Wassuppers

JENNIFER HUDSON'S MOTHER AND BROTHER REPORTEDLY FOUND DEAD

The mother and brother of Academy Award winning actress and singer Jennifer Hudson have reportedly been found dead at a home on Chicago's South Side.

CBS2 in Chicago reports:

The mother of Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Hudson was reportedly found dead in a South Side home.

Two adults were found fatally shot at a home at 70th Street and Yale Avenue at 3 p.m. Friday, authorities said. Willie Davis, the pastor of the Hudson family's church, Progressive Baptist, confirmed that 57-year-old Darnell Hudson Donnerson was one of the victims.

The other victim was a man, the Chicago Fire Department said.

The shooting is believed to be domestic.

TMZ has also confirmed the death of Darnell, pictured here with her daughter Jennifer at the Governor's Ball following the 2007 Academy Awards, and Jennifer's brother. According to the website:

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ Jennifer Hudson's mother was one of two victims shot and killed in Chicago earlier today.

A neighbor tells TMZ the other victim was Jennifer's brother Jason. A cousin who lived nearby discovered the bodies.

We're told the two bodies were found dead on the scene at 2:44 PM. When the fire department arrived and discovered the bodies, police were brought in and the home was declared a crime scene.

A call to Hudson's rep was not immediately returned.

WABC in New York reports that Jennifer is on a plane en route to Chicago. Jennifer, 27, is the youngest of three children. Jason reportedly was a mechanic and Jennifer's sister Julia is a school bus driver. Their father Samuel Simpson, who died, was a bus driver.

The Chicago Tribune reports:

According to public records, the home is owned by Darnell Donnerson, Jennifer's mother.

A Chicago police spokeswoman also said a 7-year-old boy was reported missing. Police identified him as Julian King, but they would not say whether he is a relative of the actress. He is 5-foot tall, weighs 135 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair.

The police said that they are searching for a William Balfour as a suspect in the double homicide. They said that he is considered to be armed and dangerous and may be driving white 1994 Chevrolet Suburban with Illinois license plate No. X584859 or a teal/green Chrysler Concord four-door with a left front headlight hanging out that is scratched all along its left side. The Chrysler is displaying temporary tags of 332K823.

The missing boy may be in the vehicle.

According to a source, the actress' sister reported the boy missing from the home.

Public records indicate the Suburban is registered to Jason Hudson, who neighbors said is Jennifer Hudson's brother. Authorites would not say whether he was one of the two victims.

Jennifer Hudson is not injured, her bodyguard told the Tribune before referring all questions to a publicist.

One of the victims was a woman in her 50s who was shot in the head and the other was a 29-year-old man who was shot in the chest, according to a spokesman for the Cook County medical examiner's office. The spokesman did not have the victims' identities.

At least one of the victims had defensive wounds, according to police.

Since announcing her engagement to David "Punk" Otunga last month, the singer/actress has been busy promoting her movie, "The Secret Life of Bees," which opened a week ago, and her self-titled debut album.

Our prayers go out to Jennifer and her family.

More details to come.

Cop that!

VIMBY - Agenda Sneak Peek: Rocksmith

The RNC has spent nearly $150,000 on Palin's clothes

The man behind Palin's style transformation is Jeff Larson, is Karl Rover's former protégé and the principal robocaller who smeared John McCain in 2000.

Politico reports that the RNC has been shelling out the big bucks--over $150,000--on Sarah Palin and her family's wardrobe since she joined the McCain ticket in late August.

According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74.

The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September.

The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting no such costs in August.

This news follows an AP report that Governor Palin charged the state of Alaska for her kids' travel.

Palin also came under fire in September for splurging on a $2,500 Valentino jacket for her speech at the RNC and buying $400 glasses. Both fashion statements seem at odds with her "Joe Six-Pack" image.

And all this follows on the heels of a report that Cindy McCain donned an ensemble at the RNC that may have cost $313,000. Additionally, her husband, John McCain, spent the summer sporting a pair of $520 Ferragamo loafers and reportedly paid 'American Idol' makeup artist, Tifanie White, $5,500 for her services.

More Nuts out of the Nut-Jar

It could be "more nuts out of the nut-jar", or not, to each his/her own, right?
Personally, I can't wait til' November 5th when this election is all over. But will it ever be over? We'll still have to wait until January for the inauguration.

Internet Voting Begins This Friday

Internet Voting in Florida Raises Security Concerns: Geek the Vote
Beginning this week, Internet voting is getting its first prime-time test, for overseas voters from Okaloosa County, Florida. Our Geek the Vote reporter investigates and finds that experts remain skeptical about the operation, and that we won't be voting from home any time soon.
By Erik Sofge

This Friday, Internet voting will become a reality. Between Oct. 24 and Nov. 2, an estimated 600 to 700 United States citizens will use hardened laptops—PCs with no hard drive, and various other components either turned off or removed in advance to reduce security risks—located at special kiosks in Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom to cast their votes for president. It will be no more difficult than ordering a candidate's autobiography on Amazon. The Okaloosa Distance Ballot Piloting (ODBP) test program could help dismantle the bureaucratic obstacle course that now affects roughly 6 million overseas residents who must register earlier than other voters, and whose mail-in absentee ballots could be mishandled.
(click here for full story)

Grand Theft Bailout

(click the title & peep the story)
"A wave of financial grief has spread across the United States and far beyond as homeowners are unable to pay spiking variable mortgages and are losing homes to foreclosure. Financial institutions, as a result, lost their shirts on bundled toxic mortgage investments. And stocks have plummeted, retirement accounts losing 35 percent of their value and counting.

Add it all together, and you have some unpopular tourists in San Francisco this week."

Clarence Williams III: Underappreciated

By VeTalle Fusilier

"Wakey wakey, baby", it's one of my favorite lines from the movie 52 Pick Up. Perhaps you have seen him lately as Mr. Boxer in the family drama Constellation, or fright fans saw him in Tales from the Hood. We can catch him this week again in the highly anticipated American Gangster as Bumpy Johnson. Clarence Williams III is a great actor, respected by his fellow thespians and critics, and delivers image gifts we should cherish.


He was the first actor I saw play a cop with an Afro, when he broke new ground as Lincoln Hayes ("Linc") on ABC's The Mod Squad.

Those who were too young for Mod Squad likely first caught a glimpse of his brilliance as Prince's tortured father in Purple Rain. But he has always been around, staying in our minds as the characters he portrayed, not as Clarence, because that's what great actors do ­ bury themselves in the part.

He has been in Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice, The Highwayman, Twin Peaks, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. We have seen him recently in Everybody Hates Chris, and in a recurring role as Philby Cross in the Mystery Woman movie series on the Hallmark Channel. Adept in front of the cameras or on stage, Williams starred in Slow Dance on the Killing Ground, receiving a Tony nomination.

Williams is a city kid. Born in New York City, New York, in a jazz family, grandchild of Eva Taylor and Clarence Williams, the pianist and founder of the largest black music publishing company in its day. We can relax, knowing that we exert influence in the future, because of the comforting wisdom of the cookie baking Oracle in The Matrix, actress Gloria Foster, his departed wife.


Certainly his life's work is worthy of a serious uplifting, but as Wesley Snipes' and Michael Wright's tragic, drug addicted father in Sugar Hill, he turned in a Oscar worthy performance. It's an underrated movie overall, but he is the best thing about it, without question.

It is highlighted by the scene in which he knowingly overdoses himself while declaring his love for his son, who gave him the heroin.

Watch it. Listen to him go, "Woooo-wooo". Anyone who has felt an overwhelming drug rush is sold right there. He deserved the Oscar for best supporting actor, and he should have been nominated. But at the time, Hollywood was nervous (and so were we) about the Black image on film, --deaf to great performances, unless associated with heroic personification. Fear?
Overcompensation? That was definitely then. My how things have changed.

Has the guilt pendulum swung to the other extreme, or are we just more comfortable now with our own imperfections? Denzel can win an Oscar, not for Hurricane but for playing an angel dust smoking, crooked cop. Halle can win for letting a white man "make me feel good" (and we'll see how right they really want to be if she gets a nomination for her stellar performance in Things We Lost In The Fire"). Forest Whitaker can win, not for giving life to the complex self- destructive genius of Bird, but for playing killer and dictator Idi Amin.

The year Williams would have been eligible for Sugar Hill, the other nominees for supporting actor were Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects, James Cromwell in Babe, Ed Harris in Apollo 13, Brad Pitt in 12 Monkeys and Tim Roth in Rob Roy.

With all respect to Williams¹ fellow actors, at least three of those things are not like others. So as long as we¹re celebrating bad guys, let¹s give credit where credit is due. We the people nominate Clarence Williams, III to receive an Oscar retroactively.

“Friends. How many of us have them?” and the True Meaning of Your Fave Five.

So As I sit here on the verge of my 33rd birthday, I’m looking through the large amount of phone numbers, email addresses, and various amounts of contact information that I have accumulated over the past several years and it disturbs me. As of today, I have over 460 contacts between my cells’ phone book, and email database which doesn’t include the stacks of business cards that never were transcribed into a digital counterpart. To most, that would be a bit of a WOW moment. For me it is an indicator of the many people who have come and gone throughout the last few years. Some by my own doing, but most were and still are fly by night. Some were really good friends but time, careers and families have changed some of the dynamics of our relationships. Some were cool for a time and then “That Something Happened” and it all changed. What is “That Something?” Only those people know. The un-returned phone calls. The countless email messages un-replied to, and the ignored IM’s. (I could never understand that) This is crazy.

As time creeps and at times flies by, I realized that going out of my way to make and to keep in contact has just begun to be too much. So as I write this email I am deleting a large portion of my contacts; in essence deleting a little bit of my past, with all intentions of moving on to a brighter future. This is not a sad moment for me. It has been great knowing a lot of these folks. Many of them I have had great lunches with spent many hours talking about future plans, and working to towards goals both professional and personal.

If I haven’t learned anything else, it is that people are placed in your life for seasons and are never meant to be there forever. That brings me to the concept of T-Mobile’s Fave Five. I thought, why 5 and not 10 or 20? Little did I know that beyond the marketing ploy there was a true insight. Then I thought Why Not? If you could simplify your life and relationships down to 5 core people who would they be? There were a few obvious choices including my mom, dad, and sister. But then the last two people/spots on my Fave Five stumped me. So I thought about it and thought about it again. I have a really good friend that I talk to on a regular basis here in NC. My friend from Philly is a possibility; we talk pretty regularly. I’m just not sure. 460 to 5 is a bit of a challenge. One thing I can say is that getting rid of these 420 contacts should make it a little bit easier. Question, who’s in your Fave Five!!!

- Tru
http://truittoneal.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/trutalk7-30-08.mp3

Bear found dumped at WCU with Obama signs

CULLOWHEE – A dead bear was found dumped this morning on the Western Carolina University campus, draped with a pair of Obama campaign signs, university police said.

Maintenance workers reported about 7:45 a.m. finding a 75-pound bear cub dumped at the roundabout near the Catamount statute at the entrance to campus, said Tom Johnson, chief of university police.

“It looked like it had been shot in the head as best we can tell. A couple of Obama campaign signs had been stapled together and stuck over its head,” Johnson said.

University police called in N.C. Wildlife Resources officials to remove the body and help in the investigation. Bear season is currently under way in Western North Carolina.

“This is certainly unacceptable,” Johnson said. “Someone was wanting to draw attention to the election. If we find out who they are, we’ll make sure they’ll get some attention themselves.”

"Western Carolina University deplores the inappropriate behavior that led to this troubling incident," said Leila Tvedt, associate vice chancellor "We cannot speculate on the motives of the people involved, nor who those people might be. Campus police are cooperating with authorities to investigate this matter."

Tru Talks from Under The Shadetree...

Ok I was reading this morning that C. Mangum, the female rape accuser from the infamous Duke Lacrosse Case, will debut her book next Thursday.(Read Here) Now it wasn’t the article it self that was a little disturbing, yet it was the comments section attached to the piece. Here was my response.

Honestly...I don't and won’t defend this young ladies actions but the degree of hate towards her is outstanding. It’s funny; I don’t remember this amount of hatred displayed towards Michael Peterson, who killed his wife. I mean, a large portion of folks who hate this woman would never unleash this level of hate towards someone like Peterson or Sen. John McCain, who left his dying wife for a wealthy and younger woman. What? There are actually some folks who want this man in office. Is he trust worthy? Will he quit when the going gets tough? As Palin, and E. Hasselbeck (The View) have said on numerous occasions, we have to look at the past actions of our candidates before putting them in office. This man left his wife when the going got tough. What will he do when things get tough here in the US? Another thing that bothers me is that many folks want to lynch the two young men for the murder of Eve Carson, but don’t want to put 2+2 together to see the truth behind this case. That girl was in no way a saint. The only way she would have ever come into contact with those guys was if she was buying drugs from them. Lets not forget that those young men lived in Durham, had criminal records, and obviously had drug ties. Eve Carson was using and mainstream media and the State of North Carolina wants to sweep that possibility under the table. Where is the toxicology report on that? The Eve Carson incident was a drug deal gone bad. I regret that she was killed. Her death was senseless and those two young men were wrong for doing it. They need to serve time for their crime. My point is that there are so many more pressing issues to vent on than Mangum such as the economy, joblessness, the elections, the bailout. God takes care of everything. Although she is not serving time, or paying a fine for what she did, in the long run, life and God will catch up to her. Chew on that one!!!!

Raiders win their 1st

the Roast

SNL>palin