Little Sister was an American all-female vocal harmony group, which served primarily as the background vocalists for the influential rock/funk band Sly & the Family Stone in concert and on record. Originally a gospel music group called The Heavenly Tones, Little Sister was composed of Vet Stewart (Family Stone frontman Sly Stone‘s “little sister“), Mary McCreary, and Elva Mouton, and became a recording act of its own for a brief period in 1970-1971.
While still in high school, Vaetta Stewart and her friends Mary McCreary, Elva Mouton and Tramaine Hawkins had a gospel group called The Heavenly Tones and performed at various venues around the Oakland/San Francisco area. In 1966 they recorded the album “I love The Lord” for the Gopsel label and a 45 for the Music City label called “He’s Alright” When Vaetta’s older brother Sylvester aka Sly Stone formed Sly & the Family Stone with their brother Freddie, and friends Larry Graham, Cynthia Robinson, Jerry Martini, and Greg Errico, The Heavenly Tones were recruited directly out of high school to become Little Sister, Sly & the Family Stone’s background vocalists for their recording. Tramaine Hawkins left the group and started a very successful solo career.
Can you shimmy, watusi, do the jerk, tighten up, mashed potatoes, twist, funky chicken, hustle, cabbage patch, running man, electric slide, Texas two step? Want to learn a few steps of the oldies but goodies? Stay with 3 Chics this week, as we get down with it. don’t hurt yourselves, now!
John Kerry: They’re swiftboating Obama
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) has lent his name to a fundraising solicitation that raises the specter of millionaires and billionaires funding an outside effort against President Obama.
“When I was the Democratic nominee for president in one of the closest and toughest elections in history, a group of billionaires did something unprecedented,” Kerry wrote. “They wrote million-dollar checks to fund lies about my service on what were called “Swift Boats” in Vietnam — and in so doing, they turned the boats my crewmates and I served on into a new political shorthand for the most vicious smears imaginable: ‘swiftboating.'”
In 2004, an anti-Kerry 527 group formed to raise questions about his war record and air ads against the senator, then running as the Democratic nominee for president. Its’ spokesman, Jerome Corsi, would go on to become one of the leading proponents of the ‘birther’ conspiracy that falsely suggests Obama was born in Kenya or elsewhere.
Kerry points to a $3 million dollar donation to a pro-Romney super PAC by Houston construction magnate Bob Perry as the next round in an outside effort against Obama.
“One man. Three million dollars. And that’s just the start,” Kerry writes.
“I know all too clearly that these guys will do or say anything to win. They’ll stop at nothing. But forewarned is forearmed. Their multi-million dollar smear tactics were new in 2004; in 2012 we know their playbook, and shame on us if we don’t tear it into shreds. Join me and we will stop the ‘swiftboating’ of President Obama,” Kerry emails.
Obama has his own group of mega-rich supporters and a super PAC working on his behalf — but Kerry is right that super PAC donations have flowed more to the GOP side than to allies of the president. With the exception of a million dollar donation from comedian Bill Maher, no mega donors have so far chipped in with seven figure checks to Obama’s super PAC — despite the fact that the administration has allowed cabinet secretaries and White House staffers to help fundraise on their own time.
http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/03/john-kerry-theyre-swiftboating-obama-119104.html
TPM2012
Obama Pollster: Romney Can’t Etch-A-Sketch His Way To General
Benjy Sarlin March 29, 2012, 1:59 PM
Voters are tuning in to the presidential race much earlier than usual, giving Mitt Romney much less leeway to pull an “Etch A Sketch” and reinvent himself in the general election. That’s the assessment of the pollster tasked with finding out how to beat him, at least.
Obama’s top pollster, Joel Benenson, told TPM at a policy breakfast hosted by Third Way that one of the biggest changes in recent presidential elections has been a constant stream of news via cable, news sites and social media, that’s saturating the public with information and allowing them to form opinions of candidates long before the party conventions.
“Romney didn’t just get to 50 percent unfavorability,” he said. “People are clearly picking up something.”
The result, Benenson says: There’s no “grand gesture” Romney can use, like a big nomination speech, to introduce himself to swing voters since most of them will already be well-acquainted with his campaign. And any sign of movement to the center will be judged against a his shift to the right during the primary, and for a well-established reputation for shifting his positions.
The pollster sounded a skeptical note when asked if Romney might repair his relationship with Hispanic voters by choosing a Hispanic vice presidential nominee, perhaps Cuban-American Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who endorsed the former Massachusetts governor Wednesday night.
“If Mitt Romney puts a Hispanic candiate on the ticket, I don’t think Hispanic voters are going to look at that and say, ‘Yeah, I’m going to ignore that this is a guy who said he would veto the DREAM Act,” he said.
Benenson said some of the most encouraging news for the Obama campaign was how much of the damage to Romney’s image had come from his own public performances, including numerous gaffes related to his wealth.
“The interesting thing, I think, is Mitt Romney has, through earned media, earned his biggest vulnerability,” he said, referring to “the sense that he’s not in touch with the lives of ordinary Americans and that he doesn’t really care about the struggles they’re facing.”
Asked about the burning question of the week, the Supreme Court’s looming decision on health care reform, Benenson refused to speculate on how voters or the campaigns would react to any outcome. But he took issue with the notion that Obama’s re-election message would be wiped out if there were no health care law to run on.
“I think the president has many signature accomplishments over his first term,” he said, citing the auto rescue in particular as a powerful story. “This election has fundamentally shaped up — rightly so — as a battle over contrasts of economic values and economic vision.”
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/03/obama-pollster-romney-cant-etch-a-sketch-his-way-to-general.php?ref=fpnewsfeed
Trapped in the 80s, A Delusional Mitt Romney Thinks He’s Ronald Reagan
By: Rmuse
March 29, 2012
It is often the case that outside observers have an accurate understanding of the mindset of a politician party because their perspective is not tainted by propaganda and innuendo based on fantasy and misinformation. Americans have a difficult enough time discerning Willard Romney’s mindset on myriad subjects because he lacks intransience of commitment and his intent on returning to a by-gone era based on Reagan mythos and subterfuge implies a weak-minded sycophant. Willard may fool Americans with his alleged foreign policy acumen and fantasies of cowboy diplomacy, but Russian President Dmitry Medvedev clearly understands Romney is out-of-touch with reality.
On Monday, Romney asserted that Russia was the United States’ “No. 1 geopolitical foe,” and it prompted Medvedev to tell Romney to “look at his watch.” On the final day of a nuclear security summit in Asia, Medvedev said to Romney that “we are in 2012 and not the mid-1970s” and gave some sage advice to all presidential candidates. “Regarding ideological clichés, every time this or that side uses phrases like ‘enemy No. 1,’ this always alarms me, this smells of Hollywood and certain times [in the past],” he said. “I would recommend all U.S. presidential candidates … to do two things. First, when phrasing their position one needs to use one’s head, one’s good reason, which would not do harm to a presidential candidate.” Obviously, Medvedev, like the rest of the world, harkens back to 2002 when George W. Bush stated categorically in his State of the Union Address that Iran, Iraq, and North Korea constituted an “axis of evil.” America invaded Iraq and Romney is impersonating Bush in guaranteeing cowboy diplomacy to deal with Iran if he is elected as president and he gave every indication he will be a warmonger when he lashed out at Medvedev and criticized President Obama’s foreign policy.
Romney penned an editorial condemning President Obama’s foreign policy as being “pliant on missile defense and other areas of nuclear security” and “bowing to the Kremlin.” Willard is promoting a Star Wars missile defense system that Reagan fantasized about to aim warheads at Russia. Romney also assailed President Obama for ingratiating himself with the Kremlin because of a “personal phone call that Barack Obama made to Vladimir Putin from Air Force One congratulating the Russian leader on his election as Russia’s next president.” Then, Romney stated that the American people “need the backbone and courage of a Ronald Reagan. In his dealings with the Kremlin, as in his dealings with the rest of the world, President Obama has demonstrated breathtaking weakness — and given the word “flexibility” a new and ominous meaning.” Romney is wrong and it shows his stunning lack of comprehension of diplomacy that is not meted out at the end of a barrel. The extent of Romney’s foreign policy experience is sending American jobs to China and baptizing ignorant French people into his Mormon cult as a coward-in-hiding during the Viet Nam war.
As far as Reagan’s courage and backbone, that is another fantasy Romney and Republicans parrot as obeisance to their man-turned-god. In 1982, Reagan sent Marines to Beirut as part of a multi-national force, and after two suicide bombings claimed the lives of 258 Americans, Reagan cut and run prompting Osama bin Laden to write that Reagan’s cowardice “proves the U.S. is a paper tiger.” Reagan was also instrumental in secretly sending billions of dollars in military aid to the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan that led to the rise of Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda terrorist network; the rest is history until President Obama fulfilled his campaign promise to kill the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 terror attacks. If Romney believes Americans need the backbone and courage of Ronald Reagan, he is living in a dream-state based on mythology and outright lies.
http://www.politicususa.com/romney-reagan-delusion/
Fox News Blames Obama for the Trayvon Martin Controversy
By: Jason Easley
March 27, 2012
Fox has decided that President Obama is responsible for the controversy surrounding the death of Trayvon Martin, not George Zimmerman.
Here is the video from Media Matters:
On his Fox Business program, Lou Dobbs said,
The Obama campaign tonight drawing sharp criticism on Twitter over a campaign sales tweet it sent out yesterday. The campaign advertising hooded sweatshirts for sale, just three days after President Obama chose to comment publicly on the shooting death of seventeen year old Trayvon Martin, who was wearing a hoodie when he was shot. As we reported here yesterday, it’s highly unusual for the president to comment publicly even the hundreds of shooting deaths that have taken place in his hometown of Chicago each year since he took office. They’ve gone without presidential comment. So why would his campaign suddenly advertise hooded sweatshirts in the middle of a national controversy in part created by the president himself? And the ad run by the campaign reads in part, ‘Let everyone know whose team you’re on with today’s merchandise steal, the college style hooded sweatshirt.’
According to Fox News/Business, Obama is responsible for the controversy because the president called the Trayvon Martin shooting a tragedy and pointed out the obvious fact that if he had a son, his son would look like the victim. However in the eyes of Fox News, this is proof that Obama is playing the race card. Without ever having to explicitly say it, Dobbs was suggesting that the Obama campaign was intentionally trying to profit both politically and financially off of the Trayvon Martin shooting by selling hoodies
The problem with Lou Dobbs’ argument is that the Obama campaign is always selling hoodies. They sold hoodies the day after Trayvon Martin was gunned down. The hoodies aren’t some new addition to the Obama merchandise line. The campaign has been selling hoodies for months, and the only person playing the race card here is Lou Dobbs.
Ah, the dreaded hoodie, the real culprit in this case besides President Obama. If only Trayvon Martin wouldn’t have worn that hoodie, he would be alive today. If President Obama would not have pointed out that the shooting of Trayvon Martin was a tragedy, no one would have noticed.
It seems that the death of Trayvon Martin is everyone’s fault, except George Zimmerman. You know, the man who shot and killed Trayvon Martin. It is disgusting the way that the right has used the death of a seventeen year old young man to further their racial attacks against President Obama, and it is appalling that they would drag the name of Trayvon Martin through the mud in order to try to split America.
Fox News, conservatives, and the right will do anything to defeat President Obama, including dividing our nation along ugly racial lines.
President Obama deserves better. The American people deserve better, and most of all the young man whose life was senselessly ended definitely deserves better.
http://www.politicususa.com/fox-obama-trayvon-martin/
Joe Walsh on Tammy Duckworth: Did He Really Say That?
Posted Mar 29, 2012 at 01:40 PM
By Carol Felsenthal
The 8th District congressional race in the newly configured Northwest suburbs between Republican Joe Walsh and Democrat Tammy Duckworth threatens to be one of the ugliest and hottest in the country—one that will receive loads of national attention and money. The Democrats figure they have the perfect candidate in Iraq war hero Duckworth to send Tea Party favorite freshman Walsh packing.
Nobody would ever call Walsh a temperate personality; he has made his reputation and become a favorite of cable TV shout shows by saying what’s on his mind—for example, he told President Obama to “quit lying.” But he went over the line in an interview with Politico’s Joe Catanese, held in an Elgin coffee shop, published today.
The subject turns to Duckworth, the Black Hawk pilot who lost her legs and part of the use of right arm after her helicopter was hit in 2004 by a rocket-propelled grenade. She recovered to run unsuccessfully for Congress, and then to serve as Director of the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs, as well as President Obama’s Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Catanese writes:
“I have so much respect for what she did in the fact that she sacrificed her body for this country,” said Walsh, simultaneously lowering his voice as he leaned forward before pausing for dramatic effect. “Ehhh. Now let’s move on.”
“What else has she done? Female, wounded veteran … ehhh,” he continued. “She is nothing more than a handpicked Washington bureaucrat. David Axelrod, Rahm Emanuel just picked her up and dropped her into this district.”
http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/Felsenthal-Files/March-2012/Joe-Walsh-on-Tammy-Duckworth-Did-He-Really-Say-That/
found this in the comments over at Coates:
peorgietirebiter
I haven’t spent a minute being black in America and from my perspective everything about the Obama Administration absolutely kills them. My personl theory is it’s because the entire family is the undeniable embodiment of everything the right wing claims to value but rarely lives up to. And that was okay because it was all in the family, everyone supporting the lies they all told themselves about themselves. I’m thinking they became accustomed to using the notion of America’s First Family as the standard to compare themselves to until this administration came along putting all the lies they had in common at risk.
This particular First Family set the bar for personal and professional achievement just out of reach for even the best among them and the psychic pain has become too much for them. Try as they might, using all the crazy b.s. they try to tell each other about the new sheriff they still can’t shake the obvious. He’s better than them and theirs no matter how they slice it. Bad enough it’s a Democrat, but a black Democrat making them seem ridiculous by doing nothing more than standing there with his family holding a mirror, it’s unbearable. Yea, it kills them. They don’t dare look in that mirror. Then along comes Trayvon’s family and friends and damned if they aren’t holding another mirror that makes them look even worse. It kills them.
GOOD; IT KILLS THEM!
Then we should start digging mass graves for these folks, because, PBO and his famiiy will be occupying the WHITE HOUSE until 2012!
House approves radical GOP budget plan
By Steve Benen
–
Thu Mar 29, 2012 3:48 PM EDT
A year ago, House Republicans linked arms, stepped off the cliff, and voted en masse for Paul Ryan’s right-wing budget plan. GOP leaders demanded the support of nervous lawmakers, many of whom feared the party was overreaching just a few months into their term, and more than 98% of the caucus went along, as ordered.
The blowback was far more intense than Republicans expected, especially given the fact that GOP lawmakers had voted to eliminate Medicare and replace it with a private voucher scheme.
A year later, it’s happened again. The House this afternoon voted to approve Paul Ryan’s new-but-not-improved budget plan, 228 to 191. As was the case in 2011, all House Democrats, including the Blue Dogs, opposed the far-right budget, but today, 10 House Republicans broke ranks and opposed the measure, up from 4 GOP members a year ago.
Of course, while it’s noteworthy that 10 Republicans weren’t willing to go along with their caucus on this — and in this group, 10 is a lot — the fact remains that 95% of the House GOP caucus went along with a budget plan that’s so extreme, it would have been considered laughably ridiculous just a few years ago.
I won’t rehash all the details again, but let’s not forget, this is a budget plan that ends Medicare’s guaranteed benefit, takes health care coverage from millions of Americans, radically redistributes wealth in the wrong direction, slashes taxes on the very wealthy, and would “take food from poor children, make it harder for low-income students to get a college degree, and squeeze funding for research, education, and infrastructure.”
And despite what you heard on the House floor if you watched the debate, the Ryan plan does not reduce the debt, either. It simply punishes the poor severely, in order to finance lavish tax breaks for the wealthy.
This is less a budget plan and more a right-wing fantasy. What’s more in this election year, it’s also an albatross.
Indeed, as much as Democrats hate this plan, they love the fact that Republicans have voted for this fiasco.
The attack ads, especially in competitive districts, practically write themselves: “Do you support your congressman’s vote to gut education, health care, and Medicare, so that billionaires can get another tax break?”
Finally, let’s also not forget that Republicans voted for this for no particular reason. I keep coming back to something Jonathan Bernstein recently explained: “[T]his isn’t a vote that has to happen.”
http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/29/10925721-house-approves-radical-gop-budget-plan
Wisconsin’s recall count is in
By Laura Conaway
–
Thu Mar 29, 2012 3:26 PM EDT
Wisconsin’s Government Accountability Board meets tomorrow to decide whether to schedule recalls for Governor Scott Walker and Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch. The GAB staff write today that they’ll be “recommending the Board find there are a sufficient number of signatures to order recall elections.”
From the numbers they post, it’s not even close. Recall organizers needed 540,280 valid signatures to put Walker and Kleefisch up for a vote either in May or June, depending on possible primaries. After the GAB review, they appear to have gotten 900,938 for Walker and 808,990 for Kleefisch.
For the record, that works out to a validity rate of just under 97 percent for the Walker recall signatures and 96 percent for recalling Kleefisch.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/29/10925423-wisconsins-recall-count-is-in
Sources: South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley could be indicted this week
Posted on Thursday, March 29, 2012, 12:10 pm by GottaLaff
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley is into all kinds of mischief. Now it seems she may be in over her head.
Via Palmetto Public Record:
Two well-placed legal experts have independently told Palmetto Public Record they expect the U.S. Department of Justice to issue an indictment against South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on charges of tax fraud as early as this week.
A… federal official has also privately confirmed rumblings of an investigation and possible indictment …
http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/2012/03/29/sources-south-carolina-gov-nikki-haley-could-be-indicted-this-week/
Some Police Need to Go to Jail
by BooMan
Thu Mar 29th, 2012 at 10:37:48 AM EST
Pretty much everything George Zimmerman’s father says in this interview is demonstrable bullshit. All you need to do to prove this to yourself is to read the 911 call, look at Google Maps, and look at the video of Zimmerman arriving at the police station on the night of the incident. Here is Dad’s account:
Because there has been a lot of break-ins in the area, Robert said George thought it suspicious that someone would not be walking on the street or the sidewalk on a rainy night — that Martin would be walking between the town homes. He said after making those observations, his son decided to call the police. “He called the non-emergency number first, and they asked him where he was, because he was at the rear of the town houses and there was no street sign,” said Robert.
Even though a dispatcher told George Zimmerman not to follow Martin, his father said his son continued his pursuit to locate an address to give to police.
“He lost sight of the individual, he continued to walk down the same sidewalk to the next street, so he could get an address for the police,” he said.
“He went to the next street, realized where he was and was walking to his vehicle. It’s my understanding, at that point, Trayvon Martin walked up to him and asked him, ‘Do you have a [expletive] problem?’ George said, ‘No, I don’t have a problem,’ and started to reach for his cell phone… at that point, he (Martin) was punching him in the nose, his nose was broken and he was knocked to the concrete.”
Robert said Trayvon, “continued to beat George, and at some point, George pulled his pistol and did what he did.”
The only time that Trayvon Martin was walking between the homes was when he took the sidewalk off of Twin Trees Road. And Zimmerman called 911 well before he ever got to that sidewalk. Prior to that, Martin was seeking shelter from the rain at the Clubhouse (which we know from his girlfriend who was talking to him on the phone). Zimmerman initially gave the Clubhouse as an address, but he made clear that Trayvon Martin was no longer at the Clubhouse:
……………………….
It’s easy to pinpoint Zimmerman and Martin’s location from this conversation. They are on Twin Trees Road which basically connects the front entrance to the rear entrance of the gated community. There is no place to be walking in between homes on Twin Trees Road because all the homes are connected. When you come to the bend in the road, however, there is a sidewalk that leads around to the backyards of the homes, and that is where Trayvon Martin ran. And that is where he died. So, Zimmerman’s father is wrong. His son did not observe Trayvon Martin walking between homes before he called 911. He also was not near the rear of the townhouses. He was either in or near to his SUV which was located on Twin Trees Road. He didn’t pursue Trayvon Martin in order to obtain an address to give to the police. He had already provided an address and specific details about the location. He had also arranged for the police to call him when they arrived. He didn’t go to the next street because there is no next street. There is a bend in the road, and he didn’t go down the bend in the road but onto the sidewalk. He wasn’t coming back to his vehicle either. He went down the sidewalk, around the back of the houses, and confronted Trayvon Martin who asked him why he was following him.
The next part of Zimmerman’s dad’s account is now in severe doubt because, despite the initial police report (pdf), the video of Zimmerman’s arrival at the police station shows that he has no visible wounds, no bandages, no cut on the back of his head, no swelling around the nose, no visible discomfort, and no grass or wetness apparent on his back. He doesn’t look like he was attacked at all.
This does not square at all with Officer Timothy Smith’s report that: “While I was in such close contact with Zimmerman, I could observe that his back appeared to be wet and was covered with grass, as if he had been laying on his back on the ground. He also was bleeding from his nose and back of his head…Zimmerman was placed in the rear of my police vehicle and given first aid by the SFD. ”
While Zimmerman’s back could have dried off on the ride to the police station and someone could have brushed the grass off his jacket, the lack of any wounds or bandages calls Officer Smith’s entire report into question.
The fact that his father’s explanation doesn’t square with any of the known facts in the least is another damning blow. It now appears that the police covered up this incident and filed false police reports. A lot more people than Zimmerman could be going to jail.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2012/3/29/103748/031#21
The ENTIRE Sanford Police Dept. needs to be SANITIZED, and add all new cops. I’d never trust anyone ever in that dept until this was inacted.
March 29, 2012
Go figure
This headline, from The Hill, is one of the more peculiar headlines I’ve ever seen: “Ryan budget plan poised to pass House, giving GOP needed boost.”
“… demonstrating GOP unity,” maybe, but giving the party a “needed boost”? Pray tell, what species of interpretive critter is that?
The headline pre-announces, or at least strongly suggests, the electorate’s embrace, as Robert Reich notes elsewhere, of giving “the wealthiest Americans an average tax cut of at least $150,000 a year,” of sparing defense spending, of doing little to cut the deficit, of gutting Medicare, of slashing the food stamp program and Pell grants and “scores of other programs that now help middle-income and the poor,” and of “carv[ing] an additional $19 billion out of next year’s ‘discretionary’ spending over and above what Democrats agreed to last year.”
Now, it may be that the electorate will embrace precisely that, if Reason takes another holiday, as it did in 2010. The virtuosity of Republican pols when it comes to crafting disinformation and befuddlement campaigns is, let’s admit it, just downright, paradigmatically awe-inspiring. Since about 1980, immense swaths of the American electorate have possessed little idea of what they’re actually voting for, thanks to the Machiavellian scheming of the GOP’s Atwater, Luntz & Associates.
But, one never knows. President Obama is one helluva campaigner with a prodigious knack for selling otherwise commonly embraceable American pragmatism, and Democratic pols have on occasion of late evinced some detectable ability to speak plain English, on matters like House budgets that would kill off Medicare. These are, as I have noted repeatedly and perhaps too confidently, encouraging signposts to November’s crucible.
All of which throws into real question any headline that marries the “Ryan budget plan” to a “boost
http://pmcarpenter.blogs.com/p_m_carpenters_commentary/2012/03/go-figure.html
Romney and those ‘humorous’ layoffs
By Steve Benen – Thu Mar 29, 2012 8:00 AM EDT.
There will probably come a day when Mitt Romney will find a treatment to stop being so tone deaf, and will figure out a way to talk to humans in a way that demonstrates some degree of empathy.
Today, however, is not that day.
The likely Republican presidential nominee talked to Wisconsin voters via a “telephone town hall” yesterday, and after applauding Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) far-right labor policies and endorsing Paul Ryan’s radical House budget plan, Romney, unprompted, decided to share an anecdote he described as “humorous.” Rachel aired the entirety of Romney’s “joke” on the show last night.
For those who missed the episode and can’t watch clips online, the gist of the story is that Romney’s father shut down an auto factory in Michigan, and moved production to Wisconsin. The “humorous” part came later, when George Romney’s political strategists didn’t want a marching band playing “On, Wisconsin” during a Michigan gubernatorial campaign because it might remind voters of the closed factory.
Because nothing’s funnier than joking about shutting down production at a Michigan auto plant and laying off its workers.
I can appreciate why, after a while, coverage of Romney’s tin ear when it comes to wealth and working people may seem excessive, and I suspect it will wane just as soon as he stops saying dumb things in public.
For those keeping score at home, this is the same Republican presidential candidate who boasts about his wife driving “a couple of Cadillacs,” says he’s “not concerned about the very poor,” and says making over $374,000 in speaking fees in a year is “not very much” money. All of those examples followed Romney suggesting elected office is only for the rich, clumsily talking about his fondness for being able to fire people, demanding that talk of economic justice be limited to “quiet rooms,” accusing those who care about income inequality of “envy,” daring Rick Perry to accept a $10,000 bet, and suggesting that Americans should somehow feel sorry for poor banks.
Ordinarily in political campaigns, candidates are advised not to be overly scripted, because voters like candidates who speak their mind. Romney appears to be one of those rare candidates for whom this advice does not apply.
.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/29/10919199-romney-and-those-humorous-layoffs
GOP favorability moving in the wrong direction
By Steve Benen – Thu Mar 29, 2012 9:52 AM EDT
.It was just a two weeks ago that the political world gasped at the results of a New York Times/CBS News poll that found President Obama’s approval rating down sharply over the last month for no apparent reason. In many circles, Democrats had to resist the urge to panic, while Republicans started walking with a spring in their step.
And two weeks later, a new CNN poll has changed the partisans’ attitudes. It shows Obama’s approval rating up to 51%, economic confidence on the rise, and the president leading Mitt Romney in a hypothetical matchup by 11 points.
Perhaps this would be a good time to remind folks that it’s only March. At various stages, the various candidates will go up and down in the coming months, trading leads and seeing peaks and valleys in their levels of support. There’s just no reason to get too excited about one poll.
That said, there was something in the CNN results that jumped out at me: the parties’ favorability ratings.
After going through the data, I put together a chart showing Americans’ favorable opinions of the Democratic and Republican parties since January 2010.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/29/10920916-gop-favorability-moving-in-the-wrong-direction
Politics Rewards The Old
Stephen Marche examines the state of affairs:
There may be no white America and no black America, no blue-state America and no red-state America, but one thing is clear: There is a young America and there is an old America, and they don’t form a community of interest. One takes from the other. The federal government spends $480 billion on Medicare and $68 billion on education. Prescription drugs: $62 billion. Head Start: $8 billion. Across the board, the money flows not to helping the young grow up, but helping the old die comfortably. According to a 2009 Brookings Institution study, “The United States spends 2.4 times as much on the elderly as on children, measured on a per capita basis, with the ratio rising to 7 to 1 if looking just at the federal budget.”
Noah Kristula-Green wishes this weren’t so:
Speaking for myself, I suspect the American political system is too slow to really change its priorities and redirect its focus on my generation, but there is always time to refocus on the next one. We now know that the first two years of life are the most consequential for child’s development. I would consider reduced Medicare spending now coupled with an increase in efforts to ensure adequate early childhood nutrition to be a successful policy trade-off. Or we can just make the Ryan Budget law and protect the baby boomers with a firewall to preserves their benefits.
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/
Does Romney Really Want A Foreign Policy Election?
Larison notes that Romney has lost even McCain, Lieberman and Butters due to “excessive hawkishness” on Russia. The candidate is now doubling down in Foreign Policy. Adam Sorensen sees Romney’s “no apology” foreign policy returning to the forefront of the campaign:
[U]ntil very recently the most important issue in Romney’s campaign narrative was the economy. Whether it’s a slightly sunnier domestic outlook or a confluence of events thrusting foreign policy back into the conversation–Obama’s hot mic and creeping war fatigue among them–Romney appears to be revising his narrative back to something closer to his original vision.
Of course, Romney is distinctively out of touch on the issue:
[I]t is becoming increasingly clear that the American people are very weary of war—indeed, far more weary of it than one would think based on the Republican rhetoric thus far in this campaign. … [A]ny imprudent Romney adventurism probably wouldn’t be attributable to the sentiment of the voters. Indeed, it would probably emerge because a President Romney hadn’t sufficiently taken into account the political sanctions that would be imposed by unsentimental voters if his adventurism went awry.
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/03/back-to-foreign-policy.html
People on the Internet Can Be Hella RacistI won an award for my web series, Awkward Black Girl, and then the racists tweets came out of the woodwork.
Whenever I forget that I’m black, nothing reminds me faster than being called a “nigger” or “niggerette,” as one Twitter user so eloquently and politely put it. She must be French.
The crazy thing is, I’ve actually never been called a “nigger” in real life, you know like to my darkie face. It’s actually a shame, because I have so many witty comebacks prepared for when it happens, i.e., “Nigger?! [neck roll and snap] Oh no you didn’t, Massa!” ©
In the online world however, which is where most of my social life resides, the word is tossed about as freely as it was in the 50s and 60s, before the Internet even existed. Users hide comfortably behind their computer screens and type the most obnoxiously offensive things they can think of and thirstily WAIT for an angry response; a validation of their modest efforts.
Take Monday night, for example. After campaigning via Twitter and Facebook for several weeks, our web series, “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl” beat out 783 other web series to win the 2012 Shorty Award for Best Web Show. For the unfamiliar, the Shorty Awards honor the best in social media and Internet content, so it was quite the honor that: 1) our viewers rallied to nominate us into the top five shows and 2) the Shorty Award committee recognized our impact on the web series community.
So it was with great pride that I announced our accomplishments via Facebook and Twitter, much to the mutual excitement of our awesome supporters. And that’s when the Internet-equivalent of the Tea Party appeared:
http://www.xojane.com/issues/people-internet-can-be-hella-racist
Zimmerman’s Father Blasts Obama: ‘I Never Foresaw So Much Hate Coming From The President’ |
The father of the man accused of killing Travyon Martin slammed President Obama and civil rights leaders for supposedly spewing “hate.” Robert Zimmerman, father of George, told a local Fox affiliate in Florida that groups demanding justice for Martin like the Congressional Black Caucus and the NAACP are just “trying to get notoriety or profit from this in some way.” He called on Obama to go “beyond the hate.” Obama spoke publicly about the case last week, saying he supported new investigations into the killing. While Obama made a personal comment about his own children, he never mentioned Zimmerman.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnEQQnj7eXo&feature=player_embedded
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/03/29/454729/robert-zimmerman-obama/
Fuck this bastard; We’ve never seen so much idiocy and racial hate since the Black man became President. ONW YOUR SHIT, ROBERT ZIMMERMAN, OWN IT!
Student walkouts planned at some Pittsburgh schools on ‘Hoodie Day’ Friday
By Jill King Greenwood, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Last updated: 9:45 am
Several Pittsburgh Public Schools will allow student walk-outs and demonstrations Friday to protest the shooting death of a Florida teenager.
The schools, including Pittsburgh Stevens K-8 in Elliot and the Creative and Performing Arts high school, Downtown, will hold “Hoodie Day” in response to the Feb. 26 death of Trayvon Martin, 17, said schools spokeswoman Ebony Pugh.
“The students asked principals if they could do this, and anytime students want to organize and use their voices, we support that,” Pugh said.
She said students can choose whether to participate in the demonstrations. The district will release details on the events later today, Pugh said. Martin, who was black, was shot by a neighborhood watch captain in Sanford, a suburb of Orlando, while walking back to his father’s house after buying a package of Skittles candy and some iced tea at a convenience store. He was unarmed
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/breaking/s_788922.html#ixzz1qX3RrsrK
Top ‘Joe Oliver Must Be Smoking Something’ Quotes
The more Joe Oliver defends George Zimmerman with his ridiculous rational and “what the hell did this Negro say” quotes, the more we have to wonder if it was him, not Trayvon Martin (allegedly), who once experimented with the purple haze.
Over the past few days, we’ve heard Oliver say that coon is not really a racial slur. Or, in his words, “matter of interpretation.” Then he suggests that Zimmerman is a victim, too.
Oh, hell to tha naw!
The NewsOne crew put together a list of his most outlandish quotes to put into perspective how foolish this clown really is!
1) “Coon A**es” Not Racial Term
On Chris Mathews’ “Hardball, Oliver said coon is not as bad as we think it is: “…To me, it’s a matter of interpretation whether he’s saying coon or goon. There are parts of this country where people proudly call themselves “coon a***s” in Louisiana in particular…”
How much money are they paying this man to propagate this Tom foolery?
2) George Zimmerman Prays For Trayvon And The Martin Family
“He’s not the man that I knew before the shooting,” Oliver tells “People” in this week’s cover story. “He’ll never be the same. He prays for Trayvon and he prays for the Martin family. He is so distraught that he took a life. That’s the price he had to pay for saving his own.”
Zimmerman will never be the same. Well, how about the fact that Trayvon will never be ALIVE again!
3) Joe Oliver Suggests Nation Would Be Talking About Trayvon Killing Zimmerman, If Tragedy Were Reversed
During the end of an interview with Lawrence O’Donnell on “The Last Word,” he tried to criminalize Trayvon Martin by suggesting a “what if Trayvon was the killer” scenario.
“We know that if we weren’t here talking about George shooting Trayvon, we’d be talking about Trayvon shooting George”
Oh come on, Joe! Once again, how much is he being paid?
4) “This Was Not A Racial Incident.”
Needs no commentary! Source: Lawrence O’Donnell’s “Last Word” and other interviews.
http://newsone.com/nation/nomul6/joe-oliver-quotes/
Opinion
An Open Letter to Joe Oliver
Akiba Solomon has a few choice words for George Zimmerman’s Black-friend-for-hire…
Dear Brother Oliver:
I am writing to ask you—respectfully—to wrap up your George Zimmerman Defense Tour of 2012. I am nobody in particular. But just as your friend Zimmerman appointed himself sentry and executioner of Trayvon Martin, I am anointing myself captain of Black Citizenship Watch.
I created this role after watching you humiliate yourself and the African-Americans who still claim you on The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell. As my first official act, I am declaring you the suspicious character.
Now, when you first insinuated yourself into this national disgrace, I saw you as a distraction. That was before mainstream media outlets treated you as if you’re a reliable source. Because Zimmerman won’t speak for himself, I can understand why they’d book a self-described family friend and volunteer defender the first couple of times. But you have to know that, symbolically speaking, you’re just The Black Guy.
Yes, Mr. Oliver, you are The Black Guy who racists trot out when someone probes their questionable behavior. Like the Slinky, the Trapper Keeper, or the “urban, streetwise” TV character who always seems to be bouncing a basketball, you are both a throwback and a novelty. You’ve repeatedly claimed that race has nothing to do with why Zimmerman decided Trayvon Martin was potential felon rather than just a teenager from out of town who may have needed directions to his father’s fiancee’s home; a slowpoke kid talking the long way as he chatted with his girlfriend; or a human being trying to get out of the rain. But then, bizarrely, you’ve alluded to your own experiences as an African-American man facing the specter of racial profiling, vilification and law enforcement violence.
I can only surmise that you are so desperate to protect this friend/acquaintance/extended nephew of yours that you’ve lost some of your mental capacity.
How else could you go on television and equate second-hand reports of Zimmerman’s fear, trauma, PTSD, depression and alleged remorse with the gun blast that ended the life of a 17-year-old, unarmed child?
How could you claim that Zimmerman was just trying to keep his community from being “victimized” by burglaries but leave out how he routinely blew up 911 at odd hours in the morning, how he’d been arrested and charged at 20 for antagonizing a police officer, and how his then-fiancee filed a restraining order against him?
How could you obscure your friend’s clear disregard for the 911 dispatcher who suggested he stop following Trayvon Martin on February 26, 2012?
And finally, when you were confronted with the fact that your 28-year-old White family friend muttered something like “f*cking coons” on the 911 tape, how could claim that some folks use “coon” as a term of endearment? In the constellation of cray cray, this is your North Star.
Mr. Oliver, I don’t believe in vigilante behavior. I’m not going to harass you the way your friend Zimmerman menaced and killed that child. I’m just asking you to listen for the whispers of your ancestors and the cries of Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton. Then I urge you to stand DOWN
http://www.ebony.com/news-views/opinion-an-open-letter-to-joe-oliver
AMEN!
GO SIT YOUR BLACK ASS DOWN!
coon graphic please
Sistah Akiba Solomon STRAIGHT UP BUSTED THIS NEGRO
LMBAO
March 29, 2012
An Argument Against Healthcare
From the National Alliance of Funeral Directors
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) – The following message was released today by the National Alliance of Funeral Directors:
This week, several Republican Supreme Court Justices have argued that the Affordable Care Act supported by the Obama Administration is unconstitutional. At the National Alliance of Funeral Directors, we couldn’t agree more.
It was Revolutionary War hero Patrick Henry who said, in 1775, “Give me liberty or give me death.” From that moment on, legal scholars have agreed that the Constitution guarantees every American the liberty to be dead. Here at the Alliance, we will fight for your right to be dead to the death.
Let’s take a look, if you will, at the Second Amendment of the Constitution, which protects every American’s right to shoot another American. It says nothing about giving the person who is shot health insurance to prevent him from dying. This cherished constitutional right to shoot people and make them dead is currently recognized in all fifty states, most recently Florida.
In commenting on the Affordable Care Act this week, Justice Samuel Alito compared the Obama healthcare plan to burial insurance. Coincidentally, burial insurance is the Republican healthcare plan, and one that we enthusiastically support. Under this plan, every American would be mandated to buy a coffin from one of our member-owned and operated funeral homes. May we recommend the Peaceful Valley Royale,™ a luxury mahogany casket with sienna satin interior and the finest imitation antique nickel handles ($2899).
As the organization representing America’s funeral directors, gravediggers, embalmers and cremators, we are confident that the Supreme Court will ultimately do the right thing and decide that healthcare flies in the face of every American’s constitutional right to the pursuit of deadness. And when they do, we’ll be waiting for you.
Sincerely,
The National Alliance of Funeral Directors
It’s going to be a long seven months
By Steve Benen – Thu Mar 29, 2012 11:31 AM EDT
.In the very first television ad launched by the Romney campaign, the Republican took an Obama quote from 2008 wildly out of context, deliberately deceiving the public. Asked to defend the deception, Romney and his campaign said they didn’t care.
With the precedent set, Team Romney, clearly eyeing the general election phase of the campaign, has released a new anti-Obama ad, and it’s about as truthful as its first spot.
In this ad, the Romney campaign tells the viewer, “President Barack Obama named himself one of the country’s four best presidents.” Later, the commercial says Obama is really only the best at amassing debt.
Let’s put this plainly: there’s simply nothing honest about this attack ad.
The quote that Romney finds so fascinating came from a “60 Minutes” interview, in which the president talked about the achievements of his first two years.
“The issue here is not going be a list of accomplishments. As you said yourself, Steve, you know, I would put our legislative and foreign policy accomplishments in our first two years against any president — with the possible exceptions of Johnson, F.D.R., and Lincoln — just in terms of what we’ve gotten done in modern history. But, you know, but when it comes to the economy, we’ve got a lot more work to do.”
Because our political discourse is so deeply foolish, Obama’s detractors took this quote, changed it, and complained bitterly that the president claimed to be the “fourth best” president in American history. That’s clearly not what Obama said, but for the president’s critics, the truth didn’t matter, so they changed it to make it say what they wanted it to say. Now, it’s made its way from far-right blogs to the Romney campaign’s general election message.
But what about the debt claims? Romney’s deceiving the public here, too.
——————————————————————————–
There are three basic truths to keep in mind: (1) Obama has lowered, not increased, the deficit; (2) the driving factors of the national debt are Republican policies from the Bush/Cheney era, not new spending from Obama; and (3) Romney’s economic agenda includes massive new tax cuts and new Pentagon spending, and he can’t explain how he’d pay for any of it. (Indeed, he’s endorsed Paul Ryan’s budget plan that would add over $5 trillion to the debt over the next decade.)
Those aren’t opinions; they’re just facts.
Of course, if this is the sort of ad Mitt Romney is running in March, it’s unnerving to think of how dishonest his campaign messages will be in, say, October.
Postscript: This new video, its dishonesty notwithstanding, does offer a hint about Romney messaging in 2012. The former governor wanted to talk about job creation and economic growth, but with the recovery picking up steam, he’s apparently shifting gears and focusing on the debt now.
.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/29/10922331-its-going-to-be-a-long-seven-months
SUCCESS COMES IN “CANS” NOT CAN’TS, SCALIA!
Scalia Says Court Can’t Be Bothered To Read Obamacare: ‘You Really Want Us To Go Through These 2,700 Pages?’
http://thinkprogress.org/special/2012/03/28/454099/scalia-says-court-cant-be-bothered-to-read-obamacare-you-really-want-us-to-go-through-these-2700-pages/
MARKETS Updated March 28, 2012, 10:09 p.m. ET.Bain Gave Staff Way to Swell IRAs by Investing in Deals .
By MARK MAREMONT
Just after Philippe Wells took a job in 1998 at Bain Capital, then run by Mitt Romney, he recalls hearing an unusual boast from a partner. The man’s individual retirement account had jumped tenfold in five years.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204062704577223682180407266.html?mod=djemalertNEWS?tipsheet
Trayvon Martin showed the world who the REAL HOODLUMS are—->George Zimmerman, Sanford Police Department, Norman Wolfinger, Chief Bill Lee!
TrayVon Martin Tribute by Chaka Khan
President Obama Speaks on Repealing Subsidies for Oil Companies
Thanks , SG2! Thread is up.
I guess the court didn’t want Americans to see them clowning around talking smack about phucking broccli and such. Or unca Clarence didn’t want anyone to see him MUTE.
Twitter coverage of Supreme Court gets shut down
/27/2012COMMENTS (0)
WASHINGTON, March 27 (Reuters) – A lawyer discovered how far the U.S. Supreme Court will go to close itself off from the public when it hears a case, no matter how many people on Twitter may be interested.
Casey Mattox went to the court on Tuesday to see historic arguments over whether to strike down the Obama administration’s healthcare law.
His plan was to give live updates and the idea appeared to work as descriptions from the arguments showed up on the Twitter feed of the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative legal group where Mattox is a senior counsel.
But after finding out about the social networking, the court marshal’s office asked Mattox to stop, citing a policy against electronic communication, a spokeswoman for the Alliance Defense Fund said afterward.
Mattox “complied with the marshal’s directions when asked to stop communicating,” said the spokeswoman, Katie Blechacz.
Except for the errant tweets, and reports from journalists who left the proceedings early, the only way to follow the healthcare case was to wait in the dark until after Tuesday morning’s two hours of arguments.
NO CAMERAS ALLOWED
Cameras are not allowed in the courtroom, and the court waits until arguments are over to release audio recordings. Journalists inside have only paper and a pen or pencil.
The rules are an attempt to maintain decorum and limit the influence of the media on what lawyers and the justices say.
http://newsandinsight.thomsonreuters.com/Legal/News/2012/03_-_March/Twitter_coverage_of_Supreme_Court_gets_shut_down/
Live at 10:45 a.m. EDT: President Delivers Remarks on Oil Subsidies
This morning at 10:45 a.m. EDT, President Obama will deliver remarks urging Congress to vote to end the billions in taxpayer dollars handed out to oil companies every year.
Watch on WhiteHouse.gov/Live at 10:45 a.m. EDT.
Go Bobby! Go! These Words…These Words
Righteous!!!!!!!!!!!!
Pelosi defends hoodie-wearing Rep. Bobby Rush http://t.co/1LLey8cO
superb defense of ObamaCare
http://theobamadiary.com/a-word-from-tally-the-affordable-care-act/
Tally NAILED it. Thank you, for posting this.
How one man helped spark online protest in Trayvon Martin case
Kevin Cunningham started a petition on change.org calling for the prosecution of the man who shot Florida teen Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26.
By Miranda Leitsinger, msnbc.com
When Kevin Cunningham read about the killing of teenager Trayvon Martin early this month, he turned to a platform he was just starting to experiment with – social media – to add his voice to the few that were expressing outrage about a Florida police department’s handling of the case.
Little did he know when he started an online petition demanding that authorities prosecute the shooter, that it would garner more than 2 million signatures and help draw international attention to the 17-year-old’s shooting death on Feb. 26.
——————————————————————————–
“I decided to take the skills that I’ve been working on … and apply them to the situation and see how well it would work out, and it just went crazy on me,” said Cunningham, 31, of Washington, D.C., who created the petition on the Change.org website on March 8.
What I’ve learned through social media, you don’t have to go through institutions anymore. … Any individual with any idea can make it work if they have (a) connection to the Internet,” he added.
Cunningham, a red-head who describes himself as the “super Irish” son of activist parents, said he learned about the Martin case when he read a story posted on a listserv for Men of Howard, an informal, secretive fraternity that he joined while attending the historically black Howard University as a law student.
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/29/10907662-how-one-man-helped-spark-online-protest-in-trayvon-martin-case
Yes siree, Mr. Cunningham! And folks had better recognize the power they have with access to the Internet. And know that some institutions are trying their damnest to cut off access or limit our usage, because of the IMPACT of social meda.
Hilarious! Mitt Romney Tells ‘Humorous’ Story About That Time His Dad Shut Down A Factory
by Jon Bershad | 5:18 pm, March 28th, 2012
In recent weeks and months, there has been much made about the frequent “rich guy gaffes” that Mitt Romney has been making. You know, talking about being friends with NASCAR owners, betting $10,000, etc. And, to a certain extent, the jokes and insults aren’t really fair. Sure, Mitt Romney is rich, but all the candidates are rich (and, unfortunately, always will be). However, these gaffes seem to show the candidate can’t relate to the people he wants to lead and, more importantly, he just keeps making them! Today he made yet another one. Perhaps Chris Matthews was right; this guy just isn’t “trainable.”
So, what did he do this time? Well, Romney called in to a “telephone town hall” in Wisconsin where he talked up his support of Gov. Scott Walker and Rep. Paul Ryan. All good, right? You’d think, but, at towards the beginning, Romney decided to tell a funny story about his history with the state of Wisconsin and…just see for yourself.
From The Journal Sentinel:
“’One of most humorous I think relates to my father. You may remember my father, George Romney, was president of an automobile company called American Motors … They had a factory in Michigan, and they had a factory in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and another one in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,” said Romney. “And as the president of the company he decided to close the factory in Michigan and move all the production to Wisconsin. Now later he decided to run for governor of Michigan and so you can imagine that having closed the factory and moved all the production to Wisconsin was a very sensitive issue to him, for his campaign.’
Romney said he recalled a parade in which the school band marching with his father’s campaign only knew the Wisconsin fight song, not the Michigan song.
‘So every time they would start playing ‘On, Wisconsin, On, Wisconsin,’ my dad’s political people would jump up and down and try to get them to stop, because they didn’t want people in Michigan to be reminded that my dad had moved production to Wisconsin,’ said Romney, laughing.”
http://www.mediaite.com/online/hilarious-mitt-romney-tells-humorous-story-about-that-time-his-dad-shut-down-a-factory/
Like father, like son. Romneys LOVE TO FIRE PEOPLE.
CNN Poll: Obama leads Romney and Santorum in November showdowns
Posted by
CNN Political Editor Paul Steinhauser
President Barack Obama holds a double-digit lead over GOP presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum in hypothetical general election matchups, according to a new poll.
And a CNN/ORC International survey released Wednesday also indicates that the president’s approval rating has inched over the 50% mark in CNN surveys for the first time since last May, when the polls were still registering the after effects of the death of Osama bin Laden. The number of Americans who say the economy’s in good shape has jumped 13 points since January, though the survey shows a majority still think it is in poor shape.
If the general election were held today instead of in early November, 54% of registered voters say they would back Obama, with 43% supporting former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the front-runner in the GOP nomination battle. That’s up from a five-point 51%-46% advantage the president held over Romney in February.
And Obama would have a 55%-42% lead over Santorum, the former senator from Pennsylvania who’s Romney’s main rival right now for the nomination. The president led Santorum by a seven-point 52%-45% margin last month.
“President Obama currently wins majority support among groups that have been problematic for him in the past, including men, older voters, and suburbanites,” says CNN Poling Director Keating Holland. “He has a solid lead among independents as well.”
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/03/28/cnn-poll-obama-leads-romney-and-santorum-in-november-showdowns/
just wanted to remind folks….
all of the evil coming out now about the Trayvon Martin case…
NONE of it would be happening without the Justice Department getting involved.
so, smack that back to the ridiculous ones who complain about the President not wearing a hoodie.
VIDEO- Trayvon Martin funeral director: No evidence on Trayvon’s hands that he had been fighting
Posted on Wednesday, March 28, 2012, 6:13 pm by GottaLaff
http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/2012/03/28/video-trayvon-martin-funeral-director-no-evidence-on-trayvons-hands-that-he-had-been-fighting/
Trayvon Martin: The 5 Key Unanswered Questions
By Judd Legum on Mar 28, 2012 at 8:20 pm
It’s been more than a month since Trayvon Martin was shot dead by George Zimmerman. (Get a full rundown of the facts of the case here.)
Tonight, ABC News release video footage of Zimmerman arriving at the police station. The video depicts a cleanly-shaven man who “shows no blood or bruises” on his body.
While media coverage of the case has been intense, there are several key questions that have yet to be answered about the case. Here are five of the most important:
1. What was the purported “conflict” that required the initial prosecutor to step down? On March 22 — after several weeks on the job — state attorney Norm Wolfinger stepped down from his role as prosecutor in the Trayvon Martin case. Wolfinger relinquished his post after meeting with Florida Gov. Rick Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi. He said it was necessary for him to step aside to preserve “the integrity of this investigation,” adding he wanted to avoid “the appearance of a conflict of interest.” He did not explain why his continued involvement would damage the integrity of the case or explain the potential conflict he was seeking to avoid. Did anyone at the prosecutor’s office know Zimmerman or his family? [Orlando Sentinel]
2. Why did the prosecutor ignore the recommendations of the lead homicide investigator? ABC News reported that Chris Serino, the lead homicide investigator on the Trayvon Martin case, recommended that Zimmerman be charged with manslaughter on the night of the shooting. Serino filed an affidavit that night stating “he was unconvinced Zimmerman’s version of events.” As the lead homicide investigator, Serino was: 1. In the best position to evaluate Zimmerman’s credibility, and 2. Intimately familiar with Florida law. Why was he ignored? [ABC News]
3. Why did then-Police Chief Bill Lee make public statements directly contradicting the official recommendations of the police department? On the day the Sanford Police concluded their investigation and handed over the case to the prosecutor, then-Police Chief Bill Lee stated publicly that there was no “probable cause” to arrest or charge Zimmerman. (Lee has subsequently “temporarily” stepped down from his post.) But the Miami Herald reports that on the same day the Sanford Police formally requested that the prosecutor charge Zimmerman, something known as a “capias” request. [ThinkProgress]
4. Who leaked Trayvon Martin’s school records? As public outrage increased, Zimmerman’s sympathizers launched a smear campaign against Trayvon Martin. This included details of several occasions where Martin was suspended for minor infractions (defacing a locker, possessing an empty “marijuana baggie.”) None of the information seemed to have any particular relevance to the night Trayvon Martin was shot to death. Was this a ham-handed attempt by the police or the prosecutor to defend their lack of action against Zimmerman? The Sanford City Manager announced he would launch an independent investigation into the source of the leak. [Miami Herald; NBC12]
5. Why was Trayvon Martin’s body tagged as a John Doe? The Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart notes a police report “that was completed at 3:07 a.m. on Feb. 27 lists Trayvon’s full name, city of birth, address and phone number.” But yet, Trayvon’s body was reportedly “tagged as a John Doe” and his father wasn’t informed of his death until after he filed a missing person report later on the 27th. Why weren’t Trayvon Martin’s parents contacted immediately after the police confirmed his identity? [Washington Post]
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/03/28/454206/trayvon-martin-5-unanswered-questions/
I was thinking about this tonight after dinner.
IT KILLS THEM
it ABSOLUTELY KILLS THEM
that the family of Trayvon Martin knew what to do. they knew who to call. They were NOT going to let this go and NOT find out what happened to their son.
Attorney Crump may not have won the case against the Florida Detention Center, but he changed how things were done.
they were stunned that Black radio, Black blogs
and REV. AL SHARPTON wouldn’t let this go.
that’s why you see so much bullshyt about Rev. Al and his ‘ conflict’ in being involved.
AIN’T NO CONFLICT.
this is what Rev. AL DOES.
they are madder than a mutha that so much of what Black folks have said over the years, in their dealing with the PO-LICE is obvious in this case.
all the stuff that they respond to us that we’re ‘ imagining’ things’.
they are MAD that everything we say that ROUTINELY happens with Black folks IS OBVIOUS in this case.
they are MAD that an Obama Justice Department is the REASON all of this is coming to light.
How the hell is Trayvon Martin gonna threaten the person holding the fking gun? That dog don’t hunt, mofos!
Yes, white anger is spilling out all over America, it cannot be contained. let it come, so we can disinfect the filth that is racsim, injustice. We will not back down. If anyone is angry and dangerous, it is a fearful, cowardly, racist bigot, who thinks they are losing their power.
Power over what, or whom? They have no power over themselves, if they fear blackness. They give their power to BLACKNESS, and thereby try to KILL it.
We will not go quietly into that good: Dylan Thomas” GOOD NIGHT.
Holla!
In new book, Arlen Specter gives the naked truth about senators
By Al Kamen, Published: March 28
Naked senators, Dick Cheney downing fried chicken and a “hobo” Fed chairman. Former senator Arlen Specter’s new book, “Life Among the Cannibals,” has its moments.
On Tuesday, we brought you the squirm-inducing revelation from its pages that Specter thought vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin “radiated sensuality.”
For those who can’t get enough hotness from Arlen, here’s more:
He has seen Ted Kennedy naked (p. 67). “For years when [people] groused about Senate perks, I’d reply, ‘You wouldn’t say that if you had to see Ted Kennedy naked in the gym.’ ”
More naked Teddy (p. 40): “It was in the whirlpool . . . in 2008 . . . when Ted Kennedy came over and climbed into the bath. Kennedy was one of the Senate’s giants, in many ways. It was as though a giant walrus had plunged into the sea, causing the level to swell.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-new-book-arlen-specter-gives-the-naked-truth-about-senators/2012/03/28/gIQA3e3RhS_story.html?wpisrc=nl_fedinsider
Judicial activists in the Supreme Court
By E.J. Dionne Jr., Published: March 28
Three days of Supreme Court arguments over the health-care law demonstrated for all to see that conservative justices are prepared to act as an alternative legislature, diving deeply into policy details as if they were members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Senator, excuse me, Justice Samuel Alito quoted Congressional Budget Office figures on Tuesday to talk about the insurance costs of the young. On Wednesday, Chief Justice John Roberts sounded like the House whip in discussing whether parts of the law could stand if other parts fell. He noted that without various provisions, Congress “wouldn’t have been able to put together, cobble together, the votes to get it through.” Tell me again, was this a courtroom or a lobbyist’s office?
SNIP
Justice Antonin Scalia seemed to reject the sense of solidarity that Butler embraced. When Solicitor General Donald Verrilli explained that “we’ve obligated ourselves so that people get health care,” Scalia replied coolly: “Well, don’t obligate yourself to that.” Does this mean letting Butler’s uninsured guy die?
Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick called attention to this exchange and was eloquent in describing its meaning. “This case isn’t so much about freedom from government-mandated broccoli or gyms,” Lithwick wrote. “It’s about freedom from our obligations to one another . . . the freedom to ignore the injured” and to “walk away from those in peril.”
This is what conservative justices will do if they strike down or cripple the health-care law. And a court that gave us Bush v. Gore and Citizens United will prove conclusively that it sees no limits on its power, no need to defer to those elected to make our laws. A Supreme Court that is supposed to give us justice will instead deliver ideology.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/activist-judges-on-trial/2012/03/28/gIQAKdE2gS_story.html?wpisrc=nl_opinions
Whistleblower: Insurance Industry Doesn’t Want Affordable Care Act Repealed, It Wants Democrats Defeated- 03/29/12
3/28/2012
By Doug Cunningham
Wendell Potter spent 20 years as top executive with CIGNA. He wrote “Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR Is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans”. Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has the Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act – with a decision expected in June – the insurance industry whistleblower says the industry’s real goal is not to repeal the law, but to defeat Democrats in November.
[Wendell Potter]: “They don’t want the bill – quite honestly – to be overturned or repealed. They want the bill to go forward with the individual mandate intact. But what they want to do is to get people to vote out the Democrats who voted for the bill so that they’ll have more friends in Congress to strip out the consumer protections.”
Potter says for-profit health insurers are killing health health care and their unsustainable system will implode within a few years. That’s the view he got from the CIGNA corporate ladder.
[Potter 2]: “The higher up that ladder I climbed the more I could see what these companies do to meet Wall Street’s profit expectations. And most of the big insurance companies are now for-profit companies. They cancel people’s health insurance when they get sick. They refuse to sell coverage to people who need coverage. They price policies so high that small businesses can no longer afford care. They are spending less and less of our premium dollars on our health care and more and more to reward shareholders and senior executives
http://www.laborradio.org/Channels/Story.aspx?ID=1677798
Source: Department of Labor, Employment and Training Admin
UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA
In the week ending March 24, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 359,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 364,000. The 4-week moving average was 365,000, a decrease of 3,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 368,500.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.6 percent for the week ending March 17, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week’s revised rate of 2.7 percent.
The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 17 was 3,340,000, a decrease of 41,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 3,381,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,387,750, a decrease of 21,750 from the preceding week’s revised average of 3,409,500.
UNADJUSTED DATA
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 319,349 in the week ending March 24, a decrease of 33 from the previous week. There were 357,457 initial claims in the comparable week in 2011.
Read more: http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ui/eta20120580.htm
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