Civil unions, which have been adopted mainly for same-sex couples, are still in their infancy in the United States. There is plenty of controversy surrounding this concept, particularly from the conservative point of view, and only four U.S. states currently recognize them (VT, NH, NJ, CN). Political issues aside, however, there are a few implications of a civil union that many people simply don’t consider.When two people get married, the federal (and consequently the state) government recognizes their credit profiles as joined. The two individuals might have radically different credit scores, but they share the same debt, and one partner’s mistakes might negatively affect the couple for loans and lines of credit. With civil unions, however, credit issues become muddled because the federal government does not recognize the union as legal.

In 1996, the federal government passed the Defense of Marriage Act, which states that even though individual states can adopt Civil Union laws, other states are not obligated to recognize them and they are not legally entitled to the same rights as married couples. For example, if you enter into a civil union in Vermont, which began allowing them in 2000, you might find that your situation changes if you move to Texas or Arkansas.

This obviously impacts couples credit because your credit profiles are not legally joined. You might have a more difficult time applying jointly for a loan or a credit card. Legally, civil unions are not a means of establishing kinship, which means that you aren’t technically “related” to the person with whom you establish the union.

It is important to remember that no two people—whether married or joined by a civil union—share credit scores or profiles together. However, it can be difficult to encourage financial institutions to recognize a partnership when applying for loans or lines of credit. They might weigh a poor credit score more heavily than they would with a married couple, and there is always the possibility of encountering personal bias among lenders.

The good news, however, is that you shouldn’t have a problem in states where civil unions and registered partnerships are covered under the law. In Connecticut, for example, couples bound by civil unions are granted every right and freedom of married couples except for the title of marriage. They have housing rights and kinship rights and should not have a problem with sharing finances.

If you are a member of a civil union, the best thing you can do is be open about your situation. When you talk to lenders and bankers, let them know that you are a registered couple up front so that there are no problems with miscommunication. If you decide to apply for a personal loan or auto loan jointly, indicate as much before you begin the paperwork. This will make the entire process much easier.

If you do encounter problems, be adamant about the observations of your rights. Lenders are not legally permitted to discriminate based on sexual orientation. However, if you feel that you are being judged based on you and your partner’s relationship, it might be better to find a different financial institution at which to conduct your business. Financial matters are much easier to deal with when added stress doesn’t accumulate.

You will also find that, with civil unions, separating from your spouse might not be as easy when it comes to financial matters. Legally speaking, there are no rules or guidelines to dividing assets when the members of a civil union separate, which means that all of those issues must be worked out between the two individuals. It is always a good idea to discuss this matter before committing, then write down your intentions if you and your partner ever decide to call it quits.

So we turn it over to MTV on a normal day and on TRL all the videos you will find are mostly hip hop artists or rap “artists” that dance around shaking their booties with highly sexual content. They are also screaming out curse words and saying bitch this and nigga that. Then you have bigot uneducated idiots like JaRule who know nothing about real values saying MTV is bad because its corrupting kids with a gay friendly message.

You could not turn on the radio before without a rap song. I think all these rap artists are all crying and complaining because their music has finally reached its peak and they know that. It’s time to move on to better pop music, dance music, and hip hop. There are so many better artists now like Rihanna and Chris Brown who are more talented than JaRule will ever be.

I have read so many blogs and seen so many E! type news reports that keep saying one thing and gossiping about another. It is hard to get the real facts. All we do know is that the MTV Awards will be on live from Las Vegas for the first time this year and only airing one time instead of the mass re-runs we normally see.

Who will be performing at the VMA’s? The usual suspects of the chart topping songs we are all tired of hearing on the radio every 15 minutes. Also, the ones we never get to see on MTV in actual videos because all they show is teenage soap opera “reality shows” 24 hours a day. That is unless you have MTV Hits on your cable which actually shows videos.

The buzz about this years awards is a little different than the last two boring years of MTV VMA’s. There is talk that Madonna or Britney Spears could be performing on the show. Neither artist has performed at the moon man’s Video Music Awards since their big kiss back in 2003. I believe Madonna was on there to present an award but not actually perform. That performance shocked everyone and was pure entertainment from all the divas at the time. The hottest part was the kiss between Madonna and Christina Aguilera. I loved their dance moves as well.   We have had fairly lame awards shows ever since Justin Timberlake pulled out Janet Jackson’s breast.  I think we can finally spice things up once again.

One rumor states that Madonna will show up with Justin Timberlake and Britney will not even be at the awards. I have also heard that Justin and Britney were supposed to perform together but we all know that is highly unlikey even though they are on the same record label. There is major talk about the Vegas magician Chris Angel and Britney working together along with Madonna’s choreographers. Hmm… Maybe another Madonna and Britney performance? Or will Madonna be using Justin’s choreographers for her performance?

I have a feeling that Britney is about to do something big though so my bets are on both. If you get on myspace you notice that everyone is sending out bulletions of a new song from Britney every single day for almost a week now. Her songs have all been leaked on Myspace and file sharing sites… even the dance remixes from TI among other hot dance remixes. Surely she would not be leaking music like crazy if she is not going to show up and make a comeback performance to go along with it. We all know her House of Blues performances earlier this summer were 15-min long and highly dissapointing.

Everyone is pulling for Britney Spears to make a comeback at the VMA’s according to all the hype on myspace and other blogs but if she backs out she will look really desperate. We can only watch Sunday night to find out if any of our favorites show up. I will be looking forward to seeing Rihanna (Please dont stop the music, Umbrella) who has had many hits this year and Nelly Furtado (All Good Things, Promiscuous). I am also keeping my fingers crossed Madge and her out of control daughter Britney take stage.