Gladys Maria Knight (born May 28, 1944), known as the “Empress of Soul”,[1][2] is an American R&B/soul singer-songwriter, actress, businesswoman, humanitarian, and author. She is best known for the hits she recorded during the 1960s and 1970s, for both the Motown and Buddah Records labels, with her group Gladys Knight & the Pips, the most famous incarnation of which also included her brother Merald “Bubba” Knight and her cousins Edward Patten and William Guest.
Knight was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the daughter of Sarah Elizabeth (née Woods) and Merald Woodlow Knight, Sr., a postal worker.[3][4] She first achieved minor fame by winning Ted Mack’s Original Amateur Hour TV show contest at the age of 7 in 1952. The following year, she, her brother Merald, sister Brenda, and cousins William and Elenor Guest formed a musical group called The Pips (named after another cousin, James “Pip” Woods). By the end of the decade, the act had begun to tour, and had replaced Brenda Knight and Eleanor Guest with Gladys Knight’s cousin Edward Patten and friend Langston George.
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Breaking News Alert: Poll: Blame for possible government shutdown is divided
February 28, 2011 10:27:11 PM
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Americans are divided over who would be to blame for a potential government shutdown, with large numbers saying Republicans and President Obama are playing politics with the issue, according to a new Washington Post poll.
Thirty-six percent say Republicans would be at fault if the two sides cannot reach a budget deal in time to avert a temporary stoppage of government services, and just about as many, 35 percent, say primary responsibility would rest with the Obama administration. Nearly one in five say the two camps would be equally culpable.
In 1995, when Bill Clinton was president, 46 percent said they would blame House Speaker Newt Gingrich and congressional Republicans for the impending stoppage, compared with 27 percent who said Clinton would be at fault.
http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/92KH5M/WL86OT/7M4UQY/6RB6L7/9N2ZX/VU/h
Feb 25, 2011
Poll: Mississippi most conservative state
By Catalina Camia, USA TODAY
Where do people who call themselves liberals and conservatives live in the United States?
A new Gallup Poll shows Mississippi has the largest percentage of people who self-identify as conservatives, at 50.5%, followed by Idaho(48.5%) and Alabama (48.3%).
On the other end of the political spectrum, the District of Columbia (41.1%) has the most people who say they’re liberals, followed by Vermont (30.5%) and Rhode Island (29.3%).
Overall, conservatives outnumber liberals in every state, Gallup says. In the nation’s capital, more D.C. residents identify themselves as liberals.
Mississippi — where Republicans hold both U.S. Senate seats, the governorship and the state Senate — is the first state where more than half of its people call themselves conservatives, Gallup says.
Gallup’s Jeffrey Jones writes that the impact of how people identify themselves can be seen in how state governments are solving their political challenges, such as with budget deficits and dealings with union workers.
To come up with the rankings, Gallup interviewed 182,538 adults in 2010 in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The margins of error for each state are up to plus or minus 6 percentage points, with most 3 points or less. The District of Columbia margin is plus or minus 7 points.
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2011/02/gallup-poll-states-conservatives-liberals-/1
Posted at 4:47 PM ET, 02/28/2011
Nikki Haley offers hints at 2012 endorsement
By Aaron Blake
Newly minted South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) will be endorsing in the 2012 GOP presidential race. And while she won’t say whom just yet, it sounds like at least a few candidates have some work to do earning her support.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Haley offered praise for Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, and Haley Barbour, among others.
When it came to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, though, she suggested his best years may be behind him.
“There was a place and time for him,” Haley said. “I think that there is a respect for him that he’s been there and done that.”
When asked whether she was saying Gingrich’s time had passed, Haley laughed it off.
“Don’t read into my words,” she said. “You know, I’m just being very honest with you.”
Haley’s endorsement will carry significant weight given the state’s prominence in the presidential nominating process. It is slated to be one of the first four states to hold its primary.
That makes her a woman lots of people will want to get to know. And already, she’s spoken with many potential 2012 presidential candidates making swings through her state.
The most likely recipients of Haley’s endorsement would seem to be Palin and Romney, who each endorsed Haley in her long shot 2010 GOP primary campaign. Palin’s endorsement, in particular, gave Haley a shot in the arm at the exact time she needed it, and Haley endorsed Romney in the 2008 presidential campaign.
But Haley insists she’s not favoring anybody in 2012 and won’t engage in any kind of political payback.
“Not at all,” she said. “That is something that I will always be appreciative of and grateful for, but this is not a quid pro quo.”
Haley declined to criticize Romney for a health care bill he instituted as governor of Massachusetts, but she did say that “what governor Romney thought is right for Massachusetts is not right for South Carolina.”
Haley didn’t weigh in directly on Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, but she appeared to sympathize with him on one issue.
Daniels has earned the ire of some social conservatives for suggesting Republicans declare a “truce” on social issues while the country deals with its economic troubles. Haley said those social issues will always be a part of the GOP platform, but that they should be on the back burner when it comes to the 2012 presidential campaign.
“From my perspective, I don’t think we have the luxury of being able to debate social issues like we used to,” Haley said.
Haley said she has exchanged e-mails with Palin, but that the contact between the two has been limited — as it has always been. She noted that she hadn’t heard from Palin’s team for a year before the former Alaska governor’s husband, Todd, called and offered the endorsement.
As for her own national ambitions, Haley deflected talk that she would be on anyone’s short list for vice president.
The talk percolated even before she won her race in November. After the young, attractive and tea party-friendly Indian-American state representative beat three more established white male politicians in the primary, Haley’s stock rose quickly.
She said she needs to focus on being a good governor first and suggested such speculation is fleeting. The more important thing, she said, is getting the best nominee at the top of the GOP ticket.
“It’s not about the flavor of the month,” Haley said. “You’ve got to be focused on the top of the ticket first.”
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/eye-on-2012/haley-offers-hints-at-2012-end.html
Oprah has the Oscar best pic winners on Colin Firth, Geofrey Rush, and Tom Hooper, director.
Author likens Google to Caesar, says Huffington Post threatens journalism
Posted on 02.27.11
Categories: Biz/Money, Featured, Nation
“As consumers and as citizens, I think it would be a wise move for us to try to understand better how Google works, what it does and what it hides,” author Siva Vaidhyanathan explained to CNN contributor Howard Kurtz on Sunday. “It’s a lens that chooses some things and hides other things without censoring.”
He added that America Online’s news site Huffington Post have created a model by which they can “game” Google with keywords and link farms. While it’s quite effective for them, it ultimately has the effect of drawing attention away from advertisers in the local and regional publications that essentially make up much of their content.
“The Huffington Post is a much stronger threat to local journalism and independent journalism organizations than Google is,” he said. “Google actually does nothing but help [journalists], as far as I can see.”
This video is from CNN, broadcast Sunday, Feb. 27, 2011.
http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/02/author-likens-google-to-julius-caesar/
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Breaking News Alert: Breaking News: U.S. freezes $30 billion in Libyan government assets
February 28, 2011 2:34:17 PM
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The U.S. Treasury Department announced Monday that it has frozen at least $30 billion in Libyan government assets under U.S. jurisdiction. “This is the largest blocking under any sanctions program ever,” said David Cohen, the department’s acting undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. The announcement comes as U.S. and European governments tighten sanctions against the government of Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi.
For more information, visit washingtonpost.com
Gladys is looking awfully fly in that pic you have :)
Obama says he’ll support letting states opt out of health-care law earlier
By Perry Bacon Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 28, 2011; 12:39 PM
President Obama told a group of governors Monday that he would support moving up the timetable in which states can opt out of the federal health care law, signaling flexibility on a law that remains unpopular with many Republicans.
In his speech to the governors, who were attending the winter meeting of the National Governors Association, Obama said he would approve of allowing states to opt out of the law by 2014 if they could cover as many people as they would under the Affordable Care Act and not increase the deficit. Under the original law, states could not opt until in 2017. The new opt-out provision was written by a bipartisan group of senators .
“I think that’s a reasonable proposal. I support it,” Obama told the governors assembled in the State Dining Room. “It will give you more flexibility more quickly, while still guaranteeing the American people reform.”
The president did not directly criticize any of the governors, some of whom are considering challenging Obama in next year’s presidential election, or Republicans in Congress. But he defended the health care law, as well as his proposals to increase spending on light rail and other infrastructure projects, which some of the GOP governors have opposed.
“To those who say we can’t afford new investments in infrastructure, I say we can’t afford not to make investments in infrastructure,” Obama said to a largely silent audience of governors, their aides and administration officials.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/28/AR2011022802553.html?wpisrc=nl_pmpolitics
“Inside Job” director Charles Ferguson subjected Wall Street players, economists and bureaucrats to a fierce cross-examination to depict the economic crisis as a colossal crime perpetrated on the working-class masses by a greedy few.
His film examined the financial crisis of 2008. His speech lamented the lack of accountability three years later.
“Forgive me, I must start by pointing out that three years after our horrific financial crisis caused by financial fraud, not a single financial executive has gone to jail, and that’s wrong,” Ferguson said.
WATCH:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/28/charles-ferguson-oscar-speech-inside-job_n_828963.html
We’re supposed to feel SORRY for Bernie Made-OFF? Ummmm…….NOT!
The Madoff Tapes
One evening, my home phone rang. �You have a collect call from Bernard Madoff, an inmate at a federal prison,� a recording announced. And there he was.
By Steve FishmanPublished Feb 27, 2011
Bernard L. Madoff is in therapy. Each week, he waits for the signal that prisoners are allowed to leave their housing units, then he walks the five minutes from his �room,� as he calls it, to the psychiatric unit at the Federal Correctional Institution in Butner, North Carolina, where he can unburden himself. The sessions are often teary.
�How could I have done this?� he asks. �I was making a lot of money. I didn’t need the money. [Am I] a flawed character?�
In some ways, Madoff has not tried to evade blame. He has made a full confession, telling me again and again that nothing justifies what he did. And yet, for Madoff, that doesn’t settle the matter. He feels misunderstood. He can’t bear the thought that people think he’s evil. �I’m not the kind of person I’m being portrayed as,� he told me.
And so, sitting alone with his therapist, in the prison khakis he irons himself, he seeks reassurance. �Everybody on the outside kept claiming I was a sociopath,� Madoff told her one day. �I asked her, �Am I a sociopath?’ � He waited expectantly, his eyelids squeezing open and shut, that famous tic. �She said, �You’re absolutely not a sociopath. You have morals. You have remorse.’ � Madoff paused as he related this. His voice settled. He said to me, �I am a good person.�
There aren’t many who would agree. For most of the world, Bernie Madoff is a monster; he betrayed thousands of investors, bankrupted charities and hedge funds. On paper, his Ponzi scheme lost nearly $65 billion; the effects spread across five continents. And he brought down his own family with him, a more intimate kind of betrayal.
Madoff, 72, is in prison with a sentence of 150 years, which seems more than just, given the enormity of his crime. Though the financial damage continues, prison seemed to conclude Madoff’s part of the story. Then, on the second anniversary of Madoff’s arrest, his son Mark, age 46, slipped a vacuum-cleaner cord over a pipe on the living-room ceiling of his Soho loft and tried to hang himself. When it broke, he tried again with a dog’s leash, and succeeded. This was the kind of cosmic retribution that might have been exacted in the House of Atreus, the suicide an accusation of a vast betrayal. It seemed a death designed to hurt the living�even a monster’s conscience must be moved by such a demonstration. After all, before he was exposed as a fraud, Madoff had been a family man.
http://nymag.com/print/?/news/features/berniemadoff-2011-3/&om_rid=DRaeQf&om_mid=_BNa6SRB8ZYPJL1
“Im a good person”
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But I’ll clean out anyone’s life-savings in a heartbeat & fk up their life without blinking!
LOL I’d cry, if this wasn’t so funny. We’re really supposed to buy it that Bernie MADE-OFF with a shitload of other people’s $$$ is a GOOD PERSON/
GTFOH BERNIE! Folks like Bernie, they do NOT have a conscience, no remorse, only looking out for their own asses, selfish bastard. You are a sociopathic lying, thrieving CRIMINAL, Bernie. And you’re paying the time for the crime.
Report: House GOP budget cuts would destroy 700,000 jobs
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/
A Republican plan to sharply cut federal spending this year would destroy 700,000 jobs through 2012, according to an independent economic analysis set for release Monday.
The report, by Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi, offers fresh ammunition to Democrats seeking block the Republican plan, which would terminate dozens of programs and slash federal appropriations by $61 billion over the next seven months.
Zandi, an architect of the 2009 stimulus package who has advised both political parties, predicts that the GOP package would reduce economic growth by 0.5 percentage points this year, and by 0.2 percentage points in 2012, resulting in 700,000 fewer jobs by the end of next year.
What did John Boehner say? “SO BE IT!”
John Boehner and the GOP don’t give a damn about anyone but themselves. Greedy bastards!
Rep. Allen West leaves door open to 2012 vice presidential slot
http://blackpoliticsontheweb.com/2011/02/28/rep-allen-west-leaves-door-open-to-2012-vice-presidential-slot/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BlackPoliticsontheWeb+%28Headlines+from+BlackPoliticsontheWeb.com%29&utm_content=FaceBook
After resigning his congressional seat in 1998, Newt Gingrich didn’t think he’d ever be this close to making a run for president.
And if he does run, he told NewsChannel ’s Evan Axelbank at an annual Palm Beach County GOP fundraiser, that Florida’s elected officials will get lots of consideration as Vice Presidential picks. He included brand new congressman, Allen West.
“Florida has two, and maybe three potential vice presidential candidates right now. Maybe four if you count Jeb Bush,” said Gingrich.
Gingrich is spending a fair amount of time in coveted Florida. Aides say this is his sixth recent visit. If he runs, he’d consider picking a Floridian to be his running mate and lumped Congressman Allen West in with statewide electees like Governor Scott and Senator Rubio.
****rolls eyes****
I hope this won’t get me banned, but I gotta say it..
NIGGER, PLEASE.
BWA HA HA HA
Rikyrah, are you being “bad”? But he is a black ass nigger!
BWA HA HA HA Banned?! Woman, please! We’ll NEVA ban the TRUTH here.
Hackers Take Down Koch-Backed Conservative Website
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/28/anonymous-koch-americans-for-prosperity_n_829056.html#comments
‘Anonymous,’ the group of online hacker activists that rose to prominence for laying cyber siege to a number of parties who opposed WikiLeaks, has launched its latest attack on the Americans for Prosperity website, a conservative organization funded by the billionaire Koch brothers.
Politico reports that the “Anonymous” actions left the Koch-backed website unavailable for periods late Sunday night, though it appears to be running normally at the time of publication.
In a press release, the group points to the Kochs’ involvement in the ongoing standoff between public employees and Gov. Scott Walker in Wisconsin:
“Koch Industries, and oligarchs like them, have most recently started to manipulate the political agenda in Wisconsin,” “Anonymous” writes. “Governor Walker’s union-busting budget plan contains a clause that went nearly un-noticed. This clause would allow the sale of publicly owned utility plants in Wisconsin to private parties (specifically, Koch Industries) at any price, no matter how low, without a public bidding process. The Koch’s have helped to fuel the unrest in Wisconsin and the drive behind the bill to eliminate the collective bargaining power of unions in a bid to gain a monopoly over the state’s power supplies.”
The Koch brothers, who are also prominent backers of the Tea Party movement, were cast into the spotlight last week when a liberal blogger claiming to be David Koch prank-called Gov. Walker.
And here’s another classic clip, to show folks how to pay tribute to GREATNESS:
Greatness indeed!
Ed was the BOMBDIGGETY!
Lena was the real deal and reconciled her BLACKNESS, and refused to compromise herself, once she did it.
I miss Ed Bradley. And Lena was gorgeous. Awesome interview.
Maddow: Fox News A ‘Chamber Of Horrors’
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/28/maddow-fox-news-chamber-horrors-olbermann_n_829030.html
In an interview with The Daily Beast’s Howard Kurtz, Rachel Maddow called Fox News a “a McCarthyite chamber of horrors” and discussed Keith Olbermann’s departure from MSNBC.
Kurtz framed Maddow as the new face and most high-profile voice of the network in the wake of Keith Olbermann’s departure. (She is now MSNBC’s most veteran prime-time host, having been on the air for a little under two-and-a-half years.) MSNBC President Phil Griffin seemed to agree with this assessment, calling Maddow’s program “our biggest show.”
For her part, Maddow told Kurtz she misses Olbermann, but said his departure “really wasn’t about the rest of us” at MSNBC.
It at least the third time Maddow has publicly addressed Olbermann’s abrupt exit from MSNBC in January. She has also called him a “freaking successful” pioneer and, in an echo of her comments to The Daily Beast, told Bill Maher on the night of Olbermann’s resignation that the situation “didn’t involve any of the rest of us.”
Maddow reserved her biggest fire in the interview for Fox News. “You can’t really call yourself a news channel if that’s what you broadcast,” she said.
Sure Rachel, Olberman’s departure din’t involve any of teh rest of y’all…. OK, let us know how that’s working down the road, when Mr. Griffin orders you to read a script that you know bloody well is against everything you stand for.
Ms Lena Horne gets a fitting tribute at the Kennedy Center Honors
A comment on the whitewashed Oscars from my brilliant daughter Renita
i think that was the oscars nod and the darkies
who actually arent that dark
since nan one of us were to be seen in any film up there
i mean lena was damn near white and so is halle but they’re really black
so this will show that we’re giving the blacks a slice of the show
they arent snubbed
it was no need to single lena out. no harm but they never do that
they usually just list the folks who’ve all passed on
and not really single one out as more importantly dead
THIS
And that half ass attempt at showcasing Bob Hope, WTF, what was that all about? Just a whole lot of NOTHING.
Ooops! I didn’t include that the comment was regarding Halle Berry’s lame tribute to the late, great, Ms. Lena Horne.
That’s for the folks who are reading and didn’t notice…
Lena Horne: “It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it.”
that was so on point
The White House Blog
Behind-the-Scenes Video: “Thurgood” Screening at the White House
Posted by Kori Schulman on February 24, 2011 at 03:34
President Obama recently hosted a screening of Thurgood at the White House movie theater — an HBO film about the life and career of Thurgood Marshall, the remarkable Civil Rights lawyer and the first African-American Supreme Court Justice. Among those in attendance were Justice Thurgood Marshall’s two sons, “Goody” and John, and writer George Stevens, Jr. In behind-the-scenes interviews, they discuss Justice Marshall’s greatest accomplishments, lessons from his life’s story and the particular significance of viewing this film in the Obama White House during African American History month.
Moments before joining President Obama for the feature presentation John Marshall said, “As we focus on today and focus on moving forward I think it’s so important, particularly during African American History Month that we remember those who worked tirelessly and sacrificed so much to enable us to enjoy the freedoms and opportunities that we do today and my father was one of those.”
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/02/24/behind-scenes-video-thurgood-screening-white-house?utm_source=022811&utm_medium=intro&utm_campaign=daily
Clarence Thomas Defends Wife Against Criticism Of Tea Party Activism
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas – his impartiality under attack from liberals because of his attendance at a meeting of conservative donors sponsored by the Koch brothers and his wife’s tea party activism – struck a defiant tone in a Saturday night speech in Charlottesville, Va., telling a friendly audience that he and his wife “believe in the same things” and “are focused on defending liberty.”
Ya know what, FUCK Unca Clarence & miss “GIMME” Ginny.
Clarence needs to be impeached.
…Like yesterday, he needed to be gone. He , Scalia, and Alito.. GONE!
Wisconsin protesters stay put; defiant governor holds groundBy the CNN Wire StaffFebruary 28, 2011 9:55 a.m. EST
Check out what other states are facing budget shortfalls.
(CNN) — Union workers and activists celebrated in the Wisconsin Capitol early Monday, as police relented and let them spend another night on the marble floors of the building’s rotunda.
“This is a huge, huge moment and that’s why you are seeing dancing and hearing drumming,” protester David Wasserman told CNN affiliate WISN. “It’s a party.”
Authorities had given demonstrators until late Sunday afternoon to leave the building, saying it needed to be cleaned after roughly two weeks of protests.
“We’re going through an extensive cleaning process tonight,” Wisconsin Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs said late Sunday. “We’re hoping to get through that.”
And while many people left, hundreds of others defied the order and remained inside. Some said they were willing to risk arrest in a conflict that has become a flash point in the nation’s debate around labor unions.
“Some people are going to walk out. Some people are going to be carried out. But the bottom line is, this is going to be nonviolent,” protester Alex Hanna also told WISN.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/02/28/wisconsin.budget/index.html?hpt=T2&om_rid=DRaeQf&om_mid=_BNa6SRB8ZYPJL1
Good Morning 3 Chics, Friends & Lurkers!
LOL OK, OK, I’m up! Sheesh, what a racket…. I’ts a good thing we got plenty of meat in frig, that chicken would be on my dinner table. LMBAO
Here, join me in a cup or two:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ax87_piQCOo/TVcBIqiusiI/AAAAAAAAAV4/eK6qYTvgipY/s320/cup-of-coffee.jpg
LMAO
Thanks for the delicious cup of coffee. Much obliged!
LOL That bird was making such a racket, but it’s got me going now. HA HAHA
Happy MUN-dane, Everybody! :-)