Sweet Honey in the Rock is an all-woman, African-American a cappella ensemble. They are an American Grammy Award-winning (and many times nominated) troupe who express their history as women of color through song, dance, and sign language.[1] They have together worked from four women to the difficult five-part harmony with a sixth member translating with sign language. Although the members have changed over 3 decades, they continue to sing and have helped to produce several children’s records as well as those intended for adults.
http://youtu.be/vDa0z0gEvI4
Flashmob Performs Heartwarming Cover of ‘Here Comes the Sun’ in Madrid Unemployment Office gawker.com/5975440/flashm…—
The lovely Plains (@DaRiverZkind) January 19, 2013
http://youtu.be/kS709ZyZ_YU
LOL
South African Billionaire Pledges To Give Away Half His Wealth
South African billionaire and mining tycoon Patrice Motsepe has joined Bill Gates’ and Warren Buffett’s Giving Pledge by announcing that he will give away half the income generated from assets owned by his family to the Motsepe Family Foundation. Motsepe, who is South Africa’s richest black man, with a net worth of $2.65 billion by FORBES’ latest estimates, made the formal announcement on Wednesday at Johannesburg’s Southern Sun Hotel during a gathering attended by King Goodwill Zwelithini of the Zulu nation, South Africa’s Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga, Rabbi Warren Goldstein and religious leaders.”
The article continues about the wealthy entrepreneur: “Motsepe is the first African to join the Giving Pledge, a campaign spearheaded by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to encourage the wealthiest people in the world to make a commitment to give at least half of their wealth to philanthropic causes. In Motsepe’s statement, he stated: ‘Precious [his wife] and I will contribute at least half of the funds generated by our family assets to the Motsepe Foundation to be used during our lifetime and beyond to improve the lifestyles and living conditions of the poor, disabled, unemployed, women, youth, workers and marginalised South Africans, Africans and people around the world.'”
More: “While it is not yet certain how much this money will amount to, Motsepe declared that the bulk of the money given to the Motsepe Foundation will be channeled towards issues affecting South Africa’s poor, including education, health, unemployment and advancing women.”
And more: “In a live video at the event, America’s richest man, Bill Gates, commended Motsepe’s decision. ‘It was a wonderful thing to hear how the Motsepes really, as part of their moral conviction as a family, believe in giving back. I want to congratulate them,’ Gates said.”
http://www.forbes.com/sites/mfonobongnsehe/2013/01/31/south-african-billionaire-patrice-motsepe-joins-giving-pledge/
February 03, 2013 1:40 PM
Dissension within GOP-land. Pass the popcorn!
By Kathleen Geier
Don’t you just love it when wingnuts fight amongst themselves?
Call this round “The Empire Strikes Back.” The New York Times is reporting that some of the top donors in the G.O.P., frustrated by the Tea Party’s success in gaining nominations for far-right candidates in senate primaries, only to have them lose in the general election, is forming a new group aimed at nominating more mainstream candidates. Their goal is to win back G.O.P. control of the senate.
The group, which is called the Conservative Victory Project, is part of the American Crossroads super PAC, and is backed by Karl Rove, among others. Given Rove’s track record of late, this hardly bodes well. And already, conservative groups like the Club for Growth and the Senate Conservatives Fund are mocking the effort as “the Conservative Defeat Fund.”
The Times reports that the first major battle for the new group could be the Republican senate primary in Iowa, where veteran Democratic senator Tom Harkin recently announced his retirement. The Tea Party faction is trying to recruit Rep. Steve King, while the Crossroads group wants to defeat him. But according to an article in Politico, there’s a fear that an anti-King campaign might only create a backlash of support for him.
My heart bleeds. Truly.
I understand the Crossroads dudes’ frustration. It seems clear to me that the G.O.P. could have gained control over the senate, had the base not insisted on nominating numbskull candidates like Christine O’Donnell in 2010, and Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock last year. But they have a very delicate balancing act on their hands as they seek to nominate candidates that are acceptable to mainstream, yet also pass muster with the cuckoo-for-cocoa-puffs base.
It’s hard to say how all this will play out. On the one hand, the base doesn’t seem to be getting any saner; then again, eventually, they will get tired of losing. As for the Crossroads, establishment types, they seem badly out of touch — after Karl Rove’s election night meltdown, would you trust him to organize a Sunday school picnic? In the Times article, Grover Norquist, who’s a pretty shrewd operator, seems to be playing it both ways. He says he supports the pragmatism of the Crossroads effort, but also points out that the G.O.P. establishment candidates haven’t fared so well of late, either.
One problem for the G.O.P. as a whole is that it is currently rudderless. There are no clear political or even intellectual leaders. Rush Limbaugh is now the one figure who comes closest to being the party’s true leader.
It will be fascinating to see how this split resolves itself. Or doesn’t.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2013_02/dissension_within_gopland_pass042787.php#more
Imagining Successful Immigration Reform
by BooMan
Sun Feb 3rd, 2013 at 12:57:52 PM EST
I actually think that Harry Reid is correct. The Senate is going to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill. I kind of doubt that all the Democrats will vote for it, but I still think they can get to 60 votes. What I have a much harder time imagining is a bill coming out of the House. If a bill does come out of the House, something out of the ordinary is going to have to happen. The House Judiciary Committee isn’t going to write a bill that House Democrats can support. And that means that Senate Democrats wouldn’t support it, either. One way for the House to try to pass something is to take the Senate bill and then restrict the amendments somehow. To do that, Boehner will have to hope he can control his Rules Committee.
The whole effort would involve some Kabuki Theater. Ordinarily, the House Judiciary Committee would mark up a bill, pass it, and send it to the Rules Committee. The Rules Committee would decide how much time to allow for debate, how many amendments were allowed, and whether the amendments needed a majority or a supermajority to pass. Once the bill was passed, it would be sent to the Senate. Actually, there would be conferees elected to negotiate with the Senate’s conferees. They would have to create one bill out of the two versions provided by each chamber. And then that bill would have to be passed in each chamber and then sent to the president for his signature.
The problem is that it might not be possible to reconcile the two bills if they are radically different. Knowing this, if the House leadership wants to actually pass a bill, they probably should not ask the House Judiciary Committee to work on a bill at all. Any changes to the Senate bill should be minimized, and come through the amendment process. Yet, how do you orchestrate something like that? It won’t look good, nor will it sit well with conservatives, if the House decides not to legislate their own version of immigration reform.
So, one option is to plan for failure. To do this, you need to convince a few members of the Judiciary Committee to oppose any bill that the chairman marks up. This can be done from the left or the right, or a combination of both. If Judiciary can’t agree on a bill, then the leadership has the excuse they need to just use the Senate version as their framework. They can allow a couple of conservative amendments that might be poison pills, but they can limit them and hope to fix them in the Conference Committee with the Senate.
I don’t know if John Boehner can pull something that complicated off, but hopefully he has someone smart on his staff who can explain it to him.
The alternative is to walk into a trap. Imagine that the Senate passes a bill with fairly broad bipartisan support. Everyone gets excited and celebrates. Meanwhile, the House passes a bill that is opposed by almost all the Democrats, the administration, and all the immigration advocacy groups. They go to Conference and either can’t come to an agreement or they do come to agreement but then the House Republicans refuse to pass it.
The House Republicans won’t be able to argue that it wasn’t a bipartisan bill because the Senate passed it (possibly twice). They’ll look a bunch of racists. They’ll do severe damage to their standing with moderates, immigrant groups, and people of color. Even the business community will be furious with them.
Speaker Boehner is already weak. He can’t allow that to happen.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2013/2/3/125752/0896
The Establishment Strikes Back
by BooMan
Sun Feb 3rd, 2013 at 09:19:13 AM EST
The war is on. Wall Street Republicans are tired of seeing conservative Republicans lose primaries to complete freaks and then lose Senate seats to the Democrats. They are creating the Conservative Victory Fund to stop lunatics like Rep. Steve King from winning the nomination to run for retiring Sen. Tom Harkin’s seat in Iowa.
“There is a broad concern about having blown a significant number of races because the wrong candidates were selected,” said Steven J. Law, the president of American Crossroads, the “super PAC” creating the new project. “We don’t view ourselves as being in the incumbent protection business, but we want to pick the most conservative candidate who can win.”
Obviously, Karl Rove is involved in this effort, too. When the Republican Establishment starts telling the base of the party that they are selecting “the wrong candidates,” you know that fireworks will shortly follow. After all, how did progressives feel when Rahm Emanuel threw the DCCC’s money and support to conservadems over progressive champions?
I wish I could say that this is a positive development that will lead the GOP back from the wilderness and restore two-party sanity. But it’s probably just a smart thing to do that will increase conservative power in Washington. Yet, it won’t be without drama.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2013/2/3/91913/43857
Been watching Lonesome Dove & Return of Lonesome Dove series today. Great series.
Lonesome Dove is the bestest!
It’s a classic. I never tire of watching it. I guess you and I are just country girls heart and soul.
This is the absurdity of the Sunday shows, folks
Bobbi Kristina Declares War on Cissy Houston Over ‘Whitney’ Book
*Uh oh, with Bobbi Kristina‘s latest comments about her grandmother, via Twitter, it’s about to be on and poppin’!
Apparently Miss Bobbi is none too pleased about Cissy Houston’s new book about her mom, the late Whitney Houston called “Remembering Whitney.”
Although Bobbi Kristina doesn’t come right out and say why, she’s boycotting the book and wants her fans to do likewise.
(Note to Bobbi Kristina, by advocating for a boycott, all you’re doing is whetting the public’s appetite to see what’s in the book.)
http://www.eurweb.com/2013/02/bobbi-kristina-declares-war-on-cissy-houston-over-whitney-book/
What does Whitney have to do to get her peace; come back from the dead?
Karl Rove Declares War On Tea Party, Enlists GOP Billionaires
http://www.nationalconfidential.com/20130203/karl-rove-declares-war-on-tea-party-enlists-gop-billionaires/
Karl Rove has created a group designed to stop the Tea Party’s influence over the Republican Party.
*****************
Too late. The genie is out of the bottle.
LOL Pandora is OUT OF THE BOX. This is going to be another circus sideshow .
Fox News host BLOWS UP at NRA head: “that’s ridiculous and you know it, sir!”
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2013/02/03/1532881/fox-news-host-blows-up-at-nra-head-thats-ridiculous-and-you-know-it-sir/
Fox News host Chris Wallace tore into National Rifle Association’s contention that President Obama and other elites are hypocritical for employing security guards to protect their children, while downplaying the importance of armed protection in preventing gun violence.
During a heated exchange with NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre on Sunday, Wallace played a clip of a now infamous NRA ad criticizing Obama for relying on Secret Service to guard his children and asked if the organization believed that every child in America faces a threat similar to that of the Obama kids. LaPierre said that they do, leading Wallace to forcefully push back against the gun chief, saying, “that’s ridiculous and you know it, Sir!”
http://youtu.be/klzZxOat3mc
Andre Cassagnes dies; Etch A Sketch inventor was 86
A French electrician, Cassagnes invented the drawing toy in Paris in the late 1950s. When an Ohio firm introduced it in 1960, it became a hit, ranked one of the top 100 toys of the century.
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-andre-cassagnes-20130203,0,6933080.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Fm
Good morning, 3Chics! Happy Sunday!
Psalm 9:9
The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.
Good Morning, SG2 & Everyone! :Happy Sunday.
Good Afternoon, Everyone :)