Was Obama A Target?

Joseph Sean McVey, 23 had his car parked at a North Carolina parking lot and it was outfitted with police equipment.

According to the Citizen-Times, he was carrying a handgun and listening to police radio frequencies near the runway around the time President Barack Obama's flight was leaving Asheville Regional Airport.

Police charged him with going armed to the terror of the public, a misdemeanor offense, but investigators haven't yet determined whether he was attempting to target the president.

President Obama was flying out of the N.C. airport after a brief stay in the area due to the memorial service in West Virginia for the 29 coal miners who were killed in an explosion earlier this month.

There was a sticky note found in Joseph McVey's car with formulas for rifle scopes, authorities said. Police have not spoken publicly about what the formulas might mean.

Health Insurer With Female CEO Dropping Breast Cancer Patients

How can a company drop women from their health insurance plans because of breast cancer? This kind of situation shouts no moral compass and maximizing profits at all costs.

What is worse is the fact that the head of Wellpoint is a woman. One would think that the benefit of having women as the top executive of the company would eliminate this kind of discrimination.

I guess this is similar to an African American man owning a very popular cable music network that years ago allowed too many music videos of drive by shootings and lawlessness in the hood to be showed on an endless loop everyday.

What will it take for these kind of Executives to find a balance between making profits for the business and the greater good for society when structuring their business policies?

Reuters reported on Thursday that WellPoint, the largest U.S. health insurer by enrollment, was using a computer algorithm that automatically targeted patients recently diagnosed with breast cancer.

In a letter dated April 22 to Angela Braly, WellPoint's chief executive, Department Of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said she was "surprised and disappointed" to learn from a Reuters report that the company has specifically targeted women with breast cancer for aggressive investigation with intent to cancel their policies.

Update: WellPoint, based in Indianapolis, is the company that became a focal point for debate in February after complaints spread about planned rate hikes that average around 25 percent for individual insurance policies sold by the insurer's Anthem Blue Cross subsidiary in California.

Apple Has Passed Microsoft

Apple is now the second largest company listed on the S&P 500 index.

Apple reached a market cap of $241.5 billion; when trading stopped Thursday, Microsoft's market capitalization was $239.5 billion. That put Apple in second behind Exxon.

Technically speaking, only about 87% of Microsoft's shares are publicly traded so they are still bigger, but Apple is coming on strong.

With their strong line up of iPods, iPhones, iPads, and Macs, Apple is clearly the technology leader. These Apple products are hot, hot, hot. Even my 10 year old son knows that Apple and Steve Jobs are at the top of their game as he explained to me recently.

Microsoft's Windows is still on about 90% of computers worldwide, but their numbers are dropping slowly but surely. Microsoft will be around for a long time to come; however, they are becoming like General Electric.

Microsoft is almost always number one or two in every sector that they invest or buy into but they are having a hard time leading the pack with new, cutting edge products that comes from their own design, engineering, and creative operations.

Apple received a big push on Tuesday when they reported a profit increase of 90 percent and an increase of 49 percent in revenue. Microsoft was unimpressive when it reported a 35 percent increase in profit and 6 percent jump in revenue.

African American Farmers Still Not Paid $1 Billion For Past Discrimination Settlement

Once again, the government was involved in making it difficult for African Americans to be successful in this country.

CNN has an interesting post regarding the Pigford Case which established a longstanding pattern of discrimination at the U.S. Agriculture Department against African-American farmers who had applied for farm loans and support from federal programs.

The farmers settled the case with the government, but Congress has not come up with the money to pay the African Americans for experiencing racial discrimination.

To read more about this story, go to CNN.com.

Harvard University Is Free If Family Earns Less Than 60k

Harvard University has changed their student financial aid policy.

According to their website, their new financial aid policy has dramatically reduced the amount families with incomes below $180,000 are expected to pay, and parents of families with incomes below $60,000 are not expected to contribute at all to college costs.

They no longer consider home equity as a resource in our determination of a family contribution, and students are not expected to take out loans, which have been replaced by need-based Harvard scholarship.

This new program has reduced the cost to middle income families by one-third to one-half, making the price of a Harvard education for students on financial aid comparable to the cost of in-state tuition and fees at the nation’s leading public universities according to Harvard's Financial Aide office.

Judge Cites Ex-Detroit Mayor For Violating Probation

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is learning the hard way that once the system comes after you, it will seem like an unending nightmare.

The ex-mayor Kilpatrick pleaded guilty in 2008 to misconduct after sexually explicit text messages became public. He lied under oath about an affair with a staff member. The 39-year-old resigned, served 99 days in jail, agreed to give up his law license, repay the city $1 million, and stay out of politics for five years.

Newsweek reported that a bodyguard for the the mayor reported that the mayor's personal police posse was running amuck, crashing cars and racking up overtime. Then an investigation was started by a Deputy Police Chief. The Deputy Police Chief was fired weeks later.

The Deputy and the bodyguard decided to bring a whistleblower lawsuit against the mayor and the city. The city settled for 9 million. These two guys did well for themselves.

When asked about the affair under oath, Kilpatrick basically said it never happened. He did not realize that the sexual texts that he sent on his city owned pager could be accessed.

According to the Free Press, one text sent from his city owned pager read "I've been dreaming all day about having you all to myself for three days,." "Relaxing, laughing, talking, sleeping and making love."

First of all, he should have known that text messages and cell phones records are accessible. Second, he should also known that firing a police officer conducting an investigation of him and his staff is stepping over the line.

The ex-mayor made a deal to pay back the city 1 million dollars, and he is currently paying 3 thousand a month. The judge cited him for not being completely upfront about his assets even though he was making regular and timely payments. The judge may send him back to jail over this violation of probation.

I am sure that Kwame Kilpatrick feels like he cannot win and he is right.

Tylertown Mississippi Resegregating Schools

One could think that this was 1960 instead of 2010 based on what is happening in some school districts across the country. In Tylertown, MS a federal judge has ordered the Walthall school district to change its attendance policies because they amount to racial segregation.

The Obama Administration's Justice Department has been aggressively going after school districts that they believe are seriously violating court orders from decades ago that have ruled against segregating school.

Prosecutors have said that the district was sending about 300 white students out of the district to an identifiable white school called Salem every year. At the elementary level, students are being clustered in classrooms that basically result in all black or all white classrooms in Tylertown.

The two high schools are actually very average schools based on test scores reported on the site Great School.com.

The Act scores which are a national college admission and placement examination are basically identical in Math, Science, English, and Reading. Both schools have a composite score of 17 with the state average being 19 and the national average being 21. The test is scored from 1(lowest score) up to 36 (highest score).

Based on the school test scores, there does not seem to be any educational benefit of attending one school over another school.

According to an article in the Washington Post, some white parents have justified the transfer to the mostly white out of district school by stating that kids would be more comfortable at Salem.

According to the federal judge, allowing the white kids to attend the mostly white Salem through the transfers created racially identifiable schools which is against the law.

Government Appliance Rebates

The Federal government has set aside about $300 million in rebate money to encourage American consumers to buy appliances. The money is being given to all states and some U.S. territories as well.

The federal government is hoping to encourage residents to buy furnaces, clothes washers, refrigerators and other appliances with the government’s Energy Star label.

This program is similar to the government's cash for clunkers program where people where encouraged to trade in their older vehicle and receive a generous trade in value toward a new car.

If you are interested in buying a new appliance and want to find out how to receive a rebate from your your state, click here.

This is a very popular program. It has already closed in eight states.

Rebate Programs Have Closed in These States or Territories As Of 4/20/10:
•Florida
•Illinois
•Iowa
•Kansas
•Minnesota
•Rhode Island
•South Dakota
•Texas

Will Your College Bound Daughter Fall Prey To Raging ?

Raging is a recurring, drunken activity that requires consuming large quantities of alcohol before or at a party, and then the night could end in making out with a stranger or acquaintance.

These kind of casual hook ups fueled by alcohol are the norm at many college campuses. Unfortunately, there are emotional devastation experiences for many students that are into these hook ups.

Some students even have their hearts broken by the hook-up scene. This will happen when one person expects more to come from the hook up.

The term "hook up" is ambiguous, usually defined as a no-commitment, physical encounter with a stranger or acquaintance. Hooking up can range from just a make-out session all the way to sex. Other lingo for the no-commitment sexual encounters are "booty calls" or "friends with benefits."

There is a Jennifer Nicholas who had sex while experiencing a friends with benefits relationship with a guy. When she was 22, she was at the doctor's office and was told, "Surprise! You've got herpes."

Too many people trust their friend without really knowing their sexual history. Since everything about a person's sexual history is rarely shared, a false comfort level can be created that often times leads to unsafe sex. This is how Jennifer Nicolas caught herpes from her friends with benefits relationship.

Unsafe sex should not take place without STD (sexually transmitted diseases) testing. The testing only takes minutes and the costs are inexpensive.

This could be the difference between a lifetime disease like herpes or a deadly disease like HIV/Aids.

Friends that do not understand a position of no hook ups unless there is romance and traditional dating are probably only a friend because they want the benefits without the commitment. At the same time, there are some people that do not respect themselves enough or have low self esteem that will make them feel as though friends with benefits are cool.

Lexus Recalls GX 460 Vehicles

Toyota Motor Corp. which owns Lexus has announced a recall of 2010 model year Lexus GX 460 SUVs. The recall is related to an increased risk of rollover.

The recall covers approximately 9,400 SUVs. The vehicles are in the United States.

Consumer Reports was the first to report the problem. The magazine urged car shoppers not to buy the GX 460 until the problem is fixed.

Toyota says Lexus dealers will update software which controls the Vehicle Stability Control, or VSC.

VSC, also commonly called Electronic Stability Control (ESC), is a computerized system that controls the brakes and accelerator to help maintain vehicle control in abrupt maneuvers.

The software updates required to fix the problem will be available by the end of April. Toyota is offering free loaner vehicles to GX 460 owners who do not want to drive their vehicles because of the problem.

Owners of the GX 460 will be asked to bring in their vehicles at the end of April. The work is expected to take no more than one hour per vehicle.

Copycat Announcement: All Blacks Leave Store

Police in Northern Edgewater, New Jersey said that a 14-year-old girl grabbed a Whole Foods supermarket microphone and announced, "All blacks leave the store."

The same thing happened in Southern New Jersey at a Walmart store recently.

Edgewater police are investigating this incident as a possible copycat situation. According to police, the announcement was made over Whole Foods public-address system Saturday afternoon.

The girl, whose name was not released because of her age, is charged with bias intimidation and harassment.

The 16-year-old boy in the Walmart case faces the same charges as the this young girl after police said he twice ordered all blacks to leave the store.

Free Credit And Money Management Workshops

Operation Hope which is a non-profit, public benefit organization, was founded immediately following the civil unrest of April 29, 1992 in Los Angeles.

HOPE is an American provider of economic tools and services. HOPE is an effective facilitator, lender, advocate and educator for and on behalf of the other America.

The workshops will include:

1. Budgeting
2. Understanding Your Credit Score
3. Permanently Removing Derogatory Credit From your Credit Report
4. Paying Off Debt And Saving Money
5. How To Settle For Pennies On A Dollar

For information about the free workshops, visit Operation Hope's website for dates and locations.

Legalizing Marijuana Will Be On California Ballot In November

This November, voters in California will have a chance to vote on legalizing the sale of marijuana to adults as well as personal possession of marijuana.

Marijuana is a popular recreational drug. It has been studied, argued, and reported that it is less harmful than cigarettes and alcohol. Many African Africans are in prison or on probation because of nonviolent marijuana possession. In many of these cases, the individuals were using marijuana for their personal use.

Until marijuana sales and possession become legal, African Americans will continue to be disproportionately impacted. US marijuana policies, which rely primarily on criminal penalties and law enforcement, have basically been ineffective at controlling the use and sale of marijuana.

NORML which is a foundation that is working to reform marijuana laws has studied this issue and concluded in a report that while adult African Americans account for only 8.8% of the US population and 11.9% of annual marijuana users, they comprise 23%of all marijuana possession arrests in the United States.

The Huffington Post has a great article with more facts and details about marijuana.