President Barack Obama is set to sign a bill extending jobless benefits 20 weeks and prolonging the $8,000 homebuyer tax credit.

The law is also aimed at spurring job creation by giving an additional tax cut to struggling businesses.

Later Friday, the president will visit Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Then he meets in the Oval Office with Congressman-elect Bill Owens, the Democrat who won a special election in New York’s 23rd District that’s been controlled by Republicans for decades.

Obama will also meet with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, just back from a trip to the Middle East.

This post was written by the Super Media Blog

Obama: Jobless Benefits

Steve McNair Jr. has had to cope with losing his dad while playing high school football and keeping his grades up. He has chosen a school that would make his father proud.

He had his choice of lots of colleges including; Minnesota, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Nebraska, West Virginia and others. The talented wideout chose Southern Miss as his school to play college football.

He announced the decision two days ago.

“I’m going to Southern Miss,” McNair said. “It’s close to home, and my family and my coaches can all come and see me play every week.”

“He’s had a great year,” said Oak Grove coach Nevil Barr. “When we’ve needed a big play, he’s been there to make it: offense, defense, special teams.”

Although his father played for Alcorn State he grew up in Mississippi and raised his kids there.

There has always been a connection between the McNair family, the community and the hometown school in Mississippi.

McNair Jr. is one of the top prospects in the state, and was named to the prestigious “Dandy Dozen” team earlier this year.

He has helped his Oak Grove team to a 6-2 record on the year. The Warriors finish their regular season Friday night at Jim Hill (Jackson, Miss.) and are likely playoff bound.

In spite of his personal loss, McNair Jr. has been a leader for the Warriors – both on and off the field.

“Everyone loves Steve,” Barr said. “He’s a special kid. He’s always smiling, and that’s not always been easy this year.”

Interesting side note: McNair Jr. got to play catch with Brett Favre at a special camp during high school. Favre played for Southern Miss himself during his college career.

We look forward to seeing McNair Jr. catch passes in college and hopefully the NFL someday.

This post was written by the Super Media Blog

Steve McNair Jr. (Video)

The city of Breckenridge, Colorado had enough votes to legalize marijuana.

72% of residents voted to make smoking an ounce or less legal in the ski town. It is still illegal on a state and federal level. The new legislation also states that you have to be over 21 to have possesion or smoke it.

Attorney Sean McAllister was a major advocate of the measure. He said:

“We believe this a signal to the state of Colorado and the nation as a whole.”

This could very well be huge for the legalization movement nation wide. It only takes one city to start a spark and then it spreads like wildfire.

This post was written by the Super Media Blog

Breckenridge Votes: Legalize Marijuana

(Tower of London, Beefeaters Harassment video)

At the Tower of London, two “Beefeaters” were suspended for harrassment after allegedly bullying a female colleague. two Yeoman Warders, or “Beefeaters” of the ceremonial organization of the Yeomen Warders of Her Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London. The organization is reserved for veterans only.

In 2007, Moira Cameron was the first woman amongst the 35 Yeoman Warders. Officials are investigating a “defaced uniform”, as well as (presumably harassing) notes left in her locker, and her Wikipedia page was tampered in a libelous fashion.

This post was written by the Super Media Blog

Tower of London, Beefeaters Harassment

George Lopez and Wanda Sykes aim to infiltrate the colorless comedy circuit so to speak.

In the blink of an eye, late-night TV is shifting from a white men’s club to the start of a rainbow coalition.

Wanda Sykes’ weekly Fox comedy show debuts 11 p.m. EST Saturday, followed by George Lopez’s four-night-a-week talk show on TBS, starting 11 p.m. EST Monday. They join “The Mo’Nique Show” on BET.

Lopez is counting on an audience hungry for something different — as in the first Hispanic to host a nighttime talk show on a major network, cable or broadcast.

Sykes is the first black late-night host since the late 1990s, when celebrities Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Keenan Ivory Wayans tried and failed to follow in Arsenio Hall’s successful 1989-94 footsteps.

“There’s a huge percentage of people not watching late-night TV at all,” Lopez said, figuring that the shows headlined by hosts including David Letterman, Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Kimmel draw from roughly the same audience pool.

For people of color, the actor and comedian said, “I don’t think a lot of their needs are met with the current talk shows. I would pull a different audience.”

Shari Anne Brill, an analyst with media-buyer Carat USA in New York, echoes Lopez’s assertion.

“There is a huge, growing multicultural population in this country, and the current late-night fare doesn’t really take them into account,” she said.

But neither Lopez nor Sykes are talking about practicing exclusionary TV. Lopez’s ABC sitcom drew a cross-section of viewers, and Sykes said she expects her show to attract the same mixed crowd she gets at her standup appearances.

“Young, old, male, female, all races, gay, straight. I love the audience that I draw,” Sykes said.

She rebuts the idea she got the job because of her gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation (the actress-comedian, who appears on CBS’ “The New Adventures of Old Christine,” came out as gay in 2008).

“I do understand the importance of being on a late-night talk show as a black, gay woman. But I’ve been at this for 20 years. I don’t think they (networks) were saying, ‘Hey, it would be fun to get a black woman on late-night. Who fits that role?’

“I got this show in spite of being a black lesbian,” she said, adding that viewers will tune in to see her or Lopez and not a type.

“It’s all driven by the host. It’s not what you’re getting from a minority, it’s us,” Sykes said.

She doesn’t see an “Obama effect” in the sudden late-night diversity, given that she was approached before the election of the first African-American U.S. president. But Lopez said his interest was piqued as he campaigned for the Democratic candidate.

“Being with Barack for a year and seeing the people and how their eyes and their faces filled with hope for him, for this country … and, on a very smaller scale, to have a show that is fun and can galvanize people and bring them together” was appealing, he said.

The two shows, as sketched by their hosts, will take different approaches.

Lopez promises to bring “the party back to late-night,” signaling a looser, hipper hour in the tradition of “The Arsenio Hall Show,” said analyst Bill Carroll of media buyer Katz Television in New York. Sykes is planning Bill Maher-type panels with both lighthearted and serious discussion of politics and culture as part of her mix.

“In some ways, these shows are looking at breaking the mold,” Carroll said. “Lopez Tonight,” he suggests, could be “what late-night might look like in the future.”

Sykes, whose show replaces Fox’s “Mad TV,” could compete successfully in her partial overlap with NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” analyst Brill said. “Viewers could watch her show and then switch to ‘SNL’ in time for the news, which is the only part that’s funny anyway.”

Eva Longoria-Parker, Ellen DeGeneres and Los Angeles Lakers basketball star Kobe Bryant are the scheduled debut night guests for Lopez. Sykes will welcome Mary Lynn Rajskub of “24,” Daryl “Chill” Mitchell of “Brothers” and “The Amazing Race” host Phil Keoghan.

John Ridley, head writer for Sykes, said he’s wary of asserting that the show will “blow apart” the late-night model.

“If you look at all the shows, they’re not different. Are we going to have a monologue? Absolutely. Guests? Yes. A panel? Yes. But it reflects Wanda’s sensibility,” he said.

And that, it’s safe to say, is not akin to what Carroll calls the “predominantly middle-aged — to be kind — white men” that have long dominated late-night.

This post was written by the Super Media Blog

George Lopez, Wanda Sykes

An ancestor of T. Rex has been found in China, the fossils are ten feet long and the skull has a crest atop it.

The much smaller relative of the king of dinosaurs was discovered in a older time period of 160 million years ago. T. Rex was thought to have lived 90 million years ago. T. Rex was also a towering 40 feet tall versus his ten foot ancestor.

Guanlong wucaii is the new name of this mini T. Rex ancestor. The name means “crowned dragon of the five-colored rocks”. -- a reference both to the crest that runs from its nose to the back of its head and the colorful layers of sediment where two of the beasts, one atop the other, were discovered three years ago.

The fossils were actually discover not far from where scenes from “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” were filmed near the Gobi Desert.

James Clark, a paleontologist at George Washington University, and Xing Xu of China’s Institute of Paleontology and Paleoanthropology discovered the skeletons in a layer of rock in China’s oil-rich autonomous region of Xinjiang. They are the principal authors of a report on the find appearing today in the journal Nature.

This post was written by the Super Media Blog

T. Rex Ancestor

Steve McNair Jr. has had to cope with losing his dad while playing high school football and keeping his grades up. He has chosen a school that would make his father proud.

He had his choice of lots of colleges including; Minnesota, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Nebraska, West Virginia and others. The talented wideout chose Southern Miss as his school to play college football.

He announced the decision two days ago.

“I’m going to Southern Miss,” McNair said. “It’s close to home, and my family and my coaches can all come and see me play every week.”

“He’s had a great year,” said Oak Grove coach Nevil Barr. “When we’ve needed a big play, he’s been there to make it: offense, defense, special teams.”

Although his father played for Alcorn State he grew up in Mississippi and raised his kids there.

There has always been a connection between the McNair family, the community and the hometown school in Mississippi.

McNair Jr. is one of the top prospects in the state, and was named to the prestigious “Dandy Dozen” team earlier this year.

He has helped his Oak Grove team to a 6-2 record on the year. The Warriors finish their regular season Friday night at Jim Hill (Jackson, Miss.) and are likely playoff bound.

In spite of his personal loss, McNair Jr. has been a leader for the Warriors – both on and off the field.

“Everyone loves Steve,” Barr said. “He’s a special kid. He’s always smiling, and that’s not always been easy this year.”

Interesting side note: McNair Jr. got to play catch with Brett Favre at a special camp during high school. Favre played for Southern Miss himself during his college career.

We look forward to seeing McNair Jr. catch passes in college and hopefully the NFL someday.

This post was written by the Super Media Blog

Steve McNair Jr.

(Fort Hood suspected gunman Major Malik Nadal Hasan video)

The man behind the nerve-wracking ordeal at Fort Hood which ended with 12 killed, 31 wounded has been identified. The suspected gunman of Fort Hood is U.S. Army Major Malik Nadal Hasan, a recent convert to Islam. Malik Nadal Hasan was an M.D., a doctor, who was tasked with helping soldiers with their “mental health”, i.e. problems such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, suicidal tendencies, and the many other problems which commonly plague soldiers in a war which commonly pits typically Christian Americans against Middle Eastern Muslims. It is not reassuring when one of the men entrusted with the task of looking after the mental health of the soldiers, was the one ending their lives.

This post was written by the Super Media Blog

Fort Hood suspected gunman Major Malik Nadal Hasan

Hideki Matsui has become the first Japanese-born player to win the World Series Most Valuable Player award.

Hideki Matsui had 6 RBIs in game six of World Series 2009. He is an amazing batter and fielder, and was definitely a major component in the Yankees victory. Sports analysts are now calling him “Statsui” due to the big numbers he contributes in games all season long.

Matsui could retire but it seems as if he is wishing to keep playing major league baseball.

He said this when asked if he would return to the Yankees next year:

“I hope so,” he spoke to a crowd at Yankee Stadium after accepting his MVP award. “I love New York. I love the Yankees. I love the fans here.”

This post was written by the Super Media Blog

Most Valuable Player: Hideki Matsui

(A Christmas Carol trailer with Jim Carrey as Mr. Scrooge)

The new “A Christmas Carol” movie is directed by Robert Zemeckis and stars Jim Carrey as Ebenezer Scrooge, the lead character in Charles Dickens’ 1843 novel, A Christmas Carol. Jim Carrey amazingly portrays Ebenezer Scrooge through all of the stages of his life: as a young boy, teenage boy, at middle age, and as the elderly Scrooge so familiar to all. The newest film version, which premieres Friday, also shows Jim Carrey as the three Ghosts: the Ghost of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Future (billed as Christmas Yet to Come). The new ‘A Christmas Carol’ film also stars Colin Firth as Fred and Robin Wright Penn as both characters Fan and Belle.

This post was written by the Super Media Blog

A Christmas Carol: Jim Carrey