Dennis Emmanuel Brown (February 1, 1957 – July 1, 1999) was a Jamaican reggae singer. During his prolific career, which began in the late 1960s when he was aged eleven, he recorded more than 75 albums and was one of the major stars of lovers rock, a sub-genre of reggae. Bob Marley cited Brown as his favourite singer,[1] dubbing him “The Crown Prince of Reggae”, and Brown would prove hugely influential on future generations of reggae singers.[2][3]
Dennis Brown was born on 1 February 1957 at Jubilee Hospital in Kingston, Jamaica.[4] His father Arthur was a scriptwriter, actor, and journalist, and he grew up in a large tenement yard between North Street and King Street in Kingston with his parents, three elder brothers and a sister, although his mother died in the 1960s.[4][5] He attended Central Branch Primary School and later St. Stephens College.
Well I’ll be damned!
Scott Walker Seeks Stimulus Cash For Rail, After Campaigning On Rejecting It
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/29/scott-walker-seeking-fede_n_842267.html#comments
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker won election in 2010, in large part by campaigning fiercely on limited government. One of his signature promises was a rejection of $810 million in federal stimulus dollars for high-speed rail between Milwaukee and Madison.
Walker followed through on turning those dollars down. But now, he is joining several other Midwestern states in asking for $150 million in federal funds to pay for upgrades to an Amtrak line.
In a striking irony, the funds he’s requesting are only available because another conservative governor, Rick Scott of Florida, rejected some $2 billion for a high-speed rail project in his state. That line would have joined Tampa and Orlando along a busy corridor whose Interstate 4 is often packed with traffic.
Those $2 billion are now available for other states, and Walker’s hoping to get a piece of the action.
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel asked Governor Walker about his apparent 180 on the issue. He apparently had no qualms with asking for the cash:
Walker said he had always supported improvements to the Hiawatha line. It’s a popular and established service, without the local opposition that complicated the Milwaukee-to-Madison link that he campaigned against.
Not No…but Hell No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HELL TO THE NAW! DON’T GIVE THIS MOFO SHIT!
Anti-union law isn’t in effect, Wis. judge tells state ‘Apparently that language was either misunderstood or ignored,’ she says
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/42330605/ns/politics-more_politics/
MADISON, Wis. — The showdown over Wisconsin’s explosive union bargaining law shifted from the Statehouse back to the courthouse on Tuesday, but it remained unclear when or even whether the measure would take effect.
Republican lawmakers pushed through passage of the law earlier this month despite massive protests that drew up to 85,000 people to the state Capitol and a boycott by Democratic state senators. Opponents immediately filed a series of lawsuits that resulted in further chaos that might not end until the state Supreme Court weighs in.
That appeared even more likely after a hearing on Tuesday, when a Dane County judge again ordered the state to the law on hold while she considers a broader challenge to its legality. She chastised state officials for ignoring her earlier order to halt the law’s publication.
“Apparently that language was either misunderstood or ignored, but what I said was the further implementation of (the law) was enjoined,” Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi said during a hearing. “That is what I now want to make crystal clear.”
Sumi is set to hear additional arguments Friday on the larger question of whether state violated open meetings law during debate on the measure. She also is considering claims by some officials that the law technically took effect last weekend after a state agency unexpectedly published it online.
Whether she decides it did or didn’t become law on Saturday, the law’s legitimacy will likely be decided by the state Supreme Court, which has not indicated if it would take up an appeals court’s request to hear the case.
The back and forth furthered the often angry debate between new Gov. Scott Walker, his Republican allies in the Legislature and the state’s public sector unions.
An Open Letter to the Rick Scott Voters Who Finally Figured It Out
Dear Rick Scott Voters Who Finally Figured It Out:
So, I see some of you have changed your minds about your vote in the last Florida gubernatorial election! Rick Scott squeaked into office with 49% of the vote, besting Democratic opponent Alex Sink by barely one percent. However, a recent poll reveals that Scott would lose to Sink by 20 points if the election were held today.
But you know what, Rick Scott Voters Who Finally Figured It Out? The election was NOT held today, you stupid, stupid motherfuckers! It was held in November, and while it’s apparently news to you drooling idiots that Scott is a crook, it was widely known by everyone in the state with an IQ eclipsing that of a Peeps marshmallow treat well in advance of the election.
You brainless ninnies are very lucky internet technology has not advanced to the point that I can reach through the screen and snatch you bald-headed to match the ambulatory dildo you empowered with the governorship. However, these are your current instructions: Make a fist (with either hand). Now, start punching yourself in the face, and don’t stop until January 6, 2015. Fuckers.
Posted by Betty Cracker on 03/29/11 at 04:40 PM • Permalink
Categories: News • Politics • Election ’10 • Nutters • Teabaggery •
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Good one!
But you know what, Rick Scott Voters Who Finally Figured It Out? The election was NOT held today, you stupid, stupid motherfuckers! It was held in November, and while it’s apparently news to you drooling idiots that Scott is a crook, it was widely known by everyone in the state with an IQ eclipsing that of a Peeps marshmallow treat well in advance of the election.
I love it!
LMBAO@ Betty Cracker!
Hollaring @ Betty Cracker!
BWA HA HA HA SG2, you gotta bring on the visuals for this, please!
HA HA HA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Floridians, this is you brain on Rick Scott:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_75w4rBnSrWg/S6l7cLl4w-I/AAAAAAAABOk/Nc5QofMq24I/s640/This-is-your-brain-on-Peeps-marshmallow-peeps-550936_640_512%5B1%5D.jpg
The 10 most segregated urban areas in America
Slide show: The new census numbers provide a sobering reminder of how separate white and black America still are
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/03/29/most_segregated_cities/slideshow.html
Where you at, Dannie? two cities in Ohio made the top ten most segregated cicties in America.
Cleveland. I already know Cleveland ain’t shit. It’s one of the most racist cities in America.
Getty Images 25 minutes ago
US President Barack Obama (R) passes former US President Bill Clinton (L) as he prepares to make remarks at the dedication of the Ronald H. Brown United States Mission to the United Nations Building in New York, New York, March 29, 2011.
http://www.daylife.com/photo/09BKfYD2FcfP5
3 Chics…. Why O Why do some folks ask such silly questions? Ugh!!!!!!!
No, PBO has to go to the library and use a computer.
LOL
The President had a nice comeback for his ass! He’s too cute.
LMBAO …and the president needs to present a VALID libray card, or else…
lol
The President can’t cut in line either.
And the president can’t speak, because NO one will understand where he’s coming from. It won’t be clear enough.
They just won’t get what the POTUS is saying, therefore, he must remain silent while in the library.
Breaking News Alert: Virginia Tech fined $55,000 related to shooting
March 29, 2011 4:19:41 PM
—————————————-
The U.S. Department of Education has fined Virginia Tech $55,000 for waiting too long to notify students during a 2007 shooting rampage.
The amount was the maximum fine Tech faced for two violations of the federal Clery Act, which requires timely reporting of crimes on campus.
In announcing the fine Tuesday, department officials said the violation warranted a fine “far in excess” of $55,000. Violations and fines are rare, with only a few dozen over the past two decades.
http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/1BAF0O/NS3X8K/32ZFDW/H8BBYL/5RVDK/XL/h
Peter King: Muslim Hearings Create ‘Illusion’ Of Civil Rights Violations
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/29/peter-king-muslim-civil-rights-hearings_n_841952.html#comments
A few weeks after holding his own controversial hearings on the threat of the radicalization of American Muslims, Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) is blasting a counter-investigation taking place in the Senate on Tuesday, organized by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).
“This just perpetuates the myth that somehow Muslims are the victim of September 11,” King told Fox News of Durbin’s hearings, which are focused on the civil rights of American Muslims. “The best they can do is come back with these hearings by Senator Durbin, which is somehow trying to create the illusion that there’s a violation of civil rights of Muslims in this country. It’s absolutely untrue, and to me it makes no sense.”
According to the Washington Post, advocates for Islam are using Tuesday’s hearings to encourage a more active confrontation, on both a civic and a legal level, of hate speech and crimes against Muslims.
Peter King, you’re a hateful lying liar.
When I see Peter King holding hearings on the hateful shenanigans of Westboro Baptist church pysychos, I’ll take him seriously, until then. He’s just as hateful, and Xenophobic as those charlatans.
24/7 Anti-Worker Dickishness
by mistermix
Michigan’s Republican governor and Legsilature are cutting unemployment benefits with an “up is down” strategy:
The measure, passed by a Republican-led Legislature, took advocates for the unemployed by surprise: the language cutting benefits next year was slipped quietly into a bill that was originally sold as way to preserve unemployment benefits this year.
You may have heard about the Maine governor’s attempt to erase labor unions from murals at the Maine Department of Labor, which is bad enough, but my friend sent me this report indicating that he’s even renaming meeting rooms, including the César Chávez Room and the Frances Perkins room. I assume they’ll be the John Galt and Dagny Taggart rooms, but that hasn’t been decided yet.
The notion that Republicans were the friend of the working man and woman was always hollow pretense, but it still managed to bamboozle a fair number of voters. The actions of the current crop of extremist governors and legislators make their real agenda crystal fucking clear to even the most casual observer.
http://www.balloon-juice.com/2011/03/29/247-anti-worker-dickishness/
And the fools who voted for the GOP dickishness are now getting soem of that dickishness up the….
Poll: FL. Gov. Rick Scott Would Lose Do-Over Election — By 20 Points
Another day, another poll showing a recently elected Republican governor losing a do-over election — and this one isn’t even close.
A PPP poll of registered voters released today shows that in a hypothetical re-do of last year’s gubernatorial election, Florida Gov. Rock Scott (R) would lose to Democrat Alex Sink by a nearly 20-point margin, 56%-37%. Scott won a squeaker of an election last year, edging out Sink by about one point.
But since taking office, Scott has pursued a number of controversial proposals, such as one that permits the state to randomly drug test many public employees. And last week, Scott signed a bill that effectively eliminates tenure for new teachers and ties future pay levels to performance.
As a result, the poll found that just 32% of voters aprove of Scott’s job performance, compared to 55% who disapprove.
Scott is the latest Republican governor whom voters are expressing incredible buyers remorse for electing last November. Polls have also shown Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder losing do-over elections against the candidates they defeated last year, the result of broad change each has sought to make to their state’s political landscape.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/03/poll-fl-gov-rick-scott-would-lose-do-over-election—-by-20-points.php
I find these polls NOW showing the rethugs as losing if there was an election today LAUGHABLE.
I know.
Dear Florida,
I do not feel sorry for you
love,
Ohio
BWA HA HA HA HA
Obama’s Harlem Visit Expected to Attract Praise and Protests Updated 3 hrs ago
March 29, 2011 9:06am
As President Barack Obama prepares to visit Harlem Tuesday night for a $30,000 per plate fundraiser, some are hailing the trip as another sign that the neighborhood has reached a tipping point in its renaissance while others see it as a chance to critique the president’s policies.
Obama will attend the small, six-table fundraiser at the Red Rooster Harlem, the restaurant owned by celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson at Lenox Avenue between W. 125th and W. 126th streets. Afterward, Obama will attend an invitation only reception half an avenue away at the Studio Museum in Harlem.
“This is great for Harlem because it puts us on par with other places in Manhattan and around the country as a place where someone of that stature wants to make a statement,” said Nikoa Evans-Hendricks of N Boutique and a founder of Harlem Park to Park, a business alliance. “His visit speaks volumes to the fact that Harlem has the clientele and facilities to host a fundraiser of this magnitude.”
Thousands of people danced in the streets of Harlem when Obama was named the victor of the 2008 presidential election, but some disgruntled locals say they are planning a different reception this time around.
“There’s an obscenity about coming to Harlem where the annual median income is $25,000 per year, $5,000 less that the $30,000 per dinner plate fundraiser,” said Nelly Bailey, president of the Harlem Tenants Council and an organizer of Harlem Fight Back Against Wars At Home and Abroad, a new coalition of local groups that says it will protest Obama’s stance on Libya among other things Tuesday night at Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard.
Read more: http://www.dnainfo.com/20110329/harlem/obamas-harlem-visit-expected-attract-praise-protests#ixzz1I0wUFclM
CRUISE SHIP CONFESSION: Top Fox News Executive Admits Lying On-Air About Obama
March 29, 2011 8:03 am ET by Eric Hananoki
In newly uncovered audio, a Fox News executive boasts that he lied repeatedly during the closing days of the 2008 presidential campaign when he speculated on-air “about whether Barack Obama really advocated socialism.”
Speaking in 2009 onboard a pricey Mediterranean cruise sponsored by a right-wing college, Fox Washington managing editor Bill Sammon described his attempts the previous year to link Obama to “socialism” as “mischievous speculation.” Sammon, who is also a Fox News vice president, acknowledged that “privately” he had believed that the socialism allegation was “rather far-fetched.”
“Last year, candidate Barack Obama stood on a sidewalk in Toledo, Ohio, and first let it slip to Joe the Plumber that he wanted to quote, ‘spread the wealth around,’ ” said Sammon. “At that time, I have to admit, that I went on TV on Fox News and publicly engaged in what I guess was some rather mischievous speculation about whether Barack Obama really advocated socialism, a premise that privately I found rather far-fetched.”
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201103290006
DUH! Fox folks LIE? Really?!
Insecure lying bastards. They can’t debate him on the issues so they lie, & distort the truth. Wicked mofos!
Beyoncé’s father will no longer manage her career
March 28, 2011, 6:54 PM EST
— Beyoncé will no longer be managed by her father, Mathew Knowles, her publicist said Monday.
The Grammy-winning singer and her father have parted ways “on a business level,” publicist Yvette Noel-Schure told The Associated Press in a statement.
“I am grateful for everything he has taught me,” Beyoncé said in the statement. “I grew up watching both he and my mother manage and own their own businesses. They were hardworking entrepreneurs and I will continue to follow in their footsteps.”
She didn’t say what led to the split, but her father said in a separate statement to the AP late Monday that the decision was mutual.
http://music.msn.com/music/article.aspx?news=637957>1=28102
Maybe she’ll put her clothes back on now.
:)
Hat tip Obama Diary
where’s the birth certificate?!
Foreign person?
Business Insider: What goes around comes around. After spending the last week casting doubt on the nature of Obama’s birth certificate Donald Trump may have some birther issues of his own. Turns out the birth certificate he ‘released exclusively’ to Newsmax earlier this week is not the actual thing.
Ben Smith at Politico reports that what Trump provided was a hospital “‘certificate of birth’ meaning the piece of paper the hospital gave to his family saying he was born. Such a document typically has the signature of the hospital administrator and the attending physician.”
Apparently an actual birth certificate would would have the Dept. of Health’s seal as well a signature of the city registrar. Oops.
Take it away Ben Smith:
Trump’s mother, it should be noted, was born in Scotland, which is not part of the United States. His plane is registered in the Bahamas, also a foreign country. This fact pattern — along with the wave of new questions surrounding what he claims is a birth certificate — raises serious doubts about his eligibility to serve as President of the United States.
Slate: “… Trump can obviously clear this up if he provides everything Barack Obama’s provided to the press, and everything he’s demanded from Obama. This would be:
– Two (or more) contemporary newspaper announcements confirming that Donald Trump was born in the United States. (Two of these exist for Barack Obama.) eg
http://theobamadiary.com/
LMAO
When evil gets to rockin….Karma comes a knockin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
See All these mofos think that being white, having money and power is all they need, exclusive of anyone else.
Trump presents a trumped up birth certificate. Please, can you imagine how many of thes white dudes in our political system who don’t have that LONG FORM or any other creds they’re calling on POTUS to show, other than being WHITE!
Karma, it’s what’s for dinner!
you know this is hilarious, right.
BWA HA HA HA HA AH A
I’ve been in complete hysterics over the Donald’s karmic pay back!
Posted at 08:40 AM ET, 03/29/2011
Tech firms hiring White House staffers
By Cecilia Kang
This story ran in the print edition of today’s paper:
The Obama administration brought Facebook and Twitter to politics. And now it’s giving back, as staffers leave the White House and take key jobs at Silicon Valley firms.
In the past year, Facebook hired Marne Levine, a former White House economic official, and is reportedly courting former West Wing spokesman Robert Gibbs. Google’s philanthropy arm snagged Jared Cohen, the State Department’s social media guru. Twitter hired former White House and State Department staffer Katie Stanton.
The revolving door between the federal government and U.S. tech companies isn’t new. But the hires come as popular Internet applications from Google, Facebook and Apple attract special attention from lawmakers and regulators concerned about issues of privacy, competition, pricing and other aspects of the rapidly changing online economy.
Facebook has been probed by the Federal Trade Commission for changing its privacy policies and catching users by surprise. Lawmakers have criticized the company for its muted response to authoritarian governments who want to clamp down on Internet communications.
Google is being investigated by the Federal Communications Commission for snarfing up consumer Wi-Fi Internet data.
Apple is also being probed for the way it uses its control over the iTunes store to take cuts of revenue from applications sold there.
“These companies are at the crosshairs of privacy and policy issues and they see people in the White House and federal government as protectors of their plans to expand into new markets,” said Jeffrey Chester, an online privacy advocate and executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy. “These are uber influence-makers they are hiring.”
Facebook declined to comment on a report by the New York Times that it is trying to hire Gibbs for a senior communications position. Gibbs, who left the White House in February, did not respond to an e-mail request for an interview. (Washington Post Co. Chairman Donald Graham sits on the board of Facebook).
Experts said that if Gibbs joined a private firm such as Facebook and registered as a lobbyist, he would not be allowed to contact staffers at the White House about business issues during Obama’s tenure.
But Gibbs would be valuable not only for his contacts but also for his deep knowledge of Obama’s agenda. He is among a small number of people who can articulate the president’s mission on dozens of issues off the cuff, observers say.
That skill is useful for companies trying to navigate federal government policy and global strategies. And the hire would be a public relations coup, underscoring the company’s influence to other governments and competitors.
“The executive branch [lobbying] rules are very good, but we also have to recognize the reality that a lot of people who leave the administration go to work for organizations that have interests in government decisions,” said Fred Wertheimer, president of government reform group Democracy 21.
Those interests have intensified in recent months, and the firms want a stronger voice before government officials, experts say.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-tech/post/tech-firms-hiring-white-house-staffers/2011/03/29/AFgY75tB_blog.html?wpisrc=nl_tech
The Perils Of Corporate Media: MSNBC Makes Few Mentions Of Tax Avoidance By Parent Company GE
Last week, the New York Times ran an explosive front-page story revealing how General Electric (GE), despite making over $14 billion in profits in 2010, paid absolutely nothing in federal corporate income taxes. It even received a tax benefit of $3.2 billion.
ThinkProgress provided substantial coverage of the story, offering further analysis and insight into the firm’s behavior:
Despite Paying No Income Taxes, GE CEO Lauded His Company’s Patriotism In 2009 West Point Speech [3/25/11]
– Sen. Johnson’s Reaction To General Electric Paying No Taxes: Cut The Corporate Tax Rate [3/25/11]
– After Paying Zero Income Taxes, GE Plans To Ask Its Union Workers To Make Wage And Benefits Concessions [3/28/11]
Reviewing the television coverage of GE’s tax avoidance, ThinkProgress found that the story was covered 23 times by Fox News between March 25 and March 28. Certainly, with an anti-Obama axe to grind, it is not surprising that the network chose to excoriate a company that is considered close to the Obama administration and whose CEO is the head of an outside White House jobs panel.
Yet, as FAIR’s Peter Hart points out, this blockbuster story received scant coverage on another major cable news outlet: MSNBC. A review of MSNBC coverage finds that, over the same three-day period, the General Electric story received relatively little mention. It was only mentioned three times on MSNBC — one of these mentions was by host Rachel Maddow during a conversation with the Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson and another mention was made by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), a guest on the network.
http://thinkprogress.org/
Cornel West and the fight against injustice
The provocative US intellectual discusses issues of race, civil liberties and Barack Obama’s leadership.
Riz Khan Last Modified: 28 Mar 2011 09:23
How do we fight social injustice when so many seem to have lost hope? According to provocative intellectual Cornel West the answer is simple – love.
????????
Why YOU HATIN’?
On Monday’s Riz Khan we speak to the bestselling author who argues that we are living in “catastophic, catatonic, and catalytic” times but we must face them with compassion.
You can join the conversation. Watch the show live on Monday, March 28, at 1930GMT. Repeats can be seen on Tuesday at 0430GMT, 0830GMT and 1430GMT.
http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/rizkhan/2011/03/201132863311584728.html
he’s seething with hate for POTUS. it just reeks from him.
Shuckin and buckin negro!
Ain’t this some shit. Listen to this mofo talkin’ ’bout love, when all he’s doing is hatin.’
He’s filled w/ jealousy & envy! Straight up hater to the 9th degree!
The Syrian government resigned Tuesday amid an unusual wave of unrest that has roiled the nation, state TV reported.
President Bashar al-Assad accepted the resignations Tuesday, the same day that tens of thousands of Syrians poured onto the streets of Damascus to demonstrate in favor of the government.
A new government should be named in a few hours, said Reem Haddad, a spokeswoman for the Syrian Information Ministry.
Meanwhile, the president plans to make “a very important speech” on Wednesday, she said. The speech will “reassure the Syrian people,” the state-run SANA news agency has reported.
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/03/29/syria.unrest/…
The President’s Cairo Speech was heard loud & clear and ignited a fire in the belly!
The Cairo speech is a WINNER!! :-)))
PBO’s heading to NY today
4:45 PM: The President delivers remarks at the dedication of the Ronald H. Brown United States Mission to the United Nations Building
The President as Brer Rabbit
by BooMan
Mon Mar 28th, 2011 at 10:34:53 PM EST
Barack Obama seems to know how to get himself out of a pickle. Just give a great speech. It worked when the Jeremiah Wright scandal hit, and it worked when health care reform hit a rough patch, and it worked after the midterm fiasco. He’s given stunning speeches, like his performance at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and the Tucson memorial service. And he gave a great speech tonight. He’s so good with words that his critics like to say that “he’s just words.” You can’t talk your way out of every situation, and in Libya the results are what will matter.
Still, he does remind me of Brer Rabbit. He was born in the briar patch. The Republicans begged him to intervene in Libya. And as soon as he did, they turned on him. Brer Rabbit, you might remember, was a bit naive. He fell for Brer Fox’s scheme to get him stuck to the Tar Baby. But he was resourceful enough to get Brer Fox to help him out of his jam.
Brer Rabbit gulped. He was stuck fast. He did some fast thinking while Brer Fox rolled about on the road, laughing himself sick over Brer Rabbit’s dilemma.
“I’ve got you this time, Brer Rabbit,” said Brer Fox, jumping up and shaking off the dust. “You’ve sassed me for the very last time. Now I wonder what I should do with you?”
Brer Rabbit’s eyes got very large. “Oh please Brer Fox, whatever you do, please don’t throw me into the briar patch.”
“Maybe I should roast you over a fire and eat you,” mused Brer Fox. “No, that’s too much trouble. Maybe I’ll hang you instead.”
“Roast me! Hang me! Do whatever you please,” said Brer Rabbit. “Only please, Brer Fox, please don’t throw me into the briar patch.”
“If I’m going to hang you, I’ll need some string,” said Brer Fox. “And I don’t have any string handy. But the stream’s not far away, so maybe I’ll drown you instead.”
“Drown me! Roast me! Hang me! Do whatever you please,” said Brer Rabbit. “Only please, Brer Fox, please don’t throw me into the briar patch.”
“The briar patch, eh?” said Brer Fox. “What a wonderful idea! You’ll be torn into little pieces!”
Grabbing up the tar-covered rabbit, Brer Fox swung him around and around and then flung him head over heels into the briar patch. Brer Rabbit let out such a scream as he fell that all of Brer Fox’s fur stood straight up. Brer Rabbit fell into the briar bushes with a crash and a mighty thump. Then there was silence.
Brer Fox cocked one ear toward the briar patch, listening for whimpers of pain. But he heard nothing. Brer Fox cocked the other ear toward the briar patch, listening for Brer Rabbit’s death rattle. He heard nothing.
Then Brer Fox heard someone calling his name. He turned around and looked up the hill. Brer Rabbit was sitting on a log combing the tar out of his fur with a wood chip and looking smug.
“I was bred and born in the briar patch, Brer Fox,” he called. “Born and bred in the briar patch.”
And Brer Rabbit skipped away as merry as a cricket while Brer Fox ground his teeth in rage and went home.
The president may be a bit naive in places, but he’s infinitely smarter than his opponents. If Obama pulls this off, he’ll get all the credit. None of it will be shared with his erstwhile hawkish adversaries. If it goes south, however, we’ll have all the clips we need of the Republicans calling him a slow-poke and a coward for not intervening fast enough.
I don’t know how things will turn out, but Brer Fox may have overplayed his hand again.
And nothing is more sickening that the nakedly political way the Republicans have tried to game the tragedy in Libya.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2011/3/28/223453/605
Republicans Prepare To Reject Final White House Budget Offer
It’s been almost a week since House Republicans, Senate Democrats and the White House last sat down to hammer out a budget agreement, and the schedule’s still blank. Accusations of bad faith are now flying from both sides. Republicans are poised to reject a White House offer, TPM has learned, that would cut over $30 billion in current spending because of disagreements over whether the package should include cuts to mandatory spending programs. Democrats are pushing for such cuts, which include the big entitlement programs, though the specific cuts they’re proposing remain unclear. In an ironic twist, Republicans oppose those cuts and want to limit the negotiations to non-defense discretionary spending, a smaller subset of the federal budget.
Taken together, the last several days’ worth of developments bode very poorly for the goal of reaching a six-month agreement on spending. The parties have until April 8 to reach agreement, and the odds of a government shutdown are higher now than they’ve been since this process began.
Asked about the offer the White House has floated, a top Republican aide says, “This debate has always been about discretionary spending — not autopilot ‘mandatory’ spending or tax hikes.”
If that position doesn’t soften, it’s hard to see how the two parties reach agreement.
A source briefed on the negotiations says the White House — specifically chief of staff Bill Daley — had reached an agreement in principle with House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) to reduce spending by over $30 billion, which is about the same overall number that House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan first proposed several weeks ago before getting dragged to the right by conservatives in the GOP caucus.
A House Republican leadership aide disputes the precise specifics of that account. But what’s clear is that things looked better before last Tuesday. Democrats thought they’d reached an understanding with Republicans about spending levels and only needed to figure out whether Republicans would accept specific cuts, including the cuts to mandatory spending Democrats were planning to offer.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/03/republicans-prepare-to-reject-final-budget-offer.php?ref=fpb
No surprises here. The GOP would reject an offer to put one of their kin up in a nursing home for free, if it came from Barack Obama.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Time To Raise Hell
by digby
This is important guys. As anyone who reads this blog regularly knows, despite what many people insist isn’t true and what vast majorities of the public want, Social security is on the chopping block in this congress. The first salvo was the failed deficit commission. The next is coming up in the budget negotiations. We’ve got people on both sides of the aisle desperate to do this thing to “prove” they are able to harshly cut spending — 30 years from now — in some quixotic attempt to make the markets magically fix everything that’s wrong with the economy. It’s a form of mass delusion, but it has become a matter of conventional wisdom among our ruling elite.
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
But they aren’t unopposed. StrengthenSocialSecurity.org is organizing to push back and they are asking for your help.
Call Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday!
We need you to call your Senators and demand that they vote for the Sanders/Reid Social Security Protection Amendment.
Senator Sanders and Majority Leader Reid are leading the fight in the Senate to protect Social Security from drastic cuts.
Their amendment simply says:
Social Security benefits for current and future beneficiaries should not be cut and Social Security should not be privatized as part of any legislation to reduce the Federal deficit.
Call your Senators at 1-866-251-2544. You’ll be given a choice of which of your state’s two senators to be connected with. Call BOTH if you have the time. It only takes a minute each.
Tell the person who answers the phone:
I am a voter/constituent living in [your state]. I am calling to tell the Senator:
I oppose all cuts to Social Security and
I urge them to vote yes on the Sanders/Reid Social Security Protection Amendment.
Please take the time for this very important effort. This is for all of us who depend on Social Security.
Call Tuesday and Wednesday: 1-866-251-2544.
AFTER YOU CALL:
Stay involved, the threat to Social Security continues. Please click to stay involved in the fight.
This sort of thing can work. Remember that right wing radio single handedly stopped comprehensive immigration reform by mobilizing their listeners to call Washington and raise hell.
Liberals can raise hell too.
.
digby
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/its-time-to-raise-hell-on-social.html
Done! When are folks going to get it, that any Working AMERICAN that paid into SOCIAL SECURITY has EARNED their BENEFITS, and that ANYONE looking to cut said benefits CLAIMING that it’s part of America’s DEFICIT are: LIARS!
These MOFOS want to further ROB the AMERICAN PEOPLE!!!!!
Caught between status quo and power vacuum
Israeli PM under growing domestic criticism over “no war, no peace” policy, which risks deepening regional instability.
Pierre Klochendler Last Modified: 29 Mar 2011 11:13
Disregarding the old adage that politics – like nature – abhors a vacuum, Benjamin Netanyahu could until now sing his own praise and declare that Israel under his premiership was an anchor of political stability, whereas the wider Middle East was fast sinking into a power vacuum.
Most Israelis believed him. Now they wonder whether, in midterm, their own leader has not lost his compass.
Notwithstanding the revolutions convulsing their Arab neighbours, the suspended peace talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA), and the continuation of settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, Israelis suddenly find themselves caught up in violent turmoil after a long lull.
Within two weeks, the first bombing attack in Jerusalem in three years killed a British citizen and wounded scores of Israelis; five members of a Jewish family were killed in a settlement in a terrorist attack; and four Palestinian family members and more militants were killed during Israeli bombings in retaliation to a barrage of more rockets fired on cities in southern Israel by Hamas in one single day since the 2009 Gaza war on the Palestinian Islamic Resistance movement.
Most Israelis long for the days when, under, Egypt was Israel’s main ally in the region, its main address when it wanted to rein in on Hamas.
But the new Egyptian government has clearly been more involved with the transition to democracy than with transition from conflict to peace-building.
Israeli leaders have long warned that through Syria, Iran has asserted its influence over Israel’s neighbours, particularly Lebanon and Gaza. The Islamic Republic, they suspect now, is testing the regional power vacuum created by the Egyptian revolution.
They recall the Iranian frigate which recently crossed the Suez Canal en route to Syria, and the shipment of surface-to-sea missiles and other weaponry smuggled from Iran and bound for Gaza which Israeli commandos intercepted two weeks ago.
Antithesis of a gung-ho leader
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/03/201132810414578596.html
I was listening to the local Black talk radio station, and the host said he had a caller who said the President should be impeached…I thought, this should be good. I was waiting to hear what the case would be for impeachment. of course, she didn’t have a case, and didn’t even bring it up, just brought the usual Ungawa Ungawa bitching points, which, by now, the host – a pretty affable guy- told her that she could express her displeasure by signing up for the Black people for Mitt Romney committee. He was hilarious. told her that all the concerns she was expressing….he was sure, she’d find a sympathetic ear in the GOP….NOT. it was pretty funny and made me smile this morning.
LOL That bish was a paid caller. I’m sure she’s smiling too$$$$.
LMAO @ Ungawa Ungawa bitching
What a silly ass woman…
She was a PAID plant. You and I both know that any SANE black woman is NOT going to call for PBO’s impeachment. utter bullshit!
Gadhafi’s son was on U.S. internship until crisisBy Pam Benson, CNN National Security ProducerMarch 29, 2011 5:40 a.m. EDT
Washington (CNN) — Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s youngest son, who runs the country’s elite special forces for his father’s regime, was on an internship program in the United States when public unrest exploded in Libya last month.
Khamis Gadhafi abruptly cut off his visit and returned to Libya, where he has led the 32nd Reinforced Brigade, known at the Khamis Brigade, in its brutal suppression of rebel forces.
The brigade’s headquarters was the target of six Tomahawk missiles overnight, according to Vice Adm. William Gortney of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Gortney described the brigade as “one of the most active in terms of attacking innocent people.”
Libya’s state TV on Monday night broadcast live footage from Gadhafi’s Tripoli compound of Khamis Gadhafi dressed in uniform and greeting people. Prior to the broadcast there had been unconfirmed reports that the younger Gadhafi had died from injuries he suffered when a plane flown by a disgruntled Libyan pilot crashed into a military compound while he was there.
ABC News was the first to report Khamis Gadhafi’s recent stay in the United States.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/03/28/libya.gadhafi.son/index.html
More Good Morning Comments
Inspiration for today….
Bible Verse Graphics
Good Morning, SG2. Here’s your java:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/__j-Yh5rKmeY/Sh2rGgOB69I/AAAAAAAAAjQ/o5mFlyVP8pk/s400/cup-of-coffee.jpg
Coffee! Coffee! Get in my belly… :)
Thank you much!
Good Morning, Everyone :)
Hi Rikyrah! :-)
Hello everyone!
Mornin’ Dannie!
Morning, Dannie