The world says goodbye to the King of Pop

On a blog about the arts, I would be remiss not to mention anything about the passing of the unquestionable "King of Pop." Michael Jackson died today after going into cardiac arrest. He was 50 years old.

I must say that the world will never be the same. More importantly, the music world will never be the same. There's so much pain as I type these words because we didn't just lose a pop icon. We lost Michael. True fans know what I mean by that statement.

I've always been told to see a bright side to any bad situation. And it's been hard with this untimely death, but I think I've found one. Even though the world will forever mourn this death, I am glad that he has once again become to fans what scandals tried to deprive him of being: a king.

Since his death earlier today, there have been no jokes about him sleeping with underage boys or bleaching his skin; there have only been stories about his countless Billboard hits and the music that he influenced.

It's sad to know that roughly around the time that he was making "We are the World" at the ripe age of 25, he was middle-aged. From "Thriller" to "Billy Jean" to "Butterflies," his music was unparalleled.

I know that in life everyone must face this monster we call death, but this just doesn't feel right. And as the world tries to get over this shock, we will never forget the man who started the break dancing while singing, grabbing the crotch while performing, and who made jheri curls actually look somewhat cool.

We'll miss you Michael.

Terminate Oklahoma state troopers who attacked paramedic

The Oklahoma State Patrol officers who attacked the paramedic en route to the hospital should be fired.

I am so sick of all of this police brutality and people coming up with ways to justify it. When I saw the video, I couldn't believe my eyes. This wasn't your average "street thug,"which is the excuse that most cops use for stopping and/or roughing up black people. This was a paramedic answering his call of duty and taking a woman with severe chest pains to the hospital.

If these men are allowed to keep their job, I will lose all respect for officers of the law.

This is not the early 1900's where cops can abuse and kill African Americans with no respect for the law or human decency. Their termination should be used to send a message to cops nationwide: it's a new day in America and we WILL NOT accept you all abusing your power!

Click on the link to check out the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KluItc365hU

Letterman should NOT be fired!!!

Letterman’s show has been on for years and his script has not changed: he makes off-color jokes about anyone who passes under his radar.

Most people who aren’t living under a rock know this.

With this being said, why are people calling for him to be fired? I’ll tell you why: because they are bitter about McCain/ Palin losing the 2008 election and Letterman is an Obama supporter. People are tiptoeing around the subject, but that is the truth behind all of this.

I’ve read that he shouldn’t have targeted a political figure’s child, but if my memory serves me correctly, Clinton and Bush’s daughters were all targeted. People, including politicians and other talk show hosts, used to call Chelsea Clinton ugly and called the two Bush daughters drunks.

He made the joke about Palin’s daughter Bristol (who I assume he was talking about and who is 17 or either 18 years old) because she conceived a child before marriage and to poke fun at the Republicans who stress strong family values in their platforms but don’t practice it. It’s a fact that Palin’s family created a hypocritical situation with the unplanned pregnancy.

My mother was watching Fox News at her job (Trust me, it was not her choice; her employer had it on) and she told me about someone on there saying that Malia and Sasha Obama should be “fair game” because Palin’s daughter was targeted. Those are innocent young girls and how dare someone feel that way. Attacking young children is unethical, period.

All in all, they should keep Letterman and not even consider letting him go. He is a staple in late night television and we won’t have anyone like him to come for a long time. This is not like a Don Imus situation where he called someone a “nappy headed hoe.” It was a joke which was in bad taste and which he apologized for.

Was it off-color? Yes. Should he be fired for doing what he was hired to do? No way.