George Winston (born 1949) is an American pianist who was born in Michigan, and grew up mainly in Eastern Montana as well as Mississippi and Florida. He attended Stetson University in Deland, Florida and lives in Santa Cruz, California.
George Winston was first recorded by John Fahey for Fahey’s Takoma Records. The album Ballads and Blues disappeared without much notice, although it was later reissued on Winston’s Dancing Cat Records. However, in 1979, William Ackerman talked with Winston about having Winston record for Ackerman’s new record label, Windham Hill Records. At first Winston played some guitar pieces he liked and then he played some of his nighttime music on the piano, which became the basis for the record Autumn, which Ackerman produced. Autumn soon became the best-selling record in the Windham Hill catalog,[citation needed] and his albums December and Winter into Spring both went platinum (million-plus sales in the United States). He has recorded 7 more solo piano albums, and he is one of the best known performers playing contemporary instrumental music.
Interpol: Julian Assange ‘Red Notice’ Issued
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/30/interpol-julian-assange-r_n_790157.html
Interpol has issued a red notice for the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The notice is an international ‘wanted poster’ that the agency hopes will lead to the extradition of the wanted person to the country that originally filed the arrest warrant.
The notice is now appearing on Interpol’s website, saying that he is wanted for ” sex crimes.” The charges come from an alleged incident in Sweden.
Wow. So, he is an international fugitive now?
November 30th, 2010
02:30 PM ET
President meets fellow Nobel laureates
Washington (CNN) – President Obama will meet with two American Nobel laureates at the White House Tuesday afternoon before they leave for Europe to receive their awards.
Peter Diamond and Dale Mortensen, recipients of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Economics, are continuing a tradition of American laureates meeting with the president according to White House spokesman Tommy Vietor. Both of their spouses are expected to be at the White House as well.
Diamond, Mortensen, and Christopher Pissarides of Cyprus will share the 2010 prize in economics for their research on how government policy affects unemployment. Diamond is on the faculty of M.I.T., Mortensen at Northwestern University, and Pissarides at the London School of Economics.
They will be honored in a ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden on December 10. The ceremony comes one year after Obama was honored as the 2009 Nobel Peace laureate in Oslo, Norway
http://whitehouse.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/30/president-meets-nobel-laureates/
This is what the bigoted crackas mean by STATE’S RIGHTS
Tea Party Nation President Says It ‘Makes A Lot Of Sense’ To Restrict Voting Only To Property Owners
PHILLIPS: The Founding Fathers originally said, they put certain restrictions on who gets the right to vote. It wasn’t you were just a citizen and you got to vote. Some of the restrictions, you know, you obviously would not think about today. But one of those was you had to be a property owner. And that makes a lot of sense, because if you’re a property owner you actually have a vested stake in the community. If you’re not a property owner, you know, I’m sorry but property owners have a little bit more of a vested interest in the community than non-property owners.
LISTEN TO THIS CALL FOR SLAVERY
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/11/30/tea-party-voting-property
Unbelievable…this is nothing but ReconstructionEraII!!
Steele To End RNC Tenure With One Last Demonstration Of Incompetence
http://www.huffingtonpost.com//2010/11/30/michael-steele-to-end-rnc_n_789961.html
Michael Steele’s tenure as the chairman of the Republican National Committee has been primarily marked by gaffes and financial mismanagement and scandal and donor mocking and people quitting in disgust and near constant calls for him to resign. Democrats are going to miss him when he’s gone! And gone he soon shall be, as well. As competitors emerge to challenge Steele for the RNC top spot, their suits are steeled by polling data that supports his ouster.
But, hey, how about one more Steele-related mishap, for auld lang syne? Over at TPM, Ryan J. Reilly notes that Steele is under fire for the money he’s lavished on a “longtime assistant”:
Critics of RNC Chairman Michael Steele have also focused on a lucrative job given to his longtime aide, Belinda Cook, convention-related gigs given to her family and friends and a variety of large expenses footed by the RNC.
The Washington Times first reported on Cook’s salary — which is nearly three times what her predecessor made — earlier this month. Over two years ahead of the 2012 convention in Tampa, Steele signed a contract making Cook a “convention liaison” and paying her $15,000 per month.
FEC records show that Cook was also paid $25,000 for “Political Strategy Consulting” back in July. Records reflect thousands of dollars in additional reimbursements made to Cook for travel, food and beverages.
Additionally, Reilly notes that the RNC has already dropped $636,800 on the 2012 Republican National Convention:
That’s 18 times the amount spent that was spent in a comparable time frame four years ago, the Washington Post reported, causing more than a few raised eyebrows within the party.
You wouldn’t have thought it possible that Steele could make his colleagues’ eyebrows raise any higher, but there you go.
BWA HA HA Steele living high on the HOG!
Joe Scarborough Urges GOP To ‘Man Up’ Against Sarah Palin
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/30/joe-scarborough-sarah-palin_n_789664.html
Former Republican Congressman and current MSNBC host Joe Scarborough is out with a vicious new post encouraging Republicans to “man up” and take Sarah Palin down a peg. As if trying to get the ball rolling, he precedes this suggestion with a few choice volleys of his own.
“Republicans have a problem,” Scarborough writes at Politico. “The most-talked-about figure in the GOP is a reality show star who cannot be elected.”
Scarborough’s main beef with Palin seems to be that, in his view, she just is not serious enough to be considered a viable GOP candidate for president in 2012, and despite the supposed general acceptance of this as fact, Republicans sit idly, afraid to speak out, while Palin basks in the pre-campaign limelight.
To make matters worse, Scarborough prods, Palin does all of this while demeaning the legacies of GOP standard-bearers that many hold dear, people such as former presidents Reagan, whom she casually downplayed as “an actor,” as well as George H.W. and Barbara Bush, whom she deemed “blue bloods.”
OH, OH! Joey Scar’s beating up on a white woman… ‘That’s right, I forgot, he’s rumored to have had some former practice with that ***DEADINTERNINHISOFFICE***
Joe & nem don’t mind beating up the white woman when it comes to the highest office in the land. They can’t have that ignorant Palin being the nominee.
Speak on it, SG2.
Yes, SG2 …we all know that when it comes to power and authority, whitefemales rank right up there with POC….to be ignored, misconstrued, defeated, and destroyed at all costs…no matter what deference and influence the position held prior to a female or POC ascending to the position.
So, why does Scarborough keep on talking endlessly day in and day out about the antics of this GOP STANDARD BEARER? This is the media’s creation…and she can be silenced just like POTUS has been by the media…NO COVERAGE!!
Morning Opulent!
Look what Moscow is saying about Palin….
http://www.moscowtopnews.com/?area=postView&id=2154
Spankin’ Sarah Palin: A clown short of a circus
I have already called Sarah Palin a pith-headed bimbo from the back of beyond, in this column. I shall now go one step further. By attacking the democratically elected President of the United States of America at a sensitive time in her country’s history, she shows the tact of a boorish drunkard bawling obscenities at a funeral.
If Sarah Palin is not some kind of a massive political joke in the USA, wheeled out to liven up the political scene from time to time with nonsensical and pastiche (one hopes) displays of sheer and utter ignorance, then it is worrying. It is even more so if anyone other than a manic depressive suffering from a chronic lack of lithium takes this…female…seriously.
Hockey Mum Sarah ex-Governess of Alaska is famous for her shrill shrieking style, displaying a pitifully shallow persona which one hopes is stage-managed to give the rest of the world a good chuckle at the Americans’ ability and unique quality to make fun of themselves, a real-life female version of Homer Simpson-cum-Belching Barney at Mo’s, giving us ever-more hilarious soundbites as she sets herself up as the dumbest woman on Earth.
BWA HA HA HA HA! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TscxLlhMiig
President Obama and bi-partisan congressional leaders met today for the first time since the midterm elections. The meeting was originally scheduled for November 18, but was delayed after GOP leadership requested a later date. The discussion included an agenda for the lame duck session, the START treaty and Bush-era tax cuts, among other issues. Read More »
Taxes are set to go up on January 1st if Congress fails to extend the Bush-era cuts. Republicans have asked for an extension for all earners but the administration has insisted that prolonging them for the top two rates will add too much to the U.S. deficit.
After meeting with the President, House Speaker-elect John Boehner (R-OH) stated he engaged in “frank” conversation with Obama. He added that both sides acknowledged “the American people want us to create jobs and cut spending.”
President Obama also made comments afterwards saying he believed it was a productive meeting and “a good start as we move forward.” Addressing the Bush-era tax cuts, Obama stated that he has created panel, headed-up by Treasury Sec. Geithner, to work with both political parties in negotiating the “log jam” that has developed in achieving the much sought-after tax breaks.
Washington, DC
http://www.cspan.org/Watch/Media/2010/11/30/HP/R/41266/Pres+Obama+America+people+did+not+vote+for+Gridlock.aspx
GOP speaks after meeting
After meeting with the President, House Speaker-elect John Boehner (R-OH) stated he engaged in “frank” conversation with Obama. He added that both sides acknowledged “the American people want us to create jobs and cut spending.”
President Obama also made comments afterwards saying he believed it was a productive meeting and “a good start as we move forward.” Addressing the Bush-era tax cuts, Obama stated that he has created panel, headed-up by Treasury Sec. Geithner, to work with both political parties in negotiating the “log jam” that has developed in achieving the much sought-after tax breaks.
Washington, DC
http://www.cspan.org/Watch/Media/2010/11/30/HP/R/41326/TUESDAY+Box+1+Obama+to+Meet+with+congressional+leaders.aspx
POTUS: Nope on tax cuts for the rich bitches!
GOP: WE WANTS OUR TAX CUTS!!!!!!!!!!!
No tax cuts, bitches!
LMBAO
Tempers Flare At Unemployment Office As Benefits Expire For Thousands
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/30/unemployment-extension-de_1_n_789758.html
A Democratic senator said Tuesday that the congressional standoff over renewing extended unemployment benefits could last several weeks in a repeat of a summer debacle that interrupted benefits for 2.5 million people.
Sen. Robert Casey (D-Pa.) said on a conference call with reporters that he hoped the Senate would approve a year-long reauthorization by “unanimous consent” on Tuesday afternoon. “I hope that our Republican friends won’t object to this request and we can get this passed today,” he said. “We’ll see what happens. I’m just very happy that at least we have a vote today to move it forward.”
It only takes one senator to block a unanimous consent request. HuffPost asked Casey what Democrats would do after unanimous consent is denied.
“Well, we’ll have to think of another way to get it done. Not just this week and this month, but if it takes longer than that we’ll have to stay at it,” he said. “You know how long it took us [over the summer] to get unemployment insurance as part of a bigger bill on tax extenders. We had vote after vote on that, they blocked and blocked and blocked. We pulled it out, had a separate vote, they blocked and blocked.”
The Christian Science Monitor – CSMonitor.com
Obama to meet GOP leaders: Should Democrats be worried?
President Obama will meet with GOP leaders from the House and Senate Tuesday for the first time since Election 2010. Some Democrats worry that he could be too willing to compromise.
By Gail Russell Chaddock, Staff writer
posted November 30, 2010 at 9:09 am EST
Washington —
President Obama meets Tuesday with Republican leaders for the first time since midterm elections flipped control of the House and gave the minority GOP a stronger hand in the Senate.
For a White House that has kept GOP leaders at an unusually long arm’s length, it’s a moment to recalibrate relations – a prospect that has many congressional Democrats on edge. For an administration that has spent its first two years trying to build Democratic supermajorities in the Senate, the question is now whether Mr. Obama should play ball with the Republicans – and how much he should compromise.
“I think this is the beginning of a new relationship with leaders in the House and the Senate,” said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs at a briefing on Monday. “I think this is the beginning of a longer-term conversation about how we get to compromise on issues that we know are important for the American people.”
The White House agenda for the meeting focuses on extending Bush-era tax cuts, now set to expire at the end of the year, for middle-class Americans, as well as moving to swift Senate ratification of a nuclear-arms pact with Russia, the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).
The Republican leaders, meanwhile, will focus on extending the tax cuts for all Americans, including the top income brackets. “We hope the president is willing to work with us on the American people’s priorities,” says Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Republican leader John Boehner.
http://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/print/content/view/print/346162
GOP Earmark Ban Rejected By Bipartisan Group In Senate Vote
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/30/earmark-ban-senate-vote_n_789730.html#comments
WASHINGTON — The Senate Tuesday rejected a GOP bid to ban the practice of larding spending bills with earmarks – those pet projects that lawmakers love to send home to their states.
Most Democrats and a handful of Republicans combined to defeat the effort, which would have effectively forbidden the Senate from considering legislation containing earmarks like road and bridge projects, community development funding, grants to local police departments and special-interest tax breaks.
The 39-65 tally, however, was a better showing for earmark opponents, who lost a 29-68 vote earlier this year. Any votes next year should be closer because a band of anti-earmark Republicans is joining the Senate.
Earlier this month, Republicans bowed to tea party activists and passed a party resolution declaring GOP senators would give up earmarks. House Republicans have also given up the practice, but most Democrats say earmarks are a legitimate way to direct taxpayer money to their constituents.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Tuesday that Democrats had made the earmarking process far more transparent than it previously had been under GOP control of Congress. The reforms include requiring lawmakers to document every projects they seek and receive.
Seven Democrats voted with all but eight Republicans to ban the practice.
EU launches antitrust probe into Google
By GABRIELE STEINHAUSER
The Associated Press
Tuesday, November 30, 2010; 10:31 AM
BRUSSELS — European Union regulators will investigate whether Google Inc. has abused its dominant position in the online search market by deliberately lowering links to smaller rivals’ sites in its search results.
The European Commission’s probe announced Tuesday is the first major investigation into Google’s business practices anywhere in the world and could potentially result in billions in fines, as in the recent cases of Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp.
Several competitors, one owned by Microsoft, say that links to their services appear too low on Google’s general search results. They also claim that when Google offers similar services, such as online price comparison, it puts its own links higher on the sponsored search results, the ones companies have to pay for.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/30/AR2010113000860.html?wpisrc=nl_tech
Breaking News Alert: Senate approves overhaul of food safety laws
November 30, 2010 10:44:21 AM
—————————————-
By a vote of 73 to 25, the Senate today approved the biggest overhaul to the nation’s food safety laws since the 1930s.
The House has already passed a similar version of the legislation.
http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/WUOQBH/BM4TCU/EYE83R/5S0C5W/DP1EB/28/h
For more information, visit washingtonpost.com
Supreme Court Takes Aim Again At Campaign Finance Laws
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/29/supreme-court-clean-elections-law-mccomish-bennett_n_789353.html#comments
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed to hear a free speech challenge to Arizona’s Clean Elections Law on Monday, a case that campaign finance reform advocates expect to be another blow in the court’s dismantling of the country’s elections system.
Arizona candidates running for statewide and legislative offices are eligible to receive public funds after raising a certain number of $5 donations, according to the measure adopted by voters in 1998. They also have to forgo private fundraising and accept expenditure limits. The controversial part of the law is the fact that candidates can receive additional funds if they are running against an opponent who is not part of the public system and spends an amount of money beyond a certain threshold — an attempt to level the playing field, at least in terms of funding.
Rangel hopes punishment will come in writing rather than on House floor
By David A. Fahrenthold and Paul Kane
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, November 30, 2010; 12:34 AM
In the curious annals of congressional drama, this week’s debate on the fate of New York Rep. Charles B. Rangel will be odder than most. The House will agonize, and Rangel will emote, over this question:
Will Rangel – who has been found guilty of 11 ethics violations – be scolded in person, or will he be scolded in writing?
That’s all. The first option is called a censure. The second, which Rangel (D) very much prefers, is a reprimand. Neither would kick Rangel out of Congress, dock his pay, take away his right to vote – or in any other way prevent him from being the exact same congressman he is today.
So why does it matter? The reason has to do with the way congressmen view themselves: In an era when politicians routinely compare their opponents to Hitler, socialists and Dr. Kevorkian, the House still sees its chamber as an island of 19th-century decorum.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/29/AR2010112906181.html?wpisrc=nl_headline
WikiLeaks founder could be charged under Espionage Act
By Ellen Nakashima and Jerry Markon
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, November 30, 2010; 12:13 AM
Federal authorities are investigating whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange violated criminal laws in the group’s release of government documents, including possible charges under the Espionage Act, sources familiar with the inquiry said Monday.
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said the Justice Department and Pentagon are conducting “an active, ongoing criminal investigation.” Others familiar with the probe said the FBI is examining everyone who came into possession of the documents, including those who gave the materials to WikiLeaks and also the organization itself. No charges are imminent, the sources said, and it is unclear whether any will be brought.
Former prosecutors cautioned that prosecutions involving leaked classified information are difficult because the Espionage Act is a 1917 statute that preceded Supreme Court cases that expanded First Amendment protections. The government also would have to persuade another country to turn over Assange, who is outside the United States.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/29/AR2010112905973.html?wpisrc=nl_headline
Obama, Republicans in tax face-off at White House
By Jeff Mason
WASHINGTON | Tue Nov 30, 2010 8:04am EST
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama faces off with Republican congressional leaders over taxes on Tuesday in a test-of-wills that could foreshadow how the White House works with the opposition party in the coming two years.
Obama will host Republicans John Boehner, the next Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Mitch McConnell, the party’s leader in the Senate, as well as Democrats Nancy Pelosi, the current Speaker, and Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, at 10:30 EST (1530 GMT) at the White House.
Taxes will be at the top of their agenda.
With a broad victory in November 2 elections behind them, Republicans are eager to force Democrats to agree to extend Bush-era tax cuts for wealthy Americans as well as the middle-class constituency that concerns Obama the most.
Democrats have been in disarray about how to proceed, despite
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6A44K020101130
November 29, 2010, 6:13 pm Netflix Partner Says Comcast ‘Toll’ Threatens Online Video Delivery
By BRIAN STELTER
9:45 p.m. | Updated
Level 3 Communications, a central partner in the Netflix online movie service, accused Comcast on Monday of charging a new fee that puts Internet video companies at a competitive disadvantage.
Level 3, which helps to deliver Netflix’s streaming movies, said Comcast had effectively erected a tollbooth that “threatens the open Internet,” and indicated that it would seek government intervention. Comcast quickly denied that the clash had anything to do with network neutrality, instead calling it “a simple commercial dispute.”
The dispute highlighted the growing importance of Internet video delivery — an area that some people say needs to be monitored more closely by regulators. Net neutrality, which posits that Internet traffic should be free of any interference from network operators like Comcast, is thought to be on the December agenda of the Federal Communications Commission.
“With this action, Comcast demonstrates the risk of a ‘closed’ Internet, where a retail broadband Internet access provider decides whether and how their subscribers interact with content,” Thomas C. Stortz, the chief legal officer for Level 3, said in a statement Monday.
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/29/netflix-partner-says-comcast-toll-threatens-online-video-delivery/?ref=business
Good Morning, 3 Chics, friends, and lurkers! :-)
Good Morning, Ametia & 3 Chics!
Happy Tuesday!
Hey there SG2! :-)
Drink up: http://topnews.in/health/files/cup-of-coffee11.jpg
Just what I need. Thank You!