Did Usher Cancel His Grammy Performance Because His Wife Is Recovering From A Plastic Surgery Issues?

Apparently,Usher bowed out of the Grammys for "personal reasons". The speculation is that his wife,Tameka Foster,suffered some "serious complications" after having plastic surgery.Why do folks feel the need to go under the knife for cosmetic reasons? I wouldn't let anyone cut on me unless it was medically necessary!I had a car accident that left me with a scar on my face.I decided to forgo plastic surgery & I'm glad that I did.It's been a little while & the scar has healed nicely.Either people don't notice it or they think it's a tribal mark,which makes me seem more exotic.

I just hope that Ms. Foster is okay,though.And that she doesn't let the gossipers & haters make her feel like she needs improvement.Here's the story from People:

"Usher has canceled his performance at Clive Davis’ pre-Grammy party due to a family emergency, Access Hollywood has learned.

His wife, Tameka, is in Brazil and has experienced complications from plastic surgery. A neurosurgeon, Dr. Gabriel Hunt of LA’s Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, is on the way to South America.

A rep for Usher had no comment at this time. Josh Groban filled in for the R&B star at Davis’ annual event.

Foster, a 37-year-old stylist, recently gave birth to the couple’s second child, Naviyd Ely Raymond. The couple’s first child, Usher Raymond V, was born in November 2007."(END OF EXCERPT) Read the rest here.

Did Rihanna & Chris Brown Get Into A Domestic Dispute Over HERPES?

Mediatakeout is reporting that Rihanna & Chris Brown got into a physical altercation after an argument.Now,I hope he really didn't give her a black eye.She's too beautiful & young to be in any kind of serious relationship.Especially if the guy is abusive.Rihanna may not be the victim,but it is apparent that he hit a female & had to turn himself in to the police.In any case,it is never acceptable for a man to hit a woman.Here's more from Mediatakeout:

"MediaTakeOut.com just caught wind of an EXPLOSIVE REPORT!!! According to some VERY WELL PLACED sources, R&B singer Chris Brown is under investigation for assaulting a "female friend."

An insider tells MediaTakeOut.com that Chris and the female friend were leaving last night's Clive Davis party when the alleged assault occurred.

The insider told MediaTakeOut.com that the woman called police - alleging that Chris assaulted her.

EDITOR'S UPDATE 1 - We got the following report from a MediaTakeOut.com reader on the ground at the Grammy's

Rihanna is at the hospital now & filed a police report on chris, though she left her name out of the report. We are at the staples center right now scrambling to fill the gaps of chris brown & rihannas performance. So far we've got justin timberlake & al green doing a duet of 'let's stay together'."(END OF EXCERPT)To continue reading more on this developing story,go here.

And Bossip says the argument was over Rihanna giving Chris Brown herpes.Ooh,that's nasty & it's making me feel icky.Let's hope that this is just nasty gossip with not a bit of truth to it.Read that part of the story here.

Here's One Positive Thing About The Stimulus Plan That I Hadn't Heard About!

The IRS overturned a tax policy so that they could give more tax breaks to banks.How come the Internal Revenue Service goes out of their way to assist corporations while they audit the poor? How is it that the IRS never knew about Timothy Geithner or Tom Daschle's tax issues until they got nominated by President Obama? But the first time that I made a very small tax mistake,I got audited.Hmmm...something seems awfully fishy here.The IRS needs to stop giving tax breaks to corporations & looking the other way when wealthy & powerful people don't pay taxes.Here's more on the preferential treatment the IRS gives banks & how the stimulus bill will put it to a halt from McClatchy Washington Bureau:

"A tax decision that made it a better deal for Wells Fargo & Co. to purchase Wachovia Corp. would be eliminated by the economic stimulus bill being considered by Congress.

The Internal Revenue Service issued the controversial tax change two days before the Wells Fargo-Wachovia deal was announced Oct. 2, 2008.

Typically, businesses are limited in how much they can lower their tax liability when they acquire another company with built-in losses. But the IRS decision exempted banks, essentially providing no cap for how much a healthy bank could deduct from its taxes by realizing the losses that came with the troubled bank it acquired.

Several lawmakers cried foul when they learned about the preferred tax treatment for banks, saying the IRS had no authority to overturn tax policies without congressional input.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, is leading an effort in Congress to get the preferential treatment eliminated. A measure that would do away with it for any bank deal announced after Jan. 16 of this year is in both the House and the Senate versions of the stimulus bill still being ironed out by Congress.

Grassley told Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner before his Senate confirmation that he found the decision troubling and asked him how to “deal with the mess.”

Geithner said in a written response that he’d review the matter, which is subject to an inquiry by Inspector General Eric Thorson.

“I realize that this is a complex issue that raises concerns about Treasury’s authority, differential treatment of the financial services industry and budgetary transparency,” Geithner said.

Reversing the tax change could save the Treasury an estimated $4.34 billion between 2009 and 2013, according to Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation.

It’s unclear what Wells Fargo saved in the deal to buy Wachovia.

Robert Willens, a tax and accounting consultant on mergers and acquisitions, said that immediately after the sale it looked like Wells Fargo would be able to use $74 billion in losses that came with Wachovia to shelter its profits, provided the merged bank continued to make money. Without the IRS rule, it only would have been able to take $1 billion a year in losses over 20 years, Willens said."(END OF EXCERPT)Read the rest here.