Earnest Pugh has had the success he only dreamed of just a few years ago with the launch of the project rain on us and the title tune Earnest Pugh heard the gospel radio stations across the country and was catapulted to super stardom in the gospel music industry His smash hit single “Rain on us” escalate up to # 1 position on Billboard’s Top Gospel Singles radio charts and became the sixth most popular song of 2010 The second single “The Great I Am” helped the CD that featured gospel icons Vanessa Bell Armstrong and Richard Smallwood to peak at # 2 on the Billboard Top Gospel Albums Chart now after whirlwind of exposure this One Sound One vocalist of the year and the Independent Music Award Winner for Gospel Album of the Year is ready to do it again withthe next black smoke Worldwide Music release of highly Yours.
For vets returning to US, green energy jobs await
By ANDY BROWNFIELD, Associated Press – 1 day ago
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ben Noland served in the U.S. Marine Corps for eight years, then spent 18 months looking for a job.
“I’ve probably put my resume in to 300 places in the past year,” the 33-year-old Kenton resident said.
“The farthest I’ve ever got was a phone interview.”
Noland finally landed a job installing solar panels at Tipping Point Renewable Energy, a Columbus-based solar power company that is hiring only military veterans for its installation crews at a time when unemployment among former service members is outpacing that of civilians.
Tipping Point’s efforts echo those of companies and groups nationwide to hire veterans in the green energy industry. Denver-based nonprofit Veterans Green Jobs is one of the largest, having trained or placed 370 veterans in the last four years.
And a pilot program by five of the nation’s largest energy providers, called Troops to Energy Jobs, provides training and credentials to military veterans, as well as college credit for their military training and experience.
About 240,000 veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have returned to the U.S. and are unable to find work. They make up a growing chunk of the 850,000 veterans overall who are out of work. The White House expects an additional 1 million service members to return to civilian life by 2016.
The veteran unemployment rate in October was 12.1 percent, compared with 9 percent for the U.S. overall. For veterans ages 18-24, that rate was 30.4 percent.
The renewable energy industry is growing fast — solar and wind energy have grown more than tenfold in the last decade — and military veterans often make good fits for green jobs.
Such green sector jobs as manufacturing or maintenance of wind turbines or solar arrays require skills similar to those that service members learn in the military, said Bill Scott of Bradley-Morris Inc., the largest military-focused recruiting firm in the U.S. Veterans generally get technical training that is lacking in the civilian workforce, Scott said.
The number of projects providing solar energy more than doubled in the U.S. from 2008 to 2010. In that time, the amount of solar energy generated increased from enough to power 1.4 million homes in 2008 to 3.2 million homes in 2010. Wind energy has increased 1.5 times in capacity over the same time, able to power 39 million homes in 2010, up from 25 million in 2008.
Renewable energy has been growing fast in Ohio. The number of new projects approved by the state in the first 10 months of 2011 is more than triple that of all of 2010. And of the 2,797 new constructions approved this year, all but 24 were solar power arrays.
However, there is some worry about whether that pace of renewable energy growth will sustain itself. Federal stimulus tax credits run out for wind energy projects by 2012 for and solar by 2016, and a federal grant program that repays developers a portion of project cost expires this year.
The idea for Tipping Point’s Solar by Soldiers program, started this summer, was inspired in part by chief technical officer Darin Hadinger’s father, a Vietnam War veteran.
He said a clerical error on his father’s honorable discharge made it hard for him to find work.
Tipping Point has hired as many as six veterans for work site staffs of nine and plans to hire at least 10 more veterans altogether.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hlf84LydL04QP0qjwY2hF0hqxHiQ?docId=37df820eea904698800d4d4f9b017ff9
Teen tweeter won’t apologize to Kan. governor
By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH
Associated Press
A Kansas teenager who wrote a disparaging tweet about Gov. Sam Brownback said Sunday that she is rejecting her high school principal’s demand for a written apology.
Emma Sullivan, 18, of the Kansas City suburb of Fairway, said she isn’t sorry and doesn’t think such a letter would be sincere.
The Shawnee Mission East senior was taking part in a Youth in Government program last week in Topeka, Kan., when she sent out a tweet from the back of a crowd of students listening to Brownback’s greeting. From her cellphone, she thumbed: “Just made mean comments at gov. brownback and told him he sucked, in person (hash)heblowsalot.”
She actually made no such comment and said she was “just joking with friends.” But Brownback’s office, which monitors social media for postings containing the governor’s name, saw Sullivan’s post and contacted the Youth in Government program.
Sullivan received a scolding at school and was ordered to send Brownback an apology letter. She said Prinicipal Karl R. Krawitz even suggested talking points for the letter she was supposed to turn in Monday.
The situation exploded after Sullivan’s older sister contacted the media. Since then, Sullivan’s following on Twitter has grown to about 3,000 people, up from about 65 before the tweet. She said she thinks the tweet has helped “open up dialogue” about free speech in social media..
“I would do it again,” she said.
Sullivan has received emails from attorneys but is waiting to see what happens when she refuses to hand in a letter. Krawitz, her principal, told The Kansas City Star previously that the situation is a “private issue, not a public matter” but didn’t return a phone message from The Associated Press at his home Sunday.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_KANSAS_GOVERNOR_TWEET?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-11-27-18-07-26
Hard Times Generation: Families living in cars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2hzRPLVSm4
Scott Pelley brings “60 Minutes” cameras back to central Florida to document another form of family homelessness: kids and their parents forced to live in cars.
****Tears****
this is just so wrong
It broke my heart. I couldn’t stop crying.
speechless….
Straight No Chaser: Kareem Abdul Jabbar – Never White America’s Good Negro
Jabbar still pays a price . .
—“Change your name back to Lew Alcindor and they’ll give you a statue . . . . ‘ John Petrulis · St. Procopius College, Lisle, IL . . . off the global web-pages of AOL Sports
It may just be as simple as a name.
Forgive me, but I can’t sit by and watch this debate be waged and often rage . . . as a war of words go, and not state the obvious; Race and religion play a significant weighty role in some slices of the American Pie’s reluctance to embrace Kareem Abdul Jabbar – one of the first Black sportsmen to drop his slave name and adopt a name closer to the cultural, the religions the who, what and where Black Americans hale from, Africa and not France, Germany or Ireland.
Religion, Kareem Abdu Jabbar, being a Muslim, and the fact that he joined the religion via The Nation of Islam, at the height of the Black Muslim’s controversial run across the American stage, has a role to play in exactly “why” Jabbar’s relationship with the NBA and the American Sports-fan has been lukewarm, perhaps cordial at best – yet never has Jabbar been embraced by a White sports-nation which saw him as first an extension of Malcolm X, Ali and Elijah Muhammad and then Louis Farrakhan and now he’s somehow tied to Al-Qaeda .
Now sure I could drag-up Jabbar’s legit love affair with Mary Jane or his acting skills, for lack-of-a-better term, or even his literally work which has always been progressive, i.e., truthful and critical of the powers that be and progressive in their subject matter – which I submit also plays a role – nonetheless, at the base of the contention and conflict between Kareem and certain segments of the US is the perception that Lew Alcindor died almost 50 years ago . . . and his mind . . . snatched by Bobby Seal, Huey P. Newton, Angela Davis and Malcolm X.
To pin-point it; Jabbar will forever pay for his 1967 backing of Ali – who correctly stated ‘Ain’t no Viet Cong ever called me nigger” and refused to do the bidding of the ever-expanding American Empire. Jim Brown and Bill Russell along with Bobby Mitchell, Willie Davis and a midget’s handful of Black Alpha males had the gonads to stand-up, speak-out and support Ali, present an unified front of prominent Black gladiators.
http://blackathlete.net/artman2/publish/nba_basketball/Straight_No_Chaser_Jabbar.shtml
‘I know everything’: Phone recordings reveal wife of Syracuse basketball coach knew her husband molested boy at their house
Three men say Bernie Fine molested them when they were boys
Bobby Davis taped a phone call with Laurie Fine in an attempt to get proof of the abuse
ESPN claims it has verified the voice in the recordings belongs to Mrs Fine
Federal agents raid Mr Fine’s house after third victim comes forward
Damning new evidence suggests the wife of Syracuse University associate head basketball coach Bernie Fine watched her husband molest a boy who was staying at their house.
Laruie Fine told one of her husband’s three accusers in a recorded phone call that she suspected he had done the same to other boys — but that she never did anything to stop it.
She also revealed that she slept with one of the victims, as well, once he turned 18 — as it emerged that the tapes had been in the hands of police and ESPN for nearly 10 years and no action was taken.
Bobby Davis, now 39, says he secretly taped the conversation in 2002 in an effort to collect proof that the longtime college basketball coach had abused him, starting when he was in seventh grade – 12 years old.
‘I know everything that went on, you know,’ she says on tapes played by ESPN’s Outside the Line program.
‘I know everything that went on with him. Bernie has issues, maybe that he’s not aware of, but he has issues. And you trusted somebody you shouldn’t have trusted.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2066909/I-know-Phone-recordings-reveal-wife-Syracuse-basketball-coach-knew-husband-molested-boy-house.html#ixzz1exaxTtCc
The Associated Press:
BREAKING: Syracuse University fires assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine
Syracuse Scandal: Bernie Fine’s Wife Admitted Worries Over Abuse On Tape-Recorded Conversations
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/27/bernie-fines-wife-admits-abuse-fears-syracuse-coach_n_1115228.html
Two days after police searched the home of longtime Syracuse assistant basketball coach Bernie — who is under investigation for sexually abusing two boys who served as ball boys for the basketball team — the woman who shared that home is involved in a major development in the scandal.
According to ESPN, Fine’s wife, Laurie, admitted her knowledge of the alleged abuse to one of the possible victims, Bobby Davis, during tape-recorded telephone conversations between the two from October 2002.
SMGDH I’ll bet you Paterno’s wife knew what was going down with Sandusky and nem too.
OWS, You Really Don’t Want to Do This
http://www.osborneink.com/2011/11/ows-you-really-dont-want-to-do-this.html#comment-373695622
Last Tuesday, during his speech at a local high school in New Hampshire, the President inadvertantly encountered members of the Occupy Wall Street movement, who used their human mic as a means of heckling him.
You have to assume that the people in that audience attended this event in support of the President, that most – if not all – of the local people attending this were Democrats. Their reaction to the chanting protest of the Occupy people tells me that, whilst liberal, ordinary and small town America might sympathise with some of the stated concerns of Occupy Wall Street (namely income inequality), they are not overly enamoured when the protesters pull stunts like this.
First of all, you’re barking up the wrong tree when you assail a President like this – chiefly, a President who, within the constraints of a particularly opstreporous Congress, is working for your interests and your benefits – far more the only admitted political hero of the Occupiers, Ron Paul. Paul might legalise pot and bring the troops home, but he won’t lift a government finger to help you when you OD on something nasty or when the Army discharges you and you’re homeless. If you’re hit by a natural disaster, you’d better have insurance. If you’re a woman, get used to practicing celebacy because birth control and right to choose will be a thing of the past. And then, there’s the little matter of “property rights …”
They’re ASSinine ass clowns! No one wanted to hear about police brutality when the President wanted to discuss the Skip Gates issue and police bruality. I wonder why? Now he’s suppose to jump hoops and dance for them? Hell to the No!
Hey guys,
Dannie & nem are killing me on Twitter w/ the Color Purple quotes. They are hilarious. I had tears from laughing so hard. Too funny!
ovember 27, 2011
The tech trailblazer behind ‘Black College Football’ video game
Posted by Linda H on 6:05 AM
Jacqui Beauchamp heads up Nerjyzed Entertainment, the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, video game and 3D animation firm that created the game “Black College Football: BCFX: The Xperience.” It’s a challenging field, especially for Beauchamp: “I’m an African American female, and every day I’ve got to get people to see me – to see me – and not that I’m an African-American female.”
http://www.whatisworking.com/2011/11/tech-trailblazer-behind-black-college.html
Go, Texans! Lets Do This!
Mitt Romney Needs Early 2012 Knockout To Avoid Extended GOP Primary
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/27/mitt-romney-2012-gop-primary-calendar_n_1114117.html
WASHINGTON — The first two months of 2012 represent Mitt Romney’s best chance to deliver a knockout blow in the Republican presidential primary.
If he cannot do so, he could be in for a drawn-out primary similar to the 2008 Democratic race.
The conventional wisdom has been that the primary will likely be decided on Jan. 31 in Florida, which goes fourth in the series of caucuses and primaries, and is the most expensive contest. Some think Romney could end things in Iowa on Jan. 3 if he wins those caucuses convincingly. Even if he places second or third there but goes on to win New Hampshire on Jan. 10, South Carolina on Jan. 21 and Florida, many think those victories could create the impression of inevitability.
Political Animal
Blog
November 27, 2011 8:50 AM
An out-of-context threat
By Steve Benen
Looking for something else, I came across a speech Mitt Romney delivered in April to a Koch brothers group, and given recent events, a line in his remarks stood out.
“…I’ll tell you, the fact that you’ve got people in this country really squeezed with gasoline getting so expensive, with commodities getting so expensive, families are having a hard time making ends meet. So we’re going to have to do talk about that, and housing foreclosures and bankruptcies and higher taxation.
“We’re going to hang him with that — uh, so to speak, metaphorically, with, uh, you have to be careful these days, I learned that.”
As a substantive matter, Romney’s case is a mess. There is, for example, no “higher taxation.” Romney also supports housing foreclosures, making it an odd thing for him to complain about.
But what I’m interested in now is, of course, context. Let’s say someone wanted to put together an ad accusing Romney of threatening violence against President Obama. The ad could show the former governor saying, “We’re going to hang him.”
In Romney’s mind, would that ad be fair? By all indications, yes.
Remember, as far as the Romney campaign is concerned, context doesn’t mean anything. If someone can honestly say, “He did say the words. That’s his voice,” then the spot is kosher. And in this case, Romney did say, “We’re going to hang him.” That’s Romney’s voice.
Obviously, in context, Romney wasn’t literally talking about committing an act of violence against the president. But what happens when context is deemed irrelevant?
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_11/an_outofcontext_threat033725.php
Condi Rice: U.S. will never be “race blind”
http://m.cbsnews.com/fullstory.rbml?feed_id=0&catid=57330615&videofeed=36
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said America has come a long way in confronting racial inequality – but that America will never be “race blind,” and that race and poverty in America is “still a terrible witch’s brew.”
Rice, appearing in Sunday’s special Thanksgiving edition of “Face the Nation,” reflected on how growing up in Birmingham, Ala., during segregation “shaped me fundamentally.”
“My family had to persevere under those circumstances to educate all of us, and to insist that we might not be able to control our circumstances but we could control our response,” Rice told CBS’ Bob Schieffer.
Since those days, Rice argued, a lot of things have changed.
“We have a black president. We’ve had two black secretaries of state. We have black CEOs. Obviously African Americans are pushing way into territories that, probably, my grandparents would never have thought possible,” she said.
Still, she argued that even though America has “gotten to a place [where] race is not the limiting factor that it once was,” she said that “we’re never going to erase race as a factor in American life.”
“It is a birth defect with which this country was born out of slavery; we’re never really going to be race blind,” she said.
She pointed to the confluence of race and poverty as a particularly troubling constraint for overcoming inequality, and wondered if that problem isn’t becoming even more exacerbated in recent years.
“I think it goes back to whether or not race and class – that is, race and poverty – is not becoming even more of a constraint,” she said. “Because with the failing public schools, I worry that the way that my grandparents got out of poverty, the way that my parents became educated, is just not going to be there for a whole bunch of kids. And I do think that race and poverty is still a terrible witch’s brew.”
Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson, also appearing on the show, recalled how growing up in New Orleans during segregation gave him a heightened sensitivity to inequality in America.
“You really do have an antenna for race,” he said. “I remembered a sign on the merry-go-round that said, ‘White Only.’ I was six years old, and so I’d never focused on what that meant. And, boom, it kicked me right then that, ‘Oh my God, that’s what that sign means.’ And I kept insisting we not go there. Even in [New Orleans’] Audubon Park then, they had closed the swimming pool because it had been ordered integrated. And we led a group of young kids and forced them to reopen the swimming pool.”
“I think we have some common experiences with segregation,” Rice told Isaacson, laughing. “I didn’t learn to swim until I was 25,” because of Birmingham’s segregated pools.
November 27, 2011 10:20 AM
Quote of the Day
By Steve Benen
Following up on the last item, Nick Kristof asked former President Bill Clinton for his take on the political dynamic shaping up for 2012.
Earlier this month, I asked Bill Clinton — who has a better intuitive feel for politics than anyone I know — about Obama’s chances for re-election. “I’ll be surprised if he’s not re-elected,” Clinton said, adding that Obama would do better when matched against a specific opponent like Romney.
Clinton said that Romney did “a very good job” as governor of Massachusetts and would be a credible general election candidate. But Clinton added that Romney or any Republican nominee would be hampered by “a political environment in the Republican primary that basically means you can’t be authentic unless you’ve got a single-digit I.Q.” [emphasis added]
It’s always nice when someone of prominence says on the record what many believe but are afraid to say.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_11/quote_of_the_day_25033727.php
NEWT IS A GRIFTER.
PLAIN AND SIMPLE.
…………………………
November 27, 2011 10:55 AM
Newt, Inc.
By Steve Benen
Voters haven’t heard much about it, but Newt Gingrich hasn’t exactly held a real job in a very long time. He has, however, overseen a very lucrative enterprise often called “Newt Inc.”
Gingrich, you’ll recall, was forced to resign from Congress in disgrace way back in 1998, after his fellow Republicans decided they no longer had use for his kind of “leadership.” In the 13 years since, the former House Speaker hasn’t held or sought public office at any level.
What’s he been doing? Karen Tumulty and Dan Eggen take a look today at the “business conglomerate” Gingrich put together after his political career was left in shambles.
The power of the Gingrich brand fueled a for-profit collection of enterprises that generated close to $100 million in revenue over the past decade, said his longtime attorney Randy Evans.
Among Gingrich’s moneymaking ventures: a health-care think tank financed by six-figure dues from corporations; a consulting business; a communications firm that handled his speeches of up to $60,000 a pop, media appearances and books; a historical documentary production company; a separate operation to administer the royalties for the historical fiction that Gingrich writes with two co-authors; even an in-house literary agency that has counted among its clients a presidential campaign rival, former senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.).
Separate from all of that was his nonprofit political operation, American Solutions for Winning the Future. Before it disintegrated this summer in Gingrich’s absence, American Solutions generated another $52 million and provided some of the money that allowed the former speaker to travel by private jet and hired limousine.
Along the way, Gingrich has become a wealthy man, earning $2.5 million in personal income last year, according to his financial disclosure form.
It’s not altogether clear what, exactly, Gingrich has done with his days. He’s been paid handsomely for his “strategic advice,” which the disgraced former Speaker insists was not technically lobbying. Gingrich has also given plenty of speeches, made near-constant appearances on television, and adopted a rather luxurious personal lifestyle, but in terms of actual work, the record appears to be pretty thin.
In any case, while the Post’s piece is a good one, the one thing it doesn’t fully convey is just how sketchy — and at times, even sleazy — Gingrich’s operation has been.
As part of his shady financial empire, for example, Gingrich ran a dubious direct-mail scheme, offering to name random businesspeople as “entrepreneur of the year” in exchange for a $5,000 “membership fee” to Gingrich’s American Solutions for Winning the Future.
In one rather amusing example, Gingrich offered to name a strip-club owner as “entrepreneur of the year” for $5,000. When nude-dancing entrepreneur accepted, Gingrich’s embarrassed staff canceled the 2009 award and returned the money — only to hit the exact same strip-club owner up for more cash two years later.
It wasn’t an isolated incident. Gingrich has overseen all kinds of entities, all of which have raised a lot of money over the last several years, without much to show for it. Not surprisingly, the whole operation has drawn some quizzical looks.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_11/newt_inc033728.php
November 27, 2011 11:30 AM
Proving the 99% right
By Steve Benen
When it comes to the circumstances that help drive the Occupy protests, Floyd Norris shines a light on a dynamic that speaks volumes. To put it simply, this just won’t do.
In the eight decades before the recent recession, there was never a period when as much as 9 percent of American gross domestic product went to companies in the form of after-tax profits. Now the figure is over 10 percent.
During the same period, there never was a quarter when wage and salary income amounted to less than 45 percent of the economy. Now the figure is below 44 percent.
For companies, these are boom times. For workers, the opposite is true.
To help drive the point home, the NYT ran a series of accompanying charts, including these two:
There’s just no way to spin this. We’re looking at an era in which, at least as a share of the larger economy, after-tax corporate profits have soared to levels unseen since we began keeping track, whole after-tax incomes have fallen to levels unseen in generations.
The previous record for corporate profits as a share of GDP was 8.98% — set in 1929. Last year, it was over 9.5%. This year, it’s over 10%.
It’s a Gilded Age that we’re apparently not supposed to talk about.
There is, of course, a political angle to all of this. It’s elected policymakers who help set tax rates, for example, and choose not to ask corporations to contribute a little more, despite record profits, despite extremely low corporate tax burdens, despite enormous public needs, and despite an enormous debt.
Republicans look at these conditions and, with a straight face, insist that more must be done to intensify these circumstances, and blame President Obama for creating an uncooperative climate for corporations.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_11/proving_the_99_right_1033729.php
The Obama Holiday Letter: From my family to yours
http://www.usaweekend.com/article/20111125/HOME02/311250004/The-Obama-Holiday-Letter-From-my-family-yours
On behalf of the entire Obama family, I’d like to wish you and your loved ones a happy and healthy holiday season. For us, the holidays are a chance to eat some good food, sing some holiday songs (occasionally out of tune), affirm our faith, and spend time with the family and friends who make our lives so blessed.
Over the past year, Sasha and Malia have continued to amaze Michelle and me with their steadiness and poise. One highlight was when Michelle and the girls accompanied me on my first official trip to South America as president. One evening, after a day of meetings and cultural programs, we visited the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro. As we stared up at this wonder of the modern world, I knew it was a moment the girls wouldn’t soon forget, particularly since it was one of the few times I didn’t have to remind them to turn off their iPods.
I’m also incredibly proud of the way the girls have handled the pressures that come with living in the White House. Whether it’s handling their schoolwork, playing basketball, tennis and soccer, or just hanging out with friends, they’re able to do all the things kids their age normally do. It’s hard to believe Malia’s already a teenager. The first time I saw her dressed up to go to a Bat Mitzvah party, all I could think about was how happy I was that she’d be accompanied by large men with guns.
Michelle is doing well, and has been hitting the road almost as often as I have. In April, she and Dr. Jill Biden launched a partnership called “Joining Forces” to support our nation’s military families. She even appeared on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition to build a brand new house for Barbara Marshall, a 15-year Navy Veteran. And for a second year, her Let’s Move! campaign got children excited about healthy eating and exercise.
When I see Michelle standing with a proud military family, or leading kids in jumping jacks on the White House lawn, it reminds me how lucky I am to have her. People always tell me I “married up,” and I couldn’t agree more.
More…
as someone who lived in New Hampshire, I can honestly say that this is a BIG DEAL:
………………………………………….
Political Animal
Blog
November 27, 2011 8:00 AM
Union Leader backs Gingrich in NH
By Steve Benen
To the extent that newspaper endorsements still matter, this is one Newt Gingrich will be thrilled to pick up.
GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich received the endorsement of the influential editorial board of the New Hampshire Union Leader on Sunday, providing another boost to his surging campaign.
The endorsement gives the former House Speaker additional momentum after a month which has seen him vault to the top of national GOP polls.
“We are in critical need of the innovative, forward-looking strategy and positive leadership that Gingrich has shown he is capable of providing,” said the editorial by publisher Joseph W. McQuaid. “A lot of candidates say they’re going to improve Washington. Newt Gingrich has actually done that, and in this race he offers the best shot of doing it again,” he added.
Here’s the Union Leader’s front-page editorial.
Gingrich was looking for some kind of boost in New Hampshire, and this may well give him one. The Union Leader is arguably the state’s most influential media outlet, especially in Republican circles — the paper makes no secret of its conservative perspective — and its endorsement has been widely sought by all of the leading GOP candidates.
Does the recipient of the Union Leader’s endorsement generally go on to win the state’s primary? Looking back, the track record is mixed:
1976: The paper endorsed Ronald Reagan over Gerald Ford, but Reagan lost
1980: Reagan won the endorsement and the primary
1988: The Union Leader supported Pete du Pont, who finished fourth in the primary
1992: The paper supported Pat Buchanan, who finished a competitive second against an incumbent president
1996: The Union Leader again backed Buchanan, who this time won the primary
2000: Steve Forbes won the paper’s endorsement, in advance of a third-place showing
2008: The Union Leader supported John McCain, who won the state’s primary
Given this recent history, it’s a stretch to think today’s endorsement will suddenly propel Gingrich into contention. But given the Union Leader’s influence, it’s probably fair to say New Hampshire voters who weren’t sure about the disgraced former House Speaker will give the guy another look.
If the polls are any indication, the New Hampshire primary is still Mitt Romney’s race to lose, and he remains the heavy favorite.
The primary is 44 days away.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_11/union_leader_backs_gingrich_in033724.php
Team Obama Gears Up for 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/sunday-review/Team-Obama-Gears-Up-for-2012.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all?src=tp
AS North Carolina Republicans tell it, the Obama for America volunteers stole in under cover of night and stayed, undetected — noticed belatedly only because of election results across the state.
“It was very scary,” said Chris Sinclair, a strategist for Billie Redmond, the Republican candidate for mayor in Raleigh. “You don’t know what’s going on until you wake up after Election Day and go, ‘Oh my gosh, what happened?’ ”
What happened was that candidates supported by Democrats trounced Republicans in the Raleigh and Charlotte mayoral races this fall, and even wrested control of the Wake County school board from Republicans associated with the Tea Party.
It was only after the damage was done that local party leaders learned of the hidden hand of thousands of Obama for America volunteers and staff members. Never publicizing their work, they went door-to-door across the state, successfully getting their voters out to the polls in a highly effective dry run for 2012.
Mitt Romney For Obama 2012
NYT: Conservatives mount air assault on Obama http://on.msnbc.com/ttb4uh
Good Morning, Ametia, Rikyrah, 3 Chics, Friends & Visitors!
Inspiration for today
Good Morning, and thanks for the inspiration on this Sunday Morning.
Hi Ladies. It’s been a weekend. Hubby’s dad died Saturday morning in South Africa. He’d been terminally ill for a bit. I ask for your blessings and love and prayers. Thank you.
Oh Ametia, I am so sorry. You & Aubs have my deepest sympathy. May God comfort you with his everlasting love and tender mercy!
My heart is reaching out to you,
For what you’re going through;
I’m thinking of you frequently
And praying for you, too.
If there’s something I can do,
Anything at all,
Think of me thinking of you,
And don’t hesitate to call.
Thank you, SG2. You always know just the right words to help bring comfort. Your friendship and love are like a a soothing balm.