Friday Open Thread | Reggae | Michael Rose

Michael Rose 14Perhaps the highest profile recognition came in 1984, when Michael Rose and the other Black Uhuru members (Duckie Simpson, Puma Jones, Sly Dunbar, and Robbie Shakespeare) won reggae’s first Grammy award for the album, Anthem. But the story doesn’t begin with Black Uhuru. In 1976, Michael Rose was already a seasoned performer, having honed his skills by performing on Jamaica’s hotel circuit. When an early incarnation of Black Uhuru (Ducky Simpson and Errol Nelson) approached Michael to join the group, he already had several solo singles to his credit. These include the original “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner” and “Clap the Barber,” both recorded for producer Niney The Observer, and “Running Around” for Winston Campbell.

About SouthernGirl2

A Native Texan who adores baby kittens, loves horses, rodeos, pomegranates, & collect Eagles. Enjoys politics, games shows, & dancing to all types of music. Loves discussing and learning about different cultures. A Phi Theta Kappa lifetime member with a passion for Social & Civil Justice.
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102 Responses to Friday Open Thread | Reggae | Michael Rose

  1. Yahtc says:

    “Town hall panel in Flint calls for repeal of Michigan ‘stand your ground’ law”

    http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2013/10/michigan_democrats_discuss_rep.html

  2. Yahtc says:

    Tracy Martin, father of Trayvon Martin, hopes for changes in Florida’s Stand Your Ground law
    10:33 PM, Oct 17, 2013

    http://www.firstcoastnews.com/topstories/article/332195/483/Tracy-Martin-hopes-for-changes-in-SYG-law

  3. Yahtc says:

  4. Yahtc says:

  5. Yahtc says:

    October 17, 2013, 12:00 PM
    Henry Louis Gates Jr. On the Role of Cars in ‘The African Americans’

    http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2013/10/17/henry-louis-gates-jr-on-the-role-of-cars-in-the-african-americans/

  6. rikyrah says:

    utaustinliberal
    October 18, 2013 at 6:45 pm

    Millions of lives saved because one man said enough is enough. Millions of lives saved because one man said healthcare should not be a privilege for the fortunate few but a right for everyone. Millions of lives saved because one man envisions a world not as it is, but a world as it should be. Millions of lives saved because one man refused to give up in the face of huge obstacles. Millions of lives saved because one man decided Americans should have the same level of health coverage that they provide for members of Congress.

    Thank you, President Barack Obama.

  7. rikyrah says:

    Friday, Oct 18, 2013 05:15 PM CST
    Inside the Fox News lie machine: I fact-checked Sean Hannity on Obamacare
    UPDATE I re-reported a Fox News segment on Obamacare — it was appallingly easy to see how it misleads the audience
    By Eric Stern

    I happened to turn on the Hannity show on Fox News last Friday evening. “Average Americans are feeling the pain of Obamacare and the healthcare overhaul train wreck,” Hannity announced, “and six of them are here tonight to tell us their stories.” Three married couples were neatly arranged in his studio, the wives seated and the men standing behind them, like game show contestants.

    As Hannity called on each of them, the guests recounted their “Obamacare” horror stories: canceled policies, premium hikes, restrictions on the freedom to see a doctor of their choice, financial burdens upon their small businesses and so on.

    “These are the stories that the media refuses to cover,” Hannity interjected.

    But none of it smelled right to me. Nothing these folks were saying jibed with the basic facts of the Affordable Care Act as I understand them. I understand them fairly well; I have worked as a senior adviser to a governor and helped him deal with the new federal rules.

    …………………………………

    Finally, I called Robbie and Tina Robison from Franklin, Tenn. Robbie is self-employed as a Christian youth motivational speaker. (You can see his work here.) On Hannity, the couple said that they, too, were recently notified that their Blue Cross policy would be expiring for lack of ACA compliance. They told Hannity that the replacement plans Blue Cross was offering would come with a rate increase of 50 percent or even 75 percent, and that the new offerings would contain all sorts of benefits they don’t need, like maternity care, pediatric care, prenatal care and so forth. Their kids are grown and moved out, so why should they be forced to pay extra for a health plan with superfluous features?

    When I spoke to Robbie, he said he and Tina have been paying a little over $800 a month for their plan, about $10,000 a year. And the ACA-compliant policy will cost 50-75 percent more? They said this information was related to them by their insurance agent.

    Had they shopped on the exchange yet, I asked? No, Tina said, nor would they. They oppose Obamacare and want nothing to do with it. Fair enough, but they should know that I found a plan for them for, at most, $3,700 a year, a 63 percent less than their current bill. It might cover things that they don’t need, but so does every insurance policy.

    http://www.salon.com/2013/10/18/inside_the_fox_news_lie_machine_i_fact_checked_sean_hannity_on_obamacare/

  8. Ametia says:

    We Need a White Republican President,” Says Black Republican
    Posted: 18 Oct 2013 06:43 AM PDT

    It is from my humble observation that having white republicans in office means hell for the black community. Having white democrats as President is the lesser of two evils. Black people are still screwed to an extent, but many of them know that it could be worse under white republican rule. So, it’s hard to imagine why any black person would think having a white republican President would be good for the black community, especially if they cite Ronald Reagan as the perfect example.

    Black conservative author and national speaker Kevin Jackson seems to genuinely believe it. Not only that, he also believes that is what makes you truly American:

    http://www.rippdemup.com/2013/10/we-need-a-white-republican-president-says-black-republican/

  9. Ametia says:

    So it’s on to the next shiny object for the media OH NOEZ! The ACA web site is down!!!!!!!!!!

  10. Yahtc says:

    The Black Atlantic explores the truly global experiences that created the African American people. Beginning a full century before the first documented “20-and-odd” slaves arrived at Jamestown, Virginia, the episode portrays the earliest Africans, both slave and free, who arrived on the North American shores. Soon afterwards, the Trans-Atlantic slave trade would become a vast empire connecting three continents. Through stories of individuals caught in its web, like a 10-year-old girl named Priscilla who was transported from Sierra Leone to South Carolina in the mid-18th century, we trace the emergence of plantation slavery in the American South. The late 18th century saw a global explosion of freedom movements, and The Black Atlantic examines what that Era of Revolutions—American, French and Haitian—would mean for African Americans, and for slavery in America.

    The Black Atlantic, episode one of The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., premieres on PBS on October 22, 2013, 8-9 pm ET. Check the local listings on the broadcast schedule.

    http://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/video/episode-one-the-black-atlantic/

  11. @Liza… Looky here, burning crosses down in Florida. Where is Palm Bay? Is it close to Sanford?

    Burning Cross Mishap Leaves Florida Racist With Burns Over 50 Percent Of His Body

    http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/10/18/burning-cross-burns-racist/

    Burning Cross Burns Racist

    Karma is a bitch, yes she is. The perfect example of said bitchiness is the fact that when a Florida racist was erecting a burning cross, he set himself on fire, resulting in second degree burns over 50 percent of his body. According to neighbors, Ron Nielson, 50, of Palm Bay, was erecting the display with his wife when he lit himself on fire by accident, says Yvonne Martinez of the Palm Bay Police Department. Nielson was apparently carrying the cross and some candles onto his lawn when the incident occurred. Martinez said:

    It started as some kind of prank, apparently, and involved a wooden cross. We don’t know if he was trying to light the cross or the candles but when he did, his clothes caught fire.

    A prank? Now that’s rich! Last I checked, a Halloween prank would be, say, toilet papering someone’s home. Or egging neighborhood cars. Immature, and inconvenient to the owners of the homes and cars, but hardly sinister. However, burning crosses are definitely sinister, considering that these were what the Ku Klux Klan left in the yards of African- American families in the deep south in times past. This was no prank. This was a cruel, hideous display by a racist gone wrong. Or, in the eyes of people who see it for what it was, gone right.

    Police are still investigating the scene where the burning cross injured its owner. A fire marshal told Martinez that the area was not properly ventilated. What Neilson poured gasoline onto the materials, he caught fire, burning his midsection. He was airlifted to Orlando Regional Medical Center’s Burn Unit.

    Let me help y’all out with this here investigation. Candles are their own fuel. They do not require gasoline or anything else to catch fire like say, oh, a wooden cross would. They were trying to light the cross. Also, if this was outside, how was it not properly ventilated? Things that make ya go hmmm….

    Do yourselves a favor here, Palm Bay PD, and don’t look the other way on this one. See this and call it for what it is: a couple of wannabe Klansmen whose little shindig went wrong.

    Now, a more vindictive person would wish the man a slow, painful recovery. However, while I do believe that he got what was coming to him, considering his activities, I wish Mr. Nielson no ill. I wish him a comfortable, speedy recovery with as few scars as possible. I also hope he learns a lesson from this. Don’t play with fire, and quit being a racist. I also hope he has a few African-American attendants at the hospital. If he gets to know some of us, perhaps he will like us a bit better. Nope, no ill will here. After all, karma’s a bitch.

    • Liza says:

      SG2, Palm Bay is just a few miles south of Melbourne, which is just about halfway between Jacksonville and Miami. It is actually in the same general area as Sanford because they are both fairly close to Orlando. The space center is due east of Orlando and Melbourne is just south of all of that. Sanford is north and a little west of Orlando.

      Guess who else is from that area? If I’m not mistaken, Jordan Davis’ killer, Michael Dunn, lived in Melbourne or somewhere around there.

    • Liza says:

      Yeah, I checked. Michael Dunn was living in Melbourne when he killed Jordan Davis. He was in Jax for a wedding.

  12. Ametia says:

    Somebody’s aiming their cruise missles at Mr. Ted.

    Ted Cruz Failed To Disclose Ties To Caribbean Holding Company
    By Massimo Calabresi Oct. 18, 2013

    An old college friendship led to financial entanglement with a Jamaican private equity firm and a British Virgin Islands holding company. Neither was disclosed during his 2012 campaign.

    Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz potentially violated ethics rules by failing to publicly disclose his financial relationship with a Caribbean-based holding company during the 2012 campaign, a review of financial disclosure and company documents by TIME shows. The relationship originated with a $6,000 investment Cruz made more than a decade ago in a Jamaican private equity firm founded by his college roommate.

    When Cruz later reported the financial relationship in 2013, he failed to comply with Senate rules requiring full identification of the holding company and its location, triggering an inquiry by Senate Select Committee on Ethics staff and a second amended disclosure. After additional inquiries by TIME this week, Cruz said he is now in the process making further corrections to his disclosure.

    Cruz told TIME Thursday that the initial failure to report the financial relationship was an oversight that he corrected last May on his own initiative in his first filing after his election to the Senate. “It was an omission that was inadvertent,” Cruz said.

    Read more: http://swampland.time.com/2013/10/18/ted-cruz-failed-to-disclose-ties-to-jamaican-holding-company/#ixzz2i6uhtKUj

    See , what had happened was CRUZ got so full of himself, starting filibustering and blustering like he owned the Rethug party. Folks aren’t not playing with you, Teddy boy.

  13. Hey Chicas! Anson Asaka made this portrait of my daughter. Anson is so gifted. God bless him!

    Jonne' portrait

  14. Ametia says:

    Jordan Davis’ Shooter Rants About Killing ‘Thugs’ So They ‘May Take The Hint And Change Their Behavior’

    Michael Dunn, the Florida man charged with shooting 17-year-old Jordan Davis after an argument over loud music, is currently awaiting trial and maintaining that he acted in self-defense the night of the fatal confrontation.
    Although Dunn has repeatedly defended himself against accusations of being a racist, recent reports paint a troubling picture of the 45-year-old’s outlook on society.
    In several letters reportedly written from jail, and obtained by News4Jax, Dunn rants about killing “thugs” so “they take the hint and change their behavior,” black-on-white crime and the liberal media.

    In a letter to his grandmother, Dunn writes:
    The jail is full of blacks and they all act like thugs. This may sound a bit radical but if more people would arm themselves and kill these (expletive) idiots, when they’re threatening you, eventually they may take the hint and change their behavior.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/18/jordan-davis-shooter-michael-dunn_n_4123805.html

    • No one threaten this racist pos. Just stick a needle in his arm and kill him already. He’s a danger to society.

      • Liza says:

        Did you notice in this article the statement Dunn made about fearing that there will be one black person on his jury and there will be a mistrial? This seems to indicate that he believes he will be found not guilty and set free like Zimmerman was as long as the jury is white.

        • Liza, I can’t handle another jury like the Zimmerman jury. The verdict knocked the breath out of me. I literally went weak after hearing the words not guilty. I hope and pray there will be a jury who will listen to the evidence. I can’t handle anything else.

      • Liza says:

        This is the quote, written by Dunn in a letter to a supporter: “My fear is that if I get 1 black on my jury it will be a mistrial as I am convinced they will be racially biased.”

        I guess he was encouraged by Zimmerman’s “not guilty” verdict. However, there will be twelve jurors at his trial and I am going to predict that there will be black jurors. Quite frankly, I would rather see this trial proceed without media attention so that there is a better chance of getting justice for Jordan Davis, the murdered child. He was gunned down exactly 6 1/2 miles south of the house that I grew up in Jax. I know exactly where this happened.

        • Just listen to the rat bastard! He wants a white jury to get him off. The nerve of this trashy thug. OMG! He has absolutely no remorse for killing a kid. I can’t take this.

      • Liza says:

        The man is a racist straight down to the marrow of his bones. He has no remorse at all for killing a 17 year old black child. If this were the 1960s Dunn would be in the KKK and terrorizing black people, he fits the profile perfectly. And he believes he should not be held accountable for the murder he committed.

      • Ametia says:

        Just think about this POS having no thought of what Trayvon or Jordan’s family must be going through. How the verdict might have been different had the jury been ALL BLACK.

        These people have NO SOUL.

    • Liza says:

      Ametia, I still think it is an outrage that there was not a black person from Sanford on Zimmerman’s jury. I’m talking about a native from those parts and one with a spine. The prosecution needed to make that happen. Sanford is 30% black which seems to indicate that there actually should have been two blacks on the jury.

      Dunn is a psychopath. He doesn’t give a damn about the kid he murdered or the lifetime of suffering that he has caused for the family. Zimmerman doesn’t either. If I had to pick which one is worse, I would pick Dunn. He sprayed the vehicle that the kids were in with bullets. He didn’t care who he hit or how many died. Dunn is just seething with hatred for black people and he apparently thinks that killing them is okay. Reminds me so much of the Jim Crow South, but he’s only about 45.

  15. rikyrah says:

    Big Business knocks GOP’s ‘Taliban minority’

    10/18/13 10:50 AM

    The intra-party tensions between the Republicans’ corporate allies and their Tea Party base have been simmering for a while, but the recent shutdown and debt-ceiling crises appear to have brought the hostilities to a boil.

    Dan Danner, the head of the National Federation of Independent Businesses, a powerful Republican ally, recently argued, “There clearly are people in the Republican Party at the moment for whom the business community and the interests of the business community – the jobs and members they represent – don’t seem to be their top priority. They don’t really care what the N.F.I.B. thinks, and don’t care what the Chamber thinks, and probably don’t care what the Business Roundtable thinks.”

    This Bloomberg News report helps shed light on what the GOP’s corporate wing intends to do about it.

    A battle for control of the Republican Party has erupted as an emboldened Tea Party moved to oust senators who voted to reopen the government while business groups mobilized to defeat allies of the small-government movement.

    “We are going to get engaged,” said Scott Reed, senior political strategist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “The need is now more than ever to elect people who understand the free market and not silliness.”

    http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/big-business-knocks-gops-taliban-minority

  16. rikyrah says:

    Heritage may not ‘amount to anything anymore’
    10/18/13 11:31 AM

    By Steve Benen

    A few weeks ago, Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint, as part of his anti-healthcare crusade, insisted Republicans “did not litigate the Obamacare issue” in 2012, so the presidential election didn’t really count. The comments drew widespread ridicule, and made DeMint appear rather foolish.

    Naturally, this led DeMint to believe it would be a good idea to repeat the argument in a new op-ed for the Wall Street Journal.

    …ObamaCare was not the central fight in 2012, much to the disappointment of conservatives. Republicans hoped that negative economic news would sweep them to victory, and exit polls confirmed that the economy, not health care, was the top issue. The best thing is to declare last year’s election a mistrial on ObamaCare.

    For the former senator, the key is disputing the notion that elections have consequences. In reality, American voters were offered a clear choice between two major-party candidates with very different platforms. One vowed to destroy the Affordable Care Act; the other promised to implement it. The latter won, as did his party in congressional elections.

    DeMint’s principal goal, apparently, is to convince Republicans that the will of the American electorate just isn’t that important. If they disagree, DeMint and his political operation at Heritage intend to punish allies who fail to toe the party line.

    With this in mind, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) appeared on MSNBC yesterday and said something interesting. “Heritage used to be the conservative organization helping Republicans and helping conservatives and helping us to be able to have the best intellectual conservative ideas,” he argued. “There’s a real question in the minds of many Republicans right now, and I’m not just speaking for myself: Is Heritage going to go so political that it really doesn’t amount to anything anymore?”

    This is a specific kind of criticism that shouldn’t be overlooked. Hatch, who’s no doubt worked with Heritage many times during his 36 years in the Senate, isn’t complaining about the organization’s position on a contentious issue; he’s questioning whether Heritage even matters anymore.

    http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/heritage-may-not-amount-anything-anymore

  17. rikyrah says:

    Why Obamacare’s critics have to make stuff up
    10/18/13 01:07 PM

    By Steve Benen

    With the federal government re-opened, and the debt ceiling raised, the political world can slowly adjust to some semblance of normalcy – or at least as normal as the conditions were a few months ago.

    At Fox News, that means a few specific things, including an effort to convince viewers that the shutdown’s effects on the U.S. economy weren’t that bad, followed by an effort to – I kid you not – focus on another round of Benghazi conspiracy theories.

    But it also means reinvesting in the crusade against the Affordable Care Act. Eric Stern has a fascinating item in Salon this morning on one Fox segment in particular.

    I happened to turn on the Hannity show on Fox News last Friday evening. “Average Americans are feeling the pain of Obamacare and the healthcare overhaul train wreck,” Hannity announced, “and six of them are here tonight to tell us their stories.” Three married couples were neatly arranged in his studio, the wives seated and the men standing behind them, like game show contestants.

    As Hannity called on each of them, the guests recounted their “Obamacare” horror stories: canceled policies, premium hikes, restrictions on the freedom to see a doctor of their choice, financial burdens upon their small businesses and so on.

    “These are the stories that the media refuses to cover,” Hannity interjected.

    http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/why-obamacares-critics-have-make-stuff

  18. rikyrah says:

    Nullification Doctrine 2.0

    Posted by Betty Cracker at 11:46 am .

    Oct182013
    .

    Jim DeMint, who fittingly occupied John C. Calhoun’s old Senate seat before he decamped for a wingnut welfare gig at Heritage, published a screed in the WSJ today that was two parts “la-la-la-I-can’t-hear-you” and one part argument for a modern twist on nullification.

    The editorial, entitled “We Won’t Back Down on ObamaCare,” serves notice that the teaturd lemmings in Congress will continue to try to overthrow a law that was duly debated, legislated and upheld by the highest court in the land plus a national election. DeMint gives three reasons why the gallant cause to combat Northern aggression ObamaCare must continue:

    The first is that ObamaCare was not the central fight in 2012, much to the disappointment of conservatives. Republicans hoped that negative economic news would sweep them to victory, and exit polls confirmed that the economy, not health care, was the top issue. The best thing is to declare last year’s election a mistrial on ObamaCare.

    A “mistrial” — are you fucking kidding me? We don’t need to consult a “word cloud” of Republican talking points for the 2012 election to know “ObamaCare” would show up in a big fat font. It was a major issue by any rational measure, and even if it weren’t, exit polls aren’t a sane basis to nullify laws. There was an election. The GOP lost.

    Second, the lives of most Americans are not dominated by the electoral cycle. They shouldn’t have to wait three more years for Congress to give them relief from this law, especially when the president has so frequently given waivers to his friends. Full legislative repeal may not be possible while President Obama remains in office, but delaying implementation by withholding funds from a law that is proven to be unfair, unworkable and unaffordable is a reasonable and necessary fight.

    Take it up with the Founders, Jimbo. And you had your shot in the last election cycle. You lost.

    http://www.balloon-juice.com/2013/10/18/nullification-doctrine-2-0/

  19. rikyrah says:

    Remember the pundits who urged Obama to cave?

    10/17/13 04:45 PM

    By Steve Benen

    Even as the American mainstream turned against congressional Republicans during the recent crises, there were quite a few Beltway pundits who urged President Obama to give in to GOP demands. We talked earlier about what lessons Republicans may have learned from this fiasco, but I can’t help but feel curious about what, if anything, commentators learned, too.

    Let’s take National Journal’s Ron Fournier, for example, who argued just last week that Obama “must negotiate” with GOP leaders. He said it was necessary as a “matter of optics,” adding that Republican “obstinacy” is “no excuse.” (Remember, in context, “negotiating” with Republicans meant exploring what concessions the president was prepared to offer – in exchange for nothing – because GOP lawmakers said it was a precondition to their willingness to complete their basic responsibilities.)

    Obama ignored the advice, showed some real leadership, and prevailed. A week later, with the benefit of hindsight, Fournier’s advice appears rather misguided.

    Which is what made the National Journal writer’s new column that much more interesting.

    Just as he did to John McCain in 2008 and to Mitt Romney in 2012, President Obama defeated a lame Republican political team. The GOP’s right wing foolishly shuttered the government and threatened default in exchange for an unreasonable and unattainable concession: Scrap Obamacare. He refused. The GOP caved.

    It was all so predictable.

    Hmm. If it was all so predictable that the president would stick to his guns and Republicans would cave, why did Fouriner argue – literally just last week – that Obama should stop sticking to his guns and start making concessions to Republicans?

    The rest of Fournier’s argument is somewhat confusing. He wants to know, for example, if Obama can “lead.” Didn’t Obama just prove that he could “lead” quite well by winning this fight? In this case, Fournier suggests “lead” means “making Republicans do what they refuse to do,” which doesn’t seem like an altogether fair definition of the word.

    The column goes on to ask if Obama “has the guts to anger liberal backers with a budget deal on Social Security and Medicare,” failing to mention that Obama has already angered liberal backers by offering a budget deal on Social Security and Medicare. Fournier also asks, “Is he willing to engage sincerely with Republicans?” overlooking all of the efforts the president has already made to do exactly that.

    The columnist also wants to know if Obama wants “a legacy beyond winning two elections and enacting a health care law,” overlooking the Recovery Act, ending the war in Iraq, decimating al Qaeda and killing Osama bin Laden, rescuing the American automotive industry, reforming Wall Street safeguards, advancing civil rights, and scoring several major foreign policy victories.

    http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/remember-the-pundits-who-urged-obama-cave

  20. rikyrah says:

    Obama Pollster Warns Republicans: Oppose Obamacare At Your Own Risk

    By Igor Volsky on October 18, 2013 at 8:32 am

    Despite claiming that the shutdown fight represented their last best chance to undermine the Affordable Care Act, Republicans in Congress insist that they will continue to chip away at the health care reform law — even as uninsured Americans begin to sign up for coverage in the law’s new marketplaces. But poll numbers from Obama campaign pollster Joel Benenson suggest that the effort has little public support — even among Republican voters.

    “Each time Republicans ratchet up their efforts to delay or defund the ACA instead of focusing on what should be their No. 1 priority — strengthening our economic recovery and creating jobs — they suffer,” Benenson wrote in a memo initially obtained by Politico. The document presents an “array of public polling from a wide variety of outlets” to show that the legislative effort to undermine the law has hurt the party “on every front”:

    http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/10/18/2803191/obama-pollster-warns-republicans-oppose-obamacare-risk/

  21. rikyrah says:

    DMACK @dmtmccoy

    @DavidCornDC In RI paying $717 a mo. Pvt ins. $108 under ACA. Love, love ACA!

    8:29 AM – 18 Oct 2013

    Angel Schroeder @angelrippyschro

    @DavidCornDC Coverage thru employer similar. Daughter with cystic fibrosis will never know lifetime max. or be denied. #ACAWorks

    8:02 AM – 18 Oct 2013

  22. rikyrah says:

    Thanks To Obamacare, Oregon Cut Its Unsinsured Population By 10 Percent Over The Past Two Weeks

    By Tara Culp-Ressler on October 17, 2013 at 4:32 pm
    Over the past two weeks, Oregon has signed up so many low-income residents for health coverage that the state has cut its uninsured population by 10 percent, according to state health officials. The majority of those people are newly eligible for public insurance plans thanks to Obamacare’s expansion of the Medicaid program.

    The Oregon Health Plan — which is what the state calls its Medicaid-funded program for poor residents — has enrolled 56,000 new people this month. State officials credit those high numbers to a fast-track enrollment system that allows people to easily sign up. More than 250,000 food stamp recipients in the state received a notice informing them that they’ve become eligible for the Oregon Health Plan, and explaining that they can either make a phone call or fill out a form in order to complete the enrollment process.

    “This is tremendous news for the thousands of Oregonians anxious to get access to quality, affordable health care,” Gov. John Kitzhaber (D) said in a statement. “We still have a ways to go, but in reducing our uninsured rate by 10 percent in just two weeks, we’re showing what’s possible when a state is committed to fundamentally changing the health care system to provide better access, better health and lower costs.”

    http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/10/17/2801311/obamacare-oregon-medicaid/

  23. Ametia says:

    Joy Reid Show on the Stove at MSNBC?
    by Tommy Christopher | 6:45 pm, October 17th, 2013

    SNIP
    Joy has been a frequent fill-in host this year, and has impressive new media chops, with extensive reporting experience, and a point of view that meshes well with the network’s fastest-growing demographic. She’s also the subject of copious social media demand that she be given her own show on MSNBC, an idea which I floated in these pages several months ago. Asked “When is Joy Reid getting her own show,” a senior MSNBC source replied “Stay tuned.

    SNIP

    http://www.mediaite.com/tv/joy-reid-show-on-the-stove-at-msnbc/#0

  24. John McCain: “I guarantee” government won’t shut down again

    http://huff.to/1cxEAzO

  25. President Obama will announce his nomination of Jeh Johnson to head Homeland Security today at 2pm Eastern.

    http://www.whitehouse.gov/live/

  26. Ametia says:

    The Post-Shutdown GOP Civil War in 23 Quotes
    Fighting words on the right in the wake of the debt ceiling and government shutdown crises.

    —By Dana Liebelson| Thu Oct. 17, 2013 11:38 AM PDT

    The just-concluded government shutdown and debt ceiling crisis revealed a deep and profound split within Republican ranks, as tea party crusaders pushed for brinkmanship to thwart Obamacare and establishment-minded GOPers freaked out over the historic hit their party was receiving in public opinion polls. Even after the conflict was settled (at least for a few months)—with the congressional Republicans essentially waving a white flag—the civil war within GOP and conservative circles continued unabated. Once the deal went down, mainstream GOPers immediately blamed the “suicide caucus” for harming the party and pledged to block future shenanigans of this sort, and tea partiers in and out of Congress dismissed the “surrender caucus” and vowed to continue the fight as the next D-Days approach (January 15 for funding the government, and February 7 for the debt ceiling).

    This ugly episode hasn’t resolved the tensions within the GOP and the conservative movement—it has exacerbated them. Here is a list of post-deal quotes from key players in this civil war that show the internecine battle is not likely to end soon.

    http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/10/gop-post-shutdown-civil-war

  27. Hat tip–Sandyabolitionist Tetnowski

    Cute granny with some LADY SWAG bustin’ a move!!

    Hey! Hey! Hey!

  28. Ametia says:

    The Ted Cruz Armageddon Is Coming
    by Michael TomaskyOct 18, 2013 5:45 AM EDT

    A new Pew poll shows Tea Partiers’ devotion to the otherwise divisive senator. Can the Republican establishment stop him before it’s 2016? By Michael Tomasky.

    Did you catch Ted Cruz’s numbers in that Pew poll that came out this week? You may not have, because there were a few other things going on. So take a guess as to his favorable ratings among Tea Party people. I can tell you that 18 percent expressed no opinion, so the numbers add up to 82. So, 65-17, 68-14? Could he possibly have topped 70?

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/10/18/the-ted-cruz-armageddon-is-coming.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_morning&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_morning&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet

  29. rikyrah says:

    Blog

    October 17, 2013 11:03 AM
    What Lesson Was Learned?

    By Ed Kilgore

    So if the end of the fiscal crisis represents, as Ross Douthat calls it, a “Teachable Moment” for the GOP, what would that lesson, exactly, be? It mostly appears to be about strategy and tactics, not goals or ideology (or “principles” as ideologues like to say in their endless efforts to ascribe dishonesty and gutlessness to dissidents).

    Even for Douthat, who clearly wants the memory of the Tea Folk (or to use his term, “populist”) failure in this incident to be seared into the collective memory of Republicans, it’s mostly about the how rather than the what and the why:

    …………………………

    The problem was “the stunt,” not the violent antipathy towards a pale version of universal health coverage or the conviction that the New Deal/Great Society legacy is fatal to America or the belief that nearly half the country is composed of satanic blood-suckers and baby-killers.

    ……………………

    But don’t confuse that strategic argument with any broader sense that conservatives or Republicans should rethink their entire militant opposition to the Affordable Care Act. No, it just means recognizing that getting rid of this law—as opposed to obstructing it and making sure the number of people benefitting from it is as small as possible—must await the kind of victory in 2016 that eluded the party last year.

    Don’t get me wrong here: there’s great value to the nation in convincing one of our two major political parties to respect the results of elections and eschew wildly disruptive legislative strategies and tactics. But even if that “lesson was learned,” and the jury’s still out on that proposition, it’s not the same as a serious reconsideration of today’s radical conservatism, which may well emerge from this incident as strong as ever.

    http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2013_10/what_lesson_was_learned047377.php

  30. Yahtc says:

    Again, here is the petiton to investigate the cause of the death of Kendrick Johnson:

    http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/kendrick-johnson-death

  31. rikyrah says:

    Labor puts Dems on notice: Don’t touch Medicare and Social Security benefits
    By Greg Sargent

    October 17 at 4:52 pm

    With the crisis chatter in Washington now turning to speculation about the coming budget talks and the possibility of a “grand bargain” to replace the sequester, liberals and unions are getting increasingly nervous that Congressional Dems will give up entitlement benefits cuts in exchange for, well, whatever is on offer from Republicans, which isn’t at all clear.

    In an interview, Damon Silvers, the policy director of the AFL-CIO, laid down a hard line, putting Dems on notice that any agreement that cuts entitlement benefits — even in a deal that includes GOP concessions on tax hikes — is a nonstarter. Silvers strongly suggested labor would withhold support in 2014 from any Dem lawmaker who supports such a deal.

    “We are opposed to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits cuts. Period,” Silvers told me. “There will be no cover for members of either party who vote for such a thing.”

    Silvers said the AFL-CIO also opposes the entitlements cuts in the President’s budget, such as Chained CPI and a form of Medicare means testing. It’s unclear how, or whether, those will figure in what Dems bring to the table in the budget talks, which are mandated by the deal just reached to end the crisis.

    “Chained CPI is like the vampire of American politics,” Silvers said. “It keeps being shot through the heart and it keeps reviving. The reason it keeps coming back is because it has billionaires behind it.”

  32. rikyrah says:

    The Damage Done

    By PAUL KRUGMAN

    Published: October 17, 2013

    The government is reopening, and we didn’t default on our debt. Happy days are here again, right?

    Well, no. For one thing, Congress has only voted in a temporary fix, and we could find ourselves going through it all over again in a few months. You may say that Republicans would be crazy to provoke another confrontation. But they were crazy to provoke this one, so why assume that they’ve learned their lesson?

    Beyond that, however, it’s important to recognize that the economic damage from obstruction and extortion didn’t start when the G.O.P. shut down the government. On the contrary, it has been an ongoing process, dating back to the Republican takeover of the House in 2010. And the damage is large: Unemployment in America would be far lower than it is if the House majority hadn’t done so much to undermine recovery.

    A useful starting point for assessing the damage done is a widely cited report by the consulting firm Macroeconomic Advisers, which estimated that “crisis driven” fiscal policy — which has been the norm since 2010 — has subtracted about 1 percent off the U.S. growth rate for the past three years. This implies cumulative economic losses — the value of goods and services that America could and should have produced, but didn’t — of around $700 billion. The firm also estimated that unemployment is 1.4 percentage points higher than it would have been in the absence of political confrontation, enough to imply that the unemployment rate right now would be below 6 percent instead of above 7.

  33. rikyrah says:

    The Plum Line

    Did Barack Obama do John Boehner a big favor?

    By Greg Sargent

    October 17 at 1:53 pm

    President Obama gave brief remarks this morning in which he stressed that it’s time to get back to normal governing, now that the crisis has been temporarily resolved. Obama twice stressed that economic growth must be a leading goal, and noted the deficit is “falling fast,” signaling a set of guiding priorities that — if followed in coming negotiations — will hearten liberals. He also said this:

    “In the coming days and weeks, we should sit down and pursue a balanced approach to a responsible budget, a budget that grows our economy faster and shrinks our long-term deficits further.

    “At the beginning of this year, that’s what both Democrats and Republicans committed to doing. The Senate passed a budget; House passed a budget; they were supposed to come together negotiate. And had one side not decided to pursue a strategy of brinksmanship, each side could have gotten together and figured out, how do we shape a budget that provides certainty to businesses and people who rely on government, provides certainty to investors in our economy, and we’d be growing faster right now.

    “Now, the good news is the legislation I signed yesterday now requires Congress to do exactly that — what it could have been doing all along.”

    Beyond this, though, it’s worth asking whether, by holding the line until Republicans had no choice but to capitulate on the debt limit, Barack Obama actually did John Boehner a long term favor of sorts.

    Most observers think John Boehner genuinely wants to get to some kind of long term budget deal. If true, he plainly has been hampered by pressure from the right not to even enter into negotiations that risk resulting in a compromise Tea Partyers would find unacceptable. Before yesterday’s outcome, conservatives explicitly were insisting that GOP leaders must not enter into any talks unless they could wield the threat of harm to the country to get something for nothing. Remember, Ted Cruz angered fellow Republicans when he refused to enter into normal budget talks unless Dems agreed in advance not to make raising the debt ceiling even tangentially related to the talks, effectively reserving it as an extortion tool later.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/10/17/did-barack-obama-do-john-boehner-a-big-favor/

  34. rikyrah says:

    ok, don’t say that you weren’t warned.

    Do not have a drink in your hand when reading this post.
    Have an excuse ready for when your co-workers ask why you are laughing hysterically.
    I laughed so hard that I got a laugh stomach cramp.

    ……………………………….

    Whose Wise Baby is This? (And Foolery From My Readers)

    [ 55 ] October 16, 2013 | Luvvie

    I’ve said this before but babies are cute by default because they’re so little and small things lean towards cute. And some babies are born cute AND looking like they’ve been here before. You’ve seen those mini humans. They just look like they hold a wisdom of the years and these are the kids you gotta give strong names to. Names like Rufus, Jebediah, Orelius or Bertha. You can’t name babies who’ve been here before stuff like Jessica, Zach or Timmy. Nope. They need to be called Wilbur or Clementine from jump!

    I came across a picture of this baby a while ago and I immediately wanted to get off is lawn, because I was sure he was gonna chase me off it.

  35. rikyrah says:

    Republicans Have Been Crushed and Humiliated Because President Obama Said No

    By: Jason Easley
    Wednesday, October 16th, 2013, 2:01 pm

    The fact of the matter is that it wasn’t Ted Cruz or John Boehner who caused the latest Republican crushing defeat. It was President Obama steadfastly saying no.

    The seeds of the most embarrassing Republican defeat in decades were planted when congressional Republicans and their corporate billionaires made the mistake of misjudging President Obama’s character.

    ……………………

    The government shutdown came, and Obama still said no. Days turned into weeks, and the president’s answer was always the same. He’d be happy to talk, but first the Republicans had to do their jobs by opening the government and raising the debt ceiling. The president was never unreasonable, but he was unyielding.

    President Obama was the backbone of the Democratic stance. Harry Reid and Senate Democrats were the heart, but Obama was the steel spine. Obama made the Republicans blink first and cave to his will.

    President Obama deserves credit. Obama has redefined the perception of his presidency. He has made it clear that if Republicans want to shutdown the government in January or risk default in February 2014, he is going to make them pay a heavy political price.

    http://www.politicususa.com/2013/10/16/republicans-crushed-humiliated-president-obama.html

    The Republican Party has been damaged, crushed, and humiliated all because President Obama kept saying no.

  36. rikyrah says:

    Judge Denounces His Own Ruling on the Constitutionality of Voter ID Laws

    By: Adalia Woodbury

    The Judge who wrote that the ruling that give Vote suppression laws legal cover admits he got it wrong. Judge Richard Posner, who was appointed to the 7th Circuit by Ronald Reagan made the admission in his book, Reflections on Judging.

    Other courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States, used Posner’s arguments in Crawford v. Marion County Election Board as the framework to justify rulings on subsequent harsher laws that were clearly designed to suppress votes by certain classes of eligible voters.

    It’s worth noting, that while Judge Posner thought he was doing the right thing at the time, he recognizes that his ruling was abused to justify vote suppression under the pretense of addressing statistically non-existent voter fraud.

    I plead guilty to having written the majority opinion (affirmed by the Supreme Court) upholding Indiana’s requirement that prospective voters prove their identity with a photo ID—a law now widely regarded as a means of voter suppression rather than fraud prevention.

    During an interview with Mike Sacks on Huff Post Live, elaborated.

    We judges and lawyers, we don’t know enough about the subject matters that we regulate, right? And that if the lawyers had provided us with a lot of information about the abuse of voter identification laws, this case would have been decided differently.

    This is a big deal for two reasons. First, judges disavowing their own rulings is a rare event. When that happens it means there is a real reason to revisit the question addressed in the disavowed ruling. In this case, the judge also acknowledged that an unintended consequence of his ruling is vote suppression. if he had more information about the abuse of voter ID laws, he would have ruled differently. Without Posner’s ruling, subsequent decisions justifying vote suppression laws go bye-bye. It’s that simple.

    http://www.politicususa.com/2013/10/16/judge-denounces-ruling-constitutionality-voter-id-laws.html

  37. rikyrah says:

    LUVVIE’S SCANDAL RECAP IS UP!

    ……………………

    Mrs. Smith Goes to Washington: Scandal Episode 303 Recap

    [ 6 ] October 18, 2013 | Luvvie

    Scandal is stressful, bro. I mean it. This show be having me waiting to exhale for a whole hour. I’m worried for myself because I be so invested in every second. When the show was bout to start, the homie @YoungSinick said ”Shh, my stories are about to come on” and he’s right. This is our generation’s All My Children and Days of Our Lives. Now I know how my Granny used to feel.

    http://www.awesomelyluvvie.com/2013/10/mrs-smith-goes-washington-scandal-episode-303-recap.html

    • Ametia says:

      LMBAO@ “pening. Olivia sees 4 red dots on her, pushes her out of the way and stands in her place. She knows they won’t shoot her but girl that was dumb. You’re brown. They’d shoot you and lie later.”

  38. Yahtc says:

    “Bright Things: Paintings by Alma Woodsey Thomas”

    http://thingsbright.com/bright-things-paintings-by-alma-woodsey-thomas/

  39. Yahtc says:

    “Don’t Look Away: A Q&A with 12 Years a Slave Writer John Ridley”

    http://www.wordandfilm.com/2013/10/dont-look-away-a-qa-12-years-slave-writer-john-ridley/

  40. Yahtc says:

    “SRC rejects plan to sell off art”

    The art will not be sold.
    The School Reform Commission rejected a proposal Thursday to hire two companies, including Sotheby’s, Inc., to market and sell about 60 pieces of artwork that were taken out of schools nearly a decade ago — under what some people still consider questionable circumstances — and put in storage.

    The artwork, including paintings by prominent African American artists Henry Ossawa Tanner and Dox Thrash, was at first estimated to be far more valuable than experts now say it is. Commissioners nixed the idea of selling the pieces after hearing that appraisers have put their collective value at less than $1 million, and after being told that the intention was to put any proceeds in the general fund instead of dedicating it to arts-related programming in schools.
    They also acted after hearing from Marilyn Krupnick, a former student and teacher at Wilson Middle School, who argued passionately against selling off the pieces, many of which adorned Wilson before they were put in storage.
    “This collection has historical richness,” she said. “You certainly can’t believe that selling the artwork would solve the problems of Philadelphia School District.”

    The commissioners questioned Chief Financial Officer Matthew Stanski and finance staffer Erin Davis, who was put in charge of the art sale project. They asked why the idea of an art sale was coming up again now, and the answer they got was that it comes up every time the District has a financial crisis and scrounges for every penny it can.

    Davis said that the most recent appraisal put the collective value of the 60 pieces in storage at between $600,000 and $900,000. Asked whether she has any way of knowing if the estimates are accurate, she confessed, “I don’t know art, I don’t sell art, I’ve just been given this project to manage.”

    All four commissioners who were present voted against the resolution, which called for the pieces to be sold at live auction.
    “I don’t think we should sell this art — and move to ask the District leadership to come up with a way to restore the art to the schools from which they came,” said Commissioner Joseph Dworetzky. “This is part of the history of the District and an asset of another character. The [money] it brings in is not going to solve our problems. It just doesn’t feel right.”

    He said that the SRC has been dealing with this on and off for 10 years while the artwork, whatever its value, languishes unseen and untended in storage.

    “At one time people thought this was some kind of golden goose egg, but it clearly isn’t,” he said. “Do we really want to spend any more time on this?”

    Commissioner Feather Houstoun did not oppose the idea of selling the art but said that she was voting against the resolution because she said that any proceeds should support arts programming in District schools. Art and music instruction has been severely reduced for several reasons, including budget cuts and a focus on the tested subjects of reading and math.
    Krupnick, a science teacher, was ecstatic after the vote, as was former Wilson principal Arlene Holtz.

    “That art was so essential to the whole character of the school,” Holtz said. “A great generation from the ’20s and ’30s bought the artwork in the belief that it would inspire kids, and it did. We loved it, kids loved it, teachers loved it.”

    In her formal presentation to the SRC, Krupnick again said that she believes there were 72 pieces of art removed from Wilson, and that eight of them are currently missing. “Until an accounting is made for all of them, I request no decisions concerning the art be made,” she said. Davis said that among the 60 pieces being sold, about 35 are from the Wilson collection
    Krupnick recapped the history: that the paintings were acquired from Bucks county artists by Wilson principal Charles Dudley, an art lover, so that they could become part of the students’ educational experience. They stayed in Wilson for some 65 years before being removed in 2004 because former CEO Paul Vallas felt the paintings were not properly secured or cared for.

    At the time, news stories suggested that the paintings could be a significant source of revenue, speculating that their value could be as high as $35 million. The District owns more than 1,100 pieces of art, most of which still hang in school buildings, Davis said.

    What will happen to the 60 paintings now is not clear. The commissioners said they would ask the administration to come up with a plan to return the paintings to the schools from which they came, so long as they can be kept secure.

    Holtz and Krupnick said that they hope this will happen. If not, Holtz said, the Michener Museum in Doylestown, Bucks County, has offered to display the art.
    “There will be a place the kids can go see it,” she said.

    http://thenotebook.org/blog/136567/src-votes-not-sell-art

  41. Yahtc says:

    “Student Debt is Now a Weapon in the War on Diversity”

    http://www.policymic.com/articles/68707/student-debt-is-now-a-weapon-in-the-war-on-diversity

  42. Lonegan’s Wife Tries To Console Him During Concession Speech, Watch What Happens Next.

    http://hoboken.patch.com/groups/elections/p/lonegans-wife-tries-to-console-him-during-concession-speech-watch-what-happens-next-hoboken?a_dgi=aolshare_facebook

    Vanquished senatorial hopeful Steve Lonegan was less than a minute into conceding the race to Newark Mayor Cory Booker on Wednesday night when his wife Lorraine tried to console him with a warm pat on the shoulder.

    Lonegan, however, apparently wasn’t in the mood to be touched.

    ************************

    What a disrespectful asshole! Imagine what he does to his wife in private? He needs the taste smacked out of his mouth!

  43. Good morning, everyone! TGIF!

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