Archie Bell & the Drells was a R&B vocal group from Houston, Texas, and one of the main acts on Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff‘s Philadelphia International Records. The band’s hits include “Tighten Up“, “I Can’t Stop Dancing” (both 1968), “Girl You’re Too Young” (1969), “Here I Go Again” (also a UK hit in 1972[2]), “Soul City Walk” (1976), “Everybody Have A Good Time” (1977) and “Don’t Let Love Get You Down” (1986).[
Archie Bell, who formed the group, is the older brother of world karate champion (and lead vocalist of Motown’s Dazz Band), Jerry Bell, NFL player Ricky Bell (1955–1984), and Eugene Bell Sr. Bell moved to Houston as a young boy, and formed the group in 1966 with his friends James Wise, Willie Parnell and Billy Butler. They signed with the Houston-based record label, Ovide, in 1967 and recorded a number of songs, including “She’s My Woman” and “Tighten Up”.
pics of Sasha’s possible b-day party?
http://www.caroljoynt.com/my-blog/2011/06/the-obama-girls-at-georgetown-cupcake-birthday-party.html
Hey guys,
It’s hotter than hell’s door hinges here! Whew Lawd!
Poll: Romney Losing Massachusetts To Obama By 20 Points
Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty are gearing up to be major competitors in the Republican presidential primary race. And as it turns out, the two of them have something in common: According to new surveys from Public Policy Polling (D), they would both lose their respective home states to President Obama by serious margins — though as the new numbers from Massachusetts show, it’s much worse in Romney’s case.
In the new Massachusetts survey, Obama leads Romney by a landslide margin of 57%-37% — wider than the 51%-43% margin that Obama has over Pawlenty in Minnesota, and comparable to Obama’s 56%-35% lead over the other likely Minnesotan candidate, Michele Bachmann, in that state.
As it turns out, Romney is actually the strongest Republican candidate in Massachusetts. Obama leads Herman Cain by 60%-27%, leads Newt Gingrich by 63%-27%, leads Sarah Palin by 63%-27%, and leads Pawlenty by 59%-28%.
It should be noted, of course, that Massachusetts is even more Democratic than Minnesota, having voted for Barack Obama by a 62%-36% margin in 2008, compared to Obama’s 54%-44% margin in Minnesota.
PPP’s Tom Jensen writes: “I’m sure no one was in a lot of suspense about whether Obama would win Massachusetts next year. The bigger question is if an Obama win by 20 points against Romney…or by 30 points or more against someone else…will be enough to carry Scott Brown’s eventual Democratic challenger over the top.”
PPP numbers for the Senate released on Tuesday, taken from this same polling data set, showed Brown leading all Democrats tested against him. However, as the presidential numbers show, once the actual campaign commences he will have to work to court as many ticket-splitters as he can find.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/06/poll-romney-losing-massachusetts-to-obama-by-20-points.php
BWA HA HA HA
ok. you gotta admit…this is just funny.
……………………………
Charlie Rangel: No Reason Weiner Should Resign
Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) knows all about handling pressure to resign after living through a lengthy ethics investigation into his finances ending in an ultra-rare censure vote last year. And his advice to embattled Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) is clear: don’t back down.
“Not one person has given any reason for a resignation,” Rangel told PolitickerNY on Friday. He said that Weiner’s indiscretions were far less serious than past political sex scandals and that the Queens lawmaker could still do his job well if “the press gets his back.”
“He wasn’t going with prostitutes. He wasn’t going out with little boys. He wasn’t going into men’s room with broad stances,” Rangel said. “I mean, All of those I understand; I’m 80 years old. But high-tech stuff like this, I can’t respond. But I know immoral sex when I hear it from other members, and no one has screamed for their resignation. So I don’t know why they’re selecting Anthony.”
Rangel is among the most prominent New York politicians to defend him so far. A number of Democrats in the House have demanded Weiner’s resignation, but all indications so far point to the Congressman sticking around whether his party likes it or not.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/06/charlie-rangel-no-reason-weiner-should-resign.php?ref=fpblg
I’ll say it again: she is one dumb bitch
………………………………………….
Oops, she did it again. Palin mangles Cold War history
Come on, Sarah.
From the Washington Post fact checker:
“We tried buying off the Kremlin with technologies in the 1970s. That policy was a component of ‘detente,’ and the hope was that if we would share our technologies with them, they would become more peaceful. Things, of course, didn’t work out that way. The Kremlin took Western technologies and embarked on a massive military building program.”
–Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in a Facebook posting titled “Another ‘WTF’ Obama Foreign Policy Moment,” June 9, 2011
Sarah Palin made a provocative attack on President Obama on Thursday over a relatively obscure issue relating to missile defense.
“President Obama wants to give Russia our missile defense secrets because he believes that we can buy their friendship and cooperation with this taxpayer-funded gift,” she wrote on her Facebook page. “But giving military secrets and technologies to a rival or competitor like Russia is just plain dumb. You can’t buy off Russia. And giving them advanced military technology will not create stability.”
Palin said her concern was prompted by an article that appeared on the Foreign Policy Web site that asserted that the White House intends to share missile defense information with Moscow as part of a recently approved missile defense treaty.
Palin inaccurately claims that Obama has threatened a veto over some provisions, specifically section 1228, in the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act that would limit his ability to share such information.
The Statement of Administration Policy does threaten a veto over three other provisions in the bill, such as detainee issues, but not the specific issue raised by Palin.
Instead, the administration said it “strongly objects” to section 1228 because it would inhibit an exchange of data that “may improve the ability of the United States and NATO to provide effective missile defenses.” A related provision, the administration said, raises “constitutional concerns” because it encroaches on the president’s “exclusive authority” to conduct international negotiations.
Palin’s concern about the administration’s plan hinges on her recounting of the history of U.S.-Soviet relations during the period of detente. We will not try to sort the claims and counterclaims about this provision–that’s for the editorial page. But in the aftermath of the Paul Revere episode, we are interested in whether her Cold War history is correct.
And of course, she’s wrong. (Sigh)
http://blog.reidreport.com/2011/06/oops-she-did-it-again-palin-mangles-cold-war-history/
Angela Voelkert Uses Fake Teen Facebook Profile To Trick Ex, Uncover Murder Plot: REPORT
Angela Voelkert thought she could get a little dirt on her husband using a fake Facebook profile. She uncovered something far more sinister, say authorities.
The 29-year-old Indiana woman created a faux Facebook account that appeared to belong to a teenage girl. Using the the profile, she began conversing with her soon-to-be ex-husband, who seemed more than ready to put an end to an already messy divorce. According to the New York Post, David, 38, allegedly confessed through Facebook that he had not only planted a GPS tracking device on his wife’s van, but was using it to pinpoint the perfect location where he would have her killed.
“I am going to find someone to take care of her and now it will be easier because I know where she is at all times,” he allegedly wrote.
He reportedly ask the “girl” on Facebook if she’d knew any “gang-bangers” at her school that would do the job for $10,000, according to the Post.
Fox News reported that the identity of the girl Voelkert used for the profile picture, and from where she obtained the the photo, is unknown.
“Once she is gone, I don’t have to hide with my kids,” Voelkert’s husband wrote, according to court papers. “I can do what I want and not have to worry about not seeing my family anymore. You should find someone at your school. There should be some gang-bangers there that would put a cap in her ass for $10,000. I am done with her crap!”
It seems David has been released from custody after proving he knew the profile was Voelkert, reports the Smoking Gun.
To support this contention, Voelkert provided FBI agents with a May 25 notarized affidavit in which he describes receiving a friend request from “Jessica Studebaker,” whom he suspected was his ex-wife. “I am lying to this person,” he stated, “to gain positive proof that it is indeed my ex-wife trying to again tamper in my life.” He added, “In no way do I have plans to leave with my children or do any harm to Angela Dawn Voelkert or anyone else.”
The allegedly incriminating Facebook messages sent by Voelkert came on May 31, six days after his sworn affidavit was notarized. Voelkert kept one copy of the affidavit, and gave a relative a second copy for safekeeping.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/09/facebook-angela-voelkert-murder_n_873907.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk2%7C69846
GOP Freshman Shuts Down Question On His Changing Social Security Position (VIDEO)
Rep. Joe Heck (R-NV) has decided to let his position on Social Security stand. The question now is, which one!
As noted here, Heck has done a full 360 on his contention that Social Security is a pyramid scheme in the past week. That’s earned him the ire of the editors of the Las Vegas Sun and now he’s trying to push the issue to bed by saying he’s through answering questions about it.
Summarizing Heck’s revolving position on the issue, a reporter for the Las Vegas Review-Journal asked Heck for clarification at a Wednesday town hall. “I wanted to ask about your comments around Social Security,” he said. “You said at your Boulder City meeting, you used the phrase ‘pyramid scheme’ and then you later said “‘I shouldn’t have used those words,’ then on the radio you agreed with someone who called it a pyramid scheme. I just want to see where it is you stand?”
Heck responded, “I appreciate your question, but I’ve given my stance on Social Security to the previous question. This is a veterans issues town hall. So at this point I’m not going to comment on that question because I’m concentrating on veterans issues.”
The exchange was caught on camera by a Democratic tracker, and provided to TPM.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/06/gop-freshman-shuts-down-question-on-his-changing-social-security-position-video.php
June 10, 2011 2:00 PM
To question Pawlenty is to distrust ‘the American people’
By Steve Benen
Republican presidential hopeful Tim Pawlenty probably doesn’t even realize it when he slips into self-parody.
Obama’s economic team doesn’t have a plan, so their spokespeople attack ours. The idea that they don’t believe in the American people enough to say that we can grow the economy at 5% GDP really says everything. You have to wonder if in fact Obama’s grand plan is that we don’t grow at all — and if so — he and the central planners are doing a great job of that.”
That last line is dumb to the point of incoherence. President Obama doesn’t want the economy to grow? Why would that be, exactly?
But it’s the meat of the argument here that’s truly entertaining: if you question Pawlenty’s plan for 5% GDP growth, then you obviously “don’t believe in the American people enough.”
Oh, Tim, even you couldn’t believe this.
Pawlenty’s plan was panned as a pathetic joke because he thinks he can achieve 5% growth by cutting taxes on the wealthy by $7.8 trillion. Even Republican economists think Pawlenty’s approach is ridiculous — though I suppose he’d respond that they “don’t believe in the American people enough,” either.
Pawlenty never achieved 5% growth in Minnesota during his two terms as governor. No modern president has seen 5% growth at the national level, either. If the economy started growing that fast, the Fed would raise interest rates and force the economy to slow down anyway.
Is it more likely that skepticism towards Pawlenty’s fantastical agenda is evidence of insufficient patriotism, or that his clownish, child-like rhetoric just doesn’t make any sense?
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_06/to_question_pawlenty_is_to_dis030193.php
Weiner To Dems: Nope, Not Resigning, Sorry
If the last week didn’t convince Anthony Weiner (D-NY) to resign, it’s hard to see what will.
Democrats in Washington couldn’t have made it clearer that they want Weiner gone fast. Within minutes of his nationally televised confession on Monday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) called for an ethics investigation and was seconded immediately by DCCC chair Steve Israel (D-NY). By the end of the week an array of Democrats, including DCCC official Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-PA), were openly demanding he step down. On the Senate side, Harry Reid more or less told Weiner to drop dead, acidly saying his advice to the lawmaker would be to “Call somebody else.” On the other side of the ledger, virtually no Democratic officials have moved to defend him.
But Weiner has stuck to his guns, emerging from 24-hour deathwatch unbroken after an onslaught of humiliating stories ranging from a reported X-rated photo to dozens of pages of alleged raunchy chats to a New York Times story on his wife Huma Abedin’s pregnancy.
“I betrayed a lot of people and I know it and I’m trying to get back to work now and try to make amends to my constituents, and of course to my family of course,” he told the New York Post on Thursday. “I’m going to go back to my community office and try to get some work done.”
While the shouts for his resignation may be intense in DC, take the Amtrak to New York and the scene looks very different. Local politicos say they aren’t surprised to see Weiner digging in.
“He’s not going anyplace,” Hank Sheinkopf, a veteran Democratic consultant told TPM. “He’ll do whatever he wants. Generally, New Yorkers tend not to respond to people in Washington. This is their city and they’ll decide — if his constituents want him gone he’ll leave. It’s that simple.”
Polls show Weiner’s constituents at least somewhat open to giving him another chance. A workaholic, Weiner has always kept up a visible presence in his district and his pariah status in DC will likely send him retreating even further into Queens.
“The guy goes to a million events in his district,” one Democratic consultant, who asked not to be named, told TPM. “If I know him, he’ll start going to community meetings, meeting with folks, and that’s going to be the thing that ultimately decides his fate.”
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/06/weiner-to-dems-nope-not-resigning.php?ref=fpa
IF Weiner resigns, Vitter better be right behind him as well.
June 10, 2011
‘Keep it ideological’
All hail Charles Krauthammer’s stunning strategic epiphany. I mean, just look at the white flags of resignation and surrender he unfurls this morning:
Democrats will sweep the 2012 election by making it highly ideological, a referendum on two years of right-wing hyper-radicalism — of arrogant, overreaching, intrusive government striving to reverse a century of progress and to impel more wealth-redistribution to the very top.
OK, that’s not verbatim. But it’s damn close to the wording and essential intent of what Krauthammer actually writes:
The Republicans swept November’s midterm election by making it highly ideological, a referendum on two years of hyper-liberalism — of arrogant, overreaching, intrusive government drowning in debt and running deficits of $1.5 trillion annually…. Which suggest[s] an obvious Republican strategy for 2012: Recapitulate 2010. Keep it ideological.
Blessed are the unshakably doctrinaire, for they, in time, shall inherit electoral ruin. That, anyway, is both the working and theoretical model to be redeployed and most likely reaffirmed in 2012. And Krauthammer is right there, in the thick of the right’s boisterous and bubbled yearning, tuning himself up to sing his very best siren song that will doom the radicals. Bless Charles Krauthammer.
How does he manage to commit such a rankly amateurish error? By misreading America’s ideological temperature, in a kind of antithetical way to how progressives persist in misreading America’s ideological temperature — hence both camps miss the conspicuous synthesis. I quote today’s sage of buttoned-down certitude, Mr. Krauthammer:
It’s not complicated. To govern left in a center-right country where four out of five citizens are non-liberal is a prescription for electoral defeat.
Ultraconservatives such as Krauthammer observe the above truth and then take it to their characteristic extreme: only one in five citizens self-describes as liberal, thus we’re not so much a center-right nation as a lavishly 4:1-right-wing one. Progressives activists simply dismiss the above ideological spectrum (because they must) and measure it instead by popular support for social programs such as Medicare and Social Security; and from this — voila! — they conclude we’re a center-left nation.
Each side self-deceptively misses the middle mark (which successful pols, such as Obama, see vividly). When four out of five citizens refuse to describe themselves as “liberal,” what many are rejecting is merely the caricatured version of eccentric, McGovernesque liberalism into which conservatives have tirelessly invested 40 years of conceptual effort. And when progressives confuse Medicare’s overwhelming popular support with what the Krauthammers of right-wing propaganda deride as “European-style” socialism, they’re overlooking the politically philosophical reality that Medicare (among other decades-long programs) is by now a profoundly conservative — in that it’s a profoundly traditional — program of social stability.
So, in effect, liberals can run in 2012 on a fundamentally conservative message (of which at least four-out-of-five ideologues approve): protect, preserve, perpetuate America’s tradition of caring and compassion: refuse the radicals’ drive to destroy it.
Therefore Krauthammer is unwittingly, self-destructively, correct: “Keep it ideological.”
http://pmcarpenter.blogs.com/p_m_carpenters_commentary/2011/06/keep-it-ideological.html
pmcarpetner; I HEART U. :-)
Someone posted this on my profile wall and thought I’d share it here…
`*•.¸,¤°´`°¤,¸.•*´¯)(¯`*•.¸,¤°´`°¤,¸.•*´¯)
╔Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨ •.¸¸.•´¯`•. Post to the walls of wonderful friends..•´¯`•.¸¸.•
║║╔═╦╦╦═╗♪♫•.¸¸.•´¯`•. •´¯`•.¸¸.•♪♫♪•.¸¸.•´¯`•.
║╚╣║║║║╩╣ ♫•´¯`•..♫ May all your dreams come true… ♫
╚═╩═╩═╩Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ•.¸¸….•´¯`••.¸¸.•´¯`•. Peace ♫ Love ♫ Joy
Ayn Rand Inspires Republican Attack Ad
By Jason Boog on June 9, 2011 3:45 PM
Ayn Rand has inspired a group of conservative Christians to attack Republican leaders for reading Rand’s books.
The American Values Network launched a campaign (including the video embedded above) criticizing Rand’s atheism and the Republican leaders who celebrate her books.
Here’s more from the group: “GOP leaders and conservative pundits have brought upon themselves a crisis of values. Many who for years have been the loudest voices invoking the language of faith and moral values are now praising the atheist philosopher Ayn Rand whose teachings stand in direct contradiction to the Bible. Rand advocates a law of selfishness over love and commands her followers to think only of themselves, not others. She said her followers had to choose between Jesus and her teachings.”
http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/ayn-rand-inspires-republican-attack-ad_b31844
ok, this will make you LYAO:
Gingrich headquarters is an empty office
http://projects.ajc.com/gallery/view/metro/news/gingrich-office060911/
OOPS!
HA HA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Rand Paul Worried Legal Immigrant Students Will Attack Us
By Marie Diamond on Jun 9, 2011 at 6:49 pm
There’s nothing unusual about Republicans denouncing illegal immigration. But a GOP senator attacking immigrants who come to this country legally to work and study is something new. According to the New York Times, that’s exactly what Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) did today during a Homeland Security Committee hearing. Sen. Paul specifically went after immigrant students, who he called our “would-be attackers”:
“We have 40,000 students coming to this country from all over the world,” he said. “Are they would-be attackers?”
Speaking at a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing on border patrol corruption, Mr. Paul on Thursday questioned whether the government was adequately screening and then keeping tabs on those who enter the country with student visas or as refugees.[…]
But while Mr. Paul said he worried about legal immigrants, he was not concerned about the potential threat from American citizens.
“We’ve done so many things to think that we’re all terrorists, that universally we have to scrutinize everybody to the Nth degree instead of doing what I just think would be good police work,” Mr. Paul said, adding that it would be less expensive and less intrusive to privacy if the country looked at “the people who did attack us and who continue to attack us, and not really U.S. citizens.”
Paul’s latest attack on immigrants is only the latest example of the so-called libertarian’s disdain for civil liberties. Paul has advocated stripping many Americans of their constitutional right to citizenship, and he once suggested that the U.S. wouldn’t even need laws if all citizens were Christians. As ThinkProgress reported, he recently called for jailing people who attend “radical political speeches.”
The senator’s selective focus on immigrants also betrays his own ignorance about the threats facing this country. At today’s hearing, Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection Alan D. Bersin cautioned Paul against dismissing the threat posed by homegrown terrorists. After all, Bersin pointed out, the man accused of trying to detonate a car bomb in Times Square last year was a U.S. citizen. Additionally, attacking refugees who flee persecution in their own countries and jump through countless legal hoops to receive asylum in the United States is a particularly baseless (not to mention heartless) concern.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/06/09/241663/paul-immigrants-will-get-us/
Rand Paul need his head examined,something isn’t right in there!
But while Mr. Paul said he worried about legal immigrants, he was not concerned about the potential threat from American citizens.
” American citizens” = WHITES
LOL AG, Imma hafta borrow some of your language here.
I try not to keep hate in my heart and I need to keep my BP down but this sorry hijo de la chingada, this evil pendejo and all his ilk make me so crazy. They hate us. They hate all of us who are not just like them…..
It isn’t enough for them to target the informal immigrants, now they must go after those young people who are legal here, working, studying, trying to make something of themselves. Paul is an evil, evil unperson. I despise him.
Oh how I wish we had a “like” button!
“Like” your comment!
Hola Chicas! Great diary and a beautiful day to you all. I’m babysitting the Grandkiddos we had to evacuate from the smoke of Wallow fire. My nephew, a firefighter working there, told his Mama this morning that “we are getting a handle on this b*tch and pray for us that the winds stay quiet.” Kay bailey Hutchenson can eat dirt! Our fire teams go everywhere to fight the fires, even Texas, they put their lives on the line where ever they are needed.
I have a few minutes because the Kiddos are having snack and watching the DVD of “UP” For some reason they love this movie so much and will watch it over and over.
SG2, I must thank you for your wonderful graphics and words of inspiration that you provide here. They always lift me up ♥
Hola Aquagranny!
I’m glad you all are safe and sending up prayers for Divine protection for your nephew. I know about having to watch movies over & over. lol I have my two little grands today and they love love Caillou and the Wiggles. :)
I’m happy you enjoy the graphics. I have fun with them as well. Take care and stay safe!
The “Wiggles” Saints preserve me! One of my Grandsons was a total and devoted fan. I was caring for him when his sister was born and the “Wiggles” got to be just too much for me. One night, when I was trying to get him to sleep, I turned on an episode of “Flip this House” on HGTV while we were lying in bed. This particular episode was one from some vast hell because they brought in back hoes, diggers, jack hammers etc. He was bolt upright, avidly viewing a little boy’s heaven of loud, large and dirty machines destroying all in sight. I flipped the channel to Law & Order and he promptly lay down and went to sleep.
They delight my heart. We are safe and snug, lunched and soon to be napping. They are wonderful Kiddos and the joy of my life.
Hi ya, aquagranny! Good to see you and we are definitely sending prayers your way. Oooh, I haven’t seen “Up” yet; I heard it was delightful.
Definitely worth a watch, at least once, even by adults but after 10 or more viewings and when you can recite the dialogue in your sleep….Lol it really is a cute movie.
EXCLUSIVE: Obama extends protections to gay couples under Medicaid
The Obama administration is set on Friday to issue policy guidance to states expanding their ability to offer same-sex couples the same protections afforded to straight couples when they receive long-term care under Medicaid, the Washington Blade has learned exclusively.
Under the new guidance, dated June 10, states have the option to allow healthy partners in a same-sex relationship to keep their homes while their partners are receiving support for long-term care under Medicaid, such as care in a nursing home.
Medicaid kicks in for a beneficiary to receive care after an individual depletes virtually all of their money. To pay for the beneficiary’s expenses under Medicaid, a state could impose a lein, or take possession, of a beneficiary’s home to pay for Medicaid expenses.
However, federal law prohibits imposing this lein if beneficiaries are married to someone of the opposite-sex who’s still living in their home. The new guidance, signed by Deputy Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Cindy Mann, clarifies that states can offer this protection to the healthy partner of a Medicaid recipient in a same-sex relationship.
“A State can have a policy or rule not to pursue liens when the same-sex spouse or domestic partner of the Medicaid beneficiary continues to lawfully reside in the home,” the guidance states.
The Obama administration previously hadn’t articulated whether gay couples could receive these protections under the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits federal recognition of same-sex marriage. The guidance doesn’t mandate that same-sex couples receive this protection, but allows states to “incorporate their criteria for determining when to impose a lien in the Medicaid State plan.”
The Department of Health & Human Services had been examining ways to offer more protections to same-sex couples under Medicaid as part of the work it has undertaken for LGBT people, but until now hadn’t issued the policy guidance to states.
Secretary of Health & Human Services Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement the new guidance represents a path for low-income same-sex couples to receive care under Medicaid.
“Low-income same-sex couples are too often denied equal treatment and the protections offered to other families in their greatest times of need,” she said. “That is now changing. Today’s guidance represents another important step toward ensuring the rights and dignity of every American are respected by their government.”
http://www.washingtonblade.com/2011/06/10/exclusive-obama-extends-protections-to-gay-couples-under-medicaid/
Kay Bailey Hutchison: Obama Has A ‘Bias’ Against Texas
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/10/kay-bailey-hutchison-obama-bias-texas_n_874782.html
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is messing with Texas, the senior senator from that state alleged.
Speaking to MSNBC on Friday, Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison acknowledged that Texas does depend heavily on taxpayer funds –- a paradigm at odds with the state’s rights braggadocio that frequently emanates from its capital in Austin. But still, Hutchison said, she felt that the Obama White House looked down, if not stigmatized, the Lone Star State.
“I see a bias in this administration against Texas… yes, I do see it in this administration, absolutely. We didn’t get the help in the wildfires that I think any other state would have gotten,” said Hutchison. “I think if you look at the things that have not happened in Texas, I think it is pretty clear that there is a bias against Texas. Even in the border issues we are not getting the help we should have from the federal government to secure the 1,200-mile border we have with Mexico. So I do think that a lot of the rhetoric has rubbed the administration wrong, and we have had to fight hard for our fair share.”
You’re a lying liar, Kay Hutchison! BTW… I thought Rick Perry wanted to secede and could solve his own problems? Don’t talk smack if you don’t mean it!
Happy Birthday Sasha Obama!!!
Happy Birthday, Sasha!
.$1 Billion Is Pledged to Support Libya Rebels
By STEVEN LEE MYERS
Published: June 9, 2011
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — The nations intervening in Libya pledged as much as $1 billion in support for the opposition there on Thursday as senior officials continued to predict that the collapse of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s government could be imminent.
As the NATO military alliance intensified attacks in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, including a new round of daytime raids, senior officials meeting here acknowledged reports that Colonel Qaddafi’s son Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi could be seeking a negotiated exit and said that repeated entreaties reflected the government’s isolation and weakness, despite public defiance.
“There have been obviously multiple feelers from the Qaddafi regime to various members of the international community coming every other day,” Australia’s foreign minister, Kevin Rudd, said after a meeting of more than 30 nations and international organizations.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/10/world/africa/10diplo.html?_r=4&ref=todayspaper&om_rid=DRaeQf&om_mid=_BN8hbMB8boqvrh
Juvenile Justice
Girl, 5, is Suspect in Homicide of a Boy, 18 Months, Who Drowned in Tub, Police Say
Posted Jun 10, 2011 7:06 AM CDT
By Martha Neil
Although apparently too young to be charged with a crime, an unidentified 5-year-old girl is being investigated by Kansas City police as a suspect in what they are calling the homicide of an 18-month-old boy.
After initially calling the boy’s death as an accident, authorities began a homicide investigation after the girl allegedly told social workers she had drowned him in the bathroom, reports MSNBC.
“She said she got angry because he would not stop crying and she held him under the water until he stopped crying,” said police spokesman Darin Snapp. He called the girl “the youngest suspect I can remember.”
However, Bart Lubow, a juvenile expert at the Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation said a child at age 5 is incapable of forming criminal intent and probably doesn’t even understand what it means to drown someone.
A teenage babysitter was home at the time but had fallen asleep when the girl allegedly took the 18-month-old into the bathroom.
An article in the Kansas City Star provides additional details.
http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/girl_5_is_suspect_in_homicide_of_her_brother_18_months_who_drowned_in_tub_p/?utm_source=maestro&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_email
And the teenage babysitter was asleep? Lord Have Mercy!
GOP Rep. Issa Thinks Republicans Always Resign After Ethics Scandals
By Alex Seitz-Wald on Jun 9, 2011 at 4:45 pm
Coming from Democrats and Republicans alike, calls are mounting for Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) to resign, but it seems that an increasing number of conservatives are trying to use his reprehensible behavior for partisan attacks. On his show yesterday, right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh called Weiner “the face of Democrat family values — he is the epitome of the Democrat culture of corruption, the Democrat culture of erection.”
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), chairman of the ethics watchdog House Government Oversight Committee, took a different tack, telling conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt yesterday that Democrats will let Weiner off the hook because there’s “a different standard between Republicans and Democrats” when it comes to ethics scandals:
HEWITT: Yeah, so I’m going to come back to that in a segment where we can set it up. But I do have to ask you, Eric Cantor, the leader of the Republicans today, called on Anthony Weiner to quit, said I don’t condone his activity, and I think he should resign. What’s your opinion, Darrell Issa?
ISSA: Well, first of all, I agree with Eric, who’s my leader, and who’s a classmate of mine and a friend. But I think Eric’s missing one point. Anthony Weiner’s not a Republican. He won’t resign. There’s a different standard between Republicans and Democrats. Yes, if he were Chris Lee, well, actually, Chris Lee did less and resigned immediately. There is a different standard that Speaker Boehner and Leader Cantor hold us to. And we should hold ourselves to it, but if we don’t, in the case of Chris Lee, who didn’t, you’re gone. They’re not doing that on the other side. […]
Out of 435 members and six delegates and commissioners, we are going to have human failures. The question is, will we hold ourselves to the standards Republicans are being held to, or the no standards the Democrats hold themselves to?
While Issa is correct is saying there seems to be a “different standard” between the parties when it comes to scandals, he need only look across the Capitol to the Senate to see that he has it backwards. Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) admitted in 2007 to patronizing the DC Madam prostitution ring — a crime “a degree or two more egregious” than Weiner’s, as former RNC Chairman Michael Steele said — yet Vitter remains in the Senate to this day. How did Republicans respond to Vitter’s transgression? With “a concerted push” to defend the embattled senator. “[T]he state GOP organized the release of a flurry of supportive statements,” the New Orleans Times Picayune reported at the time.
Issa could also look at the case of former Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), who remained in the Senate a full two years after admitting to having an extramarital affair with the wife of a staffer, whom he bribed with $96,000 in hush money and illegally helped acquire a lobbying job. Ensign only resigned last month because of the pending release of a damning Senate Ethics Committee investigation and the possibly that he could be kicked out of the chamber.
In neither case did GOP leaders call for the senators to step down. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was satisfied with Ensign giving up his GOP leadership spot in 2009, saying, “He’s accepted responsibility for his actions and apologized to his family and constituents.” Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), the Senate’s number two Republican, offered support for Ensign, calling him a good friend and saying he still had a role to play in the party. “He’s a very intelligent senator,” Kyl said. “John is a person of great faith. So I know this is a very, very difficult deal for he and his family.”
In contrast, House Democratic Leaders like Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Steve Israel (D-NY) have called for an ethics investigation, while Reps. Allyson Schwartz (D-PA), Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Mike Michaud (D-ME), and many more privately, have called for Weiner’s resignation.
RNC Chairman Reince Priebus refused to discuss the Vitter scandal earlier this week, despite being the most vocal leader calling for Weiner’s resignation. But even his predecessor Steele sees some “inconsistency” in the GOP grandstanding.
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/06/09/241264/darrell-issa-weiner-double-standard/
New Report Says Bishop Eddie Long Settled For $24.8 Million, Gave Private Apology—Refused To Give Public Apology
A new report claims to have the settlement details of the Bishop Eddie Long’s sexual coercion lawsuits.
As previously reported the New Birth Missionary Baptist head settled with all four of his accusers earlier this month to avoid trial but further information was not released.
It was long speculated however that The Bishop dished out over $15 million to keep the case sealed and the details secret.
Now according to reporter Robert “Rob” Redding Jr. of ReddingNewsReview.com a source has confirmed that the embattled pastor paid $24.8 million to his four accusers and offered them a private apology.
According to Redding, the church had been paying the young men $40,000 a year and what began as a $2 million agreement to settle the case for each them quickly rose to $5.5 million for the respective plaintiffs, the source said, only because Long refused to publically admit guilt.
Redding’s source adds that the men are to divide $2.2 million equally and then receive $400,000 in payments until the money is paid out over the next 20 years.
The final figure comes to $22 million for the four men and $2.8 million for the plaintiff’s attorneys.
Redding News Review adds that they received a paraphrased version of Long’s apology but decided not to print it.
Before the report was published, Long could not be reached for comment.
http://hiphopwired.com/2011/06/09/new-report-says-bishop-eddie-long-settled-for-24-8-million-gave-private-apology/
NRA Refuses To Comment On Al Qaeda Video Urging Supporters To Exploit Lax U.S. Gun Laws
By Ben Armbruster on Jun 9, 2011 at 11:04 am
In a long meandering YouTube video released last week, American-born al Qaeda spokesman Adam Yahiye Gadahn urged the terrorist group’s followers to exploit lax gun laws in the United States — particularly the private sale gun show loophole — to obtain weapons to murder Americans. But as Rachel Maddow noted this week, there’s a bit more to the story:
MADDOW: Even harder to believe than that, I submit is the fact that if you have been put on the terrorist watch list by the United States of America, you may not be able to board a commercial flight in this country — after all, you’re on the terrorist watch list. But you can legally still buy guns.
It’s also important to point out, as Media Matters’ Chris Brown noted, that because of this private sale loophole, “terrorists that are currently prohibited from purchasing guns can buy guns at gun shows from private sellers because the sellers don’t have to run background checks.”
The National Rifle Association opposes closing this so-called “terror gap,” and it also opposes eliminating the private sale gun show loophole. In fact, one day before al Qaeda released the Gadahn video, the NRA urged its supporters to contact state lawmakers in Delaware to defeat state legislation that would ban private sales at gun shows in Delaware. The NRA claimed that “the true intent of this legislation is to move towards an ultimate ban on all private sales — even those between family and friends – regardless of where they occur.”
So given that the NRA came out forcefully against this bill in Delaware, ThinkProgress asked the powerful gun lobby to comment on Gadahn’s video. Yet the NRA appears reluctant to say anything.
On Tuesday, ThinkProgress called the NRA’s press office to get a statement and an NRA official said someone there would respond. After receiving no response, we called the same office again on Wednesday and received the same reply.
ThinkProgress then emailed NRA spokesperson Rachel Parsons. Parsons said she was in a meeting and would respond later. Five hours later, we emailed Parsons again to see if she would comment on the Gadahn video. We are still waiting for a response.
http://thinkprogress.org/security/2011/06/09/240705/nra-silent-al-qaeda-gun-laws/
The Disproportionate Impact of Photo-ID Laws on the Minority Electorate
Posted on May 24, 2011 by Gabriel Sanchez
By Gabriel R. Sanchez, Stephen A. Nuño, and Matt A. Barreto
Following the Crawford v. Marion County Election Board decision of the Supreme Court which upheld the stringent photo-identification policy for voters in Indiana, several other states have or are considering similar reforms to their election laws. Most recently, Governor Nikki Haley of South Carolina signed the state’s photo-ID bill into law, making South Carolina the tenth state to adopt this type of voter identification legislation. According to the National Conference of State Legislators, a total of 33 states have considered adding or strengthening voter identification requirements this year, and 28 states already have broader requirements than what HAVA mandates. Among these states, the Texas House just passed legislation requiring voters to show photo identification before being able to vote, sending the bill to Governor Rick Perry who is likely to sign this legislation into law shortly. Similar legislation was unsuccessful in New Mexico’s legislative session, but given that this is a high priority of the new Republican Governor (Susana Martinez), it is likely that this will not be the final vote on this issue in the majority-Latino state.
In this post we draw from some of our recent academic research to address one specific point: Does access to required forms of identification vary by racial/ethnic group in the population. In 2007 we presented a paper at the American Political Science Association conference finding minorities would be disadvantaged by strict identification laws. In 2009 we published a research paper in PS: Political Science & Politics which found that under Indiana’s photo-ID law, African Americans were significantly less likely to have the proper credentials to register or vote. Here, we re-examine this question with a new national dataset of registered voters following the 2008 election, and find that minority and foreign-born voters are less likely to have a valid photo-ID. Therefore, these laws place a disproportionate and additional cost to voting for specific segments of the electorate
http://latinodecisions.wordpress.com/2011/05/24/the-disproportionate-impact-of-stringent-voter-id-laws/
Elected POC **looking at Nikki Haley & Susana Martinex** who sign legislation to suppress American voters need a good ass whooping.
Massachusetts Republican: Undocumented Immigrant Rape Victims ‘Should Be Afraid To Come Forward’
Massachusetts GOP state Rep. Ryan Fattman has such contempt for illegal immigrants that he believes undocumented women who are raped should be afraid to go to the police. Yesterday, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reported on Fattman’s incendiary comments, which he made while defending a controversial federal immigration program that many say will damage the relationship between law enforcement and immigrant communities. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) has refused to join the program out of concern that immigrants who are victims of violent crimes will be afraid to report them and seek help:
Mr. Fattman dismissed concerns of some law enforcement officials — cited by the governor — who said using local police to enforce immigration laws could discourage reporting of crime by victims who are illegal immigrants.
Asked if he would be concerned that a woman without legal immigration status was raped and beaten as she walked down the street might be afraid to report the crime to police, Mr. Fattman said he was not worried about those implications.
“My thought is that if someone is here illegally, they should be afraid to come forward,” Mr. Fattman said. “If you do it the right way, you don’t have to be concerned about these things,” he said referring to obtaining legal immigration status.
Instead of helping rape victims, the new federal program would have police turn them directly over to the federal government to be deported. Fattman believes that’s exactly what should happen:
Mr. Fattman acknowledged that people could be deported after an arrest even if they are not convicted of a crime, under the program in use in more than 30 states.
While citizens have the right to be viewed as innocent until found guilty in court, he said, “I don’t think that principle extends to illegal immigrants.” He said he had no concerns about racial profiling by police.
According to Fattman, deporting undocumented immigrants who have not committed a crime is more important than deterring violent crime or helping rape victims. “Innocent until proven guilty” isn’t the only principle he doesn’t think should apply to illegal immigrants — apparently basic human decency is only a luxury American citizens should enjoy. Fattman is such a radical that he believes American-born children of illegal immigrants should be deported with their parents, which would be in direct violation of the 14th Amendment.
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/06/09/240597/massachusetts-gop-immigrant-rape/
Asked if he would be concerned that a woman without legal immigration status was raped and beaten as she walked down the street might be afraid to report the crime to police, Mr. Fattman said he was not worried about those implications.
“My thought is that if someone is here illegally, they should be afraid to come forward,” Mr. Fattman said.
What an evil wicked piece of human waste!
Their EVIL knows NO bounds…… KARMA, however is an ETERNAL forcs.
Dawn Johnsen: My Nomination Was Blocked To Score “Political” Points Against Obama On Terrorism
Posted on Thursday, June 9, 2011 by GottaLaff
I’ve written post after post about the infuriating GOP obstruction of nominee Dawn “The Woman Who Could Nail Bush” Johnsen to head the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. She finally withdrew, but said she would have welcomed a recess appointment.
As for the Party of No and their incessant blocking:
She decried the “silence and inaction forced upon nominees” who are not allowed to comment, and said the net effect is to muzzle people who by virtue of their nominations alone are leaders in their given areas.
“I think it’s an underappreciated cost of this system breakdown. All those judicial nominees out there for months and months. They cannot do their work and speak out on issues. This is a group of people who ordinarily are very politically active and key players in making policy and setting direction, and this is a way for elected officials who are known to be obstructionists to stop these people for long periods of time to be able to participate.”
Now Think Progress has this:
In a must-read article about the broken confirmations process in the Senate, Dave Weigel quotes former Office of Legal Counsel nominee Dawn Johnsen explaining that conservative objections to her failed nomination had nothing to do with actual disagreements with her views:
“I’m not going to talk about any individual meetings with senators,” [Johnsen] says, “but the impression that I got was it wasn’t about me, that it wasn’t personal. It was political. And there were some senators who were very open about that. It wasn’t a difference in substantive views. The things I was attacked for saying about torture, for example—Lindsey Graham and John McCain have talked about that the same way.” (Neither publicly supported her nomination.) “You definitely need to look at how all the terrorism issues and nominees who dealt with terrorism issues were treated. The attempt was to describe President Obama’s approach as not sufficiently tough on terrorism, and make that a political issue.“
http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/2011/06/09/dawn-johnsen-my-nomination-was-blocked-to-score-political-points-against-obama-on-terrorism/
“The things I was attacked for saying about torture, for example—Lindsey Graham and John McCain have talked about that the same way.” (Neither publicly supported her nomination.) “You definitely need to look at how all the terrorism issues and nominees who dealt with terrorism issues were treated. The attempt was to describe President Obama’s approach as not sufficiently tough on terrorism, and make that a political issue.“
MAY 1, 2011 PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF LEAD THE MISSION IN TAKING OUT OSAMA BIN LADEN!
GAMES, BLOUSES, BITCHES!
Poll-itics: GOP candidates unpopular in home states
Posted on Thursday, June 9, 2011 by GottaLaff
http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/2011/06/09/poll-itics-gop-candidates-unpopular-in-home-states/
When your homeys aren’t into you– did I just say “homeys”?– you need a slew of new image consultants. Via PPP:
Candidate (State)
Favorability
Net
Gary Johnson (New Mexico)
44/32
+12
Newt Gingrich (Georgia)
39/47
-8
Herman Cain (Georgia)
28/36
-8
Rick Perry (Texas)
42/50
-8
Rick Santorum (Pennsylvania)
37/47
-10
Mitt Romney (Massachusetts)
40/52
-12
Tim Pawlenty (Minnesota)
40/53
-13
Sarah Palin (Alaska)
33/58
-25
Michele Bachmann (Minnesota)
33/59
-26
LOL Homeys in MN definitely aren’t in to Tim Paw & Bachman!
BOTH Lawrence O’Donnell and Rachel Maddow’s last night opening segments on Newt Gingrich are must see. they had me LMAO.
Morning, Rikyrah!
I saw Rachel. And she called Newt’s dealings…shams for money!!
she used SHAMS
SHAMS
I was LOL
Good Morning, Everyone; Happy FRY-day! ;-)
Good Morning, Everyone at 3CHICS!
Inspiration for today….
The LORD longs to be gracious to me; he rises to show me compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. I wait for him and I am blessed!
Isaiah 30:18
Happy FRY-day, SG2! You brought it all this morning, smiles, coffee, and beautiful words of inspiration in scripture. Thanks!
You’re welcome! My pleasure!
Enjoy your day! :)