Riley B. King (born September 16, 1925), known by the stage name B.B. King, is an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter.
Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at No. 6 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.[1] According to Edward M. Komara, King “introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending and shimmering vibrato that would influence virtually every electric blues guitarist that followed.”[2] King has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
King was born in a small cabin on a cotton plantation outside of Berclair, Mississippi, to Albert King and Nora Ella Farr on September 16, 1925.
We could talk about BB King’s influence for the next 30 days and still not be done. Good look. I need to write something on him soon.
Hi Shady. Top- of -the- morning to you! You know it’s true. B.B. IS KING. Drop 3 Chics a link when you post on Mr. B.B. King. Thanks! ;-)
Obama Tax Return Shows 2011 Earnings of $789,674
By The Associated Press
Posted 11:15AM 04/13/12
The White House says President Barack Obama and his family paid more than $160,000 in federal taxes last year.
The president’s 2011 federal income tax return shows reported adjusted gross income of about $790,000 last year. About half of the first family’s income is the president’s salary. The White House says the rest comes from sales of Obama’s books.
Obama’s effective tax rate is just above 20 percent – lower than many Americans who earn less. He has made tax-rate fairness a campaign issue.
The White House released a copy of the president’s tax return, which also shows charitable donations of more than $172,000.
Obama is donating after-tax proceeds from his children’s book to the Fisher House Foundation. The charity helps veterans and military families receiving medical treatment. Obama tax return shows 2011 earnings of $789,674.
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/04/13/obama-tax-return-shows-2011-earnings-of-789-674/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D151798
Looks like the FIRST FAMILY CAN AFFORD TO TAKE VACATIONS.
BTW, Why isn’t Mitt Romney making the local tv appearances, so he can be DRILLED ON HIS TAXES?!!!!
Jada Pinkett Smith Speaks Out Against ‘Ridiculous’ Rumors of Marital Trouble
By Tim Nudd
Friday April 13, 2012 08:00 AM EDT
Why us? That’s what Jada Pinkett Smith has been wondering, after she and husband Will Smith became the latest star couple to be subject to rumors of marital strife.
Asked why the speculation won’t go away, she tells French magazine Gala: “I have no idea! Every year, one celebrity couple is under the microscope. This year, unluckily, it’s us! I almost want to say that we should have been expecting it.”
She adds: “Will and I know the truth. We’re waiting peacefully for the storm to blow over.”
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20586498,00.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl2%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D151820
Anyone going to see Woman Thou Art Loosed – 7 Days with Blair Underwood and Sharon Leal?
I’d go just to see Blair Underwood! LOL
If a bill falls on a website, does it really make a sound?
By Steve Benen – Fri Apr 13, 2012 9:25 AM EDT.
In his official portrait, Romney sits alongside his health care law, which he doesn’t want to talk about.
Yesterday was the sixth anniversary of Mitt Romney signing his Massachusetts health care reform plan into law, a milestone the presumptive Republican presidential nominee seems eager to ignore.
How eager? Ezra Klein made an interesting observation about this.
Here’s something odd: There’s nothing on Mitt Romney’s Web site about the sixth anniversary of Romneycare. No news releases. No blog posts. Nothing
That’s true, and it made me curious about the rest of Romney’s website. Sure, the campaign chose to completely ignore the anniversary of “Romneycare” — aides apparently had other issues on their mind yesterday — but in general, what do Romney materials have to say about his signature policy accomplishment?
As it turns out, nothing.
On Romney’s biographical “About Mitt” page, there are only two paragraphs about his one term as governor — the only experience Romney has in public office — and there are literally no references to the health care law that came define his time in Boston.
OK, but what about his page on health care policy? The Romney campaign has a 700-word summary of Romney’s position on health care, but there are literally no references to the former governor’s landmark law.
This is rather bizarre. Romney’s health care reform initiative was supposed to be his springboard to national office. It wasn’t just his signature accomplishment as governor, it was a historic victory for Romney, giving him the kind of bragging rights few policymakers in either party could claim.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/13/11181000-if-a-bill-falls-on-a-website-does-it-really-make-a-sound?lite
Mitt Romney is “OUT OF TOUCH” No one knows where this joker stands on anything. He’s flailing in the wind; he and the GOP. So he adopts Rovian tactics and attempts to use his opponnent’s STRENGTHS to weaken him. BIG FAIL, MITTENS. You’re an EMPTY shell, and a LYING one at that.
Posted at 11:49 AM ET, 04/13/2012
Dear media: Stop playing along with fake controversies
By Jonathan Bernstein
Greg already flagged a brutally bad New York Times story about the Hilary Rosen flap earlier this morning, pointing out that the Times totally butchered Rosen’s (non-) involvement in Barack Obama’s campaign. He’s right — but that only scrapes the surface of what a bad job this story does with the phony controversy that broke out when Rosen said something stupid on CNN on Wednesday.
Let’s start with the headline: “Collision Over Roles of Women Sets Off Combative Debate Along the Trail.” Huh? That never happened. There was no “collision over roles of women,” and especially not “along the trail,” which is to say, in the context of the campaign. What actually happened is that one TV talking head, to be sure someone there to represent the Democrats, said something foolish which was immediately pounced on by Mitt Romney’s campaign…and by the Obama campaign as well. No collision. No debate.
The article took the entire “controversy” (as framed by Republicans) at face value
The campaign for the White House spilled into the politics of motherhood on Thursday as a combative back-and-forth involving a Democratic strategist and Mitt Romney’s wife quickly revived a deeper, decades-old cultural debate about the roles of women in and out of the workplace.
Again: that never happened, at least not within the campaign’s context. Did some people use Rosen’s words as an excuse to wallow in a “decades-old cultural debate”? Sure. But no one who speaks for the Obama campaign or the Democratic Party in any meaningful capacity took the “objectionable” side of that debate. No officials from the Obama campaign or the Democratic Party said anything about stay-at-home moms that attracted criticism. And when one lone Democrat did say something, the Obama campaign and the larger Democratic Party network condemned it and said exactly the same things that the Romney campaign said. There was no campaign disagreement. Anyone who only read the Times story would have come away believing that there was an actual presidential campaign dispute over stay-at-home moms.
Here’s the bottom line. We’re going to have these manufactured controversies throughout the campaign. Both sides know how to take an awkward remark and turn it into a huge flap, regardless of whether there’s anything real behind it. Hey, editors and reporters: don’t fall for it! No one is really offended; there’s no there there, and you shouldn’t be afraid to say so. It’s fine to report what the campaigns are up to, but whether it’s Etch-a-Sketch or this one or the next dozen that are going to follow, there’s absolutely no excuse for taking this stuff at face value
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line
Hilary Rosen Was Right: Ann Romney Is Not the Average Woman
Most people have little trouble identifying or relating with a culture, socioeconomic group or religion because of shared experiences and beliefs that are endemic to the group. It is amusing to witness a wealthy politician make an effort to relate to a blue-collar construction worker when everyone knows the closest the politician probably ever came to construction work was phoning a contractor to solicit bids to build their mansion’s gymnasium, or car elevator. Throughout the long Republican presidential primary, Willard Romney has attempted to identify himself as a regular guy who understands the working class, but regardless taking his tie off and donning denim pants, there is the iconic photo of him sitting next to a private jet while a servant shines his shoes. Romney’s problem identifying with any group other than the ultra-elite of the top 1% of income earners must run in the family because his spouse, Anne, displays the same failing in attempting to identify with the majority of women in America.
The faux outrage over Democratic National Committee advisor Hilary Rosen’s out-of-context statement that Mrs. Romney “has actually never worked a day in her life” is typical electoral pandering by the Romney camp, and is probably an attempt to make up for some of the damage Willard’s positions have caused to his support among women. Admittedly, taken in and of itself, that phrase may be offensive to women who are fortunate enough to stay home and raise children. However, Rosen’s comment was not an indictment or criticism of women who are stay-at-home moms, but it does indict Mrs. Romney’s assertion that she can relate to average American women. She, like her elitist husband, has no idea of the struggles the average American experiences every day and she is a pandering elitist just like her husband, and Hilary Rosen called it correctly.
“What you have is Mitt Romney running around the country, saying, ‘Well, you know, my wife tells me that what women really care about are economic issues, and when I listen to my wife, that’s what I’m hearing.’ Guess what? His wife has actually never worked a day in her life. She’s never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of the women in this country are facing, in terms of how do we feed our kids, how do we send them to school, and why do we worry about their future.”
Rosen was not demeaning women who stay at home, and she was not reviving the working versus stay-at-home mom controversy that is itself ridiculous. There are few people who think staying home spending every waking (and often sleeping) minute caring for, cleaning up after, and raising children is anything but a grueling, but rewarding, experience. However, Mrs. Romney’s stay-at-home experience is nothing like the average American woman, and although she may worry about her 5 sons’ futures, her concern is how they avoid paying taxes on the multi-million dollar inheritances after their parents die.
http://www.politicususa.com/hilary-rosen-ann-romney/
Iowa Republican State Senator Proposes Drug Testing Child Support Recipients
By Pat Garofalo on Apr 13, 2012 at 9:35 am
A favorite Republican pastime recently has been to demonize the unemployed by proposing that they submit to drug tests before collecting their unemployment insurance. Both at the federal and state level, Republicans have pushed for such a policy, even though, as it turns out, such requirements save barely any money and only prove that those on unemployment insurance are less likely than the public at large to be using drugs.
One Iowa Republican this week decided that such measures are not enough. During debate over Iowa’s budget, state Sen. Mark Chelgren (R) proposed that people who receive child support payments also be forced to submit to drug tests on the whims of the person making the payments:
The proposal came from Sen. Mark Chelgren, R-Ottumwa who said he was pushing the idea on behalf of an unidentified constituent who believed his ex was using child support money for illegal drugs.
A person paying child support under Chelgren’s proposal could require the recipient to a drug test every six months as long as they pay the costs.
“We shouldn’t be ducking our head and running away every time there’s a difficult issue coming up,” Chelgren said. However, following open laughter in the Iowa Senate chamber, Chelgren withdrew his amendment.
The Iowa Senate’s next task will be debating yet another Chelgren amendment. This one goes back to the standard Republican aim of forcing those collecting from state welfare programs to undergo drug tests. In Indiana, just 1 percent of those tested before collecting unemployment insurance or entering the state’s job training program during the final six months of 2011 failed their drug tests.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/04/13/464033/iowa-gop-drug-test-child-support/
It’s gonna be a video kinda day, my peeps!
Romney’s latest LIE & FAUX NEWS STAGED DRAMA TO HELP MITTEN’S SAPPY LIE
And not ONE, ONE OF YOUR FIVE BOYS SERVED IN THE MILITARY. I wonder how much of the fake tear spray this dude used.. SOOOO FAKE!
He proposed to privatize the VA.
NOBODY male in his family has served.
not him with his 7 deferrments.
not his daddy
not his granddaddy
nor his sons
But, but, but he traveled across Europe to do Mormon missionary work!
How YouTube and Twitter are hurting Mitt Romney
Posted by Chris Cillizza and Aaron Blakeat 07:50 AM ET, 04/12/2012
t’s a strategy as old as American politics: You run toward the party base — on the left or right — in the primary and then move to the ideological middle once you become your party’s standard-bearer.
But, the explosion of video-sharing sites like YouTube and microblogging technology like Twitter badly complicate this age-old formula.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/how-youtube-and-twitter-are-hurting-mitt-romney/2012/04/12/gIQAiYqXCT_blog.html
PBO’s TAX RETURNS
HERE: http://www.barackobama.com/tax-returns
CONGRESS: PASS THE BUFFETT RULE!
Campaign 2012, Politics, US Senate Race
‘People’s Pledge’ may end up boxing in Scott Brown for campaign against Elizabeth WarrenBy Glen Johnson, Globe Staff
WASHINGTON – When Scott Brown maneuvered Elizabeth Warren earlier this year into signing an agreement banning third-party advertising in their highly anticipated US Senate race, it was a public relations coup for the Republican incumbent.
For the price of a few emailed press releases, Brown was able to silence the League of Women Voters, the League of Conservation Voters, and other outside groups that had already begun advertising on the Democrat’s behalf, or were making plans to do so.
But in the time since, the so-called “People’s Pledge” has come back to bite Brown. He has had to pay the first two fines after outside groups did work on his behalf.
http://www.boston.com/Boston/politicalintelligence/2012/04/people-pledge-may-end-boxing-scott-brown-for-campaign-against-elizabeth-warren/Vs3YJ0koheuVfcp5SzSVNK/index.html
Obamas and Bidens to Release Tax Returns
By MARK LANDLER and JIM RUTENBERG
Published: April 13, 2012
WASHINGTON — Punctuating a week of political assaults on Mitt Romney over taxes, President Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. plan to release their own income tax returns on Friday, along with a statement calling on Mr. Romney to do the same, according to an Obama campaign official.
The release of the returns, four days ahead of the Internal Revenue Service’s tax deadline for the public, will set the stage for another week of wrangling over taxes, with the Senate scheduled on Monday evening to take up the White House’s proposed “Buffett Rule” minimum tax for the wealthiest Americans.
It comes after days of attacks on Mr. Romney — by the Obama campaign for not releasing tax records for more years, and by Mr. Biden in a campaign speech in New Hampshire on Thursday, for what the vice president said was Mr. Romney’s siding with fellow Republicans against taxes on millionaires.
“If Governor Romney has his way, we’ll have the Romney Rule,” Mr. Biden said. “The Romney Rule says, ‘Let’s double down on tax cuts for the wealthy.’ ” Later, Mr. Biden expressed incredulity that Mr. Romney would label the president “out of touch,” asking the audience, “How many of you all have a Swiss bank account?”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/13/us/politics/obamas-and-bidens-to-release-tax-returns.html?_r=1&ref=politics
HAND OVER YOUR TAX RETURNS, MITT ROMNEY!
MORE HATE & JEALOUSY. What folks are asking about the POTUS & FLOTUS’ VACATION?
White PEOPLE!!!!!! Who BELEIVE 1. Don’t think the POTUS belongs in the WH 2. Balck folks aren’t deserving of SHIT! 3. Blacks are lazy & living off white folks hard-earned $$.
Shrub spent 1/3 of his Presidency on vacation, and they didn’t open their mofo’ing mouths
… yes; clearing brush in Crawford TX ranch, and the claim was he had staff there working too. Well the fact is that the PRESIDENCY is a 365/24/7 job, last I heard.
“BARACK’S my MAN.”
Political AnimalBlog
April 13, 2012 8:54 AM
Out of the Shadows, ALEC Loses Altitude
By Ed Kilgore
Some good news for a Friday 13: the list of donors withdrawing support from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) continues to grow, with candy-maker Mars joining burger giant Wendy’s, its rival McDonald’s, along with beverage purveyors Coca-Cola and Pepsi Co, plus Kraft, Intuit and the Gates Foundation.
As important as the financial hits undoubtedly are, the even more important development is the emergence of ALEC from the shadows, where it has always flourished. In state legislative circles, its influence has long been legendary, and not just among Republicans (as a tax-exempt organization, ALEC has always been extremely careful about getting at least smattering of Democratic legislators to show up at its typically swank events, though that was a lot easier back in the days with overtly conservative Democrats walked tall in southern state legislatures). But mentions of ALEC inside the Beltway drew blank stares until very recently. And the legislators who championed ALEC-written cookie-cutter bills in most states were able to get away with pretending they were the actual authors.
All that has changed now, for good, and for the better.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2012_04/out_of_the_shadows_alec_loses036663.php
Good. Folks are waking up to the power of their pocketbooks too. ALEC needs to be taken down, for their attempts at destroying our DEMOCRACY.
Posted at 08:27 AM ET, 04/13/2012
TheWashingtonPost
The Morning Plum: Seeing through GOP spin on Hilary Rosen `controversy’
By Greg Sargent
Yesterday’s big flap over Hilary Rosen and Ann Romney triggered reams of analysis echoing the GOP spin that this was some kind of major “game changer” for Mitt Romney in overcoming the gender gap. Now that the facts of the matter have been established — Rosen does not work for the Obama campaign or the DNC, as Republicans falsely charged— we’re seeing some more level-headed and skeptical assessments.
Maeve Reston, for instance, points out that the Rosen battle is somewhat less important than the actual issues and positions Romney has embraced that could continue to alienate women:
The more crucial question is what the toll has been of his sometimes harsh rhetoric on issues of concern to moderate women, like budget priorities, immigration and the nation’s social safety net.
On those topics, Romney has at times boxed himself in. He has pounded Obama for job losses among women during his tenure, yet rarely acknowledged that many of those cuts were in government jobs that would be sliced further under his proposals, which would shrink government employment by 10%.
Though middle-of-the-road female voters tend to be more concerned than conservative women about maintaining the nation’s social safety net and expanding healthcare access, Romney has vowed to repeal Obama’s healthcare law, rein in the growth of programs like Medicare and get rid of government aid to Planned Parenthood….
In his haste to show his credentials as a fiscal conservative, Romney also has repeatedly criticized the president for promising voters “free stuff” — by implication trashing programs like education subsidies that are popular among women voters.
Meanwhile, Politico takes a longer view this morning of the battle over women, noting that Democrats remain confident that the larger showdown over who is really representing the interests of female swing voters is one they will win. Yesterday’s events don’t change the tangential matter of Romney’s actual positions on issues that matter to women, and indeed, if anything, the furious effort by the Romney campaign to change the subject to Rosen’s comments may underscore this.
It’s also going to be interesting to see whether this is really such a big victory for Republicans, now that Obama has weighed in by invoking his own mother’s hard work and calling on people to refrain from attacking spouses, including Ann Romney herself.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/the-morning-plum-seeing-through-gop-spin-on-hilary-rosen-controversy/2012/04/13/gIQA2btsET_blog.html
Progress
Posted on 04/12/2012 at 5:00 pm by JM Ashby
The first federal indictment for an anti-gay hate crime in U.S. history has been handed out today to two men in Kentucky.
A federal grand jury in London, Ky., returned a three-count indictment charging David Jason Jenkins, 37, and Anthony Ray Jenkins, 20, for kidnapping and assaulting Kevin Pennington, and for conspiring with each other and with other unnamed individuals to commit the kidnapping. The indictment charges the men with committing a hate crime in violation of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which expanded federal jurisdiction to include certain assaults motivated by someone’s sexual orientation.
The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act was signed into law by President Obama, by the way.
Matthew Shepard was tortured and killed in 1998 because of his sexual orientation.
http://bobcesca.com/blog-archives/2012/04/progress-3.html
Cracker Barrel Shooting: Gunman Opens Fire At Ohio Restaurant; 3 Dead
BROOKLYN, Ohio — Police shot and killed an armed man Thursday at a restaurant where two other people were killed and one was wounded, authorities said.
The shooting happened after a woman called 911 from a Cracker Barrel restaurant, saying her husband was upset because she told him she was leaving him, police said in a news release. She said he was circling the parking lot in his car.
Officers arrived, heard gunshots and saw an armed man leaving the restaurant in Brooklyn, Ohio, near Cleveland. Police Chief Scott Mielke said officers shot him when he refused to surrender.
A woman and a girl also were killed. One person was taken to a hospital.
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/13/cracker-barrel-shooting_n_1422604.html
ustice and Trayvon Martin: Where Were White Liberals?
Mark I. Pinsky April 12, 2012
Wednesday’s decision by Florida Special Prosecutor Angela Corey to charge George Zimmerman with second-degree murder in connection with February’s fatal shooting ofTrayvon Martin, an unarmed African American teenager, raises numerous troubling questions. Among the least considered, but perhaps most vexing: In the quest for justice in this case, where were progressive and other well-meaning white people?
During the civil rights movement of the 1960s in the South, it was rare to see a major march or demonstration without white clergy of various denominations and faith traditions (admittedly, most from the North) in the multi-racial vanguard, with a significant contingent of idealistic young white activists and trade unionists back in the ranks.
By stark contrast, the local movement in support of Trayvon Martin’s family has been led almost exclusively by African American clergy. There have been few if any white pastors, priests or rabbis in the front ranks or on the speakers’ platform. At the four major marches and rallies here that I attended, there was only a sprinkling of white people at all—mostly old lefties from the ‘60s and younger ones from the area’s Occupy movement. It was difficult to find a white person in the crowd not holding a microphone, camera or notebook.
Participation by local white clergy has been especially tardy—and tepid. A newly-arrived Episcopal bishop and about a dozen mainline and evangelical ministers joined one march and then faded away. Just one white Southern Baptist minister spoke from a platform, leading a very low-key prayer.
Around the country, the same seems to be true. Franklin Graham, whose father Billy was a pioneer in integrating his crusades, promised African-American church and civil rights leaders that he would speak out, but after praying with them, he has remained largely silent and invisible. A recent study by the Pew Forum found that 43 percent of whites felt that there had been too much news coverage of the Trayvon Martin story, compared to 13 percent of blacks.
Others have noticed. Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell raised the issue of why, apart from the honorable exceptions of Sanford Mayor Jeff Triplett and former Democratic Congressman Alan Grayson, it has taken so long for this area’s white community to understand the significance of what was happening in Sanford:
http://www.thenation.com/article/167371/justice-and-trayvon-martin-where-were-white-liberals
Seriously, I was expecting white liberals en masse at the Trayvon Martin rallies. If It doesn’t involve gay rights, i.e., same sex marriage. FORGET IT!
dannie, where are you?!!! Corey Booker’s wearing his cape again.
Newark Mayor Cory Booker taken to hospital after rescuing woman from house fire
Published: Friday, April 13, 2012, 7:27 AM Updated: Friday, April 13, 2012, 8:59 AM
NEWARK — Newark Mayor Cory Booker was taken to a hospital Thursday night for treatment of smoke inhalation he suffered trying to rescue his next-door neighbors from their burning house.
“I just grabbed her and whipped her out of the bed,” Booker said in recounting the fire. Booker told The Star-Ledger he also suffered second-degree burns on his hand.
The fire started in a two-story building on Hawthorne Avenue in the Upper Clinton Hill neighborhood, shortly before the mayor arrived home after a television interview with News 12 New Jersey.
VIDEO with Mayor Corey Booker
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/04/newark_mayor_cory_booker_taken.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_morning&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_morning&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet
Mayor Cory Booker
LOL…..GO MAYOR BOOKER
Im still waiting for him to come and carry me out of the house lol
BWA HA HA HA “I just grabbed her and whipped her out of bed.” DAMN! dannie’s still dreamin of Booker sweeping her outta bed. LMBAO
When Cory is taking me to our vacation home in the islands, all you haters will hate LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!
Girrrrl, you crack me up. Have you been watching Kerry Washington’s “Scandal?
I keep missing Scandal
Kerry Washington is the BOMBDIGGETY on “SCANDAL.”
I love the show as well. Excited about next week’s episode.
Good Morning, Everyone. HAPPY FRY-DAY1 :-)
Good Morning, Everyone :)
Sup, rikyrah. check your emails. Thanks! SG2’s gonna be outta pocket for a bit.