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Here’s an interesting article that I came across about the content (or lack thereof) of a tour featuring Smiley, West, and Dyson on issues confronting black communities. It’s a real eye-opener…read it and see what they think about US and then ask yourself whether you think the reason behind their attacks on President Obama has anything to do with their concern about black communities…or if they’re on some other shit! Here’s a few excerpts:
“Mr. Smiley, of The Smiley Group, Inc., began the program by th[a]nking his sponsors which included Exxon (or some international oil company), and a host of foundations (the usual ones listed for PBS programs). He then made his apologies to whatever white people who might be in the audience for it was his intent, unlike his news program, to make use of “ebonics” in making his 45-minute presentation.”
“It is still unclear to me the need for the apology and why he thought there was a need to make use of “ebonics” in order to relate to the assembled crowd. In any event, each of the speakers took his turn in showing how hip or “down” each was with street talk. Of course, they were different. Though their appeal was sensual and emotional, these men, according to their own words, lived the ‘life of the mind.'”
“From what I could see or make out the assembled group was highly educated and definitely mostly of Baltimore’s black middle class. What other group within our community can afford to pay $60 to hear three Negroes jive-talk for three hours? I suspect the audience could have forgone the hip-ness and received well enough formal addresses presented with a measure of dignity and integrity if these cats had anything important to say about how matters could be turned around within the present onslaught of the religious right and the greed and bullying of corporate execs and their governmental representatives.”
//
“After announcing his wealthy white sponsors, Mr. Smiley proclaimed that the “black man is the most maligned person on the face of the earth.” Obviously, it was such a guilt line that enabled Tavis, Michael, and Cornel to get the support of Exxon and foundation money for this Tour. I am sure that Mr. Smiley did not believe in his heart that he was one of the “most maligned” men in America. For when he came onto public radio, he had a number of white men on his program sing his praises and congratulate him on his success. Moreover, it seems as if PBS, an agency he promoted at this affair, will allow him to host a program in 2004. Fifteen million black men would like to be so maligned.”
“To justify their pretense to legitimate leadership, Mr. Smiley along with his cohorts cleared the board. They each were unhappy with the present state of black leadership. In their Tour of American black cities they will be “fostering questions on leadership.” Mr. Smiley started in on black clergy and proceeded to attack blacks who hold high positions in Corporate America, one of whom, he pointed out, is the most proficient fundraiser for the Bush campaign. Mr. Smiley claimed that his Tour was ‘not about symbols but substance.'”
“In a further attack on black clergy and the Christian church, Mr. Smiley said they had no hope for a ‘messianic figure’ to bring freedom for the oppressed black minority. He believes that black people spend too much time “looking up when they should be looking around.” He then tossed the problem back on the oppressed themselves; they, in effect, must free themselves. ‘Each has a role to play . . . an individual role and responsibility.” And he wasn’t speaking of “a slick role to get over.'”
//
“Mr. Smiley then gave his interpretation of the “Parable of the Prodigal Son” and told a joke about the Last Supper. From my perspective, the joke seemed more suited for a street bull session. Jesus, according to Mr. Smiley, said this was the last supper in that none of his disciples brought anything to the table. Then he went on with his biblical explication, which was filled with more humor and guffaws and a repetitious rallying of the crowd.”
“Mr. Smiley was assured that the Prodigal Son was not a Negro. For finding himself among the swine, a Negro would not have gone hungry after wasting his inheritance. The practical Negro would have had not only ham and shoulder, but also pig ears and tails and chitterlings. Like the Prodigal Son, he believes the Negro has “gone too far . . . away from what is right.” And that the Negro “spends too much” on that which is unessential, even though economically the Negro is “three-fifths of a person.”
“For Mr. Smiley and the rest of the speakers, the Negro is less moral than he used to be and it is this immorality (or amorality) that keeps him oppressed. We, according to Mr. Smiley, have been in this state of immorality “too long” and it’s “time for us to pick up the pieces.” Mr. Smiley is convinced that the Negro has “got the skill” but he doesn’t “have the will” to free himself.”
http://www.nathanielturner.com/passthemictour.htm
“It’s good to see a fighter for justice vindicated—and still fighting. Cynthia Gordy at The Root interviews Bertha Lewis on Life After ACORN….”
“One year after the community-organizing group ACORN disbanded—after an undercover video scandal and a denial of federal funds by Congress—the organization’s former president is back. Today Bertha Lewis is at the helm of the Black Institute, her newly created “action tank” dedicated to immigration reform, environmental justice, education and economic fairness…”
“The Root: After ACORN disbanded, many chapters reorganized under new names. How are they faring a year later?”
“Bertha Lewis: There are 18 independent organizations around the country. Some of the old ACORN chapters were combined, with several states becoming one entity. We learned great lessons from our tribulations, and we decided that organizing by any other name is still organizing. The former chapters and their boards incorporated themselves, renamed themselves and made sure that the reforms I had been putting in place around structure, financial management and operations were carried on. I’m happy to say that they’re very strong, and we’re in about 25 states.””
“Glenn Beck and the conservative right actually helped us create 18 bulletproof community-organizing Frankensteins that they’re going to have a very hard time attacking. We owned up to what our weaknesses were, we were realistic about our strengths, and so these new entities are carrying on ACORN’s work of organizing low- and moderate-income folks. Thank you very much, Rush Limbaugh.”
//
“BL: I will forever be the ACORN Lady, and I will never run away from it. I hope they do come after me. I cannot wait. Maybe then, all of the legal vindication and evidence showing how they trumped up stuff can finally be opened up. But I think that if they come after me—digging up a corpse to trot out and debate—then they will be engaging in political necrophilia. So all political necrophiliacs, bring it on.”
http://www.balloon-juice.com/2011/05/18/bertha-lewis-acorn-unbowed/
Much more excellence, including some details of Lewis’s new organization, at the link.
This bish here….
Palin Accuses NBC Host Of Asking ‘Racist-Tinged’ Question
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/18/sarah-palin-david-gregory_n_863954.html#comments
During an appearance on Fox News’ “Hannity” on Wednesday night, Sarah Palin suggested that David Gregory, host of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” asked a “racist-tinged question” in pressing presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on an eyebrow-raising characterization of President Barack Obama he made last week.
The former House Speaker criticized the president as “the most successful food stamp president in modern American history” while speaking in Georgia.
What is this bish up to?
“The new “gang of six” group negotiating a bipartisan budget deal in the Senate is falling apart with Oklahoma’s Tom Coburn pulling out. Philip Rucker and Lori Montgomery explain that Coburn’s withdrawal was prefigured by his decision to start acting more like a spoiler than a dealmaker:”
//
“You can critique the motives or behavior of Tom Coburn (debt) or Lindsey Graham (immigration, climate) or John McCain (Gitmo, climate) or Bob Corker (financial regulation) or Chuck Grassley (health care) on some individual deal or particular gang. But the repetition of the story strongly suggests a structural issue. A short description of the structural issue would be “Mitch McConnell doesn’t favor making bipartisan deals with the White House” and that’s why there can’t be a bipartisan health care bill or a bipartisan climate bill or a bipartisan immigration bill or a bipartisan deficit bill or a bipartisan financial regulation bill or anything else. A longer description of the structural issue would be that objectively speaking if the Republicans’ goal is to pick up Senate seats and beat Barack Obama in 2012, it’s not in their interests for the 112th Congress to resolve major national issues in a bipartisan way.”
http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/2011/05/you-cant-make-a-deal-if-people-dont-want-a-deal/
This is a re-post of an article written by TiMT at The People’s View, which I’m submitting in light of the *LIES* that came out of Cornel West’s face about President Obama on national television.
“I am not just a blind follower of my President even though some do think that about me but I really don’t give a damn about what people say especially those who are hell bent to destroy him. The facts are irrefutable for why I support my Democratic President. I classify myself as a well informed pragmatist progressive/liberal who is results oriented. To that effect, look no further than what President Obama and the Democratic Congress have accomplished in the last two years. After all, progressive means to make progress and there is no better person to lead America to progress than President Obama if you look at what he has accomplished to date.”
“So, yesterday I gave my first $100 to the Obama 2012 campaign in support of the President’s vision for America and for his accomplished to date. I am committed and plan to actively do my part in support of the 2012 “yes we can” campaign.”
“This President has done so much of what he had promised quietly in a very short time while so many chastise, belittle, undermine and disrespect him from day one with the intent of ensuring his Presidency is a failed Presidency. However, we never see him taking his eyes of off his target (the people), taking the high road and focusing on the issues at hand.”
“With all the hating going on in our country and the Republicans doing everything they can to hijack and blackmail the President, threatening to shut down the Government, we need someone like this President who is a bridge builder, a leader who understand the pain of its people, someone who always put the business of his people first to move the country in the right direction not to mention a person who has display the utmost class for the office of the Presidency.”
“Our country is in dire need of civil discourse that exemplify maturity, strength, intelligence and compassion and there is no other modern day leader with all of those qualities to move America in the right direction than President Obama.”
“However, for a President to really effect change that will be lasting in a profound way, one term is not enough to see a significant impact while this President has accomplished in two years what some had not been able to do in two terms. Considering President Obama’s track record, I am committed to helping him get the kind of support he deserves to change America for the better in the long run.”
“I also understand some Democrats believe in such outrageous statements:”
” This President ISN’T fighting for our party. He has shown in two years that he either has no idea what the democratic party is or he is such a weak individual that he cannot summon the energy to fight for anything he believes in (if he truly believes in anything).”
“I only ask, why be so blind folded? Why do some have to feel like the only way to progress is by beating up on the President? Don’t you have any clues of politics and how it is played in Washington? Don’t you know that we have a broken system that will take more and better Democrats to fix it? Don’t you realize that in our current political landscape, this President is the best we got?”
“Well, I am all IN for my President. I am in because President Obama is fighting for me and my party every day. Yes, he sure is not screaming to show he is a screaming fighter as some would like to see but to what end? So, they can call him “Angry Black Man”. I am in because of he has saved this country from disaster. I am in because I have a fighting President who is civil, calm, collected and reality based. I am in because what the President has been able to accomplish to date that is fundamental to winning the future of our country. I am in because reversing the course is just not an option.”
“It is my hope that as Democrats we do our share to actively spread positive information such as noted below to enlighten and help people see it takes a fighter to get these things done and how the Administration is helping them.”
“Join me by spreading the Administration’s achievements to shape our messaging. Let us all be in it and be in-charge of the messaging to shape the future because President Obama on his own can’t do it alone.”
“You in?”
“On reducing and assisting people that have become victims of the increased poverty made worse by economic crisis
1) A $20 billion increase for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as Food Stamps.
2) A $1 billion in funding for the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) that is intended to revitalize low-income communities via “Job training and placement assistance”, “Financial literacy programs”, et al, to helping families become self-sufficient.
3) A $2 billion in new Neighborhood Stabilization Funds that will allow ailing neighborhoods be kept maintained.
4) A $1.5 billion in Homelessness Prevention Funds to keep people in their homes and prevent homelessness.
5) A $5 billion increase for the Weatherization Assistance Program to help low income families save on their residential energy expenditures by making their homes more energy efficient.
6) A $4 Billion program, The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, “authorizes funding for federal school meal and child nutrition programs and increases access to healthy food for low-income children.”
7) As part of the HCR bill, subsidies will be available to the uninsured and families with income between the 133 percent and 400 percent of poverty level($14,404 for individuals and $29,326 for a family of four).
8) Estabilished Open Doors to end the 640,000 men, women and children who are homeless in America by 2020.
9) Increased the amount of federal Pell Grant awards so that funds are available to those with less access to have opportunity.
10) Provided $510 Million for the rehabilitation of Native American housing.
11) Expanded eligibility for Medicaid to all individuals under age 65 with incomes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level ($14,400 per year for an individual).
12) Providing assistance to low-income workers through the Earned Income Tax Credit giving millions of working families the break they need.
13) Education being the way out of Poverty, kicked off the “Race to the Top”, a $4.3 billion program, that rewards via grants to States that meet a few key benchmarks for reform, and states that outperform the rest.
On Health Care Reform
1) Coverage can’t be denied to children with pre-existing conditions.
2) Adults up to age 26 can stay on their parents’ health plans.
3) Free preventive care.
4) Rescinding coverage is now illegal.
5) Eliminating lifetime limits on insurance coverage.
6) Restricting annual limits on insurance coverage.
7) More options to appeal coverage decisions.
8) $5 billion in immediate federal support to affordable Coverage for the Uninsured with Pre-existing Conditions.
9) $10 billion investment in Community Health Centers.
10) Create immediate access to re-insurance for employer health plans providing coverage for early retirees.
11) Made an $80 billion deal with the pharmaceutical industry to contribute to cut prescription drug costs for the nation’s seniors reduce the size of the “donut hole” in the Medicare (Part D) Drug Benefit.
12) Provides a $250 rebate to 750,000 Medicare Beneficiaries who reach the Part D coverage gap in 2010. As of March 22, 2011, 3.8 million beneficiaries had received a $250 check to close the coverage gap, according to an HHS report.
13) Businesses with fewer than 50 employees will get tax credits covering up to 35% of employee premiums effective 2011 and a 50% tax credit effective 2013.
14) Creates a state option to provide Medicaid coverage to childless adults with incomes up to 133% of the federal poverty level. By 2014, States are required to provide this coverage.
15) Provides a 10% Medicare bonus payment for primary care services and also a 10% Medicare bonus payment to general surgeons practicing in health professional shortage areas.
16) Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) requires that insurance companies spend at least 80 to 85 percent of the proportion of the premium dollars on clinical services. As an example, WellPoint’s Anthem Blue Cross unit in California has reduced its proposed rate increase.
On Jobs and the Economy
1) The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) has worked. The Economy Has Been Growing – take a look at the graph of GDP growth between 2007 thru 2010.
2) The $787 billion economic stimulus package has created or saved nearly 2 million jobs slowing the bleeding
3) Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009 that extended Unemployment benefits up to 20 weeks and more.
4) Provided $14.7 billion in small business loans increasing minority access to capital.
5) The $26 billion aid to states package preventing large-scale layoffs of teachers and public employees.
6) As of March 31, 2011, created 1.8 million Private sector jobs since Jan 2010.
7) US auto industry rescue plan saved at least 1 million jobs
8) Helped make the Auto Industry start making huge profits again with Ford sales up 19% over last year. GM up 11%. Chrysler up a whopping 31%.
9) Jobs for Main Street Act (2010)injected $27.5 Billion for Highways, $8.4 Billion for Transit into the country’s transportation system to create jobs and spur economic activity.
10) A $33 Billion Jobs Package that will allow Small businesses to get $5,000 tax credit for new hires.
11) A $26 billion State Aid Package Jobs Bill saving 300,000 teachers and public workers jobs from unemployment.
12) As part of the 2010 tax extension, Unemployment Insurance was extended to 7 million Americans who would have been without income.
On Banking and Financial Reform
1) Signed a sweeping bank-reform bill (the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act)into law
2) Managed the $700 Billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) that Banks have repaid more than 100% of TARP funds ($251 of the $245 banks owed) as of March 2011 exceeding the original investment by $6 billion.
3) Cuts Salaries of 65 Bailout Executives
4) Closed offshore tax safe havens, tax credit loopholes on companies that use the tax laws to ship American Jobs oversees. HR 4213.
5) Signed into law the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act to fight fraud in the use of TARP and recovery funds, and to increase accountability for corporate and mortgage frauds.
6) Signed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act
On Education
1) Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010 that increased the amount of federal Pell Grant awards and enabled the stripping of banks privileges as intermediaries for student loan servicing saving the US government about $68 billion dollars over 11 years.
2) Created the Race to the Top Fund, a $4.35 billion program to reward States that submit the best proposals for change.
3) As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, funded over $100 Billion for reforms to strengthen Elementary and Secondary education, early learning programs, college affordability and improve access to higher education, and to close the achievement gap.
Energy
1) Implemented renewable fuels mandate of 36 billion gallons by 2022, four times what we currently consume.
2) Automakers will be required to meet a fleet-wide average of New Gas Mileage Standards at 35.5 MPH by 2016.
3) A $60 billion investment in renewable and clean energy.
4) developed a Biofuels Roadmap to determine the next steps in growing an advanced biofuels economy to meet the goal to use at least 36 billion gallons of bio-based transportation fuels by 2022 helping create more green energy jobs.
5) established EPA regulations which require large U.S. ships to cut soot emissions by 85 percent.
6) pledged via the Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future that in a decade from now to cut our oil dependency by one-third, and put America’s energy future by producing more oil at home and reducing our dependence on oil by leveraging cleaner, alternative fuels and greater efficiency.
On Housing
1) $275 billion dollar housing plan – $75 billion dollars to prevent at-risk mortgage debtors already fallen victim to foreclosures and $200 billion to bring about confidence to offer affordable mortgages and to stability the housing market.
2) Established “Opening Doors” to end the homelessness of 640,000 men, women, and children in the United States in 10 years.
3) Provided $510 Million for the rehabilitation of Native American housing.
4) Provided $2 billion for Neighborhood Stabilization Program to rehab, resell, or demolish in order to stabilize neighborhoods.
5) Provided $5 billion for Weatherization Assistance Program for low income families to weatherize 1 million homes per year for the next decade.
6) Provided grants to encourage states and localities to take the first steps in implementing new building codes that prioritize energy efficiency.
On Medicaid/Medicare/Social Security
1) giving $250 economic stimulus check to 55 million Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients in 2009.
2) Cutting prescription drug costs for Medicare recipients by 50% and began eliminating the plan’s gap (“donut hole”) in coverage.
3) Passing as part of H.R.3962 (Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010) a $6.4 billion measure reversing a 21 percent cut in physician payments that would have started a flood of rejections by some doctors of seniors covered by Medicare.
4) Expanded eligibility for Medicaid to all individuals under age 65 with incomes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level ($14,400 per year for an individual).
5) Committed to ensuring that Social Security Budget Will Not Be Cut nor would change the retirement age.
On Military Veterans and Families
1) A $112.8 billion VA budget, an increase of 15.5 percent over 2009, the largest percentage increase for VA requested by a president in more than 30 years.
2) Implemented a strategic plan to increase the hiring of Veterans and Military spouses throughout the Federal civil service.
3) Provided for the expenses of families of to be at Dover AFB when fallen soldiers arrive.
4) Passed the Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2009 increasing the rates of compensation for veterans with service-connected disabilities and the rates of dependency and indemnity compensation for the survivors of certain disabled veterans.
5) Declared the end of the war in Iraqi bringing back nearly 100,000 U.S. troops home to their families.
6) Donated 250K of Nobel prize money to Fisher House, a group that helps provide housing for families of patients receiving medical care at military and Veterans Affairs medical centers
7) Ended media blackout on war casualties; giving access to the return home of a dead US soldier for the first time since an 18-year ban on coverage was lifted.
8) Create a ‘Green Vet Initiative’ to promote environmental jobs for veterans
9) Signed into law the 2009 Military Spouses Residency Relief Act, that will allow military spouses to claim residency in the same state as their sponsor and retain that residency as long as the service member is in the military, in the process avoiding the states where they currently reside from taxing their earned income.
10) Signed the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2010
On LBGTQ issues no matter this diary claims it is overselling of Obama’s LGBT Accomplishments
1) Extended benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees
2) Signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act
3) Instructed HHS to require any hospital receiving Medicare or Medicaid funds (virtually all hospitals) to allow LGBT visitation rights.
4) Banned job discrimination based on gender identity throughout the Federal government (the nation’s largest employer)
5) Signed the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act and while more funding is needed per the 2012 proposed budget, an increase of $80 million to domestic and global HIV/AIDS programs committed
6) Extended the Family and Medical Leave Act to cover Gay employees taking unpaid leave to care for their children of same-sex partners
7) Lifted the HIV Entry Ban.
8) Implemented HUD Policies that Would Ban Discrimination Based On Gender Identity
9) Appointed the first ever transgender DNC member
10) Named open transgender appointees (the first President ever to do so)
11) Eliminated the discriminatory Census Bureau policy that kept LGBT relationships from being counted
12) Extended domestic violence protections to LGBT victims
13) Repealed the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) Discriminatory law.
14) Declared DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) unconstitutional and stopped Defending In Court
15) Endorsed a U.N. declaration calling for the worldwide decriminalization of gays and lesbians around the world in an efforts to make it a worldwide policy.
Tax deal extending Bush’s tax cut for two years which often gets criticized will do the following:
1) Keep $3,000 in tax savings annually
2) Unemployment Benefit for 7,000,000 Americans worth $56 Billion.
3) $2,500 in tax savings to help pay for college tuition and other expenses
4) A $2,000 payroll tax savings to me or a 2% employee-side payroll tax cut for over 155 million workers
5) Child tax credit of $1,000 per child with the $3,000 maximum credit threshold.
6) Earned Income Tax Credit that will give on an average $600 in additional assistance to families with 3 or more children
7) A 65 percent tax credit to help cover the cost of COBRA for those who lost their jobs in the recession
8) forecast to creating approximately 1.6 million jobs increasing the GDP for 2011
9) extended the credit for adoption-related expenses that reduces families tax bill up to $13,170 in 2011 through 2012 with a maximum of $12,170 in credit.
Other Notables
1) signed the Health Package For 9/11 Responders bill that puts $4.3 billion into a fund to assist folks that are suffering from problems caused by breathed-in dust and debris during the 9/11 clean up.
2) signed into law a sweeping Food Safety Act bill that contains 18 major changes to food safety laws.
3) made an excellent choice selecting a new Chief of Staff, William Daley, who Eric London has made a super case for why it was a smart choice.
4) made a $78 billion spending cut to the U.S. military and defense department budget, including reducing the size of the Army and Marine Corps.
5) signed in to law the START Treaty with Russia, a sweeping new arms reduction pact that will reduce the stockpile nuclear weapons in both countries adding new verification plan.
6) The passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act enabling the rights of workers to sue employers over wage discrimination claims.
7) The expansion of SCHIP health-care program for children worth $33 Billion.
8) The declaration of two million more acres of wilderness in one of the most omnibus Public Lands bill.
9) Government Transparency as noted by Common Cause, Democracy 21, League of Women Voters and U.S. PIRG– “The cumulative effect of the Administration’s actions has been to adopt the strongest and most comprehensive lobbying, ethics and transparency rules and policies ever established by an Administration to govern its own activities”. You can read full report in all of the seven areas the report is graded.
10) signed the Tribal Law and Order Act — an important step to help the Federal Government better address the unique public safety challenges that confront tribal communities.
I am full of hope for a better America because of what we have achieved to date. We need to capitalize on our accomplishments. If we go out and share the many goodies to shape the message block-by-block, we can motivate voters to GOTV and help elect more and better Democrats to change America.
“Go Obama 2012!”
http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2011/04/i-am-kind-of-democrat-who-is-all-in-for.html
Nothing significant, Cornel? For real? Question: What have YOU done lately to help anyone…other than yourself?
Again, thank you TiMT and The People’s View.
“Late last year, several of the nation’s largest banks were forced to implement foreclosure moratoriums after it came to light that they were short-circuiting the foreclosure process through, among other abuses, the use of “robo-signers.” These bank officials were approving thousands of foreclosures per day, without verifying basic information and documentation. “I had no idea what I was signing,” said one employee from Bank of America. “We had no knowledge of whether the foreclosure could proceed or couldn’t, but regardless, we signed the documents to get these foreclosures out of the way.”
“The bank’s circumventing of due process resulted in improper foreclosures (and even led to instances of homeowners who didn’t have mortgages receiving foreclosure notices). As a result of the foreclosure fraud scandal, a bipartisan group of Attorneys General, alongside the Department of Justice, the Treasury Department, and federal bank regulators, launched an investigation into the banks’ mortgage practices.”
“For several months now, the AGs have been working on a settlement, under which the banks would pay a penalty for their mortgage misdeeds, with the money being used to provide relief to troubled homeowners. However, the settlement talks have bogged down, with some conservative AGs siding with the banks and regulators breaking off to forge their own settlements with the banks, even as new information comes forward showing that abuses in the mortgage servicing arena are significant and ongoing.”
http://pr.thinkprogress.org/
Lemme get this straight, according to some folks, President Obama isn’t doing anything for BLACK PEOPLE?
Please check the list, and name any one of the accomplishments that do NOT HELP BLACK PEOPLE.
President In Hub For Fundraiser
Obama Building Campaign War Chest
UPDATED: 5:47 pm EDT May 18, 2011
Video
Read more: http://www.thebostonchannel.com/politics/27934179/detail.html#ixzz1Mkf6LjXu
My friend, Tim, shared this shared with me that President Obama planned to invite Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly to the whitehouse, but after the Common flap, he changed his mind, he didn’t want a drug addict and sexual predator on the guest list.
OOPS!
BWA HA HA
GOP LITMUS TEST
Cornel West on Obama is no better than a birther
By Jonathan Capehart
Excerpt:
What West said is no less offensive, harmful and wrong than what Dinesh D’Souza said — with an assist from Newt Gingrich and Mike Huckabee — about a presumable anti-colonial and un-American mind-set possessed by Obama. Whereas these folks tried to deny the president his citizenship, West is trying to deny him his inherent blackness. By indulging in the “Obama-as-other” narrative, West is no better than a birther. By making petty complaints in that Truthdig interview about the lack of returned phone calls and not getting Inauguration tickets, West is no different than Gingrich in 1995 , when his displeasure over his seat on Air Force One led to a government shutdown.
At an opening reception for the new Washington offices of the National Action Network last night, the Rev. Al Sharpton addressed all this without mentioning West by name. “[I]f you’re trying to achieve something you’re strategic,” he said. “If you’re just trying to play to get some cheap applause then you just vent, holler, scream and go back home.”
Sharpton urged African Americans to hold Obama accountable but not in a way that undermines him. “I’ve seen this movie before,” he said. “We had the first black mayor of New York, David Dinkins. And we got mad every time he went to a non-black event and we pouted until some of us didn’t vote, he lost and we got eight years of Giuliani.” He went on to say, “We fought to have a real president,” Sharpton told me. “We want him accountable, but we don’t want him to be accountable to us any differently than anyone else so that it’d be used against him and us.”
“There are those that are not capable of getting their head around the fact that [Obama is] the president of the United States and that he has to deal with that and deal with every constituency group that way,” Sharpton continued. “Many of them are so caught in their own insecurities and egos, there’s no strategy. You’re dealing with a climate that [Obama’s critics] would even question his birth certificate, what would make you think that if he wrote out a ‘Black Agenda’ from him that they would accept that from him? That’s absurd.”
And what about the charge that Obama isn’t black enough? “First of all, who’s saying that? And who defines what is black enough?” Sharpton asked before rattling off a list of things Obama has done or is attempting to do in the areas of education, poverty and unemployment that have helped Americans, blacks in particular. “So, from black farmers to black colleges, a lot is being done,” he said. “More needs to be done. But, again, I think that there are those that have gone in the industry of being the blacks against Obama rather than trying to help the black community.”
MORE: http://www.washingtonpost.com/…
Jonathan Capehart ripped Cornel West on Dylan Ratigan!
did you read Capehart’s Op Ed? If my father were alive, God rest his Soul, he’d be saying, I’d love to exercise my 2nd amendment rights right about now. LOL And my sisters and I would go… Now pop. He’ d grin that big grin and just shake his head.
Indeed! Where’s Harriet Tubman?
Tee hee hee
White House shuts out Herald scribe
By Hillary Chabot
Wednesday, May 18, 2011 – Updated 1 hour ago
The White House Press Office has refused to give the Boston Herald full access to President Obama’s Boston fund-raiser today, in e-mails objecting to the newspaper’s front page placement of a Mitt Romney op-ed, saying pool reporters are chosen based on whether they cover the news “fairly.”acting presidential is good politics and to their advantage.”
http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2011_0518headlinegoes_white_house_shuts_out_herald_scribe/srvc=home&position=0
“I tend to consider the degree to which papers have demonstrated to covering the White House regularly and fairly in determining local pool reporters,” White House spokesman Matt Lehrich wrote in response to a Herald request for full access to the presidential visit
My point about the op-ed was not that you ran it but that it was the full front page, which excluded any coverage of the visit of a sitting US President to Boston. I think that raises a fair question about whether the paper is unbiased in its coverage of the President’s visits,” Lehrich wrote.
But Lehrich said the Herald wasn’t purposefully barred from the press pool, saying local pool duty by the Boston Globe was arranged earlier with the White House Correspondents Association. And Lehrich insisted the Herald may yet be allowed into Obama events.
“As we have in the past — including the multiple occasions on which the Herald has supplied local pool reporters — we will continue to consider the Herald for local pool duty for future visits,” Lehrich wrote.
Obama is in town today to raise money for his 2012 re-election campaign. His afternoon speech in the South End’s Cyclorama is open to all media, but only a selected pool can attend other aspects of his fund-raiser. Pool reporters must share all their material with other press. The Herald has been bypassed for pool duty during Obama’s last two visits despite asking the White House to be the local pool reporter.
“Newspapers don’t have to be unbiased to get access. You can’t just let only the newspapers you want in,” said Boston University journalism professor Fred Bayles.
Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom defended Romney’s March 8 opinion piece:
“That op-ed was about jobs, which apparently is a sensitive subject for the thin-skinned people around the president. The White House may be able to manipulate pool coverage, but they can’t manipulate the fact that millions of Americans are out of work because of President Obama’s failure to create jobs and get our economy moving,” Fehrnstrom said in a statement yesterday.
The administration has a history of controversial clashes with the press.
The White House was seen to be at war with Fox News early in the administration, with its communications director calling Fox an “arm” of the Republican Party, while the president avoided Fox interviews until his health reform proposal ran into trouble. Since losing control of Congress, Obama has sat down with conservative Fox commentator Bill O’Reilly.
In April 2010, Bloomberg’s Ed Chen, president of the White House Correspondent’s Association, met with then-Press Secretary Robert Gibbs to hash out complaints about limitations on the press, saying, “In my 10-plus years at the White House, rarely have I sensed such a level of anger … over White House practices and attitudes toward the press.”
Last month, a San Francisco Chronicle editor reported the White House threatened to bar Hearst reporters from pool duty after a Chronicle reporter shot video of protestors mocking Obama at a fund-raiser.
Glenn Reynolds, a University of Tennessee law professor who has followed White House-press relations at right-leaning Instapundit.com, said a pattern appears to be developing.
“It’s all about control,” Reynolds said. “At some point this will blow back on them. Most presidents behave in a more refined fashion. Experience has shown that
BLACK approval of the President is at 91%
http://www.gallup.com/poll/124922/Presidential-Approval-Center.aspx
… with the remaining % belonging to Dthomas, Lavarock, Tavis Smiley and Cornel West! LOL
I don’t believe DThomas is black. I believe he’s a paid troll pretending to be black.
It wouldn’t surprise me in the least, SG2.
May 18, 2011 12:30 PM
Republicans ‘depressed’ by 2012 options
By Steve Benen
The political story of the day appears to be this piece from Mike Allen, noting that “top Republicans are increasingly convinced that President Barack Obama will be easily reelected if stronger GOP contenders do not emerge.” Feeling desperate, the party is turning to a “bland, wonkish” governor, Indiana’s Mitch Daniels, “for an adrenaline boost.”
As a rule, political parties — especially ones that rely on a radical, hysterical base to win elections — do not get adrenaline boosts from bland wonks.
[I]nterviews this week with longtime party activists and strategists made clear that many in the Republican establishment are unnerved by a field led by Mitt Romney, who could have trouble confronting Obama on health reform; Tim Pawlenty, who has yet to ignite excitement; Jon Huntsman, who may be too moderate to get the nomination; and Newt Gingrich, weighed down by personal baggage and a sense that he is a polarizing figure from the 1990s.
Despairing Republican lobbyists say their colleagues don’t ask, “Who do you like?” but instead, “Who do we back?”
“It’s not that they’re up in arms,” said a central player in the GOP money machine. “It’s just that they’re depressed.”
The Republicans’ malaise isn’t just fodder for pundits; it carries real-world consequences. Major donors, activists, and staffers, for example, are waiting on the sidelines, hoping that more compelling candidates will come along. Allen added, “[I]nstead of solidifying against the overwhelming force being amassed by Obama’s reelection campaign, the GOP is indulging in an embarrassingly public — and probably futile — search for a more compelling standard-bearer.”
Party officials are pleading with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), who has foresworn the possibility. Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) is the subject of a new round of scuttlebutt, but as of yesterday, he’s not running. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) is apparently eyeing 2016. Sarah Palin hasn’t ruled out the race, but by all appearances, the party establishment would much prefer she stay out of it. (Allen said D.C. Republicans are “terrified” that she or a similar insurgent candidate, such as Bachmann, will make matters worse.)
And that leaves Daniels — the former Bush official largely responsible for creating a fiscally irresponsible snowball — to play the role of the rescuing hero. Some of this seems to be the result of affection for Daniels, and some is the result of panic-stricken Republicans surveying the current GOP field.
Obviously, we’ll see soon enough, and making confident predictions about this is a fool’s errand, but I wouldn’t be surprised if (a) Daniels struggles to impress anyone outside the political establishment that adores him; (b) Perry reconsiders, unless there’s a secret reason he’s afraid of national scrutiny; and (c) Pawlenty starts to take on the role of Kerry in ‘04, becoming the least objectionable alternative who more or less satisfies all of the party’s factions.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_05/republicans_depressed_by_2012029661.php
LOL The GOP field is weak and crazy at best. PBO and his supporter know it, but we cannot slack up on our voter push, NOT.EVER!
OBAMA/BIDEN 2012
While Slashing Schools Funding, Christie Bails Out ‘American Dream’ Mall Boondoggle With $400 Million
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) has made a name for himself as a “strict fiscal conservative,” by slashing spending. The governor has championed budget cuts that eliminated hundreds of millons of dollars in education funding and is now taking aim at public workers, wanting to instate cutbacks that could almost quadruple health care costs for public workers.
Yet there appears to be one project that Christie does not mind subsidizing to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. For years, a group of developers have been building the Xanadu Meadowlands complex, a massive retail and entertainment complex — complete with indoor water park, skating rink, and 600-foot ski slope — that has been under construction for the past three governors. Yet despite $1.9 billion being spent on the project with little progress, Christie recently struck a deal with the company that built the Mall of America to rescue the project, at huge taxpayer expense.
Late last month, the deal was announced and Xanadu was renamed the American Dream @ Meadowlands. As a part of the deal, Christie will have the state up to $200 million in financing and will also forfeit a similar amount of sales tax revenue:
Though the Christie administration has criticized Xanadu, once calling it a “failed business model,” and the governor said he was uncomfortable getting the state involved in private development, the state would provide $180 million to $200 million in low-interest financing and forfeit a similar amount in future sales-tax revenue. The administration has argued that the project is too big and too far along to let it lie fallow.
“At a time when the governor has taken money from renewable energy and schools, he’s bailing out an ugly mall,” said the Sierra Club’s Jeff Tittel, who is critical of the deal. Christie has defended the investment, saying the mall will “become what it was envisioned to be: an extraordinary destination. It’s getting a makeover, a new name, a new image…and we’ll make sure the sales tax revenue comes back to make this a successful project, get our investment back with responsible partners that we can trust.”
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/05/17/christie-american-dream/
“The House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education wrapped up its work last week with a hearing on “Examining the Costs of Federal Overreach into School Meals.” The Subcommittee shortsightedly concluded that the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, which was signed into law late in 2010, “raises costs…and may also lead to wasted food and fewer children served.” Exactly how much of a financial impact does it have? One of the hearing’s witnesses said the following:
The impact of the proposed rule will at a minimum be $78,774 for my department which in terms of education budgets is equal to a teacher’s salary in the surrounding area…The proposed rule is essentially an unfunded mandate, which will harm my program.
“Subcommittee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) derided the 2010 law, saying, “the previous Democrat Majority pursued a massive and costly expansion of the federal government’s role in child nutrition.” But the hearing conveniently omitted the real price of poor health across the nation. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act aims to curb escalating obesity rates, which cost the nation a hefty $147 billion per year in direct medical costs. In Hunter’s (CA) home state, the annual cost of diabetes is estimated to be $24 billion, and the cost of obesity is $21 billion.”
“Child nutrition is also a good investment because it is critical for student success in school. At a time when most states are facing budget challenges and need resources to serve students and families with the greatest need, effective hunger prevention and student nutrition programs ensure that students are ready to learn and are not stymied by hunger. Schools are ideal locations for social services like healthy meals because they have unparalleled access to low-income students and their families — they are located in the neighborhoods in which families live, are recognized and familiar community institutions, and have established relationships with students.””
The Subcommittee is concerned that “the cost of a school breakfast may increase by more than 25 cents, [and the] cost of a school lunch will have increased by more than 7 cents,” but Congress has bigger challenges to tackle right now. We need our representatives to get the message and stop wasting a significant amount of time fighting against a good investment in child nutrition legislation.”
http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2011/05/18/gop-school-lunch-costly/
US President Barack Obama greets a girl May 18, 2011 upon arrival at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. Obama is in New London, Connecticut to attend the United States Coast Guard Academy commencement.
May 18, 2011 9:25 AM
How Bachmann reads the Constitution
By Steve Benen
The Wall Street Journal ran an article yesterday about the Department of Agriculture, potatoes, and federally-funded school-lunch programs. This wouldn’t have been especially interesting, except the piece led Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) to complain about government via Twitter. (via Matt Yglesias)
Where in the Constitution does it say the fed. government should regulate potatoes in school lunches? It doesn’t.
Well, sure, that’s true. The U.S. Constitution is silent when it comes to schools, lunches, and vegetables, so in a literal sense, Bachmann’s reading-comprehension skills have not failed her, at least in this case.
But as Kevin Drum responded, “Nor does it say that highways should be built out of concrete instead of asphalt, or that naval vessels should be powered by nuclear reactors instead of sails.”
I imagine Bachmann’s child-like appreciation for constitutional literalism gets plenty of nodding heads with the Tea Party crowd, but the superficiality of this line of thought is a reminder of why the far right is not to be taken seriously on these issues.
Bachmann, for example, loves federal highway spending, which is heavily regulated. The Constitution makes no mention of highways or automobiles, so by her reasoning, the interstate highway system is unconstitutional and undeserving of her support.
Bachmann also supports Medicare, which is also heavily regulated. The Constitution makes no references to health care or the elderly, so she must see the program as an outrageous abuse of governmental power, too.
The Constitution is silent on all kinds of modern societal advances. Maybe policymakers can be grown-ups about this?
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_05/how_bachmann_reads_the_constit029650.php
The Key to the DSK Case
By Ta-Nehisi Coates
May 18 2011, 10:03 AM ET 284
This whole section is interesting:
As Mr. Strauss-Kahn surely knows from his far-flung travels, the hotels of the world are cleaned by immigrants, most of them women. The women’s vulnerabilities are legion, and in many countries, hoteliers have adopted a raft of precautions to protect staffs and guests.
For example, if a male guest calls for service, the housekeeping department will send up a male attendant. “Oftentimes, male guests will order the pay-per-view adult movies, and then call for towels, perhaps hoping that a woman will be sent to bring them up,” said Peter M. Krauss, chief sales and marketing officer for Plasticard Locktech International of Asheville, N.C., which provides card keys to hotels. “So whenever they can, the hotels will send up a male if the call comes from a male guest.”
Another policy, he said, is housekeepers do not work behind closed doors. “With a Sofitel, their standards would dictate the door was either open, or at a minimum, ajar, when housekeeping is in the room,” Mr. Krauss said. This is a practice at virtually all hotels, he said, and can be done with a latch or by leaving a cart in the doorway.
The authorities have said that the housekeeper at the Sofitel knocked on the door to Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s suite, called out to announce herself, used her master keycard to open the door, and left the work cart in the doorway, keeping it open.
“They would have a record of her using the key to gain access,” Mr. Krauss said. “They should have a record of the door remaining open for X period of time, and the door lock being actuated again. The system can differentiate between the guest’s card key and the housekeeper’s master key.”
Inside the suite, the authorities said, the housekeeper entered the bedroom to clean and Mr. Strauss-Kahn then emerged naked from a bathroom and began to attack her. When the woman ran for the door, it is charged, Mr. Strauss-Kahn shut it, an act of unlawful imprisonment.
“They know what time the maid opened that door, propped open that door, and when someone closed that door,” Mr. Krauss said.
Ignorant as always, I really had no idea why housekeeper’s generally keep the doors open while cleaning. Moreover, it’s only in considering the nature of working at a hotel work, that I got some picture of how vulnerable a woman could be. I spend a lot of time traveling, and the sheer artificial quiet and long corridors, make a lot of hotels creepy, even for me.
But beyond that, it will be interesting to see this case go forward. The electronic evidence will paint some sort of pattern. Initially DSK’s lawyers were claiming he wasn’t even in the hotel. Now they seem to be arguing for consensual sex. I wonder if they got wind of the key-card data.
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/05/the-key-to-the-dsk-case/239070/
This muthafuckas, GOING DOWN!
GOP elite see Mitch Daniels as 2012 savior
By MIKE ALLEN | 5/18/11 4:29 AM EDT
Top Republicans are increasingly convinced that President Barack Obama will be easily reelected if stronger GOP contenders do not emerge, and some are virtually begging Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels to add some excitement to the slow-starting nomination race.
It’s a sign of the GOP’s straits that the party is depending on the bland, wonkish Daniels for an adrenaline boost.
But interviews this week with longtime party activists and strategists made clear that many in the Republican establishment are unnerved by a field led by Mitt Romney, who could have trouble confronting Obama on health reform; Tim Pawlenty, who has yet to ignite excitement; Jon Huntsman, who may be too moderate to get the nomination; and Newt Gingrich, weighed down by personal baggage and a sense that he is a polarizing figure from the 1990s.
Despairing Republican lobbyists say their colleagues don’t ask, “Who do you like?” but instead, “Who do we back?”
“It’s not that they’re up in arms,” said a central player in the GOP money machine. “It’s just that they’re depressed.”
And a huge swath of operatives, donors and strategists remain uncommitted, in the hope that the field is not yet set.
So instead of solidifying against the overwhelming force being amassed by Obama’s reelection campaign, the GOP is indulging in an embarrassingly public — and probably futile — search for a more compelling standard-bearer.
House Speaker John Boehner, the nation’s highest-ranking Republican, confessed that he did not watch the first GOP debate of the cycle because he believes there is still time for more candidates to emerge. He said last week on NBC’s “Today” show: “I would expect that we haven’t seen all of the candidates.” He then proceeded to plug Daniels.
Veterans of President George W. Bush’s White House and other lions of the party have begun to accept that Jeb Bush is going to sit out this race, because he is convinced he will have a better shot in 2016.
With Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour’s decision not to run, the party’s elites are holding out a desperate hope to persuade Daniels, who is publicly reluctant, in part because of his wife’s concerns.
A highly unusual phone call from former first lady Laura Bush to Daniels’s wife, Cheri, was a sign that GOP insiders believe the governor is still on the bubble and that the party should pull out every stop to persuade him to jump in.
Charlie Black, a longtime consultant to GOP presidential races, has been talking up Daniels around Washington and said he sees a 50-50 chance the reluctant Hoosier will run.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/55172.html
“To hear Official Washington tell it, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels is the new “serious” Republican presidential contender. He’s praised as a “fiscal conservative” who isn’t obsessed with the Right’s divisive social agenda nor marred by the crazy “birther” conspiracy theories.”
“Mentioned only in passing is a key fact that — in a saner world — would disqualify him from holding any government office: Mitch Daniels was President George W. Bush’s original budget director in 2001.”
“In other words, the “fiscal conservative” Daniels oversaw the federal budget as it was making its precipitous dive from a $236 billion surplus — then on a trajectory to eliminate the entire federal debt in a decade — to a $400 billion deficit by the time he left in June 2003.”
“Plus, because of proposals developed on Daniels’s watch — such as tax cuts favoring the rich and unpaid-for projects, including the invasion of Iraq and a new prescription drug plan — the fiscal situation of the federal government continued to sink over the ensuing years, plunging to a trillion-dollar-plus annual deficit by the time Bush left office in 2009.”
“Though Daniels was surely not at fault for all the elements in this budgetary catastrophe, he was a central player in the early stages of the process. A former political operative for Ronald Reagan and an Eli Lilly pharmaceutical executive, Daniels was the salesman who pitched and defended Bush’s plans.”
http://www.alternet.org/news/150950/mitch_daniels%2C_darling_of_%22fiscal_conservatives%2C%22_was_architect_of_the_us_debt_crisis
run Daniels, run.. He’ll be another GOP marionette.
Here’s the email about the T-shirt. HA HA HA HA Love this POTUS
Ametia —
Let me introduce you to Jerome Corsi.
This week he released a new book that the publisher says will be a bestseller “of historic proportions.”
The title is “Where’s the Birth Certificate?” — yes, really.
Corsi’s work is a greatest-hits reel of delusions, ranging from 9/11 conspiracies to claiming that there is an infinite supply of oil in the Earth’s core. In 2008, he published a book about Barack Obama claiming, among other things, that he (a) is a secret Muslim; (b) is secretly anti-military; (c) secretly dealt drugs; and (d) secretly supported terrorist actions when he was eight years old. So many secrets!
FactCheck.org called Corsi’s work “a mishmash of unsupported conjecture, half-truths, logical fallacies and outright falsehoods.”
There’s really no way to make this stuff completely go away. The only thing we can do is laugh at it — and make sure as many other people as possible are in on the joke.
So let’s just do this — get your Obama birth certificate mug here:
Last year, the President said, “I can’t spend all of my time with my birth certificate plastered on my forehead.”
This is about as close as we can get.
If the facts can’t make these ridiculous smears go away, we can at least have a little fun with it.
And then we’ll get back to the important work of supporting the President as he tackles real problems like high gas prices, the deficit, and unemployment.
Thanks,
Julianna
Julianna Smoot
Deputy Campaign Manager
Obama for America
P.S. — Mug not your thing? How about a T-shirt?
Order your Obama birth certificate T-shrit here: barackobama.com
GOOD NEWS!
15-year-old prodigy is youngest graduate of University of Baltimore
Friends and family say he’s a normal kid who likes Twitter and basketball
By Don Markus, The Baltimore Sun
9:54 p.m. EDT, May 15, 2011
A month shy of his 16th birthday, Ty Hobson-Powell made history Sunday when he walked across the stage at The Lyric as the youngest person ever to graduate from the University of Baltimore.
Hobson-Powell gave up a fledgling basketball career when he began college three years ago, commuted more than an hour each way from his home in Northwest Washington after transferring last fall from Howard University and once completed 27 credits in a single semester while shuttling between classes at Howard, Montgomery College and the Internet. He will be going to law school in the fall, and possibly to medical school after that.
But Hobson-Powell shatters the stereotype of the socially challenged brainiac who has little interest in the world outside academia. He’s also not a straight-A student.
“He’s twittering too much and playing basketball too much to get a perfect 4.0” grade point average, Dr. Edwin Powell, who teaches at Howard’s medical school, said of the second of his four children.
Hobson-Powell wound up at UB by accident, by passing a booth at Howard promoting the UB law school. When he found out that the school offered an interdisciplinary undergraduate degree in public policy, history and psychology, he told his parents he was going to spend his senior year in Baltimore.
“I wanted to go ahead and pursue an education that best exemplified me,” Hobson-Powell said as he waited for the procession of 625 graduates to begin. “I have more than just one interest.”
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-ub-graduation-20110515,0,611638.story
Media Ignores Coercive Nature Of Schwarzenegger’s Relationship With Love Child’s Mother
by Tommy Christopher | 10:18 am, May 18th, 2011
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/media-ignores-schwarzeneggers-potentially-coercive-relationship-with-love-childs-mother/
Media coverage of scandals involving sex is often fraught with common pitfalls, none more insidious than the nomenclature surrounding questions of consent. For those seeking to draw a bright line between former Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger’s just-revealed love child, and IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s attempted rape case, yes, there is a huge difference, but Bill Maher’s advice to “get a yes” before you “go after the household help” ignores the inherently coercive relationship between employee and employer.
There are aspects to the Schwarzenegger story which must, necessarily, remain private. What goes on within two marriages (Schwarzenegger’s employee was married at the time) and two families is nobody else’s business. But the idea that this relationship was consensual is not something that should be taken for granted.
The Los Angeles Times, who broke the story, reports that the woman involved has financial considerations, beyond keeping keeping her job, to think of:
In an interview Monday before Schwarzenegger issued his statement, the former staffer said another man — her then-husband — was the child’s father.
She said she voluntarily left her position with the couple earlier this year after reaching a longstanding goal of working for them for two decades. “I wanted to achieve my 20 years, then I asked to retire,” she said, adding she received a severance payment and “left on good terms with them.”
Later Monday, The Times informed the woman of the governor
BWA HA HA HA Great way to bring in funds for PBO’s campaign!
Obama Campaign Selling Birth Certificate-Emblazoned Merchandise
Jon Terbush | May 18, 2011, 12:37PM
President Obama’s reelection campaign is turning a conspiracy theory that had long dogged the president into a snarky fundraising tool, selling merchandise depicting Obama and his complete long form birth certificate.
For a $25 donation, you can get a t-shirt that shows a smiling Obama above the phrase, “Made in the U.S.A” on the front, and the president’s long-form birth certificate on the back. The campaign is also giving away coffee mugs with the same design scheme to supporters who make a $15 contribution.
Deputy Campaign Manager Julianna Smoot wrote in an email announcing the new items that the campaign felt it was best to make light of the birther controversy so the president could go back to focusing on more important issues.
“There’s really no way to make this stuff completely go away,” Smoot wrote. “The only thing we can do is laugh at it — and make sure as many other people as possible are in on the joke.”
“If the facts can’t make these ridiculous smears go away, we can at least have a little fun with it,” she added.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/05/obama-campaign-selling-long-form-birth-certificate-merchandise.php
Breaking News Alert: U.S. to impose sanctions on Syrian president for human rights abuses
May 18, 2011 1:02:55 PM
—————————————-
U.S. officials say the Obama administration will impose sanctions on Syrian President Bashar Assad and six others for human rights abuses over their brutal crackdown on anti-government protests, for the first time personally penalizing the Syrian leader for actions of his security forces.
http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/HXJVEI/M93DBS/GE9OUN/IOOJ9Z/5NQEC/UP/h
President Obama Hosts Reception In Honor Of Jewish American Heritage Month
photos here:
http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/wouL70NndFe/President+Obama+Hosts+Reception+Honor+Jewish/SNO4KbAtQhL/Barack+Obama?pa=1&u=qnCWEWf6YrN&tb=C&e=alert&l=title
I guess Cornel West was really fuming about all those Jews in the White House yesterday… SMGDH @ West; what a disgrace.
“The Department of Homeland Security has decided to show some reason and compassion in its dealings with Haitians who might have been headed for deportation as soon as their Temporary Protected Status was set to expire this summer. On Tuesday, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that her department would be extending TPS for Haitian nationals another 18 months, through January 2013.”
“Under the new extension, Haitians who have been in the country since January 12 of this year will be eligible to stay in the U.S. and be legally allowed to work in the country. The Obama administration originally announced that it would grant TPS to Haitians as a result of the devastating earthquake last year. TPS is typically granted on a limited basis to folks from countries mired in war or natural disaster, where returning would be too dangerous. According to the Department of Homeland Security, 48,000 Haitians are in the country under Temporary Protected Status. Around 60,000 or so initially applied for TPS–far fewer than the estimated 100,000 to 200,000 undocumented Haitian-Americans… ”
http://www.alternet.org/rss/breaking_news/591705/dhs_does_right_by_some_haitians%2C_extends_protected_status/
This FUGLY MOFO right here:
Think Progress
May 19, 2011
Conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said yesterday that critics of the court’s decisions are either illiterate or lazy, and that their critiques are undermining “the integrity of the law.” Thomas, who hasn’t uttered a word during the high court’s oral arguments in years, said in a Georgia speech that the “cynics” are merely “drunk on their own opinions.”
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/05/18/thinkfast-may-18-2011/
“Whoa. Did a Democrat just win the Jacksonville mayor’s race?”
“Um… yes?”
“Okay, this is the post in which I take back everything I ever said about the Florida Democratic Party’s meddling in the Jacksonville mayoral primary.”
“Because it appears that the doubters such as myself were wrong, and the party chairman, Rod Smith, was right to pour money into J-ville, where an African-American Democrat and former Clinton administration official Alvin Brown, is leading by just over 600 votes in the mayor’s race in the red, red city, after Tuesday night’s election, pending a recount. The guy he’s beating, for now at least, is a tea party favorite and Jacksonville’s current tax collector, Mike Hogan. Just try and square those two things…”
“To be clear, this is a big deal.”
http://blog.reidreport.com/2011/05/whoa-did-a-democrat-just-win-the-jacksonville-mayors-race/
Backtracking Newt… too late!
I love the pics, Ametia! And I’m loving Sly Stone too! :)
Good Morning, SG2. Thank you. There were a few that wouldn’t let me copy and save… I understand, though.
Join me: http://www.fertile.com/blog/cup-of-coffee.jpg
Thank you much for the coffee. Good coffee! Just like I like it! :)
Tee hee hee. I love the pic of them on the unicorn.
Newt, when even your local slave catcher won’t agree with you….you should know you’ve gone too far
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Allen West Gives Thumbs Down To Gingrich’s Call To Bring Back Voter Literacy Tests
Newt Gingrich is facing criticism for yet another idea he has floated during his presidential campaign — that the country bring back tests for voting, which were banned by the Voting Rights Act of 1965 as a tool used to suppress African-American voters.
Now, Think Progress reports, none other than Tea Party favorite Rep. Allen West (R-FL), an African-American, is disagreeing — and referring to the sort of discrimination that his own parents faced.
Think Progress asked West about Gingrich’s position that there should be a required knowledge of history in order to vote.
“I mean, that’s going back to some, you know, times that my parents had to contend with,” said West, who then segued into discussing his concerns with America’s education system failing young people, and his admiration of a high school student in his district who has sought to be an intern for him.
He returned to the subject in conclusion: “I think that we need to do a better job educating our young men and women in school, but we don’t need to have a litmus test, no.”
In the pre-Voting Rights Act era, the Jim Crow states used literacy tests as a means of preventing African-Americans from registering to vote.
Local registrars (who were all white) would often exempt white voters entirely or only give them a simple task, compared to a complex series of civics questions given to black citizens. (Here is an actual literacy test used in Alabama.)
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/05/allen-west-gives-thumbs-down-to-gingrichs-call-to-bring-back-voter-literacy-tests.php
LOL Newt’s GRIFTING ass betta collect all the $$ now, because that train is heading back to the station right quick!
“Today, the Democratic congressional delegation of Florida united to express their serious concerns over H.B. 1355, the radical and far-reaching overhaul of Floridians’ voting rights currently awaiting Governor Rick Scott’s signature. In a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Representatives Ted Deutch (FL-19), Alcee L. Hastings (FL-23), Kathy Castor (FL-11), Frederica Wilson (FL-17), Wasserman Schultz (FL-20), and U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) request an evaluation of the bill to determine possible violations of the Voting Rights Act.”
“The Department of Justice has the authority to review state law and block implementation if provisions are determined to disenfranchise voters. “The role of government should never be to curtail the registration of newly eligible voters or hinder Americans from exercising the most fundamental democratic right afforded by our Constitution,” the delegation writes. “We are confident that any honest examination of this legislation will determine that it is in clear violation of the Voting Rights Act.””
http://blog.reidreport.com/2011/05/florida-dems-ask-feds-to-investigate-gop-election-law/
Sup, creolechild.
Where y’at, Ametia!
LOL Hi creolechild. I was visting the Dream Master. What’s up?
*I’oin’t know who did it; I didn’t do it… runs to elevator** BWA HA HA
INTELLECTUAL, UNHINGED, DERRANGED, BITTER?
Constituents Laugh At GOP Rep. Quayle For Denying Existence Of Billions In Special Oil Subsidies
May 17th, 2011 at 12:55 PM
by Lee Fang
Last month, ThinkProgress took note of a strange new defense of oil subsidies: denying their existence. Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT), a top recipient of oil industry campaign contributions, defended billions in targeted oil subsidies by telling a constituent that they don’t exist, so Congress shouldn’t cut them. Now, it appars freshman Rep. Ben Quayle (R-AZ) is adopting Bishop’s novel defense.
At a town hall in Anthem last night, Quayle was asked by a constituent why he had pushed to cut services for the elderly and women while pushing massive tax cuts for the rich and tax subsidies for the oil industry. In a condescending manner, Quayle demanded that the constituent name the specific subsidies targeted towards oil companies. The constituent didn’t miss a beat, and reminded him that the Senate just last week held a hearing where oil industry CEOs defended billions in special taxpayer money. Quayle then went on to deny that any of the subsidies used by the oil industry are at all targeted:
CONSTITUENT: I’d like to know why you’d like to do this on the backs of seniors, and of women. All the cuts are going to hurt seniors, future seniors, and women! Your attacks on Planned Parenthood are hurting women who need healthcare. […] And why are you are choosing that way rather than cutting oil subsidies […]
QUAYLE: In terms of the oil subsidies, if we’re going to address it, can you just tell me what oil subsidies you’re talking about so I could have better information on what to expand on it?
CONSTITUENT: Why were the oil companies coming to defend their subsidies in front of the Senate? Those subsidies, anything in which we give them money when they’re making billions off of us every day.
AUDIENCE: That’s right!
QUAYLE: The things they were talking about were actually tax deductions that corporations across all sorts of sectors take in terms of R&D, in terms of equipment deductions, the life of the equipment, those were the deductions that they were talking about and it’s not specific to the oil industry […]
[AUDIENCE LAUGHTER]
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/05/17/ben-quayle-oil-subsidies/
HA HA HA HA **More audience laughter**
Romney, you can’t govern by bullet point
By Ruth Marcus, Published: May 17
Some people believe that Mitt Romney is unfit to be president because the health reform he instituted as Massachusetts governor included an individual mandate.
I believe Romney is unfit to be president because he used a PowerPoint presentation to defend it.
America does not need a PowerPoint president.
Let me make that stronger: A PowerPoint president would be bad for America.
My anti-PowerPoint stance is nonpartisan and non-Luddite. I wrote my first screed against the omnipresent program back in 2005, when Romney was still a moderate Republican and PowerPoint had been implicated as a potential contributor to the 2003 space shuttle disaster. On the techno-front, I am from the era of overhead projectors and audio-visual aids. I love a meaty Excel spreadsheet.
It’s just that I loathe PowerPoint. Enduring a PowerPoint presentation is rarely informative and never efficient. The inevitable cutesy graphics — why think through a tough problem when you can spend your time surfing for clip art or experimenting with fonts? — add a bullet point of insult to the injury of having to sit though it.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/romney-you-cant-govern-by-powerpoint/2011/05/17/AFVOS45G_story.html?wpisrc=nl_opinions
but but but…..I thought Little Leroy was all big and bad…..
PUNK.ASS.BIYOTCH.
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Newt Apologizes To Paul Ryan, Begs Democrats Not To Use His Own Quotes In Ads
Newt Gingrich’s walk back tour reached its zenith Tuesday night, as Gingrich personally apologized to Paul Ryan for dismissing his Medicare plan as “right wing social engineering.” In an added twist, Gingrich claims that the merest mention of his extensive condemnation of Ryan’s budget from Sunday’s Meet The Press by Democrats is now out of bounds as a result.
“Any ad which quotes what I said on Sunday is a falsehood, because I have said publicly those words were inaccurate and unfortunate,” he told FOX’s Greta Van Susteren. “”When I make a mistake, and I’m going to on occasion, I’m going to share with the American people that was a mistake becuase that way we can have an honest conversation.”
Democrats have been giddy — and Republicans terrified — at the prospect of new ads and messaging featuring Gingrich’s attacks on the Ryan budget as “radical change from the right” and “too big a jump” for America. Newt’s comments to FOX suggest that he’s well aware of what’s coming.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/05/newt-apologizes-to-paul-ryan-begs-democrats-not-to-use-his-own-quotes-in-ads.php?ref=tn
Jackson Jr. Denies Telling Fundraisers To Funnel Donations To Blago
Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) told the Chicago Sun-Times on Monday that he didn’t direct fundraisers to give $1.5 million in campaign contributions to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich if he agreed to let Jackson fill Barack Obama’s seat in the Senate back in 2008.
Rajinder Bedi, a fund-raiser and onetime state worker, testified at Blagojevich’s trial last week that he met Jackson and another fund-raiser at an election meeting just before the 2008 election, the newspaper reports. A few hours later, Bedi (now a government witness) met with the Blagojevich camp to offer $1 million in exchange for Jackson’s appointment.
Jackson told the newspaper on Monday that Bedi “absolutely” made the offer to the Blagojevich team on his own, and that he had “no idea” why anyone would say otherwise. He also said he’s “very confident” he has no legal troubles to worry about.
“I’ve committed and participated in no such scheme. It’s been a thorough investigation. And I think the investigation has revealed that,” Jackson said.
“I’ve had brighter days and glory days,” Jackson said. “But there are ups and downs in public life. I roll with the punches.”
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/05/jackson_jr_denies_telling_fundraisers_to_funnel_do.php
Uh,uh,uh, just keeps getting messier everyday, with JJJ.
Know Your Enemies
by BooMan
Wed May 18th, 2011 at 12:12:02 AM EST
The U.S. Senate had a vote tonight on “a bill to reduce the Federal budget deficit by closing big oil tax loopholes.” Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins actually voted for it. But no other Republicans did. And three Democrats voted against it. Can you guess who they were? Two of them are kind of obvious. Mark Begich of Alaska and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana represent petro-states. But Ben Nelson represents Nebraska. The Department of Energy says that Nebraska’s oil reserves are “small.” So, why did Nelson oppose the bill? Anyone want to guess?
The answer is probably related to the reason why Ben Nelson has drawn a line in the sand and declared that he is no more willing to raise taxes to address the deficit than the wingnuttiest wingnut in the land.
The bill actually won a majority (52-48), but you know the drill. The vote wasn’t actually on the bill, but on the motion to proceed to the bill. And a motion to proceed needs 60 votes to pass in the U.S. Senate. Ergo, the Big Oil companies will continue to get huge tax breaks while they are absolutely raping the U.S consumer and making record profits.
I am sure you won’t have to look far to find someone who thinks this is the president’s fault.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2011/5/18/0122/92105
REMEMBER THESE DEMOCRATS: Mark Begich of Alaska and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana represent petro-states. But Ben Nelson represents Nebraska. The Department of Energy says that Nebraska’s oil reserves are “small.” So, why did Nelson oppose the bill? Anyone want to guess?
The answer is probably related to the reason why Ben Nelson has drawn a line in the sand and declared that he is no more willing to raise taxes to address the deficit than the wingnuttiest wingnut in the land.
May 18, 2011 8:00 AM
Senate GOP protects oil industry subsidies
By Steve Benen
Senate Democrats thought it was at least worth a shot. With oil industry profits soaring, and consumers frustrated by rising prices at the pump, it seemed like the ideal time to end $21 billion in subsidies to oil companies that clearly don’t need them. When prominent Republican leaders like John Boehner and Paul Ryan hinted they could support a repeal of these industry incentives, Dems were even more encouraged.
But these subsidies have survived a very long time for a good reason — they’ve proven to be all but impossible to kill.
The Senate on Tuesday blocked a Democratic proposal to strip the five leading oil companies of tax breaks that backers of the measure said were unfairly padding industry profits while consumers were struggling with high gas prices.
Despite falling eight votes short of the 60 needed to move ahead with the bill, top Democrats said they would insist that eliminating the tax breaks to generate billions of dollars in revenue must be part of any future agreement to raise the federal debt limit.
“We have to stand up and say, ‘Enough is enough,’ ” said Senator Al Franken, Democrat of Minnesota. “While oil prices are gouging the pocketbooks of American families, these companies are on a pace for a record profit this year.”
Technically, last night’s vote was on the motion to proceed on the bill. Supporters outnumbered opponents, 52 to 48, but with Republicans filibustering the measure, Dems needed a 60-vote supermajority just to initiate a debate on the proposal. They fell eight votes short.
Two oil-friendly Democrats, Mary Landrieu (La.) and Mark Begich (Alaska), voted with the GOP, as did Nebraska’s Ben Nelson who had previously said he opposes filibusters on motion to proceed. Two Republicans, Maine’s Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, voted with the majority.
Other alleged GOP “moderates,” including Scott Brown (Mass.) and Mark Kirk (Ill.), voted to protect Big Oil’s tax incentives.
The outcome didn’t come as a surprise, since the chances of Democrats finding eight additional votes were remote, but the results are likely to be fodder in the 2012 elections, which is largely why the measure was brought to the floor in the first place.
As for the larger context, it’s also worth keeping in mind that the GOP is moving backwards on the issue. In 2007, the last time Democrats tried to end oil industry subsidies, eight Republicans sided with the majority to scrap the incentives. Late yesterday, there were only two. Given the larger circumstances, the GOP should be more inclined to end the subsidies, not less, and yet, here we are.
It’s also worth keeping campaign contribution totals in mind: “A Center for American Progress Action Fund analysis finds that the 48 senators who sided with Big Oil received over $21 million in career oil contributions, while 52 senators who sided with the American people received only $5.4 million in contributions.”
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_05/senate_gop_protects_oil_indust029647.php
REMEMBER THESE FOLKS:
Two oil-friendly Democrats, Mary Landrieu (La.) and Mark Begich (Alaska), voted with the GOP, as did Nebraskas Ben Nelson who had previously said he opposes filibusters on motion to proceed. Two Republicans, Maines Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, voted with the majority.
ok, you will have to email me with these pictures…you know I need to add these to my portfolio.
so, email them to me at mamahelena@aol.com
I’m mad as heck that I didn’t find them first :)
but, I know you’ll share the First Family love with me
HA HA HA HA Sure, I’ll send you the links to the paintings; I’d be happy to!
Good Morning, everyone :)
Godd Morning, rikyrah :-)
Inspiration for today….