Prince Rogers Nelson (born June 7, 1958), known by his mononym Prince, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and actor. He has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career.[1] He has written several hundred songs[2] and produces and records his own music for his own music label.[1] In addition, he has promoted the careers of Sheila E., Carmen Electra, the Time and Vanity 6,[1] and his songs have been recorded by these artists and others, including Chaka Khan, the Bangles, Sinéad O’Connor, and Kim Basinger.
Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Prince developed an interest in music at an early age, writing his first song at age seven. After recording songs with his cousin’s band 94 East, seventeen-year-old Prince recorded several unsuccessful demo tapes before releasing his debut album, For You, in 1978. His 1979 album, Prince, went platinum due to the success of the singles “Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?” and “I Wanna Be Your Lover”. His next three records, Dirty Mind (1980), Controversy (1981), and 1999 (1982) continued his success, showcasing Prince’s trademark of prominently sexual lyrics and incorporation of elements of funk, dance and rock music. In 1984, he began referring to his backup band as the Revolution and released the album Purple Rain, which served as the soundtrack to his film debut of the same name.
After releasing the albums Around the World in a Day (1985) and Parade (1986), The Revolution disbanded and Prince released the critically acclaimed double album Sign “O” the Times (1987) as a solo artist. He released three more solo albums before debuting the New Power Generation band in 1991, which saw him changing his stage name to an unpronounceable symbol known as “The Love Symbol”. In 1994, he began releasing new albums at a faster pace to remove himself from contractual obligations to Warner Bros, releasing five records in a span of two years before signing to Arista Records in 1998. In 2000, he began referring to himself as “Prince” once again. He has released thirteen albums since then, including his latest, 20Ten, released in 2010.
Prince has a wide vocal range and is known for his flamboyant stage presence and costumes. His releases have sold over 100 million copies worldwide.[3] He has won seven Grammy Awards,[4] a Golden Globe,[5] and an Academy Award.[6] He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, the first year he was eligible.[7] Rolling Stone has ranked Prince No. 27 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.[8] Prince’s music has been influenced by rock, R&B, soul, funk, hip hop, blues, new wave, electronica, disco, psychedelia, folk, jazz, and pop.[1] His artistic influences include Sly & the Family Stone, Parliament-Funkadelic, Joni Mitchell, the Beatles, Johnny “Guitar” Watson, Miles Davis, Carlos Santana,[2] Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Led Zeppelin, Marvin Gaye, the Isley Brothers, Todd Rundgren[9] Duke Ellington,[10] Curtis Mayfield,[11] and Stevie Wonder.[12] Prince pioneered the “Minneapolis sound”, a hybrid mixture of funk, rock, pop, R&B and new wave that has influenced many other musicians.[13]
Musical beginnings: 1975–80
In 1975, Pepe Willie, the husband of Prince’s cousin, Shauntel, formed the band 94 East with Marcy Ingvoldstad and Kristie Lazenberry. Willie hired André Cymone and Prince to record tracks with 94 East. Those songs were written by Willie and Prince contributed guitar tracks. Prince also co-wrote, with Willie, the 94 East song, “Just Another Sucker”. The band recorded tracks which later became the album Minneapolis Genius – The Historic 1977 Recordings. Prince also recorded, but never released, a song written by Willie, “If You See Me” (also known as, “Do Yourself A Favor”). In 1995, Willie released the album 94 East featuring Prince, Symbolic Beginning which included original recordings by Prince and Cymone.
In 1976, Prince created a demo tape with producer Chris Moon in Moon’s Minneapolis studio. Unable to secure a recording contract, Moon brought the tape to Minneapolis businessman Owen Husney. Husney signed Prince, at the age of 17, to a management contract and helped Prince create a demo recording at Sound 80 Studios in Minneapolis using producer/engineer David Z. The demo recording, along with a press kit produced at Husney’s ad agency, resulted in interest from several record companies including Warner Bros. Records, A&M Records, and Columbia Records. With the help of Husney, Prince signed a recording contract with Warner Bros.. Warner Bros. agreed to give Prince creative control for three albums and ownership of the publishing rights.[citation needed] Husney and Prince then left Minneapolis and moved to Sausalito, California where Prince’s first album, For You, was recorded at Record Plant Studios. Subsequently, the album was mixed in Los Angeles and released in on April 7, 1978.[23] According to the For You album notes, Prince produced, arranged, composed and played all 27 instruments on the recording. The album was written and performed by Prince, except for the song “Soft and Wet” which had lyrics co-written by Moon.
The cost of recording the album was twice Prince’s initial advance. Prince used the Prince’s Music Co. to publish his songs. “Soft and Wet” reached No. 12 on the Hot Soul Singles chart and No. 92 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song “Just as Long as We’re Together” reached No.91 on the Hot Soul Singles chart.
In 1979 Prince created a band which included André Cymone on bass, Dez Dickerson on guitar, Gayle Chapman and Doctor Fink on keyboards, and Bobby Z. on drums. Their first show was at the Capri Theater on January 5, 1979. Warner Bros. executives attended the show but decided that Prince and the band needed more time to develop his music.[24]
In October 1979, Prince released a self-titled album, Prince, which was No.4 on the Billboard Top R&B/Black Albums charts, and No.22 on the Billboard 200, going platinum. It contained two R&B hits: “Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?” and “I Wanna Be Your Lover”. “I Wanna Be Your Lover” sold over a million copies, and reached No.11 on the Billboard Hot 100
PLEASE NOTE: PRINCE IS VERY STRICT ABOUT HIS MUSIC. THERE WILL BE NO VIDEOS OF HIS SONGS FROM YOUTUBE. THEY’VE ALL BEEN TAKEN DOWN BECAUSE OF COPYRIGHT. THERE WILL ONLY BE VIDEOS OF HIM IN SOME SORT OF PERFORMANCE ON STAGE.
The Affordable Care Act is the Law. You CAN’T STOP it.
excerpt from linked article from Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304373104579107051184641222.html
Just wait until the 2014 election.
Tea Party racists couldn’t handle the BLACK Potus was elected by the American people so they shut down the Government.
This is so sad….people are going to suffer.
Treasonous racist mofos are shutting down the Government b/c they’re mad the black man is sitting in the Oval office.
*tears*
**********************
This is got damn disgrace!
What is going to happen to government welfare and the needy??
Children are going to suffer…..what about those that need food?
Tea Party racists don’t give a rats ass as long as they try to hurt the black Potus for being elected President.
I hope he can tell us more about what he expects the DOJ to do.
quick watch ……Senators speaking:
http://www.c-span.org/Live-Video/C-SPAN/
Sick!!!
http://www.blackvoicenews.com/commentary/more-commentary/49069-black-and-latino-wealth-drops-to-record-lows.html
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/09/30/2701131/shutdown-wic/
http://www.islandpacket.com/2013/09/30/2713587/ga-slave-descendants-still-fighting.html
TD Jakes has a show on BET?
Dem REp James Moran is opening up a can of whup AZZ on the House.
Donna NoShock @NoShock
All of this just because they refuse to accept that we elected a black man to be President of the United states TWICE #GOPshutdown
4:36 PM – 30 Sep 2013
He is a great President!
http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/yhst-88202680018519/home-banner-img.jpg
Yeah, the GOP “legislators” has spent the last four years and eight months promoting the “birther” lie, scandal hunting, voting to repeal Obamacare, and trying to figure out how to impeach the president without cause. They are without question the most abominable Congress of my lifetime. If the GOP House reps are still around after the 2014 election then that will say a lot about this country, none of it good. F*ck them.
Oliver Willis @owillis
Boehner really proving that a woman’s place is in the Speaker’s office. Pelosi never got rolled like this.
4:29 PM – 30 Sep 2013
John Boehner’s got NO BALLS
He needs to roll like Nancy Smash
Bye Boehner!
Anil Dash ✔ @anildash
One of my closest friends treats kids with cancer at the National Cancer Institute; Today they’re planning for how to shut down tomorrow.
8:26 AM – 30 Sep 2013
Nerdy Wonka @NerdyWonka
Nancy Pelosi would never allow a caucus to hold her hostage like the Tea Party does to Boehner. Want the job done? Give a woman the gavel.
4:41 PM – 30 Sep 2013
Moderate Republicans Are Revolting Against The Push To Defund Obamacare
Source: Business Insider
This evening, House Speaker John Boehner (R) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R) are making their third attempt to get Obamacare changes in exchange for passing a continuing resolution to keep the government open.
They’re getting some opposition from the right, including the Senate Conservatives Fund and Heritage Action, which don’t like the fact that the new plan wouldn’t defund Obamacare entirely.
But what’s new is that Republican moderates are threatening to vote against leadership’s plan because they do not want to have this fight over Obamacare. And those moderates may have enough votes to block the plan from passing.
Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) has declared his intention to vote against the rule bringing tonight’s amendments to the floor. King spokesman Kevin Fogarty told Business Insider he has 25 other moderate Republicans with him against any further defund-Obamacare push on this continuing resolution.
Especially since some conservative members are likely to vote against the CR from the right, that spells big trouble for Boehner’s plan. Fogarty told Business Insider that Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), two of the House’s most hardline conservatives, were not among the count of 20-25 moderates. Both plan to vote “no” on the amendment.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/government-shutdown-moderate-republicans-revolt-boehner-defund-obamacare-2013-9#ixzz2gQ720cN4
Things heating up…..One speaker just said, “Let’s pass the Bill in the next hour and put anything else in another bill.
You can listen here:
http://www.c-span.org/Live-Video/C-SPAN/
When the likes of Trent Lott clowns you…you know how pathetic you are
………..
Trent Lott on Ted Cruz: “Cut His Legs Out From Under Him”
—By David Corn
| Mon Sep. 30, 2013 2:26 PM PDT
Just as House Speaker John Boehner was concluding a brief press conference on Monday afternoon—declaring that House GOPers would once again send to the Senate a bill funding the government that would block Obamacare, practically ensuring a government shutdown—I bumped into former Republican Senate majority leader Trent Lott, who now works at Patton Boggs, a powerhouse law and lobbying firm in Washington. Glad not to be part of the mess? I asked.
“I’m of two minds,” Lott said. “I’d like to be in the arena and help work something out. But it’s gotten too nasty and too mean these days. I couldn’t work with these guys.”
What do you think of how Boehner and the House Republicans are handling this?
“They’ve made their point,” Lott huffed. “It’s time to say enough and move on.” Referring to the die-hard tea partiers in the House Republican caucus, he added, “These new guys don’t care about making things work.” Lott noted that in the mid-1990s, he warned then-Speaker Newt Gingrich not to force a government shutdown. “I knew it wouldn’t be good for us,” he said.
So how does this end? Lott said he still was optimistic that Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell could step in and negotiate a deal—maybe a short-term continuation of spending. (Not too long ago, I noted that the odds of a successful McConnell intervention were low.)
I asked Lott if his old GOP pals still serving in the Senate have lost control of their party. How do they feel about that? I inquired. Lott shook his head: “That Ted Cruz. They have to teach him something or cut his legs out from under him.”
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/09/trent-lott-ted-cruz-cut-his-legs-out-under-him
OUCH
GOP’s ‘Mass psychosis’ holds country hostage, says Dem congressman
Jessica Taylor, @JessicaTaylor
1:13 PM on 09/30/2013
With federal workers in danger of losing millions and government buildings about to shutter, the D.C. region could be affected the most if a shutdown goes into effect with Congress at a standstill over funding the government past midnight tonight.
Rep. Gerry Connolly’s Northern Virginia district is home to many of those federal workers, and the Virginia Democrat argued on Monday’s The Daily Rundown that Republicans should pass a clean CR to keep the government functioning and quit feuding over funding Obamacare as health insurance exchanges are set to go into effect Tuesday regardless of a government shutdown or not.
“I’m open to a reasonable dialogue, but I’m not open to having somebody put a gun at my head and being told ‘Take this or else.’ That’s what the Republicans have done,” said Connolly. “It’s like mass psychosis holding not just Democrats hostage, but the entire country hostage in the funding of the government.”
Connolly also pointed out that this shutdown could be much worse than previous ones in 1994 and 1995, since Congress hasn’t passed a single appropriations bill.
“One has to remember this shut down unlike the one 17 years ago will be comprehensive,” said Connolly. “This time it’s 100%.”
http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/09/30/gops-mass-psychosis-holds-country-hostage-says-dem-congressman/
Monday, September 30, 2013
Orange Hell
Posted by Zandar
What’ll it be, John Boehner? Hero or goat?
Once again the fate of America depends on John Boehner’s ability to not be the worst House Speaker in modern US history.
………………………….
The lunatic asylum expects Obama to cave, 100%. So what happens when enough moderate Republicans come up to Boehner and say “With the Democrats, we have enough votes to tell the Tea Party to go to hell. We have a deal. Will you bring it up for a vote?”
What will he do?
What do you think he’ll do? That he’ll have the moral conviction to do the right thing and pay the piper for his own blunders?
http://zandarvts.blogspot.com/2013/09/orange-hell.html
@DanaBashCNN
CNN has learned: House GOP moderates who want a clean spending bill working to stage a revolt on the House floor. More on @CNNSitRoom soon
ABC News @ABC2m
Obama on Affordable Care Act: “You can’t shut it down”
ACA IS THE LAW, BITCHES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LOL I hope the fools who voted against their own best interest when it comes to their health and economic wellness FEEL the PAIN of a SHUTDOWN
PBO’s totally out of fucks to give
PBO is out of fks to give. He’s had enough!
Where is the GIVE-A-FUCK METER?
President Obama: “You don’t get to extract a ransom just for doing your job.”
President Obama: “Keeping the people’s government open is not a concession to *me.* It’s our basic responsibility.”
Dear GOP, shit just got REAL! Potus ain’t playing with your bitchassness!
President Obama: “A shutdown would have a very real economic on real people, right away”
President Obama: “Past shutdowns have disrupted the economy significantly. This one will too.”
President Obama: None of this has to happen, it is all avoidable if the House does what the Senate has done: pass a budget.
President Obama ain’t playing with the mofos. Looks like a shut down is on the way.
President Obama: “If you’re on Social Security, you will keep receiving your checks. If you’re on Medicare, your doctor will still see you.”
Wht’s John Boehner’s next move?
Is anyone else getting e-mails from Democrats begging for money due to looming gov. shutdown. Please tell us why we should be donating our HARD-EARNED MONEY to either party because the GOP is threatening to shutdown the government.
That’s like thanking a rapist/murderer for rape & murder.
I’m done donating my money to anyone in politics. PERIOD. SO FUCK OFF!
The people should take away the Congress’ health care until they start caring about the people and their healthcare needs.
http://www.c-span.org/Live-Video/C-SPAN/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=k5BlXhEoa3s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=08cTD-32c_k
KPRC Local 2: Heavy rain caused this road washout along 1155 in Washington County Texas.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=701302499899806&set=a.131705790192816.18581.110260895670639&type=1&theater
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9H3WQbupuww
These 2 clowns won’t answer the question about giving up their paychecks
http://FunnyOrDie.com/m/8ale&hashtags=Scandalous
LMBAO Loves it. And JHUD’s juicy cute! Great way to get out the message about OBAMACARE
Son of … Bitch. LOL
A ‘post-democracy’ phase
By Steve Benen
–
Mon Sep 30, 2013 10:56 AM EDT.
5
Associated Press
When House Republicans pushed the nation towards a government shutdown over the weekend, they passed a measure that would delay the Affordable Care Act for a year. It was, of course, only natural to wonder what the point of a one-year delay might be.
Rep. Trey Radel (R-Fla.) appeared on MSNBC on Saturday and shed some light on the subject. As the far-right freshman argued, if Republicans can keep millions of Americans from receiving benefits for another year, the party can try to win the Senate in the 2014 midterms, at which point they can try a new to eliminate the health care benefits altogether.
It is, in other words, a play for time — the 2012 elections didn’t work out, so if they stall, maybe they can permanently prevent millions of families from having access to affordable health care. That’s why a one-year delay has become such a priority.
Consider a related quote from House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) last week.
And so, the reasoning goes, the party feels compelled to pursue extortion strategies precisely because voters didn’t give Republicans the governing power they wanted.
You’ve probably heard of post-truth politics. You’re hopefully also familiar with post-policy Republicans. But Dave Weigel characterized remarks like Ryan’s as evidence of “post-democracy Republicans,” and it’s an important point.
——————————————————————————–
Radel was talking about a Republican-imposed government shutdown and Ryan was referencing a Republican-imposed debt-ceiling crisis, but they were both pointing to the same underlying phenomenon: GOP lawmakers feel justified in creating a series of deliberate crises because they lost at the ballot box. If only Americans had elected them, they wouldn’t need to threaten us.
As Jon Chait put it, Paul Ryan’s argument is that Republicans need to force Obama to accept their agenda, “not in spite of the fact that the voters rejected it at the polls but precisely for that reason.”
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/09/30/20757981-a-post-democracy-phase?lite
By: Henry Louis Gates Jr. | Posted: September 30, 2013 at 12:10 AM
http://www.theroot.com/views/first-white-man-chicago-was-negro
Obamacare stopped being a ‘bill’ several years ago
By Steve Benen
Mon Sep 30, 2013 11:46 AM EDT
When congressional Republicans condemn the Affordable Care Act, there’s one problematic word in particular they tend to use an awful lot. The Hill did a nice job picking up on the trend.
It’s clear that Enzi, who famously admitted that he engaged in health care reform negotiations in bad faith, is confused. The name of the reform law is technically the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” not “Obamacare,” so it’s not “named after the president.”
But that’s not the important thing. Rather, note that Enzi refers to the law as a “bill.” So does Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who said last week that “this bill,” referring to the health care law, is going to hurt people. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said there are “a host of problems [with] this bill.” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said “this bill” isn’t working. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) chastised Democrats for supporting “this dog of a bill.”
Keep in mind, all of these quotes come from this month — September 2013 — not from the debate when the law was actually still a bill.
The Hill’s report added that the Kaiser Family Foundation recently found that roughly 40% of Americans don’t know that the Affordable Care Act is, to use John Boehner’s phrase, the law of the land. One possible explanation for such widespread ignorance is the way in which congressional Republicans mislead the public in such a brazen way.
But stepping past the rhetoric, there’s also a substantive significance to this.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/09/30/20758360-obamacare-stopped-being-a-bill-several-years-ago?lite
The fact they call the ACA a bill is the same as questioning PBO’s birth place status. It’s all to delegitamize Barack Hussein Obama. Too bad i’t not working fuckers. OBAMACARE IS THE LAW. DEAL
http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/dimensions-dance-digs-deep-into-africa/Content?oid=2593105
U.S. Plans to Unveil New Insurance Options
By ROBERT PEAR
Published: September 29, 2013
The Obama administration plans on Monday to announce scores of new health insurance options to be offered to consumers around the country by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and the United States Office of Personnel Management, the agency that arranges health benefits for federal employees, according to administration officials.
The options are part of a multistate insurance program that Congress authorized in 2010 to increase options for consumers shopping in the online insurance markets scheduled to open on Tuesday.
Congress conceived multistate plans as an alternative to a pure government-run insurance program — the “public option” championed by liberal Democrats and opposed by Republicans in 2009-10.
“The multistate program will help deliver choice and high-value health plans in the new marketplace, expanding quality, affordable options for uninsured Americans,” an administration official said.
The administration plans to unveil the program on Monday, the official said, even as Congress fights over the future of President Obama’s health care law, intended to provide coverage to more than 25 million people within three years.
Federal officials said they had signed a contract with the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association to offer health insurance next year in the marketplaces, or exchanges, of 30 states and the District of Columbia. In later years, the officials said, they hoped to see at least two multistate plans in every state, as Congress envisioned.
Under its federal contract, Blue Cross and Blue Shield will offer different products in different states — a total of more than 150 products, including health maintenance organizations and preferred provider organizations, which give discounts for using selected health care providers. In many of the products, consumers will have access to a nationwide network of doctors and hospitals.
The federal government negotiated the benefits and premiums for the Blue Cross and Blue Shield products, so this plan carries a federal seal of approval.
In negotiating with insurers, the Office of Personnel Management leveraged more than 50 years of experience in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, the nation’s largest employer-sponsored health insurance program, covering more than eight million federal employees, retirees and dependents. Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans are, by far, the most popular among federal employees, with more than 60 percent of the enrollment.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/30/us/politics/us-plans-to-unveil-new-insurance-options.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0
Roll that BEAUTIFUL OBAMACARE footage.
20 Questions You Have About Obamacare But Are Too Afraid To Ask
By Annie-Rose Strasser and Tara Culp-Ressler on September 29, 2013 at 10:00 am
If you’re confused about Obamacare, you’re not alone. Over the past several years, every survey on the subject has revealed that Americans consistently fail to correctly identify the provisions that are actually in the Affordable Care Act. In April, a poll found that 40 percent of Americans weren’t sure about whether Obamacare was still law at all.
Administration officials are racing against the clock to reverse those incorrect public perceptions, ramping up their outreach efforts before the health law’s new state-level marketplaces open for enrollment this upcoming week. As the open enrollment period draws near, you may be wondering how it affects you or what you need to do. Or you may simply want to understand more about the law that’s dominating the news. Here are simple answers to 20 questions about Obamacare that may have you mystified (click on each question to jump down to the answer, or just scroll down to read all of them):
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/09/29/2682291/obamacare-questions-2/
http://fayobserver.com/articles/2013/09/30/1285374?sac=fo.life
Millions eligible for Obamacare subsidies, but most don’t know it
By Tami Luhby @Luhby April 23, 2013: 5:56 AM ET
Nearly 26 million Americans could be eligible for health insurance subsidies next year, but most don’t know it.
That’s because relatively few people are familiar with provisions in the Affordable Care Act, aka “Obamacare,” that will provide tax credits to low- and middle-income consumers to help them purchase health coverage through state-run insurance exchanges.
Most of those who will be able to claim the subsidies are in working families with annual earnings between $47,100 and $94,200, according to a recent analysis by Families USA, a consumer advocacy group. More than a third of those eligible will be young adults between ages 18 and 34.
“There’s a huge number of people who can get coverage this way and can get significant help,” said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA. “It’s not just for the poor. It reaches deeply into the middle class.”
Here’s how the subsidies will work:
Starting in October, those looking to buy individual health insurance can enroll in plans offered through state-based exchanges, with coverage beginning in January. Consumers buying individual plans will be able to choose between four levels of coverage: platinum, gold, silver and bronze. The plans will differ in their premiums and out-of-pocket expense burdens.
http://money.cnn.com/2013/04/23/news/economy/obamacare-subsidies/index.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/30/nbc-nra-hunting-show_n_4016175.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
Full-BLOWN hypocrisy & CRAZINESS, that is the GOP. And look how quick KARMA came to collect from these red states when they had disasters.
thank you thank you thank you
They don’t want BLACK & BROWN FOLKS TO GET SHIT.
Michael Cohen @speechboy71
A gentle reminder: the GOP is shutting down the gov’t because Democrats passed a bill to extend health insurance coverage to 30m Americans
9:00 AM – 29 Sep 2013
That’s as simple an explanation and reason that anyone can report.
The Baxter Bean @TheBaxterBean
GOP 2009-2013:
124 Religion Bills
149 Gun Bills
56 Abortion Bills
44 Anti-Obamacare Bills
36 Marriage Bills
0 JOBS Bills
#ShutdownTheGOP
7:13 PM – 29 Sep 2013
Joy Reid @TheReidReport17m
7 out of the 10 poorest states are NOT running healthcare exchanges or taking the Medicaid expansion, per @chucktodd just now on @msnbc
Well I guess they will get, sick and die early. No doubt they voted for these so-called leaders.
Poll: Vast Majority Of Uninsured Will Get Health Insurance Under Obamacare
Tom Kludt – September 30, 2013, 6:53 AM EDT
When the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate kicks in on Jan. 1, 2014, a wide majority of uninsured Americans say they will purchase health insurance rather than pay the fine, according to findings released Monday by Gallup.
Sixty-five percent said they are more likely to get health insurance, while a quarter of uninsured Americans said they will pay the fine and 11 percent said they have no opinion.
A little less than half of uninsured Americans – 48 percent — said they will purchase health insurance through one of the state or federal exchanges slated to open on Oct. 1 compared with 36 percent who said they will not.
The House passed a stopgap spending measure on Sunday that aims to delay implementation of the health care law for one year.
Efforts by Republicans to link a continuing resolution to a provision that defunds or delays the Affordable Care Act have greatly raised the risk of a government shutdown, a scenario opposed by much of the public. A poll last week showed that a majority of Americans oppose shutting down the government in order to defund the health care law.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/poll-most-uninsured-will-get-health-insurance-under-obamacare
Al Gore Calls Government Shutdown Threat Political Terrorism
I guess Al Gore isn’t allowed to go on cable networks like CNN, MSNBC, or FOX and tell THE TRUTH. He stands in front of folks who get paid to sit around and THINK up ideas about the body politics.
U.S. Plans to Unveil New Insurance Options
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/30/us/politics/us-plans-to-unveil-new-insurance-options.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0
CNN wants a piece of the GOP clown show
Boehner is leading from behind
By Ruth Marcus,
It’s time for the speaker to start leading or leave. With some ingenuity, he might even be able to lead and keep his speakership.
We tend to think of John Boehner as the helpless pawn of an ungovernable caucus, under the thumb of ideologues who prevent the otherwise sane speaker from being the dealmaker he is at heart.
In this view, Boehner has little choice — he must capitulate to the anarchists’ demands or lose his speakership.
Two responses:
First, so what? Is the title worth the hassle? Does Boehner want to be remembered as the speaker who led his party — or, more accurately, followed it — over the cliff of shutdown and default? Let Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz be speaker if he wants the job.
Boehner has been practicing the tantrum theory of leadership: letting the crazies in his caucus have their meltdown until they’ve gotten it out of their system and are ready to listen to reason.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ruth-marcus-boehner-is-leading-from-behind/2013/09/29/9096db34-292e-11e3-b139-029811dbb57f_story.html?tid=pm_opinions_pop
UNFIT TO GOVERN
House Republican Hostage Takers Are Unfit to Govern
by Jon Favreau
———————————————-
Republicans are still whining about Dan Pfeiffer’s analogy that compared their list of debt-ceiling demands to someone negotiating with a bomb strapped to their chest. Perhaps they prefer Mitch McConnell’s 2011 declaration that the global economy is a “hostage that’s worth ransoming.” Either way, the Republicans should help us more aptly describe a situation where they demand we accept their ideological agenda in exchange for not wreaking havoc on our lives.
“The president must negotiate!” Really? Because in most negotiations, both sides stand to gain something. In this negotiation, the House Republicans get to pass policies on which Mitt Romney ran and lost, while the president gets to live in a country that isn’t suffering from yet another economic calamity, a country that isn’t seen as the world’s superpower turned deadbeat nation. How wonderful for him. What a shining example of bipartisan cooperation to be celebrated by the Washington media.
What a joke.
——————————————————
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/09/30/house-republican-hostage-takers-are-unfit-to-govern.html
Beat their asses, Jon Favreau!
The Morning Plum: For GOP, a refresher on the meaning of the word `compromise’
By Greg Sargent, Updated: September 30, 2013
With House GOP leaders set to decide as early as today between stiff-arming the Tea Party and taking the blame for a government shutdown, I dug up my old college dictionary and looked up the word “compromise.” Here’s the primary definition:
Careful readers will note that a compromise requires concessions from both sides, not just one side. The relevance of this will become clear in a moment.
Today, as the Post’s write up explains, House Republicans are likely to offer a new proposal to avoid a government shutdown, one that includes a repeal of Obamacare’s medical device tax, or perhaps repealing the Independent Payment Advisory Board, or eliminating Obamacare subsidies for lawmakers and staff. This comes after House Republicans voted over the weekend to tie funding of the government to a year-long Obamacare delay. This morning, Senate Dems will reject that proposal, requiring a response from Republicans, likely along the lines of the three mentioned above.
Republicans right now are working very hard to cast these various ideas — ones that fund the government but also delay or block parts of Obamacare — as “compromises,” because they don’t constitute the total destruction of the law that Republicans want. On Face the Nation yesterday, Rand Paul said: “We have now offered a new compromise, our new compromise is not getting rid of his signature achievement, but delaying it.” Meanwhile, GOP Rep. Pat Tiberi, a close ally of John Boehner, claims Republicans are already compromising because they are no longer demanding total defunding.
Expect lots more of this. With House Republicans set offer yet another measure today that chips away at Obamacare, you can expect them to call on Obama to “compromise” by embracing it. Indeed, Boehner is casting the Dem refusal to accept a one year delay of Obamacare as “an act of arrogance.”
In other words, Republicans are asking Obama and Dems to “compromise” with them by giving them only some of what they want under threat of a government shutdown, rather than all of it. Republicans are claiming that in dropping their demand for the total destruction of Obamacare, they are making a big concession, which should be rewarded by a concession by Dems: Agreeing to fund the government with a delay of Obamacare or a repeal of parts of it.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/09/30/the-morning-plum-for-gop-a-refresher-on-the-meaning-of-the-word-compromise/?print=1
Randall ‘Tex’ Cobb, Revisited
by BooMan
Mon Sep 30th, 2013 at 08:09:55 AM EST
Approximately one in ten Americans will change their support of the Affordable Care Act to disapproval if you call it “ObamaCare,” indicating that there is a significant amount of partisan opposition to the bill that doesn’t reach the merits. It’s significant because calling it ObamaCare lowers support from 46% to 37%, which makes all the difference in the world. Meanwhile, in this part of the country, Republican lawmakers are running scared. Michael Grimm, who represents Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn, has this to say:
And Rep. Charlie Dent, who represents Allentown and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, says that he is ready to support a clean continuing resolution (CR) because he doesn’t intend “to support a fool’s errand.” The House Republicans have tried to put on a show of unity, but it’s not real.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2013/9/30/8955/09046
Justice Department to challenge North Carolina voter ID law
By JOSH GERSTEIN | 9/30/13 12:03 AM EDT
The Justice Department will file suit against North Carolina on Monday, charging that the Tar Heel State’s new law requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls violates the Voting Rights Act by discriminating against African-Americans, according to a person familiar with the planned litigation.
Attorney General Eric Holder is expected to announce the lawsuit at noon at Justice Department headquarters, flanked by the three U.S. attorneys from North Carolina.
The suit, set to be filed in Greensboro, N.C., will ask that the state be barred from enforcing the new voter-ID law, the source said. However, the case will also go further, demanding that the entire state of North Carolina be placed under a requirement to have all changes to voting laws, procedures and polling places “precleared” by either the Justice Department or a federal court, the source added.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/justice-department-north-carolina-voter-id-law-97542.html#ixzz2gNkOC0Of
Go GET’EM, AG HOLDER!
Good!
If anyone finds a link to Eric Holder’s announcement, I would love you to post it.
Thanks.
OK! :-)
The frauds on the Hill target Obama
By ROGER SIMON | 9/30/13 5:06 AM EDT
Who are these people? Of what are they made that they can say and do such things on the floor of Congress?
No nonsense is too great, no act too low.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) leaves the floor of the House in the wee hours of Sunday morning, having taken action that will probably shut down the government, and releases a statement saying, “It’s time for President Obama to rise above stubborn partisanship.”
Which is like an arsonist telling others not to play with matches.
Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.) said on Saturday: “Obamacare is based on limitless government, bureaucratic arrogance and a disregard for the will of the people.”
Except Congress passed Obamacare, the president signed it, the Supreme Court upheld it, Obama campaigned on it a second time and was reelected. So in what manner was the will of the people disregarded?
And since when did the extremists in Congress care about the will of the people? Is it the will of the people that government be closed, salaries stopped, services suspended?
Slyness and game-playing rule the day. Having lost the vote on Obamacare, the extremists and those who fear them will vote to cut off the funding of government unless Obamacare is suspended. And then they will try to force the United States to default on its debt.
Not because they wish to do the will of the people, but because they wish to thwart the will of the people.
And when, in those rare moments, they decide to earn their salaries of $174,000 per year (plus expenses, plus perks, plus pensions) and actually pass a bill, what do they do? The week before last, the House voted to cut $40 billion from the food stamp program over the next 10 years.
It voted to deny people food.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/the-frauds-on-the-hill-target-obama-97537.html#ixzz2gNjl2q8t
Republicans Aren’t Hostage-Takers, They’re Political Terrorists
Today’s Republicans will never release the hostage—instead they’re intent on taking down Obama, and they don’t care if they go down with him, says Michael Tomasky as we head toward a shutdown.
by Michael Tomasky Sep 30, 2013 5:45 AM EDT
Back in the late 1970s, Richard Pryor had a routine where he gave a rundown on the various factions he’d encountered inside prison. There were the black Muslims, he said. They were fairly rough customers. Then there were the Double-Muslims. The Double-Muslims, he said, “can’t wait to get to Allah, and they wanna take a bunch of muthafukkas with them.”
Pryor obviously wasn’t talking about today’s Republicans, but he was describing them better than they’ve been described anywhere. They know they’re going to bear the brunt of the blame if the government shuts down. At least some of them do, the ones who have the ability to think beyond the boundaries of their districts. And the thing is, they don’t care. As long as they can drag Obama and the Democrats down with them, dropping in the polls is fine by them. And that’s why we’re in this situation. We have here people who are participating in the democratic process, and who respect certain of its rules and practices because they know they must to attain legitimacy in the eyes of the public and the media, but who at the end of the day—and the end of the day means now—operate and act with the mentality of Pryor’s Double-Muslims; which is to say, the mentality of terrorists.
It’s naive to call them anything else. What they’re doing here is not hostage-taking, the most commonly used metaphor in the media. It’s political terrorism. When hostage-takers see that their demands are met, they release the hostage. But what makes anyone think today’s Republicans will ever release the hostage? No—if the Democrats agree to negotiate, the demands will never stop. Every pivot point on the legislative calendar will be an opportunity to make demands without precedent in our system.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/09/30/republicans-aren-t-hostage-takers-they-re-political-terrorists.html
Dana Houle @DanaHoule
No, NPR, it’s not “Congress.” Repeat after me: It’s not Congress, it’s the Republicans, it’s not Congress, it’s the Republicans…
6:15 AM – 30 Sep 2013
Sept. 30, 2012: President Obama departs the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House to board Marine One. Chief of Staff Jack Lew, left, and National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling are pictured in the foreground
—Photo by Chuck Kennedy
How Congress reached this point
By Steve Benen
Mon Sep 30, 2013 9:01 AM EDT.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) appeared on “Face the Nation” yesterday and made clear that he’s confused about the federal budget process. Noting that the House and Senate have passed competing spending measures intended to keep the government’s lights on, the Republican senator asked, “Why don’t we have a conference committee on this?”
It fell to Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to patiently try to explain the details Rand Paul must have missed: “We’ve been trying for more than six months to get Republicans to approve a conference committee on the budget.”
I mention this exchange because I imagine there are quite a few Americans wondering how in the world we ended up, once again, with the prospect of an imminent government shutdown. It’s worth taking a moment to remember that this crisis isn’t an accident — congressional Republicans created it on purpose several months ago.
In the early spring, both the House and Senate approved competing budget resolutions, and under the American system of government, both sides were supposed to go to a conference committee to hash out the differences. This year, Republicans refused. Consider this Washington Post piece from early May, which is all the more amazing nearly five months later
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/09/30/20756914-how-congress-reached-this-point?lite
Dan Pfeiffer @pfeiffer447m
Most important fact for today:Majorities in the House and Senate support clean CR, but Tea Paty is blocking a vote and shutting down the Gov
Dan Pfeiffer @pfeiffer442h
With apologies to spoiled children, a new @CNN poll says 69% of respondents think Congressional Republicans are acting like spoiled children
Countdown to ShutdownThink 1996 was bad for the GOP? This time will be much, much worse
BY NOAM SCHEIBER @noamscheiber
The year 1996, the last time the GOP took its toys and went home rather than fund the government, hasn’t loomed so large in Washington since it actually was 1996. Democrats, the media, and a not insignificant number of Republicans are convinced the looming shutdown will be just as disastrous for today’s GOP as the previous one was for Newt Gingrich’s. Meanwhile, the Tea Partiers in the House, at whose behest the shutdown is being instigated, have spent the weekend insisting this time will be different because … well, the why isn’t entirely clear, but it has something to do with the fact that Obamacare is involved.
There is, of course, much to be said for the 1996 analogy given that it’s our most recent example. But I’d argue that the more relevant case study is the payroll tax fight of late 2011, which involved the same players as today, the same internecine Republican dynamics (Tea Partiers versus Speaker John Boehner and a number of Senate Republicans), and the same media environment. The bad news for Republicans is that 2011 was every bit the rout 1996 was—arguably much more so. Republicans were able to hold out for a respectable 21 days back then. The 2011 fight was over in 48 hours.
The payroll tax fight essentially began that September, when Obama proposed a stimulus package that included an extension of an existing payroll-tax holiday. Throughout the fall, Obama traveled the country touting the importance of that provision, so that workers wouldn’t face higher taxes when it expired in January. The House GOP spent most of that same time resisting the extension, notwithstanding the party’s traditional tax cut stance. But as it became clear that the pure rejectionist position was untenable, they adjusted it somewhat: By late fall, House Republicans were no longer opposed to extending the tax cut in principle; they just wanted to offset the cost with spending cuts elsewhere.
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/114915/government-shutdown-will-be-much-worse-republicans-1996
Arkansas waiver news
Posted by Richard Mayhew at 9:14 pm .
Sep292013
.
CMS approved a waiver for Arkansas for Medicaid expansion. Instead of doing the mechanically simple thing of just expanding Arkansas Medicaid for individuals up to 133% of poverty line, Arkansas will engage in premium support. Individuals who are newly qualified for Medicaid in Arkansas will get a voucher to buy a policy on the Exchange.
The Hill blog:
This is big news with a couple of levels if implications:
First, as a purely technocratic wonk, this is asinine. It is reinventing the wheel and adding some right angles to the second prototype for the hell of it. Medicaid has a system for enrollment that is scaleable and a set of providers who are willing to take it. Premium support will lead to the ineffecient use of a couple billion federal dollars over the next ten years. It will also lead to the waste of a few hundred million Arkansas dollars.
However, screw that. This is a political exercise that will make sure that tens of thousands of people who otherwise would not have gotten coverage will get coverage. A 8% or 10% inefficiency tax that allows people to benefit from Obamacare without calling it Obamacare is a net societal win. Furthermore, since it now builds in a layer of middle men that have minimal real value, there is a rentier class in Arkansas that will now be interested in keeping their income stream. A new advocate for Medicaid will be created which will make Medicaid sustainable in Arkansas.
Furthermore, several other states (Indiana and Iowa) have applied for very similar waivers from CMS. I think they will get the same waiver in the next couple of weeks. Pennsylvania’s expansion request will not be going through the same expedited approval. Pennsylvania wants to do a premium support model, but Gov. Corbett also wants to do some serious poverty shaming and lifetime limitations on both expansion and current Medicaid populations. I don’t think that waiver request has been filed yet, nor do I think that we can draw any conclusions from the Arkansas waiver to the Pennsylvania plan.
http://www.balloon-juice.com/2013/09/29/arkansas-waiver-news/
A failure of self-awareness
By Steve Benen
Mon Sep 30, 2013 8:32 AM EDT.
As congressional Republicans push the nation closer to its first government shutdown since the Republican shutdowns 17 years ago, GOP talking points are lacking an important quality: self-awareness.
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), the #4 Republican in the House leadership, argued yesterday about Senate Democrats, “They’re the ones playing games.” This came just hours after she and her House colleagues told the Senate to approve a spending measure that would, among other things, block contraception access for many Americans, adding that if Democrats failed to agree, House Republicans would shut down the government.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) added over the weekend that if Senate Democrats reject the House’s “reasonable proposals” — including, presumably, the anti-contraception idea — then Democrats are “the real extremists.” I don’t think he was kidding.
But when it comes to failures of self-awareness, leave it to the feeble Speaker of the House to offer the creme de la creme.
Right. Boehner and his caucus are ignoring national election results, trying to advance its unpopular policy agenda through an extortion scheme, threatening to shut down the government in the hopes of denying millions of Americans health care benefits, and dismissing polls showing the American electorate pleading with House Republicans to be more responsible and less reckless.
But Senate Democrats are guilty of “breathtaking arrogance.” I’m not sure which is worse: the notion that Republicans are throwing around accusations that better describe themselves or the possibility that these GOP leaders actually believe their own nonsense.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/09/30/20756510-a-failure-of-self-awareness?lite
Ametia, SG2,
I really like this segment from Maddow about the utter hypocrisy of those assholes cutting Food Stamps, all the while being agricultural welfare kings and queens. Can we get this in a postable video?
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26315908/vp/53128898#53128898
another good segment from Maddow about GOP being afraid of Obamacare
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26315908/vp/53128898#53118936
Two chambers, 16 hours, and one deadline
By Steve Benen
Mon Sep 30, 2013 8:00 AM EDT
With the deadline for a government shutdown now just 16 hours away, there’s a dirty little secret that hasn’t received as much attention as it deserves: there’s an obvious solution that enjoys the support of the White House, a majority of the Senate, and a majority of the House. It’s not going anywhere, however, because House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is too afraid of the idea.
It came up briefly yesterday on “Meet the Press” when Dee Dee Myers asked Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) a good question. So what’s the endgame, though, congressman?” Myers said. “Are you willing to vote for a continued resolution that comes back [to the House] that does not delay or defund Obamacare?”
“I am not, but I think there’s enough people in the Republican Party who are willing to do that,” the far-right congressman responded.
And there it is: the obvious resolution. A temporary budget bill (or “continuing resolution”) that keeps current spending levels in place, and leaves the federal health care system alone, has already been approved by the Senate. The White House has said President Obama would sign it. And if it came to the House floor for a vote, it’d probably get a majority there, too, ending the threat of a shutdown.
Indeed, Labrador isn’t the only one who thinks so. Reps. Peter King (R-N.Y.), Charlie Dent (R-Pa.), and Steve Womack (R-Ark.) have all made similar comments in recent days.
So why doesn’t the House GOP leadership just take the obvious step and allow the House to vote on the Senate bill? Boehner may yet do exactly that — like I said, there are still 16 hours to go — but he’s balked up until now because he insists on placating his far-right members.
We’re on the brink of another shutdown, in other words, because Boehner is a weak Speaker who has allowed extremists to push him around — and push us to another Republican-imposed crisis.
——————————————————————————–
There was also this from the Hill yesterday:
Ah yes, a “compromise.” The House GOP unanimously approved a measure that would strip millions of Americans of their health care benefits for a year, while blocking access to contraception for much of the public. Republicans then told the Senate to pass this or they’d shut down the government — and this is, in their strange minds, a “compromise.”
As for what to expect over the next few hours, this paragraph also jumped out at me.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/09/30/20756030-two-chambers-16-hours-and-one-deadline?lite
Poll: More blame Republicans for government shutdown
By Jonathan Easley – 09/30/13 07:30 AM ET
Republicans will bear most of the blame for a government shutdown, according to CNN-ORC poll released Monday morning.
The survey found that 46 percent of respondents would blame Republicans for a shutdown, against 36 percent who said President Obama would be to blame. Still, that’s a closer divide than the same poll found earlier in the month, when 51 percent blamed Republicans and 33 percent blamed Obama.
House Republicans approved a spending bill early Sunday that delays ObamaCare by a year. Senate Democrats, who have repeatedly said they will not pass a resolution that attempts to dismantle the president’s signature healthcare law, will likely vote the bill down on Monday.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57604632/republicans-may-take-more-blame-for-shutdown-poll-says/
Good Morning, Everyone. :-)) The PRINCE has arrived.
Good Morning, Everyone at 3CHICS!
Happy Monday, everyone!
Rikyrah, I didn’t know Prince’ music had been removed from Youtube. Wow!
Yep, all of it. It’s rare to find a video of him in concert with other artists.
Good Morning, 3Chics and Everyone!