Blackinformant.com – African-American culture, news commentary, politics

House easily passes scaled-back measure to ease student debt  (chicagotribune.com) WASHINGTON -- With fanfare and substantial bipartisan support, the House delivered Wednesday on the fifth of six bills Democrats had vowed to quickly pass, voting overwhelmingly to cut the interest rate on some college student loans. But the bill was much scaled back from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's campaign promise to cut all student loans in half. Instead, the House measure, passed 356-71, ...More

(lsureveille.com) The number of new HIV and AIDS cases in the Baton Rouge area is on the rise. According to the Louisiana Office of Public Health, the seven-parish region had a 4 percent increase in new cases over the past year. The Baton Rouge region, which includes Ascension, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberville, Pointe Coupee, West Baton Rouge and West Feliciana parishes, diagnosed 256 people with HIV in 2004, said Beth ...More

(medicalnewstoday.com) "The remarkable life story of pioneering African American chemist Percy Julian is the subject of a two-hour PBS/NOVA documentary to air Feb. 6 during Black History Month. The grandson of Alabama slaves, Julian won world-wide fame for his accomplishments in organic chemistry, especially in the synthesis of medicinal drugs. Entitled "Forgotten Genius," the film, in the words of Jim Shoffner, Ph.D., a former member of the Board of Directors of ...More

Okay y'all, stop running to the bathroom every 1/2 hour to run hot water on those ashy knuckles of yours. Stop trying to squeeze the life out of that trial size bottle of Jergens lotion with the crust around the cap. Time to get serious with keeping your skin moisturized duing this winter season. From allnaturalcures.net: Dry skin has a parched look caused by its lack of ability to retain moisture. Characteristics ...More

From Consumer Reports "You slather, spray, and paint them on and rub them in. Cosmetics are so much a part of your daily regimen that you probably never think twice about them. If they're on store shelves, it seems reasonable to figure that they're safe to use, despite those unpronounceable ingredient lists. But at least some of what's in your cosmetics might not be so good for you. One example is the ...More

Here are some sites I came across that feature the input of ordinary folks who have been there. Travel Channel Travelers' Reviews Virtual Tourist IgoUgo RealTravel More

"Is America ready for a Black President?" "Obama, Black contender for the White House..." On and on and on This is all that I have been reading and hearing for the past couple of months on all the hype surrounding Barack Obama. In the comments of this post, I basically made the statement that while Obama has the charming smile and a stellar way of communicating, the one thing that is going to ...More

We live in a society today that has a love/hate relationship with labels. Generally speaking, in everyday discourse labels that denote some kind of deficiency (victim) are oftentimes considered a "badge of honor" while labels reflecting high achievement are oftentimes kept on a short leash. In the political spectrum, when a person describes themselves as a "moderate", oftentimes this means that they do not agree totally with the tenants of a ...More

I was reading LaShawn Barber's site this morning where she addressed this issues as it was presented recently in the Washington Post. First, I'll give you an excerpt of the article and second I'll provide you with LaShawn's comments. Then you will hear from me :) ! Evangelical Christians say the issue of illegal aliens in the United States often creates a conflict between their allegiance to the Gospels and their loyalty ...More

For all of my '24' fans out there, this was just an observation. If you want to get an idea of what happens to a nation at war under a president who was elected for other reasons besides experience, watch this show (specifically, the first two episodes for this season) More

The following is an excerpt from a report put together by SIFMA (Securities Industry and Financial Market Association): ======= {The date of this document is 5/2005} "Most importantly, as revealed in the 1998 landmark study, The Multicultural American Dream index, African-Americans have experienced accelerated growth, and are out pacing the general market by over 300 percent, in four critical measures of success: mortgage originations, median household income, small business ownership and obtaining degrees ...More

This is a repost of what I did last year. "A nation that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan." Nothing in the world is more dangerous than a sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically... Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education. If man hasn't discovered something that he ...More

(LA Times) "Los Angeles faces a crisis of gang violence that will continue to spread into previously safe neighborhoods unless the city adopts a Marshall Plan-like initiative to provide young people with jobs and other alternatives in gang-plagued communities, a city-financed study warned Friday. The report by the Advancement Project called for a significantly greater investment — up to $1 billion during the first 18 months, according to project director Connie ...More