Rihanna (left) after being attacked by Brown (right)

Many were outraged at this year’s Grammy Awards, as Brown, a convicted felon serving five years of probation for his attacks on Rihanna, was not only asked to perform twice, but was even awarded the prestige of Best R&B Album. In her widely shared piece “I’m Not OK With Chris Brown Performing at the Grammys, and I’m Not Sure Why You Are,” writer Sasha Pasulka makes a moving argument against the music industry’s endorsement of such an individual:

I’m frustrated that the mainstream media is covering this story like it’s any comeback story, like an exiled prince’s return to a former glory, like this is another political timeline—as though some rich and powerful old white men in the music business have not just issued an enormous ‘f**k you’ to every woman who has been, is or will be on the receiving end of domestic violence.

We should be furious.

Why aren’t we?

The message we sent to young women was unmistakable: You are powerless. You are worthless. You will be a victim, and that will be okay with us.

Many celebrities were taken aback by the decision as well. “Are Chris Brown’s mom and dad CBS and Grammy Brown?” asked actor Eric Stonestreet of “Modern Family.” Singer Michelle Branch tweeted, “Trying not to go off on a rant but…Chris Brown…(bites tongue) have we forgiven him?” “The View” co-host Sherri Shepherd was at a loss for words, writing, “Looks like all is forgiven [with] Chris Brown. That’s all I’ll say.”

Perhaps most surprising now, however, is not the music industry’s forgiveness of Brown, but that of his victim, Rihanna. Not only have the two been conversing via Twitter, with Rihanna thanking Brown for his birthday wishes to her on Monday, but the two have now released not one but two songs together.

Rather than using her platform as an accomplished woman of color in the music industry to take a stand against domestic violence on the Hollywood level, Rihanna’s latest move seems to be, in the words of Pasulka, issuing an “enormous ‘f**k you’ to every woman who has been, is or will be on the receiving end of domestic violence,” just as the “rich and powerful old white men in the music business.”

As a result of the 2009 domestic violence incident, Brown was ordered to stay 50 yards away from Rihanna. Last year, however, a judge eased the restraining order, reducing it to 10 yards if they were both at a music industry event. Rihanna has recently said that she is no longer angry at Brown and is still a fan of his music.

Reps for Rihanna and Brown have not yet commented on the collaborations.

Ugh.

Colbert has taken a hiatus from his show to be with his ill mother

Today, however, the New York Post finally offered some insight on the subject. Citing sources close to the show, the newspaper said host Stephen Colbert needed to take time off to be with his mother, Lorna Colbert, with whom he is extremely close.

Stephen is one of 11 children who make up a very tight-knit family. In 1974, the Colberts lost their father, James, and two brothers, Peter and Paul, in a plane crash. The Post quotes a source as saying, “They are a very private family. It’s not surprising that he did not want anyone to know what was going on.”

The Colbert Report will remain on hiatus indefinitely. There are rumors that Stephen’s 91-year-old mother is very near her deathbed, but little concrete information has been made available. After the death of their father, Lorna Colbert raised all eleven children on her own.

Best wishes to the Colbert family in this very difficult time.

The Heart Attack Grill, a Las Vegas restaurant featured on shows such as the Travel Channel’s “Extreme Pig Outs,” prides itself on serving food “so bad for you it’s shocking.” Quite ironically, the hospital-themed establishment features “nurses” (waitresses) who take “prescriptions” (orders) from the “patients” (customers).

A publicity photo for the Heart Attack Grill featuring their Quadruple Bypass Burger

The “nurses,” however, proved to be ill-equipped for the incident that unfolded at the restaurant yesterday. Many customers were convinced the entire thing was a publicity stunt—it almost seems to good (or bad) to be true. Waitress Tracy Chamberlin, who called 911, recalls, “People were taking pictures. I had people ask me, ‘Is this a stunt? Do you do this on a regular basis? [I said,] ‘No, it’s not a stunt, this is for real, this man is sick.’”

The entire incident was caught on cell phone video , which shows the man being wheeled out of the restaurant on a stretcher by paramedics. Paramedics said the man would probably be just fine, but would not release his name or medical condition for privacy reasons.

Hudson and Houston at the 51st Grammy Awards in 2009

Saturday evening, the social media landscape was on fire with the breaking news of Houston’s death. Before most major news outlets had reported the story, Facebook and Twitter were ablaze with “R.I.P. Whitney Houston” messages. For the remainder of the evening, the cause of death eluded the public, though most were quick to assume a drug overdose due to the singer’s troubled past. By Sunday, reports had surfaced that Houston had ingested a mixture of the anti-anxiety medication Xanax with alcoholic cocktails, causing her to fall asleep in the bathtub and ultimately drown.

Today, however, a recent statement from law enforcement has been released suggesting that Houston died before she was even underwater. “It looks like it was a lethal combination of prescription drugs and alcohol, but it’s still too early to rule out other causes. That’s just what it’s looking like now,” an official told Fox News. According to the superstar’s relatives, Houston did not have enough water in her lungs to have drowned.

The singer’s death comes after a full week of widespread boozing and partying, according to reports. The unexpected tragedy has hit the singer’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, especially hard. In the two days following her mother’s death, the 18-year-old had to be rushed to the hospital two separate times, the final time in a straightjacket.

While the public will have to wait up to eight weeks for the official autopsy report, it is not the cause of Houston’s death that is garnering attention. Rather, the music world at large seems to be struggling just to cope with the loss of a woman of such sheer talent. At last night’s Grammy Awards, host LL Cool J opened up the show with a heartfelt prayer that left many in the audience in tears: “There is no way around this. We’ve had a death in our family, and so at least for me, the only thing that feels right is to begin with a prayer for a woman we love, for our fallen sister, Whitney Houston.”

Jennifer Hudson then delivered an emotional tribute to the late star. Taking the stage with nothing but a mic and a spotlight, Hudson offered a moving performance of Houston’s biggest hit, “I Will Always Love You.” On the red carpet, LL Cool J remarked that Grammy producers chose Hudson because of her potential to fill the star’s monumental shoes: “She’s the closest thing we have now to what Whitney was.”

California residents celebrate the Prop 8 ruling outside of City Hall yesterday

In a momentous 2-1 decision, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declared Proposition 8, the California amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman, to be unconstitutional, serving no purpose other than to “lessen the status and human dignity” of the LGBTQ community.

Proposition 8, or the “Marriage Protection Act,” was passed by California state voters in November of 2008, adding a new provision to the California Constitution which upholds that “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” Both proponents and opponents of Prop 8 worked tirelessly for the months leading up to Election Day to get their messages to voters, and actually managed to set a record with the contributions they received. Contributions totaled over $83 million, $39.9 million for those in favor, $43.3 million for those against, and came from over 64,000 people in all fifty states and more than twenty foreign countries, setting a new national record for a social policy initiative and trumping every other race in the country in spending except the presidential contest. In the end, however, Prop 8 was passed.

Yesterday, though, the amendment was declared unconstitutional, pushing the issue of same-sex marriage one step closer to the Supreme Court. Here, I have provided some of the most riveting quotes from the hearing, an event that will undoubtedly end up being one of the most important in the country’s fight for equal rights:

Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples.

We emphasize the extraordinary significance of the official designation of ‘marriage.’ That designation is important because ‘marriage’ is the name that society gives to the relationship that matters most between two adults. A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but to the couple desiring to enter into a committed lifelong relationship, a marriage by the name of ‘registered domestic partnership’ does not.

Proposition 8 restored the traditional definition of marriage as referring to a union between a man and a woman.  But tradition alone is not a justification for taking away a right that had already been granted, even though that grant was in derogation of tradition.

Had Marilyn Monroe’s film been called ‘How to Register a Domestic Partnership with a Millionaire,’ it would not have conveyed the same meaning as did her famous movie, even though the underlying drama for same-sex couples is no different.

Groucho Marx’s one-liner, ‘Marriage is a wonderful institution … but who wants to live in an institution?’ would lack its punch if the word ‘marriage’ were replaced with the alternative phrase. So too with Shakespeare’s ‘A young man married is a man that’s marr’d.’ Lincoln’s ‘Marriage is neither heaven nor hell, it is simply purgatory,’ and Sinatra’s ‘A man doesn’t know what happiness is until he’s married. By then it’s too late.’

We are excited to see someone ask, ‘Will you marry me?’, whether on bended knee in a restaurant or in text splashed across a stadium Jumbotron. Certainly it would not have the same effect to see, ‘Will you enter into a registered domestic partnership with me?’

For now, it suffices to conclude that the People of California may not, consistent with the Federal Constitution, add to their state constitution a provision that has no more practical effect that to strip gays and lesbians of their right to use the official designation that the State and society give to committed relationships, thereby adversely affecting the status and dignity of the members of a disfavored class.  The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.

Bradshaw takes a seat to score the gamewinning touchdown

I, however, haven’t watched the Super Bowl in years, ever since my dad used to drag me to parties as a child. Once I hit high school, however, my Sundays were dedicated to homework and/or work, and football was the last of my priorities. Yesterday was no different, although I happened to catch two of the most talked-about points of the evening. While mooching some food off of my dad at his Super Bowl party, I was drawn to Miss Kelly Clarkson, winner of the very first season of American Idol, who had the prestigious honor of performing the National Anthem. Miss Clarkson looked absolutely stunning, keeping it classy (rather than trashy) in the typical Clarkson fashion, and delivering a flawless and moving vocal performance of the Star Spangled Banner.

After the National Anthem, I did not tune back in until the last four minutes of the game. Apparently, this just so happened to be the most nail-biting part of the event. Brady and the Patriots were leading Manning and the Giants 17-15, with the Giants in possession of the ball. Manning delivered a 38-yard pass to Mario Manningham, who made an incredible catch that was challenged by the Patriots but ultimately upheld as completion. Manning drove the Giants to the six, where, with 57 seconds left in the game, the Patriots gave Ahmad Bradshaw a totally free run into the end zone. With his path wide open, Bradshaw ran to the goal line, put on the brakes, turned around and appeared to take a casual seat in the end zone. The Giants were then up 21-17. Brady and the Patriots seized the 57 seconds they had to become world champions, but ultimately faltered. Perhaps collapsing under the pressure, they blew two crucial scoring chances with incomplete passes, including an incomprehensible drop by Aaron Hernandez. Ultimately, it was the Giants who became the champions of Super Bowl XLVI.

Garnering as much attention this morning as the Giants is pop superstar Madonna, who performed at the halftime show. While I did not see her performance, it is receiving mixed reviews throughout the media. Young Money rapper Nicki Minaj and British rapper M.I.A. performed with Madonna, and the latter is garnering attention of her own. The infamous female rapper from Sri Lanka reportedly flipped cameras and crowds, reminiscent of Janet Jackson’s 2004 scandalous wardrobe malfunction.

With all the hoopla surrounding the Super Bowl, the excitement will surely never disappoint in one way or another. Whether it comes in the form of an upset, a slipped nipple or a flipped bird, there’s always entertainment for everyone.

White seizes the Winter X gold late last night

Now only 25 years old, White continues to impress with his unprecedented snowboarding talent, stunning audiences this past weekend with a perfect performance at the Winter X Games. On Friday, White suffered an ankle sprain, missing Saturday’s pipe practice and leaving many to wonder if he would even be able to compete in his signature event, Sunday’s superpipe final. He has won the Winter X gold medal for this event the past four years in a row, the first athlete ever to have done so.

Despite these worries, however, White came through to deliver a performance yesterday that was extraordinary even for him. Setting records for amplitude and exhibiting technical difficulty never before seen, he delivered the first truly perfect performance in Winter X Games history, with an 18-foot backside air, a 17-foot frontside double cork 1080, an 11-foot switch frontside double cork 1080, a 14-foot frontside cork 540, a 13-foot backside double cork 1260 and a 12-foot frontside double cork 1260—the first back-to-back double cork ever performed at the Winter X Games.

The resulting judge’s score of a perfect 100 is unprecedented in Winter X Games history, and earned White his fifth Winter X gold medal in a row. Audiences could not believe their eyes, and White, while not entirely speechless, was certainly (and rightfully) proud:

“It was bizarre—and my coach Bud Keene was saying ‘They’re going to give you a 100 if you make it,’” said White. “I’m thinking he was very excited. But I don’t know, I just came through it and everything felt perfect. I was landing the 10 at the top and the cab double came through perfect. I don’t know if I have ever landed my double Mc12 as clean as I have tonight, so that just set myself up perfect for the frontside double cork 12. I guess [I’m] the first ever to do back-to-back double cork 12s. What a night.”

Children enjoying lunch at ADAPT4Autism's summer camp

A local nonprofit organization in Southern Illinois, ADAPT4Autism, has dedicated its efforts to making life both easier and more enjoyable for autistic children and their families. Since 2010, they have provided educational programs and pro-social therapy for autistic children, including summer and winter camps, private in-home therapy and social skills training. Their camps and programs give autistic children a chance to participate in outdoor activities and social outings, things that would normally be next to impossible given their condition. Perhaps more importantly than providing opportunities for fun, however, the program also teaches autistic children skills to make day-to-day life easier to navigate. “Now that school has started,” one parent said after the camp, “Travis is adjusting better than ever to his new classroom and new teachers. I’ll ask him each day, ‘How was school?’ He will always respond now to my questions.”

Perhaps one of the most significant nonprofits in Southern Illinois today, ADAPT4Autism is changing the lives of countless children struggling with this disorder. They operate almost entirely on donations and the generosity of founders Christina Gibson-Cipfl and Alice Howe, who often hold many of the children’s activities at their own homes. On April 14 of this year, ADAPT4Autism will hold a 5K fundraiser at McKendree University in Lebanon, Illinois in order to raise money for their upcoming summer camps. If you want to participate in this event or donate to ADAPT in other ways, visit their website. If you have a child with autism, their site also has information about their programs, personal testimonials, general knowledge on autism, and even more.

To make a difference in your community this year, donate to ADAPT4Autism or other autism organizations in your own area. Often founded by parents of autistic children, these groups are committed to making life easier for people suffering from this illusive disorder. Learn more about autism today, and change a child’s life forever.

Joe Paterno (right) with assistant coach Jerry Sandusky in 1999

While I try to lead a relatively peaceful life mandating forgiveness, understanding and respect for human life, the world’s response to the death of Joe Paterno leaves me feeling betrayed, uneasy and, ultimately, very angry. As far as my personal life goes, my Facebook news feed was bombarded yesterday with “R.I.P. JoePa” statuses, thanking him for all he did for Penn State and for the sport of football at large. More importantly, every news article I read seems to idolize Paterno, focusing on his coaching accomplishments and only mentioning the scandal as if it was an unfortunate incident for which we should feel sorry for him. Most disturbing, perhaps, are the repeated claims that losing his position at Penn State perhaps hastened his death.

Really, people? I understand that when a person dies, it is reverentially customary to focus on their accomplishments rather than their downfalls, but this is truly an exceptional case. Whatever Joe Paterno “did for football” (And what does that even mean, anyway?), he still allowed numerous boys to be sexually assaulted at the hands of an adult male. I mean no disrespect, but let us be realistic here: If Michael Devlin, the man who was found responsible for kidnapping Shawn Hornbeck, hiding him in his home and physically, psychologically and sexually abusing him for five years, suddenly passed away, would we mourn the loss by remembering all he “did for” the Imos pizza joint in Kirkwood? I would hope that we most certainly would not.

I remember the day Joe Paterno was fired, and I remember seeing footage on the national news of people holding a vigil outside his residence, crying and hugging one another, leaving candles and flowers. Disturbingly, it seems as though people like to believe that his accomplishments as a football coach warrant exemption from any guilt. Many cling to the idea that he was simply an innocent bystander, and should not be held responsible for Sandusky’s actions. But when did a coaching longevity record become more important to us than the health and well-being of our children?

Here’s a wake-up call, people: Joe Paterno knew Jerry Sandusky was sexually abusing boys, and he did nothing to stop it. That makes him just as responsible as Sandusky himself. And we want to remember him for his coaching record? Please. Acknowledge his accomplishments, but don’t try and downplay the fact that he played a major role in irreparably destroying the lives of numerous children.

Protesters hold signs quoting President Obama at a rally against the Keystone pipeline in Washington

Regardless, there are several very momentous things Obama has done for the United States of America, both in policy changes and by simply being a primary figurehead that isn’t a blubbering idiot, which critics from either side cannot ignore. He has (somewhat) effectively ended the Iraq War and extended health care to millions by signing the Health Care Reform bill. He has improved the quality of life of marginalized groups by repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, increasing funding for the Violence Against Women Act, expanding U.S. hate crime laws to include sexual orientation and appointing more openly gay officials than any president in the country’s history.

Yesterday, Obama made yet another historic decision when he rejected a permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline. The proposed 1,700-mile pipeline would transport oil from Alberta, Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast, threatening to pollute water supplies, kill wildlife and, in the event of a rupture, completely devastate the country’s health and economy. Proponents for Keystone maintain that the project would create 20,000 jobs in the U.S., proposing a potentially devastatingly permanent solution for a temporary problem. However, the vice president of Transcanada, the company responsible for the pipeline, told CNN last fall that these jobs would be temporary and that the project would most likely only yield “hundreds” of permanent positions.

While Obama’s ruling is not the end all and be all of the Keystone XL, it is a stern response to a haphazard deadline imposed by hasty Republicans. In 2010, the U.S. Department of State extended the deadline for a Keystone decision, leaving time for federal agencies to determine if the pipeline would be in the country’s best interest. In November 2011, Obama extended this deadline to 2013. However, by November 30, Senate Republicans had introduced legislation intended to force Obama to approve Keystone within 60 days. In an official statement, President Obama said that his decision to block construction on the pipeline comes from “the rushed and arbitrary deadline insisted on by Congressional Republicans” because it “prevented a full assessment of the pipeline’s impact, especially the health and safety of the American people, as well as our environment.”

Still wondering what the f*** else Obama has done for us so far? Find out here.