I - am in love!

No need to strike up the band or send any inquiries. I am in love with Newark, NJ mayor Corey Booker.

It's not that he looks like Reggie and Cheryl Miller's long, lost little brother. It's not because he's a black man doing big things and featured on Oprah. And it's not even the fact that he's a man of his word doing his best to clean up one of the most crime-ridden cities in America.

It is because this man gave a bilingual press conference this afternoon concerning progress in the case of three black college students being shot to death in a Newark school yard.

Ya'll I was watching CNN before I left my house earlier and this man was standing in front of a podium with microphones galore, one from Univision, and a question came from the audience from a reporter who was speaking English with a Hispanic accent.

The man proceeded to speak in Spanish to give out information on the two suspects that they have in custody. At that moment, my admiration for him got all inappropriate and now - I'm in love!

Booker understands the importance of getting out information be it in English or in Spanish. By exercising his bilingual skills, the man has shown that his focus is to put out information in such a way that people will understand.

~starry eyed with my head cocked to the side~ Isn't he great?

Celebrities and their relationships ...

... are once again dominating the news.

Apparently Usher has another confession. He married his knocked-up fiance today in his lawyers office. ~starry eyed~ "How romantical!"

The May-December couple were set to get married last weekend but cancelled their nuptials without any explanation to their guests or the press.

There were a lot of rumors surrounding the reason the couple decided to call off the wedding. One was that his mother was against it, another was that she'd had some complications with the baby and the other was that the two couldn't agree on a ceremony.
Any or all of those things could be true, but honestly, I really don't care either way. Usher is one of those stars that I just don't really care what he does when he's not performing. You know those "celeb-reality" shows that show how the stars live and how their houses are decorated and all that? If he were the subject, I really wouldn't watch it. In fact, I'd break my neck to avoid it. He's just not on my list of "interesting people."

But someone who is on my list is Eddie Murphy. I don't know why that dude was fresh out of a marriage and was not using protection when he was with Ginger Spice. Murphy finally admitted that he is her "babydaddy."
Murphy is engaged to Tracie Edmonds, Babyface's ex, and said in an interview that he will continue to take care of that child like he does his others. He already has five other children from his previous marriage and Edmonds has two of her own.

Talk about "Daddy Day Care," that's a lot of kids. You just don't see families that big anymore. If they keep on, they're going to have a baseball team, shoot, if they like basketball, they already have a starting five and three riding the pine.

Hey, Eddie thinks he can sing, he should put instruments in their hands and be the chocolate-dipped Partridge Family. Instead of singing an R&B version of "I Think I Love You," they can sing "Party All the Time," they might even have a leg up since they'll have Babyface's kids in the group.
OK, I'm done with them. Onto other relationships that could possibly affect me, and some of you, CNN posted a story earlier today about interracial relationships. Click here when you get a minute, http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/personal/08/06/interracial.dating.ap/index.html.

For those of you who won't, read it, the spin on this story the fact that more and more black women are dating and in some cases marrying outside of their races.
For those of you who know me, you know I have no problem with dating outside my race, in fact I am happy that more of my sistern are being more open minded about dating men outside of our race.

I think it is high time that we let go of this fantasy of having the perfect black knight in shinning armor to sweep us off our feet. I say we come on back to reality and recognize that men are men, regardless of race or color.

Instead of color being the first thing we look for in a man we should be looking to make sure that he is a good man. I don't give a crap if the dude is black, white, Hispanic, Asian or plaid with white polka dots, if he is good to me then I am cool with it!
I would much rather have a white man treat me like the queen I am than to have a black man treat me like dirt.

Oh yea, and here's a little more food for thought, why is it that folks have a problem with interracial dating, but only when it involves black and brown folks?

Think about it.

On and on ...

... now on to minorities on television. It seems that two of the funniest black (African-American, negro, colored) comediennes will be taking a little time to enjoy The View.

Whoopi Goldberg and Sherri Shepherd have signed on to be the new hosts for the ABC morning show. Shepherd and Goldberg have been named to the posts after the abrupt departure of the ever-so-nutty Rosie O'Donnell and the unwarranted termination of Star Jones Reynolds.
The ladies will step into their full time roles at the beginning of the new season. Thank God America will finally see the view of someone other than a white woman. Honestly, I stopped watching the show when Star left.
I know the show is geared toward those "desperate" housewives but aren't there any housewives of color? How are they supposed to be able to turn on a daytime talk show and find people who look like them and that they can relate to? I don't want to play the race card but dang!

Speaking of daytime television, on the "Thank ya Jesus" side of TV, Drew Carey has signed on to become the next host of "The Price is Right."

Carey will take over for Bob Barker who spent an unprecedented 35 years as the host of the show. Earlier this month, it was rumored that Rosie O'Donnell was going to take over the show. Can I just say that my prayers have been answered? I just don't think I would have been able to sit through a whole hour of her and the Rockettes telling people to "come on down!"
I am anxious to see what Carey has in store, if it's anything like "Whose Line Is It Anyway" was then my DVR is going to be full of this and Oprah.
Ooooh, I can't wait, Oprah and Plinko!

Since I've been gone a minute ...

... this is the first in a series of posts that you all will receive from me today.

Because I am a self-proclaimed entertainment news hound, the following is a hodge-podge of celebrity mishaps and situations that I find hilarious, sad or downright disgusting. Since you all know me fairly well, I'm sure you'll be able to tell how I feel about what.
First of all, I would like to wish Robin Roberts a speedy recovery from her surgery. She announced earlier today that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer and will have a surgical procedure Friday.

Here's more information about her story. http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/07/31/tv.robinroberts.ap/index.html
Roberts is an anchor on ABC's Good Morning America. Before this job, Roberts was a sportscaster for CNN and has served as a commentator for several professional sports. I remember her most recently for her work in commentary for the WNBA.

For those of you who will probably not follow the link, she found a lump in her breast during a self-exam. Then she went to her physician.

I can not stress enough how important it is for us (women and men) to have regular check ups. By the grace of God, she caught it early and was able to do something about it. There are too many of us (black folks) who don't take care of our health. I say us because I too am included in this number.

Let's all pledge to take better care of our health so that we won't need sick care.

Speaking of sickly folks, anyone seen Star Jones Reynolds lately?

She recently "came out" saying that she had gastric bypass surgery. Well duh! What one fool in America believes that she hasn't had gastric bypass surgery?

She lost 160 pounds in a year. That's a whole person. Hell, that's two first graders and a midget (OK, a little person). All in one year people. She either had gastric bypass or a crack pipe.

Either way, she's starting to look just a little too sickly. I understand losing for health's sake, but what about stopping for the same reason?

I just hope she's going to be OK, after all, we have to see what she does next. I am looking forward to seeing her back in TV.