Today’s video of the day comes from Diddy’s latest online contest for a personal assistant. Contestants are supposed to submit a 3 minute YouTube video explaining why they’re the best person to be Sean Combs’ lacky. Word on the street is that this guy is the “winner”! This thing is so corny that it’s funny!
(Big shout to Illseed over at AllHipHop.com for the video)

Last week, I had the pleasure of catching up with the brilliant and beautiful Lauren Francis-Sharma. In addition to being an Ivy League trained corporate attorney, she is the Founder and President of USquared Consultants, the nation’s premiere personal consulting firm for men and women of color. Through her company’s highly effective matchmaking service, Lauren is helping Black people make significant love connections.

In the first part of this exclusive interview, she talks about her company, her purpose, and the possibility of Black romance.

Can you tell me a little about USquared Consultants?

USquared is the premiere personal consulting firm for distinctive and attractive professional men and women of color who annually earn upwards of forty thousand dollars, and who live in the D.C., Baltimore and Philadelphia metro areas. We can be found at www.usquaredconsultants.com, but USquared is not an on-line dating service.

That’s an interesting distinction that you’re making. When I think of online dating, I think about social networking services that put a bunch of random, anonymous people in a “cyber room” and let them meet. You’re clearly doing something different.

Yes! Our goal is to find extremely qualified, pre-screened, personal dating options for attractive, professional men of
color seeking attractive, professional women of color and for attractive professional women of color seeking attractive, professional men of color.

So the process isn’t entirely web-based, then?

The only thing our prospective clients do at our website, www.usquaredconsultants.com, is create an account and complete a questionnaire. We review each questionnaire and then we schedule an interview with every prospective client. After the interview, we create a profile and we use this profile to help us find a good match. Once we’ve found a good match, we contact the client, help set up a first date and then talk to both clients the day after the date. It’s very personal, very
customized and specifically tailored to people who are really ready to find a healthy, long term relationship.

Why did you start USquared Consultants?

Because this is the type of service that I was looking for when I was single! I wanted someone to sit down with me, really listen and then help me to find the kind of person I knew was out there. Wealthy white men have been using matchmakers for years. And there was no service specifically geared toward successful people of color. I was a corporate lawyer in New
York, working long hours and I was too busy to “hang out,” but I wanted a relationship. I wasn’t desperate…I was tired. I was tired of dating the same wrong man. At USquared, we sit down with every client. We listen. And then we work to find the right fit. Putting two people together who are wrong for each other would kill our business. We’re in the business to find
“the right one” for each and every client!

How do you decide whom to accept as a client?

Well…first we have a minimum salary requirement of forty thousand dollars. It may seem a little low, but we didn’t want to exclude graduate students or people who have chosen careers that historically pay below market. However, we do require proof of income, which hopefully deters people from lying. Secondly, we conduct background screenings on every client. No screening is perfect, but we do try to get an accurate picture of someone’s past conduct. Lastly, we use our gut. There are times when we just know we’re not going to find a match for someone. It could be because we think they’re not really ready for a long-term commitment or it could be because our database just doesn’t have what they’re seeking. There’s no reason to move forward with someone who’s ultimately going to be disappointed, so in those cases, we’ll politely decline.

What have you learned about men and women since starting?

That we’re more alike than different. If you’re a well-adjusted human being, you want love and support in your life. You want companionship and real friendship. And the relationship you’re seeking may take different forms and it may take each of us some time to understand what we need, but ultimately, most human beings want to learn, love, grow and laugh…with someone.

To be continued…

In the land of designer pet collars, pet cemeteries, even pet-themed restaurants and bakeries, dogfighting has reared its ugly head.

Who’s Doggin’ Who?
By Tobias Peterson

From any perspective, it’s a gruesome tale. Since late April, developments have steadily emerged—in increasingly gory detail—about NFL superstar Michael Vick’s alleged involvement in illegal dogfighting. Recently, Vick was indicted by a grand jury for his ties to “Bad Newz Kennels”, a group that bred pit bulls and fought them in illegal matches, some of which are suspected of taking place at a home owned by Vick in southern Virginia. In addition, Vick stands accused of having dogs put down (as well as doing it himself) with extreme measures: gunshot, electrocution, drowning, and strangulation. In one alleged incident, a dog was killed by being smashed against the ground.

As more of these allegations have come to light, public outrage at Vick has grown accordingly. Both the NFL and Vick’s team, the Atlanta Falcons, have been the targets of picketing and protests by members of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), and the Humane Society. These groups are far from alone, though. In addition to the usual sources of sports-related outrage (talk radio hosts and newspaper columnists chief among them), indignation has poured down from the highest levels of government, with Senators Robert Byrd and John Kerry coming out publicly against Vick and the unspeakable acts of which he stands accused.

Beyond Vick’s precipitous fall from public favor, though, there’s also a financial cost to bear for all of this. As one of the leagues most explosive and high-profile players, Vick has been, quite literally, a poster boy for both the Falcons and the NFL since his arrival to the league in 2001. Even as the first details of his involvement with dogfighting were surfacing, he was showcased at the 2007 NFL draft in support of the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre (both Vick and his younger brother Marcus played quarterback for the school). Now, however, sponsors are abandoning the standout like rats from a sinking ship.

For its part, Nike—which has released several lines of Vick-brand clothing and shoes—has suspended the release of its latest model, the “Air Zoom Vick V” (though previous items will remain available for purchase). The NFL, too, has been forced to take steps to insure its ratings and quell the controversy. The league’s new commissioner, Roger Godell, who began his tenure by suspending troubled defensive back Adam “PacMan” Jones, has sought to shore up his image as a disciplinarian in light of Vick’s alleged transgressions. Most recently (as of this writing), he’s prevented the quarterback from attending the team’s preseason training camp, reserving the right for further disciplinary action as more information comes to light.

Before the dogfighting scandal, it should be noted, Vick’s image was already suffering. He had an apparent run-in with airport security, who accused Vick of smuggling marijuana in a water bottle (no legal action came of the incident). He also made waves by offering an obscene gesture to a group of Falcons fans during a loss last season. In the court of public opinion, however, arguing with a TSA staffer or shooting the bird pale in comparison to fighting pit bulls. On television and the web, brutal images and videos of injured and killed dogs, invariably juxtaposed with shots of cute and cuddly puppies, serve as stark indictments of the brutality and cruelty that these animals endure, stoking the fire of public anger ever higher.

For the rest of the story, click here.

It’s time to give people a free ride on public transit.
And here’s proof it works.

Fare-Free Public Transit Could Be Headed to a City Near You
By Dave Olsen 

The time has come to stop making people pay to take public transit.

Why do we have any barriers to using buses and urban trains? The threat of global warming is no longer in doubt. The hue and cry of the traffic-jammed driver grows louder every commute. And politicians are getting the message. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has ordered his staff to seriously examine the costs of charging people to ride public transit. And Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York, recently voiced to a reporter his top dream: “I would have mass transit be given away for nothing and charge an awful lot for bringing an automobile into the city.”

Consider this sampling of communities providing free rides on trolleys, buses, trams and ferries: Staten Island, N.Y.; Island County, Wash.; Chapel Hill, N.C.; Vail, Colo.; Logan and Cache Valley, Utah; Clemson, S.C.; Commerce, Calif.; Châteauroux, Vitré, and Compiègne, France; Hasselt, Belgium; Lubben, Germany; Mariehamn, Finland; Nova Gorica, Slovenia; Türi, Estonia; and Övertorneå, Sweden.

Or speak, as I have, with transit officials in parts of Belgium and the state of Washington, where fare-free transit has hummed along smoothly now for years.

Raising fares kills ridership

As even conservatives like California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger trumpet a green agenda, more people are taking a hard look at just how many of their tax dollars subsidize the private car versus less polluting buses and trains. You have to figure in roads, parking and other infrastructure, tax breaks for car and fuel companies, as well as subsidies for car-carrying ferries and federal income tax reductions and write-offs for companies that use motor vehicles.

By some estimates, the government subsidy to each private vehicle owner is about $3,700, while a common cost for providing a single trip by transit is about $5.

Yet big or small, most transit systems are scraping by or on the brink of financial collapse, paradoxically because of their reliance on the farebox. Revenue for any system drops when ridership dips or when fares are increased. Yes, when fares are increased. This is so well proven it has a name: the Simpson-Curtain rule. Most often the dip in ridership is caused by a fare hike.

For the rest of the story, click here.