I just want to take the time to apologize to those who have grown accustomed to coming here for the issues talk. It was here that TBT: The Magazine grew from a newsletter into a hip hop blog and into a full-fledged magazine. Everything happens for a reason, and TBT: The Magazine moving is the best thing for us, business-wise at the moment.

Do not think for one second that TBT: The Magazine or TBT Entertainment Group has anything against WordPress.com. This is a great service, but they just do not have what we need right now. Maybe, in time, they will and the opportunity may present itself for us to move back over. But, right now, it is just best for TBT: The Magazine to move on.

Visit the new TBT: The Magazine here.

Last month, Johnson made a public announcement aimed at Jordan. He said that the team would be sold before the end of February 2010. With Jordan already being a part-owner of the team, he had a lot to lose if someone else bought the team. Right then, he assembled an ownership group and the announcement was made official over the weekend.

After nine months of speculation, it was official and Michael Jordan was the official owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. This comes after an unsuccessful stint with the Washington Wizards. His time as an executive was viewed as a major failure until this season with the Bobcats. The team is currently competing for a playoff spot and they are likely to become contenders within the next few years.

However, in the end, it was simply not meant to be. A few days ago, Magic was posed with the question of purchasing the company. While he had shown a lot of interest in purchasing Johnson Publishing, in the end, he just was not willing to do so. Despite it having such a long history and sharing his name, the numbers just did not add up. Years of losing have finally caught up with the company who is looking to sell their majority ownership in the company.

Six months ago, it looked as if Johnson Publishing would be shut down, but they held on to close out 2009. Had Magic Johnson taken them over, he may have had some ideas on turning things around. But, at this point, Johnson is only interested in purchasing something that would essentially run itself without him having to put so much into it. Johnson does, however, own stakes in many other businesses and his net worth is well over $300 million and he plans to keep it that way.

Johnson Publishing will now revert back to the original plan of marketing itself to a media conglomerate, such as Viacom, Inc. or Time Warner.

Throughout the history of New York, there has never been a governor that has been hated like Governor Paterson. He was praised when he entered office, mainly because he was the first black governor and the first blind governor in the state. He took over the office when Eliot Spitzer was caught up in controversy in 2008. As previously mentioned, Paterson has had record low approval ratings in his two years as governor.

Last fall, David Paterson was urged by the White House to back out of the race, but he refused. However, as more and more Democrats have turned against him, Paterson has decided to listen to reason. He will not be running for election in November, but he will finish the remaining eleven months in office.

Not only is the state and national Democratic Party against him, but Paterson is wrapped up in a trial. He has been accused by a woman from the area for domestic abuse. With all of this on his shoulders, David Paterson has decided to cut his losses and leave with grace. Some of his rivals suggest that the charges may force him to resign from office, as opposed to waiting until his term expires next year.

Despite the league stepping up and competing for players, they still held no torch to the ABA, which allowed players to enter the league straight out of high school. When the ABA merged into the NBA, in 1976, the NBA began to allow high school graduates into the NBA. Even with the change in rules, there was only one player between 1976 and 1995 to do so. Kevin Garnett would break this tradition of going to college when he joined the league straight from high school.

Garnett would go on to have a successful rookie season. After watching the success of Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant followed his trend and he joined the league following his senior year of high school. When Kobe rose to become one of the biggest stars in the NBA, the floodgates opened and it became almost a tradition for players to enter the league out of high school. Some saw this as a good thing, but the NBA became known as the league of thugs by the year 2000.

There were times between 2000 and 2002 when the NBA considered raising the age to enter the league. But, the draft class of 2003 was headlined by high school phenom, LeBron James. He picked up where Kobe Bryant left off and became the face of the league before he had even led his team to the playoffs. Even with the success of LeBron James, or in spite of his success, the owners of NBA teams voted to force players into waiting one year before entering the NBA.

The only players to ever come from high school and straight into the NBA are black players and they usually end up becoming successful. By the year 2005, LeBron James could have retired and lived off of the money he made through basketball without ever holding another job. The same remains true for Kobe Bryant, who could have retired before he even turned 20 years old. High school phenoms were entering the NBA and becoming millionaires before they were even 20. The NBA is full of young, black, millionaires and there are some people that hate this.

That is the reason that ESPN places a larger emphasis on March Madness than the NBA Playoffs. After all, which one is most important, the amateurs playing for an amateur championship, or professional basketball players playing for a professional basketball world championship? But, because of the fact that the league is full of black players and college gives many white players a chance to shine, it receives more attention. Now that players that would have gone straight to the NBA are beginning to take that shine away from white players, they are trying to reverse the rule that a NBA player has to be at least 19 to play in the league.

In many ways, Tavis Smiley is worse that the Republicans who try to give the president a hard time. Perhaps he fails to realize that Barack Obama is the President of the United States. It is not the job of Obama to solely help out the black community. Smiley loves to talk about the black community moving on. If he truly means this, he would step aside. Now that there is a black president, technically, there is no need for him anymore.

Frequently, Tavis Smiley criticizes President Obama for not doing enough for the black community. If he were to do his research on the president, he would realize that Obama ran as a candidate for the lower middle class. Who, if not the black community, is the lower middle class? Throughout this Health Care Reform battle, Mr. Smiley has kept his mouth shut, but he cares so much about black America. The bill would directly benefit black America.

The emergence of Barack Obama, who is actually part Kenyan and part white, as another black person that is more important than him is eating him up. Now that it has been a year of the Obama administration, Tavis Smiley says that it is time for him to take responsibility. It is quite odd how there were 43 presidents before Barack Obama that were never held accountable. A lot of the blame falls to George W. Bush for all of this mess, but it was created long before him.

It just so happened that Bush was the president that messed with everything. With the American system held together by spit, anyways, his poking led to everything falling apart. There would have been another good ten years had he left things alone, but he did not. People praise the likes of Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, but they did little to fix the situation. A strong possibility existed that the bottom could have fallen out on Reagan, Bush I, or Clinton.

Out of all of the presidents to stroll through Washington, D.C., Tavis Smiley chooses to hold the black one accountable for a mess that has been building for centuries. The sad part about it is that he is the only president to man up and try to fix all of the problems facing America in only a single, four year term. Bill Clinton had things rolling during his eight years in office, but he only tried once to change anything. He was blocked and he only improved things for the short term.

With his attitude, Tavis Smiley might as well endorse Sarah Palin when she runs for president in 2012.

Former president, George W. Bush, spoke out on behalf of the people who lost their homes due to the hurricane. Sadly enough, that is all that President Bush did. Following his speech, he went on about his business. Instead of doing something to help the people build their homes back, he allowed other people to come in and take their property. Meanwhile, the wealthy people of the city were able to have their homes rebuilt.

Even five years later, a lot of New Orleans still is not built back to where it once was. The only bright spot in New Orleans for its black community is the New Orleans Saints. Earlier this month, they made it to the Super Bowl for the first time and they defeated the heavily-favored Indianapolis Colts. The fact that their hero, Reggie Bush, pulled through and finally played a full season for the team really helped to boost the pride of the city.

However, a month before the Super Bowl victory that put a smile on the city’s face, they received a slap. Tiny island nation, Haiti, was hit by an earthquake that tore the nation to shreds. Because of Haiti’s close proximity to Florida, a lot of the American people stepped in. On top of all of that, the federal government stepped in. After the poor response to New Orleans, President Obama felt pressured to help the nation out.

There were a lot of celebrities that came out in support of New Orleans, but not in a way that they have for Haiti. Now, Haiti deserved all of the aid that it received, but New Orleans deserved a lot more than it received. Of course, it was another president in office at the time, but most of the same citizens remain. They sat on their hands with New Orleans, an American city, and then bent over backwards for Haiti.

Because America is the richest nation in the world, Americans feel the need to step up and help others out. There is nothing wrong with that, but why go help someone clean their backyard when the front yard of America is still in a mess?

While Allen Iverson loves basketball, he loves his family more. Last night, in a game against the Bulls, he placed his career on hiatus to tend to his sick daughter. There has not been any information given about his daughter’s problems, but she is only four years old and Allen Iverson needs to be with his daughter.

Eddie Jordan, the head coach of the Sixers, said that there is a strong possibility that Allen Iverson will not return to the team. Iverson began his career in Philadelphia with the Sixers and he played most of his career here, except for three seasons. He retired, but came out after it was revealed that he would be signed by the Sixers. So far, he has enjoyed playing with the team, but he may be done.

Like many politicians across the nation, Kwame Kilpatrick took bribes. The only difference between Kilpatrick and the other politicians is that he was caught. He would take cash bribes from business owners across the city in exchange for political support on key issues. In 2002, it was said that he made $100,000 off of bribes.

Not only did his receivement of bribes lead to him losing his job as mayor, but now he may be brought up on felony charges by the FBI. There is just too much information on Kilpatrick and his wrongdoings. Most politicians that get caught are left alone after they are forced out of their seat. Kwame Kilpatrick will become one of the few to actually be brought up on charges.

It is not official, but it is possible that there may be a FBI investigation on the way for the former mayor.

Most of the people that represent Illinois in the Congress are black. When Barack Obama stepped down from the Senate to assume office as President of the United States, Roland Burris, a black man, was appointed as his replacement. Now that he has announced that he will not run for a second term, Cheryle Jackson, a black woman, has announced her own bid for the seat.

With all of that information about Illinois and black politicians, the title of this article seems preposterous, but it is true. Even though all of these black people are holding office in Illinois, there are more that want to run, including Art Turner (pictured above). He has represented the Ninth Congressional District of Illinois since 1981. By far, Congressman Turner is one of the longest-tenured politicians in the state and the nation. Now, he wants to bid for lieutenant governor, but the Democratic Party is against him.

It is said that the Illinois State Democratic Party feels that there are too many black politicians that will be running in the 2010 election. Because of this, they are prepared to block a run by Art Turner for the role of lieutenant governor. Despite everyone against him running, Turner is very popular and is confident that he will win, even without the support of the state party. With everything going on and the advancements made by black people, why would a state, especially Illinois, try to reverse the race card.