(AP)—Is President Barack Obama willing to risk Slurpee brainfreeze as he grapples with political gridlock?

A strange but real possibility.

The president’s campaign-trail attack on Republicans as Slurpee-sipping do-nothings boomeranged on him the day after the GOP won the House majority in last week’s midterm elections. He was asked if he would have likely House Speaker John Boehner over for the slushy 7-11 staple, and the White House meeting next week with Congressional leaders was jokingly dubbed the “Slurpee Summit.”

ICONIC DRINK—This Nov. 10 photo shows Slurpees at a 7-11 in Concord, N.H. No word yet on whether the nation’s most powerful elected officials will actually be sipping Goji Berry Cherry Slurpees when discussing tax cuts on Nov. 18. (AP Photo/Larry Crow)

NNPA—Election Day victories for two Black Republicans raise a rare question in the House of Representatives in the 112th Congress: How will two African-American members of the Grand Old Party interact with the Congressional Black Caucus?

Fourteen Black Republicans ran for Congress in the Nov. 2 mid-term elections but, after all the votes were counted, only Tim Scott, a South Carolina businessman, and Allen West, a Florida-based Army veteran of the Iraq War, will take seats. They are the first African-American Republicans to be elected to Congress since 1995.

So far, West has said he wants to be part of the CBC, while Scott is still undecided and is leaning toward not participating.

by Russell Conteras

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. (AP)—He’s the most famous son of this quiet mountain hamlet in western Massachusetts. But until recently, people looking for signs of W.E.B. Du Bois’ life and legacy in Great Barrington would have had a hard time finding them.

NATIVE SON—A mural in downtown Great Barrington, Mass., honors African-American scholar W.E.B. Du Bois. As the town prepares to celebrate it’s 250th birthday, Du Bois, one of its most famous and controversial native sons, is being included in it’s history and promotional material. (AP Photo/Shana Sureck)

For decades since Du Bois’ death in Ghana in 1963, the civil rights activist and scholar has drawn praise for his writings but scorn from residents upset that he joined the Communist Party, became a citizen of Ghana and often criticized the U.S. over race relations.

by Dorothy Rowley

(NNPA)—Former President George W. Bush said in a recent NBC interview that the lowest point of his life was when rapper Kanye West made statements in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that painted Bush as a racist.

PROMOTING NEW BOOK—Oprah Winfrey interviews former President George W. Bush during taping of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in Chicago. The show aired nationally Nov. 9. (AP Photo/Harpo Productions Inc., George Burns)

West’s statement, from five years ago, that “George Bush doesn’t care about Black people,” hit a sore spot with the then-president. During the televised interview in which Bush promoted his memoir, “Decision Points,” set for release in November, he said he didn’t deserve to be labeled as a racist.

“I didn’t appreciate it then. I don’t appreciate it now,” Bush told reporter Matt Lauer. “It’s one thing to say, ‘I don’t appreciate the way he’s handled his business.’ It’s another thing to say, ‘This man’s a racist.’ I resent it, it’s not true and it was one of the most disgusting moments in my presidency.”