tinpra | Entries tagged with cnn.com

By Roland Martin, CNN Contributor

(CNN) -- Who knew that 70 years after African-American pilots had to work hard to overcome the prejudices of whites in the U.S. armed services, and the nation having its first black commander-in-chief, the men known as the Tuskegee Airmen would still be doing battle with an entrenched institution of white power brokers, all based on the color of their skin.

Many of you may have seen the flashy commercials advertising "Red Tails," the major motion picture that chronicles the amazing and true story of true American heroes: black pilots who went overseas in World War II to fight for the freedom and democracy that they could not enjoy at home.

The film opens January 20 in theaters nationwide, and for its producer, George Lucas, it has been a 23-year odyssey.

You would think that someone considered one of the most powerful players in Hollywood, a man who has made billions with blockbusters such as the "Indiana Jones" and "Star Wars" franchises, would have been able to get "Red Tails" approved without any hesitation. Yet many African-Americans have long known that in Tinseltown, the color of your skin -- or that of the people in the story you want to tell -- often falls victim to racial pigeonholing.

Oh, sure, Hollywood is seen as a liberal bastion where folks talk about equality and supporting civil rights, but when it comes to telling stories that have mostly black casts, Hollywood might as well return to the '50s and '60s and erect signs that say "Whites Only." ( Read the Rest on CNN.com )

Tyler Perry Pens Letter About the State of Black Films, Says They’re Almost Extinct
by Britni Danielle

Last week George Lucas made waves when he took to The Daily Show to explain why it took 23 years to make the upcoming film Red Tails about the Tuskegee Airmen. According to Lucas, only one thing stood in the way of the historical action flick reaching movie screens: money.

Lucas spoke candidly about the difficulty of getting a film with an all-black cast to garner the backing of major studios and even larger budgets. Apparently studios don’t think films with black casts are commercially viable here or abroad, and therefore don’t invest big bucks in making them.

Today, Tyler Perry took to his website to talk about his own difficulty making films despite posting respectable box office numbers.Perry ratcheted up the rhetoric a bit more and argued that films with black casts are “on the verge of becoming extinct.”

Why? Well, read Perry’s letter to find out. (Read the original article and Tyler Perry's open letter on ClutchMagOnline.com )

Thank you,

klcthebookworm for pointing me to the first article. I came to the second via the Neo Griot. Both of these are op-ed pieces.

From Mohamed Fadel Fahmy

Cairo (CNN) -- An Egyptian administrative court issued an order Tuesday banning virginity tests for female detainees, months after several women alleged they were subjected to such examinations following a March protest in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

The ruling comes in the case of Samira Ibrahim, a 25-year-old marketing manager who took the country's military led-government to court in August, alleging she was among those subjected to the test after her arrest during the March 9 protest. She said she faced death threats after bringing the case.

"Justice has been served today," Ibrahim told CNN. "These tests are a crime and also do not comply with the constitution, which states equality between men and woman. I will not give up my rights as a woman or a human being." ( Read the rest at CNN.com)

(CNN) -- Chinese authorities have released activist Hu Jia, his wife posted Sunday on Twitter.

"On a sleepless night at 2:30, Hu Jia arrived at home. Safe, very happy. Needs to rest for a while. Thanks to each of you," Zeng Jinyan wrote in the tweet.

Zeng is married to Hu Jia, a human rights activist who served a 3 1/2-year sentence for "incitement to subvert state power," according to the New York-based Human Rights Watch.

Hu had written a series of stories denouncing the human rights situation in China ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, the group said. He also has been active on AIDS issues in China.

( Read the rest of the, very brief, article at CNN.com )

Great News
Paraplegic walks at UC Berkeley graduation with help of 'exoskeleton'

Austin Whitney is walking proof that determination -- combined with creative ingenuity -- can turn a seemingly impossible idea into a reality.

Paralyzed from the waist down since a 2007 drunken driving accident, he had worked hard to graduate on time -- and with honors -- from the University of California at Berkeley.

That was reason enough to celebrate. But nothing compared to how he accepted his diploma on Saturday.

Pressing a button on his walker, Whitney rose to his feet at the commencement ceremony. Then, with the flick of a switch, his legs moved across the stage.

-----

This story was so awesome I had to share it with Mom immediately. Read it. Read it!

Sad News
Savage a wrestling legend in ring and out

Randy “Macho Man” Savage, a pro wrestling icon whose fame reached far past the wrestling ring as a television pitchman with the phrase, “Snap into a Slim Jim, oooh yeah,” died on Friday morning in Pinellas County, Fla., after reportedly suffering a heart attack while driving, leading to an auto accident.

Savage, born Randall Mario Poffo, was 58. While perhaps best known for his pro wrestling battles as Hulk Hogan’s major storyline rival in the late 1980s, Savage was also an actor and a one-time major league baseball prospect.

Lanny Poffo, his brother and also a former pro wrestler under the handle “Leaping” Lanny Poffo, told TMZ.com that Savage suffered a heart attack behind the wheel while driving a 2009 Jeep Wrangler.

----

And this story has got me a little teary eyed. Randy Savage was part of my childhood. I remember watching him and Hulk Hogan and the whole slew of wrestling ppl with my grandpa, my youngest uncle and our family friends every Saturday/Sunday afternoon. Plus all the weekends spent at my community center with my friends, and the trips to see wrestling events (from the nosebleed seats, but, hey, I couldn't have afforded to go myself) for free. So it's sad. Ironically, I was thinking of Randy Savage earlier this week. Thanks,

jaguarx13, for letting me in.

(CNN) -- At least 15 school systems in Wisconsin canceled Thursday's classes because teachers and other public employees will continue protests at the state Capitol over a bill that would strip them of most of their collective bargaining rights and increase their contributions for benefits.

At least 10,000 employees and supporters rallied Wednesday in Madison in opposition to legislation supported by Republican Gov. Scott Walker.

Classes will not be held for a second day Thursday in the Madison Metropolitan School District, said spokesman Ken Syke, because of a call by the Wisconsin Education Association Council for people to come to the Capitol on Thursday and Friday to "stand beside your neighbors, family and friends to help our voices be heard."

Syke earlier said about 40 percent of 2,600 teachers, assistants, social workers and psychologists in the bargaining unit called in sick late Tuesday, forcing the district to cancel Wednesday's classes for 24,500 students.

( Read more on CNN.com )

This isn't so much a story as a running stream of updates on CNN. It may change to a full blown report. IDK. Still...it's huge! Check it out for yourself.

Actor Leslie Nielsen, known for his role as Lt. Frank Drebin in "The Naked Gun" series, died of complications from pneumonia Sunday, his family said.

Nielsen, 84, died in a hospital near his home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, surrounded by his wife and friends.

"In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in his name to the charity of your choice," the family said in a statement.

(from CNN.com)

But this op-ed article in CNN about the modern, secular flavor of Halloween having its roots in a specific aspect/timeframe of gay culture doesn't seem to be picking on homosexuals...or anyone. Yet if I were to believe the comments, the author is purposely targeting homosexuals in a negative way. I think the commentators are reading too much into this, but I'm willing to be wrong if someone can point out how. I mean, what if the article were "Rock n' roll craze started in Black culture" and all the other points of the article went into detail about what the music scene had been before Black influences, the worldwide growth of rock, its roots in Black culture (particularly a certain time and place in Black culture), and the subsequent "forgetting" of same by non-Black culture, would that article be considered anti-Black? I don't think so. Informative, but not anti- anything. Which is how I read this article as it stands.

On the other hand, I'd like to note that I often find the commentators on CNN articles to be off the wall.

But, seriously, I'd like people's own reactions.

But does the media have to pick apart and pseudo-psychoanalyze the truly tragic death of Tyler Clementi? If you don't know, Clementi is the young man who killed himself after a video of him having sex with another student was posted online. Within a week of the story break (I believe) he had jumped from the George Washington bridge that connects New Jersey and New York. It came up today at work, and I was really struck by the awfulness of it. This morning hearing it on the radio (again) I was surprised, this afternoon hearing it from my coworker and friend I was struck by it. But does that mean that CNN needs to pick the young man's death apart? Whether his suicide is directly related to the sex video--as it seems to be--or if there were other deep-seated issues and this was the proverbial straw that broke him, it doesn't matter. He was an 18 year old kid and he committed suicide. Really, that's tragic enough. I'm sure his family and friends would rather not have him picked apart on the couch of public analysis.

Current Mood: aggrieved

New York (CNN) -- A taxi driver is in stable condition Wednesday after allegedly being stabbed by a passenger who apparently asked if he was Muslim before attacking him, a taxi driver union official told CNN.

Police have identified the suspect as Michael Enright, a 21-year-old white male. New York Police Det. Mark Nell said Enright has been charged with four counts, including attempted murder and hate crimes charges, and he's expected to be arraigned Wednesday afternoon.

Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, said the cabbie who was attacked is Ahmed H. Sharif, 43, a practicing Muslim.

When he first got into the taxi Tuesday night, Desai said, Enright engaged in cordial conversation with Sharif.

He "started out friendly, asking Mr. Sharif about where he was from, how long he had been in America, if he was Muslim and if he was observing fast during Ramadan," said Desai, who has spoken with the cab driver.

Then, after a few minutes of silence, Desai said Enright started violently cursing at Sharif and shouted "Assalamu Alaikum, consider this a checkpoint," before slashing him in the throat, arms, and hand.

( Read the rest on CNN.com )

Ab-solutely horrible! On the one hand I'm not surprised, and on the other I'm surprised something like this hasn't happend sooner. But, omigosh! How wrong. It reminds me of the days just after 9/11 when the Muslim girls at my school and Sikh guys were afraid to go around campus alone, even though my school had a very, very diverse population. I personally don't agree with the building location for the Islamic center in NYC--just seems like a bad idea considering the significance of the area, but the new building (whether or not it goes up) and the 9/11 attacks are in no way, shape, or form reasons to attack random folks on the streets, in their cars, or at their jobs.

Current Mood: indignant

(CNN) -- Alesaundra Tafoya's parents have been teaching their daughter about safety in their Northern California community, pointing out such safe havens as fire stations if she ever finds herself in trouble.

They weren't, however, expecting 3-year-old Alesaundra to call upon those lessons when one of them needed help -- but that's exactly what she did Friday when her father collapsed in their Manteca, California, home.

Frank Tafoya told CNN affiliate KOVR that he "took a mixture of medication I wasn't supposed to at the time -- a bed-time dose -- and I guess I collapsed."

( Read the rest [of the very brief article] on CNN.com )

Not that I ever want my goddaughter to be in this kind of position, but I hope that if she ever were my Mariposa could do the same!

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- No one survived the crash of a Pakistani passenger plane that went down in the outskirts of the capital Islamabad Wednesday morning with 152 people on board, officials said.

Rescuers worked in heavy rains to recover bodies from the wreckage, as officials launched an investigation to determine why the accident occurred. Pakistani Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said 115 bodies have been taken to area hospitals.

Initially, Kaira and Interior Minister Rehman Malik reported survivors in the crash. Kaira said there were eight survivors and Malik said there were six.

But Kaira said the initial information received from the scene was incorrect, and both men later said no one survived the crash.

( Read the rest at CNN.com )

When I first heard this story this morning they were reporting survivors. It's awful to hear that they don't think there are any now.

Washington (CNN) -- The executive board of the International Monetary Fund approved Wednesday the cancellation of Haiti's $268 million debt to the fund.

The board also approved a three-year request by authorities to support Haiti's reconstruction and growth program.

The decisions are part of an effort to support Haiti's longer-term reconstruction plans after the January 12 earthquake, which killed more than 220,000 people, destroyed 60 percent of government infrastructure and left more than 180,000 homes uninhabitable.

Six months later, more than 1.5 million remain in overcrowded displacement camps.

"The new program provides a strong and forward-looking framework to support economic stability and reconstruction in the country, and will also help catalyze donors' contributions," the IMF said in a posting on its website.

( Read the rest at CNN.com. Don't miss the section on who has and hasn't made good on their pledges of monetary support. )

Ruling won't stop National Day of Prayer this year

and

Justice Denied For Christians As Counsellor Refused Right To Appeal

opinions, on the first one at least, later. gotta run!

EDIT
So Mom actually told me about the National Day of Prayer ruling the other day...maybe Sunday. If you don't know, US District Judge Barbara Crabb ruled that the National Day of Prayer, with its Presidential Proclamation, is unconstitutional; it infringes on the rights of others who do not wish to pray and causes the state to unlawfully promote religion. I can't find the exact quote from the Judge, and so I'm not sure if she says it's actually unconstitutional, but I believe she does. However, here's the actual quote from the first amendment as found on the National Archives' website: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."

As many of you know, it's the very first line of the first amendment to the Constitution (i.e. the Bill of Rights). As many of you also know, the term "separation of church and state" is not found in either the Constitution or the Bill of Rights. It's found in some of Thomas Jefferson's writings. I'm pretty sure I've argued the finer points of this with Katya before, but to be very technical it doesn't exist (something another judge pointed out a number of years ago, now). I won't disagree that the sentiment isn't there in a sense. It very clearly says that a government should not create a religion, make a particular religion--or in our day religion at all--an institution, or stop anyone from practicing a religion--or, again, not practicing one. The question then becomes does the National Day of Prayer and its government backing do any of those things? Does it create a religion? Does it set up religion as an institution? Does it stop someone from practicing their chosen religion as they see fit, or not practicing religion as all?

As far as I know, there is no compulsion to actually pray on the National Day of Prayer. There is also no compulsion to pray a specific prayer, to pray to a specific person or diety. The National Day of Prayer doesn't have an particular rites that must be observed from year to year. I'm sure each president has consistently observed it in his own way during their tenure, but that probably hasn't been the same from president to president. And although people who are against this see it as yet another crazy/stupid Christian thing, and the continuance of it a concession to the "Christian Right" they are technically the only ones assigning the National Day of Prayer to a particular religion. It's not the National Day of Prayer to the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, or the National Day of Prayers to the Ancestors, etc and so on. There also aren't any police beating you with clubs or tasing you if you aren't performing any religious observances at all.

Also, a lot of what I've seen from people online who are against the National Day of Prayer has been along the lines of "It doesn't do anything." "It's a pointless waste of time." "Why don't they do something more useful like give blood/help the poor/get a life." I think for most people thinking along those lines nothing I could say about how I've seen prayer change the person praying might be moot. But I can't imagine that some of the great leaders of our age fervently believed in prayer. Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, the Dali Llama, etc. to name a few. Prayer did not make them less. It didn't prove their stupidity, it wasn't a sign of laziness, or a show of weakness. For many, I'm sure, it helped lend them strength. And whether you want to argue that they didn't actually need to pray, clearly it didn't hurt them. Even if it prayer does nothing in the end, it doesn't hurt the one who doesn't want to pray either.

Current Mood: rushed

Christian College Students Attacked in Iraq

ERBIL, Iraq — About 70 college students, most of them Christians, were wounded Sunday and another Iraqi was killed when a convoy of school buses was attacked in a double bombing on the outskirts of the northern city of Mosul, according to a security official.

“We were going for our education and they presented us with bombs,” said Jamil Salahuddin Jamil, 25, a sophomore geography major, who was on board the lead bus. “I still do not know what they want from Christians.”

The attack was a reminder of the threats in a still-disputed part of the country, claimed by Kurds and Arabs, where a resilient insurgency remains active and where American soldiers still staff checkpoints.

( Read the rest at the NY Times. )

Suspect Sought in Foiled Times Square Bomb Plot

A failed car bomb smoked, popped and shut down Times Square, causing panic, evacuations and confusion Saturday on one of the tourist spot's busiest nights. Most of the streets in the area were reopened Sunday morning, though a heavy police presence remained in the area.

New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said officers are heading to a town in Pennsylvania to talk to a man who believes he may have recorded a bombing suspect on his video camera. Police are looking a for a white male in his 40s who was seen shedding a dark shirt with a red shirt underneath, he said at an afternoon press conference. Investigators are now looking through "hundreds of hours of surveillance videos," Mr. Kelly added.

( Read the rest at the Wall Street Journal. )

There's also an interesting article at the BBC--interesting because of their not-in-America perspective on it.

Seven dead as record flooding engulfs Tennessee

(CNN) -- Some of the worst flooding the mid-South has seen in decades has killed seven people in Tennessee, the state's emergency management agency said Sunday, with up to 20 inches of rain falling in parts of the state since Saturday and more expected Sunday evening.

The rains have washed out major roads, caused evacuations, and prompted dam failures. In Nashville, Tennessee, alone, more than 600 people were rescued from the water this weekend, Mayor Karl Dean said at a press conference Sunday afternoon.

"All of our major creeks and the Cumberland River are near flood level, if not at flood level," Dean said, referring to the waterway that bisects Nashville. "The ground is entirely saturated, and the rain continues to fall. There's nowhere for the water to go."

The western two thirds of Tennessee has seen between 6 and 20 inches of rain since Saturday, with flooding spreading to Kentucky on Sunday.

( Read the rest at the CNN.com )

Current Mood: hot

Jiegu, China (CNN) -- Rescuers raced against the clock Friday to pull survivors from the rubble, hours after Premier Wen Jiabao traveled to China's earthquake-devastated zone to inspect the damage and assure victims that the search would continue.

"Your suffering is our suffering," Wen said. "We are going through the same pain as you are. The family members you lost are also our family members, and we grieve for them as you do."

Wen surveyed the rubble of buildings and spoke with residents in the predominantly ethnic Tibetan region -- where anti-government sentiment is simmering -- to drive home Beijing's concern.

( Read the rest at CNN.com )

I don't remember hearing about this. Do you guys? Or have there been so many earthquakes recently, my brain is starting to ignore them? And how bad is that!

On Sunday we commemorate the courage and sacrifice of 600 men and women who dared 45 years ago to take the first steps in a 54-mile march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital, Montgomery, for the right to vote. That day, Sunday, March 7, 1965, would come to be known as "Bloody Sunday."

As these unarmed civil rights patriots attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, where fewer than one percent of eligible black voters were allowed to register, they were gassed and beaten with billy clubs by state and local police, some on horseback, ordered to break up the demonstration.

Captured by television cameras and broadcast nationwide, the suffering of these nonviolent activists, 50 of whom required hospitalization, awoke the nation's consciousness to the importance of voting rights and the entire civil rights movement.

Within 10 days, President Johnson would send a bill to Congress, the National Voting Rights Act of 1965, that would outlaw the discriminatory Jim Crow-era practices that had long worked to disenfranchise African-Americans and other minorities across the United States.

Forty-five years later, the right for which marchers in Alabama bled remains out of reach for many Americans. In many states, minority voters encounter obstacles at every step of the voting process, from registration to casting a ballot.

(Read the rest of this op-ed on CNN.com)

Strong earthquake strikes off Sumatra coast

(CNN) -- A strong earthquake with magnitude 6.5 struck Friday night in the ocean southwest of Sumatra in Indonesia, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The quake, which occurred shortly after 11 p.m., was centered about 100 miles (165 kilometers) west of Bengkulu in Sumatra, and 215 miles (345 kilometers) south of Padang, Sumatra, the USGS said.

The center was 13.7 miles (22 kilometers) deep, the USGS said.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. Read the rest at CNN.com

Strong Aftershocks Strike Chile

SANTIAGO, Chile — As Chile worked to restore utilities to areas ravaged by last Saturday’s earthquake, two strong offshore tremors jolted the country’s southern coastline on Friday morning striking close to the epicenter of the first devastating quake.

The United States Geological Survey reported that the quakes — the latest of scores of aftershocks to rattle Chile — each occurred within 25 miles of Concepción, Chile’s second-largest metropolitan area. Concepción was heavily damaged in the Saturday morning quake, which measured 8.8, and an even deadlier tsunami that followed it. According to the Geological Survey, the first tremor hit at 6:19 a.m. Friday, 25 miles northwest of Concepción, and had an estimated magnitude of 6.0. The second , stronger quake, with an estimated magnitude of 6.6, struck at 8:47 a.m., 20 miles north of the city.

There were no immediate reports of further damage or casualties on Friday. Read the rest at NY Times online

Anyone have any happy news articles they want to share? I pondered posting a 3rd, but it's about gross neglect to a child and I just can't take it right now, not even to post.

A 6.4-magnitude earthquake rocked southern Taiwan on Thursday morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. There were no immediate reports of deaths or serious injuries.

Taiwan's interior ministry reported 11 minor injuries.

The quake struck at about 8:20 a.m. (7:20 p.m. Wednesday ET) in a mountainous region about 25 miles northwest of Taitung, on the southeast coast, and 40 miles east of Tainan and Kaohsiung on the southwest coast.

Read the rest at CNN.com

Does anyone know if, like, having one major quake spawns others? I'm almost positive that Taiwan is in the ring of fire, but I am up past my bedtime so who knows.

Chile quake affects two million, says Bachelet

Two million people have been affected by the massive earthquake that struck central Chile on Saturday, President Michelle Bachelet has said.

In a TV address, she said the forces of nature were testing the nation.

So far at least 300 people have been confirmed killed in the earthquake that struck in the early hours of Saturday.

The 8.8 quake - one of the biggest ever - triggered a tsunami that has been sweeping across the Pacific, although waves were not as high as predicted.

"The forces of nature have badly affected our country," Ms Bachelet said.

"And once again they've put to the test our ability to deal with adversity and get back on our feet. And we are examining every way to restore all the basic services in the country. But there's still a lot to do. (Read the rest at the BBC News online)

Thousands begin evacuating in Japan as threat of tsunami nears

Tokyo, Japan (CNN) -- Tens of thousands of residents began evacuating from coastal Japan on Sunday in anticipation of a possible tsunami following the 8.8-magnitude quake that rocked Chile the day before, CNN's Kyung Lah reported.

The northern part of the main island is looking at the possibility of a tsunami more than 9 feet high, she said. Rail service has been halted and residents have been urged to evacuate low-lying areas of the island nation.

The warning primarily affected fishing areas and tourist areas; major cities like Tokyo, which is inland, were not affected. (Read the rest at CNN.com)