Good Morning, Everyone.
This week, we will get the music from the Country Legend Johnny Cash.
John R. “Johnny” Cash (February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author[2] who was considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century.[3][4] Although he is primarily remembered as a country music icon, his songs and sound spanned other genres including rockabilly and rock and roll—especially early in his career—and blues, folk, and gospel. This crossover appeal won Cash the rare honor of induction in the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.
Cash was known for his deep, distinctive bass-baritone voice,[a][6] for the “boom-chicka-boom” sound of his Tennessee Three backing band; for a rebelliousness,[7][8] coupled with an increasingly somber and humble demeanor;[5] for providing free concerts inside prison walls;[9][10][page needed] and for his dark performance clothing, which earned him the nickname “The Man in Black”.[b] He traditionally began his concerts with the phrase “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash.”[c], followed by his standard “Folsom Prison Blues”.
Much of Cash’s music echoed themes of sorrow, moral tribulation and redemption, especially in the later stages of his career.[5][13] His best-known songs included “I Walk the Line”, “Folsom Prison Blues”, “Ring of Fire”, “Get Rhythm” and “Man in Black”. He also recorded humorous numbers like “One Piece at a Time” and “A Boy Named Sue”; a duet with his future wife, June Carter, called “Jackson”; and railroad songs including “Hey, Porter” and “Rock Island Line”.[14] During the last stage of his career, Cash covered songs by several late 20th-century rock artists, most notably “Hurt” by Nine Inch Nails.
Early life
Johnny Cash was born in Kingsland, Arkansas,[15] the fourth of seven children to Ray Cash (May 13, 1897, Kingsland, Arkansas – December 23, 1985, Hendersonville, Tennessee)[16] and Carrie Cloveree (née Rivers; March 13, 1904, Rison, Arkansas – March 11, 1991, Hendersonville, Tennessee).[17][18] Cash was named J. R. Cash because his parents couldn’t think of a name. When Cash enlisted in the Air Force, they wouldn’t let him use initials as his name, so he started to use the legal name John R. Cash. In 1955, when signing with Sun Records, he took Johnny Cash as his stage name.[19]
The Cash children were: Roy, Margaret Louise, Jack, J. R., Reba, Joanne and Tommy.[20][21] His younger brother, Tommy Cash, also became a successful country artist.
In March 1935, when Cash was three years old, the family settled in Dyess, Arkansas. He started working in cotton fields at age five, singing along with his family while working. The family farm was flooded on at least two occasions, which later inspired him to write the song “Five Feet High and Rising”.[22][page needed] His family’s economic and personal struggles during the Great Depression inspired many of his songs, especially those about other people facing similar difficulties.
Cash was very close to his older brother, Jack.[23] In May 1944, Jack was pulled into a whirling head saw in the mill where he worked and was almost cut in two. He suffered for over a week before he died on May 20, 1944, at age 15.[22][page needed] Cash often spoke of the horrible guilt he felt over this incident. According to Cash: The Autobiography, his father was away that morning, but he and his mother, and Jack himself, all had premonitions or a sense of foreboding about that day, causing his mother to urge Jack to skip work and go fishing with his brother. Jack insisted on working, as the family needed the money. On his deathbed, Jack said he had visions of heaven and angels. Decades later, Cash spoke of looking forward to meeting his brother in heaven.
Cash’s early memories were dominated by gospel music and radio. Taught by his mother and a childhood friend, Cash began playing guitar and writing songs as a young boy. In high school he sang on a local radio station; decades later he released an album of traditional gospel songs, called My Mother’s Hymn Book. He was also significantly influenced by traditional Irish music that he heard performed weekly by Dennis Day on the Jack Benny radio program.[24][page needed]
Cash enlisted in the United States Air Force on July 7, 1950.[25] After basic training at Lackland Air Force Base and technical training at Brooks Air Force Base, both in San Antonio, TX, Cash was assigned to a U.S. Air Force Security Service unit, assigned as a Morse Code Intercept Operator for Soviet Army transmissions at Landsberg, Germany “where he created his first band named The Landsberg Barbarians.”[26] He was the first radio operator to pick up the news of the death of Joseph Stalin.[27] After he was honorably discharged as a Staff Sergeant on July 3, 1954, he returned to Texas.[28]
Durbin, Kirk gun trafficking bill named in memory of Hadiya Pendleton
http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2013/03/durbin_kirk_gun_trafficking_bi.html
WASHINGTON–The Senate is poised to move the first bill to curb gun violence since the Newtown massacre, named for Chicago shooting victim Hadiya Pendleton, with Illinois Senators Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk among the chief sponsors.
The bipartisan measure cracks down on gun-trafficking and straw purchases of firearms to get around background checks — problems that have contributed to gun-related crimes in Chicago. At present, there is no federal law banning a person fronting a gun purchase to either sell or pass along the weapon to someone else.
“This bipartisan bill will crack down on the illegal trafficking of guns and impose strict punishments for straw purchasers. Buying a gun for another to use in a crime will mean a hard time-federal crime,” Durbin, a Democrat, said in a statement.
The Senate Judiciary Committee will hear the bill on Thursday and it is expected to clear the panel and head to the Senate floor in April.
Those who still blame Obama for GOP intransigence
By Steve Benen
Mon Mar 4, 2013 4:42 PM EST
There’s been quite of a bit of commentary in recent weeks about who ultimately bears responsibility for Republicans’ refusal to compromise in advance of the sequestration deadline, with a few too many pundits reflexively relying on the lazy “blame both sides” canard.
The New York Times’ Bill Keller joins the crowd today — his column’s headline reads, “Obama’s fault” — and since his piece is longer and more fleshed out than most of the other related commentary, I read it thinking he might have something new to contribute to the general media dissatisfaction with President Obama.
So, what’s Keller’s pitch? It’s worth noting at the outset that the Times columnist concedes that “much of the responsibility for our perpetual crisis can be laid at the feet of a pigheaded Republican Party.” OK, but if that’s the case, how do we get to “Obama’s fault”?
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/03/04/17183378-those-who-still-blame-obama-for-gop-intransigence?lite
could it be because twitter is far more diverse than a pew poll will ever be?
………………………………
Pew: Twitter Reaction Often Diverges Sharply From Public Opinion
The reaction on Twitter to political events often bears no resemblance to empirical data, according to a year-long study from Pew Research Center released on Monday.
Pew’s study focused on eight major events in the last year – including the first presidential debate and President Barack Obama’s re-election victory — comparing the tone of tweets to the results of actual polling.
The Twitter response to Obama’s re-election, for example, was overwhelmingly favorable: 77 percent of the tweets in response to his victory on Election Night were positive, while only 23 percent were negative. But Pew’s own survey research showed a more polarizing reaction, with 52 percent saying they were happy that Obama won a second term compared with 45 percent who said they were unhappy.
After the early-October debate in Denver, which was widely viewed as an unequivocal victory for Mitt Romney, a majority of 59 percent of the tweets were nevertheless supportive of Obama. Forty percent of the post-debate tweets were supportive of Romney, much lower than the 66 percent who declared the former Republican presidential nominee the winner in a subsequent survey.
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/pew-twitter-reaction-often-diverges-sharply-from-public
Pew and nem can NOT touch the Negroes and Hispanics on TWITTER. aka tht 47% the Mittster tagged as “wanting free stuff from Obama.”
More Details Emerge From KKK Incident At Oberlin College
The person who was seen dressed in KKK regalia on the campus of Oberlin Collge & Conservatory was spotted from a moving vehicle by a student “in the neighborhood of 1:30 in the morning” on Monday, a spokesman for the school told TPM.
Scott Wargo, director of media relations at Oberlin, said that the eyewitness then drove around the block in the hopes of getting a better look, but the person who was said to be wearing a white hood and robe was nowhere to be found. The student then called the college’s safety and security office. Wargo said it remains unknown who was donning the incendiary outfit.
The early morning sighting was the latest of what the school described as recent “hate-related incidents,” after graffiti containing swastikas and other prejudiced messages appeared on the Ohio-based campus last month. Wargo declined to say if he thought the incidents were linked, saying it would be “very speculative” to assume a connection.
Wargo said that events promoting tolerance and diversity had already been planned at the school, but the KKK incident served as an impetus to push the events up to Monday. He estimated that hundreds of students and faculty participated in the events, although precise attendance figures were not available. The decision to cancel classes Monday was made between 5 and 6 a.m., according to Wargo.
“The way to look at it is unfortunately these types of incidents occur in the world, and Oberlin isn’t immune to that,” Wargo said in a phone interview. “But this is something that’s against our community fabric and against our values.”
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/more-details-emerge-from-kkk-incident-at-oberlin
Florida House Committee Blocks Medicaid Expansion
A key committee in the Florida House of Representatives on Monday rejected an expansion of the state’s Medicaid program as proposed by Gov. Rick Scott (R) last month, Reuters reports:
On the eve of convening of the 2013 session, the House Select Committee on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act rejected the expansion. A Senate counterpart committee postponed consideration of the issue, which is sure to be one of the biggest controversies of the session.
Republicans currently hold majorities of 26-14 in the Senate and 76-44 in the House. They remain firmly opposed to ‘Obamacare,’ which leaves the choice to expand the program up to the nation’s governors. Eight Republican governors, including Scott, have so far signaled their intent to expand Medicaid.
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/florida-house-committee-blocks-medicaid-expansion
House Republicans Walk Fine Line With New Government Funding Bill
Brian Beutler-March 4, 2013, 5:27 PM
House Republicans have released their proposed legislation to fund the government after existing appropriations expire on March 27 that appears designed to blunt the impact of sequestration on GOP priorities as much as possible, without provoking a backlash from Democrats and setting off a government shutdown fight.
The bill would extend existing funding levels for most government agencies but create new appropriations measures for the Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs.
Sequestration would apply to the entire funding package, but GOP appropriators also want to provide the military some flexibility to determine where cuts should apply.
Democratic aides are still reviewing the package, though they insist they will demand equal treatment for both defense and non-defense appropriations.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/03/house-republicans-walk-fine-line-with-new-government-funding-bill.php?ref=fpb
Pundits blowing it on sequester debate
Posted by Greg Sargent on March 4, 2013 at 11:19 am
Republicans are waving around a column by the New York Times’ Bill Keller that pins the blame for the sequester on the President. The title is “Obama’s fault,” and Keller’s effort is reminiscent of plenty of other punditry we’ve seen that adopts all kinds of strange contortions en route to reaching this conclusion.
In Keller’s case, though, the zeal to find Obama at fault for the sequester impasse leads him to commit a straight up falsehood. Keller offers up the widely held belief that if only Obama had embraced the Simpson-Bowles commission’s plan, he’d have a good deal more leverage to force Republicans to compromise:
The Simpson-Bowles agenda was imperfect, and had plenty to offend ideologues of the left and right, which meant that it was the very manifestation of what Obama likes to call “a balanced approach.” So did he seize it as an opportunity for serious debate about our fiscal mess? No, he abandoned it. Instead, he built a re-election campaign that was long on making the wealthiest pay more in taxes, short on spending discipline, and firmly hands-off on the problem of entitlements.
If Obama had campaigned on some version of Simpson-Bowles rather than on poll-tested tax hikes alone, he could now claim a mandate from voters to do something big and bold. Most important, he would have some leverage with members of his own base who don’t want to touch Medicare even to save it.
The claim that Obama campaigned “on poll-tested tax hikes alone” is just flatly false. In February of 2012, Obama submitted a budget that contained hundreds of billions in spending cuts — including cuts to Medicare. The nonpartisan Committee For A Responsible Federal Budget analyzed Congressional Budget Office numbers and concluded that Obama’s budget proposed nearly $480 billion in spending cuts — several hundred billion of which were to Medicare.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/03/04/pundits-blowing-it-on-sequester-debate/
Pundits BLEW it on polling and the 2012 presidential election too! NEXT
Miranda
Oh you have read this bellyaching to fully appreciate the stupidity of it. LOL These media pinheads really don’t get it.
White House and Press Relations Getting Worse
excerpt:
But in the process, something important has been lost. Journalists who cover Obama today don’t really know him, no matter how many of the president’s speeches, news conferences and activities they attend. They have virtually no relationship with him, so they don’t know how his mind works and what priorities he really has on budget cuts and many other topics. White House staffers don’t adequately fill in the blanks as they did in the past, such as under Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton. As a result, much of the Obama presidency remains murky.
As I have discussed in this space before, Obama holds relatively few news conferences and when he does, he generally calls on reporters from only a handful of news outlets, especially television and the wire services. He gives many one-on-one interviews, but has focused recently on talking with local TV anchors and celebrity network personalities, rather than front-line beat reporters who specialize in knowing the issues.
For their part, Obama and his aides consider the mainstream media and the White House press corps too sensationalistic, too preoccupied with trivia and process over substance, and too eager to play “gotcha.” Many Americans agree, although my feeling is that these criticisms are exaggerated, and that there are plenty of journalists who want to tell straightforward stories about what’s going on, if only White House officials would cooperate. These journalists see their profession as a form of public education, and any White House would be well advised to deal with them rather than shunt them aside.
http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/Ken-Walshs-Washington/2013/03/04/white-house-and-press-relations-getting-worse
MsKitty
Journalists who cover Obama today don’t really know him, no matter how many of the president’s speeches, news conferences and activities they attend. They have virtually no relationship with him, so they don’t know how his mind works and what priorities he really has on budget cuts and many other topics. White House staffers don’t adequately fill in the blanks as they did in the past, such as under Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton. As a result, much of the Obama presidency remains murky.
TRANSLATION: Barack never comes to happy hour. Barack never invites us to play golf. How are we supposed to cover him if we can’t get all into his bidness? Him and Michelle, that’s all an act, isn’t it? America must know.
Obama holds relatively few news conferences and when he does, he generally calls on reporters from only a handful of news outlets, especially television and the wire services. He gives many one-on-one interviews, but has focused recently on talking with local TV anchors and celebrity network personalities, rather than front-line beat reporters who specialize in knowing the issues.
TRANSLATION: Doesn’t this negro know who we are? We’re the White House Press Corps. Only we get to decide the agenda, no one else. How dare he ignore us for these bumpkins and their 100-watt TV stations in East Podunk? If that’s the way he wants to play, we’ll show him who’s boss. We are the kingmakers in this town, not him.
Rhoda
Miranda, this should be seen in conjunction with the Woodward fight, and today’s lying column by Bill Keller in the OpEd titled “Obama’s Fault” in today’s NYTimes. They are going in on the administration and trying to not only pin the sequester on POTUS and the fallout on the administration (a tall hill to climb since Americans are blaming Republicans and the facts are against them); but want to bring the administration down a peg and ensure Republicans keep control in 2014 to prevent POTUS from moving an economic agenda that he wants forward as that would result in huge economic dividends to the country and likely guarantee democrats the power at the federal level for generations a’la FDR.
That is the game being played. That is why the fact Messina and Plouffe are starting up a Democratic OFA like Crossroads and collecting 500k checks is scaring them.
If the Democrats tap into Obama cash for their 501(c) AND have the bully pulpit behind them PLUS the Obama ground game: well they’re scared and they’re hollering and they will go on until they’re blue in the face and then six feet under. I say good riddance and good bye; the game’s changed and I for one am glad.
Jeb Bush’s Immigration Flip Flop Stuns Reformers
Benjy Sarlin March 4, 2013, 3:52 PM 12582
After years of building a reputation as the “good” Republican on immigration, Jeb Bush shocked the reform community on Monday by ruling out a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, a position solidly to the right of prominent GOPers like Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL).
The news stunned immigration activists and aides working on a bill and who have long insisted that anything short of citizenship is a dealbreaker for reform — especially given that Bush was decisively in the pro-citizenship camp just months ago. It also was a head scratcher for political observers, giving Bush an unexpected opening in 2016 to attack not only Rubio, but several possible presidential candidates, as overly liberal on immigration reform.
…On the Republican side, an unnamed advisor to Mitt Romney was apoplectic, complaining to the Miami Herald that Bush criticized the Republican nominee during his campaign for his hardline stance only to come up with a conservative-leaning plan himself.
“Where the hell was this Jeb Bush during the campaign?” the advisor said. “He spent all this time criticizing Romney and it turns out he has basically the same position. So he wants people to go back to their country and apply for citizenship? Well, that’s self deportation. We got creamed for talking about that. And now Jeb is saying the same thing.”
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/03/jeb-bush-immigration-flip-flop.php
Sunday, Feb 10, 2013 03:30 PM CST
Shonda Rhimes: “Calling a show a ‘guilty pleasure’ — it’s like saying it’s a piece of crap”
The creator of “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Scandal” explores the ethos of immorality — and the insult she really hates
By Willa Paskin
Shonda Rhimes, the creator of ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Scandal” and the recently ended “Private Practice,” is one of the most prolific and powerful creative forces working in network television. (Only Chuck Lorre, who has three sitcoms on CBS, has as many series on the air.) In its ninth season, “Grey’s” remains one of the most highly rated dramas on television. In its second, “Scandal” has hit its bonkers creative stride. This season the series, about political fixer Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) having an affair with the president, has staged an assassination attempt and exposed the vote-rigging plot that got the president elected in the first place. It is simultaneously ultra-cynical and overly romantic, and week in and week out, the ballsiest show on television (and by far the most fun to talk about). Rhimes spoke with me about why everyone keeps insisting Olivia Pope is a good guy, how much she hates it when people call “Scandal” a guilty pleasure, and her bafflement by the lack of racial diversity on TV in 2013.
So you recently said no one on “Scandal” was “100 percent good,” which seems like an extreme understatement. How rotten do you think they are?
I think that people are really determined that these people be good. People seem very shocked that these people are not good or that they would do something bad. To me that’s very interesting because in the very first episode of the show, Olivia is purchasing a baby and she’s having an affair with the president. I’m not sure why people felt like she was the queen of all goodness. I feel like it’s really a) awesome, frankly revolutionary to have a black female character on television who is the lead of the show who is not a saint. Because, frankly, that’s what happens, they always make them a saint, and it’s really boring and nobody cares. But b) there’s something about these characters that none of them can be all good. The whole point of the show is that everybody has dirty little secrets. Everybody. They all have these dirty little secrets, some of them are terrible little secrets. Everybody has things that they’ve covered up, everybody has things that they’re ashamed of. Everybody has committed their own personal crimes. And we’re still unfolding, and unpacking, and figuring out what everyone’s little crimes are. So there’s nobody good. So the rooting for is subjective.
………………………………………………………..
Did you just call the group who schemed to rig the election “the Illuminati” before?
Yeah. That’s what we call them, the writers.
That’s perfect. How much do you like these characters?
I adore them. Honestly. You can’t tell stories and really walk in someone’s shoes and not have a love for them, even if they’re doing horrible things. I feel great sympathy for Cyrus, who I know is a murderer. I know he’s a murderer. I feel great sympathy for him. He’s one of my favorite characters because as far as he’s concerned, he’s the biggest patriot out there, he’s just doing what is best for the country. He fixed that election because of what’s good for the country, he cares about America. Huck really, really does love to kill people. And you adore him. He’s so sweet and so kind, and killing people is his favorite things to do. I love these characters. Somehow you have to stand in their shoes and find their humanity in order to make them feel lovable and real.
Why are you so interested in telling stories from the mistress’s point of view? All of your shows have it. What is that about?
I don’t know. I will be honest and say I don’t know and I do not want to explore it very much. People keep asking me this question. I don’t have the answer. I’m not anybody’s mistress, I will say that. I’m nobody’s mistress. I don’t know, there’s something about it that’s very intriguing to me. I think that shadowy life, that completely secret life, the duality of that existence is interesting.
…………………………………………
Why did you make Fitz a Republican?
There were several reasons why I didn’t make him a Democrat. One, we have a Democratic president in office right now and I wanted — Kerry [Washington] works on Obama’s council — and I wanted absolutely no comparisons to Obama. Like, none. In any way, shape or form. Two, I didn’t want him to be a Democrat because of the Monica Lewinsky-Clinton thing, and we were telling the Amanda Tanner story in Season 1, I just didn’t want that to be a thing. Three, the Karl Roves and Dick Cheneys, when you read the history of things that happened — not that anything like what happens on the show ever possibly happened — but things got interesting for me creatively when I started to make up scenarios. It felt more interesting to me if they were Republican.
http://www.salon.com/2013/02/10/shonda_rhimes_calling_a_show_a_guilty_pleasure_%E2%80%94_it%E2%80%99s_like_saying_its_a_piece_of_crap/
Medicare is Sacred, Medicaid Expansion is Meaningless; Contradictions of the Anti-Obama Liberal
Monday, March 04, 2013 | Posted by Curtis Abbey at 11:18 AM
The weekly outrage alarms have been set to orange alert as talk returns of potential reforms to Social Security and Medicare. Liberal commenters are out in droves with their tired gripes about Obama’s weak and Republicanesque leadership. But I can’t get over the contrast and contradictions of their statements.
First, they say the top 1 percent has taken over, they are SO POWERFUL. But then, they assert that President Obama could easily have _________ and we’d have thwarted their interests. Which is it? Are the 1 percent incredibly powerful or are they a tweak or two from being brought to their knees by the just right words from the leader of the executive branch?
Second, they say the Affordable Care Act was a corporatist sell-out, even though it expanded Medicaid to cover those at 133% of the Federal Poverty Line. This could provide insurance to 20 million more people. It’s a Republican idea they say, even though it has Bernie Sanders’ provision for $50 billion for new community health centers, that’s $50,000,000,000. For those of us that are rightly worried about austerity, that kind of smart government spending should be news to cheer. As should the trillion dollars over ten years that is expected to be spent on this Medicaid expansion.
Next we hear that the expansion of Medicaid is so weak that Democrats should be abandoned (in 2010 and now), but Medicare and Social Security CAN NOT BE CHANGED IN ANY FORM. How can Medicare and Social Security be forever-Democratic-nirvana but a bill that expands Medicaid is Republicanism never to be forgiven?
The truth is the top .1% do have extraordinary power that is distorting our economy and politics to give them ever more wealth and power at our expense. They aren’t an overton window shift away from being put into place. In 2007, the six human beings who are heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune had a net worth of $87 billion, equal to the wealth of the bottom 30% of the population. Forbes says that number in 2012 was up to $115 billion. Our wealth is flying to the hands of the top few and demand is suffering as most people don’t have enough to spend to fuel a strong and growing economy. The biggest company we as a nation allow to exist is built on; climate destroying goods from overseas, below living wages and benefits for employees, and the degradation of mom and pop stores. That’s the horror story. The law that’s going to save my neighbors from going bankrupt due to a rare medical illness is not the problem. In any other time that sort of reform would be called progress and be cheered by people who label themselves progressives.
http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2013/03/medicare-is-sacred-medicaid-expansion.html
Vice President Joe Biden’s address before AIPAC 2013
VP tells DC gathering that Barack Obama ‘is not bluffing’ when it comes to stopping Iran’s nuke program
Thank you, Mr. President. (Applause.) It’s great to be here. It’s great to be here. (Applause.) Hey, Debbie.
Ladies and gentlemen, oh, what a difference 40 years makes. (Laughter.) I look out there and see an old friend, Annette Lantos. Annette, how are you? Her husband, Tom Lantos, a survivor, was my assistant, was my foreign policy advisor for years. And Tom used to say all the time, Joe — he talked with that Hungarian accent — he’d say, Joe, we must do another fundraiser for AIPAC. (Laughter.) I did more fundraisers for AIPAC in the ‘70s and early ‘80s than — just about as many as anybody. Thank God you weren’t putting on shows like this, we would have never made it. (Laughter.) We would have never made it.
My Lord, it’s so great to be with you all and great to see — Mr. President, thank you so much for that kind introduction. And President-elect Bob Cohen, the entire AIPAC Board of Directors, I’m delighted to be with you today. But I’m particularly delighted to be with an old friend — and he is an old friend; we use that phrase lightly in Washington, but it’s real, and I think he’d even tell you — Ehud Barak, it’s great to be with you, Mr. Minister. Great to be with you. (Applause.)
There is a standup guy. There is a standup guy. Standing up for his country, putting his life on the line for his country, and continuing to defend the values that we all share. (Applause.) I’m a fan of the man. (Applause.) Thanks for being here, Ehud. It’s good to be with you again.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/vice-president-joe-bidens-address-before-aipac-2013/
Ann Romney needs to move on
Posted by Jonathan Capehart on March 4, 2013 at 8:42 am
There is a grand tradition of the previous occupant of the Oval Office going into a kind of hiding. Not a “hidden to the world” kind of exile, as the pope emeritus finds himself in, but still keeps a low profile. And he most certainly keeps his mouth shut about his successor, lest he be accused of meddling or resentment. A pity that this custom doesn’t extend to failed presidential candidates.
Of course, I’m talking about the Romneys. Yes, both of them. Mitt might have have been the Republican presidential nominee, but his wife, Ann, is suffering from a serious case of sour grapes.
During an interview on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace that aired yesterday, Mitt mostly did okay. He still feels that he would have been the better president and that the sequester nonsense we’re in now would not have happened were he in the White House. Still, when Mitt was asked whether he engaged in second-guessing or battled anger, he said the right things and struck the right tone.
No, you look back at the campaign and say, OK, what did the president do well and you acknowledge that his campaign did a number of things very effectively. Of course, you rehearse all the mistakes that you made. And I went through a number of my mistakes, I’m sure. And then you think about the things that were out of our control. But you move on. I mean, I don’t spend my life looking back. It’s like, OK, what are we going to do next?
Ann hasn’t moved on.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2013/03/04/ann-romney-needs-to-move-on/
Ann needs to make like EX LAX & MOVE IT. She’s still an entitled, whiney white priviledged rich lady. BYE GIRL!
Gingrich Shows the Way Back…Almost
by BooMan
Mon Mar 4th, 2013 at 03:14:16 PM EST
Steve Kornacki did a pretty interesting interview with Newt Gingrich in Salon magazine. Gingrich can be intriguing when he isn’t running for office, and his ideas for how to revamp the Republican Party have merit. I want to highlight just one exchange from the interview and then makes some observations.
KORNACKI: When you look at the Republican Party’s relationship with African Americans and Hispanics, what is the message you want to deliver to those voters?
GINGRICH: I’m for a big rethinking. I don’t think a modestly reformed Republican Party has any real chance of competing in the absence of a dramatic disaster. If there was a big disaster, people would be driven away from the Democrats, but in the absence of a really big disaster, if you want to compete in a difficult but not impossible world, we’re going to have to have very large fundamental rethinking.
The first thing you have to do with African Americans, Latinos, and Asian-Americans and Native Americans is go there. They don’t need to come to you; you need to go to them. And when you go there, listen. Phase one is not going there to tell about you. Why is it we can have entire cities that are disasters, that we can have 500 people getting killed in Chicago, we can have Detroit collapsing, we can have the highest black unemployment teenage in modern history, and no Republican politician can figure out that going there to say, “Gee, shouldn’t we do something to make this better”? And then talk about it jointly, so it becomes a joint product — that it’s not “Let me re-explain conservatism.” I don’t mean to walk away from conservatism, but we need to understand conservatism in the context of people who are talking with us.
Let’s begin with the fact that there were 59 precincts in Philadelphia and 9 in Cleveland where Mitt Romney won zero votes. This wasn’t fraud. It was a clear signal that conservatism as it exists today is a complete non-starter in our cities. It isn’t even given a chance. It convinces almost no one. Gingrich seems to understand this.
He understands that the Republicans don’t understand what these voters want. They might understand some of their problems, like gun violence, gang activity, lousy schools, broken homes, lack of opportunity. But they don’t live those problems. They don’t talk to the people who are working in these communities every day to keep kids out of gangs or to improve the schools or to self-police a neighborhood or to create jobs and opportunities. They don’t see how the government helps these communities or how it provides resources to the people who are fighting for these communities. They don’t see how their policies hurt. You have to talk to people to understand why your proposals are seen as so ridiculous and hostile that there are whole communities where not one person will vote for them, even by accident.
The thing is, once you immerse yourself in these neighborhoods and become acquainted with the organizers who are fighting for a better life for their communities, you will become invested in joining the fight on their terms, which is to say that you will see why your ideas are irrelevant.
Whatever conservatism that can survive sustained contact with poor urban minority communities, that is the conservatism of a new Republican Party that can compete for the black and Latino vote.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2013/3/4/151416/3808
if I was part of DSCC, I would sit down and ask her bluntly if she’s willing to do the grunt work. a lot has been said about President Obama as a candidate, but some things have been overlooked – like his willingness to do the grunt work. he went from small town to small town in Illinois, getting his name out when he was running for Senator.
if Ms. Judd is willing to go from Kentucky hellhole to Kentucky hellhole, then I think the DSCC should be all in for her candidacy.
bring in someone to train her on explaining how the
Obama agenda will help their poor White asses.
………………………………
Some Thoughts on Ashley Judd
by BooMan
Sun Mar 3rd, 2013 at 10:40:47 PM EST
Watching Ashley Judd at a women’s reproductive health conference at George Washington University, I am very impressed with her as a person and a spokesperson for very important global issues. She really has a depth of knowledge about a wide variety of subjects. She’s also very personable, intelligent, articulate, funny, and basically likable. At the same time, I think she has a lot of work to do to be a successful politician.
Her biggest problem is that she talks about herself too much, although that is partly a byproduct of the forum. She’s talking about herself to inspire students and convince them that they can have exciting and fulfilling lives serving the disadvantaged or working for worthy causes. Still, as a Senate candidate from Kentucky, she will need to tone down the name-dropping, the humble-bragging, and the emphasis on issues that will probably seem pretty remote to the average Kentuckian.
I’m a firm believer that the first duty of a politician is to serve their constituents. Their interests come first. I don’t say this as an abstraction or some kind of ideal. I’m talking about a prerequisite for success in politics. I met Alan Grayson at a reception in Austin, Texas in July 2008. I tried to talk to him about his district and the issues that were particularly important to his would-be constituents. But he only wanted to convince me that he thought the Bush administration was filled with criminals and that he had a record of fighting criminals. I met a lot of other politicians that night. All of them impressed me more than Alan Grayson.
It wasn’t that I disagreed with what he was saying to me. I had probably written three posts that day saying essentially the same thing. The problem was that I could tell that he wasn’t getting into politics to serve his constituents, but to have a platform to wage his own personal battle. In his first term in Congress, he fulfilled all my expectations. He made some great stands. He pulled some wonderful stunts. But he didn’t pay attention to his district, and he was crushed by an astonishing 18 points. I’ll be honest. He totally deserved to lose.
So, when I look at Ashley Judd, it’s obvious that she has a pre-existing set of issues that she’s totally dedicated to and that have relevance to all human beings, but they aren’t issues that are specific to Kentucky. If she is going to run a successful campaign, she needs to filter everything she’s been working on into language that speaks specifically to the people of Kentucky.
She’s very liberal and not a natural match for the Bluegrass State electorate. But I think she can overcome that. She can really be a game changer because of her skills, ability, glamor, and personality. But she has habits that she needs to break. If she starts a sentence with ‘I,’ the next word should be ‘think,’ and not ‘went,’ ‘met,’ or ‘did.’ All Hollywood-speak needs to be drummed out of her. Stop mentioning Bono.
To win, she will need to go into the small towns of Kentucky and immerse herself in the culture and figure out how to talk directly to those people’s concerns. Mitch McConnell is the least popular senator in the country. The people of Kentucky want an alternative. Ashley Judd isn’t ready to beat him yet, but she has promise.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2013/3/3/224047/0769
Agreed; Ms. Ashley needs to go AMONGST her bretheren and school’em.
Ah sooky sooky! Look at you…you’ve GONE country! I’m loving this! Whoo Hoo!
LMAO Rik’s a Cash fan too! Johnny did good, didn’t he? he and June worked well together.
True dat!
Bill Cosby Slams Republicans Who Sat Through SOTU: As Bad As Civil Rights-Era Segregationists
One of the key issues currently being decided by the Supreme Court is whether or not racism has ended sufficiently to gut the Voting Rights Act, or as conservative hero Justice Antonin Scalia calls it, “racial entitlement.”
On Monday morning’s Starting Point on CNN, legendary comic actor Bill Cosby illustrated the question beautifully when Republican former Congressman Connie Mack (R-FL) expressed surprise at long-ago racism, and Cosby pointed out that things aren’t that different today.
Host Soledad O’Brien was leading a panel discussion about the 1965 Bloody Sunday march across Selma, Alabama’s Edmund Pettus Bridge, the anniversary of which was marked by about 10,000 marchers this weekend, and she remembered a symbolic example of the contrast between progress and repression. “I read about you, at the same time the fight for rights in the South was going on,” she said, to Cosby, “you were on the verge of winning an Emmy award. First black man – in 1966 you would win an Emmy award. And the show, I Spy, was banned in the South.”
“Just a couple of stations,” Cosby replied, then turned to Congressman Mack, who had said something inaudible. “What did you say?
“It’s just hard to believe,” Rep. Connie Mack, joined by wife and fellow former Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), said. “It’s unbelievable.”
“I don’t think so,” Cosby shot back. “Not when you look at the President’s speech recently.”
Referring to President Obama‘s State of the Union Address, Cosby continued, “To see people sitting down when there are others standing and cheering. I think we have people sitting there who are as bad as the people who were against any kind of desegregation. And then in place of a better America, they want their own sick feelings put across, and it’s — it isn’t — it isn’t a good time, but I think, also on our part as professors and presidents of colleges all over, and in public schools, we need to get the education of the correct history that happened so people can say, ‘Yes, this really did happen.’”
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/bill-cosby-slams-republicans-who-sat-through-sotu-as-bad-as-civil-rights-era-segregationists/
As Automatic Budget Cuts Go Into Effect, Poor May Be Hit Particularly Hard
By ANNIE LOWREY
Published: March 3, 2013
WASHINGTON — The $85 billion in automatic cuts working their way through the federal budget spare many programs that aid the poorest and most vulnerable Americans, including the Children’s Health Insurance Program and food stamps
But the sequestration cuts, as they are called, still contain billions of dollars in mandatory budget reductions in programs that help low-income Americans, including one that gives vouchers for housing to the poor and disabled and another that provides fortified baby formula to the children of poor women.
Republican and Democratic lawmakers largely resigned themselves to allowing sequestration — a policy meant to force them to the negotiating table, not to actually reduce the deficit — to take wider effect after it started on Friday. That leaves agencies just seven months to carry out their cuts before the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30. In many cases, they will eventually have to deny aid to eligible needy families.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/04/us/politics/poor-face-most-pain-as-automatic-budget-cuts-take-effect.html?hp&_r=0
Searched high and low to find this on YOUTUBE. rIGHT WING NUTS are furious over Gregory’s daring to question Boehner
Gregory to Boehner: YOU LIE
Slurring and stuttering DRUNK= John Boehner
NBC’s David Gregory and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) butted heads during an interview when the speaker insisted that President Obama did not have a plan to replace sequestration and Gregory disagreed. The interview was taped Friday afternoon after Boehner met with the president to discuss sequestration and aired on “Meet the Press” Sunday.
“Mr. Speaker, that’s just not true,” Gregory said. “They’ve made it very clear, as the president just did, that he has a plan that he’s put forward that involves entitlement cuts, that involves spending cuts. That you’ve made a choice, as have Republicans, to leave tax loopholes in place and you’d rather have those and live with all these arbitrary cuts.”
Boehner called Gregory’s objection “nonsense.”
“Well David, that’s just nonsense. If they had a plan, why wouldn’t Senate Democrats go ahead and pass it,” he said.
Boehner returned to this point throughout the interview, insisting that Democrats do not have a plan because the Democratic-controlled Senate has not voted on one.
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/david-gregory-to-boehner-mr-speaker-thats-just
Repost
Repost
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EMILY’s List Puts Chris Christie “On Notice” : Chris Christie Is The Wrong Choice For New Jersey Women and Families
February 25, 2013
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, EMILY’s List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, announced it is putting Governor Chris Christie “On Notice.”
Those “On Notice” meet two special criteria. First, they’ve amassed appallingly anti-woman, anti-family records. And second, there is major Democratic female talent waiting in the wings.
“Chris Christie’s record is right wing and indefensible,” said Stephanie Schriock, President of EMILY’s List. “He’s anti-choice, anti-equal pay, and doles out billions of dollars in tax breaks to corporations while hammering working families with massive cuts to education and healthcare. Christie is a GOP extremist plain and simple, and New Jersey families need to know he’s not on their side. With the help of the EMILY’s List community — now two million members strong — voters are going to get to know the real Chris Christie: wrong on the issues, and wrong for New Jersey.”
Here’s a Top Ten List Christie won’t be reading on David Letterman anytime soon. Why Chris Christie is wrong for NJ women and families:
1.Christie is anti-choice, and has decisively blocked access to reproductive healthcare for women in New Jersey. He vetoed a budget bill that would have given $7.5 million dollars to family planning organizations like Planned Parenthood, and has implemented funding cuts that led to the closure of six family planning clinics.
2.He vetoed equal pay legislation. Many times. And he referred to attempts to eliminate wage discrimination in government contracts as “senseless bureaucracy.”
3.Christie’s budget cuts targeted poor and working families and included: $46.5 million taken from Tuition Aid Grants, a college aid program for students from low-income families, $537,000 from the Wynona M. Lipman Child Advocacy Center in Newark for abused children, and $10 million from Legal Services, which provides much needed legal aid for low income individuals.
4.Christie vetoed a minimum wage increase which hurt working families all across the state.
5.But he approved a record $1.57 billion in ineffective corporate tax cuts. He’s willing to give millionaires and billionaires a break at the expense of struggling families, who have even more trouble accessing healthcare and education because of his budget cuts.
http://emilyslist.org/news/releases/emily%E2%80%99s-list-puts-chris-christie-%E2%80%9C-notice%E2%80%9D-chris-christie-wrong-choice-new-jersey-wome
After roads deal, Virginia Gov. McDonnell faces Republican identity crisis
By Laura Vozzella and Fredrick Kunkle,
Published: March 3
RICHMOND — Robert F. McDonnell had just done something huge, something that for nearly a generation, every other Virginia governor had tried and failed to do. As leader of a state with some of the nation’s worst traffic and a road construction fund due to go broke by 2017, he’d ordered legislators to find a fix.
At the very moment they complied, as the balky Senate voted to send a transportation funding bill to the Republican governor, somebody watching the proceedings from inside McDonnell’s third-floor Capitol office snapped a photo that soon wound up on Twitter.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/va-politics/after-roads-deal-virginia-gov-mcdonnell-faces-republican-identity-crisis/2013/03/03/49e3353e-8109-11e2-8074-b26a871b165a_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines
Good Morning, Everyone! Happy MUN-dane. :-) Gonna enjoy hearing Mr. Cash this week.
Good Morning, Everyone :)
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