• One in three people believe in ghosts! is the sort of study conducted solely for Halloween purposes.

• Oh, those astronauts. When they’re not slapping on diapers and driving for hours to kidnap their lovers’ girlfriends, they’re cracking jokes in space.

• An entire school system in Eastern Kentucky shut down after one kid came down with a . Seem excessive?

• Five tips for healthy eating that the majority of black people will probably never follow.

• Racial disparity in alcoholism treatment completion? Guess which racial groups are on the negative end.

Dear Sen. Obama,

I’m sure this isn’t my last letter to you, but I would have preferred my first to be written under more auspicious circumstances. It’s not a secret that I support you, although I haven’t decided if I’m going to vote for you come February. No matter what I decide, I will probably always like you because of what you represent, as both a politician and a man.

Your recent scandal involving Donnie McClurkin has been disappointing, not entirely because of the fact that you invited him on your gospel tour (I assume if you had anticipated or understood the reaction you would get, you would not have done it), but mostly because of the way you have handled the subsequent backlash. If “handle” can even be the word. Everything you’ve done since — your dinky Web site statement on gay rights, the addition of a white gay minister to the tour, and your last ditch interview with the Advocate — have sort of screamed of political incompetence.

CONTINUED »

• Don Cheadle continues his tireless Darfur activism. [MTV]

• Is Andre Leon Talley a member of Donnie McClurkin’s backup choir? [C&D]

• Speaking of McClurkin… [CC]

• My words are unnecessary here:

The mayor of San Francisco, California, has changed his mind about honoring rapper Snoop Dogg after local officials imposed tighter rules regarding proclamations. The star - real name Calvin Broadus - was due to be presented with a proclamation by a representative from Mayor Gavin Newsom’s Office of Criminal Justice during the rapper’s performance at the Exotic Erotic Ball on Friday.

[SP]

Say what you will about T.I. being targeted because he’s a rapper, but the average convicted felon caught illegally purchasing an arsenal of machine guns and silencers probably doesn’t have $3 million for bail. So while the average criminal in his situation would probably still be languishing in jail, T.I. was released from jail today with an ankle bracelet and (I’m just guessing) a smile.

[AJC]

Barack broke his relative silence on his Donnie McClurkin scandal in a rare, but oh, so necessary, interview in The Advocate.

Part of the reason that we have had a faith outreach in our campaigns is precisely because I don’t think the LGBT community or the Democratic Party is served by being hermetically sealed from the faith community and not in dialogue with a substantial portion of the electorate, even though we may disagree with them.

Part of what I have done in my campaign and in my career is be willing to go to churches and talk to ministers and tell them exactly what I think. And go straight at some of these issues of homophobia that exist in the church in a way that no other candidate has done.

But, now that it’s come out that Barack Obama rejected two black gay ministers and Michael Erick Dyson as participants in his controversial South Carolina gospel tour in favor of a gay white minister, a new can of worms has been open. But at least the controversy over his dedication to the black community is one he’s used to.

The whole thing has been idiotic on Obama’s part, yes, but it’s pretty preposterous to persecute him for pandering to southern black churchygoers, many of whom believe homosexuality is a sin, when all of the candidates do it. Show me a presidential candidate who has never shaken the hand of a person who is anti-gay under the guise of Christianity, and I’ll show you someone who’s probably not getting the nomination.

Marques Houston, that girl from My Wife and Kids and a bunch of other D-F listers attended the premiere of Somebody Help Me, an “urban thriller” starring Houston and Omarion and directed by (surprise) Chris Stokes. Here’s the synopsis from IMDB:

The screenplay centers on characters Brendan Young (Houston) and Darryl Jennings (Omarion) who take a trip to the Lake Arrowhead with a group of college friends to celebrate Young’s girlfriend’s birthday. One-by-one the coeds begin disappearing until a mysterious young visitor arrives and helps them begin to unravel their tangled web of terror.

Based on this plot summary, the fact that Omarion didn’t even show up to the premiere, and my own common sense, no one in their right mind is going to see this film. Pics of the random premiere-goers after the jump.

CONTINUED »

Who needs laws against sagging pants when you have Dallas rapper Doony Da’ Priest offering this convincing message:

You walk the streets with your pants way down low/ I don’t know/ looks to me you on the down low.
…
If you stand up straight, bet your pants fall/ Might as well walk around with your pants off/
Pull ‘em up, pull ‘em up, pull ‘em up/ Be a real man/ Stand up/ Is that your underwear, man? Pull your pants up.

Are you listening, wayward youth of Dallas? Pull your pants up if you’re straight!

[QT]

Quote of the Week

“I said something to Spike [Lee] one night, and he’s never been the same to me since,” he says. “He was trying to get me to play [German boxer] Max Schmeling in the Joe Louis story. If I was in it, he’d get this $100 million financing. But it’s just a secondary role. And I said to him, “I want to be Joe Louis. I want to be Muhammad Ali. If you want to work with me, let me be Joe Louis. … I think he took it the wrong way. … I don’t get any more birthday cards from him.”

Kelly Rowland’s cancellation of three concerts recently was evidence that her career isn’t going quite like she wants it to. Her appearance in London yesterday to sign copies of the new “Sims 2: Castaway” video game is even more evidence.

[WI]

Nicky Barnes and Frank Lucas are two of the most notorious drug kingpins in NYC history. They also think Rudy Giuliani is kind of swell!

Barnes was doing life in prison until he ratted out more than 100 pushers and killers, prompting then-Mayor Giuliani to ask for his early release, which came in 1998. “I think Giuliani would make a good president because he’s a principled guy,” Barnes told filmmaker Marc Levin, who’s making a documen tary about Barnes, “Mr. Untouchable.” [V.A. Musetto’s review: Page 52.] “He signed my commutation,” Barnes said. “He put his name on it because that’s what he promised to do.” Lucas, who was nicknamed “Superfly,” said: “If [Giuliani] promises something, you got that. He’s got a helluva word.” But he adds, “I don’t think they’re ready for an Italian president.”

Wait until Bill O’Reilly gets a load of this.

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