprehensible behavior underscores the need for substantive health care reform in this country. If insurance companies can only be relied upon to look after healthy patients, and then make it a policy to abandon them when they get sick, what’s the point of having health insurance at all? Click here to find out how you can advocate for much-needed health care reform in the United States. – NewsOne Staff

From Reuters:

In May, 2002, Jerome Mitchell, a 17-year old college freshman from rural South Carolina, learned he had contracted HIV. The news, of course, was devastating, but Mitchell believed that he had one thing going for him: On his own initiative, in anticipation of his first year in college, he had purchased his own health insurance.

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Shortly after his diagnosis, however, his insurance company, Fortis, revoked his policy. Mitchell was told that without further treatment his HIV would become full-blown AIDS within a year or two and he would most likely die within two years after that.

So he hired an attorney — not because he wanted to sue anyone; on the contrary, the shy African-American teenager expected his insurance was canceled by mistake and would be reinstated once he set the company straight.

But Fortis, now known as Assurant Health, ignored his attorney’s letters, as they had earlier inquiries from a case worker at a local clinic who was helping him. So Mitchell sued.

In 2004, a jury in Florence County, South Carolina, ordered Assurant Health, part of Assurant Inc, to pay Mitchell $15 million for wrongly revoking his heath insurance policy.

In September 2009, the South Carolina Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s verdict, although the court reduced the amount to be paid him to $10 million.

Click here to read more.

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Some vandals in destroyed a valuable statue of Jesus. A worker of Evergreen Cemetery of Hwy 70 says the incident happened late Saturday or early Sunday. The Italian marble statue was placed in the cemetery in 1963 when the cemetery first opened and is worth more than $20,000.

The first Disney animated movie featuring an African American Princess is available on DVD today and…  For the first time in history, Disney On Ice has a black princess in its lineup.  Tetona Jackson portrays Princess Tiana on the ice.  Tetona Jackson is a dancer and skater from the age of 5 years old.  She just completed a successful run of Disney on Ice adaptation of High School Musical.

Via: CNN.com

It looks like Paula Abdul may be headed back to TV! Sources confirm to me exclusively that the ex-American Idol judge is finalizing a deal to headline an updated version of Star Search, the great-granddaddy of all televised singing competitions, for ABC. Abdul’s role is still being defined, but I hear it will likely include some combination of hosting and judging.