Flamenco is a Spanish art form made up of three parts: guitar playing (“guitarra”), song (“cante”) and dance (“baile”). Flamenco originated in the southern regions of Spain, but it’s thought to be influenced by many world cultures, including Latin American, Cuban and Jewish traditions. Originally flamenco dancing was not set to music; it was only singing and clapping of hands called “toque de palmas.” Some flamenco dancing still follows ancient tradition, but the use of guitars and other musical instruments has become more popular in modern flamenco.
Traditional flamenco dancers rarely received any formal training. Instead, flamenco was passed down from friends, relatives and neighbors.
Hey 3CP!
My friend Sandy had this on her page. Sandy is white and fights for equal rights for people of color every single day. This really is Sandy’s life. I ♥ her!
https://twitter.com/OBAMAweStand/status/382666673284591616/photo/1
https://twitter.com/psddluva4evah/status/382696668606390272/photo/1
How precious!
Lakota and Dakota grandmothers captured the Nazi flag flying over Leith, ND and later burned it!!!
Fantastic!!
WhooHoo!
(SG2, I am now caught up and have answered a question)
OK! TY!
BURN, BABY, BURN!
BURN IT UP!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jzMw9ezE3I
LET’S PLAY THE EXTENDED VERSION FOR OUR LAKOTA & DAKOTA GRANDMAS!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7EfnYwpmOE
BURN THAT MOTHER DOWN
You just dated yourself, Ametia LOL!
The Lakota grandmothers ROCK!
They sure do!!!
Monday, September 23, 2013
The Republican Vote to Cut Food Stamps is Really a Decision to Kill the “Useless Eaters”
15 million Americans were “food insecure” in the United States during 2012. The Great Recession has increased the number of Americans who do not have sufficient food by 30 percent. The fastest growing group of people who need some assistance with obtaining sufficient food to maintain a basic standard of living is the elderly. Hunger in America is estimated to cost the U.S. economy 167 billion dollars.
Approximately 20 percent of American children live in poverty. Food insecurity and hunger leads to a long-term decline in life spans and a diminished standard of living for whole communities.
Last week, Republicans in the House of Representatives voted to cut 39 billion dollars from federal food assistance programs. Their vote is more than just the next act in the ongoing politics of cruelty by the Republican Party in the Age of Obama.
It is a decision to kill poor people.
http://www.chaunceydevega.com/2013/09/in-voting-to-cut-food-stamps.html
another gif for 3CHICS
http://cdn.straightfromthea.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/blankstare-CtA.gif
Hilarious comment to a critic of the President at BJ:
Obamacare’s real danger for the GOP is that it will succeed
By Eugene Robinson
To understand the crisis in Washington, tune out the histrionics and look at the big picture: Republicans are threatening to shut down the federal government — and perhaps even refuse to let the Treasury pay its creditors — in a desperate, last-ditch attempt to keep millions of Americans from getting health insurance.
Seriously. That’s what all the yelling and screaming is about. As my grandmother used to say, it’s hard to know whether to laugh or cry.
The GOP has tried its best to make Obamacare a synonym for bogeyman and convince people that it’s coming in the night to snatch the children. In fact, and I know this comes as a shock to some, Obamacare is not a mythical creature. It is a law, incorporating what were originally Republican ideas, that will make it possible for up to 30 million people now lacking health insurance to obtain it.
Officially, the law in question is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Republicans intended the term “Obamacare” to be mocking, which is perhaps why President Obama started using it with pride.
It is, indeed, an achievement of which the nation can be proud. About 48 million individuals in this country lacked health insurance in 2012, according to the Census Bureau, representing about 15 percent of the population. Other industrialized nations provide universal health care — and wonder if this is what we mean when we talk about American exceptionalism.
About 25 percent of people in households with annual incomes below $25,000 are uninsured, compared with just 8 percent in households earning more than $75,000. Do the working poor not deserve to have their chronic medical conditions treated as punishment for not making enough money?
………………
Now the central provisions of the Affordable Care Act are set to come into effect — the individual mandate, the insurance exchanges, the guarantee of coverage for those with preexisting conditions. Republicans scream that Obamacare is sure to fail. But what they really fear is that it will succeed.
That’s the reason for all the desperation. Republicans are afraid that Obamacare will not prove to be a bureaucratic nightmare — that Americans, in fact, will find they actually like it. The GOP fears that Obamacare will even be credited with slowing the rise of health-care costs to a more manageable rate. There are signs, in fact, that this “bending of the curve” is already taking place: Medical costs are still rising much faster than inflation but at the slowest rate in decades.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/eugene-robinson-obamacare-the-gop-nightmare/2013/09/23/fd29187a-246a-11e3-b75d-5b7f66349852_story.html?tid=pm_opinions_pop
The Morning Plum: GOP’s problem isn’t which hostage to take. It’s the extortion strategy itself.
By Greg Sargent, Published: September 24 at 9:07 am
The conservative drive to threaten a government shutdown to defund Obamacare is collapsing, thanks in part to the news that Mitch McConnell won’t vote with Ted Cruz, effectively meaning the strategy is dead. So now, multiple reports are telling us that House Republicans are preparing to use the debt limit to force an Obamacare delay.
This comes as new polling confirms yet again the basic dynamic here: The American people, even if they disapprove of Obamacare, do not support using this fall’s fiscal confrontations to sabotage the law, whether we’re talking about a government shutdown or the debt limit.
In moving away from a shutdown fight, House Republicans are pleading with conservatives to recognize two realities — Dems won’t agree to seriously undermine Obamacare, and destructive brinksmanship will damage the GOP far more than Obama or Dems. But in forging the new House GOP strategy, Republican leaders are refusing to bow to the very same realities they are asking conservatives to accept.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/09/24/the-morning-plum-gops-problem-isnt-which-hostage-to-take-its-the-extortion-strategy-itself/
David Corn: Slate Pitch: Obama Is The Shrewdest Political Tactician Since LBJ
The conventional view in Washington these days is that President Barack Obama is not having such a great second term and might already be suffering a bit of lame duckery. But here’s a Slate pitch: Obama is the most wily tactician in the nation’s capital since Lyndon Johnson. Consider what Obama has recently done to two of his most bothersome foes: Vladimir Putin and John Boehner.
The Russian leader was now acknowledging that Assad’s stockpile was indeed a problem and, more important, assuming the role of guarantor. Certainly, the subsequent negotiations would be difficult, with Assad likely to slow-walk and obfuscate. But having sucked Putin into the process, Obama had increased the odds of achieving his chief goal: preventing the further use of chemical weapons by the regime.
Back home, Obama has placed House Speaker Boehner in a different sort of hot seat. By declining to negotiate with Boehner about defunding Obamacare in order to prevent a government shutdown, the president has fueled the ongoing civil war within GOP ranks. True, this pitched battle would wage with or without Obama, as tea partiers try to hold the government hostage in order to destroy Obama’s health care program and less extreme Republicans contend that this act of political terrorism will backfire against their party. But sometimes in politics, it takes discipline to stand back and not get in the way when an opponent is self-immolating.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/09/slate-pitch-obama-shrewd-political-strategist
Barack Hussein Obama is one smart, intelligent, savvy, strategic, pragmatic, fine-looking, sexy PRESIDENT.
X’s 1000
Yes!
This slave catcher here…
……………….
Family Research Council Says Starving Children is Christian Thing to Do
By: Hrafnkell Haraldsson
Sep. 24th, 2013
More than a few people have pointed out that if Republicans were the Christians they claimed to be, they would not be cutting food stamps.
You will remember that this sorry event saw 210 Republicans who make $175,000 per year say poor people ought to starve to death, stripping food stamps from 3.8 million Americans, including 170,000 veterans. It included Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) reaching an all-time Republican low (right up there next to putting children back to work in factories) when he said, “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.”
Doesn’t sound very Christian, does it? Many Christians didn’t think so. Christian leaders opposed the cuts. The Associated Baptist Press reported last week that “Roy Medley, general secretary of American Baptist Churches USA, wrote House members Sept. 5. ‘Instead, this type of bill will punish those struggling to get by.’
………………………..
Oh wait…Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell of the Family Research Council (FRC) says there is “nothing more Christian” than cutting food stamps.
……………
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/09/24/family-research-council-starving-children-christian.html
Republicans Starve The Poor While Handing $20 Billion to Corporate Welfare Bums
By: Rmuse
Sep. 24th, 2013
Republicans hate the idea of helping Americans struggling to survive in an economy they persist in sabotaging, and their reasoning is based on lies that America is broke or that aid to the poor creates a nation of takers. President Obama has proposed raising the minimum wage and offered Congress several job programs that would lift the poor out of poverty and reduce the number of Americans in need of assistance, but Republicans claim it is unfair to take taxpayer dollars to fund programs that would reduce the necessity for assistance to the least fortunate among us. However, Republicans do not think it is unfair to take taxpayer dollars to give to their wealthy benefactors or pass legislation to hand more of Americans’ hard-earned money to those who need it least.
Last week, House Republicans voted to slash $40 billion from the SNAP program (food stamps) over the next ten years because, they claim, America is too broke to help seniors, working families, and children eat, but they preserved agriculture subsidies in the farm bill because America in not too broke to give welfare to corporate agriculture or GOP House members voting to cut food stamps. In fact, according to Republicans America is never too broke to give tens-of-billions of taxpayers’ dollars annually to three specific industries that are raking in record profits, and if they were brought to an end America could afford to help the poor, repair the crumbling infrastructure, and put the economy on a sound footing. Republican’s abhorrence of helping the poor or growing the economy aside, it is their adherence to wasteful subsidies that benefit no-one but corporations that sets them apart as fiscal morons.
Subsidies are a form of financial support extended to an economic sector (institution, business, or individual) with the aim of promoting beneficial economic outcomes for the subsidy recipients. Americans are likely unaware how much of their hard-earned tax dollars Republicans give to institutions and businesses that are reporting record profits, and all the while Republicans claim America cannot afford to assist hungry Americans, repair crumbling roads and bridges, or fund education. According to the Cato Institute, American families are paying an average of $6,000 per year to corporations that have doubled their profits while cutting 2.9 million American jobs. It works out to approximately $100 billion a year in corporate welfare, and that does not include some of the biggest and most wasteful subsidies in the nation. It is no small coincidence that the industries receiving the most taxpayer-funded welfare are also Republicans’ favorite donors in the oil, banking, pharmaceutical, and agricultural industries, which are why they bristle at the suggestion the subsidies must end.
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/09/24/republicans-starve-poor-handing-20-billion-corporate-welfare-bums.html
Did Lynne Cheney tell Alan Simpson ‘shut your mouth?’
Lynne Cheney, wife of former Vice President Dick Cheney and mother of U.S. Senate candidate Liz Cheney, on Saturday night told former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson “shut your mouth” about his support for her daughter’s opponent, according to an online account by Simpson’s daughter-in-law.
“So I’m at the Patrons Ball tonight and Lynne Cheney, the mother of Liz, comes up to my father-in-law and tells him to… I believe the direct quote was “Shut your mouth” regarding his support of Mike Enzi,” Deb Oakley Simpson wrote on her Facebook page.
Deb Simpson, when contacted by the Star-Tribune, declined to comment further. She referred the reporter to her Facebook post. The post was no longer public by Monday afternoon.
The Cheney campaign denied those were Lynne Cheney’s words Monday afternoon. Liz Cheney staffer Kara Ahern emailed a statement to the Star-Tribune on Monday, which she attributed to Lynne Cheney.
http://www.balloon-juice.com/2013/09/24/the-cheney-wyoming-shitshow-continues/#comment-4630144
(By the way, the Patrons Ball is a big deal social gala in Cody, the Simpson’s home town, for the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. The Simpsons have been the kingpins in that town since Al’s dad, Governor and Senator Milward, was an attorney there.)
Obama Enrages Republican Warmongers by Pursuing Nuclear Weapons Deal With Iran
By: Jason Easley
Sep. 24th, 2013
President Obama has dealt a blow to Republicans dreaming of war with Iran by announcing that he has directed Sec. of State Kerry to pursue a deal with Iran on their nuclear weapons program.
Video Obama at the UN discussing Syria:
The president provided deep insight into his foreign policy views. Obama told the UN that the United States is ready to act to prevent atrocities, but we can not and should not bear that burden alone. The president said that he was moving the United States away from a perpetual war footing, trying to close GITMO, cutting down on the use of drones, and trying terrorists in courts of law, and transferring detainees to other countries. Obama also said that the nation is reviewing the way they gather intelligence so that security and privacy concerns can be balanced.
President Obama told the UN that they must enforce the ban on chemical weapons when it comes to Syria. Obama laid out the agreement on the Syria’s chemicals weapons as a test of the UN’s ability to enforce basic international laws.
The big news is that Obama announced that he has directed Sec. of State Kerry to work with Russia and China on getting a deal on Iran’s nuclear program. The president said, “We should be able to achieve a resolution that respects the rights of the Iranian people, while giving the world confidence that the Iranian program is peaceful…The roadblocks may prove to be too great, but I firmly believe the diplomatic path must be tested.”
For what feels like millionth time, President Obama demonstrated that his foreign policy ideology is almost the opposite of George W. Bush. His address to the UN today was comprehensive and insightful. Obama laid out the damned if you do, damned if you don’t position that the United States faces on many foreign policy issues. He expressed no reluctance to act when necessary, but made it clear to the UN that after a decade plus of war, the American people are tired of military conflict, so we expect the rest of the world to step up and do more.
It is a bad day to be a Republican warmonger. If Obama is successful, the entire Republican rationale for war with Iran will evaporate. After living through more than a decade of Bush instigated war, President Obama is attempting to lay the path for lasting peace.
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/09/24/obama-enrages-gop-warmongers-directing-john-kerry-pursue-nuclear-weapons-deal-iran.html
How affordable are Affordable Care Act premiums?
One week from Tuesday, a major portion of the president’s health care reform law will go into effect and change the way millions of Americans get their health care. On Oct. 1, they can start signing up to buy insurance on the new state exchanges.
Obamacare is officially the Affordable Care Act, but how affordable are the premiums?
Dean Dodson, an uninsured computer repairman in Baltimore, was excited to learn the cost of his health insurance under Obamacare.
Oh man, I’m elated, it’s like they took something off my shoulders, you know?” he says.
Dodson estimates he will pay around $285 a month, and at that price, he says, he can’t wait to sign up.
“I can afford that — I mean, that’s wonderful, man,” he says, with relief in his voice. “I mean, I’m 59 years old. Sooner or later, something is going to happen to me.”
In Maryland, Dodson will get to choose from among six different insurance companies — typical for most states nationwide. Most companies also offer multiple policies, ranked in price from bronze, being the cheapest, up through silver, gold and platinum, the most expensive.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57604291/how-affordable-are-affordable-care-act-premiums/
Treat the Tea Party Like the Addicts They Are
by BooMan
Tue Sep 24th, 2013 at 11:40:19 AM EST
Jonathan Bernstein is correct that you can tell who the target audience for an opinion piece is by looking for the “to-be-sure” paragraph. The “to-be-sure” paragraph is intended to anticipate, confront, and cut-off likely criticisms of your argument from people who are generally on your side of the political spectrum. It is usually used to solidify your credentials as a solid liberal or conservative, depending on your intended audience.
Example: “To be sure, I’m all for single-payer health care, but ObamaCare isn’t too shabby.”
Example: “To be sure, ObamaCare is a complete disaster, but now is not the time to shut down the government over it.”
Mr. Bernstein is also correct that pandering to the Tea Party with the latter of those two examples is not going to be effective, and what is really needed is direct confrontation of their bullshit. The way to treat Tea Partiers is the way you would treat a drug addict. Realize that you didn’t cause their craziness, you can’t cure their craziness, and you can’t control their craziness. All you can do is establish that you have zero-tolerance for their bullshit and lay out consequences for them if they keep mainlining excrement. And then you need to get out of their way and let them figure things out for themselves.
Judd Gregg thinks that he can talk sense to these addicts if he grants them half their insanity. That’s like telling a junkie that it’s okay for him to abuse alcohol as long as he stays away from the smack. That won’t work. These people need some tough love and a 12-step program.
Their brains have been marinated in weaponized bullshit for so long that they don’t know how to function without it. They can’t be reasoned with until they’ve been right-wing media-free for at least 90 days. They probably need an inpatient treatment program that has no televisions or radios, and no email, either.
You can’t shame them. Begging won’t work. Anger won’t work. Negotiating won’t work. Guilt won’t work. Fear won’t work. Pretending you’re their best friend won’t work. You might as well stop being in denial about it and realize that only forcing them to own up to their problem is going to get them to begin on the road of recovery.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2013/9/24/114019/542#11
John Presta @MrGrassroots
Governor Pat Quinn announces that the Illinois Health Insurance Marketplace rates are 25% below HHS estimates. http://fb.me/ZpDnp2A8
9:18 AM – 24 Sep 2013
There’s competition amongst the free market. Gee, I wonder whose fault it is.
Nerdy Wonka @NerdyWonka
This is how #ObamaCare works:
1. Go to https://www.healthcare.gov or
2. Call (1-800-318-2596; TTY: 1-855-889-4325)
3. Buy health insurance
Love it. News folks can simply report these 3 steps, then it’s up to Americans to take these 3 steps. How’s that for freedom?
Nerdy Wonka @NerdyWonka
What is today?
National Voter Registration Day.
2014 is around the corner so get registered.
It’s easy!
http://www.nationalvoterregistrationday.org
The Coup We Want
by BooMan
Tue Sep 24th, 2013 at 10:21:26 AM EST
J-Rube says that “the grown-ups are taking the Senate back,” from Sens. Cruz, Lee and Paul. This is true only in the sense that Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is promising not to filibuster the House’s continuing resolution, which means that Harry Reid will be able to pass whatever he wants to pass and throw the hot potato back in John Boehner’s lap. But, as Matt Yglesias points out, this is hardly the end of this crisis. Our country’s credit rating is at increasing risk with every day that goes by without clarity about whether or not the debt ceiling will be raised. And, even if the Republicans ultimately cave on both the CR and the debt ceiling, the government will still only be funded until mid-December and a new debt ceiling crisis will loom on the horizon. The impasse will continue and the idiotic sequester will remain in place.
The good news is that I have never before seen a party lead with their chin quite as much as the Republican Party is doing right now. I believe that their ship is caught up on the shoals, and a few rounds of pounding waves should be enough to break the whole vessel into pieces.
Begin by having the Senate pass a clean continuing resolution. Watch the Republicans vote to let it happen but vote against the bill itself. This will fool no one and alienate the GOP’s big business donors.
Then have Pelosi withhold her support from the clean CR bill, forcing Boehner to come to her and ask what she needs to support the bill. Pelosi should then demand an end to the statutory debt ceiling. She should also have a package ready that would adjust the funding in the sequester to be more to our liking, although she should be willing to give some goodies to moderate pro-defense Republicans who she will need to make the coup work. She might even demand a bill that funds the government for longer than three months, but I don’t think she can ask for everything, and we don’t really like the spending levels anyway, so why perpetuate them longer than we need to?
This one-two Senate-House punch should be enough to break the hold of the Tea Party on John Boehner and the rest of the Republican caucus. Either Boehner will resign or he will accept Pelosi’s offer. If he accepts Pelosi’s offer, there will be an effort to take his gavel away.
The Democrats can agree to vote for Boehner for speaker to prevent a right-wing coup, but then Boehner will be beholden to the people who actually voted for him.
That’s the coup we want.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2013/9/24/102126/303
A debt-ceiling ransom note takes shape
By Steve Benen
Tue Sep 24, 2013 10:48 AM EDT.
Given the trajectory of the current fight, congressional Republicans will probably fail in their government shutdown scheme. There are only six days remaining before the deadline, and there’s still a chance for a disaster, but Senate Republicans are abandoning Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and the smart money says the government will keep its lights on through December.
But in the larger context, the shutdown crisis has never been the crisis that should keep you up at night. If the shutdown threat was the appetizer, the debt-ceiling threat is the main course. If the shutdown was the opening act; the debt ceiling is the headliner.
Indeed, late yesterday, we started getting a sense of what congressional Republicans will demand in exchange for doing their duty. I put together this image to help summarize
You’re probably thinking that I’m exaggerating. I’m really not. The conservative Washington Examiner reported late yesterday:
The legislative package, which House GOP leaders will unveil to their members tomorrow and which may get a vote as early as Friday, will agree to raise the debt limit and prevent a default. In exchange, they’ll expect Democrats to “delay for a year further implementation of the Affordable Care Act” and accept “construction of the job-rich Keystone XL pipeline.” The same report added that the bill “could include a variety of GOP-friendly economic proposals, including tax reform, Medicare means testing, medical liability reform, an overhaul of the federal employee retirement system, elimination of the Dodd-Frank bailout, the easing of Environmental Protection Agency rules, restrictions on federal regulators and an expansion of offshore energy production.”
In other words, when it comes to the latest in a series of Republican-imposed crises, Democrats have effectively said, “Don’t bother asking for anything because we’re not negotiating.” To which Republicans are responding, “Don’t bother dismissing us because we’re asking for everything.”
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/09/24/20675882-a-debt-ceiling-ransom-note-takes-shape?lite
i take these Rethugs think they won the presidency?
TheObamaDiary.com @TheObamaDiary
#DefundObamacare even if you think it’s fantastic but are damned if you’ll admit it ‘cos, well, you know … black dude in the White House.
9:02 AM – 24 Sep 2013
TheObamaDiary.com @TheObamaDiary
#DefundObamacare if you’re so patriotic you’d like to see your fellow countrymen and women die of preventive illnesses.
8:58 AM – 24 Sep 2013
Rubio’s cravenness on proud display
By Steve Benen
Tue Sep 24, 2013 10:02 AM EDT.
When it comes to judicial nominees, there’s a common practice that’s been in place for many years — the White House takes the lead in choosing appeals court nominees, while U.S. senators play a leading role in choosing district court nominees from their own states.
So in Florida, for example, President Obama would nominate jurists for the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers the Sunshine State, but Sens. Marco Rubio (R) and Bill Nelson (D) would be chiefly responsible for sending the White House qualified professionals to serve on federal district courts in the state.
Judge William Thomas, who currently serves on the Miami-Dade Circuit, fits the bill nicely. Thomas, who grew up in poverty in a large Pennsylvania family, worked hard and succeeded throughout his legal career. Rubio and Nelson reviewed Thomas’ record, subjected him to a background check, and encouraged the White House to nominate him for the federal bench.
Ten months ago, Obama’s team agreed and Thomas was poised to become the first black openly gay man to serve as a federal judge. That is, until a few days ago, when Rubio announced his opposition to the judicial nominee he recommended.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/09/24/20675455-rubios-cravenness-on-proud-display?lite
Former Obama African-American vote director Wade will run for Senate from SC
by Joy-Ann Reid | September 23, 2013 at 6:00 AM
Rick Wade, the former Commerce Department official and national African-American vote director for President Barack Obama, will run for the United States Senate against Tim Scott, a source with direct knowledge of Wade’s plans tells theGrio.
Scott, who was appointed to the Senate by South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, is expected to run for a full term next November.
Wade’s entrance sets up an historic race between two black candidates for statewide, federal office in South Carolina, in which neither man is expected to face a primary challenge.
“The [Democratic] field has been cleared” for Wade, the source said.
Wade, who chaired Obama’s successful South Carolina primary in 2008 against Hillary Clinton, was appointed by the president as senior adviser and deputy chief of staff for the U.S. Department of Commerce during Obama’s first term. He now runs a business consulting firm and divides his time between Washington D.C. and his home state.
Wade has hinted at a run since late August. He is expected to announce his candidacy early next month
http://thegrio.com/2013/09/23/former-obama-african-american-vote-director-wade-will-run-for-senate-from-sc/
For Black Caucus, African-American politics in an age of austerity
Opinion
by Joy-Ann Reid | September 21, 2013 at 12:38 PM
The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation held its annual legislative conference this week — four days of conferences, panels, receptions and parties that mark the unofficial start of the fall political season
Congress is back in session after its late summer recess, so members dart back and forth between their forums and receptions to the House floor, where on Thursday and Friday, various members including Rep. John Lewis took turns denouncing the GOP vote to slash $40 billion from the SNAP program — a move that would cut 3.8 million people, half of them children and one in ten of them seniors, off food assistance — if the bill wasn’t dead on arrival in the Senate.
That’s part of the ritual futility of the Washington in which the 43 black caucus members (including two non-voting members from the U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia. South Carolina’s African-American Senator, Tim Scott, is not a member) operate. The body in which they serve as a distinct but unified minority, is often in high theater, but rarely in a position to actually make law.
Much of what comes out of the House is ideological whimsy from the belly of America’s far right wing, accompanied by Democratic head shaking and palm-to-forehead exhortations by veteran staffers that they’ve never seen a Washington this bizarre and broken.
In a city gripped by austerity — from the ongoing drag of the sequester to the tea party’s fixation on cutting even more spending and their impossible, obsessive dream of defunding the Affordable Care Act — the CBC remains focused on bread and butter issues. Their forums (including one I moderated, put on by Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings on transportation and infrastructure) focus on how to get more minority firms access to lucrative federal contracting, and on how to unwind the implacable puzzle of black unemployment, which has remained at double white unemployment in good times and bad — but especially in bad.
………………………
http://thegrio.com/2013/09/21/obama-addresses-black-caucus-african-american-politics-in-the-age-of-scarcity/
because they couldn’t pick out one line from the speech and throw the Blackeratti on tv screaming,
SEE…THIS IS HOW OBAMA DISRESPECTS BLACK PEOPLE.
you all thought I was kidding, asking where the Blackeratti was..
as you can see, NONE of them mofos have written about the President’s speech at the CBC either…
because their PREPARED COLUMNS criticizing POTUS were worthless.
…………………………………
Scant Live Coverage of Obama at Black Caucus Affair
President Obama’s keynote appearance before the Congressional Black Caucus’ Annual Legislative Conference usually warrants live coverage on at least one network, but viewers searched in vain for the Phoenix Awards Dinner Saturday night.
NBC cameras provided pool coverage, but only MSNBC broadcast the
speech live — for about six minutes before technical problems aborted
the effort. “We had every intention of running the full speech but the
live feed quality was poor – we started it but [it] did dip out before
the end of the speech,” spokeswoman Lauren Skowronski told Journal-isms by email.
C-SPAN showed the speech [video] on Sunday at 12:09 a.m., 3:45 a.m., 6:30 a.m. and 2:45 p.m. “C-SPAN aired the speech soon as the scheduling allowed for the entire speech to be shown on the network,” spokesman Howard Mortman said.
“CNN did not take the President’s speech live, but did run parts of
the speech during Sunday morning programming,” spokeswoman Christal Jones said.
http://mije.org/richardprince/how-much-blood-too-much#Obama
Those NEGROES don’t want to address POTUS’ speech because he’s done come in there and messed with their GAME.
Would you fill me in on everything re his speech, Ametia?
Hi Yahtc’ full speech is on the CBC thread. I updated with video last night.
Columbus Upset Over Kerry’s Emmy Loss; Also, is ‘Scandal’ Star Preggers?
September 24, 2013 by PJ
*Many of us watched the Emmys Sunday night in hopes of seeing actress Kerry Washington take home the win for Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role in “Scandal.”
Unfortunately we were disappointed when Claire Danes’ name was called instead for her role in “Homeland.”
Gladiators around the world announced their disappointment for Kerry’s loss, with her co-star, Columbus Short, taking to Twitter as the unofficial spokesman for every “Scandal” fan.
“Robbed. Robbed I tell you. ROBBED. @kerrywashington is without question the MOST OUTSTANDING. Well see you next year Emmys,” Columbus tweeted before issuing some instructions to “Scandal” fans everywhere. “@ScandalABC…See you #Gladiators Oct. 3rd lets show them who we are. #GladiatorsWontBeDenied @ScandalABC love you all…I wish I could of ran on stage and pulled a Kanye.#OkImDoneVenting #EmmyRobbery”
http://www.eurweb.com/2013/09/columbus-upset-over-kerrys-emmy-loss-also-is-scandal-star-preggers/
Rubio kills nomination of gay African-American judge to appease the far right
By David Ferguson
Tuesday, September 24, 2013 12:28 EDT
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has withdrawn his support of a gay African-American judge from Miami who was poised to make the leap to the federal bench, and possibly savaged the nominee’s professional reputation in the process. According to the New York Times, critics of the decision are crying foul, saying that Rubio is playing politics with the nomination to win back the support of the far right.
Rubio was in favor of Judge William Thomas’ nomination before he was against it. The junior Senator supported President Barack Obama’s choice to appoint Thomas to the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Florida 10 months ago, but that was before Rubio saw his credibility with far-right conservatives wither over his support of comprehensive immigration reform.
Now, suddenly, Rubio’s office is citing Thomas’ handling of two criminal cases as the Senator’s reason for suddenly turning cold on the nomination, officially dooming its chances of going through. Thomas — who grew up living on food stamps in a Philadelphia family of 10 children — would have been the first African-American openly gay man to sit on the federal bench.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/09/24/rubio-kills-nomination-of-gay-african-american-judge-to-appease-the-far-right/
Cornell West + “Crossfire” = One Hell Of A GIF Factory
Thank goodness for split screen reaction shots on cable news.
THESE ARE HILARIOUS!!
http://www.buzzfeed.com/dorsey/cornell-west-crossfire-one-hell-of-a-gif-factory
The long game of Obamacare
Many of you will remember the great debate that happened on the left as Obamacare worked its way through the Senate. Far too many people prioritized only one thing…the public option. Today I’m convinced that many of them never really knew what the public option was – the requirement that all state health care exchanges include at least one public insurance option – and instead equated it with a single payer system. President Obama has consistently been criticized on the left for failing to support single payer and that critique got equated with the simple idea of a public option on the exchanges.
But lets go back to 2008 and listen to what then-Senator Barack Obama said about single payer.
http://youtu.be/l7wTDK-LwqE
In addition to worrying about job losses during the great recession, President Obama talked about the fact that so many people rely on their employer for health insurance. Any move towards single payer would have to de-couple health insurance from employment.
As we move towards the unveiling of the state health care exchanges on October 1st, it is with that in mind that I read stories like this.
Republicans will use this as an example of the havoc they envision coming from Obamacare and I’ve already seen too many liberals light their hair on fire about it as well. Whether or not employers will provide a subsidy in pay that is the equivalent of what they have been spending to purchase insurance is – of course – a concern.
But what I see in all of this is the extremely effective long game that is so typical of President Obama. He knew at the outset that if he championed the cause of single payer, he would never get it through Congress. And so instead he put in place a system that not only addresses significant immediate concerns, it will slowly but surely move us in the direction of decoupling health insurance from employment – opening up a whole range of possibilities.
http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-long-game-of-obamacare.html
Superb post. Thanks, Ms. Smartypants!
Speaking at the United Nations, President Obama says if the United States and Iran can come to an agreement on Iran’s nuclear program, it could lead to better relations based on mutual interests and respect. He said he has directed Secretary of State John Kerry to negotiate with Iranian officials and explore the prospects of better relations. “I am directing John Kerry to pursue this effort with the Iranian government, in close coordination with the European Union, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia and China,” Obama said. “The roadblocks may prove to be too great, but I firmly believe the diplomatic path must be tested.”
Read more at:
http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/7CWL7Z/L9EQT6/GE9OUN/LQQ8017/FKD4VL/B7/h?a=http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-to-address-syria-crisis-iran-nuclear-program-at-un-general-assembly/2013/09/24/9f0c41c2-2514-11e3-b3e9-d97fb087acd6_story.html
PBO addresses UN Now:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/posttv/c/live/Obama%20addresses%20the%20U.N.%20General%20Assembly/92d280a2-7d90-11e0-b6cc-e4e4a8a38cf0?wpisrc=al_comboPN_p
SG2, where are you?
‘Baby Veronica’ handed over to adoptive parents
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A South Carolina couple who vowed last month to not leave Oklahoma unless they went home with a 4-year-old Cherokee girl they have been trying to adopt since her birth were given custody of the girl Monday night after the Oklahoma Supreme Court said it didn’t have jurisdiction over the child.
“She’s safely in her parents’ arms,” said Jessica Munday, a spokeswoman for Matt and Melanie Capobianco, of Charleston, S.C.
Cherokee Nation spokeswoman Amanda Clinton confirmed that Veronica was handed over to the Capobiancos hours after the Oklahoma Supreme Court dissolved a temporary court order leaving the child with her father and his family. Until the Monday night transfer, the Cherokee Nation had insisted the girl would remain with the tribe.
The Capobiancos and the girl’s biological father, Dusten Brown, had fought for years over custody of the girl. The dispute has raised questions about jurisdictions, tribal sovereignty and a federal law meant to help keep Native American tribes together.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/09/23/cherokee-child-custody/2858431/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_morning&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_morning&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet
I cannot believe it. They’re still removing Native American children from their parents. Got dammit!
This is heart-breaking, to watch a father who wants and loves his daughter be TOTALLY DENIED his rights.
It’s crushing to the soul.
I am feeling such sorrow about this. It just is not right.
Saying a prayer.
this is evil.
has been evil from day one.
It’s a fucking outrage! The ICWA doesn’t mean a damn thing to these people. It’s the same ole ISH different day…..sign a treaty…break it the next day.
Baby Veronica, Trayvon Martin, Marlon Brown, Kendrick Johnson etc all VICTIMS of a system who keeps fking over people of color.
They’re telling us it’s JUST-US.
Harry Reid Vows, ‘We’re not going to bow to Tea Party anarchists.’
By: Jason Easley
Sep. 23rd, 2013
Majority Leader Harry Reid took to the Senate floor and issued a battle cry for all Democrats, ‘We’re not going to bow to Tea Party anarchists who deny the mere fact that Obamacare is the law.’
Sen. Reid (D-NV) gave John Boehner and his House Republicans two choices. Republicans can accept a funding bill that doesn’t defund Obamacare, or they can shutdown the government. Reid said, “We will not bow to Tea Party anarchists who refuse to accept that the Supreme Court ruled that Obamacare is constitutional.” Almost on cue, Sen. Ted Cruz ambled down to the Senate floor and began his game of obstruction and delay by objecting to unanimous consent on moving forward with 4 non-controversial nominations.
Sen. Cruz’s master plan is to delay the Senate vote on stripping the defunding of Obamacare out of the House CR for as long as possible. Cruz doesn’t have a plan, or an endgame. His whole purpose is to get more media attention for himself. Cruz is convinced that if he turns himself into an anti-Obamacare martyr the rest of the country will rise up and a popular rebellion will break out against res state Senate Democrats, and force all Republicans to oppose funding the government without defunding Obamacare.
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/09/23/harry-reid-vows-were-bow-tea-party-anarchists.html
Cruz’s crusade cracks, starts to crumble
By Steve Benen
Tue Sep 24, 2013 8:00 AM EDT.
Cruz stands alone.
Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) government-shutdown scheme relies on several elements, but chief among them is Republican unanimity. The far-right Texan, if he’s going to have any chance at all, will need just about all of his fellow GOP senators to link arms and rally around his destructive, unpopular scheme.
As yesterday unfolded, it became clear this isn’t going to happen.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/09/24/20673996-cruzs-crusade-cracks-starts-to-crumble?lite
How not to argue against Obamacare
By Steve Benen
Tue Sep 24, 2013 9:08 AM EDT.
One of the more talked about pieces in conservative media yesterday came by way of Forbes, and it caused quite a stir. If you missed it, the article, based on American Enterprise Institute research, said the typical American family of four should expect $7,450 in additional health care costs, all because of the Affordable Care Act.
If true, that certainly sounds problematic. With a weak economy and stagnant wages, an average household would struggle to afford those increased costs.
The problem, as Igor Volsky explained, is that the Forbes piece is entirely wrong.
MIT’s Jonathan Gruber went on to Volsky, “This is a typically misleading use of data by opponents of Obamacare.”
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/09/24/20674838-how-not-to-argue-against-obamacare?lite
Pelosi, House Dems still hope to revive immigration reform
By Steve Benen
Tue Sep 24, 2013 8:34 AM EDT
At the start of this Congress, comprehensive immigration reform looked like the one major issue that might actually garner enough bipartisan support to become law. And when a legislative package sailed through the Senate with relative ease in June, reform proponents were right to be optimistic.
Progress, however, has come to a halt. The bipartisan House group working on a proposal has effectively collapsed, with two Republican members abandoning the “gang,” claiming they can’t trust President Obama to enforce the law.
Options are clearly dwindling. As we discussed on Friday, there’s not much the Senate can do, since it’s already passed a good bill. There’s not much the White House can do, either. Rank-and-file House Republicans seem unlikely to step up, since they oppose many of the underlying provisions of any comprehensive solution on ideological grounds.
Maybe House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) can figure something out? Greg Sargent reported yesterday that the former Speaker is working on a measure intended to keep the pressure on the House GOP majority.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/
American mainstream balks at GOP shutdown scheme
By Steve Benen
Mon Sep 23, 2013 2:37 PM EDT
If polls showed overwhelming support for the Republican plan to shut down the government over the Affordable Care Act, it’d be easier to understand the motivation. But it’s hard to miss the disconnect between the American mainstream and GOP lawmakers.
By any fair measure, 19% is pretty abysmal. Proponents of this scheme have been working to build public support for their idea for months, and they have yet cracked the one-in-five plateau.
And yet, while 19% of Americans are on board, 98% of House Republicans voted Friday for a spending bill that would shut down the government unless Democrats agree to “defund Obamacare.”
Why, pray tell, would such an unpopular idea enjoy near-unanimous support among the House GOP?
——————————————————————————–
Consider this tidbit from a new Pew Research survey: “[T]he dominant view among Tea Party Republicans is that lawmakers should stick to their principles, even if that results in a government shutdown.”
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/09/23/20662623-american-mainstream-balks-at-gop-shutdown-scheme?lite
The First Couple on their way to JFK.
I love this pic.
Are Women of Color Only Allowed to Have White Love Interests On Network TV?
September 20, 2013 by Britni Danielle
A recent article on The Wrap about Mindy Kaling’s FOX sitcom The Mindy Project got me thinking. In the piece, Jethro Nededog wondered why the show’s title character, an Indian-American doctor, seemed obsessed with White guys.
In his essay, Nededog asks why Kaling’s character exclusively dates White men and what it actually means to the rest of us. He writes:
The Mindy Project isn’t the only show that pairs a woman of color with almost exclusively White love interests. NBC’s now canceled drama Deception, depicted Megan Good’s character involved in a hot romance with her childhood (White) beau, and TV’s most popular drama, Scandal, is fueled by Olivia Pope’s steamy affair with President Fitzgerald Grant. Although Pope has dated non-White men, the only other guy to give the president a run for his money is Jake Ballard, Fitz’s naval pal.
http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2013/09/women-color-allowed-white-love-interests-network-tv/comment-page-19/#comment-437566
Obamacare’s real danger to GOP: The party is actually worried that the act will succeed.
By Eugene Robinson
To understand the crisis in Washington, tune out the histrionics and look at the big picture: Republicans are threatening to shut down the federal government — and perhaps even refuse to let the Treasury pay its creditors — in a desperate, last-ditch attempt to keep millions of Americans from getting health insurance.
Seriously. That’s what all the yelling and screaming is about. As my grandmother used to say, it’s hard to know whether to laugh or cry.
The GOP has tried its best to make Obamacare a synonym for bogeyman and convince people that it’s coming in the night to snatch the children. In fact, and I know this comes as a shock to some, Obamacare is not a mythical creature. It is a law, incorporating what were originally Republican ideas, that will make it possible for up to 30 million people now lacking health insurance to obtain it.
Officially, the law in question is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Republicans intended the term “Obamacare” to be mocking, which is perhaps why President Obama started using it with pride.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/eugene-robinson-obamacare-the-gop-nightmare/2013/09/23/fd29187a-246a-11e3-b75d-5b7f66349852_story.html
September 23, 2013 11:48 PM
Now, That’s Conceited
By Martin Longman
I grew up in Princeton, New Jersey where “Yale Sucks” t-shirts were ubiquitous precisely because there was no argument that Harvard was the country’s premier university and the only debate was over which institution deserved the position of number two. Sometimes people would acknowledge that Stanford deserved a place in the debate, but I am familiar with the conceit that there are “minor Ivies.” Still, I was a little shocked to learn that Ted Cruz refused to study the law at Harvard with anyone whose undergraduate degree was from Brown or Penn.
My hat’s off to Ted Cruz for gaining admittance to Princeton and excelling in the debating club. I’ll give him credit for excelling at an institution where he didn’t initially know anyone and where he never quite fit in. It’s the same kind of credit I give to Michelle Obama and Sonia Sotomayor. I mean, good for them. Congratulations.
But, to be so conceited about your accomplishment that you won’t study with someone from Cornell or Dartmouth or Brown or Penn? Growing up where I did, I’ve known more than my fair share of arrogant self-entitled jerks who were born on third base and thought that they hit a triple. But Ted Cruz takes the cake.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2013_09/now_thats_conceited047014.php
President Barack Obama will focus on U.S. policy toward the Middle East and North Africa in his speech today at 10:10 a.m. ET the U.N. General Assembly, a White House official said.
The White House has “left the door open” to some kind of face-to-face interaction between Obama and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, a senior administration official said.
Get complete coverage of today’s U.N. meeting on CNN TV, CNN.com and CNN Mobile.
http://www.cnn.com/
Good Morning, Everyone :)
Morning, everyone!
Good Morning, Everyone. :-)
OLE’ Loving the Famenco series, SG2. I like the Falmenco dancers clapping of hands with guitar.
Good Morning rikyrah, Ametia and Everybody!
Hi there, Yaht! Were you able to watch the rest of the Colored Museum exhibits?
Hi Ametia,
Busy morning.
Yes, I have watched all the exhibits and plan to write my thoughts……just haven’t had the time. I appreciate your asking because it encourages me to follow through and do some serious thinking and feeling.
I just posted on Episode 5.