Guess what day it is! Happy HUMP day, Everyone. Hope you’re enjoying this week series on Star Trek and Black actors.
Today’s Star Trek feature is Levar Burton AKA Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge
LeVardis Robert Martyn Burton, Jr. (born February 16, 1957), professionally known as LeVar Burton, is an American actor, presenter, director, producer, and author.
Burton is best known for his roles as the young Kunta Kinte in the 1977 award-winning ABC television miniseries Roots, Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and as the host and executive producer of the PBS children’s program Reading Rainbow.
Star Trek: The Next Generation
In 1986, Gene Roddenberry approached him with the role of the then Lieutenant Junior Grade Geordi La Forge in the Star Trek: The Next Generation television series. La Forge is blind, but is granted “sight” through the use of a prosthetic device called a VISOR, which is worn over his eyes. La Forge is the USS Enterprise‘s helmsman, and as of the show’s second season, its Chief Engineer. At the time, Burton was considerably better known than Patrick Stewart in the United States, due to the fame he gained from starring in Roots and Reading Rainbow. The Associated Press stated that Burton’s role was essentially the “new Spock.”[13]
Burton also portrayed La Forge in the subsequent feature films based on Star Trek: The Next Generation, beginning with Star Trek Generations in 1994 through 2002’s Star Trek Nemesis. Burton directed the season one episode of Star Trek: Voyager titled “Ex Post Facto” as well as season two episode of Star Trek: Voyager titled “Dreadnought.” Burton also directed and appeared in the season five episode of Star Trek: Voyager titled “Timeless” and directed several episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Enterprise.
Check out these video segments:
Levar Burton directs this episode from Star Trek Voyager” ‘Ex Post Facto’
Always wanted to know what Geordi could actually SEE.
Why Republicans are desperate for a shutdown
By E.J. Dionne Jr., Wednesday, September 18, 7:11 PM E-mail the writer
The coming battles over budgets, the debt ceiling, a government shutdown and Obamacare are not elements of a large political game. They involve a fundamental showdown over the role of government in stemming rising inequality and making our country a fairer and more decent place.
Anyone who doesn’t see this should be forgiven. The stakes in this battle are almost always buried in news accounts about tactics and obscured by an unquenchable desire across the media to provide the latest take on whether President Obama is growing “weak” and has already become the lamest of lame ducks.
……………………………………………….
But it’s also important to understand why the Republican right is so fixated on killing or delaying Obamacare before it goes into effect. Its central worry is not that the program will fail but that it will succeed.
In an interview on Fox News this summer, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) a leader of the stop-Obamacare forces, gave the game away. After ritualistically declaring that “Obamacare isn’t working,” he said this: “If we’re going to repeal it, we’ve got to do so now or it will remain with us forever.” Why? Because once the administration gets the health insurance “exchanges in place . . . the subsidies in place,” people will get “hooked on Obamacare so that it can never be unwound.”
In other words, Obamacare, like Medicare and Social Security, could work well enough and improve the lives of enough people that voters will get “hooked” on it. For fear of this, the tea party’s champions would shut down the government and risk financial calamity over the debt ceiling? Even the Wall Street Journal’s reliably anti-Obama editorial page on Tuesday upbraided the “kamikazes” of the right.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ej-dionne-republicans-are-desperate-for-a-shutdown/2013/09/18/1f59e80c-207e-11e3-94a2-6c66b668ea55_story.html?tid=pm_opinions_pop
Ohio State Senator Nina Turner talks with Ed Schultz about GOP Voter Suppression….and Professor Fast Talking Dyson joins them
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/45755822/#53045751
Nina Turner for PRESIDENT!
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/45755822/#53045577
Doc McStuffins Changed the Face of TV Physicians for Kids – on the Road
September 17, 2013 by EurPublisher
*Doc McStuffins has been making the rounds – touring across the country in an interactive “Doc Mobile” tour.
Doc McStuffins is the Disney Junior channel’s popular animated series spotlighting a six year old African American girl named Dottie McStuffins.
Like her mother she wants to be a doctor, but of course, she’s prohibited to practice because of her age. Instead, she uses her stuffed animals and dolls as patients.
The tour, like the Disney show, is a way to instill in young girls and boys good health behavior.
The Doc Mobile is a 27-foot Airstream trailer custom-made to reach young kids ages 2-7. It features an area for kids to perform a “check-up” on their own toys plus other activities and age-appropriate health and wellness lessons including nutrition and physical development and fitness.
Dr. Deonza Thymes (pictured below), on staff at Long Beach VA Hospital as well as several other hospitals throughout California, explains, “The tour is a collaboration with Artemis Medical Society and Disney to bring Doc to light – to show kids that just like the title (from tour ad) says there’s so much they can do to take care of themselves. There are ways they can be involved in making themselves healthy.”
Thymes is one of the founding members of the Artemis Medical Society, an organization comprised of 3,000 women of color physicians. They organized a year ago she says, “Because one of my really good friends that I did residency with was watching Doc McStuffins with her daughter and she was just so moved. She called me and said have you seen this cartoon? We didn’t have images like this when we were growing up as little girls.”
http://www.eurweb.com/2013/09/doc-mcstuffins-changed-the-face-of-tv-physicians-for-kids-on-the-road/
My grandson loves Doc Mcstuffins. You can hear a pin drop while while he’s watching it.
The Associated Press @AP54s
MORE: Former heavyweight champion Ken Norton dies at age 70: http://apne.ws/16nVrjF -SS
Inspired by Professor, Investor Makes Big Gift for Black Studies
BY MICHAEL J. DE LA MERCED
Just over 10 years ago, the private equity mogul Glenn Hutchins was on vacation in Martha’s Vineyard. With his 25th Harvard College reunion near, he was thinking about how to put some of his wealth to good use.
One afternoon, clad in a T-shirt and board shorts, he stopped at an old whaling chapel, where Henry Louis Gates Jr., the prominent professor of African and African-American studies at Harvard, was leading a symposium.
That encounter gave Mr. Hutchins his cause.
Since then, Mr. Hutchins has strengthened his connection to Mr. Gates and the Harvard program. Their bond will become stronger on Wednesday, when Mr. Hutchins is expected to announce a gift of more than $15 million to create the Hutchins Center for African and African-American Research, solidifying Harvard’s program as one of the top in its field.
“It creates an infrastructure for the department and a solid foundation on which they can thrive,” Mr. Hutchins said in an interview this month.
The gift — part of a previously announced $30 million donation to the university whose uses had not all been specified — also bespeaks a friendship between two men unlike each other in many respects. One is a wealthy white financier whose firm, Silver Lake, is on the verge of taking over the computer maker Dell with its founder, Michael S. Dell; the other is a celebrated black professor who helped popularize African-American studies as an academic field and social phenomenon. http://goo.gl/SEd2oJ
Rev. Al had on Sister Simone today
Neil deGrasse Tyson is an American astrophysicist and science communicator.
Richard Dawkins is an English evolutionary biologist.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ZB2h7X-_Lk8
Gun nuts jacked on espresso = danger for customers
by digby
So Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks, is disturbed that his company is being used as a stage for gun nuts to make their point. So he’s asking them to stop:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/09/18/223652632/no-guns-please-starbucks-tells-customers
Snip
He’s missing the point, don’t you think? The reason these people want to carry guns in public places like Starbucks is to shut up anyone who might think it’s ok to have a political opinion with which they disagree — and that includes the customers and the employees who don’t want them to be in Starbucks carrying guns. I’m certainly not going to argue with people who are so committed they feel the need to ostentatiously wear a gun in public. It signals quite clearly that they are zealots on the subject and it’s not safe to argue with armed zealots. And that’s exactly what they mean to convey whether they admit it or not.
When I see people carrying guns, I leave the vicinity and that includes Starbucks. With all the accidental shootings in this country, it’s not safe to be around these yahoos when they are carrying in any case. And those who are wearing their guns to make a political point are clearly trying to intimidate people. Who knows what they’ll do? Starbucks is right to be alarmed.
snip
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2013/09/gun-nuts-jacked-on-espresso-danger-for.html
Hungering For More GOP Pain
Posted by Zandar
House Republicans lost a bill to cut $20 billion over 10 years from SNAP. Their solution? A bill to cut $40 billion over 10 years from SNAP.
Which, if you’ve been paying attention, is the point. Republicans are sick and tired of seeing Obama win, and this time with Mitch McConnell facing a real Tea Party challenge and Orange Julius facing revolt, the wheels could come off the government as soon as October 1.
The question then is will the GOP be forced back to reality and cave before the debt ceiling blows up two or three weeks later. If that doesn’t happen, then serious chaos ensues. It’s conceivable too that a shutdown within weeks of the debt ceiling deadline may be the leverage the GOP thinks it needs to get major concessions from the White House and Senate Dems on everything.
http://zandarvts.blogspot.com/
I Don’t See Any Way Out
by BooMan
Wed Sep 18th, 2013 at 12:11:12 PM EST
The House leadership seems to have coalesced around a plan that they think will win the support of at least 217 Republicans. It’s complex and difficult to understand, and I find it difficult to try considering that it isn’t going anywhere in the Senate.
It’s a two-pronged approach. On the continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government, the Republicans will limit the funding to December 15th. The funding level will be slightly above what the Budget Control Act of 2011 calls for. And it will defund ObamaCare.
On the debt ceiling, they will have a separate vote that will delay ObamaCare for a year, authorize the Keystone XL pipeline, and provide an outline for tax reform.
Their hope is that they can successfully pass the buck to Republican senators who will be expected to sustain a filibuster against any CR or debt ceiling hike that includes money for health care.
It really doesn’t matter whether the Senate Republicans go along with the plan or not, because the government will shut down either way and we will default on our debts either way.
The pressure on Republican senators will be intense, but they’d rather let the House take the blame for the catastrophe.
The fact that the Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell, is facing a primary challenge from his right makes it unlikely that he will ride to the House’s rescue this time around. If we’re hoping for adult leadership in the Senate, it will have to come from a rump of moderate Republican senators that doesn’t seem to exist.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2013/9/18/121112/274
The chicken shit, chicken little “THE SKY IS FALLING GOP. So sick of these MOFOs.
Why did George Elmaraghy lose his job?
By Steve Benen
Wed Sep 18, 2013 11:16 AM EDT.
George Elmaraghy, the chief of the division of surface water for Ohio’s EPA, recently came to a sensible conclusion: permits sought by the coal industry would likely “have a negative impact on Ohio’s streams and wetlands and violate state and federal laws.” Elmaraghy, a 39-year veteran of the state agency, knew of what he spoke (thanks to my colleague Will Femia for the tip).
Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R), however, not only disagreed, he asked Elmaraghy to resign. In fact, “asked” and “resign” are almost certainly the wrong words — the 66-year-old Elmaraghy did not want to leave, and explained to state officials he had no intention of retiring yet, but was told his career was over anyway.
Over the last several weeks, a variety of folks, including Democrats in the state legislature and newspaper editorial boards, have sought some kind of explanation for Elmaraghy’s ouster. Kasich, meanwhile, doesn’t want to talk about it.
That’s up to him, of course, but in the meantime, Elmaraghy seems to have plenty to say. He talked at length to TPM’s Dylan Scott, who heard of a gubernatorial administration “beholden to the coal industry and willing to push out employees who weren’t going to capitulate to its demands.”
It hardly seems unreasonable to think his suspicions are right.
john miller @deaconmill
Notice how quick media, specially @chucktodd, is to pounce on anything Obama says that may be 1% wrong. When GOP 100% wrong, not so much.
12:01 PM – 18 Sep 2013
https://twitter.com/Sebelius/status/379988651142180865/photo/1
How about reporting these FACTS, Chuck Todd?
Chuck Todd: It’s Not Media’s Job To Correct GOP’s Obamacare Falsehoods (VIDEO)
Tom Kludt – September 18, 2013, 10:03 AM EDT6579
MSNBC host Chuck Todd said Wednesday that when it comes to misinformation about the new federal health care law, don’t expect members of the media to correct the record.
During a segment on “Morning Joe,” former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) speculated that most opponents of the Affordable Care Act have been fed erroneous information about the law. Todd said that Republicans “have successfully messaged against it” but he disagrees with those who argue that the media should educate the public on the law. According to Todd, that’s President Barack Obama’s job.
“But more importantly, it would be stuff that Republicans have successfully messaged against it,” Todd told Rendell. “They don’t repeat the other stuff because they haven’t even heard the Democratic message. What I always love is people say, ‘Well, it’s you folks’ fault in the media.’ No, it’s the President of the United States’ fault for not selling it.”
The health care law has long been shrouded in misinformation, a point that Obama himself made in an interview Tuesday with Telemundo. A poll Tuesday showed that support for the law among Republicans was higher when called by the Affordable Care Act, its official title, rather than “Obamacare,” a term used derisively by Republicans that has gained widespread usage.
States have begun airing television advertisements to raise public awareness on the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplaces, known as “exchanges,” which will be available beginning Oct. 1.
Todd took to Twitter later in the morning to argue that his actual point was that “folks shouldn’t expect media” to do what the White House has failed to do in its rollout of the health care law.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/chuck-todd-it-s-not-media-s-job-to-correct-gop-s-obamacare-falsehoods-video
Don’t we know it, Chuckie TOADY. Your job is to CHOP WOOD & CARRY WATER for the GOP.
Wendell Pierce ✔ @WendellPierce
Best definition I heard all day:”Black-tracking” – Changing your long-held position because President Obama agrees with you.
10:56 AM – 18 Sep 2013
I’m sooooo gonna use this.
More adventures in our failed media experiment: Part 1,382
By Liberal Librarian 37 Comments
Esteemed NBC White House correspondent and political director Chuck Todd caused quite a furor this morning.
Speaking on Morning Joe, he said quite openly what many of us have just assumed to be the truth by virtue of careful observation: that it’s not the media’s job to correct misinformation and falsehoods. He made this comment in relation to the Obamacare debate, saying that the GOP has been better at “messaging”—i.e. getting the media to repeat its lies ad nauseam—while the Obama administration and Democrats have failed to make their case.
Confronted with significant pushback on Twitter, he had this to say:
Chuck Todd ✔ @chucktodd
Somebody decided to troll w/mislding headline: point I actually made was folks shouldn’t expect media to do job WH has FAILED to do re: ACA
10:08 AM – 18 Sep 2013
Oh no! He was “trolled”, because someone—actually, several someones—called into question why he even has the job of “journalist” if he’s saying that it isn’t his job to fulfill a journalist’s prime responsibility, which is to give his readers/viewers/listeners accurate information about the world around them
……………………
I wouldn’t want Mr. Todd to lift one finger more than he has to in exertion for his chosen profession. But he may want to remember this, from the Pew Center’s “Principles of Journalism“. It’s the very first principle
Journalism’s first obligation is to the truth
Democracy depends on citizens having reliable, accurate facts put in a meaningful context. Journalism does not pursue truth in an absolute or philosophical sense, but it can–and must–pursue it in a practical sense. This “journalistic truth” is a process that begins with the professional discipline of assembling and verifying facts. Then journalists try to convey a fair and reliable account of their meaning, valid for now, subject to further investigation. Journalists should be as transparent as possible about sources and methods so audiences can make their own assessment of the information. Even in a world of expanding voices, accuracy is the foundation upon which everything else is built–context, interpretation, comment, criticism, analysis and debate. The truth, over time, emerges from this forum. As citizens encounter an ever greater flow of data, they have more need–not less–for identifiable sources dedicated to verifying that information and putting it in context.
Perhaps if Mr. Todd had actually gone to journalism school, he’d know this. But many of our journalists have gone to school, and violate this cardinal rule every day in their work. The Founders may not be too happy to see how their most cherished amendment is being used in our latter days.
http://theobamadiary.com/2013/09/18/more-adventures-in-our-failed-media-experiment-part-1382/
The price Jeb Bush is willing to pay
By Steve Benen
–
Wed Sep 18, 2013 11:37 AM EDT
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) has spent quite a bit of time and energy cultivating a specific kind of reputation. Among Republicans, he tends to be seen as a relatively moderate wonk, with a specific policy focus on immigration and education. Whether Bush deserves that reputation is another matter — his depth of understanding of immigration and education is generally quite limited.
Regardless, the Florida Republican wants to be considered a thoughtful, forward-thinking mainstream conservative. To take this seriously, though, one must overlook whom he chooses to hang out with.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/09/18/20561847-the-price-jeb-bush-is-willing-to-pay?lite
Ken the COOCH-ILL-NUTTYadvocates for women who miscairages report them to the police. Is this true?
As for Jeb; their won’t be another Bush in the WH any time soon, so he can pal around with the crazy, racist, wingnuts all he likes.
AP Sources: A Revised GOP Attack on ‘Obamacare’
WASHINGTON September 18, 2013 (AP)
By ANDREW TAYLOR Associated Press
House GOP leaders Wednesday announced that they will move quickly to raise the government’s borrowing cap by attaching a wish list of GOP priorities like blocking “Obamacare,” forcing construction of the Keystone XL pipeline and setting the stage for reforming the loophole-cluttered tax code.
They also, as expected, promised tea party lawmakers a chance to first use a routine temporary government funding bill to try to muscle the Democratic-controlled Senate into derailing President Barack Obama’s health care law.
“That fight will continue as we negotiate the debt limit with the president and the Senate,” said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va.
Obama said again that he won’t knuckle under to the GOP’s demands
The GOP strategy appears to assume that the Senate will strip out the “defund ‘Obamacare'” provision and send it back. The House would then face a choice: pass the measure without the health care provision or continue the battle and risk a partial government shutdown when the new budget year begins Oct. 1.
Speaking to CEOs of the Business Roundtable Wednesday, Obama called on the corporate leaders to use their influence to avoid a potentially damaging showdown over the debt ceiling. He reiterated his promise to not negotiate over the need to raise the nation’s borrowing limit, which the government is expected to hit as early as next month.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/gop-leaders-revise-strategy-stopgap-funding-20286044
Warren Buffett says reports he wants to scrap Obamacare are ‘outrageous’
By Steve Jordon / World-Herald staff writer
September 18, 2013
Internet posts claiming that Warren Buffett wants to “scrap Obamacare” are false, the Omaha investor said Tuesday.
“This is outrageous,” Buffett said in a World-Herald interview. “It’s 100 percent wrong … totally false.”
A story posted by Money Morning, a financial advice site, and repeated by the Morning Standard and other Internet outlets quotes comments Buffett made in an interview on CNBC on March 1, 2010. Officials from Money Morning could not be reached Tuesday.
The U.S. Senate was debating a bill that became the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. The Internet posts make it appear that the comments are recent. Worse, Buffett said, they took his comments out of context and added the “scrapped” wording.
“I’ve never suggested nor thought Obamacare should be scrapped,” said Buffett, who has supported President Barack Obama’s political campaigns. “I support it. It relates to providing medical care for all Americans. That’s something I’ve thought should be done for a long, long time.”
http://www.omaha.com/article/20130917/LIVEWELL26/309179863/1707#warren-buffett-says-reports-he-wants-to-scrap-obamacare-are-outrageous
This is the level the GOP will stoop to to demolish healthcare for Americans , while they benefit from said healthcare. EVIL
Positive Black Male News: High school student builds global tech company from St. Louis
Starting a business is a goal of many young entrepreneurs who hope to eventually own a multi-million dollar enterprise. For Jaylen Bledsoe of Hazelwood, Mo., he achieved this goal at the age of 15. The high school sophomore started his own tech company when he was 13-years-old and since then, the business has skyrocketed and
transformed into a global corporation now worth $3.5 million, reports Fox 2.
The young teen is the CEO and founder of Bledsoe Technolgies, LLC, a company he created in 2012 that is recognized as an IT consultancy firm which specializes in web development and graphics for local businesses in St. Louis. It has since expanded and now serves corporations worldwide, continuing to grow in both profit and staff size. The company had only five workers when it first launched and has now contracted over 150 employees.
As if launching his own company doesn’t keep him busy enough, Bledsoe takes on leadership roles for several school organizations. He is the president of his school’s student council and the Parent Teacher Student Association and spends time volunteering in the community[….]
http://theblackmancan.org/2013/09/11/positive-black-male-news-high-school-student-builds-global-tech-company-from-st-louis/
Congratulations, Jaylen Bledsoe! Love reading stories like these.
House GOP beats Boehner into submission
By Steve Benen
Wed Sep 18, 2013 12:52 PM EDT
Following up on an earlier item, it’s not official — House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) told his members at their weekly conference meeting that he’s prepared to abandon his own plans and try things their way. As such, with a government-shutdown deadline just 12 days away, the House will vote on a spending bill that defunds the Affordable Care Act, just like the far-right demands.
When reporters asked whether he had lost control of his conference, Boehner replied, “The key to any leadership job is to listen.” That’s a generous way of saying he’s being told what to do by those he ostensibly leads.
What’s more, the woefully weak Speaker seemed eager to punt the whole mess to the upper chamber, in the hopes that he won’t take all of the blame for the fiasco he and his caucus created: “[W]e’re going to send it over to the Senate, so our conservative allies over there can continue the fight. That’s where the fight is….. The fight over here has been won. It’s time for the Senate to have that fight.”
And when Boehner said the fight in the House “has been won,” the Speaker is referring to the victory of the extremists he hoped to lead in a more responsible direction, but who blew him off.
The Obama administration, meanwhile, doesn’t have a lot of choices, and can’t force congressional Republicans to be less foolish. It can, however, prepare for the worst.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/09/18/20562674-house-gop-beats-boehner-into-submission?lite
Virginia Republicans can’t help themselves
By Steve Benen
Wed Sep 18, 2013 8:35 AM EDT.
Jon Chait joked yesterday, “The Virginia gubernatorial ticket has managed to offend blacks, gays, women, immigrants…. Somehow they have neglected the Jews.”
That neglect promptly ended an event yesterday for Virginia gubernatorial hopeful Ken Cuccinelli (R).
As the Washington Post reported, the far-right state attorney general was “forced to distance himself from a local Republican official who spoke ahead of the candidate and told an anti-Semitic joke
Chait added, “It’s a great piece of humor because it combines the Jews-are-cheap angle with the Jews-killed-Jesus angle in one joke.”
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/09/18/20559565-virginia-republicans-cant-help-themselves?lite
Actress Kerry Washington named best dressed woman by People magazine
Actress Kerry Washington, who was nominated for an Emmy for her role in the ABC television drama “Scandal,” was named the “World’s Best Dressed Woman” by People magazine on Wednesday.
Washington, 36, headed a list that included Academy Award-winner Jennifer Lawrence, singer-songwriter Solange Knowles and actresses Jenna Dewan-Tatum and Kate Bosworth.
“I don’t wear a lot of pants,” Washington said in a statement announcing the honor. “When I go somewhere I want to know I’m going to be comfortable and I’m dressed for the event.”
People magazine Executive Editor Elizabeth Sporkin praised Washington for her fashion sense.
“There has been a trend this year in lady-like fashion and I think she is almost single-handedly responsible for it,” Sporkin said in an interview.
Although Washington nabbed the best dressed title, Lawrence, the winner of this year’s best actress Oscar for “Silver Linings Playbook,” was cited as having the best high fashion style, and actress Jessica Chastain, the star of 2012’s “Zero Dark Thirty” had the best red carpet style, according to People.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/18/entertainment-us-fashion-bestdressed-idUSBRE98H0EZ20130918
I’m soooo digging the red and yellow gowns.
SCANDAL, WHERE ARE YOU?!!!
*waitswithmuch anticipation*
http://www.demos.org/blog/9/18/13/obama-just-changed-most-racist-law-america
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/18/20556886-for-sale-a-page-from-mlks-i-have-a-dream-speech-other-civil-rights-movement-relics
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24119398
Because there aren’t enough white people in Wisconsin?
Aug 18
A New Champion: Simone Biles, from Spring TX!
Hartford, Conn. – Simone Biles should have been thrilled. She should have been jumping for joy. After all, she was crowned the women’s gymnastics all-around national champion at the P&G Gymnastics Championships Saturday night, in a country that has produced all but two of the past nine world or Olympic all-around champions.
But the 16-year-old remained her calm and collected self, brushing off her impressive win, saying it was “no big deal.”
“I was excited, but I was happy for everyone else,” Biles said. “I thought even if I did come in second, third — everybody looked good, so I was happy.”
The Spring, Texas, native sprang — quite literally, in her case — onto the senior scene this year, and in a big way. With her trademark leaps and epic height she gets on her vault and floor exercise routines, Biles grabbed second in the all-around in March’s American Cup before taking first later that month in the City of Jesolo Trophy in Italy and then finishing second at a USA-Romania-Germany tri-meet in Germany
http://www.teamusa.org/News/2013/August/18/A-New-Champion-Simone-Biles?utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=taboola
She is so gracefully strong!
uh-OH! Guess what day it is Good Morning, Everyone. Happy HUMP day!
:) Good Morning!
Love your article today, Ametia!
Thank you, Yahtc.
Gridlock Might Destroy the US Economy, But It’s Still Good for Business
—By Kevin Drum
| Tue Sep. 17, 2013 9:01 AM PDT
Robert Costa writes today that both Republican aides and veteran House members are worried that it’s fast becoming impossible to find a budget compromise that can win the support of the Republican caucus:
There you have it. Gridlock is good for business. Nuff said.
It’s all pretty remarkable, isn’t it? Our government is deadlocked because Republicans control one half of one branch of the government. The tea party faction controls that half because it can prevent John Boehner from being re-elected Speaker if he crosses them. So we’ve somehow maneuvered ourselves into a place where 40 or 50 fanatic representatives can bring the entire government of the most powerful nation on Earth to a screeching halt. And somehow this seems….kind of normal. It hardly even raises an eyebrow anymore.
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/09/gridlock-economy-tea-party
Boehner moves closer to government shutdown
By Steve Benen
Wed Sep 18, 2013 8:00 AM EDT
Some problems are so complex and difficult, they’re nearly impossible to solve. Avoiding a government shutdown isn’t one of them.
After his far-right members vetoed his preferred solution, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) could have very easily reached out to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), put some modest enticements on the table, and picked up plenty of votes to approve a stop-gap spending measure. The whole thing could have been wrapped up in an afternoon, and the media would have cheered Boehner for constructive, bipartisan governing.
But that’s not what the laughably weak Speaker is inclined to do.
It’s not just the Washington Post reporting this — Politico, Roll Call, and National Review published related pieces, and all of them outline the same legislative blueprint.
Here’s the plan: the Republican-led House intends to pass a temporary spending measure, called a continuing resolution (or “CR”), which defunds the Affordable Care Act. This isn’t what GOP leaders want, but the far-right extremists are calling the shots, and the followers are now leading the leaders. From there, the bill will go to the Democratic-led Senate, which, after it finishes laughing, will immediately reject the House bill
The upper chamber will then pass a more responsible measure, and send it back to the House, which will be faced with a straightforward, binary choice: pass the Senate version or shut down the government.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/09/18/20559120-boehner-moves-closer-to-government-shutdown?lite
I Have to Laugh at This Criticism
by BooMan
Tue Sep 17th, 2013 at 10:50:05 PM EST
Look, I don’t know what in the fuck about T-Bone or whether Cory Booker made the shit up. But Cory Booker has a 35 point lead in the polls, and that probably underestimates his advantage. If the National Review thinks that they are going to turn that around by calling into question a story that Booker started telling fifteen years ago, then we have nothing to worry about from the National Review.
We can start with Booker’s defense.
To put this in perspective, back in 1998 when Booker supposedly knew a drug-dealer named T-Bone, he went on a 10-day hunger strike, lived in a tent and then a trailer in the open-air drug sale areas of the Newark in order to bring attention to the problem. When accused of fabricating a story about knowing a drug dealer, he defends himself by saying that he knows hundreds of them and even invited some to be his roommates. The Republicans aren’t undermining his credibility; they’re giving him an opportunity to bolster his brand. There isn’t a Mary Magdalene that Booker isn’t ready to befriend. He’ll pull you out of a burning building. He’ll shovel your aging father’s sidewalk. If you lose power in a storm, he’ll invite you to sleep on his floor. Got a problem? Send him a Tweet and he’ll gladly don his cape.
Why even try to fuck with him? Star high school football player wins scholarship to Stanford and becomes class president. A Rhodes Scholar with honors. A Yale law degree. Then he pitches a tent in the middle of the most crime-riddled part of Newark and goes on a hunger strike to protest what’s going on with the have-nots. Somehow wins a seat on the city council and becomes the mayor. Then wins the nomination of the Democratic Party for a U.S. Senate seat.
And you want to quibble about the literal veracity of a story about some guy named T-Bone? This guy can tell you a thousand stories about people with different names, like all the people he met at Stanford, Oxford, and Yale who are too busy cashing in to notice what is going on in our inner cities.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2013/9/17/22505/0250#7
Wall Street Journal Warns GOP That Government Shutdown Could Give Democrats The House
By: Jason Easley
Sep. 17th, 2013
In a editorial that reeks of panic and desperation, the Wall Street Journal is warning House Republicans that a government shutdown could enrage voters to the point where they give Democrats back control of the House.
The Wall Street Journal editorialized:
Beneath the typical misinformation and Republican talking points, the Wall Street Journal editors were desperately trying to stop House Republicans from completing their political suicide mission.
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/09/17/wall-street-journal-warns-gop-government-shutdown-give-democrats-house.html
Republicans Foolishly Try to Get People to Reject Paying $100 a Month for Healthcare
By: Sarah Jones
Sep. 17th, 2013
ObamaCare is coming. Or, as Elizabeth Hasselbeck quipped in an oh so not scripted totally planned way today on Fox today, “ObamaScare.” Yeah, they didn’t believe Sarah Palin’s lies, so we’ll get Elizabeth Hasselbeck to say them.
As Republicans crow that only 23% of Americans want them to destroy ObamaCare because they don’t understand it or like it, the big benefits are starting to roll in.
The latest benefit is a doozy, with the Department of Health and Human Services releasing a report today showing that nearly six in ten (56%) uninsured Americans can pay less than $100 per month for coverage.
Yep. Nearly six in ten people who don’t have health insurance may be able to get coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace for less than $100 per month, according to a new report released Tuesday by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/09/17/thanks-obama-ten-pay-100-month-health-insurance.html
http://youtu.be/eebv4orLB9s
Good Morning, Everyone :)
WooHoo! Geordi! Another of my favorite characters from Trek. When he hosted Reading Rainbow for PBS, I had a hard time at first getting used to him without his visor. One of the best parts of his character, I thought, was his relationship with Data. Geordi was always so patient and sweet with Data’s efforts to be more “human.” Memories……
Hi AG. Glad you’re enjoying the series. :-)