9828: Rev. Meets Rep.

Rev. Al Sharpton and Rep. Maxine Waters are headlining the 2012 Essence Music Festival? Can’t wait to hear that duet performance.

9798: Eric Bolling’s Bollocks.

From The Huffington Post…

Fox News’ Eric Bolling Tells Maxine Waters To ‘Step Away From The Crack Pipe,’ Later Says He Was ‘Kidding’

Fox News host Eric Bolling shocked his co-hosts on “Fox and Friends” when he told Rep. Maxine Waters to “step away from the crack pipe” on Thursday. Bolling quickly said that he was “kidding.”

Waters stirred up anger on the right when video surfaced on Wednesday showing her calling House Republican leaders John Boehner and Eric Cantor “demons.”

On Thursday, Bolling and co-host Steve Doocy took turns bashing Waters for the remarks. But Bolling took things to another level.

“Congresswoman, you saw what happened to Whitney Houston,” he said. “Step away from the crack pipe, step away from the Xanax, step away from the Lorazepam because it’s going to get you in trouble.”

The other hosts immediately gasped, and Doocy muttered, “she’s not using drugs.”

“How else do you explain those comments?” Bolling said. When the show returned from a break, Bolling quickly backtracked. “I just want to say I was kidding about the crack pipe,” he said. “Just kidding.”

“Of course,” Doocy said.

Bolling has gotten himself in hot water for racially charged comments before. He had to apologize last July after saying that President Obama was bringing “hoodlums” into the “hizzouse” — the White House, that is.

7873: TGIFoolishness.

Thank God It’s A MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Dr. Laura Schlessinger apologized for her radio racial rant. “I articulated the N-word all the way out—more than one time,” said Schlessinger. “And that was wrong. I'll say it again—that was wrong.” Schlessinger added she “realized I had made a horrible mistake, and was so upset, I could not finish the show.” Maybe she should seek counsel from Don Imus.

• Rep. Maxine Waters is defending herself against the accusations of ethics violations, arguing her actions in question were designed to help all the minority-owned banks that are members of the National Bankers Association. There’s gotta be a joke here involving Black-owned banks being members of the NBA.

• South Carolina Senate candidate Alvin Greene was indicted on a felony charge for allegedly showing pornography to a female college student. Seems like Greene is just practicing for the role of a professional politician.

7859: Girl Talk.

Ladies Night in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Naomi Campbell testified that she did not receive a blood diamond from former Liberian ruler Charles Taylor. Yet Mia Farrow appeared in court and said the supermodel did indeed claim to pocket a valuable stone. Is it possible that Campbell lied? Seems so out of character.

• California Representative Maxine Waters was officially accused of three ethics violations. Suggestion to Waters: Don’t seek counsel from Naomi Campbell.

7848: Separated At Mirth…?

From Yahoo! News…

Fox host apologizes for Sherrod-Waters mixup

By Rachel Rose Hartman

Fox News host Greta Van Susteren is apologizing for “a doozy of a mistake” made on her show Monday when a picture of Shirley Sherrod was used to illustrate a segment on Rep. Maxine Waters, the Huffington Post reports.

Waters, a California Democrat, has been charged by the House with ethics violations, and Sherrod was fired from the USDA for incorrectly being cast as a racist. What the two visually have in common is that they’re both black women.

Van Susteren took to her blog Monday to issue an extremely effusive apology, calling the incident on her “On the Record” program “a very bad mistake and a painful one for which we are very apologetic.”

“We really don’t know what to say and there is nothing that you can post to make us feel better (not that we deserve to feel better!) This mistake was bad, very bad and we are immensely sorry,” Van Susteren wrote.

Though slip-ups are bound to happen on live television, this isn’t the first time Fox has issued a public apology for mixing up black political figures. In 2007, a Fox host apologized after the network ran footage of Democratic Rep. John Conyers of Michigan while discussing the ethics troubles of Democratic Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana.

You can catch video of last night’s mistake at Mediaite.

7834: Unclear Waters.

From The New York Daily News…

Calif. Dem Maxine Waters to be charged with ethics violations

By The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — A House investigative panel has decided to charge Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters of California with ethics violations, raising the possibility of a second high-profile trial with political implications for Democrats this fall.

People familiar with the investigation, who were not authorized to be quoted about unannounced charges, say the allegations could be announced next week. The House ethics committee declined Friday to make any public statement on the matter.

Waters has been under investigation for a possible conflict of interest involving a bank that was seeking federal aid. Her husband owned stock in the bank.

New York Democrat Rep. Charles Rangel also faces an ethics trial this fall on separate charges that included failure to disclose assets and income, nonpayment of taxes and doing legislative favors for donors to a college center named after him.

Both Waters and Rangel are prominent members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Dual ethics trials would be a major political liability for Democrats, forcing them to defend their party’s ethical conduct while trying to hold on to their House majority.

While Rangel is a former chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, Waters is a prominent member of the Financial Services Committee.

Waters came under scrutiny after former Treasury Department officials said she helped arrange a meeting between regulators and executives at Boston-based OneUnited Bank without mentioning her husband’s financial ties to the institution.

Her husband, Sidney Williams, held at least $250,000 in the bank’s stock and previously had served on its board. Waters’ spokesman has said Williams was no longer on the board when the meeting was arranged.

Waters has said the National Bankers Association, a trade group, requested the meeting. She defended her role in assisting minority-owned banks in the midst of the nation’s financial meltdown and dismissed suggestions she used her influence to steer government aid to the bank.

“I am confident that as the investigation moves forward the panel will discover that there are no facts to support allegations that I have acted improperly,” Waters said in a prior statement.

The committee unanimously voted to establish an investigative subcommittee to gather evidence and determine whether Waters violated standards of conduct.

Waters, like Rangel, could settle her case by arranging a plea bargain with the ethics committee. So far she has decided instead to fight the allegations.