The U.S. Census counts every resident in the United States, and is required by the Constitution to take place every 10 years. Mid-March the census forms will be delivered to every residence in the United States and Puerto Rico. When you receive yours, just answer the 10 short questions (they say it take around 10 minutes) and then mail the form back in the postage-paid envelope provided. If you don’t mail the form back, you may receive a visit from a census taker, who will ask you the questions from the form.

The majority of the country will receive English–only materials. Households in areas with high concentrations of Spanish-speaking residents may receive a bilingual (English/Spanish) form. Any personal data you provide is protected under federal law.

Please take the time to fill out the Census and mail it back because the information affects the numbers of seats your state occupies in the U.S. House of Representatives. People from many walks of life use census data to advocate for causes, rescue disaster victims, prevent diseases, research markets, locate pools of skilled workers and more. It also helps to determine how more than $400 billion dollars of federal funding each year is spent on infrastructure and services like:

• Hospitals
• Job training centers
• Schools
• Senior centers
• Bridges, tunnels and other-public works projects
• Emergency services

Don’t take this lightly. For more information regarding the Census and how it affects all Americans, check out the Census blog at http://blogs.census.gov/2010census.

If you are in need of a job, the U.S. Census Bureau is recruiting temporary, part-time census takers right in your own community. These short-term jobs offer good pay, flexible hours, paid training, and reimbursement for authorized work-related expenses, such as mileage incurred while conducting census work. For more information on the job opportunities they offer, visit http://2010.census.gov/2010censusjobs.

The President takes a moment to congratulate our Olympic athletes.  Discussing the unity and pride Americans feel in cheering them on, the President relates that sentiment to his own desire for bipartisanship in Washington.  He praises the recent bipartisan meeting and talks about moving forward on health reform.

source

Alex Haley began his writing while in the U.S. Coast Guard.

[b.1921 - d.1992]

Born on August 11,1921 in Ithaca, New York, Alexander Murray Palmer Haley grew up in Henning, Tennessee, the first of three sons to Simon Henry Haley, a professor of agriculture, and Bertha George Palmer, a school-teacher. In 1937, he attended Hawthorne College in Mississippi, and then transferred to Elizabeth City State Teachers College in North Carolina, which he attended for two years. He enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard in 1939 and completed a twenty-year tour of duty, first as a messboy, and then, in 1950, as Chief Journalist. During the 1940s, Haley began writing short anecdotal sketches about the coast guard, some of which he published in Coronet magazine. In the 1950s, he continued to publish short, mostly biographical pieces in Coronet, as well as in Readers Digest, Atlantic, and Harper’s. He retired from the coast guard in 1959 to become a freelance writer.

In the early 1960s, he continued to publish short articles, among them an exposé of Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam for the Saturday Evening Post. At the same time, he began a series of interviews for Playboy magazine, including ones with Miles Davis, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali), Jim Brown, and Quincy Jones. His interview with Malcolm X led to their collaboration on The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965). Haley’s probing questions of Malcolm X and editorial skills helped shape what has undoubtedly become the most influential twentieth-century African American autobiography.

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What is Photo Phinish?

It’s hard to believe it’s already 2010. But we’re here and there are still new things in store for this blog. When I started blogging, the main goal was to share information and hopefully open up dialogue on issues that affect the black community. I think I did that in some way this year, but it wasn’t to the extent that I’d done in previous years.

The goal for this year is to continue on the track of keeping the site informative. I plan on opening it up to others who are interested in sharing their point of view with the readers of this site. There are some talented, well-written people out there and I want to showcase them and get some real discussions going.

Late in the year, when I got swamped with projects for work, I fell off the blogging scene for a couple of weeks. Blogging can be a daunting task and coming up with things to write about can be time consuming (especially when it isn’t one of my strengths). So this year, I’m going to solicit your help. If you or someone you know are interested in blogging, but don’t want to manage their own site, email me at info @ theotalks.net. I’m always in need of someone to write and it usually turns out to be a win-win situation for both parties.

This year, I also want to focus more on minority small businesses. In these turbulent economic times, a lot of people are turning to owning their own business. I think that’s great, so I decided to start a list of some of my favorite small businesses. I’ll be highlighting small business owners throughout the year, so contact me if you’re interested in participating.

Finally, here are some websites that you need to keep an eye on for 2010. I’ll be blogging a lot about them and hope to be visible on most of them as time permits. Check them out when you get the chance:

• Liberate Magazine
• Tech Relations Firm
• Dallas South News
• Barter My Biz

Have a Happy New Year and God Bless!

Last month I wrote a post about a virtual town hall meeting for Bill Cosby’s new CD, ‘Bill Cosby Presents the Cosnarati: State of Emergency’. The record has been released and Mr. Cosby is turning his attention to creating a serious discussion around the issues that fuel the Cosnarati record.

The next phase of the “State of Emergency” campaign will be a weekend of LISTENing parties on December 12th and 13th.  The Cosby team will be working vigilantly on the organization of thousands of mini-town halls at homes, community centers, churches, and other locations around the country. A full overview on the LISTENing parties here:

http://act.billcosby.com/events

This will be done in conjunction with another Ustream town hall featuring Mr. Cosby, who will also be calling in to welcome listeners at many of the town halls. If you would like to set up a LISTENing party, a manual for what’s needed to get started can be found at http://act.billcosby.com/page/-/docs/party-manual.pdf. I’ve been asked to sponsor a meeting, so I’ll let you know what comes of that.

Oh, no they didn’t! During the BET Awards, Martin Lawrence and Jamie Foxx put together a movie trailer parody that poked fun at their 90’s TV show characters Sheneneh Jenkins (Martin Lawrence Show) and Wanda Reid (In Living Color). Rumor has it that Screen Gems has approached the two actors to make a movie based on the BET spoof (shown below).

Personally, I liked the characters on their respective TV shows, but I really think that’s as far as it needs to go. As I type this post, I cringe because I think making it will push the careers of both actors back a step. They have done some great things since Wanda & Sheneneh and are beyond this. The characters they played in the past need to remain in the past. They made us laugh and gave us some funny one liners, but Madea is more than enough for today’s movie-goer.

I won’t be spending my $10 to go see it because I can think of better things to do with my money. I’m curious to see how many theaters will show it and wonder how the general public will react once it’s out. Chris Rock’s Good Hair movie caused a discussion and even got him an appearance on Oprah. I wonder is Wanda and Sheneneh will get the same opportunity? Only time will tell.

What do you think about this becoming a movie?

On Monday October 19th, at 7pm EST / 4pm PST, Bill Cosby will be hosting a virtual town hall meeting live via Ustream. The purpose is to promote his new CD “Bill Cosby Presents the Cosnarati: State of Emergency”, which is an album of music with messages reflecting today’s most critical issues affecting young people. The 90-minute event will include a first time ever performance by Cosnarati where they will showcase a few songs from the record. Audience members will be able to tweet @BillCosby before and during the live town hall using http://www.tinyurl.com/ASKCOSBY and connect with him directly at http://twitter.com/BillCosby.

Bill Cosby is not new to saying things black people don’t always want to hear. I wrote a review about his book “Come On People” when it was published and I thought he hit on some pretty important topics. While I may not have agreed with everything he had to say, I do see where he is coming from. Being a comedian in a time when people weren’t always fond of black people, I’m sure Dr. Cosby has experienced some things we can never imagine. He’s opened the doors for a lot of actors and for that alone, his street cred in my opinion is pretty high. I applaud him for his efforts and it’ll be interesting to see how the CD is received.

I will embed the stream on my site or you can go directly to his UsreamTV site where you can chat with others who are watching.

http://www.ustream.tv/billcosby

The undisputed “Queen of Hip Hop” has hooked up with Covergirl to find a female artist to open for her show in each city while on tour. Whether you’re a singer, a dancer, a rapper, or anything in between, this could be your chance to open during her tour of your city. All you have to do is create a one-minute video performance showcasing the Queen Latifah persona that fits you best. Along with a video, tell in 250-words or less why you deserve to ignite your Persona.

Latifah is one of the few women in hip hop with staying power and is truly a role model, inspiring female entertainers everywhere. She all-around entertainer and has excelled in her many endeavors, proving she can stand the test of time

For more information on the Ignite Your Persona Competition, check out the Covergirl website. Also check out Latifah’s reason behind the contest and her personal website to get tour dates.

This photo is from the Official White House Flickr stream. It’s a picture of President Barack Obama playing basketball with White House staffers while on vacation on Martha’s Vineyard, Aug. 26, 2009.

I thought this one would be a cool one to showcase because I like the focused look on Obama’s face as he schools some of his people. When he was running for office, I wondered why anyone would want to take on the challenge in getting America back on track. We were in the middle of a never-ending war and on the cusp of an economic breakdown. The auto industry was falling apart and the financial sector was taking more government bailouts than we could afford to give out. But he took the job anyway.

Whether you agree with Obama’s politics or not, you have to admire the concentrated effort he’s putting into moving this country forward. I like how he’s not afraid to take on the big issues and pray that things will turn out okay after the dust has settled.

I don’t know why politicians don’t understand that, NOTHING IS EVER OFF THE RECORD!!! Here is video from CNN’s Rick Sanchez reporting about an off the record comment from President Obama about Kanye West’s treatment of Taylor Swift at the MTV Awards. While Obama may have been correct in my opinion, he should have known the comment would get out. Shortly after it was made an ABC employee twittered the comment out to everyone.

Poor, poor Kanye. People can only take so much of his big Ego. I wonder if the President will invite him over for a beer.

Here we go. This is funny!