Bessie Regina Norris,[1] better known by her stage name, Betty Wright (born December 21, 1953),[2] is a Miami-based soul and R&B singer-songwriter, who won fame in the 1970s with hits such as “Clean Up Woman” and “Tonight Is the Night”. A pioneering singer-songwriter and entrepreneur, she remains one of the few black female musicians to have a gold record on her own vanity label. She possesses a four-octave vocal range and is adept at using the whistle register.
Cause I love you, baby
And I need you, baby
I want you, my love, my love
My, my, my baby..
Challenge to Obama recess appointments denied http://reut.rs/xYhFmM
Racist Remarks by popular BYU Religion Professor Spark Controversy
February 29, 2012
Racist apologetics by a popular Brigham Young University religion professor are sparking controversy, as election-year scrutiny sheds a revealing light on the persistence of racist belief among LDS Church members.
On Tuesday, Randy Bott, a BYU professor of religion, told the Washington Post that the LDS Church’s historic prohibition on priesthood ordination for men of African descent was a “blessing” to blacks because they were not “ready” for priesthood authority.
“God has always been discriminatory” when it comes to whom he grants the authority of the priesthood, says Bott… Bott compares blacks with a young child prematurely asking for the keys to her father’s car, and explains that similarly until 1978, the Lord determined that blacks were not yet ready for the priesthood.
“What is discrimination?” Bott asks. “I think that is keeping something from somebody that would be a benefit for them, right? But what if it wouldn’t have been a benefit to them?” Bott says that the denial of the priesthood to blacks on Earth—although not in the afterlife—protected them from the lowest rungs of hell reserved for people who abuse their priesthood powers. “You couldn’t fall off the top of the ladder, because you weren’t on the top of the ladder. So, in reality the blacks not having the priesthood was the greatest blessing God could give them.”
Bott was the highest-rated professor in America in 2008, according to RateMyProfessor.com. He teaches large sections of required religion courses, including courses designed to prepare future missionaries, to as many as 3,000 students a year. This semester, more than 800 students are registered in Professor Bott’s classes. (Eleven are registered for BYU’s African-American history course this semester.) Professors at BYU routinely find themselves having to address racist and sexist content taught in Bott’s classes, and many are outraged and embarrassed by his rogue remarks to the Washington Post, say sources at the university. “Dr. Bott does not speak for BYU or the Church and his views are his own,” one religion faculty member told me.
http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/joannabrooks/5748/racist_remarks_by_popular_byu_religion_professor_spark_controversy/
found this at The Obama Diary:
I Am Not A Slut
Mar 2nd, 2012 @ 10:35 pm › Jessica Scott
↓ Skip to comments
107
I took a brief hiatus from twitter/facebook over the last weekend because the rhetoric was getting my blood pressure up and well, to spare the people around me endless rants about the stupidity in our national dialogue, I had to turn it off.
The rhetoric has gotten out of control. The extreme rhetoric that says a woman should just put an aspirin between her knees to keep from getting pregnant, or that proposes a bill in the Senate allowing employers to decide not to cover medical issues they deem immoral or the fact that a group of middle aged men have returned to an era where they get to tell me what to do with my body: I’m a little pissed.
I am a 35 year old married mother of 2, an Army officer who has deployed and I use birth control to be a good soldier and a responsible parent.
I use birth control to stop having my period so that I can go to the field and not worry about it.
I use birth control while deployed with my husband to keep from getting pregnant and getting sent home and letting down all the men AND women on my team.
I use birth control to keep from having more children than we can afford.
I use birth control to enable me to be a good soldier and balance my career and my family.
I use birth control to control the relentless cramps I had as teenager that had me in so much pain I could not walk.
I use birth control to control when I have children so that I can be more than the sum of my uterus.
I use birth control provided by the government to allow me to be a good soldier and a responsible parent and a responsible citizen.
I use government provided birth control while deployed to Iraq because it was my turn to go.
Call me a slut because I was fortunate enough to be deployed with my husband and I spent the entire deployment terrified I would get pregnant and sent home.
By all means, call me a slut. Call me a whore who expects the government to pay for my birth control so that I can abdicate my responsibilities as a parent. Call me a feminazi for forsaking my duties as a mother and using birth control so that I did not get pregnant again and miss the deployment. Call me a slut for wanting something more for myself and my daughters than to be someone’s breeder. By all means, call me a whore for wanting my daughters to be able to fulfill their potential by being able to decide when they want to start a family.
Calling me and every woman who chooses when to have children a slut will not change the fact that we are responsible citizens who opt to plan their families, who opt to take responsibility for their lives as women and members of our society. And yes, call me a whore because I still expect Tricare to cover my birth control and my pap smear and my government mandated annual std exam.
There are other things I would prefer to be called. You may call me many things but that does not negate the things I call myself.
You could call me a Mom, because I have two beautiful daughters who I want to grow up knowing their full potential is between their ears, not their legs. You could call me Soldier, because I love wearing my nation’s uniform and it is an honor to serve. You could call me Author, because I managed to write a book that people read. You could call me a Wife, because I’ve been with the same man for fifteen years. You could call me a Friend because I’m there, for laughs or for tears. Any of those things define me so much better than the singular hatred of calling me a slut because I use birth control.
But go ahead. Call me a slut. It doesn’t make me one.
Mitt Romney will win the Washington state caucuses, CNN projects. The GOP candidates are battling for a share of the states 40 delegates, which will be awarded proportionally.
The contest comes just three days before Super Tuesday, when 10 states hold primaries and caucuses.
when you make NO mortgage payments…
it was EXACTLY your decision to run this scam on the banks.
they didn’t pay and ‘ get in over their heads’.
people who do that HAVE MADE MORTGAGE PAYMENTS.
what…
in between SIGNING the mortgage papers…
and that FIRST PAYMENT…
could make you have such an epiphany..
unless, you were gonna scam the bank from the get go
…………………………………………………………………………………
A million-dollar mortgage goes unpaid for years while couple fights foreclosure
By Annys Shin, Saturday, March 3, 2:45 PM
The eviction from their million-dollar home could come at any moment. Keith and Janet Ritter have been bracing for it — and battling against it — almost from the moment they moved into the five-bedroom, 4,900-square-foot manse along the Potomac River in Fort Washington.
In five years, they have never made a mortgage payment, a fact that amazes even the most seasoned veterans of the foreclosure crisis.
The Ritters have kept the sheriff at bay by repeatedly filing for bankruptcy and by exploiting changes in Maryland’s laws designed to help delinquent homeowners avoid foreclosure.
Those efforts to protect homeowners have transformed Maryland’s foreclosure process from one of the country’s shortest to one of the longest. It now takes on average 634 days to complete a foreclosure in Maryland, compared with 132 days in Virginia.
Champions of Maryland’s system, including Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), credit it with driving down the state’s foreclosure rate and helping thousands of victims of predatory lending, fraud and other abuses hang on to their homes.
“The market won’t fix itself,” said Anne Norton, Maryland’s deputy commissioner for financial regulations. “By the time it does, how many homeowners will be churned up and spit out by the machine?”
Critics, including economists and lenders, blame the state’s go-slow approach for a growing backlog of foreclosures and a weak-to-nonexistent recovery in home prices. To them, the system puts too much emphasis on helping individual homeowners and not enough on quickly clearing the market of foreclosures so prices can rebound and hard-hit communities can recover. And they say it also creates opportunities for abuse by those determined to drag the process out for as long as possible.
“How is it people can stay in a house for five years without ever making a mortgage payment?” said Thomas A. Lawler, a former senior vice president at Fannie Mae who now runs his own consulting firm in Loudoun County. “That’s a screwed-up process. It’s an example of how the process is broken.”
The Ritters, who bought their house for $1.29 million with almost no money down, are hardly representative of the vast majority of Maryland’s distressed homeowners.
During the boom, they set out to become mini real estate moguls, buying properties and flipping them for a profit. In the process, Keith Ritter, 54, went from being on probation for bankruptcy fraud and making minimum wage to being a successful real estate investor and landlord with a six-figure income. Then, when the housing market tanked five years ago, the couple found themselves facing multiple foreclosures.
The Ritters have tried to negotiate different payment arrangements with their lender to save their posh home near National Harbor, they said, but to no avail.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/a-million-dollar-mortgage-goes-unpaid-for-years-while-couple-fights-foreclosure/2012/03/01/gIQAb4DBpR_story.html?hpid=z2
Good lord; MY HEAD HURTS after reading his fuckery.
It was never our intention to get here and never make a mortgage payment,” Keith Ritter said. “We don’t believe in living for free.”
WTF, just WTF were you doing Mr. & Mrs. Ritter for the past 5 years, if you weren’t “LIVING for FREE?”
Republican Ideas Included in the President’s Proposal
It’s clear that the American people want health insurance reform. They aren’t interested in Democratic ideas or Republican ideas. They’re interested in the best ideas to reduce costs, guarantee choices and ensure the highest quality care.
They’re interested in ideas that will put them back in control of their own health care.
Throughout the debate on health insurance reform, Republican concepts and proposals have been included in legislation. In fact, hundreds of Republican amendments were adopted during the committee mark-up process. As a result, both the Senate and the House passed key Republican proposals that are incorporated into the President’s Proposal.
Review a few of the Republican initiatives included in legislation passed by Congress:
•Includes personal responsibility incentives: Allows health insurance premium to vary based on participation in proven employer wellness programs
◦(Sources: H.R. 3468, “Promoting Health and Preventing Chronic Disease through Prevention and Wellness Programs for Employees, Communities, and Individuals Act” (Castle bill); H.R. 4038, “Common Sense Health Care Reform & Accountability Act” (Republican Substitute bill); H.R. 3400, “Empowering Patients First Act” (Republican Study Committee bill); H.R. 3970, “Medical Rights & Reform Act” (Kirk bill), “Coverage, Prevention and Reform Act”)
•Advances medical liability reform through grants to States: Provides grants to States to jump-start and evaluate promising medical liability reform ideas to put patient safety first, prevent medical errors, and reduce liability premiums.
◦(Sources: S. 1783, “Ten Steps to Transform Health Care in America Act” (Enzi bill); H.R. 3400, “Empowering Patients First Act” (Republican Study Committee bill); H.R. 4529, “Roadmap for America’s Future Act” (Ryan bill); S. 1099, “Patients’ Choice Act” (Burr-Coburn, Ryan-Nunes bill))
•Extends dependent coverage to age 26: Gives young adults new options.
◦(Sources: H.R. 4038, “Common Sense Health Care Reform & Accountability Act” (Republican Substitute bill); H.R. 3970, “Medical Rights & Reform Act” (Kirk bill))
•Allows automatic enrollment by employers in health insurance: Allows employee to opt-out.
◦(Sources: House Republican Substitute; H.R. 3400, “Empowering Patients First Act” (Republican Study Committee bill); “Coverage, Prevention, and Reform Act” )
•Mechanisms to improve quality.
◦(Sources: H.R. 4529, “Roadmap for America’s Future Act;” S. 1099, “Patients’ Choice Act;” H.R. 3400, Republican Study Group bill; S. 1783, “Ten Steps to Transform Health Care in America Act” (Enzi bill))
•Community Mental Health Centers. The President’s Proposal ensures that individuals have access to comprehensive mental health services in the community setting, but strengthens standards for facilities that seek reimbursement as community mental health centers by ensuring these facilities are providing appropriate care and not taking advantage of Medicare patients or the taxpayers.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/health-care-meeting/republican-ideas
It’s not Obama’s policies they oppose – time and time again they reject their own policies if Obama adopts them – no, it is the hue of his skin. These white men are deeply offended by the mere presence of the Obamas and can no longer conceal nor contain their rage.
Rush Limbaugh has “apologized”:
“For over 20 years, I have illustrated the absurd with absurdity, three hours a day, five days a week. In this instance, I chose the wrong words in my analogy of the situation. I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke.
I think it is absolutely absurd that during these very serious political times, we are discussing personal sexual recreational activities before members of Congress. I personally do not agree that American citizens should pay for these social activities. What happened to personal responsibility and accountability? Where do we draw the line? If this is accepted as the norm, what will follow? Will we be debating if taxpayers should pay for new sneakers for all students that are interested in running to keep fit?In my monologue, I posited that it is not our business whatsoever to know what is going on in anyone’s bedroom nor do I think it is a topic that should reach a Presidential level.
My choice of words was not the best, and in the attempt to be humorous, I created a national stir. I sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke for the insulting word choices.”
fuck these non-apologies
Fuck you, LimpBalls. You don’t get to dictate what ad whom President Obama calls. He’s the muthafucking POTUS, you dig? Keep boycottng his sponsors, FOLKS.
Well, when the entertainment career goes south, being a RWer is always a job option.
Yep; the has-been crackas will get camera tme and $$$ for their efforts to feed intolerance and hate. Keep pumpin’ yer wife full of babies, Kurt and let other folks decide what they want to do with their SEX ORGANS.
Democrats claim GOP waging war on women- (Claim my ASS, THE GOP IS AT WAR WITH WOMEN)
On the Republican presidential campaign trail, “contraception” is a symbol of President Barack Obama suppressing religious freedom.
Last night at the Ohio Democratic Party’s 2012 Legacy Dinner, it stood for the “attack” the GOP is waging on women.
More and more, it’s becoming an issue in the presidential election.
“If Republicans want to refight culture wars that were settled decades ago, that’s their choice,” said U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Florida, chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee and keynote speaker for the Ohio Democrats’ function. “But mark my words, they are going to pay for it.”
About 900 Democrats filled a Downtown Columbus ballroom for the party’s annual event. There were the expected swipes at Gov. John Kasich, the remembering of Senate Bill 5, potshots at GOP presidential hopefuls, and the hailing of Obama’s first term as president.
But whether it was Wasserman Schultz, former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, or other Democratic officials and candidates who spoke — seemingly all of them accused Republicans of trying to impinge on women’s rights.
“Republicans are obsessed with women’s bodies,” Wasserman Schultz told The Dispatch following her speech. “Family planning for couples is a personal decision, and Republicans are demonstrating how obsessed they are with having government interfere with that family planning
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/03/03/democrats-claim-gop-waging-war-on-women.html
February 29, 2012
That’s cold, Ross
Ross Douthat assesses the GOP’s frontrunner:
The White House might prefer to face Rick Santorum in the general election, but an out-of-touch rich guy running on Medicare cuts and an ill-considered tax plan will make for a pretty inviting target in his own right.
If you are the frontrunner, there are — insert throat-clearing here — four little words you never want to see yourself described as by one of your party’s leading Establishment voices: “A pretty inviting target.” One of the other occasional frontrunners would of course be delighted to see himself described as an inviting target, since being a target means somebody cares enough to hurt you. To really, really hurt you. Alas, Santorum and Gingrich’s masochistic days are numbered.
Mitt Romney’s even deeper weakness is, however, evidenced in Douthat’s previous wording: “The White House might prefer to face Rick Santorum.” Think about that. Say, two months ago, would Douthat or any commentator have written anything but that the WH would prefer to face Rick Santorum? Would there have been any equivocation, any question, any doubt whatsoever?
Yet, Douthat’s correct. No paid cognition in Chicago or the WH’s political office would any longer summarily opt for a run against Santorum, over Romney. And for the latter, there’s no fall conceivably greater than that. Again, think about it. The WH would now actually have to stop and meditate: Whom do we prefer to run against? Mitt Romney, or an unemployed, former U.S. senator who was booted from office in electoral disgrace and campaigns against the sainted John Kennedy and routinely offends 51 percent of the population? Yep, that second guy might actually be the stronger candidate. Hmmm.
http://pmcarpenter.blogs.com/p_m_carpenters_commentary/2012/02/thats-cold-ross.html
March 01, 2012
‘I am not what I am’
I knew there was something familiar about Romney.
Mitt:
We’ve seen throughout the campaign if you’re willing to say really outrageous things that are accusative, attacking of President Obama, that you’re going to jump up in the polls. I’m not willing to light my hair on fire to try and get support. I am who I am.
Iago:
For when my outward action doth demonstrate
The native act and figure of my heart
In complement extern, ’tis not long after
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at. I am not what I am.
I recall my first encounter with those last six words, from Othello; I recall it because — and I do not mean this figuratively — a chill, as only Shakespeare can chill, went up my spine. Like Hitchcock with a camera, the Bard with his pen reveals the villain early in his play so that the audience can knowingly (but helplessly) strain to warn the victimized innocent. Nonetheless, one feels a certain sympathy for Iago, for just as Shakespeare permits all his villains, Iago is allowed to explain why he feels he’s been wronged, and why revenge should be his.
Because Romney operates in the ill-schooled, ill-reasoned democracy of the GOP base, he, contrary to the Shakespearean method of “perhaps you’ll understand,” is necessarily debarred — or so he thinks — from any approach except that of dumbing things down to their absolute dumbest level: “I am who I am.” There’s not a soul alive who believes that, least of all Romney’s; nonetheless there he stands, feeling he can do no other but dissemble.
The irony is that we have all been in on Romney’s deceptive joke from the get-go: “I am not what I am” has been the thunderously manifest yet most intensely self-concealed theme of his candidacy. Had Mitt Romney been as demonically undisguised in his early soliloquies as Shakespeare’s Iago — had he, that is, artfully and dramatically explained that all his civics training once pointed to an intellectuality of one direction, but that the voices of the ultraconservative Everyman had since converted him emotionally to another — we might have felt, might have felt, some sympathy for him.
That his party’s base has gone crazy is as plain to us all as Sarah Palin’s mental instability; thus Romney, in a way, has indeed been wronged. He never possessed an alternative: an Iago-esque deception was his only route. But good God, he could have taken it with a little class, a little flair, a little bit of winking, Shakespearean style. Instead, he gave us Mortimer Snerd.
http://pmcarpenter.blogs.com/p_m_carpenters_commentary/2012/03/i-am-not-what-i-am.html
Great Othello -IAGO/MITTNESS comparison here…
DOJ Challenges Another Discriminatory Voting Law
Posted on 03/03/2012 at 2:30 pm by JM Ashby
The Department of Justice is signaling that it may file a challenge to a new Florida law which prohibits third-party non-profits from registering voters on the grounds that the state has not proven the law isn’t discriminatory.
The Justice Department objected late Friday to new provisions of Florida election law which place strict regulations on third-party voter registration groups and cut down on the early voting period. DOJ alleged in a court filing that Florida was unable to prove the new provisions were not discriminatory under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.
“As to the third-party voter registration and early voting changes enacted… respectively, the United States’ position is that the State has not met its burden, on behalf of its covered counties, that the two sets of proposed voting changes are entitled to preclearance under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act,” according to a court filing. […]
Non-partisan groups like the League of Women Voters have ended their voter registration efforts in the state because of the law, which forces individuals conducting voter registration drives to get permission from the state and turn in voter registration cards within 48 hours of a voter filling them out. The League of Women Voters, the Brennan Center, and Rock The Vote are also fighting that provision of the law in court and an initial hearing was held earlier this week.
It dawns on me that we’re entering a period of time wherein the Department of Justice may soon be objecting to discriminatory laws in every deeply southern state.
Florida now joins the ranks of South Carolina and Alabama currently facing scrutiny by the Department of Justice. South Carolina is facing a lawsuit over its voter suppression ID law, and Alabama is facing a lawsuit over “papers please.” And while other upstanding individuals such as Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker double their effort to transplant Alabama to the north, the problem seems to be at least partially isolated, but not entirely exclusive, to the south.
The south can’t physically remove minorities, so the new plan appears to be legislating them out of the electorate.
http://bobcesca.com/blog-archives/2012/03/doj-challenges-another-discriminatory-voting-law.html
March 02, 2012
Psychoanalyzing His Mittness
The boys at the Washington Post are having one helluva time isolating the Mittness that is Mitt.
Yesterday, E.J. Dionne took prickly issue with his “friend and colleague Matt Miller,” who
wrote recently that “everyone knows Romney is basically a pragmatic centrist.” No, “everyone” does not know this [snapped Dionne]. The evidence from his tax plan, in fact, is that he’s an extremist for the privileged.
Now today, Eugene Robinson levels a far more curious observation: that whenever Mitt lets flower his privileged Mittness, “The problem is that the effect … is to dismiss the Republican Party’s activist base as an unsophisticated rabble.”
This is a problem? Jesus, Eugene, it’s the only lovable thing about Mitt that exists. Please don’t discourage him in this hapless approach, and thus take that, too, away from us.
Robinson proceeds:
Romney’s “gaffes” look unmistakably like glimpses of the real Romney — not a bad person but a man with no ability to see beyond the small, cosseted world of private equity and great wealth that he inhabits.
Yet one could also say he’s merely carrying on in the tradition of the great Wendell Willkie — “the barefoot boy from Wall Street” — who, as Alice Roosevelt Longworth once quipped, had “grass roots in every country club in America” (and for those quotes I thank the even greater David Halberstam, The Fifties).
My advice, which I may actually take myself for at least one day? Don’t bother psychoanalyzing Mitt. Just enjoy him.
http://pmcarpenter.blogs.com/p_m_carpenters_commentary/2012/03/psychoanalyzing-his-mittness.html
LOL@ “his MITTNESS.”
I thought Hit Mitness was hilarious too
March 02, 2012
The GOP leadership blows it again
So now come the updates after all: John Boehner “obviously believes the use of those words was inappropriate,” emails a Boehner spokesman; and Eric Cantor, also through a spokesman, says “It’s not language the majority leader would condone.”
Goodness, how scathing.
When did “inappropriate” effectively become a euphemism for “ho-hum”? And if the majority leader would choose not to “condone” Limbaugh’s language, why can he not just condemn it?
Here, from Georgetown University’s president, John DeGioia, is the “appropriate” wording:
[S]ome of those who disagreed with [Sandra Fluke’s] position – including Rush Limbaugh and commentators throughout the blogosphere and in various other media channels – responded with behavior that can only be described as misogynistic, vitriolic, and a misrepresentation of the position of our student.
The GOP leadership had one easy shot at getting something right — and at making something right — for a change. It is of absolutely no surprise that they blew it.
http://pmcarpenter.blogs.com/p_m_carpenters_commentary/2012/03/the-gop-leadership-blows-it-again.html
Of course the GOP blew it intentionally,PM. They know LimpBall’s #1 PURPOSE is to feed & stir up the rabid, hillbilly, redneck, ignoramouses who listen to him to VOTE REPUBLICAN. THE.END.
Romney Staggers, Lurches Forward
A poll analysis of next Tuesday by Mark Blumenthal. The race is tightening. My criterion for judging whether Romney has turned a corner, will be his votes in the South among evangelicals, and in Ohio among the white working class. I don’t see how you win a general election for the GOP without hefty turnout from both groups. Equally, if Santorum cannot win Ohio’s votes, his own claim to replace Romney as the nominee comes under scrutiny.
Romney increasingly reminds me of a zombie candidate: human-seeming but lacking in any discernible actual human traits; unstoppable but slow and haphazard; and for some reason we cannot quite understand, desperately hungry for electoral flesh.
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/
March 02, 2012
‘A nice small ship of white guys’
At least some of the natives are getting restless.
Eleanor Clift quotes a former Capitol Hill staffer and “GOP activist” who says that because of mossback senators like Roy Blunt, being led by cavemen like Mitch McConnell, “Republicans risk becoming irrelevant to a whole generation of people.” He adds,
[McConnell] may be running a tight ship, but it’s a small ship, a nice small ship of white guys
Every one of the increasingly hostile activists, also on board, is looking up from the deck and seeing an immense tidal wave of both irreversible modernity and demographic changes about to wash over them — and their party. There is no electoral hope for an organized conservatism that is no longer ideologically capable of bringing into its camp the roughly 40 percent of Americans who self-identify as conservative; they’ll go Democratic, or they’ll bolt Green, or they’ll stay at home — but they will not support a party that remains silent in the ugly face of a profound pseudoconservatism, such as Roy Blunt’s, Rush Limbaugh’s, etc. etc.
This eruption has been a long time coming; Limbaugh is certainly nothing new, he’s merely a symptom of a chronic sickness — ever-creeping radicalism, which, once begun, knows no boundaries. Until, that is, the cumulative radicalism finally caves in on itself.
Which it is in the process of doing, as I write.
http://pmcarpenter.blogs.com/p_m_carpenters_commentary/2012/03/a-nice-small-ship-of-white-guys.html
A Message from Carbonite CEO, David Friend Regarding Ads on Limbaugh
March 02, 2012
Over the past two days we have received a tremendous amount of feedback on Rush Limbaugh’s recent comments. I too am offended and very concerned about his comments. Limbaugh’s remarks have us rethinking our future use of talk radio.
We use more than 40 talk show hosts to help get the Carbonite message out to the public. The nature of talk radio is that from time to time listeners are offended by a host and ask that we pull our advertising. This goes for conservatives like Limbaugh and progressives like Stephanie Miller and Ed Shultz. We even get customers who demand that we pull the plug on NPR. As an advertiser, we do not have control over a show’s editorial content or what they say on air. Carbonite does not endorse the opinions of the shows or their hosts.
However, the outcry over Limbaugh is the worst we’ve ever seen. I have scheduled a face-to-face meeting next week with Limbaugh during which I will impress upon him that his comments were offensive to many of our customers and employees alike.
Please know your voice has been heard and that we are taking this matter very seriously.
Sincerely,
David Friend
http://www.carbonite.com/en/blog/A-Message-from-Carbonite-CEO-David-Friend-Regarding-Ads-on-Limbaugh.sf404.aspx
March 02, 2012 5:26 PM
The Nasty-As-He-Wants-To-Be Factor
By Ed Kilgore
In all the endless discussion of Mitt Romney’s courtship of the conservative movement, it’s never much occurred to me that his “electability” appeal to GOP voters depends on conveying the general sense that he’ll do anything to win. But that’s the interesting point buried in a long Michael Barbaro/Jeremy Peters article on Mitt’s abiding nastiness as a candidate. Check this out:
The Romney campaign’s shortcomings have been on vivid display in recent weeks, from verbal stumbles to a failure to stir the passions of the Republican base.
But even his battered rivals acknowledge that Mr. Romney is proving unusually adept at defining, diminishing and disqualifying a serial cast of challengers through relentless attacks.
His campaign has deployed every tactic in the negative-campaign playbook. It has issued Twitter messages poking fun at Mr. Gingrich’s penchant for rhetorical excess (with the hashtag #grandiosenewt). It created digital slogans and a letterhead disparaging Mr. Santorum’s long career in government (“Rick Went to Washington,” they read, “and he never came back”). It created dozens of Web videos denigrating President Obama’s economic leadership (“Obama isn’t working”). And it benefited from the advertising onslaught unleashed against Mr. Romney’s rivals by a “super PAC” backing him.
As successful as the strategy has been, though, it has raised questions about Mr. Romney’s role in turning the primary process into something akin to a civil war, even as it has demonstrated a ferocious, whatever-it-takes style that could hearten Republicans if Mr. Romney ends up in a general election matchup against Mr. Obama (emphasis added)
If that’s true, then Romney’s efforts to pretend he’s the “true conservative” in the campaign have been something of a waste of time. All he really needs to do is to prove he has absolutely no conscience or inhibitions about negative campaigning. Because that’s what “base” activists want more than anything else, even more than victory: a holy war against Barack Obama to articulate their visceral hatred of the incumbent, with which they hope to infect persuadable voters. Mitt’s well on his way to passing that most crucial test.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2012_03/the_nastyashewantstobe_factor035792.php
March 03, 2012
KEEP RUSH ON THE AIR!
Napoleon’s sound judgment in refusing to interrupt his enemy whenever he was making a mistake has, in the annals of time, traveled from the merely biographical to the militarily strategic to, finally, nothing less than the politically axiomatic. When, for instance, the nation was in the grips of a Great Depression, FDR could revel in the enemy camp’s tedious moralizing against helpful government intervention; many of Joe McCarthy’s private critics sat back, rather than leaned forward, and watched him dig what surely was his own deep grave; and Lyndon knew he could count on his fellow white Southerners’ unremittingly moronic extremism to ensure passage of civil and voting rights bills.
It is with profound bewilderment, then, that I have watched these mushroom clouds of Fire Rush! and Boycott Rush! form over this unremitting moron of a pseudoconservative talk-radio host. Whoa. This clown, literally by the hour, is driving more voters away from the Republican camp and into the opposition’s than anything the Grand Old Party could ever have cooked up itself.
Limbaugh is like the Robert E. Lee of Pickett’s Charge, or a deus ex machina of ‘ObamaCare,’ or a publicly drooling, slabbering Sen. McCarthy of absolutely no decency left.
Who to the left of center or square in the middle of any rationality could ask for anything more? If Republicans had so much as a dram of Napoleonic strategery left in their increasingly besieged heads, they’d be the ones calling for Limbaugh’s sacking. Instead they’ve issued electorally suicidal mush about “inappropriate” language and language they wouldn’t “condone” and language they themselves “would [not] have used.” Zzzzz.
Republican pols are tunneling themselves to oblivion; they’re frantically digging to what they hope is some light of day, but in their absolute darkness and disorientation they cannot see that they’re digging in the wrong direction: down. So for heaven’s sake let’s not deprive them of their shovel: Rush Limbaugh.
After November, fine. Boycott away, or demand a scarlet “I” for “Idiot” be branded on Limbaugh’s forehead. But from now till then, I hope Rush stays just where he is — at the live, activist epicenter of pseudoconservative doom.
http://pmcarpenter.blogs.com/p_m_carpenters_commentary/2012/03/keep-rush-on-the-air.html
HELL NAW! FLUSH that BITCH Limbaugh down the drain. We know hes the face of the REPUBLICAN PARTY. He’ had decades of poisoning the Ameican pscyhe with his FILTH.
IT’S TIME TO TAK OUT THE TRASH.
Let’s remind all those DOG lovers how Mitt Romney treated his dog SEAMUS.
2012: The Year of the Woman?
by BooMan
Fri Mar 2nd, 2012 at 11:27:46 PM EST
There are currently 17 women in the 100 member U.S. Senate despite the fact that women make up slightly more than 50% of the population and slightly more than 50% of the electorate. Two of those women, Olympia Snowe of Maine and Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, are retiring. Yet, 2012 may prove to be another Year of the Woman. We could easily see six new Democratic women elected to the Senate this November. Here they are:
Mazie Hirono of Hawai’i. She needs to win a primary against DLCer Ed Case. If she does, she’ll be the favorite against former Governor Linda Lingle. Hirono is a non-practicing Buddhist who was born in the now irradiated Fukushimu region of Japan. She’s a member of the Progressive Caucus. If Hirono is the candidate, it is assured that this seat will be held by a woman.
Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts is going up against Sen. Scott Brown. Ms. Warren needs no introduction. She is a personal friend and confidant of the president, and she’s the toughest advocate for consumers in the country. On the issues, she appears to be an across-the-board progressive.
Shelley Berkley of Nevada. I have some problems with Rep. Berkley, but I like that she was the first in her family to go to college and that she paid for her education, including a law degree, by working the Vegas Strip as a cocktail waitress and Keno runner. That’s the kind of personal experience and perseverance I want in the Senate. She’s at least an even bet to oust appointed Senator Dean Heller.
Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota. Her mom worked in the school lunchroom and as a custodian. Her dad did seasonal construction and drove a truck. Ms. Heitkamp has served as State Tax Commissioner and Attorney General. She once was an attorney for the EPA but she is now the director of the Dakota Gasification Company. I don’t expect to agree with her on energy issues, and on many other things besides. But I like her humble roots.
Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin. You know Tammy, right? She’s a member of the Progressive Caucus. She’s openly lesbian. She’s a scrapper. And she’s going to ride the wave progressives have built in Wisconsin to victory.
Chellie Pingree of Maine. She may have to win a crowded primary, but she’ll be favored to take over Olympia Snowe’s seat if she does. She has the odd credential of being a member of the Progressive Caucus while being married to a hedge-fund manager. She got her start operating a yarn shop on an island off the coast of Maine. That’s all this household needs to know.
We can and should win all six of these seats. It should also be noted that Republican Heather Wilson is running for the open New Mexico seat. If she won, there could be seven new women in the Senate to replace to the two that are leaving.
If we get more women, we’ll get less foolishness. In any case, we could see a jump from 17 women in the Senate to 21 or 22. The men in the Republican Party (and fools like Bob Casey of Pennsylvania) are making that outcome more likely every day.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2012/3/2/232746/9361
TPMMuckraker
Breaking: DOJ Opposes Florida Laws On Voter Registration Groups, Early Voting
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Ryan J. Reilly March 2, 2012, 11:45 PM 5100 68
The Justice Department objected late Friday to new provisions of Florida election law which place strict regulations on third-party voter registration groups and cut down on the early voting period. DOJ alleged in a court filing that Florida was unable to prove the new provisions were not discriminatory under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.
“As to the third-party voter registration and early voting changes enacted… respectively, the United States’ position is that the State has not met its burden, on behalf of its covered counties, that the two sets of proposed voting changes are entitled to preclearance under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act,” according to a court filing.
Florida had begun the preclearance process with DOJ but subsequently sued the government after federal lawyers asked for additional information about how some provisions of the state’s new election law would be enforced.
Non-partisan groups like the League of Women Voters have ended their voter registration efforts in the state because of the law, which forces individuals conducting voter registration drives to get permission from the state and turn in voter registration cards within 48 hours of a voter filling them out. The League of Women Voters, the Brennan Center, and Rock The Vote are also fighting that provision of the law in court and an initial hearing was held earlier this week.
Heather Smith, president of Rock the Vote, said this week that the law would “prevent organizations like Rock the Vote from educating and engaging young people in our political process and go against the very principles our country was founded on.” Attorney General Eric Holder singled out Florida’s law during a major speech on voting rights in December.
The Colbert Report featured a sketch this week about a Florida teacher who is already facing a stiff penalty from the state for not turning in voter registration cards she collected from her students within 48 hours. Check it out below:
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/03/breaking_doj_opposes_florida_laws_on_voter_registration_groups_early_voting.php
Op-Ed Columnist
Santorum and the Sexual Revolution- EWWWWW
By CHARLES M. BLOW
Published: March 2, 2012
Rick Santorum wants to bring sexy back … to the 1950s, when he was born.
That is because Santorum seems to have an unhealthy fixation with, and passionate disdain for, the 1960s and the sexual freedoms that followed.
To fully understand Santorum’s strident rejection of the 1960s, it’s instructive to recall a speech and question-and-answer session he gave in 2008 to a course on religion and politics at the Oxford Center for Religion and Public Life in Washington.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/03/opinion/blow-santorum-and-the-sexual-revolution.html?src=me&ref=general
Rebecca Walker is on MHP’s show this morning. “Motherhood on the Line” discussion. Good stuff.
Repost- Love martin Bashir!!
Oprah Winfrey lands Whitney Houston family interview
Just because she’s moved to cable doesn’t mean Oprah Winfrey can’t still land a huge interview. The former queen of talk has booked Whitney Houston’s family for an exclusive sit down on OWN.
Houston’s daughter Bobbi Kristina, her sister-in-law and manager Patricia Houston and her brother Gary Houston will participate in a one-hour special episode of Oprah’s Next Chapter. They’ll discuss the rumors and speculation surrounding the pop star’s death. The episode airs Sunday, March 11 at 9 p.m.
http://insidetv.ew.com/2012/03/02/oprah-whitney-houston/
Do Republicans Realize That Keystone Pipeline Won’t Bring Gas to U.S.?
Mar 3, 2012 12:00 AM EST
Eleanor Cliff
Though it’s become a firebrand issue that labels Obama as the “anti-oil president,” the TransCanada pipeline was never meant to bring gas to the U.S. It would go to Asia.
As gas prices near $4 a gallon, Republicans are sharpening their attacks on President Obama for blocking the Keystone pipeline that would bring oil from Canada to Texas. Senate Republicans have introduced legislation to bar Obama from tapping the Strategic Oil Reserve unless he agrees to the pipeline. Michael Barone, an analyst with the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute, says GOP presidential candidates can credibly make the case that Obama’s decision to side with environmentalists and refuse to grant Trans-Canada Corporation the necessary permits amounts to “crony capitalism.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/03/03/do-republicans-realize-that-keystone-pipeline-won-t-bring-gas-to-u-s.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_morning&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_morning&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet
Accord Reached Settling Lawsuit Over BP Oil Spill
By JOHN SCHWARTZ
Published: March 2, 2012
BP and the lawyers for plaintiffs in the trial over the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico have agreed to settle their case.
Judge Carl J. Barbier of Federal District Court in New Orleans issued an order late Friday night stating that the two sides “have reached an agreement on the terms of a proposed class settlement which will be submitted to the court,” and announcing that the first phase of the trial, scheduled to begin on Monday, is adjourned indefinitely while the next steps are worked out.
BP issued a statement from the company’s chief executive, Robert Dudley, saying, “The proposed settlement represents significant progress toward resolving issues from the Deepwater Horizon accident and contributing further to economic and environmental restoration efforts along the Gulf Coast.” The company estimated that paying the claims would cost $7.8 billion — but it did not state that the estimate represented an upper limit on what it would pay. It said it had already paid out more than $8 billion to claimants, and had spent some $14 billion in responding to the spill
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/03/us/accord-reached-settling-lawsuit-over-bp-oil-spill.html?_r=1&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_morning&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_morning&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet
President Obama will give the commencement address at Barnard College.
http://www.nationalconfidential.com/20120303/obama-giving-commencement-at-barnard-as-gop-war-on-women-heats-up/
EVERYTHING IS IN DIVINE ORDER HERE.
NOW Calls for Clear Channel to Pull the Plug on Limbaugh http://bit.ly/AtJxm6
It’s on & poppin…
Take this mofo down!
Good Morning,Everybody! :-) Love Ms. Betty Wright.
Good Afternoon, Everyone :)
Hi rikyrah. I’m waiting for this morning’s MHP show video with Rebecca Walker. She spoke on mothehood and education. Good stuff. Did you see the show?
I just finished watching MHP’s show on tivo.
Here’s the link t MHP’s segments. Ken Blackwell was on her show. Your thoughts?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/46613317#46613317