WASHINGTON (ABC News) - Democrats in the House of Representatives narrowly passed sweeping health care reform legislation Saturday night, with only one Republican joining in the vote and the minority party nearly unanimous in its opposition.

"Oh what a night!" Speaker Nancy Pelosi proudly proclaimed at a press conference immediately following passage of the health care bill.

The vote passed 220-215 with 39 Democrats voting against the bill, and one Republican supporting the sweeping plan, Rep. Joseph Cao, a first-term Republican who holds an overwhelmingly Democratic seat in New Orleans. A whoop went up on the Democratic side of the chamber when the vote exceeded the 218 majority needed to pass and when the final tally was read. Democrats counted down the last few seconds in unison as Pelosi banged the gavel and boomed the standard line with added emphasis, "The bill is passed!"

"It provides coverage for 96 percent of Americans. It offers everyone, regardless of health or income, the peace of mind that comes from knowing they will have access to affordable health care when they need it," said Rep. John Dingell, the 83-year-old Michigan lawmaker who has introduced national health insurance in every Congress since succeeding his father in 1955.

United in opposition, minority Republicans cataloged their objections across hours of debate on the 1,990-page, $1.2 trillion legislation.

"We are going to have a complete government takeover of our health care system faster than you can say, 'This is making me sick,'" Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich., said of the bill, adding that Democrats were intent on passing a "jobs-killing, tax-hiking, deficit-exploding" bill.

The House passage of health care reform now moves attention to the Senate, where two bills have moved through committee and Majority Leader Harry Reid must rally support for a single, unified bill.

What do you think?

(via Huffington Post) - Sammy Sosa's skin appears to have lightened considerably. Photographs taken at an event in Las Vegas reveal a surprisingly light pigmentation on the former slugger. While no cause has been established at this time, the web site Midwest Sports Fans speculates that steroid use could be responsible.

There appears to be at least some evidence suggesting that steroid use could be one of the lifestyle choices that increases a person's likelihood of becoming symptomatic with vitiligo.

It was reported in June that Sosa, who captured the nation's attention as a prolific home run hitter in the 1990s and earlier this decade, tested positive for steroids in 2003.

UPDATE: The Chicago Tribune speaks with Rebecca Polihronis, an acquaintance of Sosa, who claims that that "he is going through a rejuvenation process for his skin." 

The Sauda Voice doesn't buy it!

(by Henry Louis Gates Jr. | The Root) - A new dawn of American leadership is at hand. President-elect Barack Obama.

We have all heard stories about those few magical transformative moments in African-American history, extraordinary ritual occasions through which the geographically and socially diverse black community—a nation within a nation, really—molds itself into one united body, determined to achieve one great social purpose and to bear witness to the process by which this grand achievement occurs.

The first time was New Year's Day in 1863, when tens of thousands of black people huddled together all over the North waiting to see if Abraham Lincoln would sign the Emancipation Proclamation. The second was the night of June 22, 1938, the storied rematch between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling, when black families and friends crowded around radios to listen and cheer as the Brown Bomber knocked out Schmeling in the first round. The third, of course, was Aug. 28, 1963, when the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. proclaimed to the world that he had a dream, in the shadow of a brooding Lincoln, peering down on the assembled throng, while those of us who couldn't be with him in Washington sat around our black-and-white television sets, bound together by King's melodious voice through our tears and with quickened-flesh.

But we have never seen anything like this. Nothing could have prepared any of us for the eruption (and, yes, that is the word) of spontaneous celebration that manifested itself in black homes, gathering places and the streets of our communities when Sen. Barack Obama was declared President-elect Obama. From Harlem to Harvard, from Maine to Hawaii—and even Alaska—from "the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire … [to] Stone Mountain of Georgia," as Dr. King put it, each of us will always remember this moment, as will our children, whom we woke up to watch history being made.

My colleagues and I laughed and shouted, whooped and hollered, hugged each other and cried. My father waited 95 years to see this day happen, and when he called as results came in, I silently thanked God for allowing him to live long enough to cast his vote for the first black man to become president. And even he still can't quite believe it!

RICHMOND (AP) - Last year, 23-year-old Rashida Hill watched the presidential debates, visited the college political party meetings and put a Barack Obama bumper sticker on her townhouse door. She voted for Obama because she felt like the election was about "being a part of something."

But on Tuesday, the Virginia Commonwealth University student didn't bother voting in the governor's race because, she said, the candidates didn't give her anything to get excited about.

"The simple fact is, unless you put it in front of somebody, they're really not going to seek it out," Hill said.

Many of the young, first-time voters who propelled Obama to the presidency stayed home this year, a glaring absence that helped Republicans win governor's races in Virginia and New Jersey. More than 3 million voters who cast ballots in the 2008 presidential election — many of them minorities — failed to show up at the polls in either state.

Obama carried Virginia with 52 percent of the vote last year, but only 43 percent of voters surveyed in Associated Press exit polls Tuesday said they had voted for him.

Another group that solidified Obama's victory — independents — turned their backs on Democrats this year.

(by Michaela angela Davis | Essence.com) - Mainstream media is feeling the heat of the rise of a new icon representing a new standard of beauty: America's First Lady Michelle Obama.

Certainly there are other Black women playing major power positions in mainstream media, Beyonce and Oprah for example, but this Lady O represents a paradigm shift on the White gaze on Black beauty. She is not here to entertain. She does not fulfill the familiar "from battered to beautiful" scenario the culture expects of Black women. Michelle Obama has no horror stories for her to overcome, no super-human stamina. She comes from a solid hardworking American family. She is smart. She is strong. She went to public and Ivy League schools. She works hard. She is successful. She is loved. End of story. Oh yeah, and she's happily married to the Nobel Peace Prize-winning (fine) President of the United States.

With nothing in her story to pity, nothing mystical (she's even too sharp and smart for White men to twist into a sexual fetish), what does Michelle's uneventful extraordinary life and style do to the mainstream image of beauty? Much of White mainstream identity has benefited from and counted on Black women being portrayed as sick, poor, ignorant, abused, and sexually deviant or just a loud hot ghetto-mess. Our pitiful position secured, and in some ways created, their position on the pedestal. What now? Is it really time for the White standard of beauty to step off?

When the identity of an entire culture and industry is dependent upon the negation or the degradation of the beauty or even existence of another (there was not one featured Black model in Vogue's historic September 2007 biggest issue ever) what happens when that very image is dominating media all over the world? What happens when a society addicted to the image of White women is faced with the inevitable existence of Michelle Obama representing many other women like her?

The emergence of Michelle Obama is the start of a new conversation about Black beauty and identity. It is one that must be had across generations, gender and race. What Michelle represents is real freedom for Black women to define their own authentic beauty and not as it compares to those who have been historically glorified. Michelle brazenly wears belts, cardigans and shorts wherever and whenever she feels fit. She does not let Vogue or Ebony tell her what to wear. We love her for owning her own story. When Black women get free with creating their identity, others must be prepared.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - "Michael Jackson's This Is It" pulled in $101 million worldwide in its first five days, and distributor Sony is extending the farewell performance film beyond its planned two-week run.

The film was the No. 1 Halloween thriller domestically with a $21.3 million opening weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The previous weekend's No. 1 movie, Paramount's low-budget horror sensation "Paranormal Activity," slipped to No. 2 with $16.5 million, lifting its total to $84.8 million.

"This Is It" raised its domestic total to $32.5 million. The movie pulled in $68.5 million overseas, including $10.4 million in Japan, $6.3 million in Germany, $5.8 million in France and $3.2 million in China.

"He's just loved everywhere on the planet," said Rory Bruer, head of distribution for Sony. "It doesn't matter if it's Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, South America. Every continent in the world loved him and his music."

In Great Britain, where Jackson had planned a marathon series of 50 London concerts starting last July, the movie earned $7.6 million.

"This Is It" captures Jackson in behind-the-scenes performances in the weeks before his death last June, as he rehearsed his biggest hits for the London shows.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Cheered by President Barack Obama, House Democrats rolled out landmark legislation Thursday to extend health care to tens of millions who lack coverage, impose sweeping new restrictions on the insurance industry and create a government- run option to compete with private insurers.

But even as party leaders pointed toward a vote next week, there were fresh questions that went to the heart of their ambitious drive to remake the nation's health care system.

Congressional budget experts predicted the controversial government insurance option would probably cost consumers somewhat more than private coverage. At the same time, rank-and-file conservative Democrats sought additional information about the bill's overall impact on federal health care spending.

There was no official estimate on the total cost of the legislation, which ran to 1,990 pages. The Congressional Budget Office said the cost of additional coverage alone was slightly more than $1 trillion over a decade. But that omitted other items, including billions for disease prevention programs.

Yet another $230 billion or more in higher fees for doctors treating Medicare patients, included in an earlier version of the bill, was stripped out and will be voted on separately.

The measure "covers 96 percent of all Americans, and it puts affordable coverage in reach for millions of uninsured and underinsured families, lowering health care costs for all of us," boasted Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., at a ceremony attended by dozens of Democratic lawmakers. She spoke on the steps of the Capitol, not far from where Obama issued his inaugural summons for Congress to act more than nine months ago.

RICHMOND, CA (AP) - The gang rape and beating of a 15-year-old girl on school grounds after her homecoming dance was horrific enough. But even more shocking, police say, was that up to two dozen people watched and did nothing to stop it.

The attack over the weekend rattled this crime-ridden city of 120,000 in the San Francisco Bay area, where one police official called it one of the most heinous crimes he has ever seen. Some students have already left the school in response to the attack.

"It's not safe there at all," said 16-year-old Jennie Steinberg, whose mother let her transfer out of the school Tuesday. "I'm not going back."

The victim, a sophomore, had left the dance and was drinking alcohol in a school courtyard with a group when she was attacked, police said.

Two suspects were in custody Monday, but police said as many as seven ranging in age from 15 to mid-20s attacked the girl for more than two hours at a dimly lit area near benches Saturday night. As many as two dozen people saw the rape without notifying police.

Officers found the girl semiconscious and naked from the waist down near a picnic table. She remains hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries.

"This was a barbaric act. I still cannot get my head around the fact that numerous people either watched, walked away or participated in her assault," Lt. Mark Gagan said Tuesday. "It's one of the most disturbing crimes in my 15 years as a police officer."

Gagan would not comment on rumors that observers took video of the attack on cell phones and may have posted it online.

Manuel Ortega, a 19-year-old former student, was arrested after trying to flee the scene. He is being held on $800,000 bail for investigation of rape and robbery. Attempts to reach Ortega at the jail Tuesday were unsuccessful.

A 15-year-old student also was booked late Monday on one count of sexual assault, Gagan said.

NEW YORK (Politico via Yahoo!) - There’s nothing more traditional in American politics than the wholesome family portrait: a beaming candidate, beaming spouse, reluctantly beaming teenagers.

But when Bill de Blasio, a candidate for public office in New York City this fall, put his family in his campaign mailings and TV ads, there was nothing routine about it. De Blasio’s wife of 15 years, Chirlane McCray, is black, his children are of mixed race and, even in one of America’s most liberal cities, no one could remember anything like it.

De Blasio, 48, won the crucial Democratic primary in a runoff Sept. 29 and is in line to be the city’s next public advocate, a sort of high-profile ombudsman’s job that’s second in the line of succession to the mayor. The city councilman from liberal Park Slope, Brooklyn, had other things going for him — institutional support, newspaper endorsements — but in the view of his campaign, and of many of the city’s political observers, his interracial relationship was an almost unmitigated positive in a hotly contested election.

With Barack Obama having rewritten the history of race relations in this country, de Blasio may be demolishing one of its last taboos, “For so long in American history, interracial couples went out of their way to keep their relationships out of the public eye that it’s remarkable to see them used in a campaign like this,” said Peggy Pascoe, a historian of interracial marriage at the University of Oregon, who referred to the campaign as “a post-Obama phenomenon.”

That’s a perception McCray said she shared. Obama, she said, “opened a door” and “made it easier for us to go there.”

While de Blasio’s success in New York reflects the increased acceptance of mixed marriages, recent history suggests that the new tolerance may still be dependent on geography and race. A sharp counterpoint was the 2006 Tennessee Senate race which then-Rep. Harold Ford, an African-American, lost narrowly to Republican Bob Corker after the final days of the campaign were consumed by a Republican National Committee ad linking Ford to a scantily clad young blond woman. Ford’s allies charged it was a thinly veiled attempt to tap into old Southern fears about black men and white women.

And it seems to be a current that still remains just below the surface in Tennessee politics: Ford’s subsequent marriage to a white woman was widely viewed as a major barrier to another run.

While the Supreme Court legalized interracial marriage in 1967, attitudes were relatively slow to change in much of the country. When Dean Rusk, who was secretary of state at the time, learned that his daughter planned to marry a black man that same year, he offered his resignation, which President Lyndon B. Johnson declined. Former Massachusetts Sen. Ed Brooke, an African-American, was married to an Italian woman he’d met as a soldier in World War II, something he later said was sometimes used against him even in that liberal state. And Obama himself faced challenges to his racial authenticity as the child of a mixed marriage.

(via RaceWire) - In recent months, the Obama administration has announced plans to expand the 287(g) program despite widespread abuses and racial profiling. It’s also pouring money into “Secure Communities,” a program that puts immigration agents into local jails. Meanwhile, more beds are being added to the vast and notoriously flawed detention system

The White House officially put immigration reform on the back burner at the same time that they’re heating up enforcement tactics on the side.

Families are being torn apart by deportation at the treacherous intersection of immigration enforcement and the criminal justice system. ColorLines went on the road from the US to Jamaica to report their stories.

In Kingston, Jamaica, Marlene Brown labors tirelessly with the Family Unification and Resettlement Initiative, also known as FURI, an organization that helps ease the adjustment of deportees who arrive on Department of Homeland Security’s weekly charter flights into Norman Manley International Airport.

Brown was deported herself, after being found guilty by association when her boyfriend at the time was caught driving her car with drugs inside. She’s been gone for three years now and longs daily to be back with her two sons who are growing up without her.

Since her deportation, Brown’s older son graduated from West Point, and her younger son from high school. She was absent for both ceremonies.

All her fire to change the future for other families, if not for her own, is poured into counseling newly deported people to help them find footing in a country many have not seen since their childhood and where they have nobody.

Obama’s enforcement tactics, taken from Bush’s toolbox, exacerbate a law passed back in 1996, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Individual Responsibility Act. With the bill’s passage, any non-citizen, even if they’ve lived in the U.S. for almost their entire lives and have families, homes and businesses to worry about, are vulnerable to detention and deportation if they come into contact with the criminal justice system.

Deportation is now the mandatory result of a long list of convictions including many low level misdemeanors, overwhelmingly for drugs.