Luther was a regular musical performer on the television shows Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show (Johnny Carson and Jay Leno), Rosie O’Donnell, The Arsenio Hall Show, Solid Gold and Soul Train and was a common performer at Washington DC events in the 1990’s, including The People’s Inaugural Celebration, A Gala for the President at Ford’s Theatre, Christmas In Washington and A Capitol Fourth.
Luther also appeared on Hollywood Squares and Family Feud, and tried his hand at acting on TV’s In Living Color, 227, New York Undercover, Beverly Hills 90210 and Touched By An Angel and in the film The Meteor Man. Luther’s songs have appeared in a vast number of movies, and he contributed original songs for sixteen films, including Bustin’ Loose, The Goonies, Ruthless People, Made In Heaven, House Party, Hero, Money Train and Dr. Dolittle 2.
Republicans Decide The Best Way To Help Poor Children Is To Give Them Less Food
By: Rmuse
Apr. 12th, 2013
One of the tenets of Christianity, real Christianity and not the American version, is altruism where concern for the welfare of others defines a person’s attitude toward life. There are altruists in America, but they are in depressingly short supply and over the past four years their polar opposites, selfish egoists, have grown in numbers and tout their own self-worth and heap praise on those in their reprobate class. The idea that as Americans, the people have a responsibility to help the least fortunate and assist them to escape their lot in life was never the purview of conservatives or their politicians, but Republicans are actively pursuing policies that target and punish the poor, or purposely keep them downtrodden and pile on misery as a punitive measure for being poor, and it characterizes the GOP and their supporters across the nation.
In January, a Tennessee Republican decided the best approach to help poor students improve their school performance was legislation that cut their parents food stamp allotment as a “carrot and stick” approach to academic excellence. When state Sen. Stacey Campfield first introduced the measure, he said parents living in dire poverty had “gotten away with doing absolutely nothing to help their children” in school and accused them of committing child abuse. His remedy was cutting low-performing student’s parents’ TANF allowance by 30% on top of the 20% cut if students failed to meet attendance standards. As it is now, Tennessee ranks second to Mississippi as the stingiest welfare assistance state in the Union with a maximum family welfare payment of $185 per month.
There is a reason children in poverty perform below their wealthier peers, and it has everything to do with being hungry as their parents struggle to provide food on part-time minimum wage jobs if they can find work at all. As far as Campfield’s assertion that poor parents fail to help their children, it is a Herculean task to promote sound academic habits when they struggle to scrape together enough cash to keep a roof over their heads and provide sustenance, so to aggravate an already pathetic existence, Tennessee Republicans punish poor children and their family by reducing the pitiful excuse for temporary assistance because hungry children are not performing in school.
It is well established that Republicans reward the wealthy for no other reason than they are already rich, but why do they persist in punishing the least fortunate Americans instead of helping them claw their way out of poverty? It is because they could not care less that Americans are struggling, and instead of empathy for citizens living a subsistence existence, they promote more cruelty to make their lives miserable and it is not unique to Tennessee Republicans.
It is sad indeed, that in the richest country in the history of the world, one political party claims America is too broke to strengthen anti-poverty programs that are the most miserly in the developed world, and yet have no qualms heaping more wealth on the richest Americans. The Paul Ryan Heritage Foundation deficit-reducing budget includes a nearly 15% tax cut for the rich while slashing domestic programs and social safety nets because “we can’t afford to subsidize the takers” because it burdens the wealthy. The so-called takers, a term Ryan lifted from his heroine Ayn Rand, are already working, if they can find employment, at poverty-level wage jobs and would jump at the opportunity to make a living wage, but no Republican over the past four years has lifted a finger to propose, or support, any job creation bills because they claim America is broke. However, America is never too broke to help the rich.
http://www.politicususa.com/republicans-decide-poor-children-give-food.html
GA Gov Nathan Deal Refuses to Take Stand Against Whites Only Segregated Prom
By: Sarah Jones
If your party is trying to rebrand itself as not racist, it’s probably best that you don’t suggest that anyone supporting ending the tradition of ‘whites only’ proms in Georgia is a ‘leftist’, and use that as justification for not condemning the practice.
Georgia Republican Gov. Nathan Deal responded to Better Georgia’s challenge to publicly support the students of Wilcox County who are fighting to end an unacceptable tradition of “separate-but-equal” high school proms by refusing to take sides in the controversy.
The governor’s spokesman, Brian Robinson, said Deal “won’t take sides” because “this is a leftist front group for the state Democratic party and we’re not going to lend a hand to their silly publicity stunt,” according to a report from Macon’s largest television station1, 13WMAZ. They explain the tradition of ‘whites-only’:
Wilcox County High School has no official prom, but for years, some parents and students have organized a private whites-only segregated prom. School officials say they have no control over that and have issued a statement in support of the integrated prom.
In reality, Better Georgia is not a front for the Democratic party, but an independent, non-partisan organization and is not affiliated with any political party. The progressive advocacy group has challenged all Georgia elected officials to publicly support the students of Wilcox County who are breaking with tradition to host the school’s first integrated prom
http://www.politicususa.com/gop-gov-georgia-refuses-stand-separate-equal-proms.html
The Tea Party Speaks From The Gutter and Tells the GOP to Forget Hispanic Voters
By: Hrafnkell Haraldsson
It is hilarious that the Tea Party could raise such sharp objections to the portrayal of their ideology on WWE in the characters Zeb Coulter and his protégé, Jack Swagger. You might remember Glenn Beck’s February spew, that “The WWE now has put a new character out that is demonizing the TEA Party”, and asking, “Did George Soros buy the WWE?”
What Beck really hates is that Media Matters talks about what Tea Partiers are saying. And Media Matters took the time to compare Coulter’s and Swagger’s discourse with actual Tea Party discourse and found them to be identical, including things Beck has said himself. So it isn’t the WWE demonizing the Tea Party, but the Tea Party demonizing itself.
The facts are a reality buzz-kill for Beck and his buddies. No matter how much they protest that they’re really nice guys, they keep spewing intolerance. And right on cue, here comes Republican Representative Tim Huelskamp out of America’s white Kansas underbelly, the man who put the fool in this past April Fool’s Day, to decry Republican outreach to “so-called” Hispanic voters.
He finds this outreach “discouraging.” Probably about as discouraging as some of the small towns in central Illinois (and no doubt Kansas) do when an icky brown motorist finds his way into one of their all-white fast food restaurants (there is even a town near where I live where white folks call the local skating rink the “Chink rink” because it’s “full of” Asians).
That’s not going to go through the House. What is interesting and very distracting and very discouraging is, Steve, after the election, the general discussion from Republicans in Washington was, we’ve got to do everything we can to win votes from the so-called Hispanic voter. And I say so-called because there’s all kinds of varieties of beliefs within that immigrant community. And the idea that suddenly, instead of voting 70 percent for the Democrats, somehow they’re going to start voting for Republican? No. What Republicans need to do is get off their rear ends and go out, outside of Washington, and talk about what they’re for!
So rather than reaching out to Hispanic voters, ignore their whining and speak to real Americans. Like Zeb Coulter and Jack Swagger’s “We the People.” The same “real Americans” Sarah Palin went after. Keep those icky brown people out of the country and good white conservative Christian real Americans like Tim Huelskamp will never lose another election.
http://www.politicususa.com/tea-party-republicans-forget-so-called-hispanic-voters.html
BAM, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and The Ohio State University present
Julius Caesar
Royal Shakespeare Company
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Gregory Doran
“Feel the heat. The RSC has just set Julius Caesar thrillingly ablaze.”
—The Independent (UK)
The world-renowned Royal Shakespeare Company returns to BAM with a new twist on Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Set in present-day Africa and featuring an all-black cast, this visionary production echoes recent regime struggles throughout the continent. The first production from the RSC’s newly appointed artistic director Gregory Doran, this staging features sets by Michael Vale and live performances of contemporary West African music, fostering the contemporary resonance of this classic political thriller. According to The Guardian (UK), “…Doran’s production gives the play’s central debate about the necessary political murder a new immediacy.”
The Royal Shakespeare Company has made eight previous appearances at BAM, beginning with a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 1971 and most recently in 2007 with King Lear, featuring Ian McKellen, and The Seagull.
http://www.bam.org/theater/2013/julius-caesar
Meet The Puppet Master Who’s Turning North Carolina into a Tea Party Utopia
By: Adalia Woodbury
When North Carolinians elected Republican Pat McCrory in November, they thought they were getting a “moderate” Republican. Indeed, McCrory’s public record looked like a moderate Republican, he sounded like a moderate Republican and if you follow the logic about ducks, that means that as governor, McCrory would be a moderate Republican.
North Carolinians are seeing the flaw in duck logic, because something happened to their once moderate Republican governor. It’s like the moment he was handed the keys to the Governor’s mansion he turned into a Tea Party militant overnight.
Yes, the State of North Carolina is turning into a Kochtarian Utopia, with McCrory as the face of a Moderate Republican and multi-millionaire Art Pope, playing the role of Dick Cheney. Mr. Pope is the CEO of Variety Wholesalers Inc. and has been active in Republican politics throughout his adult life. That is, after he co-founded The Libertarian Party as a 20-year-old college student, studying political science at UNC – Chapel Hill.
Pope, who counts the Kochs among his friends, makes the administrations of Rick Snyder, Scott Walker, and even Florida’s Rick Scott look like amateur hour. When Republicans won control of the State’s legislature in 2010, for the first time since 1870, 75% of the funding that made it possible came from “independent” groups with ties to the personification of all that is glorious in the eyes of the Tea Party, the great, white Art Pope.
Once the Republicans gained control of the State’s legislature for the first time in over a century, Pope provided his expertise in gerrymandering which means, as is the case in the Republican controlled House of Representatives in Washington, even when they lose, they still retain control.
Since McCrory took over the Governor’s mansion with Pope as his budget director, the litany of Tea Partyesque legislation has been spell binding. Attacking women’s rights, access to education, savage cuts to unemployment benefits, voting suppression on steroids and much, much more. Also proposed under Art Pope’s watchful eye, Romneyhood, a constitutional amendment for a right to work for less, and government handouts for homeschooling. As Think Progress said, Pope with McCrory as his face is rapidly turning North Carolina into a Tea Party Utopia.
http://www.politicususa.com/art-pope-north-carolinas-dick-cheney.html
Tennessee Lawmaker Drops Bill To Cut Welfare For Kids With Poor Grades After Calling Child A ‘Prop’
By Aviva Shen on Apr 11, 2013 at 5:45 pm
On Thursday, State Rep. Stacey Campfield (R-TN) withdrew his widely criticized bill to reduce welfare assistance for needy families if their children did not perform well in school. The state Senate would have voted on the measure this afternoon, but Campfield pulled the bill after his Republican colleagues refused to support it. Many children’s advocacy groups, lawmakers, and clergy have expressed concern over the plan to cut Temporary Assistance For Needy Families (TANF) benefits by 30 percent for students who did poorly in school.
As Campfield walked to the Senate chambers, he was presented with a petition of more than 2500 signatures collected by Clergy for Justice to protest the bill. The deliverer of the petition was an 8-year-old girl, Aamira Fetuga, whose mother, Rasheedat Fetuga, is the founder of a local child advocacy group.
As Aamira prepared to explain to Campfield why she was worried about his bill, Campfield dismissed her as a “prop” and hurried away, repeating over and over again, “Using children as props is shameful” as Aamira and her mother tried to talk to him.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/04/11/1855681/tennessee-welfare-prop/
With ’42’ movie release, Robinson remembered
Martin B. Cassidy
Updated 10:35 pm, Thursday, April 11, 2013
Growing up, Jackie Robinson’s trophy room in their North Stamford home was one of Sharon Robinson’s regular reminders of her father’s singular place in American history as the man who broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier.
Robinson said it is important to remember that despite the stress and turmoil her father faced in his role as trail blazer, he also felt great fulfillment in raising a family with his wife, Rachel, and continually trying to raise consciousness about the need for equal rights for blacks and other minorities.
“I feel my father and mother absolutely took on an enormous challenge, and he was successful at it,” Robinson said. “It was stressful, but it enhanced their lives and structured lives, and he lived a very full life.
“I wouldn’t want people to view him as a victim in any way. It was the life he chose, and he continues to have an impact.”
Robinson said she and her mother, now, 91, and older brother David are excited about the premiere of “42,” a feature film chronicling her father’s life from 1945 through his phenomenal rookie year in 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers, when the team won a National League pennant.
The film had its world premiere on Tuesday in Los Angeles.
Robinson said the movie does a good job of highlighting the resistance and prejudice her father faced during that first season, and it could help people discuss ways which people and institutions in American society still fall short of providing equal opportunity and access regardless of race.
“Kids today can’t remember a time when they didn’t have interracial socialization, so it could seem like a foreign concept that you had those types of divisions in society,” Robinson said. “I think it is a great opportunity for discussion within classrooms and homes and for people to think about what’s different now and what they can do to promote equality in America for all people.”
As Robinson approached the end of his Hall of Fame career, he moved his young family out of New York City to a custom-built home at 103 Cascade Road. The family moved into their new 12-room ranch home in 1955, Robinson retired the next year. The family would remain at the home until Robinson died at 53 from a heart attack in 1972, selling it in 1984.
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/With-42-movie-release-Robinson-remembered-4428358.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLJUEH8HuGo
I belive in the Power of Love–LOVE POWER!
HOLLA!
Keep up, MOFOs or get to steppin! LOL
FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 2013
Conservatives still love to Order Black People around
An oft repeated refrain of Racist Republicans and Right-Wingers is that, properly understood, Democrats are the Real Racists.
Senator Rand Paul is the current rising conservative star and in order to burnish himself Paul gave a speech to Howard University in the continued Republican outreach to minorities and to cover-up for the fact he loves Discrimination and is against the Civil Right Act of 1964.
During his speech, Rand Paul argued that the Republican Party of the 21st century is the same as the 19th century, “The argument I’m trying to make is we haven’t changed.” Of course, Senator Paul couldn’t name the first African-American elected to the Senate. The crowd at Howard University educated him.
Paul cited evil racist behavior of Democrats from the 1860’s and 1890’s as evidence and was surprised by the level of knowledge possessed by the Howard students. Of course, when it comes to contemporary references, the best conservatives can come up with is to have Sean Hannity trot out a black woman on Faux News to say bizarre statements like President Obama has a war on black people.
What is actually occurring is outreach towards the pround white bigots of the Modern Republican Party. Who watches Sean Hannity’s show? Who absorbs and believes President Obama is the real racist?
Right-Wingers are Reactionary, in all senses of the word. As racism has grown increasingly unacceptable in American society right-wingers have resorted to many efforts to cover-up their rampant bigotry.
http://disaffectedanditfeelssogood.blogspot.com/2013/04/conservatives-still-love-to-order-black.html
Keli Goff; you’re weave is waaaaaaaaaaaay too TIGHT!
Jay-Z, Beyoncé Embarrass White House Again
The rapper’s crass response track is another distraction for Obama
The Root) — Having previously shared my thoughts on the first couple’s close association with hip-hop’s first couple, Jay-Z and Beyoncé, I vowed not to address the issue again, since I’m not a fan of treading over the same territory in my writing. But I relented today at the behest of a TV producer. While I didn’t have a lot to say about Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s vacation itinerary, I do have an opinion about the rap legend’s newly released rap on the matter.
On Thursday the gossip site TMZ posted a clip from Jay-Z’s new song, “Open Letter,” in which the rapper rails against the lies of politicians and waxes poetically about Havana, where he and his missus vacationed recently, despite a U.S. travel embargo against the country. (Full disclosure: I’ve also been to Cuba, on a student visa when I was in college, as part of a conference.) Then the world’s greatest rapper drops the boom, saying the following: “Obama said, ‘Chill, you gonna get me impeached … We don’t need this s–t anyway, chill with me on the beach.’ ”
Of course every armchair psychologist is having a field day speculating about what the lyric really means. Is he insinuating that the president did something questionable to help greenlight Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s controversial trip to Cuba, which has drawn the ire of conservatives? Or is he referring to something else?
Here’s the definitive answer: It doesn’t matter.
http://www.theroot.com/blogs/bloggingthebeltway
Keli Goff, why don’t you shut up like you did when Pat Buchanan told you to do so?
Oops! LMBAO
Rachel: ” You know I love you Pat.” UGGGGGGH
Uh huh!
She loves herself some Uncle Pat. Keli Goff didn’t defend herself enough. Rachel, like the good white paternal figure has to step in and scold old Uncle Pat. Glad that racist slug is off MSNBC
I’m so glad I don’t have to look at his face on my tv.
Between the whiners around the blogosphere and the tv cable shows, it’s obvious to me that PBO’s doing his job. The hate and nastiness this past week towards POTUS is unreal. But you know, the haters are gonna HATE.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG676KRXH9A
LL; some white folks are not ready to face the ugly history of racism, and that includes Paisley. He wanted to make it ok to sport that racist confederate flag, if you can sport your “Do rag.”
You made the song to spark conversation? Really?
Conservative pro-gun Senator demolishes arguments against background checks
Posted by Greg Sargent on April 12, 2013 at 12:11 pm
Senator Tom Coburn, a staunchly conservative Senator with impeccable “pro gun” credentials, has done us all a tremendous service: He has effectively demolished many of the arguments coming from the right against expanded background checks.
Coburn has sent a letter to his Senate colleagues making the case that his proposal for expanded background checks is better than the one produced by Senators Joe Manchin and Pat Toomey. But in the process of defending his own proposal from the inevitable claims by fellow conservatives that it would violate people’s Second Amendment rights, he effectively destroys that same argument as it is being applied to the Manchin-Toomey proposal.
Coburn’s letter argues against the Manchin-Toomey proposal by claiming its record keeping provisions — and its call for a fee to be paid for the background checks — are too burdensome on the law-abiding. He pitches his own plan, which would expand background checks to virtually all private sales without record keeping and without a need to go to a Federal Firearms Licensee to get checks done. Look how he defends his own proposal:
As a firm believer of the 2nd Amendment, I support the reasonable expansion of National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) checks into secondary and private markets for the purpose of keeping firearms out of the wrong hands … unlike retailers, we as private citizens have no tool to know if the purchasers of our weapons in secondary markets (such as gun shows, flea markets, and through internet advertisements) are on the prohibited list. […]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/04/12/conservative-pro-gun-senator-demolishes-arguments-against-background-checks/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdOT8QOZVic
REALLY?
US Airways Tells Black Passengers to Change Out of Jeans and Hoodies Before Boarding First-Class
Systemic racism is apparent as ever at this major U.S. airline.
April 12, 2013 |
When McCraig and Miles Warren tried to claim their first-class seats on a US Airways flight, an employee told them to first change into more appropriate attire, according to a federal discrimination lawsuit filed Wednesday.
A ticket counter employee repeatedly told the Warrens, who are both black, that their jeans, hooded sweatshirts and baseball caps supposedly violated an alleged first-class dress code. As the complaint states:
Doe employee informed plaintiffs that it was US Airways policy that everyone in first class is required to wear slacks, button up shirts and no baseball caps. Doe employee demanded plaintiffs to change from jeans into slacks, a button-up shirt and told plaintiffs to remove their baseball caps.
The Warrens reportedly headed to the restroom where Miles conferred to a white passenger, Michael Heffernan, that he was worried he’d miss his flight for because of his apparent dress-code violation. So, imagine Miles’ surprise when he saw Mr. Heffernan and a friend sitting in first-class, wearing almost the exact same outfits that barred the Warrens from sitting in their seats—jeans and hoodies.
Andrew Christie, a spokesperson for US Airways told AlterNet, “We’ve received the complaint and are currently reviewing it.”
http://www.alternet.org/culture/us-airways-tells-black-passengers-change-out-jeans-and-hoodies-boarding-first-class
Rubio To Make The Sunday Show Rounds
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) will be omnipresent this Sunday, with planned appearances on all of the top morning talk shows.
According to a tweet from Alex Conant, Rubio’s press secretary, the junior Florida senator is slated to appear on Fox News Sunday, This Week, Meet the Press, Face the Nation, State of the Union, Univision and Telemundo.
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/rubio-to-make-sunday-show-rounds?ref=fpb
Bring plenty of water, Anchor baby.
Jonathan Winters, the wildly inventive actor and comedian who appeared in such films as “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” and “The Loved One” and played Robin Williams’ son on the TV show “Mork & Mindy,” has died. He was 87.
Winters died Thursday evening of natural causes at his home in Montecito, California, according to business associate Joe Petro III.
I loved Jonathan Winters! RIP!
Jonathan Winters, the rubber-faced comedian whose unscripted flights of fancy inspired a generation of improvisational comics, and who kept television audiences in stitches with Main Street characters like Maude Frickert, a sweet-seeming grandmother with a barbed tongue and a roving eye, died on Thursday. He was 87.
A family friend, Joe Petro III, said he died Thursday evening at his home in Montecito, Calif., The Associated Press reported.
Mr. Winters, a rotund man whose face had a melancholy, basset-hound expression in repose, burst onto the comedy scene in the late 1950s and instantly made his mark as one of the funniest, least definable comics in a rising generation that included Mort Sahl, Shelley Berman and Bob Newhart.
At his best when winging it, Mr. Winters confounded television hosts and luckless straight men with his rapid-fire delivery of bizarre observations uttered by characters like Elwood P. Suggins, a Midwestern Everyman, or one-off creations like the woodland sprite who bounded onto Jack Paar’s late-night show and simperingly proclaimed: “I’m the voice of spring. I bring you little goodies from the forest.” A one-man sketch factory, Mr. Winters could re-enact Hollywood movies, complete with sound effects, or create sublime comic nonsense with simple props like a pen-and-pencil set.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/13/arts/television/jonathan-winters-comedian-dies-at-87.html
New Poll Shows Things Have Gotten So Bad for the GOP that They’ve Lost the Culture War
By: Sarah JonesApr. 12th, 2013\
The Republican culture war is coming to a slow, painful death, as larger numbers of Americans support gay marriage, immigration reform and gun control. Forty-seven percent of Americans now disagree with the Republican Party’s approach to cultural and social issues according to a new poll.
By 47 percent to 22 percent, Americans say they disagree with the GOP’s approach to social and cultural issues, according to a new NBC/WSJ poll. There’s a thirty-eight percent-to-37 percent margin of those who disagree with the Democrats approach to social and cultural issues. While neither number is great, the Republicans have a whopping 47% of the respondents disagreeing with their approach on cultural/social issues.
Asked what they thought of when they hear the terms “social and cultural issues”, the highest response at 22% indicated that they think of gay rights,15% think of tolerance, 8% of abortion, 7% of race equality and “illegal immigrants”, while at the bottom 1% lay legalization of marijuana, environmental issues, feeding the hungry, American values, and a better standard of living.
http://www.politicususa.com/poll-shows-gop-lost-culture-war-47-disagree-approach.html
There Really Is Too Much Welfare and Government Dependence – Part 1
(By The Political Pragmatic)
It’s true! There are far too many who could easily make it without any government assistance, but refuse to do so. They’re just a bunch of lazy, shiftless moochers and I’m calling them out.
The biggest welfare-queens in this country are:
Corporations. Corporate pork exceeds $ 100 billion a year with over half of all tax subsidies going to financial concerns, utilities, tele-communications, and oil.
Corporate farms, Congress and city slickers
http://www.winningprogressive.org/there-really-is-too-much-welfare-and-government-dependence-part-1
NC A&T on Lockdown After Reports of Man with Rifle
By: The Root Staff | Posted: April 12, 2013 at 10:30 AM
North Carolina A&T State University is on lockdown after a man was seen with a gun on campus, according to the Greensboro News-Record. There have been no injuries or gunshots reported, but the school sent out an email alert to students and staff that said “Black male carrying a rifle seen on campus. University is on lockdown. Stay in. Lock doors and windows.”
http://www.theroot.com/buzz/nc-lockdown-after-reports-man-rifle
After listening to Luther’s soulful love songs this week…guess what, Chicas? My first love died this week. I fell in love with him at the sweet age of 17. He was so handsome with smooth black skin and a knock out smile. I was still in high school and madly in love with a much older guy!
REST IN PEACE, KENNETH!
*tears*
Always And Forever
Prayers to your first love and his family. First loves can conjure up all kinds of emotions.
Yes indeed. The funeral is tomorrow afternoon. I’ll be going. And I’m going to spend time with his sisters. I still love them.
DO IT!
Maryland’s Martin O’Malley Breaks the Seal on 2016 Discussions
by David Freedlander Apr 12, 2013 4:45 AM EDT
The liberal governor told the Baltimore Sun that he is considering a presidential run in the next election, the first potential contender to openly test the waters. Why now
The Democrat told The Baltimore Sun, “I need to be spending a lot more energy and time giving serious consideration and preparation to what— if anything—I might have to offer should I decide to run for president in 2016, ” during a meeting with the paper’s editorial board tied to the end of the legislative session in Maryland.
Although potential candidates are hiring key staff and visiting the early primary states of New Hampshire and Iowa, O’Malley’s comments are one of the most explicit yet by anyone on either side of the aisle about the next campaign.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/04/12/maryland-s-martin-o-malley-breaks-the-seal-on-2016-discussions.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_morning&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_morning&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet
Rick Warren: Son Shot Self With ‘Unregistered Gun’
By Matt Cantor, Newser Staff
Posted Apr 12, 2013 4:07 AM CDT | Updated Apr 12, 2013 7:21 AM CDT
(NEWSER) – Rick Warren’s son committed suicide using an unregistered gun, the pastor said in a tweet yesterday. “Someone on the Internet sold Matthew an unregistered gun. I pray he seeks God’s forgiveness. I forgive him,” the pastor tweeted. An Orange County sheriff’s rep says the gun’s status isn’t clear. “We can’t tell if it’s registered or not because the serial number is scratched off,” he notes, per the AP.
“At one point in time, it may have been, but it’s going to be impossible to find out.” Federal law prohibits scratching off guns’ serial numbers. California, meanwhile, requires background checks and gun registration. Though Warren’s tweet will likely add more fuel to the gun control debate, his later posts discussed forgiveness, not guns, NPR notes.
http://www.newser.com/story/166106/rick-warren-son-shot-self-with-unregistered-gun.html
Ryan: GOP must not ‘abandon’ far-right line on reproductive rights
By Steve Benen – Fri Apr 12, 2013 8:28 AM EDT
don’t imagine I’ll ever convince the Beltway establishment that its perceptions of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) are wrong. He’s seen as a deficit hawk, which he isn’t. He’s considered a whip-smart wonk, which isn’t true, either.
And Ryan is viewed as someone principally focused on fiscal and budget issues, when in fact, he remains an aggressive culture warrior.
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) argued in a speech to activists Thursday night that robust opposition to abortion rights is crucial to the GOP’s political chances.
Ryan’s remarks to the Susan B. Anthony (SBA) List gala were his most extended on abortion since the 2012 election cycle, when several GOP candidates lost following controversial remarks on abortion and rape.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/04/12/17719237-ryan-gop-must-not-abandon-far-right-line-on-reproductive-rights
Good Morning and Happy FRY-day, EVeryone!
Well, I told my baby, bye, bye. But I really didn’t mean it. I’ve enjoyed the Soulful sounds of Mr. Vandross this week, SG2. Thanks!
My pleasure! I love love Luther!
Surprise! President’s Budget Has Way More New Revenue Than New Cuts
Thursday, April 11, 2013 | Posted by Spandan C at 3:12 PM
27
Bet you haven’t heard that one in the national media yet – certainly not on the Left’s media world still in a fit over Chained CPI. I bet here’s what you’ve heard: Obama’s revenue raisers are not enough, his spending cuts are too much, and it’s not ‘balanced’ in terms of revenues and cuts. What you’re hearing is that the president is proposing $1 trillion in cuts! Here’s what they’re not telling you: the president is merely replacing the sequester:
President Obama’s budget also replaces the across-the-board spending cuts known as the sequester with smarter ones, making long-term reforms, eliminating actual waste and programs that are no longer needed.
The sequester, remember, is about $1.2 trillion in cuts in and of itself over 10 years, counting interest savings, and since the sequester is baked into current law, replacing them cannot count as additional cuts. Don’t tell anyone, but the president’s budget actually proposes a sum (including interest savings but excluding chained CPI savings) of total cuts slightly smaller than the $1.2 trillion. Rather than the sledge-hammer approach, here’s how the budget’s cuts work out:
Spending cuts: The budget cuts $200 billion from discretionary spending, balanced evenly between defense and domestic programs. It also includes $200 billion in cuts from mandatory spending by reducing farm subsidies and reforming federal retiree benefit programs. It also achieves $210 billion in savings from reduced interest payments on the debt and $400 billion in health savings aimed at cutting waste and fraud and strengthening Medicare.
It should be noted that there is no benefit cut in Medicare ($306 billion of the $400 B) in order to achieve those savings. Here’s how the President’s budget describes the savings:
… the Budget includes a robust package of proposals that modify Medicare provider payments totaling $306 billion over the next 10 years. These include a number of measures detailed in Table S–9 (see Summary Tables section of this volume), including a proposal to align Medicare drug payment policies with Medicaid rebate policies for low-income beneficiaries, allowing Medicare to benefit from lower drug prices. This change alone will save $123 billion over the next 10 years.
So the president wants to replace the sequester hatchet job largely with cuts to subsidies to big agribusiness, $100 billion in defense cuts, and cracking down on drug companies as well as Medicare waste and fraud. How un-progressive of him!
http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2013/04/surprise-presidents-budget-has-more-new.html
LOVED this week with Luther
Good Morning, Everyone :)
Morning, Chicas!
Love me some Luther!
Thx 3chicspolitico!
Hi katrina; you’re welcome! Glad you’re enjoying Luther.
Hi Katrina!
LUTHER!!!!!!!!!!!!
:)
http://youtu.be/XicpKYDhL1E