Beyonce & Pepsi are perfect together!

Beyonce has signed a $50 million deal with Pepsi, The New York Times reports. The agreement includes traditional promotional appearances and a new commercial, but also the beverage company's investment in a number of the singer's creative projects.
Pepsi's move is in line with a trend toward content creation as advertisers seek new inroads into the music business and labels' marketing budgets continue to decline. Red Bull -- through its Red Bull Music Academy and Red Bull Media House -- has been funding original content for some time now, as have Scion and Converse.
Beyonce will appear in a new TV spot for Pepsi, a brand she has been involved with since 2002. Her previous ads have included Britney Spears, P!NK, Jennifer Lopez and David Beckham. She's also performing at the Super Bowl halftime show, which is sponsored by Pepsi.

Kisha's My Shopping Addiction Recap

I know addiction is serious but did people really have a problem with shopping too much?!?! Was there a such thing?!?!

This new series examines addiction and those affected with professional help but like with any help, it's only effective if the addicted is open for help AND change.

The show introduces us to Roshanda a DJ from California who blows her weekly paycheck on shopping at the dollar store.

Yes, you read correct the dollar store. There ain't that much dish detergent and toilet tissue in the world for me to be in debt.

RoRo was so out of touch with the real world because she only lived to feed her addiction. It DIDN'T matter that her and her mother weren't speaking or if she lost friends behind her borrowing money she never had no intent of paying back.

I watched in disbelief that she was really ready to change but after getting the reality check she so desperately needed, RoRo was headed down the correct road of recovery and upon the show ending she had began to repair the damaged relationships and was paying her debts.

The other shopaholic was Heather a unemployed female living off of an inheritance in Nevada.

It wasn't every discussed how much she actually inherited but her outrageous spending habits afforded her to spend $30,000+ a month on whatever her little heart desired.

She was a compulsive shopper and lived in the bubble of that she could have anything she wanted. As result of that reckless lifestyle she lost friends and even family due to the inheritance from her grandmother. Mo money was indeed mo problems for this chick.

She reminded me of a spoiled brat and up until she was instructed to donate clothes to Dress for Success ( an organization that gives displaced homemakers clothes to re enter the workforce.) that was the only unselfish thing she did the entire show.

Ultimately at the end of show it was clear Heather wasn't going to stop her spending habits because she was so far in denial that it was going to take more than a hour.

Overall, this was interesting to watch and of course I will be tuning in because reality TV is my guilty pleasure.

Smooches

Kisha Green is a publisher who has a passion for writing and sharing her witty personality with many through social media. For more info about Kisha, visit her websitewww.divabooksinconline.com and you can also follow her on Twitter @KishaGreen

Poet's Corner: "Max Out"

Most people are left broken
and useless when pushed
passed their max.

No longer able to perform
the purpose of their existence,
they drift as a ghost outside

the proverbial shell,
a hermit crab with a foreclosed home.
Oh but it was all worth it, for those

few hours of ecstasy, and that
month-long orgasm.
But poverty lasts longer than

the joy provided by these
luxurious items. Sometimes
arms just need to rest

from carrying shopping bags
and playing sale tag --
chasing after the best deals

all in the name of "it" --
and, please, rest the card-swiping wrist
before it gets carpal tunnel syndrome.

If people are this easily broken,
think how much more fragile
are our finances

and economies, being
non-corporal and
without substance.

By A. Jarrell Hayes

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Madoff begins his sentence in a cushy federal prison?! "its prisoners enjoy a mild climate, access to e-mail"

World-class fraudster Bernard Madoff is beginning what is likely to be a lifetime sentence at one of the nation's cushiest prisons. The record-setting scammer has arrived at the Federal Correctional Complex at Butner, N.C. It's no Club Fed--the U.S. Bureau of Prisons' minimum-security camps, which are the easiest places to do federal time, are only for offenders with 10 years or less on their sentences. Bernie's is for 150.

But Madoff shouldn't be too despondent. Neither should Marc Dreier, the swindling super lawyer who was handed a 20-year fraud sentence on July 13. Prison camps have always been white-collar convicts' destination of choice, but even fraudsters with long sentences can find ways to make doing time easier--and to avoid sharing a cell with an ax murderer.
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Real Transparency in the White House..Full List of Salaries..this would have never happened with Bush

Who makes bank at the White House
Thu Jul 2, 3:50 pm ET
yahoo news
In the spirit of transparency, the Obama Administration posted on its White House blog a detailed list of who makes what at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

According to the WhiteHouse.gov blog, every administration since 1995 has been required to "deliver a report to Congress listing the title and salary of every White House Office employee." In January, in one of his first acts as president, Obama announced that he was freezing the salaries of employees who made more than $100,000 a year, saying, "Families are tightening their belts, and so should Washington."

It may be a government job, but a gig in the White House isn't so bad: The highest earners take home $172,200, while at the low end, staff assistants get $36,000. The big winner, however, is David Marcozzi, the Director of Public Health Policy, who earns $192,934 a year.

The $172,200 Club: This exclusive club includes Obama's top aides, such as Senior Advisers David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, press secretary Robert Gibbs and Jon "Favs" Favreau, Obama's head speechwriter.

Other notable salaries:

— $102,000 Reggie Love, the president's personal aide and "body man," who was named the Hottest White House Employee according to a Huffington Post poll, barely edging out "Favs."

— $113,000 Desiree Rogers, who is on every D.C. socialite's speed-dial, was tapped to be the White House social secretary, charged with coordinating every social event held by the White House. The stylish Chicagoan pals around with Anna Wintour and was the subject of an extensive Vogue magazine feature.

— $84,000 Catherine Lelyveld, press secretary to First Lady Michelle Obama, hails from the Windy City as well, and served as Mrs. Obama's communication director during the presidential campaign.

— $36,000 That's how much Darienne Page, the White House receptionist, or "ROTUS" takes home annually. In a recent New York Times profile, Obama introduced Page as "the receptionist of the entire United States." Before serving in the Obama White House, Page served as an Army sergeant in Iraq under George W. Bush.

Joe Biden takes in $227,300 as the vice president of the United States, while Obama earns $400,000 a year, far less than the $2.6 million he earned in 2008 as a presidential candidate and author.
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AP: Jackson's family moves quickly to take charge

Jackson's family moves quickly to take charge
By ANTHONY McCARTNEY, AP Entertainment Writer Anthony Mccartney, Ap Entertainment Writer 51 mins ago

LOS ANGELES – Michael Jackson's family moved quickly Monday to take control of his complicated personal and financial affairs, winning temporary custody of his three children and asking a judge to name the King of Pop's mother as administrator of his estate.


In documents filed in Superior Court, Jackson's parents said they believe their 50-year-old son died without a valid will.

They also made it clear they believe they should take charge of both his debt-ridden but potentially lucrative financial empire and act as permanent caretakers of his three children.

Judge Mitchell Beckloff granted 79-year-old Katherine Jackson temporary guardianship of the children, who range in age from 7 to 12. He did not immediately rule on her requests to take charge of the children's and Jackson's estates.

Beckloff scheduled a hearing for July 6 and another for Aug. 3 to consider those issues and whether Katherine Jackson should be appointed the children's permanent guardian.
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Video: Farrah Gray interview on CNN..how he became a millionaire at 14 years old!!

NYT: Bloggers are now getting book deals..any bloggers ready?

Public Provides Giggles; Bloggers Get the Book Deal
By JENNA WORTHAM

After Duncan Birmingham, a comedy screenwriter in Los Angeles, got one too many holiday cards featuring miserable-looking pets wearing fake reindeer antlers, he realized the photos were great material for a blog.

Mr. Birmingham started Pets Who Want to Kill Themselves in early January, uploaded the first entry and asked readers to contribute. Within days, visitors were supplying him with snapshots of bulldogs in bunny costumes and cats wearing wigs. The blogosphere noticed — and so did the publishing world. Within a week, he was contacted by editors and literary agents. By the second month, he said, he had sold a book based on the photos to Three Rivers Press, an imprint at Crown Publishing Group, for “enough money to buy a Lincoln Town Car” — with change left over.

Not bad for an unpublished novelist who is allergic to animals and admits that he is “terrible with computers.”

Of course, it’s not unusual for blogs to form the basis of books. For example, Christian Lander, author of the humor blog Stuff White People Like, wrote scores of blog entries and then reworked them into a popular 2008 book of the same name.
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VentureCorner is a new social network that allows users to network socially and professionally with other entrepreneurs. Users' can also advertise and promote their ventures. VC has a unique interface that allows you to create as many fully customized profiles as you want and manage all of these profiles from your VC control panel. Many features of VC are developed for and by our users, once you have created an account you are connected to the creators of VC and you can submit features request.
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Google about to buy Twitter..Rumors or truth?

Google buying Twitter? Maybe not.

Verne Kopytoff

Saturday, April 4, 2009
Twitter is the subject of Google acquisition rumors.
Google, Twitter, he said, she said

Google is in late-stage negotiations to buy Twitter, in what would be a blockbuster pairing between the Internet goliath and one of the industry's hottest upstarts.

On second thought, there aren't any acquisition talks. The two companies are simply discussing a routine business partnership.

The seesaw of contradictory reports has had the digerati, um, a'twitter since Michael Arrington, from the technology blog TechCrunch, posted an article saying, "Here's a heck of a rumor that we've sourced from two separate people close to the negotiations: Google is in late stage negotiations to acquire Twitter."

If true, the buyout would be a major development in the technology industry. Google would be getting a fast-growing microblogging service that has emerged as a social phenomenon over the past year.

For those of you not in the know, Twitter, in San Francisco, allows people to send messages, or tweets, of up to 140 characters.

But Kara Swisher, the blogger for AllThingsD's BoomTown, wrote a counterpost early Friday morning that shot down the TechCrunch rumor. While her rival's report "certainly sounds exciting," she said, "it isn't accurate in any way, according to a number of sources BoomTown spoke to close to the situation."
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Your paycheck is fatter. Starting today

Most low- and middle-income workers will start seeing a bit more in their paychecks today, thanks to the “Making Work Pay” credit in the federal stimulus act.
1) Get the details
How much extra cash you will see depends on your marital status, your salary and how many allowances — or exemptions — you normally take. Normally you take the tax credit – a dollar for dollar reduction in your taxes – when you file, but the administration is trying to goose the economy here and that means getting money out faster – so a little less will be withheld from each paycheck for federal income tax. For singles, you could get an extra $10-$15 per paycheck weekly. If you’re married, filing jointly, you could see an extra $15-$20 per paycheck. And there’s nothing you have to do to claim this. When your employer adopts the new withholding tables, you will get it automatically. Self-employed people can get the credit by reducing their estimated tax payments or claiming it when they file their 2009 tax return.
2) Are you eligible?
There are some folks who won’t qualify. That includes those with high income. The tax credits phase out for a single filier with over $75,000 of adjusted gross income. For those people married and filing jointly, the credits phase out at $150,000. If you’re on Social Security, you don’t qualify since you have to be making an income. And finally, dependents can’t claim the credit. So your teenager, even if he/she holds a job, won’t qualify if they’re listed as a dependent on your tax return.

Got Money? Just $150 million gets you "90210" producer's old house

$150M buys you late TV producer's L.A. mansion
By ALEX VEIGA, AP Real Estate Writer Alex Veiga, Ap Real Estate Writer Fri Mar 27, 12:34 am ET

LOS ANGELES – The widow of producer Aaron Spelling is placing "The Manor" in the exclusive Holmby Hills neighborhood on the market for a jaw-dropping $150 million, making it by far the most expensive home for sale in the U.S.

The French chateau-style mansion has 56,500 square feet of space on more than 4.6 acres and is the largest home in Los Angeles County. Among the neighbors are the Los Angeles Country Club and, not too far away, the Playboy Mansion.

Spelling's late husband produced hit shows such as "Charlie's Angels," "Dynasty" and "Beverly Hills 90210." He died in 2006.

"Everything there is glamorous, and is luxurious and it's really great scale," said Sally Forster Jones, an agent with Coldwell Banker Previews International in Los Angeles, which is co-listing the property. "There really is nothing to compare it to."

Spelling told The Associated Press that she let her dog Madison, a soft-coated Wheaten Terrier, help pick out the best real estate agent for the task. She had her security bring the dog into the room every time she met one of the candidate agents and watched how the dog reacted. If Madison didn't like them, Spelling crossed them off the list.
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Video: Nick Cannon talks business, Mariah, and making money at age 28

AP: Obama to focus on economy in news conference

Obama to focus on economy in news conference
By JENNIFER LOVEN, AP White House Correspondent Jennifer Loven, Ap White House Correspondent 26 mins ago

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama looked to steer the nation's economic attention to the bigger picture Tuesday night and away from recent days' micro-focus on outrage over executive bonuses, declaring signs of progress as his administration attacks the crisis "on all fronts." "It's a strategy to create jobs, to help responsible homeowners, to restart lending and to grow our economy over the long term," Obama said in remarks released in advance of his prime-time news conference.

During a crowded week for the White House and furious debate that echoed from Main Street to Capitol Hill corridors, the president sought to take a step back. He summarized the steps taken so far by his administration to address the worst economic disaster in a quarter-century, framing them with optimism.

"We will recover from this recession," he said. "But it will take time, it will take patience and it will take an understanding that when we all work together — when each of us looks beyond our own short-term interests to the wider set of obligations we have to each other — that's when we succeed."

A day earlier, the Obama administration unveiled a plan to melt a vast credit freeze by helping banks shed bad loans. Under the plan, the government will finance the purchase by private investors of as much as $1 trillion of the $2 trillion in bad assets still held by the nation's banks, in the hopes of freeing banks to begin lending more freely and churn up economic activity.
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Solar power helps a family's electric bill stay under $5.

Rocketing utility bills have hit Marylanders across the board. This past winter saw unprecedented amounts for many--but not all. Alex DeMetrick found one couple whose monthly bill is less than the cost of a cappuccino.
Al and Nancy Schnoebeler have spent the past 20 years in their home in the woods outside Centreville on the Eastern Shore. Five years ago, they hooked into Delmarva Power.

"Last month's bill was approximately three dollars and a half for electric use," Nancy Schnoebeler said.

Service charges cost twice as much, bringing the bill up to $10.65. The rest of the electricity comes from the sun striking a small array of solar panels.

Instead of spending $25,000 20 years ago to bring in a line, the Sneblens spent $10,000 to run their home off solar-generated power.
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Got Money? Budget deficit on track to hit $1.845 trillion..thanks George

Obama budget deficit could hit 1.845 trln dlrs

50 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US budget deficit could hit 1.845 trillion dollars this year under the budget proposed by President Barack Obama, quadrupling the 2008 record shortfall, a new forecast showed.

The Congressional Budget Office, a non-partisan agency of Congress, said its latest budget deficit estimate for fiscal 2009, which ends on September 30, would amount to 13.1 percent of the country's entire economic output.

Since its early January estimate of a 1.2-trillion-dollar gap, the CBO said, the enactment of stimulus legislation such as the 787-billion-dollar stimulus plan and other measures to revive the economy, and other factors had added more than 400 billion dollars to deficit projections for 2009 and 2010.

The new projections were based on a sweeping 3.55-trillion-dollar multi-year budget proposed by President Barack Obama's administration to Congress in February.
Obama has acknowledged the size of his budget's 1.752-billion-dollar deficit in 2009 would require "some hard choices" on spending priorities.
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First major newspaper moves everything online..more to go?

Seattle Paper Shifts Entirely to the Web
By WILLIAM YARDLEY and RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA

SEATTLE — The Seattle Post-Intelligencer will produce its last printed edition on Tuesday and become an Internet-only news source, the Hearst Corporation said on Monday, making it by far the largest American newspaper to take that leap.

But The P-I, as it is called, will resemble a local Huffington Post more than a traditional newspaper, with a news staff of about 20 people rather than the 165 it had, and a site with mostly commentary, advice and links to other news sites, along with some original reporting.

Other newspapers have closed and many more are threatened. But the transition to an all-digital product for The P-I will be especially closely watched in an industry that is fast losing revenue and is casting around for a new economic model.

For one thing, the closing may end up putting greater pressure on the surviving and financially struggling Seattle Times, because of the end of a joint operating agreement between the two papers. It may even bring closer the day when Seattle has no local paper at all.
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President Obama wants AIG bonuses blocked

Obama Orders Treasury Chief to Try to Block A.I.G. Bonuses
By HELENE COOPER

WASHINGTON — President Obama on Monday vowed to try to stop the faltering insurance giant American International Group from paying out hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses to executives, as the administration scrambled to avert a populist backlash against banks and Wall Street that could complicate Mr. Obama’s economic recovery agenda.

“In the last six months, A.I.G. has received substantial sums from the U.S. Treasury,” Mr. Obama said. He added that he had asked Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner “to use that leverage and pursue every single legal avenue to block these bonuses and make the American taxpayers whole.”
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Get out the library card..The Public Library is making a comeback!

Times Are Tough, and Libraries Are Thriving
By JOSEPH BERGER
Nytimes.com
TEANECK

SHIRA WEISS, a 34-year-old publicist, showed up one day with her two children at the Teaneck Public Library for the first time in years after her husband had gently inquired why she needed to spend so much on books.

She applied for a new library card and — after taking out two chick-lit novels, an illustrated “Star Wars” book for her 5-year-old, Jake, and two animal books for her 2-year-old, Ben — she instinctively pulled out her wallet to pay.

“I guess it will take an adjustment period until I realize that some of the best things in life are indeed free,” she said.

Ms. Weiss’s cheerfully erratic return to her local library illustrates a surprising upside to the economic downturn: Libraries are booming.

Indeed, the bad news on the economy is good news for libraries across the New York region, so long as they can escape the budget ax that is falling on many municipal services as cities and towns struggle with declining revenue.

People are flocking to libraries after forsaking Barnes & Noble or ditching their HBO service and subscriptions to Netflix, library officials said, because libraries’ books, DVDs and CDs have a significant advantage: They are free.
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Got Weed? Oregon thinks about growing, taxing, and selling weed

Oregon proposes taxing medical marijuana
Last updated March 12, 2009 8:25 a.m. PT
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SALEM, Ore. -- The Oregon Legislature's latest idea for a tax? Medical marijuana.

The state would take over growing and distributing marijuana to patients in the medical-marijuana program under a bill introduced Wednesday. Sponsored by Rep. Ron Maurer, R-Grants Pass, House Bill 3274 imposes a $98-per-ounce tax, which would cover the state's cost of operating and securing the production center.

"I'm not a pot guy, but the water's under the bridge. That's not the issue," Maurer told The Oregonian newspaper. "Let's not even discuss that. Let's discuss is the program working? The answer is unequivocally no, that the program is not working."

Oregon voters approved the use of medical marijuana more than a decade ago, deciding chronically and terminally ill patients should be allowed to use the drug to ease pain. Roughly 21,000 Oregonians now have cards authorizing them to use it for medicinal purposes, according to the state Department of Human Services.

Maurer and three co-sponsors think the bill would improve public safety by eliminating private medical-marijuana grow sites. Some private growers have been accused of illegally selling marijuana to those who don't have cards; other sites have been targeted by burglaries and home invasions.
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