Thursday, February 23, 2012

How Allen Iverson lost his money and Magic Johnson to Launch 24-hour Channel with ‘Uplifting Images of African Americans

Last week I was astonished (well maybe not astonished) to learn about Allen Iverson's financial woes. Apparently, AI has squandered his loot and we are talking about a major grip - conservatively, about atleast 154 million dollars in NBA salary alone (not counting his endorsements).

How do you blow up to maybe 200 million dollars in a mere decade? How many cribs did he own? Did he own a fleet of cars? Did his investments go belly up? Knowing that Bubba Chuck likes the casinos, did he gamble away tens of millions dollars playing cards?

Well apparently AI lost the lion's share of his loot because he hates luggage. WTF?


Finally, it’s all starting to make sense. While it doesn’t necessarily surprise us to hear that someone like Allen Iverson blew more than $200 million in career earnings, it does raise a certain amount of curiosity. How did he pull it off? Did he take the Siberian Tiger approach to bankruptcy like Mike Tyson? Did he buy too many cars or houses? The details have started to emerge, and we have a solid starting point.
According to Forbes Magazine, Iverson did not like taking luggage with him on road trips. Since the only way to avoid traveling with suitcases is to buy new clothes everywhere you go, that’s exactly what A.I. did.

Perhaps the telltale indicator of Iverson’s divorce from financial reality, however, was an anecdote I received via a former teammate of Iverson’s from his days with the Philadelphia 76ers. This player, raised on a far higher standard of fiduciary responsibility, was amused and stunned by “A.I.’s” money habits. He related how on many road trips Iverson refused to carry baggage, evidently seeking to remain as unencumbered from physical things as he was of basketball defenders. Because of this habit, Iverson would buy a full selection of new clothes, shoes, and other expensive items at each new destination with rolls of cash he carried on his person. Moreover, upon departure, he would leave all those goodies behind in his hotel room or just give them away. source

I-G-N-O-R-A-N-C-E   

My financial advise to professional sports super-stars is to give Magic Johnson a call. Mr Johnson knows how to solidly make investments. Magic's financial management: make his money his work for him; budget; stay out of debt; save; and invest in the overlooked black community. For example:


Magic Johnson is preparing to launch Aspire, a 24-hour channel with a focus on what Johnson called positive, uplifting images of African Americans. Initially the channel will be available in 11 million of Comcast Cable customers’ homes, the LA Times reports.
“This is so exciting for me, I’m pinching myself,” Johnson told the LA Times. “This is big for myself, for the African American community and the African American creative community. I wanted a vehicle to show positive images and to have stories written, produced and directed by African Americans for our community. Aspire — that’s how I’ve been leading my life.”  source

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Supreme Court Takes Up Affirmative Action Case

I love the smell of election-time in the morning.

Alas election time, just another opportunity for right wing-nut elites to throw their deaf, dumb and blind faithful so more red meat.

For, most informed voters the mantra is: It's the economy, stupid. However, for the citizens of FOX Nation the cry is different: It's about fake and diversionary wedge issues, stupid.

Just in time for the 2012 November elections, Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, Chief Justice John Roberts and friends - the crowd that attend anti-health care and billionaire Koch brothers conservative fundraisers - have decided to hear arguments on Affirmative Action.

Again? Yes, again, can't you smell election-time in the air?

 The Supreme Court said today it would take up another hot-button social issue - affirmative action - around the time of the next presidential election.
The court has agreed to hear a case brought by Abigail Fisher, a white student, who says she was denied admission to the University of Texas based on the color of her skin.
The case has been closely monitored because supporters of affirmative action fear the high court might now be willing to curtail or restrict further race conscious admissions programs at public universities. Justice Elena Kagan will not participate in the case because she dealt with the issue in her previous job as U.S. solicitor general. 
With a full slate of arguments already scheduled for its spring term, the court will most likely hear the case next fall, around the time of the election.
"This case presents the court with an opportunity to clarify the boundaries of race preferences in higher education, or even reconsider whether race should be permitted at all under the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection," says Edward Blum, the director of the Project on Fair Representation, a non-profit legal defense foundation that has provided legal counsel for Fisher.
The Texas legislature passed the "Top Ten Percent Law" in 1997 that mandates that Texas high school seniors in the top 10 percent of their class be automatically admitted to any Texas state university. In addition to that program, the school considers race along with several other factors for admission. Fisher did not qualify for automatic admission.
Instead, she competed with other non-Top-10 state applicants, some of whom were entitled to racial preferences. She was denied admission and argues it was because of her race. source

Monday, February 20, 2012

Woman, 20, dies after freak Fla. church shooting


The following story is incredibly sad, tragic and so avoidable - guns and church do not mix. You have to wonder, what possessed these men to gun shop in church as if they were at some firing range. 

Why bring a gun to church in the first part?

Church is supposed to provide a safe spiritual refuge from the far too often crazy, violent and dog-eat-dog world we live in. Playing with guns in church seems to represent the antithesis of Christianity. 


But what do I know. To some NRA members and Second Amendment advocates, guns are their religion. 

Last, reading the story, I could not help but think of President Obama's comment: Bitter people clinging to their guns and religion.


ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Authorities say a Florida pastor's daughter who was accidentally shot in the head in a church died Saturday at a hospital.
The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office says 20-year-old Hannah Kelley was pronounced dead at about 10:20 a.m. Saturday at Bayfront Medical Center. An autopsy is pending.
Kelley had been hospitalized since Feb. 12, when she was struck in the head by a bullet at Grace Connection Church in St. Petersburg, where her father Tim Kelley is pastor.
Investigators have said Moises Zambrana was showing his gun in a small closet to another church member interested in buying a firearm. The St. Petersburg Times reports (http://bit.ly/w9KoLn ) that the other church member, Dustin Bueller, was Hannah Kelley's fiancĂ©e.
Zambrana reportedly removed the magazine from the Ruger 9mm weapon but did not know that a round was still in the chamber. The gun went off, firing a bullet through a wall. Kelley was struck in the head.
The sheriff's office says detectives are still investigating the shooting. No charges have been filed.