Xscape - Just Kickin' It [Music Video]

"Just Kickin' It" is a song by American R&B group Xscape. Written by Jermaine Dupri and Manuel Seal, the song was released as Xscape's first single from the group's 1993 debut album Hummin' Comin' at 'Cha. The single became the group's most commercially successful hit, peaking at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and spending four weeks at number one on the Hot R&B Singles chart. "Just Kickin' It" is an urban ballad in which vocals are the focus, and the instrumental foundation is otherwise sparse. Jermaine Dupri, who according to Columbia Records executive Michael Mauldin, wanted Xscape to be "the ghetto En Vogue, originally wrote the song as a summary of what men wanted from women.
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New Smithsonian Exhibit Explores Jefferson's Slave Ownership

Thomas Jefferson wrote "all men are created equal" to declare U.S. independence from Britain, yet he was also a lifelong slave owner who freed only nine of his more than 600 slaves during his lifetime. That contradiction between ideals and reality is at the center of a new exhibit opening Friday as the Smithsonian Institution continues developing a national black history museum. It offers a look at Jefferson's Monticello plantation in Virginia through the lives of six slave families and artifacts unearthed from where they lived. The exhibit, "Slavery at Jefferson's Monticello: Paradox of Liberty," was developed with Monticello and will be on view at the National Museum of American History through mid-October. It includes a look at the family of Sally Hemings, a slave. Most historians now believe she had an intimate relationship with the third president and that he fathered her children.
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Slave Game Alleged At Gwinnett Elementary School [Video]

Some children at a Gwinnett elementary school played a tag-like game as slaves and slave catchers at recess, and a teacher allegedly participated, Channel 2 Action News reported. The incident happened at Camp Creek Elementary School in Lilburn last week, the report said. Three children and their parents told Channel 2 that a teacher organized and participated in the game. The schools spokesperson said that there was a game, but the teacher did not participate. The school district released a statement to Channel 2 saying, "The school district looked into concerns regarding four students who participated in a playground activity. The district determined that the activity was student initiated and that allegations regarding the teacher's involvement were unfounded."
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Microsoft 'Avoid Ghetto' App Sparks Controversy [Video]

These days it seems like there's an app for everything. But one app has stirred mixed emotions in its attempt to help make pedestrians' lives a little bit easier. Microsoft is being slammed for its new feature that some have dubbed the "avoid ghetto" app, although it still does not have an official name. The app is meant to help anyone traveling on foot avoid bad weather, tough terrain and unsafe neighborhoods, NPR reports. It uses a combination of information from maps, weather reports, crime statistics and demographics to give users a comprehensive route recommendation. But while some say it is an innocent GPS system that features important information, others criticize it for reinforcing negative assumptions about certain neighborhoods and the people that live there.
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Arizona Gov. Brewer Says She 'Was Not Hostile' In Meeting With Obama

Usually, there is lots of formality and protocol when a president steps off Airforce One and walks onto a tarmac. But, yesterday, when President Obama landed at the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, he was greeted by Gov. Jan Brewer and very quickly the welcome turned into a serious and tense discussion. According to the pool report, Brewer first handed Obama an envelope and then the two appeared to be talking over one another. At one point, as an AP photograph shows, Brewer raised her finger at Obama. The pool report notes that Obama seems to have walked away from the governor mid sentence. Today, after a handful of interviews from Brewer throughout the day, we have a better idea of what was said during the exchange.
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New Housing Task Force Will Zero In on Wall St.

After failing to produce any major prosecutions stemming from the housing crisis, an expanded federal task force is planning a new tack, cracking down on financial firms suspected of improperly bundling home loans into securities for investors, officials said Wednesday. The Obama administration tried to instill confidence in the effort by installing Eric T. Schneiderman, the New York state attorney general who is viewed by liberal groups as a crusader against big banks, as one of the leaders of a new unit within the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. But skeptics still doubted the sincerity of the new effort.
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Pay Up! U.S. Still Owed Over $100B From Financial Bailout

A government watchdog says U.S. taxpayers are still owed $132.9 billion that companies haven’t repaid from the financial bailout, and some of that The bailout launched at the height of the financial crisis in September 2008 will continue to exist for years, says a report issued Thursday by Christy Romero, the acting special inspector general for the $700 billion bailout. Some bailout programs, such as the effort to help homeowners avoid foreclosure by reducing mortgage payments, will last as late as 2017, costing the government an additional $51 billion or so. The gyrating stock market has slowed the Treasury Department’s efforts to sell off its stakes in 458 bailed-out companies, the report says. They include insurer American International Group Inc., General Motors Co. and Ally Financial Inc.
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Android's Share Of Tablet Market Jumps

The Android operating system's share of the global tablet computer market has risen sharply at the expense of Apple's iOS, research suggests. Android accounted for 39% of the market in the final three months of last year, up from 29% a year earlier, Strategy Analytics said. Apple's share fell to 58% from 68%. Microsoft's share stood at 1.5%. Shipments of tablets reached 26.8 million in the quarter, up from 10.7 million a year ago. "Demand for tablets among consumer, business and education users remains strong," said Strategy Analytics' Peter King. Apple shipped 15.4 million iPads between October and December. That compares with shipments of 10.5 million tablets using Android. For 2011 as a whole, shipments hit 66.9 million, up from 18.6 million in 2010.
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States’ Drive to Collect Taxes on Internet

Sales Is a Blow to Marketers

On a dreary day last April, Tim Storm, the founder of FatWallet, and his 54 employees formed a convoy of some 30 cars, three moving trucks and a trailer laden with two fiberglass cows (one purple, one black), and drove five miles north from their old corporate home in Rockton, Ill.. to the new FatWallet headquarters in Beloit, Wis. The move certainly seemed to be an odd business decision: it cost $100,000, and the company left behind a $5 million, three-year-old, custom-built office building in Rockton, whose maintenance would continue to cost $30,000 a month until it finds a tenant. But Mr. Storm felt he had to do it for his business to survive. One of the country’s biggest bargain hunter Web sites, FatWallet publishes coupons and deals from about 1,000 companies that range from small shops like PennyWise.biz to retail giants like Amazon.
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Survivors Sought In Rubble Of Rio High-Rises

Three multi-storey buildings have collapsed in the centre of the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, killing five people according to local media, and leaving debris strewn over a wide area. Rescue crews continued to search on Thursday for least 12 people still missing a day after the collapse, which left thick layers of debris on cars and motorcycles in the area. "Three buildings collapsed, a 20-storey building, a 10-storey building and a smaller building of three or four floors," Mayor Eduardo Paes told reporters, updating a previous estimate of the damage. "Giving a total number of victims would be pure speculation," he added. Hospital officials said five people had been lightly wounded and were at a hospital under observation, adding that the buildings would have been largely deserted at the time of night when the collapse occurred.
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Faulty Medicine Kills Scores In Pakistan [Video]

Investigation under way into deaths of up to 70 people who were given free drugs by a state-run institute in Punjab. A senior health official has said the number of people in eastern Pakistan suspected to have died in the last month from taking bad heart medicine has risen to 70. Saeed Illahi said on Wednesday that an investigation found that a total of 419 heart patients had become sick from taking the drugs, and that 45 of them remained in critical condition. Many of the patients are in the city of Lahore. Illahi is the head of the health department in Punjab province, where Lahore is the capital. The suspected drugs were given free to patients by the state-run Punjab Institute of Cardiology. Illahi said the government had registered a case against the company accused of manufacturing the faulty medicine. Javed Akram, another government health official, said patients developed red spots on their skin within days of taking the medicine that is suspected of killing them.
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Bomb Attacks In Musayyib And Kirkuk Kill 13

Thirteen people have been killed in two separate bomb attacks in Iraq, officials have said. Two brothers - both policeman - and at least eight of their relatives were reported to have been killed after insurgents bombed a house in Musayyib in the south of Baghdad. Three people were also killed in Kirkuk in a separate bomb attack. There has been a rise in attacks in Iraq since US troops left last month. The Musayyib attack is said to have taken place at 0400 (0100 GMT), when several roadside bombs surrounding the house were detonated. The dead police officers were named by AFP as Ahmed and Jihad Zuwaiyin. Six children are also believed to have been killed. Many Shia Muslims live in the Musayyib area.
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Forks Over Knifes [Documentary Online]

This Movie Will Save Your Life

Forks Over Knives examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting animal-based and processed foods. The major storyline in the film traces the personal journeys of a pair of pioneering researchers, Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn. What has happened to us? Despite the most advanced medical technology in the world, we are sicker than ever by nearly every measure. Two out of every three of us are overweight. Cases of diabetes are exploding, especially amongst our younger population. About half of us are taking at least one prescription drug. Major medical operations have become routine, helping to drive health care costs to astronomical levels.
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Take The BRAINWASHED Quiz Today!

You may have read the book. You may have even discussed it with your family and friends…but until you take this quiz, you might not yet know the answer to the following essential question…ARE YOU BRAINWASHED? “There is no question that African Americans have internalized at least some of the belief that they are inferior. And there is no question that this has often produced at times feelings of self-loathing and self-destructive behavior. Tom Burrell’s book and his follow-up survey are engaging examinations of the issues surrounding how black people have internalized this sense of inferiority, the impact of that internalized inferiority on the minds and hearts of black people, and, most importantly, the ways black people can fight against this crippling psychological disorder.”

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The Belton Family

The Belton Family Website mission is to assist and support the heritage of the Belton Family Reunion and provide the family with the best information resources for improving the quality of life for our family. Our successes in life are directly related to our knowledgebase and to improve our knowledgebase will require us to have the best information possible for making good decisions. The Belton Family Website is an 1-Stop information resource to support the family in making the best decisions possible for improving our lives. This 1-Stop information resource is a collection of information in a single location on this site providing an excellent starting place for building your knowledgebase with the latest information on topics i.e., Belton Family History; African American History; national and international news; African American news; health news; relationships news; entertainment news and college preparation and assistance.

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