The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir is directed by Carol Cymbala, the wife of
Senior Pastor Jim Cymbala and the daughter of the church founder, the late Rev.
Clair Hutchins. Although the Choir is composed of vocally untrained church
members, it has been used by the Lord to present the love of God all over the
world. The 285-voice choir has recorded three videos, three DVDs, and numerous
albums, winning six Grammy Awards. “The choir represents all different walks of
life and every kind of sin,” Pastor Cymbala says. “You name it and we have
someone who has been saved out of it, standing next to another one who has grown
up in the church.”
Now that is singing praises to the Lord!
Beautiful music! Thank you very much
for sharing this with us! Peace, Uncle Tree
Good Morning, Uncle Tree!
The Booklyn Tabernacle Choir sings so beautifully! The music touches my soul.
Former Texas Governor Bill Clements Dies
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/29/bill-clements-dead_n_868645.html#comments
AUSTIN, Texas — Former Texas Gov. Bill Clements, who in 1979 became the state’s first Republican elected governor since Reconstruction, has died at 94, his family said.
Roland had Black military folks on his show today. I thought it was good. Considering the percentage of Black folks in the military, I’m glad he did this show.
Got a link to the clip?
I watched it on tivo. I wish he would put his shows on Youtube, because I really think it would be a great show to ‘ get out there’.
He really did his best to cover all the angles of military life for soldiers, and it was just good to hear about it from a BLACK perspective. Folks seem to want to forget that 1 out of 5 folks in the military is Black.
John McCain: Sarah Palin Can Beat Obama In 2012
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/29/john-mccain-sarah-palin-c_n_868562.html?fbwall
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) suggested on Sunday morning that former Alaska governor Sarah Palin could defeat President Barack Obama should she run as the Republican presidential nominee in 2012.
“Of course she can,” said the Arizona senator of Palin’s chances in the hypothetical match-up on “Fox News Sunday.” He added, however, that he doesn’t know whether his 2008 running mate will ultimately decide to make a run for the White House.
The remarks from McCain come the same day that Palin is kicking off a bus tour of the eastern United States. The move, along with news of a documentary premiering next month on the rise of the big name Republican and her tenure as governor have stirred speculation that Palin could jump into the GOP primary race.
In discussing a potential Palin 2012 campaign, McCain said, “I’ve never seen anyone as mercilessly and relentlessly attacked as I have seen Sarah Palin in the last couple of years.” According to The Hill, he added, “But she also inspires great passion, particularly among the Republican faithful.”
What? Has John McCain lost his mind? So he doesn’t remember Barack Hussein Obama beating his *ss in 08 and sending him & Palin packing? Jesus Christ! Is he senile or what?
he is so out of touch….fucking crazy.
you old asshole..you should be APOLOGIZING TO AMERICA FOR INFLICTING THAT STUPID GRIFTER UPON US.
AMEN! McCain owes America an apology for this nightmare he thrust upon the country and putting the country at risk with this wasilla trash called PALIN!
BWA HA HA HA Meghan and Cindy, please come and take MCshame back to the nursing home, and don’t forget to pack his denture cup!
May 29, 2011 10:45 AM
The tired ‘experience’ canard
By Steve Benen
Last fall, Mitt Romney spoke to a gathering of capital financiers in Los Angeles, and predicted the 2012 campaign would be about “values,” not the economy.
Apparently, he’s since changed his mind.
Republican Mitt Romney will formally launch his second campaign for the White House on Thursday with an operation leaner and wiser than it was four years ago and a message singularly focused on what he sees as President Obama’s greatest area of vulnerability: jobs and the economy.
Romney and his advisers are working backward from November 2012. They believe that the economy will decide the outcome of the election and that the president has yet to convince voters that his economic policies have worked. […]
“This election is going to be a referendum on President Obama and his handling of the economy,” said campaign spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom. “He didn’t cause the economic recession, but his policies have prolonged it and deepened it in some respects. We wondered what it would be like to elect a president who has no experience. Now we know.”
At a certain level, the larger point here makes sense. The economy will almost be the driving factor in the 2012 race, so Romney’s focus away from “values” is sensible. If President Obama is perceived as having turned the economy around, he’s going to win. If he’s perceived as having come up short, he’s vulnerable.
There are, however, quite a few problems with the particulars of Romney’s message. The idea, for example, that Obama policies have “prolonged and worsened” the Republican economic crisis is demonstrably ridiculous.
But I’m especially fascinated by the Romney camp’s “no experience” line. This was popular in 2008 as a line of attack, but it didn’t go far. I’m a little surprised Romney and his team are still going with it.
Indeed, has Romney thought this one through? Barack Obama served eight years in state government, four years in the U.S. Senate, and by Election Day 2012, will have also served four years as the president of the United States in a time of multiple domestic and foreign crises. Mitt Romney served one term as governor, saw his approval ratings tank, and ran away rather than seek re-election.
Does Eric Fehrnstrom really want to talk about electing someone with “no experience”?
Complicating matters, during Romney’s only service in public office, his state’s record on job creation was “one of the worst in the country.” Adding insult to injury, “By the end of his four years in office, Massachusetts had squeezed out a net gain in payroll jobs of just 1 percent, compared with job growth of 5.3 percent for the nation as a whole.”
How bad is Romney’s record? During his tenure, Massachusetts ranked 47th out of 50 states in jobs growth.
But wait, Romney’s defenders say. Sure, his only experience in public office was a bust, but let’s not forget he was also in the private sector, running Bain Capital. Except, that’s not much of a defense given the frequency with which Bain slashed American jobs.
Maybe Romney should go back to the “values” attack, after all?
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_05/the_tired_experience_canard029898.php
LMBAO
Oprah’s 25 Best Black Moments
Whether it’s talking to Barack Obama about life in the White House or Whitney Houston about her drugs of choice, Oprah Winfrey knows how to get her guests talking. Remember these interviews?
http://www.theroot.com/multimedia/oprahs-25-best-black-moments
Nice collection of memories. I think my favs are POTUS & FLOTUS, Nelson Mandela, and Will & Jada.
Forecasting a Nasty 2012 Campaign
RightWatch: White rage and a dearth of new Republican ideas should result in a noxious and racially tinged campaign next year.
By: Jack White | Posted: May 28, 2011 at 12:20 AM
As many a would-be prophet can attest, predicting the future is one surefire way of making yourself look ridiculous. When your prognostication goes wrong, the only ones who look sillier than you are those who believed in the forecast.
Take, for example, radio Bible thumper Harold Camping, who whipped legions of evangelical Christians into a frenzy by claiming that the rapture, in which the faithful would be literally spirited up into heaven, was going to take place last Saturday. Lo and behold, we — and he — are still here. But instead of curing Camping of being a seer, that seemingly incontrovertible piece of evidence only forced him to revise his schedule. He now says the end of the world will take place on Oct. 21, and I hope he is right.
That’s because the coming of doomsday this fall would spare us what I boldly predict will be the nastiest, most racially charged presidential campaign in decades, perhaps even since the Civil War. That’s not because the developing field of Republican candidates is a pack of rabid race-baiters. Indeed, so far only one of them, the inimitable Newton Leroy Gingrich, has descended into that gutter with his charge that Barack Obama is “the most successful food stamp president in American history.”
Despite the GOP’s long history of exploiting white fear for political gain, I doubt that the eventual nominee will make such a blatant racist appeal. He or she won’t have to. Their surrogates or those in charge of supposedly independent expenditures will handle it for them. And it will simply be in the air.
My fearless forecast is not based on the personalities of the candidates but on what analysts call the objective factors: the underlying social context in which the campaign will unfold. And right now it’s setting up as a perfect storm for racially charged resentment on the far right, even if the candidates make no overt attempt to exploit it. Here are three of my reasons, two pretty obvious and one less so:
* White people are really angry. According to a hugely publicized study by Tufts University researchers, a growing number of whites believe that race relations are a zero-sum game in which every inch of black progress is offset by an increase in discrimination against whites. Indeed, the researchers contend, many whites have now convinced themselves that bias against people like themselves is a bigger problem than anti-black prejudice. The most obvious symbol of black progress — and of their own setbacks — is none other than the man who will be at the top of the Democratic ticket next year: the first African-American president.
* The Republicans don’t have winning issues. The triumph of Democrat Kathy Hochul this week in a special election in a historically conservative district in upstate New York underscores my belief that when right-leaning Republicans actually spell out what they stand for, independent voters flee in droves. In this case, the central issue was conservative budget guru Paul Ryan’s radical plan for replacing Medicare with a voucher system that would force seniors to pay substantially more for their health care, which has been endorsed by an overwhelming majority of Republicans in both the House and Senate.
In addition to defending that unpopular proposal, the Republican nominee will have no bold new ideas to push. The much ballyhooed job-creation plan that the GOP released this week is just more of the same-old, same-old combination of tax breaks for the wealthy and big corporations and a pullback on regulation that got us into this economic mess. And with the death of Osama bin Laden, any attempt to paint Obama as a weak commander-in-chief chief will be an exercise in futility.
* Finally, Obama’s critics on the left have opened the floodgates. One of the unintended consequences of Cornel West’s impassioned recent attack on Obama is that by sinking into ad hominem claims about the president’s character, he implicitly sanctioned the validity of similar charges from the right. There is not, after all, that much difference between accusing Obama of being afraid of “free black men” because he was reared by Caucasians, and bashing him for possessing a Kenyan anti-colonial view of the world that he supposedly got from his African daddy. How left-wing critics expect to combat right-wing efforts to paint Obama as an exotic outsider after they indulge in equivalent mudslinging is a conundrum that only a highbrow philosophy professor can resolve.
So there you have it: a conservative electoral base seething with anti-black resentment, combined with an unpopular platform and a de facto go-ahead from the left to portray Obama as some kind of alien. That’s a witches’ brew for what could easily spill over into a truly noxious explosion of racially tinged politicking, even if the eventual Republican standard-bearer never explicitly brings up the subject.
http://www.theroot.com/views/forecasting-nasty-2012-campaign
White rage and a dearth of new Republican ideas should result in a noxious and racially tinged campaign next year.
Buckle your seatbelt!
No surpirses here. White folks gonna have to get over themselves, because CHANGE HAS COME TO AMERICA.
The END!
14,000 British professors – but only 50 are black
Higher Education Statistics Agency reveals number of black professors in UK universities has barely changed in eight years
Leading black academics are calling for an urgent culture change at UK universities as figures show there are just 50 black British professors out of more than 14,000, and the number has barely changed in eight years, according to data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
Only the University of Birmingham has more than two black British professors, and six out of 133 have more than two black professors from the UK or abroad. The statistics, from 2009/10, define black as Black Caribbean or Black African.
Black academics are demanding urgent action and argue that they have to work twice as hard as their white peers and are passed over for promotion.
A study to be published in October found ethnic minorities at UK universities feel “isolated and marginalised”.
Heidi Mirza, an emeritus professor at the Institute of Education, University of London, is demanding new legislation to require universities to tackle discrimination.
Laws brought in last month give employers, including universities, the option to hire someone from an ethnic minority if they are under-represented in their organisation and are as well-qualified for a post as other candidates. This is known as positive action. Mirza wants the law amended so that universities are compelled to use positive action in recruitment.
She said there were too many “soft options” for universities and there needed to be penalties for those that paid lip-service to the under-representation of minorities. Positive discrimination, where an employer can limit recruitment to someone of a particular race or ethnicity, is illegal.
The HESA figures show black British professors make up just 0.4% of all British professors – 50 out of 14,385.
This is despite the fact that 2.8% of the population of England and Wales is Black African or Black Caribbean, according to the Office for National Statistics. Only 10 of the 50 black British professors are women.
The figures reflect professors in post in December 2009. When black professors from overseas were included, the figure rose to 75. This is still 0.4%of all 17,375 professors at UK universities. The six universities with more than two black professors from the UK or overseas include London Metropolitan, Nottingham, and Brunel universities. Some 94.3% of British professors are white, and 3.7% are Asian. Some 1.2% of all academics – not just professors – are black. There are no black vice-chancellorsin the UK.
Harry Goulbourne, professor of sociology at London South Bank University, said that while the crude racism of the past had gone, universities were riddled with “passive racism”. He said that, as a black man aspiring to be a professor, he had had to publish twice as many academic papers as his white peers. He said he had switched out of the field of politics, because it was not one that promoted minorities. He called for a “cultural shift” inside the most prestigious universities.
Mirza said UK universities were “nepotistic and cliquey”. “It is all about who you know,” she said.
Audrey Osler, a visiting professor of education at Leeds University, described the statistics as “a tragedy”. “Not just for students, but because they show we are clearly losing some very, very able people from British academia.”
Nelarine Cornelius, a professor and associate dean at Bradford University, said that while universities took discrimination very seriously when it came to students, they paid far less attention when it concerned staff.
Many of the brightest black students were seeking academic posts in the United States where promotion prospects were fairer, they said. Others said too little was being done to encourage clever black students to consider academia and that many were put off by the relatively low pay and short contracts.
Universities UK – the umbrella group for vice-chancellors – acknowledged that there was a problem. Nicola Dandridge, its chief executive, said: “We recognise that there is a serious issue about lack of black representation among senior staff in universities, though this is not a problem affecting universities alone, but one affecting wider society as a whole.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/may/27/only-50-black-british-professors
Where’s that reporter Ben who got called a nigger 9 times and din’t do jackshit but whine about it in a newspaper? This here is one of the harsh realities of being BLACK, dude.
Here’s a video featuring Shihan, courtesy of Def Poetry Jams, which is entitled Flashy Words.
‘Dark Girls’ Documentary Exposes Skin-Color Bias
By: Jenée Desmond-Harris | Posted: May 26, 2011
The upcoming documentary Dark Girls explores the deep-seated biases and attitudes about skin color that are experienced particularly by dark-skinned women, outside of and within African-American culture.
While the issue certainly isn’t brand new, this approach appears to be. Colorism traditionally arises in an adversarial fashion: Someone accuses someone else (a director, a magazine editor, perhaps all of Hollywood) of embracing unfair standards of beauty that exclude many black women. (Just today, Osama bin Laden’s former mistress Kola Boof took to Twitter to attack rapper Wale for perpetuating dominant standards of beauty in his music video for “Pretty Girls,” calling him self-loathing.)
But Dark Girls seems to take a different angle. Rather than vilifying the perpetrators of bias, the preview shows women being allowed to tell their own stories in a manner that sends an undeniable message about how nonsensical, painful and historically fraught our stubborn views of skin color and beauty can be.
Read some excerpts from the interviews in the film (produced by Bill Duke for Duke Media and D. Channsin Berry for Urban Winter Entertainment, co-produced by Bradinn French and edited by Bradinn French) and watch the preview below.
“I can remember being in the bathtub asking my mom to put bleach in the water so that my skin would be lighter and so that I could escape the feelings I had about not being as beautiful, as acceptable, as lovable.”
“She’s pretty for a dark-skinned girl … What is that supposed to mean?”
“They used to say, ‘You stayed in the oven too long.’ ”
“It was so damaging … it made it seem like we weren’t wanted; that we were less than.”
“The racism that we have a people amongst ourselves is a direct backlash of slavery.”
http://www.theroot.com/buzz/dark-girls-documentary-exposes-skin-color-bias?wpisrc=obinsite
I saw the excerpt. It’s profound & heartbreakingly powerful. I’m so glad the women got to share their experiences.
Here’s a video featuring Gemineye, courtesy of Def Poetry Slam, which is entitled Penny for Your Thoughts.
Whew! Lawdy, this man just blew my MIND. Thanks for posting this, creolechild.
Wow!
Here’s another video by Indie.Arie which is entitled I Am Not My Hair.
I love it! I love it! Thank You, Creolechild!
So much appreciated! That.is.all.
that was fierce
Courtesy of Def Poetry Slam, here’s two Asian sisters–Yellow Rage–“going off” about stereotypes.
Apple Employee to Black Men: ‘I Am Discriminating Against You’
By: Jenée Desmond-Harris | Posted: May 27, 2011
A new lawsuit accuses employees at an Apple Store in New York City of telling two black men that they were unwelcome in the store, in no uncertain terms.
The lawsuit alleges that both men, wearing “baggy jeans and large sweaters with hoods,” went into the store in the afternoon to buy headphones when they were confronted by a white Apple employee, who came up to the men in an “intimidating fashion” and said, “You know the deal. You know the deal.”
The plaintiffs, Brian Johnston, 34, and Nile Charles, 25, say the employee asked them to leave unless they planned to shop or see a Mac specialist. Before either could respond, they claim that he told them they were not welcome in the store because of their race.
“And before you say I’m racially discriminating against you, let me stop you. I am discriminating against you,” the employee allegedly said. “I don’t want ‘your kind’ hanging out in the store.”
According to the suit, the two men were “shocked and humiliated” and used a cellphone to record what occurred. They are seeking punitive damages based on emotional pain, suffering, inconvenience and loss of enjoyment of life.
Unfortunately for the plaintiffs, who were humiliated, and for Apple, which will be held responsible for his behavior, the employee in this case (Mr. “You know the deal”) sounds like he’s every bit as mentally unstable as he is racist. On the other hand, it will probably work in the men’s favor — discrimination cases would be a lot easier to prove if everyone were this honest about his motivations.
http://www.theroot.com/buzz/apple-employee-black-men-i-am-discriminating-against-you?wpisrc=obinsite
They don’t even hide the contempt and racial hatered anymore. Just flat out said “I’m discriminating against you.” Apple will be doling out some $$$ for this performance by it’s employee.
“And before you say I’m racially discriminating against you, let me stop you. I am discriminating against you,” the employee allegedly said. “I don’t want ‘your kind’ hanging out in the store.”
Apple must love giving away their money! Hit them hard and hit them deep! TAKE their MONEY!
Here’s a video featuring Shihan, courtesy of Def Poetry Slam which is entitled Father’s Day.
Here is a video featuring Black Ice, courtesy of Def Poetry Jam, which is entitled Lone Soldier.
Clarence Thomas Dumps Financial Records Just Before Long Weekend
By: Erin E. Evans | Posted: May 28, 2011
Clarence Thomas was called out on Twitter Friday afternoon for releasing financial-disclosure documents at the last minute. Right before Memorial Day weekend.
Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) was awaiting Justice Thomas’ disclosures at 4:30 p.m. He tweets: “Pretty crazy that the Scotus does a pre-memorial day friday dumping of its financial forms.”
The forms disclosed information about Thomas’ role on the board of the Horatio Alger Association and that he made $10,000 for a speech at the University of Minnesota. But it was his wife’s role with Liberty Central and Liberty Consulting that was driving Weiner’s all-day tweetathon. Because of a potential conflict of interest, Weiner thinks that Thomas should recuse himself from all rulings on the health care reform law.
“We knew that Justice Thomas’s family had a financial stake in opposing health care reform. Now we know even more,” Weiner said. “It’s pretty clear the Justice has one option here: recusal.”
http://www.theroot.com/buzz/clarence-thomas-dumps-financial-records-just-long-weekend?wpisrc=obinsite
They’re coming to take you away, hey, hey, Unca Clarence!
BWA HA HA HA HA
… and take that crackpot Ginni with ya! BWA HA HA
tee hee hee
someone White call me Nigger more than twice……they’d get the rest of them out of their mouth through a hurt body
let some White person call them Nigger NINE TIMES?
HELL THE FUCK NAW!!
……………………………………
‘m from Surrey, not Harlem. How dare a white, middle-class friend of Kate Moss call me the N-word eight times, says TV presenter Ben Douglas
By Ben Douglas
Last updated at 11:23 AM on 29th May 2011
Every now and again something happens that is so shocking, you walk away wondering if it was just a bad dream.
These events are mercifully rare – they come along perhaps once or twice a decade, and are all the more remarkable for it.
I experienced one of them last Sunday night, and I am only now coming to terms with the fact that it actually happened.
It took place at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London, where I had been invited to attend the Bafta awards.
Always a wonderful occasion, this year’s event was no different, and it was in a mood of relaxed delight that I stepped outside for some fresh air during the evening . . . and in doing so stepped back into the Seventies.
After spotting my companion, an elegant executive at a glossy magazine, a curly-haired man looked me up and down and then asked her: ‘Are you with him?’
His response to her affirmative nod stopped me in my tracks: ‘You’re a nigger’s bitch *(see note below), that’s what you are.’
Then, apparently oblivious to the wide-eyed shock of everyone within earshot, he went on to repeat the insult no fewer than seven times (I counted).
‘This was an elegant soiree, not a BNP event’
I said: ‘Excuse me?’
He answered: ‘Yeah, nigger?’
‘What did you say?’
‘Nigger.’ He appeared to enunciate the word with some relish.
‘I think that’s a bit off,’
I said. ‘Would you mind not using that word please?’
‘What, nigger? Nigger? Nigger’s not offensive. Nothing wrong with nigger. I know loads of niggers.’
Perhaps it was the champagne – he was clearly refreshed – but to my mind the fact that nobody tore a strip off him had more to do with his identity.
For this was no tattooed skinhead thug, but a leading figure from the fashion world who numbers Kate Moss and Lily Allen among his closest friends.
I am not going to name him – while he is an offensive idiot, I have no desire to destroy his career – but suffice it to say that this individual is every bit in demand today as he was when he was involved in his first Vogue cover in the Nineties.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1391971/Ben-Douglas-A-white-middle-class-friend-Kate-Moss-called-N-word-times.html#ixzz1Nkw3SHcU
I would have COLD-COCKED that cracker from jump.
This negro, THIS NEGRO, right here GOT HIS:
NIGGER .WAKE .UP.CALL.
Name that CRACKER ASS CRACKA who called you nigger 9 times, or shut the fuck up, negro.
Dude, has no idea what hit him. SMGDH. The cracka could care less about him or why he called him a nigger and he’s worried about saving that cracka’s career! I want to slap that negro sooo hard.
@ Ametia: I’m just stunned that he doesn’t want to name him for fear it’ll destroy his career. What does it take for the dude to realize the racist scumbag doesn’t give a damn about him. He proved it nine times over! Hit him hard where it hurt most.
I am not going to name him – while he is an offensive idiot, I have no desire to destroy his career – but suffice it to say that this individual is every bit in demand today as he was when he was involved in his first Vogue cover in the Nineties.
Destroy his career!
BAM! Out that MOFO, and destroy his career. $$$ is the only language these folks understand.
Here’s a video, courtesy of Def Poetry Jam, which is entitled Poetic Bloodlines.
Obama to name new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-joint-chiefs-20110529,0,5969638.story
The president is expected to name Army Gen. Martin Dempsey to the post on Memorial Day, according to an administration official.
Reporting from Washington— President Obama is expected to announce Monday that he will name Army Gen. Martin Dempsey as the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, rounding out the new Pentagon team charged with the delicate task of winding down the U.S. commitment in Afghanistan.
Obama is likely to nominate Dempsey as the successor to outgoing chairman Adm. Michael G. Mullen at an event in the Rose Garden on Memorial Day, an administration official said Saturday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because no announcement has been made.
“Even before Tuesday’s special election in New York, in which Medicare figured so prominently, congressional Republicans and their supporters had altered their rhetoric about the cherished government health insurance program. Instead of defending their plan to effectively end Medicare, at least in its current form, they accused Democrats of being the real culprits out to do in the program.”
“Their argument goes like this: Democrats enacted huge cuts to Medicare as part of the Affordable Care Act. President Barack Obama has since proposed even deeper cuts as part of his deficit reduction plan. These cuts will inevitably mean less care for seniors, one way or another. And so it is the Democrats, not the Republicans, who are out to destroy Medicare.”
//
“But the question for voters isn’t whether the Democrats are cutting Medicare spending. The question is what effects those cuts would have — and how they would compare to cuts that Republicans propose in their budget. Medicare cuts come in all shapes and sizes, after all.”
“The key distinction between Democrats and Republicans — er, one of the key distinctions — is that Democratic cuts to Medicare focus on the providers and producers of Medicare. The most obvious and well-known among these are reductions in payments to private insurance companies that offer seniors coverage through what’s known as the Medicare Advantage program. This is basically an effort to eliminate some corporate welfare.”
“Less well-known but equally important are the Democrats’ proposed reductions in payments to the rest of the health care industry. These reductions will take place alongside a series of experiments, offering financial bonuses to doctors, hospitals and other providers who can learn to operate more efficiently or effectively. The idea is that, together, these changes will nudge the health care industry in the direction of providing more care for less money.”
“The Republicans and their allies argue that all of these cuts will eventually affect beneficiaries negatively. Medicare Advantage insurers will stop offering extra benefits, doctors and hospitals will stop seeing so many patients, and so on. I don’t happen to think they are right, for reasons I’ve explained previously. But even if they were correct, it’s hard to see how Republicans could argue, simultaneously, that their changes would somehow leave seniors in better shape.”
[READ ARTICLE IN ITS ENTIRETY BY CLICKING ON THE LINK.]
http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-cohn/89114/medicare-cut-ration-voucher-obama-ryan-deficit-budget
“You know the time-tested-and-proven adage — a gaffe is when a politician opens his mouth and what he or she really believes comes out. Sometimes it’s the revelation that the politician is barking mad and doesn’t have the foggiest notion what they are talking about. We only have to look back a week for a perfect example of this phenomenon, when Mitch McConnell said this in an interview with Congressional Quarterly:
“Last week, the Social Security trustees issued a report saying Social Security and Medicare are not sustainable under their current structure.”
“Back in the day, when we had a functioning press corps instead of a cocktail-weenie-wagging press corpse; back when we had real reporters doing actual journalism instead of the steno-pool full of faithful scribes who can be counted on to regurgitate right-wing talking points unchallenged; back then, that sort of nonsense would have been a bit in the teeth of the reporter, who would have done his or her homework ahead of time, and McConnell would have been hammered mercilessly with the fact that the trustees said no such thing.”
“Projected long-run program costs for both Medicare and Social Security are not sustainable under currently scheduled financing.”
“There is a world of difference between what McConnell said the trustees reported and what the McConnell said they reported. McConnell’s implication is that there is a hair-on-fire emergency and Social Security has to be fundamentally changed because it’s doomed to bankruptcy otherwise; when in fact what the trustees presented was an either/or — either revenues will have to be raised, or benefits will have to be cut decades down the road.”
http://crooksandliars.com/blue-girl/why-did-cq-let-mitch-mcconnell-get-away-
“Madison – In an announcement destined to shake up the drive to recall senators from both parties, the Government Accountability Board said Friday that its members would not be able to consider the recall petitions of three Democrats when they meet on Tuesday.”
“It opens the possibility the board will have to go to court next week seeking more time to complete its work. And that could mean a delay for any recall elections, which were expected to be held July 12.”
“The board said in a statement that petition challenges in the districts of Sens. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills), Jim Holperin (D-Conover), Robert Wirch (D-Pleasant Prairie) and Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay) had raised “numerous factual and legal issues” that warrant further investigation.”
//
“Senators from both parties are being targeted for recall because of their stance on Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to sharply limit collective bargaining for public workers. The board’s plan means recall elections for Republicans could be held earlier than those for Democrats. The outcome of the recall elections could tip control of the Senate from Republicans to Democrats.”
//
“The board’s staff is conferring with the Department of Justice on how to handle that issue.”
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/122750439.html
U.S. NEWS
MAY 29, 2011, 9:01 A.M. ET.Obama to Visit Tornado-Struck Missouri .
Associated Press
WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama is pivoting from diplomacy on the world stage to the intimate and delicate domestic task of acting as healer-in-chief to a devastated community.
The president travels to tornado-wrecked Joplin, Mo., on Sunday, a day after returning from a six-day European tour of Ireland, England, France and Poland. After days of focusing on the U.S. relationship with the rest of the world, he’ll turn to an even more critical connection: his own, with the American people.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303745304576352870407039408.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories&om_rid=DRaeQf&om_mid=_BN4kEAB8bb2Tqd
“Attitudes about the criminalization of marijuana may be changing among the elders of our society, as the more than 70 million of the baby boomer generation, one to widely experiment with recreational drug use, have and will become grandparents.”
“GRAND Magazine, the online magazine for today’s grandparents, released today results from their poll question which appeared in the March/April issue. It asked readers if it was time to legalize marijuana. 85% responded that they agreed it was.”
“The reader respondents who are pot proponents argued in their responses that it is hypocritical to outlaw pot when cigarettes, alcohol and fat-laden foods are legal but account for so many health issues among our population. They point out that marijuana is used to treat medical symptoms such as pain and nausea, and that in some states it is legal for shops to dispense medical marijuana. The billions that are spent in the U.S. on policing and courts related to this issue could be spent on better schools or infrastructure.”
http://www.alternet.org/drugs/151124/magazine_for_the_elderly%27s_reader_poll%3A_a_shocking_eighty-five_percent_favor_marijuana_legalization
What IS he smoking?!! JUST SAY NO…
“Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has no doubt that his former running mate Sarah Palin can defeat President Barack Obama in 2012 if she decides to run.”
“Can she win the Republican nomination and can she beat Barack Obama?” Fox News’ Chris Wallace asked McCain Sunday.
“Of course she can — she can,” McCain insisted. “Now whether she will or not, whether she’ll even run or not, I don’t know.”
“A lot of things happen in campaigns, Chris. I was written off a couple of times and was able to come back. It will be a roller coaster ride for all of them before we finally arrive at our nominee. But she certainly is a major factor. And I believe that she can be very competitive,” he added.
“What about her high negatives, especially among independents?” Wallace wondered. “I think that the, again, that’s what campaigns are all about. I’ve never seen anyone as mercilessly and relentlessly attacked as I have seen Sarah Palin in the last couple of years. But she also inspires great passion; particularly, among Republican faithful,” the Arizona senator explained.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/05/29/mccain-of-course-palin-can-beat-obama/
I can’t believe she managed to make these statements with a straight face?!!
Truly delusional…
Michele Bachmann went on CNN with John King to talk about her possible presidential run and said that her decision was not going to be based on whether Sarah Palin gets in the race. Riiiiiiight. I highly doubt that she’ll enter if Palin jumps because they have the same followers. But King then called Bachmann out on all the many false statements she made about Obama. Her response was to say that, well, she reads a whole lot (slap to Palin?), and then blamed the articles she read in the AP for getting all her facts wrong. King told her she shouldn’t be blaming factually correct news reports for her mistakes. She admitted that she could use a little messaging discipline. Hey, at least she heard of the AP.”
http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/michele-bachmann-blames-her-reading-art
“A U.S. Senator from Oregon has once again taken a stand against his own party to defend what he sees as the inherent right to free speech on the Internet, placing a hold on a bill that could force search engines and Internet service providers to block websites deemed to be “infringing” on copyrights.”
“The Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act — or “PROTECT IP” for short was part of a second attempt to pass provisions of the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA), which failed to clear Congress during its last session thanks to a parliamentary maneuver by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR).”
“And once again, Wyden has stepped forward to ensure those measures do not pass. “In December of last year I placed a hold on similar legislation, commonly called COICA, because I felt the costs of the legislation far outweighed the benefits,” he said in a prepared statement. “After careful analysis of the Protect IP Act, or PIPA, I am compelled to draw the same conclusion.”
“I understand and agree with the goal of the legislation, to protect intellectual property and combat commerce in counterfeit goods, but I am not willing to muzzle speech and stifle innovation and economic growth to achieve this objective,” Wyden added.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/05/27/oregon-senator-wyden-freezes-second-internet-censorship-bill/
Bachman is nutty as hell! What makes this loon think she can actually be President?
**FACEPALMS** AP is not factually correct or unbiased all the time either, John King.
X’s 10
May 29, 2011 10:00 AM
‘The Lazarus Effect’
By Steve Benen
Ask Americans what they’re willing to cut from the federal budget and, invariably, “foreign aid” is the most popular target. We’re occasionally reminded why that would be a mistake.
The Biblical story of Lazarus is happening again in Africa. At least it looks that way.
One moment, men, women and children suffering from AIDS are lying at death’s door, barely able to move, open their eyes, or speak. Then a few days or weeks later, they are walking, talking, laughing; truly appearing to have come back from the dead.
This astonishing transformation has been repeated all over the continent thousands of times over the past decade. And, since 2003, America has been helping to pay for it.
‘
But a budget-slashing effort in Congress this year threatens to bring much of that progress to a sudden and catastrophic halt.
I agree with conservative columnist and former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson on very little — as I recall, he referred to me as an “idiot” a few months ago — but on this issue, he’s done terrific and important work. Indeed, it was Gerson’s former White House boss who started this funding, and now the columnist has helped put together an HBO special called The Lazarus Effect in the hopes that members of his own party will back off the proposed cuts.
In 2003, Bush started the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR — an unprecedented, $3-billion a year program to help the world fight AIDS and has resulted in an 80-fold increase in the number of Africans receiving life-saving AIDS treatments since the program began.
In 2008, Bush led the charge for renewal and expansion. “We can bring healing and hope to many more. So I ask you to maintain the principles that have changed behavior and made this program a success,” Bush told Congress in his State of the Union address that year.
With bipartisan support, PEPFAR grew and saved many lives. President Obama continues to back the program, but Republicans have turned on it, despite the lives it saves, despite the goodwill towards the United States it creates in many parts of Africa.
Here’s hoping Gerson’s lobbying efforts are successful. The odds appear long that GOP lawmakers will do the right thing, but millions of people are counting on them to change their minds.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_05/the_lazarus_effect029897.php
Obama To Offer Help In Healing In Joplin, Missouri In Wake Of Deadly Tornado
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/29/obama-joplin-tornado_n_868545.html
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is pivoting from diplomacy on the world stage to the intimate and delicate domestic task of acting as healer-in-chief to a devastated community.
The president travels to tornado-wrecked Joplin, Mo., on Sunday, a day after returning from a six-day European tour of Ireland, England, France and Poland.
After days of focusing on the U.S. relationship with the rest of the world, he’ll turn to an even more critical connection: his own, with the American people.
The president will visit with survivors and family members of the worst tornado in decades, a monster storm that tore through Joplin a week ago leaving more than 130 dead and hundreds more injured. About 100 others are unaccounted for, and the damage is massive.
The president will tour destroyed neighborhoods in the city of 50,000 in southwestern Missouri, and speak at a memorial service being held by local clergy and Gov. Jay Nixon for those who lost their lives. He’ll offer federal assistance, and his own condolences.
Join me: http://community.cbs47.tv/blogs/files/5005/4324331/coffee-cup-01.jpg
Bless you! I’d love a cup! Thank you for your kindness!
“Americans are increasingly confused about what the national debt is, and how it effects the economy, but that’s no accident; we’re being hoodwinked by politicians with a massive assist from the corporate media. Even worse, they’re waving the deficit around like a shiny object to distract us from the really pressing issues facing our economy.”
“Here’s some reality: according to the Congressional Budget Office, projected “budget deficits will drop markedly over the next few years” — falling by around two-thirds by 2014 (less so if the “Bush tax cuts” aren’t allowed to expire as scheduled). This fact is not all over the news.”
//
“That’s madness, and it results from what one of the paper’s liberal bloggers, Greg Sargent, describes as a “deficit feedback loop,” in which “the relentless bipartisan focus on the deficit convinces voters to be worried about it, which in turn leads lawmakers to spend still more time talking about it and less time talking about the economy.” Sargent highlighted a study released last week by the National Journal that confirms his thesis. According to the Journal, “major U.S. newspapers have increasingly shifted their attention away from coverage of unemployment in recent months while greatly intensifying their focus on the deficit.”
//
“So what is the debt’s impact on ordinary people? A truth rarely spoken in the corporate media is this: any way you slice it, adding a dollar of public debt puts a dollar into the pockets of American households. Let me repeat that: There is a 1:1 ratio between adding public debt and private wealth, any way you want to look at it. If we had paid enough taxes to cover the services we enjoy, we wouldn’t have any debt, but we would have less money. As conservatives always point out, a dollar in taxes is a dollar less in our pockets.”
“Similarly, if we cut public services, we’d save the government some money, but people would have to pay for the things it provides out of their own pockets. Consider the GOP’s Medicare plan for example. As the L.A. Times noted, “even as the federal government cut its own spending, seniors would end up paying almost twice as much out of their own pockets — or more than $12,510 a year, the CBO estimates.” The same is true for subsidized student loans – we could cut them, saving some public dollars, and every one of them would be added to graduate student loan debt (two-thirds of college grads now leave school with an average debt of $24,000). We could cut programs for the poor, which would save public money, while making them poorer.”
“That’s true of virtually everything under the sun, including spending conservatives tend to like and progressives usually hate– killing a dollar in corporate subsidies also kills a dollar in corporate profits; a buck less in military spending is also one less greenback for defense contractors and soldiers.”
“Now, it’s true that more debt requires higher interest payments, but here again we have a 1:1 ratio. If our household debt was higher as a result of paying more out-of-pocket, then we’d have to pay more interest as well. The only difference is that with public debt, the interest burden gets spread over our entire society – including rich people like Pete Peterson – instead of only bankrupting those among us who have fallen on hard times or had a string of bad luck.”
“This gets to the crux of the progressive argument. The number one reason we’re seeing elevated deficits right now is the recession itself. In a consumer-based economy, the way to decrease those deficits is to grow one’s way out, which isn’t going to happen by taking money out of Americans’ pockets while demand is still in the hole.”
“This gets to the crux of the progressive argument. The number one reason we’re seeing elevated deficits right now is the recession itself. In a consumer-based economy, the way to decrease those deficits is to grow one’s way out, which isn’t going to happen by taking money out of Americans’ pockets while demand is still in the hole.”
http://www.alternet.org/media/151115/what_the_gop_and_corporate_media_are_hiding%3A_the_public_debt_is_putting_more_cash_in_your_pocket
The Demographic Group That Should Terrify Republicans
“Robert Christian points out that one clue to the GOP’s failure in the New York special election can be found in the Pew political typology. The key group Corwin lost ground with seems to corresponds to what Pew calls “Disaffecteds.” Who are “Disaffecteds”? Pew explains:
“The most financially stressed of the eight typology groups, Disaffecteds are very critical of both business and government. They are sympathetic to the poor and supportive of social welfare programs. Most are skeptical about immigrants and doubtful that the U.S. can solve its current problems. They are pessimistic about their own financial future.” …
“Defining values: A majority believe that the government is wasteful and inefficient and that regulation does more harm than good. But nearly all say too much power is concentrated in a few companies. Religious and socially conservative.” [See graph]
“Who they are: About three-quarters (77%) are non-Hispanic white and two-thirds (66%) have only a high school education or less. Compared with the national average, more are parents (44%). Fully 71% have experienced unemployment in their household in the past 12 months. About half (48%) describe their household as “struggling.”
“Disaffecteds tend to lean pretty heavily toward the Republican Party:” [See graph].
“Paradoxically, though, they’re more resistant to cutting Medicare and Social Security than any other group, including any of the groups that make up the Democratic base:” [See graph].
“If you can’t read that, only 15% of Disaffecteds favor cuts to Medicare or Social Security to reduce the deficit. Even 26% of “Solid Liberals” favor this.”
“So here you have a key part of the Republican base, whose swing toward the GOP in 2010 was a crucial factor in the party’s success. And this group opposes cutting Medicare more staunchly than any other group. The Ryan plan seems almost designed to blow up the Republican coalition.”
http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-chait/89019/the-demographic-group-should-terrify-republicans
Basically the disaffected voted for the GOP in 2010, and now have BUYER’S REMORSE.
This article goes into detail about GOP’s effort to suppress votes in upcoming elections and the legal challenges that are being filed to stop them. Thank you, AdLib and Planet POV!
“After the 2010 elections, with many governorships back in their hands, the GOP (a subsidiary of Koch Industries) got right to work on solving the economic and unemployment emergencies that they campaigned on so single-mindedly.”
“They did this by passing laws to undermine the finances and power of unions, slashing assistance for the poor and handicapped and instituting Voter ID provisions that would disenfranchise hundreds of thousands if not millions of Americans from exercising their right to vote.”
//
“Those who have wealth, power and influence, even if they aren’t militant about oppressing the other 99% of the nation, certainly know that the way things are is good. Rocking the boat, allowing the public to begin rejecting and revolting against the status quo could endanger the way things are and they could lose some of what they have. So, they don’t want such change…or any change that doesn’t enrich them. As we’ve seen, they will anxiously support “uprisings” that further enhance and protect their position, as the media-created Teabagger “movement” has but they will ignore and undermine true uprisings by the people against the staus quo.”
“The MSM blew up the Teabaggers into ridiculous proportions but presents the far more populist and populated movement of people rising up against corporate, anti-worker and anti-safety-net agendas as piecemeal. It’s just people in WI doing this and people in OH doing that and people in MI doing something else.”
“What’s the difference between the Baggers and all of these folks? Why is one a movement and the other just a series of independent incidents? To begin, the Baggers were a fully funded construct presented as a movement by their corporate founders, Freedomworks/Koch Industries. There is no such “ownership” of true populist movements that can provide such focused press releases and national agendas. Secondly, the Baggers served and protected corporate interests. The real populist movement going on right now threatens them and the best way to deal with that and tamp down momentum is to obscure that it’s a movement….”
//
http://planetpov.com/2011/05/24/gaming-democracy/
“….Republicans have tried for years to get photo identification requirements and other changes through legislatures, said Daniel Tokaji, a law professor at Ohio State University and an expert in election law. Similar bills were introduced over the past decade, but were largely derailed in the aftermath of a political battle over the Bush administration’s firing of several United States attorneys whom Republicans had criticized for failing to aggressively investigate voter fraud.”
“That’s what really killed the momentum of more states’ enacting voter ID laws,” Mr. Tokaji said. “Now with the last elections, with the strong Republican majorities in a lot of states, we’re seeing a rejuvenation > Republicans say that large jumps in the immigrant population have also prompted them to act to safeguard elections.”
“Over the last 20 years, we have seen Florida grow quite rapidly, and we have such a mix of populations,” said State Representative Dennis K. Baxley, the Florida Republican who wrote the law to tighten third-party registration here. “When we fail to protect every ballot, we disenfranchise people who participate legitimately.”
“Taken together, the state-by-state changes are likely to have an impact on close elections, Mr. Tokaji said. “Remarkably, most of these significant changes are going under the radar,” he added. “A lot of voters are going to be surprised and dismayed when they go to their polling place and find that the rules have changed.”
http://truthout.org/gop-push-tighten-voting-rules-may-disenfranchise-young-poor/1306681929
“Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) says substantial Medicare cuts must be part of a spending and deficit cut package to get his support to raise the debt limit.”
“In a Capitol briefing with reporters Friday, McConnell declared affirmatively that unspecified Medicare cuts are on the table in bipartisan debt limit negotiations, led by Vice President Joe Biden, and he expects they’ll be part of the final deal. But in response to a question from TPM, he went further than he has in the past in laying down a marker on that issue. Medicare cuts must be part of that deal to get his support, he says — even if negotiators manage to find trillions of dollars in savings elsewhere, even if his other priorities are met.”
“To get my vote, for me, it’s going to take short term [cuts, via spending caps]… Both medium and long-term, entitlements.,” McConnell said. “Medicare will be part of the solution.”
To clarify, I asked “[I]f [the Biden group] comes up with big cuts, trillions of dollars worth of cuts, but without substantially addressing Medicare, it won’t get your vote?”
“Correct,” McConnell said.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/05/mcconnell-medicare-must-be-cut-to-raise-debt-limit.php?ref=fpb
Don’t buy the bait, Democrats. Mitch Tippy Turtle betta ask somebody.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_eHMlZfrJmJ0/SCRyl1iNlRI/AAAAAAAABM8/nwRvQEDjvDo/s400/tippytheturtle.JPG
Good Morning, 3 Chics, Friends, & Visitors!
Happy Sunday!
Isaiah 6:3
And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.
Hi SG2! Happy Sunday to you, too!
Good Morning, Ladies,; Happy Sunday!
Good morning Ametia and rikyrah!
Good Morning, everyone :)
Good morning, everyone!
Join me in some tea: http://www.ochadokoro.com/ori/30158/etc_img/category_tea_pot.jpg
Very much needed…and appreciated. Thank you/