In today’s top news, Michelle Obama writes an open letter to Newtown, church bells in Newtown chimes 26 times in honor of the Sandy Hook shooting victims, and Fat Joe pleads guilty to tax evasion.

Michelle Obama writes an open letter to Newtown. [BET]

Church bells in Newtown chimes 26 times in honor of the Sandy Hook shooting victims. [NBCNews]

Fat Joe pleads guilty to tax evasion. [BET]

Sarah Palin bashed President Obama’s TIME Person of the Year win. [CNN]

The CDC reports that new infections of HIV among African-American women have declined. [Chicago Sun-Times]

Singer Frank Ocean is facing a $1 million lawsuit from his estranged father. [BET]

Katt Williams was detained in front of a Subway restaurant. [TMZ]

Cuba Gooding Jr., Vanessa Williams and Cicely Tyson will star in the Broadway play “The Trip to Bountiful.” [Grio]

ESPN suspends host Rob Parker for RGIII comments. [Grio]

Archbishop Desmond Tutu likens Uganda’s anti-gay laws to apartheid. [Sapa-AFP]

Humanitarian groups warn that a Mali intervention will harm civilians. [VOA]

It seems the hysterical activism of the Tea Party movement has found a less fiery but equally agitating counterweight in the NAACP.

At the Civil Rights organization’s 101st convention in Kansas City, Mo., the group passed a resolution denouncing racism in the Tea Party.

That move kicked off a volley of accusations between the NAACP and prominent voices in the Tea Party.

“We felt the time had come to stand up and say, ‘It’s time for the tea party to be responsible members of this democracy and make sure they don’t tolerate bigots or bigotry among their members,’” NAACP President Ben Jealous said. “We don’t have a problem with the tea party’s existence. We have an issue with their acceptance and welcoming of white supremacists into their organizations.”

Tea Party members fired back as well.

“I am saddened by the NAACP’s claim that patriotic Americans who stand up for the United States of America’s Constitutional rights are somehow “racists,” said Sarah Palin, one of the most prominent national leaders associated with the broad-based, loosely organized conservative movement. “The charge that Tea Party Americans judge people by the color of their skin is false, appalling, and is a regressive and diversionary tactic to change the subject at hand.”

Kansas City Tea party activist Alex Poulter chimed in, saying the NAACP’s characterization of the conservative movement is not true.

“The movement is made up of a “diverse group of folks who are upset with what is going on with this country. It’s unfounded, but people are running with these accusations like they are true,” he stated.

Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP’s Washington Bureau explained the motivation of the resolution. “It calls on the tea party and all people of good will to repudiate the racist element and activities within the tea party,” he pointed out.

In a related story, a billboard created and posted by a Tea Party group in Iowa compared President Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin. Critics — including some Tea Party members — blasted the billboard as offensive. According to the AP, the sign shows large photographs of Obama, Nazi leader Hitler and communist leader Lenin beneath the labels “Democratic Socialism,” ”National Socialism,” and “Marxist Socialism.”

Yesterday, the group decided to pull the Iowa ad but memories of  Tea Party rallies where members carried racist signs (some overt, others subtle) or shouted racial epithets remain.  Leaders insist those displays are not representative of the broader mission and movement of the Tea Party.

Last night, after a day of spirited back-and-forth, the NAACP sent out an e-mail titled “Acts of Racism” to supporters and members. It was signed by the group’s president.

The e-mail began, “We are not backing down. Yesterday, the NAACP passed a resolution condemning the racist acts of Tea Party protesters. The backlash from the Tea Party has been furious. But we are not an organization that shies away from controversy. The NAACP was founded on hope, not hate — and we will not stand idly by as racists work to divide our nation.”

In the e-mail, was a link to a pledge to “unify America and stop the racism.”

Read the full text of the e-mail below:

Dear __________

We are not backing down.

Yesterday, the NAACP passed a resolution condemning the racist acts of Tea Party protesters. The backlash from the Tea Party has been furious.

But we are not an organization that shies away from controversy. The NAACP was founded on hope, not hate — and we will not stand idly by as racists work to divide our nation.

Add your name to our pledge to unify America and stop the racism:

http://action.naacp.org/PledgeToStopHate

The NAACP does not have a problem with the Tea Party, nor its existence. We have a problem with their acceptance and their welcoming of prejudice into their organization.

And in case there is any misunderstanding about what defines racism, let me be clear.

In March, racial slurs were hurled at members of the Congressional Black Caucus as they passed by a Tea Party health care protest in Washington, DC. Missouri Representative Emanuel Cleaver was spat on. People at the rally held signs covered in bigotry.

That is racism. That is racism filled with hate, ignorance and acts of violence. And we will not stand for it.

We are calling on all Americans to stand for the values that have made our country the land of the free and the home of the brave. Sign the pledge now:

http://action.naacp.org/PledgeToStopHate

The past year has been one of major triumphs and major setbacks in the fight for racial equality. But we will not let bigotry silence us.

We are one people. We are one nation. And we are all NAACP Americans.

Thank you for your support,

Ben Jealous
President and CEO
NAACP

Former GOP Vice-President candidate Sarah Palin is the newest employee for Fox News.

From the Associated Press:

Sarah Palin is taking her conservative message to Fox News.

An attorney for the former Alaska governor and Republican vice
presidential candidate says Palin will provide some type of
commentary for the cable network.

Palin is hugely popular with conservatives and has more than 1
million Facebook followers.

She stepped down as Alaska governor in July, 17 months before
the end of her first term in office. Her resignation came less than
a year after she vaulted to overnight fame as John McCain’s running
mate.

Fox News is popular in conservative circles and it makes sense if Palin chooses to run against Obama in 2012, to have her face on TV every day.

President Obama wants the nation to know that the rumors roiling about government-sponsored “death-panels” included in his health proposal are not true. In fact, the rumors have gotten so out of hand that the president has launched a full-time campaign to counter the myth that panels would be established to determine which patients deserve to live. Adding to the controversy, some leading Republican politicians, including ex-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and longtime Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, have been perpetuating the false rumors. As The New York Times reports this week, “There is nothing in any of the legislative proposals that would call for the creation of death panels or any other governmental body that would cut off care for the critically ill as a cost-cutting measure. But over the course of the past few months, early, stated fears from anti-abortion conservatives that Mr. Obama would pursue a pro-abortion, pro-euthanasia agenda, combined with twisted accounts of actual legislative proposals that would provide financing for optional consultations with doctors about hospice care and other ‘end of life’ services, fed the rumor to the point where it overcame the debate.” John Rother, executive vice president of AARP, which is supportive of the health care proposals, told The New York Times that the “I guess what surprised me [about the rumors] is the ferocity, it’s much stronger than I expected. It’s people who are ideologically opposed to Mr. Obama, and this is the opportunity to weaken the president.” The White House has added a new page on its Web site, lambasting the exaggerated claims by conservatives that have gone viral. “This isn’t about politics. This is about people’s lives,” Obama says on the site, whitehouse.gov/realitycheck. Also on the page are videos with White House staffers addressing rumors that Obama’s plan will “euthanize” the elderly, or that health care would be “rationed” under a new health care plan.

Obama makes a final pitch to America.  This morning Sen. Barack Obama will enter the final five days of his journey to the White House following one of the most expensive evenings in the history of political campaigns. Obama’s 30 minute primetime infomercial aired on three networks and cable stations Wednesday night to the tune of $4 million dollars. Get more at Pamela on Politics.

Her kids’ travel is getting Palin into trouble. Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin now faces a new ethics complaint that accuses her of abusing her power by charging the state when her children traveled with her. The complaint released Wednesday alleges Palin used her official position as governor for personal gain. It follows a report by The Associated Press last week that the Alaska governor charged the state more than $21,000 for her three daughters’ commercial flights, including events where they weren’t invited, and later ordered their expense forms amended to specify official state business. In some cases, Palin also has charged the state for hotel rooms for the girls, according to AP. The travel costs for events her children were not invited to and where they served in no official capacity for state purpose or business violated state ethics laws, the complaint charges. “Governor Palin intentionally secured unwarranted benefits for family members, improperly used state property to benefit her personal and financial interests, and illegally altered documents that were the subject of a Public Records request,” the complaint states. The latest complaint was filed by Frank Gwartney, an Anchorage Democrat who supports Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama. Earlier this month, a legislative report found Palin violated state ethics laws when she fired her public safety commissioner.

Obama assassination planners were “too disorganized.” Two White supremacists charged with plotting to shoot children, behead other Black Americans and assassinate Barack Obama while wearing White top hats and tuxes were likely too disorganized to carry out the plot, authorities said, and their planning was riddled with blunders. Paul Schlesselman, 18, of Helena-West Helena, Ark., and Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells, Ark., are accused of hatching the plot. While authorities say they had guns capable of creating carnage, documents show they never got close to getting off the ground. Among the blunders: They drew attention to themselves by etching swastikas on a car with sidewalk chalk, only knew each other for a month after meeting over the Internet, couldn’t even pull off a house robbery, and a friend ratted them out to authorities. Despite making sure the plot was stopped, authorities did not believe Cowart and Schlesselman had the means to carry out their threat to assassinate Obama, said a federal law enforcement official who spoke anonymously to The Associated Press. Asked whether the two suspects had Obama’s schedule or plans to kill him at a specific time or place, a second law enforcement official who also was not authorized to speak publicly said, “I don’t think they had that level of detail.”
 

Authorities are keeping an eye on a Hollywood, Calif., house where an effigy of the Republican vice presidential nominee hangs from a noose. The Halloween display showing a likeness of Sarah Palin hanging by a noose has angered some residents who reported it as a hate crime, authorities said Monday. But Los Angeles County Sheriff’s officials said the mannequin sporting a beehive hairdo, glasses and a red coat does not rise to the level of a hate crime because it was part of a Halloween display. Read the rest here. Get more at You(th) Vote.

Homeowner crisis is hitting Blacks and Hispanics harder. A report shows that the racial mix of new homeownership in New York City changed dramatically in 2007, with fewer Blacks and Latinos getting mortgages. The report, released Monday by the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at New York University, says that new home loans to White borrowers remained steady, while new mortgages to Blacks and Latinos dropped 44 percent and 34 percent, respectively. It is based on an analysis of federal mortgage data. The center says the report puts the credit crisis into perspective by showing how it affects homeownership by different ethnic groups. Furman Center Co-director Ingrid Ellen says the numbers suggest “that it’s going to be increasingly difficult for Black and Hispanic borrowers to get mortgages.”

Alaska’s Blacks lash out against Palin

. The Last Frontier’s powerful African-American community is speaking out against Republican V.P. nominee Sarah Palin. The relationship between Palin and Black leaders have been tense at times ever since becoming Alaska’s Governor in 2006, according to news reports. For instance, the governor riled Black leaders when she opposed a Juneteenth proclamation that would have endorsed a festival that celebrates the freeing of Black slaves. While 29 states officially celebrate the holiday, Palin deliberately refused to recognize it in 2007. Black leaders say that is not the only example of her insensitivity

Sarah Palin has a spectacular new wardrobe, and Republican campaign donors apparently picked up, according to a report by the Politico Web site. The Republican National Committee apparently have spent $150,000 on clothing and accessories for the vice presidential candidate and her family since early September, according to Politico. At Saks Fifth Avenue stores in Manhattan and St. Louis, the RNC paid for $49,425.74 in Palin apparel, the report said, citing financial disclosure records. There also was a $75,062.63 spent at Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, where the Palins stayed during the Republican National Convention last month; $9.447.71 at Macy’s in Minneapolis; and $5,102.71 at Bloomingdale’s in New York for the leather jackets, suits and pumps the Alaska governor wears on the stump. Another $4,716.49 on hair and makeup came from the GOP while wooing “Joe Six-Pack” to vote for John McCain, the records showed. And more than $5,000 went to a men’s store and a baby clothing store. Get more at You(th) Vote.

Sarah Palin broke the law.

Vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin unlawfully abused her power as governor while trying to have her ex- brother-in-law, then a state trooper, fired. The special investigation panel made the decision late Friday. Chief Investigator Stephen said Palin violated a state ethics law that clearly prohibits Alaska officials from using their position or influence for their personal gain. At the center of the inquiry was Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan, who said he lost his job because he says he didn’t give in to pressure from Palin to fire a state trooper after a bitter split with her sister. I feel vindicated,” Monegan said yesterday. “It sounds like they’ve validated my belief and opinions.And that tells me I’m not totally out in leftfield.” Palin says Monegan was fired because of a budget dispute. “In order to violate the ethics law, there has to be some personal gain, usually financial” Palin attorney ThomasVan Flein argued. The law, however, reads “any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that (public) trust.”  

As expected, both Biden and Palin claim debate victory.  Vice presidential candidates Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin squared off over the war in Iraq, repairing the economy, alternative energy and health care. Both answered the questions, of course, but beyond that, there was little else they had in common. Get more at Pamela on Politics.