Serendipity SOUL-Monday Open Thread

Wiki:  Prince Rogers Nelson (born June 7, 1958), better known as simply Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He has been known under the unpronounceable symbol, which he used between 1993 and 2000. During that period he was frequently referred to in the media as “The Artist Formerly Known as Prince“, often abbreviated to “TAFKAP“, or simply “The Artist“.[1]

According to Robert Larsen in his book, History of Rock and Roll, Prince is “one of the most talented and commercially successful pop musicians of the last 20 years”, producing ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career.[2] Prince founded his own recording studio and label, writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of the instruments on his recordings.[2] In addition, Prince has been a “talent promoter” for the careers of Sheila E., Carmen Electra, The Time and Vanity 6,[2] and has written songs for these artists and others (including Chaka Khan, The Bangles, and Sinéad O’Connor).

Prince also has several hundred unreleased songs in his “vault”.[3] He has won seven Grammy Awards,[4] a Golden Globe,[5] and an Academy Award.[6] He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, the first year he was eligible.[7]

In that same year Rolling Stone ranked Prince #28 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.[8]

HAPPY MUN-dane, Everybody!

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61 Responses to Serendipity SOUL-Monday Open Thread

  1. Palin: Rumors I Don’t Know Africa Is A Continent Are ‘Lies’

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/07/sarah-palin-africa-is-a-c_n_832605.html#comments

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWZHTJsR4Bc&feature=player_embedded#at=113

    Sarah Palin appeared to allude to a suggestion made in the aftermath of the 2008 presidential campaign that she didn’t know Africa was a continent — and not a country — in an interview with the BBC published online on Monday.

    “Rumors like I didn’t know Africa was a continent, that’s still out there, that’s a lie,” she told the U.K.-based outlet when asked about criticism of her intellectuality. The former Alaska governor reportedly seemed “tense” when she was confronted with the matter.

    On the heels of Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) loss to President Barack Obama in the 2008 race, intriguing details about the internal operations of the pair’s campaign began to trickle out. HuffPost’s Nick Graham reported at the time:

    According to Fox News Chief Political Correspondent Carl Cameron, there was great concern within the McCain campaign that Palin lacked “a degree of knowledgeability necessary to be a running mate, a vice president, a heartbeat away from the presidency,” in part because she didn’t know which countries were in NAFTA, and she “didn’t understand that Africa was a continent, rather than a series, a country just in itself.”

    In the wake of the revelation, Palin lashed out and called the suggestion “cruel” and “mean-spirited.”

    “If there are allegations based on questions or comments that I made in debate prep about NAFTA, and about the continent vs. the country when we talk about Africa there, then those were taken out of context,” she said. “It’s immature. It’s unprofessional and those guys are jerks if they came away with it, taking things out of context and then tried to spread something on national news. It’s not fair, and it’s not right.”

    Several years later, Palin is now stirring speculation that she could run for president in 2012.

    Via the Atlantic comes video of the 2008 Fox News segment that prompted some to question Palin’s geographic knowledge.

  2. Ametia says:

    Keep on breaking it down, RiPPa!

    There’s Nothing un-American About Calling President Obama a Kenyan
    Monday, March 7, 2011

    So I’ve been thinking. You know all this Obama hate? Yeah, all this Kenya talk that’s really not “hate” or “racist”, but instead an expression of defiance and discontent over his policies? Yeah, I finally figured this stuff out. Sure, it’s some Ole racist-ass-racist bullshit; but, it’s deeper than the traditional “we hate niggers,” type of racism.

    I totally missed it when Newt Gingrich brought it up some time ago. But last week when Mike Huckabee was talking out the side of his ass, about Obama’s different view of the British and such, from his Arkansas trailer park? Like America didnt get its start from kicking British ass in a most expedient anti-colonial manner? I figured it out: these white folks are more pissed about Barack’s daddy than they are Barack Obama himself!

    I mean why else would would they be so fixated on Kenya as they are? White folks ain’t gave a damn ’bout Africa since ‘We Are The World’ back in the day. But naw, all of a sudden a brotha starts talking about ‘Hope & Change’ and err’body wanna see a birth certificate, DNA, and a Maury Povich lie detector test episode.

    You see folks, this is about the fact that Barack’s daddy, or his daddy’s, daddy’s, daddy, didn’t volunteer to come to America and pick cotton for free. Yep, nobody white ever counted on slavery backfiring to produce America’s first Black president. And now they’re talking ’bout being an oppressed minority group in Amuur’cuh ‘n shit, without never having to utter the word Massa to n’aan Negro.

    THIS RIGHT CHERE, Y’ALL:
    See, forget ‘Audacity Of Hope’, son. Here’s the deal. Barack’s daddy had the Audacity Of Stroke to do the horizontal watusi with a white woman that produced a Halfrican child… in America. A child who would grow up with bigger dreams than going platinum, playing in the NBA, or reppin’ his hood in the penetentiary, to become the most powerful man in the world, unlike his distant American-Negro cousins.

  3. Ametia says:

    Edited on Mon Mar-07-11 07:33 PM by JanDutchy
    Source: AFP

    CAIRO (AFP) – Ministers of Egypt’s new government were sworn in on Monday by the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Field Marshal Mohammad Hussein Tantawi, at a ceremony in the capital Cairo.

    Prime Minister Essam Sharaf’s government includes six new ministers including Foreign Minister Nabil Elarabi, Oil Minister Abdullah Ghorab and those of interior, culture, justice and labour.

    Sharaf, appointed on Thursday after protests against the presence of associates of Hosni Mubarak in the caretaker government running affairs since the former president’s departure, has vowed to work for a democratic system.

    Elarabi, a former ambassador to the United Nations, was named as foreign minister on Sunday. The 75-year-old replaced Ahmed Abul Gheit, who had been in the job since 2004.

    New premier Sharaf addressed thousands of protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Friday and was received with raucous cheers of support.
    http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=35236

  4. Ametia says:

    Wisconsin Dems demand probe of Walker’s conduct on fake Koch call
    By Greg Sargent

    Governor Scott Walker’s conduct on the prank call with the David Koch imposter has largely receded from the national media spotlight, but if Wisconsin Democrats have their way, it will be the subject of an investigation by Wisconsin’s enforcer of campaign finance and ethics statutes.

    The Wisconsin Democratic Party is set to file a complaint today to the state Government Accountability Board that alleges Walker repeatedly violated Wisconsin statutes by appearing to request support from Koch in shoring up vulnerable Republicans and by indicating that he would use the threat of layoffs as a political tool.

    I’ve got a copy of the complaint, to be released later today, and it’s worth a read, not necessarily because of the impact it may or may not have, but because it’s a reminder of how egregious Walker’s conduct on the call really was.

    The complaint, which reflects a sense among Dems that all bets are off in this standoff, makes an interesting argument. By any reasonable standard, it says, Walker’s conduct should undermine “public trust” and fell well short of standards designed to ensure “the faith and confidence of the people of this state in their state public officials and state employees.”

    Read more: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2011/03/wisc

  5. Ametia says:

    Wis. gov. rebuffs Democrats’ request for meeting
    By SCOTT BAUER, Associated Press Scott Bauer, Associated Press – 18 mins ago
    MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin Democrats who fled the state nearly three weeks ago asked Monday for a meeting with Gov. Scott Walker to talk about changes to his plan to eliminate most public workers’ union rights, a request the governor dismissed as “ridiculous.”

    Walker said he and his administration have been in communication with at least a couple of the AWOL Senate Democrats about a deal that could bring them back, but the lawmaker who asked for the meeting, Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller, “is firmly standing in the way.”

    That accusation led to a flurry of angry responses from Democrats who said Walker was misrepresenting the talks. The sometimes-angry exchange suggested that any resolution to the stalemate was farther away than ever.

    [Related: What is a labor union?]

    “Right now, I’m so damn mad at his misrepresentation of the truth and the public should be as well,” said Sen. Bob Jauch, one of two Democrats who had talked last week with the Senate Republican leader about possible compromises. “Trust is completely broken down now. I don’t believe anything he says.”

    The standoff has drawn national attention and placed Wisconsin at the center a vigorous debate over the future of union rights. Walker’s proposal to balance the state budget remains in limbo because, without the 14 Democrats, the state Senate does not have enough members present for a quorum.

    [Related: What is a right-to-work law?]

    The senators said pressure is mounting on Walker and the GOP to compromise after weeks of protests that have drawn tens of thousands of people to the Capitol.

    In addition, polls show substantial opposition to the governor and his plan, and recall efforts have been launched against Republican senators. Recall efforts have also begun against the Democrats.

    “The problem for the Democrats is to figure out how to come back and not be seen as conceding,” said Charles Franklin, a University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor and founder of pollster.com.

    “Both sides have been so strongly supported by their constituencies that it makes it awfully hard to compromise unless they can find a way to both claim victory,” Franklin said. “And that’s certainly difficult.”

    Walker tried to place blame for the stalemate on Miller, the Democratic leader in the Senate, saying he blocked progress on talks with Jauch and Sen. Tim Cullen.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_wisconsin_budget_unions;_ylt=AgW_o.Gkr6T344dabmnReKqs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTN1c2Q2c21xBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTEwMzA3L3VzX3dpc2NvbnNpbl9idWRnZXRfdW5pb25zBGNjb2RlA21vc3Rwb3B1bGFyBGNwb3MDNwRwb3MDNARwdANob21lX2Nva2UEc2VjA3luX2hlYWRsaW5lX2xpc3?om_rid=DRaeQf&om_mid=_BNdUwXB8Zgn-iV

  6. Lillian McEwen: Clarence Thomas Was ‘Easily Aroused’

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/07/lillian-mcewen-clarence-thomas_n_832315.html#comments

    The ex-girlfriend of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas reveals details about their past sexual relationship in her newly-released memoir D.C. Unmasked & Undressed, the AFRO reports.

    Lillian McEwen broke a 19-year silence last fall on a sensitive situation she found herself in as a result of her relationship with Thomas. The Washington Post reported at the time:

    When Anita Hill accused Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment during his explosive 1991 Supreme Court confirmation hearing, Thomas vehemently denied the allegations and his handlers cited his steady relationship with another woman in an effort to deflect Hill’s allegations. Lillian McEwen was that woman.

    In McEwen’s book, she offers new details about her relationship with Thomas and also reiterates some of what she told the Post last year, such as suggesting the high court justice had a strong interest in porn. The AFRO reports:

    McEwen gushes over Thomas’ prowess and “fantasy [package],” describing his body as “coffee-bean … velvet-covered cement.”

    He was a “national treasure,” she said, one she shared with other women in ménages à trois and in a voyeuristic pleasure palace. And she described her then-lover as being “easily aroused,” with a “strong interest in pornography.”

    McEwen spoke candidly to the Post about the demeanor and tendencies of Thomas when she broke her silence on their history. She suggested he “was always actively watching the women he worked with to see if they could be potential partners,” and noted he was “partial to women with large breasts.”

    Gag

  7. Ametia says:

    West Wing Briefing
    GOP, White House remain $50 billion apart on budget
    By Perry Bacon Jr.
    Washington Post Staff Writer
    Monday, March 7, 2011; 9:39 AM

    The White House and congressional Republicans remain about $50 billion apart as the debate over this year’s federal spending drags into its third month.

    A two-week budget deal reached last week will fund the government until March 18, but there will be even more pressure to reach a permanent deal then; President Obama is scheduled to leave for a trip to South America the week of March 20, and there also is a congressional recess.

    Right now, the two sides remain far apart not only in details but even in agreeing on the math. The administration argues that compared with the president’s original request for 2011, Obama has already proposed about $52 billion in cuts, about “halfway” to the $100 billion Republicans called for during the congressional elections.

    But last month Republicans pushed through a provision in the House that cut $61 billion and the White House has only agreed to about $10 billion in cuts over a similar amount of time. So the GOP disputes the halfway argument and says the White House supports about a sixth of the cuts the Republicans have endorsed.

    By either account, the two sides remain about $50 billion apart, as Republicans are calling for cuts in job training programs, Pell Grants and other spending that Democrats support.

    White House officials have signaled optimism about reaching an agreement, but leaders from both sides in Congress are declaring positions that will make compromise difficult.

    “To go any further [with cuts] is to push more kids out of school, to stifle the innovation which small businesses and large alike need to create more jobs, and it stops the investment in infrastructure which kills good paying jobs right here in the United States,” said Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) in an interview on “Fox News Sunday
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/07/AR2011030701539.html?wpisrc=nl_pmpolitics

  8. Palin’s Father: ‘We Sleep With Guns’

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/07/sarah-palins-father-we-sl_n_832245.html#comments

    The parents of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin offered a rare glimpse into the familial dimension of the Tea Party favorite and potential presidential contender’s life in an interview with the BBC published online on Monday.

    Chuck and Sally Heath talked with the U.K.-based outlet in their home in Wasilla, Alaska.

    Speaking on their daughter’s rise to political superstardom within the conservative community, Palin’s parents addressed how some of the less favorable aspects of her fame have come to impact their lives. They said that the entire family has faced death threats.

    ABC News reported in January that an aide to the former governor said that security threats had increased in the wake of the tragic shooting in Tucson, Arizona in which numerous victims were left wounded or killed. Palin’s response to the incident sparked a firestorm of controversy.

    “As a mother I do have concerns about her safety and that of the kids… she knows how I feel, that it’s risky,” said Palin’s mother on the prospect Palin could mount a 2012 campaign. Her father confessed, “We sleep with the guns.”

    Palin herself told the BBC, “Our family is pretty thick-skinned.” She added, “For the last 20 years in political office our family has put up with a lot of flak. We’re still standing and we’re doing well, so we’re not worried too much about the pressure.”

    The interview comes amid buzz over the possibility Palin could run for president in the next election cycle. During an appearance on Fox Business last week, the potential candidate signaled, however, it could be months before she announces whether or not she plans to launch a campaign for the White House.

    Bye

  9. Ametia says:

    Busy dad
    Parent-teacher conference for Sasha
    By MJ LEE | 03/07/11 8:39 AM Updated: 03/07/11 9:57 AM

    Add Sasha’s schoolwork to the list of things President Obama has to address this week.

    Obama and the first lady started their week with a parent-teacher conference for their 9-year-old daughter. In just a few hours, the prime minister of Australia was scheduled to be at the White House.

    The first couple arrived at Sidwell Friends School in Bethesda at 7:25 a.m. According to the pool, the president was wearing a dark suit and no tie, and the first lady had on black pants and a jacket.

    They stayed for about a half hour and were back at the White House at 8:18 a.m., the pool reports.

    http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/0311/busy_dad_adedf006-d5c3-4e16-81d0-7aab4314649a.html

  10. Ametia says:

    ABA Journal Podcast

    What Is the Future For Employee Wellness Programs? (Podcast)Posted Mar 7, 2011 8:59 AM CST
    By Stephanie Francis Ward
    Smoking and obesity cost employers a significant amount of money, say some lawyers, so much that many businesses have embraced wellness plans. The offerings strongly encourage employees to participate in fitness and track their routines with outside vendors, in exchange for health insurance discounts and sometimes even cash bonuses. ABA Journal Podcast moderator Stephanie Francis Ward talks with guests about how employers are using the plans, and what seems to be working.

    http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/podcast_monthly_episode_12?utm_source=maestro&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_email

  11. Ametia says:

    HERE’S THE REASON THE GOP’S ATTEMPTS @SMEARING FLOTUS

    WILL FAIL!

    Michelle Obama tops poll of US politicians
    Mon Mar 7, 6:47 am ET

    WASHINGTON (AFP) – First Lady Michelle Obama on Monday topped a new poll purporting to show how warmly Americans regard their leaders, beating even her husband President Barack Obama.

    Mrs Obama scored a chart-topping “warmth rating” of 60.1 degrees, three degrees hotter than the President, who came in fourth place in the Quinnipiac University “feeling thermometer” with 56.5 degrees.

    The survey asked voters to rate leaders from O to 100 degrees on the “feeling thermometer” with the highest numbers reflecting the warmest feelings.

    At 59.2 degrees, former president Bill Clinton came in second place on the thermometer, while New Jersey’s popular Republican governor Christopher Christie, virtually unknown on the national level one year ago, was third with 57 degrees.

    Christie “has clearly made a positive impression on the American people,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

    The New Jersey governor has ruled out running for the 2012 presidential nomination, despite being heavily recruited to toss his hat into the ring.

    “It is important to remember that this measure is not any kind of presidential trial heat, but it does reflect how voters feel about national figures, including politicians,” Brown said.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110307/ts_alt_afp/uspoliticsobama

  12. Ametia says:

    The GOP are PATHETIC! They can’t get the votes honestly, so they’re going after college voters now. You know the ones who voted OVERWHELMINGLY for Barack Hussein Obama.

    New Hampshire GOP House Speaker wants to disenfranchise “liberal” college voters
    Posted on Sunday, March 6, 2011 by GottaLaff

    Good catch by Alan Colmes, sniffing out this “patriotic” Republican, New Hampshire House Speaker William O’Brien who would love nothing more than to disenfranchise voters. Or should I say, more voters?

    I say “more” because the other day I posted about the GOP’s latest extensive, 22-state voter suppression efforts, citing a wonderful, but very depressing, piece by Think Progress.

    Salt. Wound. Rubbing:

    Turning to the issue of voter fraud prevention, O’Brien said his party will “tighten up the definition of a New Hampshire resident.”

    He said that Plymouth, a college town, experiences 900 same-day voter registrations.

    “They are kids voting liberal, voting their feelings, with no life experience,” he said.

    He then discussed the need for voters to have a photo I.D., to prove who they are, just as they must do when cashing a check.

    So life experience is now a prerequisite for voting? What about for going to faraway lands to kill people in the name of U.S. oil interests?

    And if nobody is supposed to vote their feelings, what’s up with all those sappy and/or scary campaign ads targeting our… emotions?

    http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/2011/03/06/new-hampshire-gop-house-speaker-wants-to-disenfranchise-liberal-college-voters/

  13. Ametia says:

    Whites Remember Jim Crow

    Memories of Jim Crow naturally depend on who’s doing the remembering. Southern whites who lived in the segregation era sometimes offer startlingly different recollections to those of African Americans, much the way a black and white film negative looks directly opposite the final print. In the southwestern Louisiana town of New Iberia, older whites tend to remember segregation as a benign social system. They say race relations were more peaceful during Jim Crow than they are now because blacks and whites understood their place within the social order. Some whites remember blacks getting unfair treatment under segregation, but few feel responsible or express remorse for black suffering. To most whites in Iberia Parish, Jim Crow operated beyond their control. Virtually all say their town’s Jim Crow history is irrelevant to contemporary race relations.

    Here’s the disgusting menu of interview titles and content:

    Interview Excerpts
    (Real Audio, How to Listen)
    Never Shook Hands Leonard Barrow, 1:50
    Learning the Color Line Henry Dauterive, 1:17
    We Did Not Know Deanne and Smitty Landry, 0:29
    Our Negroes were Happy Mary Levaux, 0:41
    Let’s Move On Deanne and Smitty Landry, 0:45
    Missing Out on Slavery Leonard Barrow, 1:13

    http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/remembering/whites.html

    • They say race relations were more peaceful during Jim Crow than they are now because blacks and whites understood their place within the social order. Some whites remember blacks getting unfair treatment under segregation, but few feel responsible or express remorse for black suffering.

      dreadful bastards!

      • Ametia says:

        You read and heard it correctly, SG2. And for CNN to air that nonsense about whites being oppressed…. GTFOHWTFBS

      • Ametia says:

        It’s mind numbing the IGNORANCE & self-hatred that these folks had for themselves. You have to hate yourself intensely to treat other humans the way these folks did-and still attempt to do.

    • dannie22 says:

      Reminiscing about the good ole days…

      Hanging niggas from the highest tree
      gang raping black women
      stealing black farmers property
      blacks not allowed to vote

      Why y’all don’t miss dem days?!?!?!

  14. Sarah Palin On Kathy Griffin: ’50-Year Old Adult Bully’

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/07/sarah-palin-on-kathy-griffin_n_832155.html#comments

    Looks like Kathy Griffin’s taunts have finally awoken the Mama Grizzly.

    Griffin, who has made sport of taunting the Palin clan, is set to play a Palin-type Tea Partier on an upcoming episode of “Glee,” something Fox News host Jeanine Pirro brought up to Palin in an interview over the weekend. That’s when the Mama Grizzly’s claws came out.

    “You know, Kathy Griffin can do anything to me or say anything about me, because you know, she’s kind of this – she’s a 50-year-old adult bully is really what she is,” Palin said. “She’s kind of a has-been comedian and she can do those things to me. I would just ask for respect of my children. As she had stated on CNN that her New Year’s resolution was to destroy my 16-year-old daughter, that takes it a little too far.

    “Kathy, pick on me, come up to Alaska and pick on me, but leave my kids alone.”

    Griffin has made clear her dislike of the Palin family over the past two years, attacking both the matriarch and her TV-starring children. She’s called Bristol “the White Precious,” vowed to take down Willow, has taken Levi Johnston to events and even ripped Palin in a performance in Anchorage, Alaska.

    Then don’t pimp your kids for campaign props, ass clown!

  15. Hot damn! I love Prince w/ his handsome self!

    40 Pictures, Images and Photos

  16. Ametia says:

    The Media Equation
    The Fading Power of Beck’s AlarmsBy DAVID CARR
    Published: March 6, 2011
    Almost every time I flipped on television last week, there was a deeply angry guy on a running tirade about the conspiracies afoot, the enemies around all corners, and how he alone seemed to understand what was under way.

    While it’s true that Charlie Sheen sucked up a lot of airtime last week, I’d been watching Glenn Beck, the Fox News host who invoked Hezbollah, socialists, the price of gas, Shariah law, George Soros, Planned Parenthood, and, yes, Charlie Sheen, as he predicted a coming apocalypse.

    Mr. Beck, a conservative Jeremiah and talk-radio phenomenon, burst into television prominence in 2009 by taking the forsaken 5 p.m. slot on Fox News and turning it into a juggernaut. A conjurer of conspiracies who spotted sedition everywhere he looked, Mr. Beck struck a big chord and ended up on the cover of Time magazine and The New York Times Magazine, and held rallies all over the country that were mobbed with acolytes. He achieved unheard-of ratings, swamped the competition and at times seemed to threaten the dominion of Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity at Fox.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/07/business/media/07carr.html?_r=2&src=busln

  17. dannie22 says:

    Good morning all!!

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