How come Angelina Jolie can travel the world, picking up stray babies at every layover while Madonna, who has tried twice to give a seemingly needy Third World kid an obscene change of circumstance, can’t get a break?

People magazine is running an interview with the father of the most recent Malawian child (this time, a girl) to whom Madonna took a shine. Dad says he doesn’t want his daughter (who has lived in an orphanage all four years of her life) adopted, and the Malawian courts have put the cabosh on Madge’s Out of Africa ambitions until her appeal hearing.

Still, like an episode straight from Geraldo, the kid’s father appears out of nowhere, says he’s never met his daughter (paternity confirmation cloudy) and wants her raised in the Malawian culture. His argument, once thoroughly translated, will surely boil down to “B**** better have my money.”

Last night, TMC ran Bobby, the Emilio Estevez-directed feature about the assassination of Bobby Kennedy immediately after winning the ’68 California primary. During one scene, campaign coordinator Nick Cannon loses it and slams down the phone after a brief conversation. What pissed him off was the (true) fact that there was a police watch set up outside a polling place in Watts – a not-so-subtle deterrent to those fiercely Democratic, but marginal citizens who had a misdemeanor or two on their coattails.

Sounds exactly like the rumors I’ve heard this time around about the threatened arrests of voters behind on their child support; the voting rights of Michigan (a battleground state) property owners in foreclosure being challenged, and a multitude of right-leaning tricks the Bad Guys execute so well.

Showing again Sunday morning, Set your alarm clock or your Tivo, and remind yourself of who the Good Guys are.

 Behind The Bench, the charitable group of NBA wives, is behind the eight ball says a report by the New York Post. Seems one member of the group, Charrisse Jackson-Jordan, wife of Washington Wizards coach Eddie Jordan, has been stuck with a court-ordered payment of $215,000 to the MGM and Wynn hotels and a couple of events groups in Las Vegas. The payment stems from accounts not settled after last year’s NBA All-Star Weekend.

 
Clearly, this brother needs help.  

Rapper DMX was arrested….again. This time for trying to use a fake name and social security number to get out of paying a $7,500 medical bill from the Scottsdale Mayo Clinic.  

The guy born as Earl Simmons is officially papered: felony drug possession; animal cruelty and neglect; driving on a suspended license; attempted purchase of marijuana and cocaine; slander and defamation of his baby mama.   

“He just never learns his lesson,” Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio told TMZ.com   

Who knew Arpaio would have such close ties to the area’s ballers? Arpaio, a.k.a., “America’s Toughest Sheriff” is the same guy (more…)

Naomi Campbell has been bounced from the presenters line-up for the birthday benefit honoring Nelson Mandela and his “46664″ charity. Campbell, who is very active in the former president’s charity and calls him her “grandfather,” was D-listed following an incident at Heathrow Airport where she kicked and spit at police officers after one of her bags went missing.

The Times Online UK reported a source as saying it was “fair to say that Mandela was behind the decision.” Campbell, who has been counseled by Mandela before about her tantrums, pleaded guilty last Friday to assault and disorderly conduct. She has been ordered to carry out 200 hours of community service.

If anyone is in need of some grandfatherly advice, it’s this girl.

The June 27 concert will be hosted by Will Smith, and features Annie Lennox, Leona Lewis, Amy Winehouse, Queen and others.

C’mon, now! They’re just picking on him!

The notice Wesley Snipes just got in the mail was not from Publishers Clearinghouse. The federal government delivered the bad news that they expect Snipes to pay for all expenses related to his prosecution, a sum totaling nearly $300,000. The princely sum includes travel expenses for witnesses, many of whom were IRS agents; the preparation and duplication of documents used in the case (including the 260 boxes of documents seized from the boneheads who tried to punk the IRS on Snipes behalf) and daily trial transcripts.

Snipes was convicted on three misdemeanor counts of failing to file federal tax returns for 1999-2001. He remains free on bond while his sentence of 36 months in federal prison is on appeal.

  The jury in the R. Kelly trial acquitted the singer on all 17 counts of child molestation and pornography. Early reports indicate the defense raised reasonable doubt about the identity of both the man and woman in the videotape.   

Neither Kelly nor the girl in question took the witness stand (they both denied being the people in question), and there were early questions about the authenticity of the videotape, the existence of a mole on Kelly’s back and conflicting testimony from the girl’s family over a positive identification. Additionally, Lisa Van Allen, the prosecution’s star witness had credibility issues, being branded simultaneously as a liar, extortionist and, ah, extreme party girl.   

What’s surprising is that Kelly’s “it wasn’t me” defense stood up to cross-examination. What isn’t surprising is that the girl denied her identity. What girl in her right mind, whether she’s 13 or 23, would publicly admit to being involved in them kind of shenanigans. 

In the end, the jury took less than 24 hours to deliberate a case that has been six years in the making. Who knew it would all come down to a bootleg-quality tape. Look for a new installment of Kelly’s “Trapped In The Closet” hip-hopera. Suggested title: “R. Kelly And The Golden Ticket.”  

Check the complete courthouse wrap-up from Clarence Waldron.

R. Kelly’s defense team began its case by bringing on three relatives of the alleged victim in the sex tape. All three said the girl in the video is not their relative.

Shonna Edwards, 27, who once sang in the family group with the girl watched the sex tape for the first time last week in Kelly’s lawyers’ office. “No, it definitely wasn’t her’ in the tape, she told the jury. “Not even close.” Asked if the man in the tape is Kelly, she replied, ‘no, not to my knowledge.”

When a photo of the girl from the sex tape and another photo of a girl from a music video were placed side by side on the screen, Edwards said the sex tape photo was not her relative, but the girl in the other one was. She said the images on the screen were not the same person. During court recess, several people commented that the girl in both pictures looked identical, they were clearly the same person, they said.

Under cross-examination, Leroy Edwards, 46, another relative, admitted that there has been some dissension in the family since the sex tape surfaced. When asked if his family had been “split in half as a result of this incident,” he said “Yes.” He also admitted that some of the relatives agreed to cooperate with police and others refused.

To date, seven family members have testified. Four appeared on behalf of the prosecution. Three of those relatives, including singer Sparkle, were adamant that the girl on the sex tape was their relative and underage. A fourth relative was hesitant and said the girl “resembled” her, but he was “not 100 percent sure.”

Three family members, all defense witnesses, emphasized Wednesday that they did not recognize the girl and she was not their relative.

In another twist in the ongoing trial, Chicago Sun-Times pop music critic Jim
DeRogatis does not have to testify, according to the judge’s ruling.
Judge Vincent Gaughan ruled on Wednesday that DeRogatis doesn’t have to testify in the trial based on the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination.

DeRogatis refused to answer questions from the defense. After each question he read from an index card: “I respectfully decline to answer that question on the advice of counsel on the grounds that to do so would contravene the reporter privilege, the special witness doctrine and my rights under the Illinois Constitution as well as the First and Fifth Amendments of the United States Constitution.”

DeRogatis, who has said publicly that the tape was sent to him anonymously, was the first one to receive the sex tape which he turned it over to police. He has said the tape was anonymously sent to him at his office.

-Reported by Clarence Waldron

 What’s Your Number?   The state’s star witness did not testify Thursday as was expected. She’s the one who reportedly has said she had a threesome with Kelly and the young girl and could clearly identify her and her age.   

The disruption was caused by a ’surprise’ witness the defense sprung on the court Wednesday afternoon. The unexpected revelation led to an early dismissal and anticipation all around for the mystery evidence. Sadly, we got punked.    

The ’surprise’ witness, who reportedly had some information about the state’s star witness’ credibility, did arrive at the courthouse, but he did not appear in court. He gave a statement to the defense that was emailed to the state attorneys early Thursday morning before court. No word on what he said in the statement, or whether or not it was written in disappearing ink.

Said witness, a Black man who appeared to be in his late 20s or early 30s, initially refused to give the state prosecutor’s his Social Security number. “If he does not give you the Social Security number, he’s in major trouble, ” Judge Vincent Gaughan said.    

Mystery guest gave up the digits.

   No Coaching The Witnesses   

The court room was packed this morning with 42 spectactors (the maximum allowed in the courtroom) and more than 25 reporters. Two basketball coaches testified that they could easily identify the girl in the sex tape with R Kelly.
Joel Rhea, a girls’ basketball coach told the jury that he recognized the girl’s “facial features, forehead and smile” and said she had to be 14 or 15 years old. He based that on “just knowing her at that time frame.”    Rhea remembered her friends  “joking around that she had a big forehead.” Everybody gave her a hard time about it.” He saw the victim at social family events hosted by the girls on his team. 
Rhea testified he saw the 27-minute sex tape this morning for the first time when the state prosecutors showed it to him.
The second witness, Jacque Conway coached the alleged victim when she was a sophomore in high school, and is now a senior pastor at a United Methodist Church. Conway told the jury he recognized her facial features, height and the cross she was wearing on her neck in the video.     – Reported by Clarence Waldron

The newest revolting developments in the R. Kelly case come as no surprise. The only surprise here is how this joker is still walking the streets, let alone traveling internationally,  accepting awards, and recording new music.So now we have a videotape AND an eye-witness. “Who you gonna believe? Me or your lyin’ eyes?”Who said that?