While the Senate race lacked any kind of racial acrimony, Brooke’s early life did not. He grew up in Washington, D.C., but eventually moved to a primarily white neighborhood. His relations with the white community were harmonious, and Brooke graduated from Howard University. But he served in the Army during World War II and his unit was segregated.

Brooke said “in the Army, I felt racial discrimination more keenly than ever before. I could not ignore that our government’s policy endorsed blatant inequalities.”

When he returned home, he found himself unable to get a job by any of Boston’s big law firms. So he sought to turn lemons into lemonade.

Black Biography quoted  two of Brooke’s Army buddies, “… wanted Brooke to run for the office to improve living conditions for the great masses of blacks who lived in Roxbury, Massachusetts.” As to why he joined the GOP: “My parents were Republicans, and I had always admired the party of Lincoln and the Republican virtues of duty and self-help.”

Brooke sought a state Senate seat in 1950 using “cross-filing,” where a candidate for office can submit his name in both party primaries. Brooke did win on the Republican line, but as expected, not the Democratic. He narrowly lost the election. He lost again in a bid for Secretary of State in 1960 (Massachusetts’ favorite son John F. Kennedy was on the ticket), but only by 12,000 votes. But by becoming the first African-American in Massachusetts to win a nomination for a statewide office, his stock was soaring. And the people who counted took note. He rebounded by being tapped by the governor for a major banking post.

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The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell 23,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 340,000, a level consistent with firm job growth.

And sales of new homes rose in April to the second-highest level since summer 2008, while the median price for a new home hit a high.

The Labor Department said on Thursday that the less volatile four-week average of jobless claims declined just 500 to 339,500. That is close to the five-year low of 338,000 reached in the first week of May. The four-week average is 9 percent lower than last November.

“The underlying story in jobless claims continues to be one of gradual improvement,” Bricklin Dwyer, an economist at BNP Paribas, wrote in a research report.

Unemployment claims are a proxy for layoffs. The decline in claims has coincided with steady job growth over the last six months. Since last November, employers have added an average 208,000 jobs a month. That is up from just 138,000 jobs a month in the previous six months.

Still, much of the improvement has come from fewer layoffs, not robust hiring. Employers laid off just 1.7 million workers in March, only slightly above the 12-year low reached in January. Overall hiring remains far below levels before the recession.

More than 4.7 million Americans were receiving unemployment benefits the week that ended May 4, down 23 percent from nearly 6.2 million a year earlier.

The United States still has 2.6 million fewer jobs than when the recession began in December 2007. The unemployment rate has fallen to a four-year low of 7.5 percent, from 10 percent in October 2009. Some of the decline is a result of many people giving up looking for work. The government counts people as unemployed only if they are searching for a job.

The Commerce Department said Thursday that sales of new homes rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 454,000 in April. That was up 2.3 percent from March and slightly below 458,000 in January.

January and April had the fastest sales since July 2008.

The median price of a home sold in April was $271,600, the highest level on government records dating from 1993. The April price was 8.3 percent higher than in March and 13.1 percent higher than a year earlier.

Steady job creation and mortgage rates near record lows are encouraging more Americans to buy homes.

With the April increase, sales are now 29 percent higher than a year ago, but they are still below the 700,000 economists consider healthy.

The strength in April was led by a 10.8 percent increase in sales in the West. Sales in the South were up 3 percent, but sales fell 16.7 percent in the Northeast and 4.8 percent in the Midwest.

Sales of previously owned homes rose in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.97 million, the highest level in three and a half years.

Greater demand, along with fewer homes for sale, is also increasing prices in most markets and encouraging more construction.

Applications for permits to build homes rose in April to the highest level in nearly five years. While construction of new homes and apartments slipped a bit in April, the decline occurred a month after construction topped one million for the first time since June 2008.

Source: nytimes.com

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The great news is that both your health and sense of confidence are, for the most part, in your own hands. There are lots of ways you can make improvements to how you look and feel by learning how best to nourish your body. Many of us will immediately jump online spending hours searching for the latest supplements and beauty boost, but what if the missing ingredients for soft skin, shiny hair and strong nails were literally missing ingredients from our diets?

In the pioneering beauty superfoods guide, Eating For Beauty, author David Wolfe, one of the worlds’s raw food and superfood experts, identifies how to beautify from the benefits of a raw food diet. He includes in-depth descriptions of beneficial foods and supplements that help guide us toward our fullest beauty potential.

For those who don’t want to bother with a 100 percent raw food diet or complicated routine of what supplements to take and when (not to mention the clutter of a counter top covered with vitamin bottles), adding a few beauty superfoods to existing recipes or favorite meals is a simple, quick way to provide optimal health benefits that can make all the difference to our appearance.

Here are 5 of Wolfe’s best nutrient-rich beautifying foods and some simple suggestions for how to incorporate them into your diet:

1. Cucumbers – Part of the melon family, cucumbers have been the favorite food of those looking to prevent bloating due to their natural diuretic abilities. Their shiny skins are rich in silicon, one of the most vital beauty minerals, so its important to buy fresh, organic cucumbers that have not been waxed so you can eat the skins. Easy to add to vegetable salads and salsas, or, add a few slices to your water bottles so you can enjoy their beautifying benefits on the go.

Read More: ecosalon.com

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The live demonstration last week had Google’s Johanna Wright planning an afternoon in Santa Cruz, asking about places to eat, things to see, and how long it would take to drive between them. And the catch was that not only was she only using voice, but she was using words like “there” and “it” instead of, for example, the name of the restaurant.

That’s surprisingly difficult: Google has to “keep in mind” that the place you’re talking about is the place you asked about earlier, and that words like “here” or “me” mean your actual current location. If you ask about a restaurant, and then follow up with “how far away is it?” Google has to infer the meaning of “it,” and to what location the distance should be calculated. Easy for humans, but not for search engines.

It’s still pretty rough — in our tests, it confused “where,” “what,” and “when” frequently, and often failed to include the object of the previous search in new ones. For instance, a spoken search easily found a nearby national park, but no query (“How do I get there?” “How far is it?” “Show me directions”) would yield useful map data.

The voice responses could be handy for quick questions like “when was Julius Caesar born?” to which Google can respond quickly and verbally — but for more complex queries and follow-ups, it might make sense to reach for the keyboard, or just click one of the links provided.

Not included in the update was the “hotwording” ability also shown at I/O that allows the voice-based search to launch without a click when the user says “OK Google.”

Conversational search should be live in the Chrome desktop browser now, and should be coming soon in some form to both Android and iOS for mobile.

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According to multiple reports out of Redskins Park, Griffin, who had surgery to repair tears of his anterior cruciate and lateral collateral ligaments in January, was not moving at full-speed, but was able to plant his right leg and made “crisp” throws to his targets.

“The knee feels great,” Griffin said. “I’m able to do all the stuff out there without any hesitation, so that’s the best part about it. I’m excited about that. It’s all about having that confidence, and if you put the work in, you’ll have that confidence when you get back out there on the field. It’s about playing like you were never injured.”

Whether or not Griffin will be available for the start of training camp has yet to be determined. Though Griffin is ahead of schedule in his rehab, the 2012 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year acknowledged that he needs to work on “explosive sprinting” and “cutting” before he will be ready to play.

Griffin hopes to be ready for training camp, but has the proper perspective as he knows he’s entering year 2 of what it is expected to be a very long and productive NFL career.

“Yes, I’m all-in for week 1, but I’m also all-in the rest of my career,” Griffin added.

Griffin also said that he has been taking “mental reps” and doesn’t feel as though he needs offseason or preseason snaps to play against the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2013 regular season-opener. Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan would not be comfortable with that scenario.

Shanahan was criticized for how the team handled Griffin’s injuries last season, but Griffin said no repair was needed on their relationship this offseason.

“The only thing that needed repair was my knee,” Griffin said.

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Rivers has three years and $21 million remaining on his contract. The Nets did not retain interim coach P.J. Carlesimo after getting knocked out of the playoffs earlier this month.

Reached late Thursday, Ainge refused to comment on the Nets’ interest in Rivers and reiterated that he expects him back on the Celtics’ bench next season.

“Doc has told me he’s coming back,” Ainge said bluntly. “I talk to him almost every day about our team and what we are going to do moving forward.”

The Celtics’ unwillingness to allow a competing team to talk to Rivers suggests they expect him to honor the extension he signed on May 11, 2011, which made him among the highest-paid coaches in professional sports and one of the top two in the NBA, along with the Spurs’ Gregg Popovich.

When Rivers signed that deal, he was asked about the lean years that inevitably would surface as Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen grew older, moved on or retired.

“Well, I don’t think anyone is looking forward to [rebuilding],” Rivers said, “but I’m willing to do that. I’ve had a group that has been very loyal to me, and I think it would have been very easy to just run and go somewhere else and chase something else. … I just don’t think that’s the right thing to do. Coaches talk about loyalty and team, and I just thought it was time to show it.”

That will not stop the offers from coming. Last season, the Orlando Magic offered Rivers the job of team president, which would have entailed everything from schmoozing with corporate sponsors to running the front office. Though he had previously insisted he had “little to no interest” in running a franchise, the financial windfall and unilateral power that would come with such a position (not to mention the proximity to his home base) gave him some brief pause. Ultimately, Rivers rebuffed the Magic and determined he wasn’t done coaching.

Ainge acknowledged late Thursday afternoon that Rivers remains a coveted asset among NBA circles.

“We know people want Doc,” Ainge said. “We know people want (Rajon Rondo) and KG and Paul Pierce. They are the Celtics. They’ve all had great success.”

If Rivers decided to go back to the broadcast booth, where he received rave reviews for his work on TNT, the Celtics still would hold his coaching rights for the life of his contract, preventing him from hopping to another team without some negotiated compensation.

Rivers is expected to sit down with his coaching staff, each of whom has an expiring contract, this weekend.

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“We have argued that small states should have a political presence in the Security Council,” Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Dookeran said on Wednesday night.

“We have made the call for the change in the Security Council operations both in terms of its membership and in terms of its effectiveness. We have made it clear that the  issue of restructuring the membership should be put squarely on the agenda of the next Assembly and we have begun to talk with some major countries in the world in order to ensure we have the necessary political clout to make (the discussion) start,” he said.

The continent of Africa should be part of that process, he added.

Dookeran was speaking at a news conference at the end of the 16th Meeting of the Ministers for Foreign Community Relations at the Hilton Trinidad. Dookeran said the change in the composition would reflect a return to “political and moral legitimacy” of that body.

“We are mobilizing large countries to work with us to make sure that the process gets started,” he said.

Asked about the lack of a Caricom presence and influence on international bodies, Dookeran said there was a question of Caribbean nationals making themselves eligible for top positions and other positions in international bodies.

He said sessions have been organized to explain to Caribbean professionals the process by which they can make themselves eligible for work on these bodies.

“On the issue of (the lack of) Caribbean personalities on international organizations, we are conscious of it…and we have devised a process by which we can improve that presence,” he said.

He said it was decided in the meeting that professionals should be encouraged to apply for positions in such organizations by bringing to their attention the often complex processes involved in the applications. It also agreed to make Caribbean candidates available for the top positions as they (the positions) emerge.

It was also agreed during the meeting that Caricom countries would “make the political statement as necessary in the councils of those bodies that we need to have a higher presence of our nationals on these bodies,” Dookeran said.

He said Trinidad and Tobago indicated to the meeting that it proposed to establish a diplomatic academy.

He said the Trinidad and Tobago government was hoping to begin the process in September with a conference.

Asked about issue of Caribbean Airlines and LIAT, Dookeran said while the meeting did not address the issue of tensions within the region over CAL and LIAT,  they agreed that transport logistics was an inhibitor to the process of economic integration.

He said to that end, the meeting accepted the suggestion that was made at the Association of Caribbean States’ meeting in Panama where the government of Colombia agreed “to join with us in arranging a meeting of the airlines operating in the region to see how we can rationalize the connectivity within the region. In that sense there is a diplomatic initiative to address the problem,” he said.

On the issue of Venezuela’s political stability, Dookeran said the meeting acknowledged that there would be some settling down time for Venezuela in this post-Chavez period.

But the meeting recognized that there was a great relationship between Venezuela and the Caribbean in many areas, particularly energy, he said.

“We acknowledge the role that Petrocaribe has played in the past, but we did not see that as an energy policy. We recognized that we would have to go beyond that in order to develop a strong energy policy with the relevant ministries of energy,” he said.

He said from a diplomatic perspective, the Caricom ministries would seek to facilitate discussion on Caribbean energy policy among Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico and other countries.

Asked if Caricom would seek to foster democracy in Venezuela, Dookeran said Caricom would continue to pursue good neighborly relations, but would not want to get involved in the internal dynamics of Venezuelan politics.

Source: trinidadexpress.com

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He’s the rare black host with national TV and radio platforms, one who sees his job as challenging Americans to examine their assumptions on such thorny issues as poverty, education, and racial and gender equality.

In other words, he doesn’t squander his opportunities on PBS’ daily talk show “Tavis Smiley,” which marks its 10th year this month, or on public radio’s “The Tavis Smiley Show” and “Smiley & West,” the latter a forum for commentary he shares with scholar and activist Cornel West.

His quarterly “Tavis Smiley Reports” specials for PBS, in-depth looks at topics such as the relationship between the juvenile justice system and the teenage dropout rate, fit the same bold pattern.

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When Carey took to the stage in Central Park to perform for “Good Morning America” one thing was quite obvious – the dress was ready to let go at any given moment.

While M.C certainly has slimmed down quite a bit since becoming the face of Jenny Craig, she may have miscalculated what her new dress size really is.

The dazzling pink Donatella Versace dress seemed to barely squeeze its way around Mariah’s curves and it was only a matter of time before the zipper finally popped.

The sudden wardrobe malfunction caused the powerhouse songstress to drop an expletive during the live broadcast.

Other than the fact that she may or may not have had a bit to drink before making her way onto the stage – which she has been known for, by the way – things got a little strange when it came time for her to joke her way through the wardrobe blunder.

Staff members quickly rushed on stage to try to fix the broken zipper while anchor Lara Spencer took the show into a break.

“What we’ll do is go to break, adjust, and when we come back we’ll talk to Mariah Carey about how gorgeous she looks,” Spencer said as she proved she was one anchor who knew how to roll with the punches of live TV.

As it turned out, the zipper issue couldn’t be fixed and Nick Cannon’s wife had to simply change gowns.

Luckily she slipped into a more loosely fitting dress that would be free of any zipper-popping problems.

With the dress secure and the “girls” safely tucked away the mother of two went on to belt out her latest hit “#Beautiful” featuring Miguel.

Source: PopularCritic.com

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