Moats Accepts Officer’s Apology

The Houston Texans’ running back detained by a police officer in a hospital parking lot while his mother-in-law was dying inside said Monday that he accepts the officer’s apology. Ryan Moats also said that he hopes Officer Robert Powell, who wrote out his apology, was sincere about the seemingly callous encounter during a March 18 traffic stop. Read more.

Woods Brings Excitement Back to Golf
The PGA must be ecstatic that Tiger Woods is back after a nine-month vacation from the circuit to mend from knee surgery. The golf great’s victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday produced the highest overnight television golf rating since the U.S. Open. Woods made up a five-shot deficit Sunday at Bay Hill, defeating Sean O’Hair with a birdie on the last hole. NBC Sports says the final round drew a 4.9 overnight rating with a 10 share. According to Nielsen Media Research, that’s the highest rating of any golf tournament since the U.S. Open in June. Woods won that tournament in a playoff.

Describing The New York Post’s monkey cartoon as an “invitation to assassination,” the NAACP Saturday called the newspaper’s apology weak and promised a boycott unless Editor in Chief Col Allan and cartoonist Sean Delonas are fired. Following a swarm of protest, including barbs from such notable figures as singer John Legend and filmmaker Spike Lee, the Post wrote in an editorial on its Web site that the cartoon was slamming the economic stimulus bill passed by Congress, … but “to those who were offended by the image, we apologize.” That was actually “a half of an apology, without elaboration,” countered NAACP President Benjamin Jealous. The drawing “picks off the scabs of all the racial wounds,” he added. The cartoon depicted two White police officers, one with a smoking gun in his hand; a chimpanzee lay on the ground in a pool of blood with two bullet holes in its stomach. One officer says to the other, “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.” The cartoon is an example of “thoughtlessness taken to the extreme, NAACP Chairman Julian Bond. Anyone who is not offended by it does not have any sensitivity.” In an open letter to the Post’s editor, Legend wrote, “I’ve read your lame statement in response to the outrage you provoked. Shame on you …offensive.

Apology Not Accepted
The New York Post decided to offer an apology to those who may have been offended by its cartoon depicting the president as a monkey.  But the paper didn’t go far enough to say its sorry for the editorial decision to publish the cartoon in the first place.

Even though it stood by its provocative cartoon the day after it was published, the New York post has decided to apologize for the sketching it published that links a bullet-riddled Chimpanzee to President Obama. Yesterday, New York’s first African-American Governor, David A. Paterson, responded to the apology, saying “It might be a time to open up a dialogue on just where that line is, where good clean fun and degradation are.” The Rev. Al Sharpton led protests in front of the newspaper offices and many Black leaders have called for a boycott of the tabloid. Patterson, on the other hand, says The Post’s apology is “very honorable.” “At this time when tensions are running high, with the economy down and also even the media outlets having to lay off people, it is an act of sensitivity.”

 Should we still boycott The New York Post?

The shoe-throwing Iraqi apologizes. The Iraqi journalist who tried to bean President Bush with his shoes is begging not to be sent to prison. Describing his action as “an ugly act,” Muntadhar al-Zeidi, a correspondent for an Iraqi-owned television station based in Cairo, Egypt, said in a letter that he would like to be forgiven. He could spend two years in prison for insulting a foreign leader. He has been jailed ever since being wrestled to the floor by security guards last Sunday during a news conference featuring Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. A spokesman for Maliki, Yassin Majid, told The Associated Press that al-Zeidi went on in the letter to recall an interview he conducted with the prime minister in 2005, when al-Maliki invited him into his home, saying: “Come in, it is your home too. …So I ask for your pardon, Excellency.”White House press secretary Dana Perino said Thursday that “the president harbors no hard feelings about it, and the Iraqis have a process that they’ll follow… .But he did urge them not to overreact, because he was not bothered by the incident, although it’s not appropriate for people to throw shoes at a press conference, at any leader.” Many  Iraqis have hailed al-Zeidi as a hero for defying a president they blame for destroying their country.

Georgia congressman says Obama Wants a Nazi-like force. Georgia Congressman Paul Broun stood by his claim Wednesday that President-elect Barack Obama wants to set up a Gestapo-like civilian security force. His latest remark came a day after the Athens Republican told a radio talk show that he regretted calling Obama a “Marxist.” His spokeswoman said, “We have not issued any official apology” for comparing Obama’s proposals to the tactics of Hitler and the Soviet Union. What he said in the [radio] interview does not negate what he really feels – that he has questions and concerns regarding some of the statements Obama has made,” said the spokeswoman, Jessica Morris. Read the rest here.

During a Chicago news conference Friday, President-elect Barack Obama said he had spoken with allthe living presidents since his election last Tuesday. Then he added a joke about former First Lady Nancy Reagan that fell flat. “I didn’t want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about doing any seances” he said. Shortly after, Obama called the 87-year-old Mrs. Reagan, who is ill, to apologize for his statement. According to Obama spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter, the President-elect “expressed his admiration and affection for Mrs. Reagan that so many Americans share, and they had a warm conversation.” According former White House Chief of Staff Donald T. Regan, Mrs. Reagan did consult an astrologer to help set her husband’s schedule.

Recently reinstated NFL player Adam “Pacman” Jones has apologized to his Dallas teammates for a publicized squabble he had with a team-assigned bodyguard. Cops were called to a Dallas hotel last week where Jones reportedly had a confrontation with the security employee, but no one was arrested. Jones is in his first season as a Cowboy following a suspension from the league after he was cuffed several times in connection with criminal incidents. He reportedly told teammates at a recent practice that incidents like the hotel episode won’t happen again.

Episcopalians will apologize for their role in slavery. The Episcopal Church, which has been brazenly honest about its role in slavery in recent years, is stepping up efforts to show remorse for that horrifying period in U.S. history. On Oct. 3-4, the church will hold a “Day of Repentance” in Philadelphia to present a public apology for its complicity in the slave trade. “We hope to set a model for other denominations about how to face this dark, tragic part of our history, because we believe that only when you repent can you move on,” Jayne Oasin, program officer for the church’s Anti-Racism and Gender Equality program, told USA Today. Two years ago, the church, despite some opposition within the body, passed a resolution admitting the “deep and lasting injury which the institution of slavery and its aftermath have inflicted on society and on the church.” That was the same time that Michigan Democratic Congressman John Conyers announced a special commission to look into the potential for reparations. The slave trade was prohibited in the United States some 200 years ago, but the church, like many other of society’s institutions, has continued to reap the material benefits. As USA Today reports, “Many of its older churches were funded in part by profits from the slave trade, and the nation’s most famous Episcopalian, George Washington, was a slave-owner.” Says Oasin, “Since we were part of the problem, I feel we need to be a part of the solution.”

A Black man now heads Zale. Jewelry giant Zale Corp. has named an African American to head the firm, saying the promotion shows the company’s commitment to a diverse workforce. Named to the post was Theo Killion, 57, who used to be the executive vice president of human resources and legal and corporate strategy. “Theo is an outstanding manager with tremendous experience and leadership skills,” said CEO Neal Goldberg in a statement. While much of the business and economic world is staggering from a shaky economy, Zale has sparkled, raking in a whopping $2 billion in sales last year. Zale has more than 2,200 stores, and operates in retail locations throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Zale’s Jewelers, Zale’s Outlet and Gordon’s Jewelers are all Zale brands.

He says that it’s better to focus on education, health care and other programs.

Sen. Barack Obama has introduced another thought into the mix that certainly won’t endear him to the crowd of Black thinkers who say that the United States owes African Americans back pay for hundreds of years of forced labor. “I have said in the past – and I’ll repeat again – that the best reparations we can provide are good schools in the inner city and jobs for people who are unemployed,” the Illinois Democrat said recently. But, at a time when Obama needs as much support from the Black community as possible. Find out whatelse he said at BET.com/News.  Do you believe that Obama’s attempt to become the president of all Americans prevents him from standing up for such issues as affirmative action, reparations or a slavery apology?