News: Dirty Laundry, NAACP, Julian Bond, Hillary Clinton, Janet Jackson

· The NAACP nominates Maurice Jamal's Dirty Laundry for Best Independent Film in the upcoming 39th NAACP Image Awards. This marks the first time the veteran civil rights organization honors a film with a black gay character as its protagonist.

Executive producer Nathan H. Williams says the "nomination is a validation of all of the blood, sweat and tears my colleagues and I put into making this wonderful film a reality." Director Maurice Jamal adds "the NAACP recognizing this film makes a powerful statement: black audiences want films that are intelligent, honest and bold." Dirty Laundry recently opened in New York City and will expand to other markets. Our recent review and interview (PDF) with Jamal in The Advocate.

· Julian Bond, the civil rights icon and chairman of the NAACP, joins the fight against Florida's proposed marriage amendment. Bond is a longtime supporter of marriage equality and said Martin Luther King Jr. "would favor" gay rights.

· Salt Lake City: New mayor proposes Utah's first domestic partners registry. Maryland: Gay rights activists and opponents "clashed over a new regulation in Maryland that defines domestic partnerships in state law." New Jersey: State legislature expands hate crimes law to include "gender identity or expression."

· Janet Jackson covers the new Billboard. Video and review of "Feedback" by Darian Aaron, who says the track is a departure from Janet's previous work and "the more I watch it, the more I fall in love with it."

· Recession looms. The Dow drops 250 points, gold hits a record $900 an ounce and Moody's "warned that the U.S. is in danger of losing its stellar 'AAA' credit rating within the decade." Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke says the central bank may be "ready to make 'substantive' interest rate cuts to avoid recession."

· Hillary Clinton upstages Republican candidates to propose $70 billion in emergency spending to help victims of the housing and credit crises. "Economists and politicians are finally waking up to what many of America's families already know. We might be sliding into a recession. We need an immediate strategy to get our economy back on track."

Comments

[tyler gray]

I mentioned this the other day so excuse me for saying it again and again. Your news "wraps" or great!

I recently discovered this blog and enjoy the content. It's great to read about everything from black gay film to politics to the economy in one sitting. Keep it up, my brotha!

[Luther]

$900 for gold, and $100 for oil, a housing slump that gets worse by the day, food prices rising along with utilities, and, a dollar that is as low as it has been in years, and a lame duck President who does not seem to know or care. I think that its the economy and not Iraq or anything else that is going to decide the election more than anything else.

[Darren]

I'm so glad Ms.Jackson is BACK!"Feedback" is of course the most play on my iTunes top 25 most played.Video I love of course.Can't wait til "Discipline" is released.

[Derrick from PHilly]

Great news about the NAACP and "Dirty Laundry". Really great news for an bitter doubter like me to see progress in black gay/black straight relations.

[Me]

Janet is doing it. Get it girl.