The 80’s brought the release of the best-selling albums, Golden Time of Day, Inspiration, Joy and Pain, containing a list of chart-topping singles including “Travelin’ Man,” “Feel That You’re Feeling,” “Joy and Pain,” “Look in Your Eyes” and “Southern Girl,” to name a few. The group gained worldwide appeal with its legendary sold-out live appearances, and released the deluxe album Live in New Orleans which captured the energy, excitement and electricity of a Maze stage show and offered a fourth side of new studio material which included the hit single “Running Away”.
In 1983, with the release of We Are One, Frankie Beverly & Maze solidified their international standing with such hits as the title track “Never Let You Down”, “I Love You Too Much” and “Love is the Key.” As the 80’s came to a close, the group released Can’t Stop the Love and a second in-concert package, Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly Live in L.A., which served both as a retrospective of the group’s remarkable career to date and a fitting close to the first chapter of the Maze legend.
local Black radio station’s daily poll:
Question: Are President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama too hard on Black people?
52%- NO
25%- YES
22%-NOT HARD ENOUGH
Former CEO Of Nestle Wants The World’s Water Supply Under Corporate Control (VIDEO)
by Rika Christensen • May 19, 2013
Nestle’s former CEO has not only come out in favor of genetically
modified food and fought vigorously against the labeling of such food by corporations, he has also expressed favor with the idea of declaring water as just another foodstuff to be privatized, under corporate control, and doled out to the people for profit, rather than a human right and need.[….] However, Nestle doesn’t always exercise much in the way of environmental or social responsibility when it comes to their water sources.
[….] According to Corporate Watch, Nestle is guilty of overpumping water sources in rural and underdeveloped areas in the world. In one area of Brazil, they completely pumped out a spring and demineralized the water, which is illegal in that country. They continue to pump, however, as they appeal Brazil’s ruling against them. In developed countries like the U.S., many communities have already found their water supplies turned over to private corporations, who then raise rates through the roof in their insatiable search for higher profits.[….]
Read more: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/05/19/ceo-nestle-water-privatized-corporate-control/#ixzz2UG0dXkD6
@root_e
PBO’s election meant that a bunch of self-important “left” gatekeepers had to find a new line of work.
Spot on; they stood by the gate and allowed all the snakes enter the kingdom, while they wrote books and went on lecture tours.
Now their books are in the $1 bin in the stores, and they’re not getting calls to do lectures. What’s next? CLOWING on cable TV.
What’s Wrong With MSNBC’s Chris Hayes?
by Noah Rothman | 12:22 pm, May 23rd, 2013
With nearly three months having elapsed since MSNBC host Chris Hayes took over at the helm of his network’s 8 p.m. block — previously occupied by Ed Schultz — the show has regularly delivered disappointing ratings. His innovative weekend program Up often earning the applause of opinion leaders, Hayes was thought to be bringing his refreshing style to what had become the stale routine across the cable news spectrum in prime time. But in the weeks that followed his debut, MSNBC has been hemorrhaging viewers. They regularly finish third or even fourth behind their competition. What can Hayes do to turn his ship around? He must begin by recognizing that a cable news studio is not a classroom and that he has a duty to entertain as well as to inform. If he fails to adapt to the demands of a prime time audience, Hayes’ program will prove to be a short-lived experiment.
On the day that MSNBC announced Hayes would become the network’s new prime time anchor, I warned conservatives to take this development seriously. Hayes and Rachel Maddow know how to advance an agenda. This pair’s fact-based argumentation, I submitted, would trump the bombast that often suffices for a line of reasoning on the right. Every night, Hayes and Maddow would be arming their viewers with information and reasoning designed to advance liberalism. This has proven true. What I did not anticipate was the extent to which Hayes would drive viewers away with his consistent snubbing of what is driving the news cycle on any given day.
RELATED: Conservatives Should Worry About The Addition Of Chris Hayes To MSNBC’s Prime Time Lineup
There are countless examples of this phenomenon, but let’s begin with the most recent. On May 22, Hayes spent two segments examining the damage Monday’s historic tornado did to the town of Moore, Oklahoma. He spent another segment outlining the details of an immigration reform bill which cleared its first hurdle after it was approved in committee. Hayes spent the final half of his show summarizing Apple CEO Tim Cook’s testimony before Congress and investigating whether Congressional Republicans would demand offsetting cuts in the budget to compensate for Oklahoma’s relief funding.
Notably missing from last night’s broadcast was the breaking news out of London. Just hours before Hayes program, two men savagely killed and dismembered a British serviceman and wounded two others in the middle of a London street in broad daylight. That story was made all the more chilling and tabloid by one assailant’s willingness to deliver a clear-eyed, anti-Western sermon into a nearby camera while still soaked in the blood of his victims.
While Hayes decided to pass on that story, Maddow did not. After noting the attackers’ stated Islamist motivation for the attack, Maddow sarcastically noted, “Nothing like getting a lecture on not wanting to be called an extremist on a man with a meat cleaver.”
“It was a spectacle designed for maximum shock and for maximum political resonance – that’s terrorism,” Maddow opined.
This is indicative of a pattern. Hayes often touches begrudgingly, if at all, on the breaking news of the day while relying primarily on in-depth segments which shed light on the social injustice of the moment.
For example, on May 16, the day the White House released a 100-page interagency email exchange chronicling how the post-Benghazi talking points were formed, Hayes spent the majority of his program focusing on sexual assaults in the military and a supremely obscure story about a man imprisoned for disrupting a federal land auction to oil and gas companies.
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/whats-wrong-with-msnbcs-chris-hayes/
DIA’s art collection could face sell-off to satisfy Detroit’s creditors
The once unthinkable is suddenly thinkable.
Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr is considering whether the multibillion-dollar collection at the Detroit Institute of Arts should be considered city assets that potentially could be sold to cover about $15 billion in debt.
How much is the art at the DIA worth? Nobody knows exactly, but several billion dollars might well be a low estimate.
Even the possibility has set off a sharp reaction. The DIA hired a bankruptcy lawyer to advise it, and philanthropist and DIA patron A. Alfred Taubman said this evening that “it would be a crime” to sell any of the DIA’s collection to satisfy city creditors.
http://www.freep.com/article/20130523/NEWS01/305230154
Ohio GOP’s Attempt To Suppress Student Vote Backfires, Encourages Them To Register Instead
In April, the state House Republicans decided it would be a great idea to limit the right of university students to vote and, at the same time, punish the schools that facilitated their voting.[….] It would require any school that gave evidence of residency–a utility bill or a letter–to an out-of-state student for the purpose of voting in Ohio must then charge the student’s in-state tuition.[….]
Senate opposition to the provision was “overwhelming.” It seems that someone with a more level head pointed out that out-of-state students would be more likely to register to vote if the result would be paying in-state tuition — an amount that’s about half as much as
out-of-state. And because of the direction that the student vote leans, the measure would ultimately mean more votes for the Democrats. Brilliant indeed, GOP![….]
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/05/24/ohios-house-of-representatives-blows-it-by-unintentionally-encouraging-the-democratic-vote/
Economically, Could Obama Be America’s Best President?
With the stock market hitting new highs, some people have already forgotten about the Great Recession.
Recall 2009. Things looked pretty bleak economically.
But the outlook has changed dramatically in just 4 years. And it has been a boon for investors, as even the safest indices have yielded a 250% return (>25% annualized compound return:)
…………………..
Although we hear almost no one in the Obama administration taking credit for record index highs, they should. Because the President deserves attention for how well this economy has done during his leadership.
The auto rescue plan has worked. American car manufacturers are still dominant and employing millions directly and in supplier companies. Wall Street reform has been painful but it has re-instated faith amongst investors. The markets are far more predictable than they were four years ago, as VIX numbers demonstrate greater faith and less risk.
Even for small investors, such as those limited to their 401(k) or IRA investments, the average annual compound return on stocks under President Obama has been more than 24% since the lows of March, 2009. This is a better result than either Clinton, Reagan or FDR – who were the prior winners in our book.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamhartung/2013/05/16/economically-could-obama-be-americas-best-president/
Obama Speaks to Naval Graduates About Sexual Assault Issue
In his commencement speech at the Naval Academy on Friday, the president praised the military as the nation’s “most trusted institution,” but took note of the recent cases in which service members have been charged with sexual assault.
By MICHAEL D. SHEAR
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — President Obama used a commencement speech before Naval Academy graduates on Friday to urge them to follow an “inner compass” and to warn that rising numbers of sexual assaults in the military threatened to erode America’s faith in the armed forces.
The president praised the military as the nation’s “most trusted institution,” but took note of the recent cases in which service members have been charged with sexual assault. He said those people “threaten the trust and discipline which makes our military strong.”
“We need your honor, that inner compass that guides you,” the president said, essentially using the platform at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium to scold those who have strayed from that direction recently. “Even more than physical courage, we need your moral courage — the strength to do what’s right, even when it’s unpopular.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/25/us/politics/obama-naval-academy-commencement.html?_r=1&
Florida Governor Signs Election Reform Bill Reversing His Own Voter Suppression Laws
On Wednesday, Scott signed a bill to reverse his own election laws by restoring early voting days and ballot limits, among other measures.[….] The new bill extends early voting from 8 days to 14, extends early voting hours from 8 to 12 hours a day, and expands polling places to include courthouses, civic centers, stadiums, convention centers, fairgrounds and government-owned senior and community centers to keep up with crowds.
It also seeks to make ballot length more manageable by restricting
constitutional amendments to a maximum of 75 words, and loosens some of the restrictions on when voters have to file provisional ballots. It also permits county supervisors to hold early voting on the Sunday before the election, “respecting the ‘souls to the polls’ tradition of many black churches,” as reported by the Florida Current.
The bill moves back Florida’s primary elections from January to the first Tuesday allowed by Democratic and Republican National Committees to avoid penalties. And lastly, the bill imposes $25,000 fines for failing to fix voting machines, something that reportedly snarled elections in Palm Beach County, according to the Sun Sentinel.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/05/23/2052401/florida-governor-signs-election-reform-bill-reversing-his-own-voter-suppression-laws/
David Vitter Racist Farm Bill: Poor elderly African Americans convicted by segregated Southern juries would be barred from food stamps for life. And the Senate approved this fucking BS.
Do you have a link to the bill,, SG2. I’d like to see it. Because it’s very hard to believe that the SENATE would vote for a monstrocity such as this.
Alert
WTFF is wrong with the Senate to approve this where poor old African Americans would suffer tremendously?
Senate Approves David Vitter’s racist farm Bill Amendment. Poor elderly African Americans convicted by segregated Southern juries would be among those hit.
http://www.mediaite.com/online/senate-unanimously-approves-sen-david-vitters-really-stupid-possibly-racist-farm-bill-amendment/
Senate Unanimously Approves Sen. David Vitter’s Really Stupid, Possibly Racist Farm Bill Amendment
http://www.mediaite.com/online/senate-unanimously-approves-sen-david-vitters-really-stupid-possibly-racist-farm-bill-amendment/
Who knew that the U.S. Senate could still agree on things? An amendment to the current version of the farm bill caught my eye earlier today, when someone tweeted a link to a Huffington Post entry entitled “Senator Vitter Offers — and Senate Democrats Accept — Stunning Amendment With Racially Tinged Impacts,” by Center on Budget and Policy Priorities President Bob Greenstein. The amendment is one of those tough-sounding ideas that seem hard to argue with; the stated purpose of the amendment is to “end food stamp eligibility for convicted violent rapists, pedophiles, and murderers.” Who’s going to vote against that?
As it turns out, no one, or at least, not so far. The Senate agreed to the amendment by unanimous consent Thursday. So, who cares about a bunch of convicted rapists and murderers? Here’s why Bob Greenstein says it’s a bad idea, and will have racially disproportionate impact:
It’s entirely possible, even likely, that no one but Sen. Vitter and Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), who introduced the amendment on Vitter’s behalf, even read it, but it’s also likely that no one will bother to go back and take it out. Greenstein’s argument is decent for your compassionate types, but the actual amendment really ought to repel the racist and the cold-hearted, as well (emphasis mine):
Right, becasue Karl Rove shit his pants November 6, 2012, after his and Ohio’s SoS Ohio scheme to rig the voting machine FAILED and the election was called for PBO
Right becasue the GOP’s efforts to SUPRESS Black and Hispanic, women, youth, the elderly’s votes while Romeny’s white-privileged ass roamed the country LYING and bullying the 47%
Fox News Claims That US Government Rigged The 2012 Election For Obama
By: Jason EasleyMay. 24th, 2013more from Jason Easley
Fox News has invented a new reason why Mitt Romney lost the election. They are claiming that government bureaucrats unfairly tilted the playing field for Obama in the 2012 election.
Video courtesy of Media Matters:
http://www.politicususa.com/fox-news-claims-government-rigged-2012-election-obama.html
oh and forget about the MILLIONS of Voters who voted for PBO. I guess the government inserted a chip into our brains and coerced us into voting for Barack Obama. Desperate, ignorant, racists mofos.
Obama’s Rebuild America Jobs Act Might Have Prevented the I-5 Bridge Collapse
By: Sarah JonesMay. 24th, 2013
Motorists and vehicles were plunged into the cold waters of Skagit River in Washington after witnesses say an 18-wheeler carrying an oversize load hit part of the Interstate Highway 5 bridge, causing the bridge to collapse Thursday evening. Other witnesses say they saw girders falling.
Three people were rescued from the water and no one died, according to officials.
According to the National Bridge Inventory Database, the bridge was deemed “functionally obsolete” as recently as 2010, but this does not necessarily mean it was unsafe. Specifically, they use the designation “to describe a bridge that is no longer by design functionally adequate for its task.” The report indicates that the I-5 Skagit bridge: “Transitions: Does not meet currently acceptable standards.” The bridge was built in 1955.
http://www.politicususa.com/obamas-rebuild-america-jobs-act-prevented-washington-bridge-collapse.html
MEDIA MANIPULATOR DAVID KOCH RESIGNS WNET
Amid concerns that Koch Industries could buy several major U.S. newspapers from Tribune Company, industrial billionaire David Koch was forced to step down as trustee of WNET, New York City’s largest public TV station, after the New Yorker revealed how WNET gave Koch inappropriate influence over its programming. Mr. Koch was floating a seven-figure donation over WNET’s leadership as the station aired a movie that portrayed him as a particularly greedy Manhattan resident.
Sure enough, WNET didn’t wind up receiving David Koch’s hefty donation.
http://www.nationofchange.org/media-manipulators-david-koch-resigns-wnet-trustee-amid-new-yorker-article-1369405651
Heads up, 3ChicsPolitico. We need your help. You’ve helped us out so much in the past and we need you once again. The people who support justice for Trayvon Martin are being bullied beyond description. We need to put a stop to this. IF we don’t, it’s sets a precedence for all other cases where folks taunt, bully, smear the victim, smear the families of the victim and the people who want justice to no end. We will not be shouted down because we want justice. Together, lets put a stop to this.
Darlene January started this petition and need your signatures. Please sign.
The Green Team page on Facebook is said to be from Florida and others on that page said they also are from the area. A chosen few have been calling O’Mara on a hotline number to give information of what is said on Facebook pages. They also have mentioned to hopefully receive jury subpoenas to serve as a Juror in this case. One of the questions I wish they would ask the jurors in this case. “Have you ever been on Social Media sites to discuss the case of George Zimmerman prior to this date?” That would probably eliminate anyone from Florida.
David P has gone viral with everything the Defense team released yesterday on Facebook. He also made this page a topic for discussion on In-Session Events page. They are smearing worse than ever in the name of George Zimmerman to taunt and ridicule the supporters of Trayvon Martin. Some Trayvon Martin supporters now fear for the privacy on Facebook that do not dare enter these pages anymore to discuss their support for Trayvon Martin’s family. Please sign this Petition http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/trayvon-martin-supporters !
I can’t imagine how the parents feel right now because as a supporter for Trayvon and his family is very angry with O’Mara with this move. This is the first time in my 65 years of life that I ever seen this type of move by the Defense Team of a Murderer! Monies donated on a website for his defense and now this. This is so underhanded, I hope somebody steps in and stop this madness. He made a mockery out of the word “Justice” to retaliate against all those who put the Awareness out in the media to arrest Zimmerman! This is so wrong!
DONE! The intimidation WILL.NOT.WORK.
thank you for this
Neil deGrasse Tyson explains why he prefers Star Trek to Star Wars
Here’s an awesome video from a few years ago where Neil deGrasse Tyson and other astrophysicists praise Star Trek for making an “admirable attempt” to portray space travel with actual scientific explanations. Star Wars? Not so much.
Tyson recently told Business Insider that he loves “old-school” Star Trek, with Captain Kirk and the original crew, but:
I never got into Star Wars. Maybe because they made no attempt to portray real physics. At all.
http://io9.com/neil-degrasse-tyson-explains-why-he-prefers-star-trek-t-509517637
The Collapse Of Public Infrastructure Spending In One Chart
Joe Weisenthal|May 24, 2013, 7:03 AM
The big news today is that a bridge in Washington collapsed, throwing cars into the water. Amazingly, nobody died. (Washington state has a Democratic Governor as of November 2012. He’ better get on.) Blaming trucks that hit a bridge is not good enough.) My words here.
This may revive debate about the need to spend more on infrastructure, which would have multiple positive effects.
Nothing is likely to happen, however.
That being said, here’s a chart of public construction spending (TLPBLCONS) as percentage of GDP.
You can see, public construction spending is lower than its been in over 20 years.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/skagit-bridge-collapse-infrastructure-spending-2013-5#ixzz2UDnmvxYQ
Obamacare premiums in California lower than predicted
Premiums to be charged in the Obamacare insurance exchanges in California in 2014 are lower than expected. http://t.co/XDKIcQRkaM
The music this week has been wonderful
Thank you!
Frankie Beverly & Maze forever!
Damn right, SOUTHERNGIRL, YOUR’E THE ONE, LOTS OF LOVIN’ LOTS OF FUN!
LOL! I love this song. It brings back happy memories.
Cleared of charges after explosion, Florida teen gets full scholarship to space academy
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/05/23/1211154/-Cleared-of-charges-Florida-teen-gets-full-scholarship-to-space-camp …
By now you’ve heard about Kiera Wilmot. She’s the Florida teen who was arrested for setting off a small explosion in her science class:
Kiera, 16-year-old junior, was arrested after the incident, which happened outside about 15 minutes before the school day began. No one was hurt, nor did she cause any damage.
The school’s resource officer arrested her on two possible felony charges, possessing a weapon on campus and discharging a destructive device. Kiera was suspended for 10 days, sent to an alternative school, which she still attends, and told she faced expulsion.
Her headline-making nightmare hit one NASA veteran hard:
The explosion struck a chord with 18-year NASA veteran Homer Hickam, a former lead astronaut training manager for Spacelab, and later for the International Space Station.
In the late 1950s, Hickam had a brush with law enforcement for allegedly starting a forest fire. State police came to his high school and led him and his friends away in handcuffs, but his high school physics professor and school principal came to the rescue, clearing him of wrongdoing.
Hickam became determined to see Kiera Wilmot succeed:
“I couldn’t let this go without doing something,” Hickam said. “I’m not a lawyer, but I could give her something that would encourage her. I’ve worked closely with the U.S. Space Academy, and so I purchased a scholarship for her.”
Great news! But it gets even better:
Learning of her twin sister, Hickam raised enough money so Kiera and Kayla could attend space camp together. Hickam runs several scholarships for kids with potential, and hopes to create an ongoing Space Academy scholarship. The twins will attend in July.
Both Wilmot sisters are headed to the Space Academy! Sometimes good things really do happen to good people. Three cheers for Homer Hickam!
*******************
Just totally awesome! Congrats, ladies!
that is wonderful news
CONGRATULATIONS, KIERA. This totally ROCKS! Don’t mess with our youth MOFOs.
Good morning, everyone! Happy Friday!
SouthernGirl don’t you know
ya good to me and I dig you so
;)
Good Morning, Everyone :)
Good morning, all you good folks out there! SG2 is running a little behind today.
Good Morning, SG2. Been waiting for this tune all week, Lady. Great music series; Thank you.
;)
Southern Girl—> here’s to you!
LOL Now you know I’m a teetotaler!~