From Times Online

July 31, 2009

'Friendly' beer summit calms race row tensions

(Saul Loeb/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

Henry Gates and Sergeant James Crowley share a beer with Barack Obama and Joe Biden

Tim Reid in Washington

The white US police officer at the heart of a fierce national debate about race and law enforcement said he would continue to meet the black Harvard law professor he controversially arrested after the two men shared a nationally watched beer with President Obama.

Sergeant James Crowley spoke after the most widely covered beer in US history, a drink with the man he arrested – Professor Henry Louis Gates Junior – around a table in the White House Rose Garden with President Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden.

Sergeant Crowley, at a press conference shortly after an event that the press corps could only briefly photograph, out of ear shot, said that he and Professor Gates were "two gentlemen who agreed to disagree".

After the US networks had universally shown footage of the “beer summit” – a 50-yard shot of the four men drinking their respective brews and eating peanuts - Sergeant Crowley then gave some idea of what had transpired.

Sergeant Crowley did not apologise for arresting Professor Gates, but said he “respected him a great deal”, there had been “no tension” at the beer meeting, and that they had “cordial and productive discussions.” He said they would continue to meet each other privately in the coming weeks.

The four men ate peanuts as they chatted over their favourite beers. Mr Obama drank a Bud Light; Sergeant Crowley a Blue Moon; Professor Gates a Sam Adams Light; Mr Biden a non-alcoholic Buckler.

Afterwards, Mr Obama described the "friendly, thoughtful" conversation as a success.

"I have always believed that what brings us together is stronger than what pulls us apart," the president said. "I am confident that has happened here tonight, and I am hopeful that all of us are able to draw this positive lesson from this episode."

Professor Gates hailed the "great opportunity" fate had given him and Sergeant Crowley. He said their task must be to foster sympathy among Americans about "the daily perils of policing on the one hand, and for the genuine fears of racial profiling on the other hand."

The meeting, which was the culmination of a race row that has consumed America since Sergeant Crowley arrested Professor Gates at his home on June 16, came hours after the controversy took another explosive turn: the description of Professor Gates as a “banana-eating jungle monkey” by a Boston police officer.

Boston police suspended Officer Justin Barrett, who first e-mailed anonymously to The Boston Globe and then to friends in the local National Guard: “If I were the officer he verbally assaulted like a banana-eating jungle monkey I would have sprayed him with OC.”

Officer Barrett, 36, was stripped him of his gun and badge and placed him on administrative leave. He later said: “I didn’t mean it in a racist way.”

Last month, Sergeant Crowley had been called to investigate a suspected burglary at Professor Gates’s house. The scholar had just returned from a foreign trip and had trouble opening his front door.

Sergeant Crowley said that when he confronted Professor Gates the academic became abusive. Despite knowing that no burglary had taken place, the policeman ended up arresting him for disorderly conduct, handcuffing him and taking him down to the station. The charges were later dropped. Professor Gates has said that he was the victim of racial profiling.

Mr Obama, a friend of Professor Gates, fuelled the controversy when he accused the Cambridge police of acting “stupidly”. Two days later, after an outcry from police groups, Mr Obama expressed regret and said he had telephoned Sergeant Crowly, who suggested a White House beer with Professor Gates.

One person who was not there was the woman who made the original emergency call to report the possible burglary. The police first claimed that she reported “two black men with backpacks” trying to get into the house. In fact, Lucia Whalen, who gave a tearful press conference on Wednesday, never mentioned race. She told reporters she had feared for her safety after being vilified as a racist.

OBAMA BEER THIRTY FOR CROWLEY AND GATES 6 PM THURSDAY AT THE OBAMA HOUSE

It's official: The so-called "beer summit" between President Obama, African-American professor Henry Louis Gates and white police Sgt. James Crowley will be held 6 p.m. Thursday at the White House.

"Weather permitting, they'll probably sit out at the picnic table behind the Oval Office," said Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs, confirming the time.

The meeting is "a chance to step back a bit" from the flap surrounding Crowley's disorderly conduct arrest of Gates at the professor's home near Harvard University. Gates called the charges -- since dropped -- racially motivated.

There is no formal agenda for the president's meeting, Gibbs said, but rather "a chance to talk and a chance to have a dialogue."

The idea for a White House meeting surfaced during Obama's phone conversation Friday with Crowley. The president later spoke with reporters and expressed regret for his comment that the Cambridge, Mass., police had acted "stupidly" in arresting Gates, saying it only ratcheted up the controversy.

At the time, Obama said: "The fact that this has become such a big issue I think is indicative of the fact that race is still a troubling aspect of our society."

There will be beer at Thursday's meeting, Gibbs said. The menu is still being worked out, but the spokesman said Crowley told the president "he likes Blue Moon." Gates, meanwhile, has expressed a linking for Beck's and Red Stripe. Obama threw back a Budweiser at a ball game two weeks ago.

Michael Jackson planned to direct movie about foster children; sparked by his itinerant childhood

BY Gina Salamone
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Wednesday, July 22nd 2009, 9:51 AM

TMZ

Michael Jackson holding Blanket and Paris while Prince, right, looks into the camera. The King of Pop was reportedly planning to direct a movie about foster children.

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Michael Jackson, whose hotel-hopping childhood allegedly made him feel like an orphan, planned to direct a movie about foster kids.

A few months before he died, the King of Pop reportedly committed to co-direct and fund the drama, according to the Hollywood Reporter. He was to start work on the project right after his string of London concerts.

Writer and Director Bryan Michael Stoller, a friend of Jackson, said that in 2002 the pop star showed him a 1985 book that detailed the author Jennings Michael Burch's real-life experiences in foster homes as a child. Jackson reportedly asked Stoller to produce and co-direct a film version, which would have been called "They Cage the Animals at Night."

Those close to Jackson told the Hollywood Reporter that he had not signed onto any formal deal involving the film before his death last month.

Jackson may have had a soft spot for the project due to his own childhood as a performer, moving from place to place.

"Michael told me often he felt like he grew up as an orphan, like a foster kid, because he never was in one home," Stoller said. "To him every hotel was like a different foster home. He said he used to sit in the window and see kids playing outside and cry because he couldn't be part of that."

While Jackson starred in "The Wiz" (1978) and "Captain EO," a 3-D film shown in Disney theme parks in the 1980s, he had no plans to appear in "They Cage."

"He was very excited about making movies and wanted his hands on everything, from working on screenplays to producing, to writing the music," Stoller said. "However, he never showed any interest in acting."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/michael_jackson/2009/07/22/2009-07-22_michael_jackson_planned_to_direct_movie_about_foster_children_sparked_by_own_iti.html#ixzz0M0i2tFS3

A Defining Moment Nears for President

Brendan Smialowski for The New York Times

President Obama will hold a prime-time news conference on Wednesday that will in effect be a “six-month report card.”

WASHINGTON — Six months into his administration, President Obama is at a pivotal moment. He has pushed through a $787 billion economic stimulus package, bailed out Wall Street and, on Tuesday, managed to beat the defense industry in the Senate, which voted to kill a high-profile fighter jet program.

On Wednesday night Mr. Obama addresses the nation in a prime-time news conference as the public, and lawmakers, are growing skittish over his next big plan, to remake the American health care system. How he handles the issue over the next several weeks could shape the rest of his presidency, shedding light on his political strength, his relationship with both parties in Congress and his appetite to fight for his own agenda.

Harvard professor Gates arrested at Cambridge home

July 20, 2009 04:37 PM

Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., one of the nation's pre-eminent African-American scholars, was arrested Thursday afternoon at his home by Cambridge police investigating a possible break-in. The incident raised concerns among some Harvard faculty that Gates was a victim of racial profiling.

Gates

Police arrived at Gates’s Ware Street home near Harvard Square at 12:44 p.m. to question him. Gates, director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard, had trouble unlocking his door after it became jammed.

He was booked for disorderly conduct after “exhibiting loud and tumultuous behavior,” according to a police report. Gates accused the investigating officer of being a racist and told him he had "no idea who he was messing with,'' the report said.

Gates told the officer that he was being targeted because "I'm a black man in America.''

We are with you Katherine!

Katherine Jackson -- I Will Be Heard!

Posted Jul 22nd 2009 2:15AM by TMZ Staff

Katherine Jackson wants "a seat at the table" in all matters involving Michael Jackson's estate.

Katherine's lawyer, Londell McMillan, tells us Katherine called him the day Michael died, asking him to come to the house. McMillan says when he showed up the first weekend, Katherine and Joe expressed "concern" over the estate and hired him to represent Katherine's legal interests.

McMillan says Katherine will not challenge the will, but as far as the executors are concerned, he says, "She deserves a seat at the table at a minimum." McMillan would not say if Katherine merely wanted to be named as a third executor or whether she wanted to challenge John Branca and John McClain, the named co-executors.

DONT FORGET OUR STRUGGLE HERE IN LOCAL ONE MR PRESIDENT

At NAACP Centennial, Obama Speaks of Struggle
President Barack Obama delivered a rousing speech Thursday to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, paying tribute to the organization's history and challenging its members to confront continued racial disparities.
"Make no mistake: The pain of discrimination is still felt in America," the president said in honoring the nation's largest civil rights organization on the occasion of its 100th convention. Speaking to an audience of several thousand at the Hilton New York, Mr. Obama credited the bravery and determination of civil rights leaders with paving the way for a black person to win the White House. "Because of them I stand here tonight, on the shoulders of giants," Obama said. "And I'm here to say thank you to those pioneers and thank you to the NAACP."

TITO SAYS MJ WAS KIDS DAD

Michael Jackson Was The Biological Father Of His Kids, Tito Insists

'Those eyes don't lie,' Tito Jackson says of his late brother's youngest child, known as 'Blanket.'

Paris Jackson and Prince Michael Jackson I

Photo: Mark Terrill/Pool/Getty Images

LaToya song re-released as Michael Jackson tribute

By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY (AP) – 7 hours ago

NEW YORK — A song LaToya Jackson previously recorded to honor her family is now being re-released as a tribute to her brother Michael.

The song "Home" is being made available on iTunes on July 28 by Ja-Tail Records and Bungalo Records, which is distributed by Universal Music Group. A publicity image for the single shows an all-white clad Jackson, with her arm extended upward, with an image of Michael Jackson, also clad in white, to her right.

Ja-Tail company founder Jeffre Phillips says Jackson's older sister had already finished a CD and was about to release a different song as her first single. But after Michael Jackson died suddenly on June 25, the album release was delayed indefinitely.

However, the label decided to release "Home" to pay homage to the late entertainer. Phillips said the company is donating the proceeds to AIDS Project LA, a charity that was supported by Michael Jackson.

Phillips added that LaToya Jackson would not d

Publish Post

o any marketing or promotion for the record.

Michael Jackson’s Full Autopsy Results Delayed, Coroner Says

7/17/09, 11:39 am EST

Source: Joe Jackson Willing to Step Aside in Custody Case

By Champ Clark

Originally posted Friday July 17, 2009 08:05 PM EDT

Joe and Katherine Jackson Photo by: Jason LaVeris / FilmMagic, Robyn Beck / Reuters / Landov

The custody case over Michael Jackson's three young children presses on: Friday, a hearing that has been scheduled for next week was postponed until Aug. 3 because the singer's mother, Katherine Jackson, is still assembling her legal team, a source tells PEOPLE. And in another new development, Jackson's father, Joe, whom Michael accused of physical abuse in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 1993, now says he is willing to step aside to helphis wife win guardianship.

WHO IS WATCHING LOCAL ONE OFICERS?

Manhattan City Councilman Miguel Martinez admits he stole tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars

By Thomas Zambito and Greg B. Smith
DAILY NEWS WRITERS

Thursday, July 16th 2009, 11:02 AM

JACKSON DOC IN CORNER

Jackson Doc Talks Himself Into a Corner

Posted Jul 16th 2009 2:00AM by TMZ Staff

We've learned the doctor at the center of the investigation into Michael Jackson's death is in the cross hairs of the LAPD because of his own words.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ Dr. Conrad Murray's statements to police on the Saturday following Jackson's death contained incriminating disclosures about his involvement. Some members of law enforcement are surprised he spoke in the first place and surprised at what he volunteered.

As we reported yesterday, the LAPD is already treating Jackson's death as a homicide and there have been multiple conversations between detectives and the L.A. County District Attorney's office, although the D.A. has not opened its own formal investigation.

And we've learned, although some of the toxicology results are not in yet, important test results already completed point to the anesthesia Propofol as the primary cause of death. Our law enforcement sources say the evidence is clear -- Propofol was the primary reason Jackson's heart stopped beating.

Dr. Murray's lawyer would neither confirm nor deny if his client administered Propofol to Jackson the day he died.

JOE JACKSON WANTS TO FORM JACKSON 3 WITH MJ'S KIDS

MJ MOM AND DEBBIE ROWE PLOT SECRET DEAL

Jackson's Mother and Ex-Wife Plot Secret Custody Deal

Deal Would Give Katherine Custody, Rowe Increased Visitation but Snub Joe Jackson

By RUSSELL GOLDMAN and EILEEN MURPHY
July 13, 2009

Michael Jackson's mother and ex-wife are working out a deal behind closed doors that would allow them to avoid a custody battle and guarantee that the pop star's father could never get custody of the singer's three children.

Michael Jackson's mother, Katherine, and his ex-wife, Debbie Rowe, left, are reportedly in talks to make a deal on custody of the singer's three children.

(Getty Images)
Sources told ABC News.com that Debbie Rowe, the former Mrs. Jackson and mother of his two oldest children, is willing to forego a fight for the children if their grandmother, Katherine Jackson, allows her more time to visit with the kids, and guarantees that their grandfather, Joe Jackson, whom Michael accused of abuse, could never be named a guardian.

Michael Jackson’s Hometown Tribute Brings Together Extended Family

By Kari Lydersen

A fan holds up a photo of the Jackson 5 at the Gary, Ind., memorial celebration Friday. Photo by: Scott Olson / Getty

Michael Jackson’s cousin Phyllis Fossett Turner skipped a family reunion in Little Rock on Friday to attend the memorial service for the pop star in his hometown of Gary, Ind.

But the event, held in the 6,000-seat minor league baseball stadium where Jackson played to adoring fans in 2003, turned out like a reunion itself for Jackson’s local extended family, most of whom did not attend the Los Angeles service.

About 20 Jackson cousins – ranging in ages over five decades – sat in the front row of folding chairs on the infield of the packed RailCats’ US Steel Yard stadium to watch local performers pay homage to Michael. They wore white T-shirts adorned with photos of Jackson posing witheach of them during his ‘03 visit, with the words “RIP” on the front and “Reunion” on the back.

Michael’s father Joe Jackson arrived two hours into the service, flanked by bodyguards, as the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. was speaking. The Jackson patriarch briefly took the stage to greet the crowd and accept a 7-ft.-by-4-ft. granite plaque – etched with Michael’s tip-toe pose and his birth and death dates – from Gary mayor Rudy Clay, who is aiming to turn Michael’s childhood home into a museum.

“I’ve said it time and again, if we can do it for Elvis we can do it for Michael in Gary, Indiana,” said Clay. “Now we are going to make it happen with junkyard tenacity.” The Jacksons moved from the city when Michael was 11.

End African and LOCAL 1 Corruption

Ghanaians crowded a refrigerator shop Saturday to watch President Obama's meeting with Ghanaian President John Atta Mills on television. Rebecca Blackwell/AP

Africans reflect on Obama's 'tough love' message

The president used his first African visit – to the democratic bastion of Ghana – to signal a harder-line US approach to dealing with corrupt African leaders.

By Drew Hinshaw | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor

from the July 12, 2009 e

Foul play possible in Michael Jackson's death, Joe Jackson says

9:36 PM | July 9, 2009

Michael Jackson's father said in an interview Thursday that he is concerned that "foul play" may have been involved in his son's death.

REMEMBERING MICHAEL JACKSON

REMEMBERING MICHAEL JACKSON

Michael Jackson -- on the wall

At Jackson Memorial, Music and Mourning

Monica Almeida/The New York Times

Jermaine Jackson tossed a rose after singing in front of his brother's casket during the memorial service on Tuesday. More Photos >

Nielsen: 31.1 million watched Jackson memorial

Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris Jackson, center, is hugged onstage by the Jackson family after speaking at the memorial service for Michael Jackson at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Tuesday, July 7, 2009. (AP Photo/Monica Almeida, Pool)

Paris Jackson surrounded by her family at the Michael Jackson's memorial

Photo: Mark Terrill-Pool/Getty Images

Jay L. Clenenin / Los Angeles Times

Approximately 17,500 tickets and wristbands to the event were distributed Monday through an online lottery system. Those wearing gold wristbands were told that they would watch the event live in Staples Center; those with silver bands will watch a simulcast from the nearby Nokia Theatre.

Michael Jackson's family arrives at Forest Lawn

Fans Rally, and Officials Brace to Honor Jackson

WE REMEMBER MICHAEL