I don’t normally come across fantastic headlines across the web but this one about Newt Gingrich’s South Carolina Primary win was concise and bold just the way I like my headlines. Whoever wrote this Huffington Post headline did a great job. Well done!
Today’s Wednesday Beauty is another anonymous beauty from Flickr. The shot was taken by DiverseblkBeauty and is titled After The Storm. And after a day of protesting or a really long, bad day she’s definitely a sight for sore eyes. Enjoy the rest of your Wednesday!
“I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. I believe that even amid today’s motor bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow. I believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men. I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits.” -Martin Luther King’s Acceptance Speech, on the occasion of the award of the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, December 10, 1964
The first Wednesday Beauty of 2012 is Neo Mahloane.
In this Petra Rolinec photo, you can only imagine the wonderful or not so wonderful thoughts running through her beautiful mind! And the makeup is just stunning. The colors and contrasts are just amazaing Naushina Khan, the makeup artist, did a great job!
For more vibrant and captivating photos check out Petra’s Flickr photostream and don’t forget to check back next week for our next Wednesday Beauty and if you have a lady that you think should be featured on my blog send me an email at blackliberal@yahoo.com.
Like most people I normally make New Year’s resolutions but this year I have only one- to keep aiming for the stars. Cheesy? most definitely but it’s truth. I hope most of you aspire and achieve great things this year I will keep trying my best and I know you will as well all the best for 2012!
She doesn’t shape her eyebrows, or shave her legs and she swears by Vaseline and Cocoa Butter Lotion! Model Ajuma Nasenyana may not be a household name but based on her international work for agencies in New York, London, Italy, Austria, Spain, Ireland, Canada and Sweden we’re sure you’ll be seeing lots more of Ajuma and we’re pleased to feature her as this week’s Wednesday Beauty!
This week’s Wednesday Beauty was found on DiverseblkBeauty’s photostream on flickr.
The model didn’t have a name attached to her shot unfortunately, but she didn’t really need it. Her look, clothes and attitude in this shot combined helped to make her one of Black Liberal’s Wednesday Beauties.
And if you want to see more Black Girls Killing It check out their facebook page.
And remember if you know a Black beauty or a post, idea you would like me to feature on my blog drop me an email at blackliberal@yahoo.com I’d love to hear from you.
American writer and humorist Andy Rooney died Friday night from complications following surgery at a New York City hospital.
Rooney, became famous for his wit and acerbic observations as a commentator on the CBS News program ”60 Minutes”. And if there was one person that epitomized and seemingly relished in his role as ‘the cranky old man’, in my opinion, it was Andy Rooney.
He said things many of us thought but wouldn’t dare to say and I didn’t always agree withhis commentaries but at the end of each segment I was either laughing, smiling or shaking my head in frustration. Mr.Rooney always got a reaction out of me.
Mr. Rooney, as you once said, ” My idea of heaven would be to die and awaken in a place that has all my lost things.” I hope that you’re there and that all your lost items are in the hands of some punk ass kid and that you have to argue with every, single one of them to get them all back! I pretty certain you’d enjoy that scenario and sir, I sincerely hope that you rest in peace.
This week we saw two sides of Governor Rick Perry. At the beginning of the week, we saw video of him delivering one of the most bizarre, yet strangely mesmerizing speeches an American presidential candidate has probably ever delivered in New Hampshire. Yet, he says he wasn’t drunk! Okay then. And then at the end of the week on an appearance on CNN’s John King’s USA, Perry appeared to be an entirely different candidate not only were his responses to King, well thought out and coherent most importantly he actually seemed to know and care that he was on camera and that his actions, all of them were being weighed and judged by millions of people! What a difference a week makes right? I wonder why that candidate didn’t deliver the Cornerstone Action speech last Friday night and where was he at the past couple of GOP debates?
But hey, at least Perry’s antics allowed me to tie politics and Sesame Street together that doesn’t happen too often.
This week’s Wednesday Beauty is Shai White.
I love the colors and tones in this shot. Check out the photographer, Chris Willis’ other work on flickr.com.
I should be talking and writing about other things ( i.e, the economy going to hell in a handbasket, the first presidential debate on Friday, the Michigan polls, the Palin phenomenon ) I know, I know but the new PC ad just cracks me up and not in a good way.
As Gob from Arrested Development would say, ” Come on!”. I don’t care how many celebrities or prominent leaders they get to sign on to the ad or how many times they run it the fact remains it doesn’t even come close to beating one of the MAC vs PC ads. Not one! And they were getting played out after a couple of months believe me!
But If I were an advertisng exec for Apple I would be LMAO right now at the gift they just handed me, because it just confirms everything MAC has every said about PC and I didn’t have to spend a dime.
The funny thing is I have a PC..lol
Now, I’ve never been accused of being the angry, black women or the angry, black person in general. That label just wouldn’t stick to someone who smiles all the time, is known for her positive disposition and is a diplomat at heart.
But I do KNOW and have witnessed reaction to an angry black person. It seems that when a black person gets angry or becomes upset with a person of another race many times the individual or the people around them believe the black person will either become violent or that a violent altercation will later ensue. And usually the individual reacts with fear, to be honest this has happened to me on a few occasions. However, if I sense the person is scared I stop and ask, “Why are you scared? I’m not going to hurt you I’m just voicing my dissatisfaction with x, y, z..” I have received varying reactions to my blunt honesty over the years but usually the person reacting in that negative way towards me apologizes and tries to address my concerns in a more appropriate and constructive manner but I must say that this fear reaction, from my observations, is more prevalent among people over 50.
But I do believe that many people subscribe to the violent, angry black person stereotype. Many of these people give validation to the stereotype and believe it to be a fact and thus react more negatively towards an angry black person.
Obama, obviously, has had to and continually confronts and tactfully manuevers around this stereotype day after day. And he tries to constantly maintain his cool in order to never, ever appear as the angry black man, because we all know where that will lead to the inevitable..”Boy, he’s always angry,” ”I don’t think I want to vote for an angry black man,” “God, if he’s this angry now what will happen if he becomes President?” I can go on and on but his consistent coolness has led to the inevitable well, he’s too cool. He’s too above it all. He’s not one of us. He doesn’t have any ‘real’ passion.
So in a way Obama can’t win. If he raises his voice and gets a little more passionate about an issue, any issue, some people will get scared and believe he’s a militant black panther who wants revenge on whites. Yet, if he maintains an even and steady temperament he’s cold and distant. In times we often times recite, ‘let cooler heads prevail’ yet Obama is criticized for displaying these characteristics-he can’t win.
But I ask would you rather have a leader that is hot and unpredictable or a leader than is composed, reliable and steady under pressure?
I think the answer is quite clear.
OMG people!!! Talk about the issues.
John McCain wants a league of supermen and superwomen to affect ‘Iranian behaviour’ so I guess that would make the UN and G8 null and void?
Every pundit out there keeps talking about either how low the bar is or how much Sarah Palin has to prove tonight but you know what? Sarah Palin has nothing to prove and there is no bar. All she has to do is show up tonight and she wins.
It’s that simple.
So what if she doesn’t know anything about foreign policy. How many Americans do infact let’s be honest how many Americans care about what takes place outside our borders? I mean who cares about those ‘other people’ all they want from us is our money anyway, right?
So what if she can’t name a court case that she significantly disagrees with? How many Americans can? All we have do is overturn Roe v Wade and everything will be fine.
So what if she can’t name a magazine or a book that she’s read or reads that has helped shape her outlook on the world? Isn’t print a medium for those other people anyway?
Listen, people Sarah Palin is a sideshow, a very interesting one, i’ll give you that, nevertheless she’s still a side show. She was picked not because she helps John McCain with liberals and television know it alls or because she can rattle off world leaders and the issues affecting their countries. Please, she was selected to help John McCain steal women voters from Obama and because the photos with her and her hubby and their baby are priceless.
Insulting yes but isn’t that obvious?
And the fact she’s on the stage tonight with Joe Biden as the first female GOP vice presidential candidate might be enough to earn her and her boss some votes and enough to quell some fears on the conservative side.
But if you believe that she will be marked equally or on the same curve as Joe Biden you’re wrong. If you doubt me listen to the comments after the debate tonight. Unless she says something remarkably foolish Sarah Palin will be judged the winner. Who cares about substance? Who cares about experience? I mean those things are soooo 2004..all I can say is Idiocracy is definitely upon us people- and she just might be our next vice president..God help us all if that day happens..
*** I will be live blogging as usual, just in case you care..lol..i’ll even send some of you text updates***
Go ahead and listen to those pundits now..
See, all she has to do is show up..
He just talked about John McCain being out of touch when he referred to the fundamentals of the economy being strong..ok..now Palin is just talking about how much of a maverick she is..more and more talking points my god when I’m going to start hearing answer..see Gwen just pointed it out..
While Joe Biden keeps looking at her..he should do the same..now she’s talking..who’s responsible for the subprime meltdown..and she just used darn and heck..see that makes her cool..lol
That’s all these two are doing attack the leader of the opposite pack.
Breathe Palin, breathe..ok..she sounds rush..she doesn’t sound as comfortable as Joe but of course she wouldn’t..
Ok..so foreign people and rich people aren’t going to get my money..great they don’t need it anyway..a dollar a day is just enough in my opinion for those darn foreigners!!!
Palin wants to talk about her energy policy in Alaska instead of talking about helping people stay in their homes..
but who knows what causes it or what it could be Obama all his hot wind right? God, I’m funny..lol
And here comes Joe to give her an environmental lesson listen Joe, I watched an Inconvenient Truth..I KNOW, I KNOW no more lessons, I’ll stop using plastic bags..i will, honest.
Drill baby Drill, that’s what she hears at rallies..oh my god..that’s terrible..lol
Palin will tolerate same sex couples. Tolerate them? Guess she even has some in her family and that helps her to ’tolerate’ them..OMG..lol
She also supports the traditional definition of marriage and so does he.
Hmm…marriage is marriage even if it’s between two people of the same sex how long before we recognize that?
Oh my god Sarah Palin actually got a couple right..she even pronounced Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s name right..and oh s@#$ she even said they hate us for our freedom. My god she’s got the GOP talking points down..wow this is no repeat of the Katie Couric interview is it?
And now Biden brings up the Spain gaffe, that’s not right…
Two state solution. This is getting boring, no fireworks, not one..all she’s doing is talking..I want more Katie Couric.
At least Biden is looking at the camera. And I guess Joe Biden is Israel’s best friend..
Oh my god..Joe Biden spends a lot of time in Home Depot..She just said..say it ain’t so Joe..OMG the first one liner..of the night..and I don’t see Joe Biden at Home Depot
I love the CNN barometer, they have some funny name for it..it’s cool..I haven’t seen any real spikes all night.
She just gave a shout out to some third graders in Alaska that was nice…I guarantee after this debate her likeablity factors go out by a billion points.
Biden talking about his life he’s tearing up OMG..I don’t know if those tears were real..but it was awesome..oh no a girl made him cry..no just playing,,he was talking about his hardships and the death of his wife and daughter..
There she goes again talking about her diverse family..you know I want to know more about this family of hers WHO are these people? LOL
Faithful reader, how many of you under 30 (it’s not fair if we let the older people play, sorry..lol) have ever heard about The Keating Five? Hint..they was linked to the collapse of one major savings and loan- Lincoln Savings and Loan Association.
Ok..nobody, nobody at all? Well, that’s not surprising..when the US savings and loan crisis was taking place I was still playing with barbie dolls and listening to Milli Vanilli ( you were too so don’t laugh didn’t you just love the braids..lol).
Ok, so you don’t know about it learn more here and below
The Keating Five scandal probably left the biggest blemish on McCain’s career. And McCain obviously shies away from speaking about his role in the entire affair. Wouldn’t you? If you caused or were accused sorry, of causing thousands of people to lose their life savings would you want to shout it from the rooftops or would you want to crawl under a rock and die? I hope you would chose the latter but anway over the years McCain has rebuilt his reputation and standing in the Senate and the community, character attacks on him have seldom succeeded since he’s now seen as a straight shooter.
But in the next few days you will start to see some character assassination attempts on Barack Obama, by members of McCain’s camp. Some of the attacks might even come directly from John McCain, betcha he goes for the jugular on Tuesday at the presidental debate? But believe me you’re going to hear and read about Obama’s link to ‘terrorists‘. His connection to corrupt Chicago business man Tony Rezko and of course, of course Rev.Wright.
Don’t expect a gentleman’s campaign over the next few days. There will be no October surprises but there will be lots and lots of mud and stone throwing.
Instead, if I were them I would throw away the Republican play book and try to follow the old proverb people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones because the stuff that might be thrown back, by the Obama team and a press core trying to appear fair, just might demolish my entire house.
all I have to say is that it’s NEVER, EVER, EVER that bad…
Did anyone watch the Jon Voight interview on MSNBC today?
OMG, was it painful.
Contessa Brewer was interviewing him and in the beginning of the interview he spent almost one minute of air time talking about her name and how beautiful it was..it was excruciating to watch and it just got worst listening to him talk about his support of John Mccain and about Obama supporters being Marxist, you would think that as actor he could have acted his way through the interview but i guess when they are no prepared lines or stage directors most of them would just fall flat on their faces as he did.
Now, I’m not willing to say that Obama has it in the bag even though all the polls have him up nationally, there are still three weeks left to this campaign and anything could happen.
Obama is still capable of making a catastrophic misstep and those white working class voters who are still on the sidelines could suddenly jump off and throw their full support behind John Mccain. I don’t think either of these things will happen but they are a possibility.
In the last week, I’ve tried to watch John Mccain’s campaign objectively, (yes, I have..lol) and all I have to say is that his campaign is undisciplined and his messages lack direction and consistency.
One day his campaign is attacking Obama’s character and his past associations vigorously. The next day he’s attacking his record. The next day he’s telling his supporters, he’s not an arab but he’s a decent and good family man. The next day he’s talking about his economic plans.
Now, if I were a rational, intelligent, Republican leaning independent voter I wouldn’t know which message to listen too. But I do know the message that Obama is an Arab, marxist terrorist with plans to enslave white people would NOT be an effective or persuasive enough argument to get my vote.
And this is and continues to be John Mccain’s problem. His messages are inconsistent and imprecise.
And with only three weeks left to the general election this is a failing strategy.
Yes, the current unfavorable political climate, economic conditions and an unconventional opponent should have caused the Mccain camp to adjust their strategy but not so much so to cause their campaign to appear in disarray and desperate.
Karl Rove and his team would never have allowed this to happen.
For all the reasons we liberals hate Karl Rove we must admit he maintained, practiced and demanded message discipline from the candidate and their supporters and when he found a weakness in his opponents he zeroed in on it, concentrated his resources and exploited it effectively to the benefit of his candidate.
Mccain and his team, and the Republican party in general at the moment, lack these capabilities and although it didn’t work in 2006 it can be argued that it might have worked this time around even with all the obstacles.
Mccain has been trying to replicate some of the plays from past Republican play books and they just aren’t working however, I do believe if they had practiced the ‘Karl Rove fundamentals 101′ from the very beginning we might be seeing entirely different poll results but we’ll just have to wait a few more days to see if their missteps and misfires were disastrous.
Obama is up in the polls, he just got Colin Powell’s endorsement (I think this matters very little but as i say since this is the biggest job interview in the world, it certainly doesn’t hurt to have him as a reference) democratic registration is through the roof, John McCain and his campaign are stumbling and fumbling their way through this campaign while the country is hungering, begging for change.
Across the country, democrats in congressional and senate races can see the finish line and if the polls are to be believed it is there’s to lose BUT losing is still a real possibility.
Obama has so far mounted and effective defense to Mccain and Republican attacks but the American public is still unsure and ‘uncomfortable’ with an Obama presidency (in past posts i’ve explained some of these reasons) and there is a very real possibility come election day that some voters who have not openly voiced their concerns with pollsters will cast their vote for Mccain. In addition, the youth vote which has propelled and fuelled the Obama campaign may not turn out en masse thus handing victory to Mccain and the Republicans by default once again.
The Obama campaign and democrats shouldn’t, and I hope they’ve learned their lesson after 2000 and 2004, send out the invitations to the inaugural balls just yet. It ain’t over till the last vote is counted and every voter and possible voter matters in this election and I believe that for the first in almost twenty years voters are really paying attention so one little slip up by Obama in the next 15 days could usher in the end of his campaign.
And With John Mccain and his team searching for a narrow victory scenario you know that they aren’t taking anything for granted and that they will utilize every weapon in their arsenal to win and democrats always seem to have a hard time doing the same and should Obama and democrats become complacent and start to believe it’s a done deal they would’ve have created an opening and path for a John Mccain victory.
At the moment John Mccain, thinks that tying Obama to a socialist ideology ( I will discuss socialism at length in an upcoming post)while appealling to white working class men and women like ’Joe the Plumber’ with his tax cut rhetoric and sharp jabs by running mate Sarah Palin will consolidate many of these low information voters behind him. And the constant signals they both transmit to voters that Obama isn’t and could never be one them (we all know why just look at him wink wink) regardless of where you stand on the right or the left is an effective often practiced divide and rule political strategy. I don’t know if it will work in this election but we cannot dismiss the fact that is has before.
However, I hope that Obama and his team anticipated these tactics and mount a quick and effective defense to them while at the same time reinforcing Obama’s real working class roots while highlighting his intellectual capabilities and ability to lead and inspire us to be better.
Democrats must recognize that they are still votes to be captured and that nothing, NOTHING should be taken for granted over the next two weeks and they do so at their own peril.
Hip Hop has been dead to me for a few years now, glorification of a ghetto lifestyle, videos and a station (BET) that left me feeling humiliated every time I watched it were eliminated from my life.
But these two with, this one song, have resurrected hip hop for me with lyrics, beat and a series of messages..Hip Hop is slowly, slowly coming back to my life, I don’t know how long it will last but for now this song is on blast!
BTW this is the uncensored version, you’ve been warned..lol
Hillary Clinton and Obama are appearing side by side in Florida together. In fact check out the live feed.
A few minutes ago she gave a warm introduction to Obama. I still don’t think she means all of what she says but it was awesome to see them together.
And Obama even got the audience to chant Hillary’s name. He even talked admirably and glowingly of her. Now, this is what we should have seen more of over the last couple of weeks.
Sarah Palin is NOT a diva.
Divas don’t or wouldn’t muddy themselves in the dirty, dog eat dog world of politics.
Sarah Palin is a shrewd, ideologically rigid politician that has cultivated and energized the base of her political party, the Republicans, and will undoubtedly remain a force within it for years to come.
Many have preoccupied themselves with her clothing allowance/expenses (yes, 150 000 is a bit much..but hey I would take it in a heartbeat wouldn’t you? ..lol) interview missteps and basic lack of knowledge of critical international issues.
However, Sarah Palin, in the last few months has come to symbolize the modern conservative woman. And many in the conservative movement recognize that she will not compromise or wither, as other chosen ones have when confronted by democrats, in her support of their signature issues-pro life, anti-gay marriage and closer ties between religion (Christianity) and the state.
Palinhas them fired up and ready for ‘war’ and with the Republican party in shambles, the leaders of specific fractions of the Republican base will emerge and ultimately one of these leaders could assume control of the entire party. Palin is in a unique position at the moment, not only does she have a built in base of support but no other individual has emerged to challenge her for control after the election.
Mccain is not a threat since he has never had any real creditability or power within his party and if he loses the election any power he did have will be gone. So, Sarah Palin will brush him aside in a heartbeat and who else is there? Governor Bobby Jindal? Governor Tim Pawlenty?
While both men are widely regarded as rising stars Palin’s star far outshines theirs and that will continue well into the future.
Palin should be watched very, very closely by democrats because she has no plans of going gently into the night and if she emerges as the savior of the GOP and it looks like she could, then 2012 could prove to be the toughest year yet for Democrats.
And should she become and even more effective communicator and better versed in the ways of Washington and the world she may yet ascend to the highest office in the land…remember stranger things have happened-a man by the name of Barack Obama is on the verge of becoming the 44th President of the United States.
Open letter to all of my friends..
Dear Friends..
In a few hours you and I will have the opportunity to make a difference.
We will have the chance to raise our voices in unison in a call for change-a call for a new direction.
If we succeed it will be the end of the world as we’ve known it and I know that you can’t wait to say goodbye to the past and hello to the future!
I am so ready to wrap my arms around a future where national unity is more important than partisan political bickering, where the health of the individual is more important than a healthy bottom line, where global peace and global security are more important than GDP and GNP and where national reputation and image are more important than personal or party ideology.
It’s a lot to ask I know but as the most powerful citizenry in the world it’s our responsibility to take those first real steps towards improving our lives and the lives of our brothers and sisters across the world by voting for Barack Obama.
Almost two years ago, we stood with him in Springfield, Illinois as he announced his candidacy. And after eight years of being pushed and kicked around we were ready to hear his message. Today, we start taking the first real steps towards making his vision/our vision a reality.
It’s been a hard and difficult struggle and we almost didn’t get here but you’ve been valiant and vigilant my friends, battered and bruised yes, but we’re here.
And as we start down that unexplored path with heads held high, proud hearts and the knowledge and belief that anything is possible in this great land remember this day. REMEMBER THIS DAY for this is the day that marks the end of the world as we know it and you know what we’re not scared. We’re not anxious. We’re feeling just WONDERFUL!!!
Now go vote..
CBL..
Electoral college so far..Obama is at 207…and Mccain is 129…
A change is coming…a change is coming can’t you feel it?
If Mccain loses his home state to an unknown Senator from Illinois what does that tell you about America tonight?
I don’t even know what to say about what’s going on or what to write…hmm..I do like Soledad’s (CNN reporter/anchor) dress…lol..
Two anchors on CNN just said that it’s almost impossible for Mccain to win and they just said the it’s almost impossible for the Republicans to maintain their national status if they are getting beat in their traditional enclaves.
REPUBLICANS AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY NEED TO RECOGNISE THAT THIS COUNTRY HAS CHANGED AND THEY NEED TO START SPEAKING OUR LANGUAGE AND LISTENING TO WHAT WE HAVE TO SAY INSTEAD OF LISTENING TO THE CORE BASE (S) IN THEIR PARTY!!!
WE ARE ALL AMERICANS!! WE ALL LOVE THIS COUNTRY!!!
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA!!! THIS MAN IS GOING TO BE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!!!!
On November 5th, 2008 my mother went to my dad’s grave and laid a wreath in celebration of Barack Obama’s victory the night before.
As I answered the phone that joyful morning a tearful voice greeted me on the other end,”I’ve just come from your dad’s grave,’ she sobbed, ” I told him the revolution we always talked about has finally taken place…”
With tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat I told my mom that I wish I had been with her to say a few words as well. What I would have said? I can honestly tell you I don’t know and that’s one of the reasons it has taken me this long to write this blog.
Words CANNOT and DO not do Obama’s election to the highest office in this land and arguably the world, justice.
How can they?
Words cannot adequately express the effect of 300 years of slavery and another 90+ years of segregation/Jim Crow on a people can they? And words cannot express what it means to me and countless others like me black or white to see a black man lead a nation that once classified black people as nothng more than cattle.
How can words….they are no words that adequately express that triumphant feeling in my mother’s heart as she spoke those words at my father’s grave that morning just as they are no procedures that could bring my father back to life to witness that pivotal moment in Grant Park but on November 5th 2008, the revolution he always preached, longed and sometimes even begged for finally came I hope that he is finally, finally resting in peace.
Not a bad consolation prize..
But Richardson’s confirmation might not be as easy as he or Obama first thought. Negative press is never a good thing for a nominee, even if your party IS the one in power.
I guess this also means he wouldn’t be sporting the beard for a while, that’s too bad he looked great with a beard.
Obama is still smoking. You know it and I know it and if you believed that he really had quit that smile he gave on Meet the Press yesterday was a dead giveaway that he hasn’t.
According to him he’s tried to quit and he’s ‘ fallen off the wagon a few times ‘, code words for, ” You know I do, but you just wouldn’t catch me…” lol
But people, is it really a big deal that he smokes? Don’t we have bigger things to worry about?
We’re losing our jobs and our homes. Our country is falling apart, state by state, figuratively and physically and we’re worrying about whether or not the man at the wheel, the President of the United States gets a bit of satisfaction from puffing on a cigarette?
Gimme a break!!!
Smoking is a digusting habit and Obama obviously tries really, really hard to quit for his own health but I for one am not going to be worried about whether or not he lights up in the White House. I’m more worried about whether or not I’m going to have a job next year and if I’m going to be able to get a student loan for law school.
And if you don’t have more important things to worry about, good for you, you’re definitely one in a million but the press et al shouldn’t try to convince me that Obama’s smoking is one of the things that I should lose sleep over ’cause he isn’t (believe me he’s more worried about Detroit collapsing) I’m not and I’m sure millions of my fellow Americans aren’t going too either.
***UPDATE*** As of March 1, 2010 Obama is still smoking..and the world is still turning!
I went to the malls they were no lines for all the wrong reasons..
I went to the grocery store still no lines. Not good.
I didn’t spend a fortune on gifts and I got everyone on my list the best gifts for the first time EVER!!
Two of my favorite Christmas characters Heat Miser and Snow Miser got a makeover (digitized) and I hated it!!
It just didn’t feel like Christmas..go ahead call me..Mrs.Grinch..lol.
Americans kicked the Republicans out of the House, the Senate and the White House and yet their leaders continue to rely on and perpetuate ineffective racial stereotypes while promoting and inciting racial warfare. After this historic general election which saw the election of America’s first black president you would think the Republicans would’ve learned some lessons over they last two years.
But I guess they haven’t. They just don’t get it.
Will Republicans ever wake up?
Will they ever realize that America has changed, THE WORLD has changed?
Their only hope of ever regaining the reigns of power is by accepting the changes that have occurred in the political and cultural landscape of America and by rebuking and removing individuals like Chip Saltsman from within their ranks.
Now, the political strategist part of me wants them to keep it up ( it makes Democrats look really awesome..no lie) but the moral ‘do wants best for the country’ part of me, (you know us do-gooder liberals..lol) wants them to put an end to it NOW since that type of talk does more harm to the nation than good.
And you know what’s funny some of them are putting their hopes for 2012 in an Indian American and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal .. do you think he would like listening to the songs on that CD distributed by Chip Saltsman?
Roland Burris should not be seated, even though in all likelihood he will be, as the junior Senator from Illinois.
Now, I’m not familiar with the laws governing the seating of a Senator who was appointed by a governor under criminal investigation but any appointment by a politically discredited governor faces harsh criticism and adds a huge blemish to the body/capacity in which they have been appointed to serve.
The Senate doesn’t need any more blemishes.
So what if Roland Burris is African American? If Burris is seated he would be the only African American in the Senate. Who cares? His appointment is tainted and by extension HE is tainted.
But it seems Roland Burris is up for a fight and the Democratic leadership should give it to him. Under any other circumstances his appointment would be met with approval BUT these are not ordinary circumstances so extraordinary measures should be taken to deal with his appointment.
**** 1/6/08 UPDATE: Roland Burris was not allowed to be seated and was turned away by the Secretary of the Senate.***
Good! He shouldn’t have been there in the first place,
Roland Burris was not allowed to pass into the Senate this morning, the Secretary of the Senate channeled Gandalf (I couldn’t resist) and did not allow him to be seated.
Burris wants the seat baaaad but the democratic leadership, rightfully so, are unwilling to give it to him for all the right reasons.
And the majority of Americans seem to agree with me that Burris shouldn’t be allowed to take a seat in the Senate.
I can’t wait to see how this plays out and since Pat Buchanan is one of his biggest supporters you never know that could just sway Harry Reid and the other democrats over to his side..lol
Race is NOT an issue when it comes to seating Roland Burris as the junior Senator from Illinois at least it shouldn’t have been but obviously it has become an issue.
I guess that’s why Dick Durbin, Harry Reid and news anchors alike keep talking about it.
Just a few hours ago Dick Durbin, tried to reassure his black constituents and African Americans across the country that race isn’t the reason behind the non-seating of Burris.
He kept talking about how Burris is his long time friend and that he’s very fond of him etc etc..do you know what that sounded like to us black people and to a lot of other folks? It sounded a lot like appeasement. The irony is black people don’t want Roland Burris seated either!
But it seems that matters very little because from all appearances Burris will be seated-eventually because Reid and other Democrats don’t want to be called racist!!!
This is ridiculous. After all their tough talk all Burris had to do is show up, create a scene and then cry, “Look, the white people don’t want to let a black man into their club,” in order to get the senate seat.
How sad. How very, very sad.
Now, it might not be as simple as that I agree but that is exactly how it appears to many in the public believe me and that to be honest doesn’t help to improve race relations in the country.
The simple fact is Roland Burris should not be seated! Period! And his race has absolutely nothing, NOTHING, to do with it.
And the fact that he will be seated eventually simply because his appointment has been reduced to the fact that Reid et al don’t want to be seen as ‘keeping the black man out’ just goes to show that we haven’t really moved that far along to creating that post racial society we kept talking about during the 2008 campaign and had really hoped Obama’s win had showcased.
It’s a pity.
Former GOP presidential candidate, John McCain was on C-SPAN today discussing earmarks, one of his signature issues.
This is the first time I’ve seen John McCain in any significant capacity since he lost to Obama.
Oh wait.. he was on Letterman but that doesn’t really count does it? lol.
He was holding a press conference with a couple other senators talking about upcoming earmark legislation.
And he said he was happy to be back in the Senate. I must say that he looks a lot older than he did on the campaign trail nevertheless is good to see him back at work.
And for those of you wondering out loud about my viewing habits the answer is yes, I watch CSPAN and I admit it proudly..I’m a geek/nerd..and I love it.
Forgive me, I know this isn’t very important but I came across this video the other day and I couldn’t help but wonder what happened to DMX?
Remember him? Remember this song?
Rod is blaming his impeachment on the house not wanting to give people health care and tax relief!!!
My god this man is crazy!!!
Blago says he’s being impeached for saving people’s lives..lol
And he’s not going anywhere and he’s going to continue fighting for the people of Illinois to the very end of his days..
And I guess he just loves poetry he quoted Tennyson this time..Tennyson must be rolling in his grave!
I’m not rich. I don’t even consider myself middle class. I’m poor but I always want to look good even if I don’t have the money to spend on the really nice stuff.
Now, I’m a regular thrift/resale store shopper and I will remain one for the rest of my life and I make no apologies for shopping at these stores. Don’t get me wrong I like the Mall but as this article suggests the Mall is so yesterday..lol!!
But recently I haven’t been finding as many ‘treasures’ (that’s what I call my finds at thrift stores, garage sales, Goodwill, the Salvation Army etc) as I’m used too. I think all the newbies have been stealing my stuff..lol so, I’ve had to come up with some creative ways of keeping my outfits looking hot for cheap. Normally, I’m not a scarf wearer but I’ve fallen in love with them and since adding a few key scarves to my wardrobe I’ve been able to keep a few of my signature pieces looking chic and fresh.
Check out a few great ways to wear your scarf if you have one and if you don’t go get one now! And if you are a super diva and into the latest trends super long scarves are in…
This WSJ article got me wondering what YOU ladies have been doing/do to keep your outfits looking fresh and hot?
I watch MSNBC all day long seriously, I have no life..lol. And although I’ve noticed this before only recently has it started to bother me that they have lots of black MSNBC analysts but no black commentators with their own show on this station.
Why not?
They don’t even have to look too far. I think either Michelle Bernard or Harold Ford Jr should be considered for their own shows. Bernard and Ford regularly appear on MSNBC shows and segments and either individual would bring a unique perspective to the news of the day. Maybe they could do a show together? A black conservative and moderate democrat similar perspectives on certain issues but vastly differently ideologies on the biggest ones. Now that would be interesting.
Come on if Tucker Carlon could get his own show why can’t Michelle Bernard?
What do you think?
I know Senator David Vitter (R-La.) was just trying to score some cheap political points with his base today with his intense questioning of Hillary Clinton and donations made to her husband’s foundation at her confirmation hearing before the senate foreign relations committee.
I’ll admit that Vitter’s questions were indeed justified but it still pissed me off to hear him try to question Hillary and Bill Clinton’s ethics and the conflicts of interest that could ensue between her work as Secretary of State and donors to her the Clinton foundation.
How dare he?
Vitter should be the last person to question anyone’s ethics or try to force disclosure on anyone!!!
According to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert he forced the Bush administration to sit out a vote in the UN Security Council.
According to Olmert he called Bush and told Bush to reign in Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Now this could be a whole lot of bs from Olmert but the fact that he’s willing to say this on the record shows that he has no fear of repercussions from the incoming administration and it really displays how powerless this Secretary of State has been in advancing peace between Israel and the Palestinians. And in effect it reinforces the opinion of many out there that Rice has presided over a number of foreign policy failures/blunders.
Somehow, I don’t think the incoming Secretary of State , Hillary Clinton, will be as ineffective as her predecessor.
And this guy Niall Ferguson is just wicked!
His explainations of the current economic crisis and in particular the collapse of the American and global property market is not only informative but it’s definitely made easy for a regular person to understand what has taken place and is taking place around them.
I like it a lot espcially the parts on Detroit (i admit my bias..lol).
Hopefully a lot of Americans get to watch this documentary.
Apparently Obama had dinner with some of his harshest conservative critics the other night.
Now, it seems many prominent members in the fourth estate want their turn at hosting the president-elect or an invite to the White House from President Obama.
Tonight on MSNBC Clarence Page said he’s waiting for his invitation from Obama, Pat Buchanan talked about not being invited to Bush’s White House (code for he wants an invite to Obama’s) and Chris Matthews talked about being invited by George Bush Snr for dinner and a movie and how it was according to his father the greatest night of his father’s life and David Shuster talked about the dinner on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue too.
My God people have some respect for yourselves.
Stop kissing up to Obama let him come to you. He’s already extended a hand in friendship to some of his former foes (so Pat you will probably get a call don’t worry) so you can be sure he will be extending his other hand to his friends as well.
Douglas Schulz plans to announce his candidacy on January 20th because we have nothing better to do that day..lol.
So until the breaking news announcement comes our way YouTube will have to do.
Working for and against Wall Street [sic] and writing a few papers seems to have equipped Schulz to be our next president. Yup!
He also seems to be a big fan of creepy figurines (check out the elf riding a tiger on the bookshelf) but that will definitely help him win .000001 percent of the popular vote (that guy in his basement with a million figurines..lol) thankfully, like every Republican he knows his enemies- the liberal media CNN, NBC, ABC and CBS.
God damn that liberal, vindictive, media they’ll get you every time.
Why couldn’t this be Obama’s only competition for 2012?
I don’t know if I should laugh or cheer hmmm…GO SCHULZ GO! GO SCHULZ GO! GO SCHULZ GO!
I can’t take it anymore…lol
Do you know that feeling you get after eating a big thanksgiving meal, when you know you should’ve stopped after the third helping of mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce? Well, i’m starting to feel like that when it comes to the Obama converage.
Don’t get me wrong I love it but it’s just too much for a black liberal to take….I’ve never been high in my life but I imagine this is what it must feel like sensory overload..Obama is on everywhere..lol
I’m going to watch the PBS documentary on George Bush Snr for a minute just to calm down.
Can you believe I said that? LOL
My God how is he going to top these moments on Tuesday?
You can’t hear anything..nothing..everyone is just quiet..thousands of people, just listening..
He keeps setting the bar higher and higher for himself…and for us..
AMAZING!!!
On the eve of Barack Obama’s inauguration people across the world are celebrating the significant (albeit partial )realization of Martin Luther King’s dream for America.
For years to come millions will speak of that moment tomorrow, when Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. Billions more will tell and re-tell his story for generations to come. And as fact becomes myth and his name becomes legend Obama will be the newest member, of that highly exclusive club, of earthly inhabitants to have earned a spot on the walls of human immortality.
So for the next 48 hours regardless of where you are, your race, religion, national origin, gender or sexuality lift your head and raise your voice in celebration of our founding fathers’ wisdom, Lincoln’s bravery, King’s dream and Obama’s promise and all those whose stories and greatness have gone untold.
Realize in ALL of them the embodiment of humanity’s collective hopes and aspirations- for a better tomorrow.
Today the world welcomes the 44th President of the United States Barack Hussein Obama.
For two years we have followed and commented on every detail of his life and his family’s life. We have scrutinized and demanded his positions on every issue. We have even witnessed him ’brushing his shoulders’ off after a few missteps on the campaign trail. Along the way he captivated and inspired us with his soaring oratory and solid belief that WE can change the world.
To all of you who called, walked and knocked on doors for Obama and Obama/Biden because you wanted to change Washington D.C, the country and the world today is YOUR day!
To all of you that have suffered, due to the arrogrance, bumbling incompetence and divisive policies of the previous adminsitration today is YOUR day!
To all American troops across the world, today is YOUR day!
To all Iraqis who long for peace and sovereignty. today is YOUR day!
To people across the world who believed in America even when we had lost our way today is YOUR day!
To Michelle, Malia and Natasha today is YOUR day!
Finally to all Americans STAND UP AND RAISE YOUR GLASS IN CELEBRATION OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA FOR TODAY is OUR day!
Now, let’s get to work rebuilding this country we don’t have a moment to lose.
Chris Matthews in MSNBC’s Obama inauguration coverage just said that he Richard Nixon was a tragic but interesting figure and George Bush is an ‘uninteresting yet consequential’ President..
Well allright then..
I’ve heard him say some stuff over the few years but in the last few days he hasn’t hid his disdain for our former president..
Do you think he’s sorry to see the end of Bush?
What the hell?
Has Chris Matthews lost his frigging mind?
He just called Joe Lieberman, Al Gore’s running mate in 2000 a ‘terrible running mate’,,
He sure as hell isn’t running for Senator is he?
That’s the line that has stuck with me from Barack Obama’s inaugural speech because it not only applies to the developing world but the developed world, large or big societies, community and the individual as well…
I can’t believe it..
Barack Obama’s first day as President of the United States.
Can you believe this is happening?
All these fantastic changes..can you believe yesterday? All those people and not a single arrest according to reports NOT ONE!!!
Obama and his staff are hitting the ground running they aren’t playing no more secrecy, no more lobbyists and a pay freeze for his white house staff passivity be gone!
Doesn’t Obama’s first official day at the White House kinda remind you of your first day of school?
Well, it reminds me of my first day in Kindergarten ok he’s not going to be playing with crayons or learning the words to the wheels on the bus at least I don’t think so but you never know. Anyway, according to my parents the first day of school I jumped out of their arms and ran to the first bunch of kids I saw I didn’t even wave goodbye or look back at them and when they came to pick me up I asked ”Can I come again tomorrow?”
At least Obama doesn’t have to ask to come back tomorrow, I hope he and his staff have an awesome first day maybe one day I’ll know what it feels like to have a first day at the White House..maybe..
Yeah, you read the headline right
According to the British paper the Telegraph, an entire Al Qaeda cell in Algeria was killed by the plague. If this is true this is scary as hell and this comes on the heels of us closing Guantanamo Bay (which I favor) and the discussions we’re having about the inmates there.
Just this past weekend I was talking to my husband about terrorism (as I’ve said before I have no life..lol) and I told him that I thought the next large scale attack (on Europe or the US) will be launched with biological weapons.
I know that funding has been increased in order to help agencies prepare for such an attack but what about at the individual level what should we do to prepare ourselves for such attack? I found this site helpful in a general way but most of this stuff I already knew..I guess at the individual level you can never be fully prepared for an attack but we should insist and demand that all agencies at the local, state and federal level are beyond ready.
If Captain Chesley Sullenberger, pilot of 1549 has taught us anything is that we should always be prepared for the unexpected and to be honest can we say that another attack is not expected?
But the fact that a terror cell could be this close and that such a large number of potential terrorists had tried even after the tightening of restrictions to gain access to British universities in order to work in their labs is frightening.
MSNBC is reporting that Caroline Kennedy will not seek the NY Senate seat and she’s withdrawn her name from consideration.
I don’t believe it..
I wonder if Kennedy knew she wasn’t going to get it or something? Even though I thought she would get the nomination from NY Gov Patterson, let’s see how this story pans out..
=+++UPDATE++++ NOW NBC IS REPORTHING THAT SHE’S NOT WITHDRAWING!!!
I don’t know how many of you have ever visited the site conservapedia but the other day in one of my aimless web searches (googling is addictive) I type in some weird sh%* just to see what I come up with-admit it you do it too- and viola there it was-conservapedia.com
What I found was not shocking it was dare I say it funny…I’m serious the entry under Liberal had me cracking up for hours. Didn’t know this but apparently liberals like to call anyone they agree with a “professor” regardless of whether he earned that distinction based on a real peer review of his work..yup that’s what we do we politicaly correct, pornography loving liberals. We’re all about sharing the title Professor with any and everyone…lol..
So from now on people you guys are all profs..i’m serious no longer will i call you by your first names or nickname I’m done with that sh#$..you guys are Professor Viki or Professor Solomon (don’t know anyone called that but I like the name..lol).
This site is so erroneous it’s cool. Conservapedia go ahead and welcome the newest liberal member of your fan club.. betcha they don’t like to hear that? Hmm maybe I should add them to my blog roll?
Evil genius Karl Rove, aka Bush’s brain and former White House political director has been subpoenaed by House Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich.
Rove has been giving Congress the middle finger now for years but with the Democrats in control now they are itching to break his hands.
Karl Rove isn’t known for playing nice and with Congress out for blood Rove’s appearance and testimony will make for some great television.
I wonder if it will be an open or closed session?
President Obama is out to change the world!
You go dude!
Obama gave his first formal interview from the White House to a Saudi Arabian television station Al-Arabiya television.
Obama is reaching out directly to Muslims. His first outreach was during his inaugural address last week and later in his first week on the job he dispatched proven diplomatic top dog, Former Senator George Mitchell to the Middle East. This week he sat down with popular Arab journalist Hisham Melhem to discuss US policy.
Obama is sending a message directly to the people of the Muslim world that the US is NOT at war with Muslims or Islam, a message that was seemingly abandoned during the Bush administration, and that we’re ready to sit and talk with all moderate Muslims who are seeking to improve their lives and the lives of the country men and women.
We shouldn’t read too much into this interview, many muslims will undoutedly remain suspicious of this direct approach by Obama for a while but Obama is seeking to actively improve Muslim-US relations and this shows he is not just paying lip service to the notion and this is a start-a GREAT START. Positive signals like these will aid in the marginalization and isolation Al Qaeda. And combined with systemic policy directives and positive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks Al-Qaeda and their allies will be pushed closer and closer to the fringes of mainstream Muslim societies.
And this is exactly what needs to occur in order to defeat Al Qaeda and advance middle east peace.
Obama in his first week took on the economy. His second week the Middle East. What will week three bring?
He’s a multi-tasker after my own heart. Young politicians watch and learn..watch and learn..lol
You know, I think Barack Obama has achieved more in the last seven days (admittedly he hasn’t even got a bill passed yet) than George Bush did in seven years!
Observation.. I wonder which conservative pundit or politician will be the first to say that this interview confirms Obama’s muslim sympathies? Wanna bet it will occur on or will be an anchor of FOX News? Any takers? Anyone?
Gov. Patterson of New York treated Caroline Kennedy inappropriately.
The Kennedy’s are a powerful and tight knit family and if you mess with one you mess with all and that is definitely understandable. Most families exhibit the same characteristic.
This was a crucial mistake by Patterson and it showed poor poltical judgment. Patterson may have just dug his own political grave.
And the public for the first time in a loooong time is actually listening and more importantly interested.
With so much riding on this stimulus package Republicans have decided to draw their line in the sand by opposing the much needed and eagerly awaited economic package.
And for the first time in months they are actually falling in line and rallying behind their leader House Minority Leader John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Could Boehner be emerging as the new Republican leader? But that’s another story..
Anyway, Republicans have somewhat successfully articulated the difference between opposing the very popular President Obama whose approval rating stands at 70% and House Democrats. Who they have assigned blame for the package and the current lack of bi-partisanship. With an approval rating of just fourteen percent (14%) they can afford to diss them. I guess that means they don’t hate Obama they just hate the other Democrats and all their ideas..lol!
And opposing this stimulus package was a gift to the GOP party it allowed them to finally express themselves in a populist manner. But what I haven’t seen or heard is a credible alternative to the stimulus package. And I’m looking believe me because our national deficit cannot be sustained at its current level and consequences loom directly over my life.
So Republicans what is your alternative?
If the government does nothing, we fall deeper in the hole but we have a shot of at least minimizing and containing the damage. If it doesn’t we fall deeper in the hole and everyone except the top 1% of the population edges closer to the brink of economic collapse and millions more will fall over the edge and the resulting impact on our society is frankly, unfathomable.
So, I ask again what is the alternative? More, tax cuts? You’re kidding right? While I agree that tax cuts, in the long term are more beneficial our economy needs to be jump started, people need some extra money just to acquire basic necessities, Americans need a jump and the stimulus package will provide those jumps- in effect it’s our jumper cables or our AAA.
Republicans have failed to show us their jumper cables and I know they don’t have AAA!
What are their proposals and solutions to help working families, the college student and the small business person today, tomorrow or next week?
You see, this is the problem with the GOP. During the election John McCain, et al, would always say they aren’t Bush but yet they could never clearly articulate the differences between themselves and George Bush and the Bush administration. And once again the House Republicans are imitating the McCain campaign by having a counter proposal but hazy or little details on its benefits to the average citizen.
In effect Republicans are asking us to accept that their proposal is better than Democrats’ and just sign a blank check over to them? Correct? Isn’t this what got us into the mess in the first place? ?” Trust me, I know what i’m doing..” may have worked a couple of years ago but it sure as hell isn’t going to work now! And don’t Republicans accuse Democrats of signing too many blank checks?
Hypocrisy is never flattering.
Inevitably, many of us are prepared to accept that the economic stimulation package will not solve all our economic woes but we’re also prepared to challenge the assumption that we should just do nothing and let the economy work itself out. Regardless of the outcome positive or negative Republicans will have explosive political ammunition for the 2010/2012 election.
Republicans may have found their voice this month but they are yet to find a genuine battle cry!
A few minutes ago President Barack Obama signed the Lilly LedBetter Act.
This bill extends the statue of limitations for workers and makes it easier for employees who have been discriminated against based on race, gender, national origin or religion to sue their past employer (notice they don’t mention sexual orientation). Currently, the Federal Government prevents discrimination in their government offices and hiring practices but the House of Represenatives is working on a national law.
Lilly Ledbetter stood up and fought for all of us and for that she deserves our respect and admiration and don’t you just love that name, Ledbetter, the name says it all.
According to Lynn Sweet Washington, D.C. bureau chief for the Chicago Sun Times Roland Burris junior Senator from Illinois and Rod Blagojevich appointee has begun to raise funds to run again in 2010.
She made the statement on Hardball with Chris Matthews.
Interesting. I guess he didn’t make a deal with Harry Reid after all?
I’m quite sure Burris will have some challengers.
Michael Steele, former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland or Katon Dawson Chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party. Since they are the two remaining candidates in the race for Chairman of the Republican National Committee.
Sorry, to tease you like that..lol.
Anyway, I think Michael Steele has this thing..but we’ll have to wait and see. They’ve adjourned for 15 minutes so we’ll probably know in the next hour.
Can you imagine the two leading faces of the major political parties in America could be black?
Sweet!
Times are definitely changing.
Michael Steele just won one of the toughest jobs in America right now-Chairman of the RNC.
He is going to be in charge of rebuilding the GOP. He gave an Obama-esque speech. I guess every politician is trying to channel Obama but some just shouldn’t try..
Anyway, congratulations to him and to the GOP. They’ve definitely got some work to do.
Valentine’s Day is almost here. Have you thought about it yet? I know we have a lot on our minds these days but here’s a nice, brief way to escape and to show and tell that special person in your life you’re still my honey bunny.
Here’s a really cool neckalce and the crucial part- it’s affordable. Anyway, that necklace is definitely for the ladies but my other ideas are not gender specific…
1. A love letter written on really cool stationary
2. A picnic, with all your honey’s favorite foods (outside would be ideal but inside works too).
3. A custom designed outfit, utilizing local fashion students and your community seamstress or tailor.
4. A sexy love treasure hunt with ‘you-must-do this-now prizes’ all around the house/apartment…
5. Snuggle together on the couch, bed or wherever with no t.v, no distractions just you and your special one…
And just in case you’re wondering who designed that necklace it was Lauren Haupt. Honestly, I don’t think it’s the coolest piece in her collection my personal favorite is the ascending wing but since it’s Valentine’s Day..you get the idea..hearts, hearts and more hearts..lol.
What are YOUR plans for Valentine’s Day? Do you have any?
First it was Tim Geithner, US Treasury Secretary. Now it’s Tom Daschle Health and Human Services nominee.Thank goodness they aren’t that many posts left.
Are Obama nominees trying to take Walter Anderson’s title away from him? I know, I know, I’m exaggerating just a bit here but come on people what the hell is going on?
I know we all make mistakes and many of us will probably make some type of tax error in our lives so I can understand and expect a few errors here and there. I’m sure the toughest Obama critic could overlook a sizeable, if it were indeed honest, mistake. But tax errors of this magnitude and this protracted scream FRAUD.
I mean how do you not pay $128,000 in taxes over three years? I’m sorry but this misake is neither innocent or honest. And it cannot be explained away by differences in tax codes etc, etc. Instead, it appears, that this was an attempt to game the system. The same system that we, the public, have been asked to repair with our tax dollars. The same systerm that is now broke and teetering on the edge of collapse because guys like Geithner and his pals on Wall Street manipulated and abused it to their advantage.
I have little patience or tolerance for these individuals. And their nomination to these high profile posts is really a slap in the face to individuals who follow the rules, pay their taxes and expect those that lead to do the same.
Unlike Stuart Whatley over at Huffington Post I do believe that Obama should not be nominating individuals that have violated the law or the rules and guidelines he has established for himself and his closest advisers. It is not as Whatley argues ‘hypocrisy as the means to a practical end’ it’s just plain hypocrisy regardless of the outcome or the party in power its stench doesn’t change.
Daschle will probably be confirmed but if I were on Obama’s vetting committee I’d make damn sure that the next nominee to go up to Capitol Hill is as transparent as glass and that he/she is able to recite the tax code by heart since the next nominee with tax problems may not be as lucky.
Listen people cheating in today’s society is still very, very wrong!
But at this website cheaters are welcome infact cheating is encouraged and CEO Noel Biderman tries to convince you that cheating when married or involved is good for your relationship.
I’m not kidding, dude is serious too. He claims to have 3.5 million users! 3.5 million people, hopefully adults, are unhappy (at least I think most of them have to be) in their relationships and they don’t have the guts to leave. The ratio of men to women according to some reports 9-1.
Why bother getting married or become involved if you’re not going to at least try to stay faithful? Of course, it doesn’t always work out but at least most of us try.
I just don’t get it.
Macy’s just announced they will be eliminating 7,000 jobs and centralizing part of their operations. With so many retailers on the brink of collapse and so many bankruptcy filings I wonder which ones will be left at the end of 2009?
We’re definitely seeing a retail replay of survival of the fittest.
Retailers are being forced to adapt to these harsh market conditions but im the end all the job cuts and restructuring will be meaningless if they do not offer merchandise that attracts consumers. Macy’s has been struggling to maintain their significant market presence while attracting a more trendy and youthful customer but the merchandise and in-store brands consistently seem to be of the lowest quality but the highest price.
Macy’s use to set trends now they just seem to follow them
I sincerely hope they are able to reinvigorate and reinvent themselves quickly before they become obsolete and more people lose their jobs.
But this one has actually withdrawn her nomination.
Nancy Killefer was nominated by Obama back on January 7, for the post of Deputy Director for Management at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). According to the White House Killefer has withdrawn but no other details have been reported.
MSNBC is reporting it’s due to tax issues. First there was Geithner, then Daschle now Killefer.
Killefer knew that she wouldn’t have been confirmed since she would’ve been the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. This is quite unfortunate since she would have been only the sixth woman in Obama’s cabinet.
But I have to ask again. What is it with these people and taxes?
Nobody likes to pay high taxes but as Holmes said, ” Taxes are what we pay for a civilized society.”
However, like Norah O’Donald of MSNBC I am left wondering ” Why isn’t the Obama administration fighting for her the same way they fought for the others? “
On the surface it just doesn’t seem fair and if she was forced to withdraw her nomination for a $1 000 tax problem than I think Daschle should do the same.
Former disgraced Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was released from prison last night. So what right?
Well, standing at Kilpatrick’s side and speaking on his behalf was the famous, high profile and super wealthy attorney Willie Gary.
Gary’s firm according to its website specializes in personal injury, wrongful death, product liability, commercial litigation, class actions, medical malpractice and international matters and Gary has won verdicts against Disney, Anheuser- Busch and Motorola.
Kilpatrick says ‘he’s not mad’ but I have my doubts. Gary didn’t fly Wings of Justice II (yes, there is a Wings Of Justice I it’s used by his firm) his personal, custom-designed, 32-passenger Boeing 737 to Detroit just to welcome Kilpatrick home!
But who is Kilpatrick thinking of sueing? When questioned by the Detroit Free Press, Gary said, “We are concerned that there may have been some violations of his rights,” that’s interesting.
Oh, Kwame. Kwame. Kwame. Why don’t you just go away? Haven’t you done enough damage to the city?
You cost the city of Detroit more than $9 million because of your tryst with Christine Beatty and now you have the gall to suggest or even to think about sueing the city because you got caught lying under oath?
Come now! What are these two thinking?
But I can’t deny, the idea of Gary and Kilpatrick teaming up would make for such a fascinating and interesting trial that I’m almost hoping that they do decide to sue somebody..ALMOST!
If he did indeed withdraw his nomination willingly, he did the honorable thing. Good. And though this is a clear failure for the Obama administration and for Senator Daschle, remember it’s better ‘to fail with honor than succeed by fraud.’
And Google and Nasa are planning to help them nah, just playing..lol
But really I’m not that far off. Google and Nasa are supporting a a new school in Silicon Valley whose mission is to help prepare scientists for the time when machines become smarter than people and at the same time address some of humanity’s biggest problems.
Hmm..sound familiar and scary?
Well, the new unaccredited school will be called “Singularity University” (kinda sounds like something from Star Trek) will be run by Ray Kurzweil, the crazy-scientist inventor-guy-type. He’s the kinda guy that would tell us the machines are out to get us..lol
I don’t know Google and Nasa are two of my favorite companies/agencies but this seems to be really, really out there but science does march on and as they say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and I’m pretty sure some of their ‘research products’ will find their way into the marketplace then we can all prepare for war with the machines.
Hear me out.
Rod Blagojevich is probably a criminal. He’s narcissistic and a bit crazy BUT I’m starting to think that the media is really, to use a British expression, ‘taking the mickey’ out of him.
And I know that this is probably what he wants but I can’t help it.
I know he’s the one that put himself out there nobody forced him to do these media tours. But there’s a part of me that is starting to cringe at ‘the abuse’ he’s taking.
You know he’s started to remind me of that stray street puppy, maybe it’s the hair, that keeps going up to people looking for love and instead of getting a few scraps of meat or a comforting pat on the head he just gets yelled at or kicked. And instead of running away from humans, the damn dog just keeps going back for more abuse day, after day, after day. He just wants you to like him.
That’s Blago in a sentence. He just wants America to like him. And America just wants him to go away and he wouldn’t. So it just keeps kicking him down hoping that eventually he’ll get the point. And the fact that he hasn’t and that he keeps showing up at the doorsteps of the media begging for a few scraps from their table is just plain pitiful.
Mika Brzezinski anchored 1600 Pennsylvania Ave today.
She’s awesome. She doesn’t talk enough on Morning Joe and sometimes you might think she’s just there as eye candy and to read the news. Now, I don’t always agree with her statements and I don’t like the fact that she seems to be afraid of her dad . But if you listen to her questions and statements you realize she’s a lot smarter than Joe ‘I was a Congressman’ Scarborough and I love the visits by her father to the show he knows how to keep Joe in linee. So, how could you be afraid of a man like that? Anyway, she really should speak up more but it’s not her show so I guess that’s to be expected.
Maybe they should change the name to Morning Mika?
I found this out in one of my Google adventures. Google adventure-my term for a pointless or random web search that can you lead you anywhere.
Anyway, this four day Islamic Fashion Festival was held in Kuala Lumpur last year. From November 24th-27th 44 designers showcased their designs for muslim women.
I didn’t have a clue that such an event existed. The clothes..umm..er..let’s just say they aren’t my style but what I found really interesting were the models and the blogs about Islamic fashion.
The runway models were all different heights, sizes and ages. Now, I don’t think we would ever see such variety on a western runway but if you think about it the idea of having women of all diferent sizes modeling clothes is well kinda liberating.
Barack Obama is doing his ’presidential thing’ today.
He’s out there selling himself, his party and his recovery and reinvestment plan. Remember it’s no longer the economic stimulus package. They’ve dropped that loser name for a more uplifting one-recovery and reinvestment sounds so much better and it kinda makes you feel good about the whole economy thing doesn’t it? ‘ Cause who doesn’t feel good a rescuing things? Go ahead roll your eyes and laugh out loud..
Anyway, Obama is obviously the top salesman of our time and with public support for the bill at 37%Obama has cleared his throat, fine tuned his sales pitch and embarked on a national tour via Elkhart, Indiana and a prime time news conference.
Will this work? Can our celebrity president persuade a skeptical and depressed public to endorse and support a plan that offers little or no guarantees?
If the numbers edge up slightly I will be surprised. Because, right now, it doesn’t appear as if anything can get the economy and markets moving again. And the events of the past six months have forced many of us to become even more pessimistic and fearful and this will probably continue until the average person can see tangible improvements in his/her daily life. People need to have more money in their pockets and they also need to see others spending money, at the mall, at the dealerships, at their local high end grocery store etc, etc in order to boost their confidence.
However, that leads us to this inevitable conundrum how do we improve the economy if attitudes about the economy remain uncertain and despondent? The market is a creature of the people and vice versa so if people are depressed and scared they don’t spend and we need to spend in order for businesses to invest in jobs, products and services.
President Obama is trying to convince us that government spending is our only option, i’m already convinced, but for a country built on choices and alternatives that is going to be a very bitter pill to swallow.
After watching her for two years and now watching her embark on her listening tours of the national agencies as first lady I’m wondering does Michelle Obama have her own political aspirations?
She may have disliked politics before but national politics can be a powerful afrodisiac.
Couldn’t you just see her as Senator of Illinois or even President of the United States? remember that glass ceiling now has 18 million cracks in it and who knows by the time Michelle Obama runs it could be shattered completely.
I’m just saying….
He tried to sell us on the stimulus reminding us that it’s going to create loads of jobs!
He tried to tell us the Republicans aren’t that bad. Really?
And he tried to tell us how dire the consequences are if we don’t work together.
As usual vintage Obama.
But was he able to sell Americans on the stimulus? I really don’t know.
Did he convince you?
We don’t know all the facts but what we do know is that Chris Brown was arrested for allegedly assaulting Rihanna.
If Rihanna was indeed a victim of domestic violence she is only one of the estimated 1.3 million women and 835 000 men who are physically assaulted by an intimate partner annually in the United States.
I have been and continue to be involved with agencies that seek to protect women and men from domestic violence-I urge you to get involved to help prevent domestic violence you could save a life or lives!
Here are some brief stats provided by the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics, the American Bar Association, the American Institute on Domestic Violence and Feminist.org.
Domestic violence is a global problem: At least one woman in every three (think about three women you know and then read this again) has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime. Most often the abuser is a member of her own family.
Approximately four million American women experience a serious assault by an intimate partner during a 12-month period.
Black females experienced intimate partner violence at a rate 35% higher than that of white females, and about 22 times the rate of women of other races. Black males experienced intimate partner violence at a rate about 62% higher than that of white males and about 22 times the rate of men of other races.
African-American women experience significantly more domestic violence than White women in the age group of 20-24.
The health-related costs of rape, physical assault, stalking, and homicide by intimate partners exceed $5.8 billion each year.
Lost productivity and earnings due to intimate partner violence accounts for almost $1.8 billion each year.
Women are more likely to be attacked by someone they know rather than by a stranger.
1, 232 women and 440 men approximately, ARE KILLED, KILLED each year by an intimate partner.
I’ve been having this discussion for years now with some close friends who believe that persons of child bearing age, who receive public assistance (food stamps, welfare, HUD, social security etc) should be forced not to have kids.
And after learning in recent days that Nadya Suleman, the octuplets’ mother, has been receiving public assistance for years now the anger seems to be boiling over. I understand the anger many people have towards those who abuse our welfare system however the minute government starts to control the reproductive rights of its citizens it can no longer claim to be a democracy. And what about women’s rights? How can you ask a woman to chose between eating today and baby tomorrow?
What do you think?
Do you think people on welfare should be forced to take birth control?
And what about menlike Desmond Hatchett that have kids they cannot possibly afford to take care of?
Should these men and women receive government mandated and administered birth control?
According to the Daily News Rihanna may have been abused by Chris Brown in the past.
If this report is indeed true it’s not surprising what it does show and I hope the message comes across loud and clear that women of every social background and every class and even those women who appear to have it all can be victims of domestic abuse.
And the majority of the women who stay in abusive relationships believe and cling to the hope that the relationship will get better but the sad fact is in most cases it never does it almost always gets worse.
But what I find really repulsive is the fact that some are suggesting that Rihanna is to be blamed for this attack. Some have even suggested her candor and nationality (she’s Barbadian) are to blamed, because you know those West Indian women don’t know when to STFU..that suggestion is appalling!!
But not unexpected. I’ll say it again if you feel really really strongly about all that you’re reading and hearing about this case and the issue of domestic abuse in general don’t sit on your bum get involved, find a domestic abuse prevention organization in your community and volunteer your time now!
Senator Judd Gregg has decided he just can’t work with President Obama.
He just can’t do it. The ideological differences, analysts are saying, might have been too great for Gregg and the stimulus bill played a big part in him withdrawing his name.
But I don’t know if I buy that, this could have all been an elaborate ploy by the Republicans to make Obama look bad and let’s face it this looks really, really bad. Judd tells him we’re going to play ball and then punches him in the face so he can’t see the ball coming at him! Oh, you Republicans!
Anyway, this is now the second nominee to withdraw his name for Commerce Secretary and the fourth individual to withdraw from a nomination and Obama has only been in office for three weeks!
I wouldn’t like to be the next nominee for Commerce Secretary I would know that I was the president’s third choice and everyone else would know that too!
Also does this mean that Obama wouldn’t be able to work with the Republicans over the next four years?
So we found out over the weekend that Roland Burris may have lied in order to become a senator?
Really? You don’t say? If you’re surprised by Burris’ actions you clearly don’t understand greed and narcissism
As I’ve said in previous posts, Burris’ appointment was tainted from the start and we all knew that Blagojevich was pulling a fast one over the Democrats by appointing Burris. Yet Burris’ appointment was pushed on through because senate Democrats did not want to be seen as shutting a black guy out of their all white club.
Give me a break!
I can’t begin to tell you how patronizing that act was and how disgusted I was with the Democrats for falling for that bs pulled by Burris and his cronies. But whatever, now we find out the man is big liar and that he wasn’t entirely forthcoming on his connections to Blagojevich.
Now, I didn’t bat an eye lid at this story but what I will say is that I’m eagerly awaiting Harry Reid’s next move.
If I were in his shoes I would call Burris in for a nice chat, sit him down in my biggest comfy chair and tell him simply, ” Bro Burris you had a good run and it was great while it lasted but.. you gotta go.” Burris is no longer the highest profile senate seat warmer he’s a political liability and if senate Democrats don’t find someway of making Burris disappear into political obscurity quickly come election time they will be counting Illinois in the Republican column.
Good news everyone, someone is hiring!!
The jobs aren’t in the US but with all the horrible economic news out there it’s good to hear that a major global employer plans to create a load of jobs anywhere in the world. I don’t know if that’s good news for global health or individual waistlines but hey it’s a start…
To do list for Larry Summers and Tim Geithner
1. Save the American economy
2. Save the American homeowner
3. Create 4 million jobs
4. Return tax payers’ money with interest
5. Save the American auto-industy
What will Obama add to their to do list next? And you thought your to-do list was rough..lol
IF you grow up black in the Caribbean you grow up as a member of the majority and you enjoy all its accompanying rights and priviledges.
In history class kids are taught that their country, the region and by extension most of the North American continents was built on the backs of African slaves and that they are a descendants of these slaves. All black children in the Caribbean grow up knowing that their dreams are not limited by race and that if they truly work hard they can accomplish anything. Be it a doctor, lawyer, fire fighter or even prime minister black children in the Caribbean KNOW that he/she will NEVER be asked, ” Can a black person really become prime minister? ”
In many cases White and East Indian West Indians have retreated from the political arena. Many choose not (Trinidad and Guyana are the exceptions) to participate in the political life these island states. Since the granting of Independence (which for many of these nations occurred in the 1960s) political power was swapped for economic power.
It has long been obvious to Caribbean populations that the members of the business elite, mainly the descendants of former colonial masters, East Indian and Chinese indentured labourers, that these handful of families and (in many cases it really is just a few families) exert disproportionate economic influence based on their relative small numbers. In many cases these descendants make up less than 1% of the population yet control 80% of the economic resources with two exceptions once again Trinidad and Guyana.
Granted political power has allowed many in the Caribbean to enjoy a relative high standard of living but Caribbean leaders have often expolited and in many cases fail to seriously address lingering racial tensions that have exploded periodically in the last 50 years-the business class are not solely to blame.
However, with the deepening of the global economic crisis and its consequences become clearer and clearer every day for the average citizen those who have controlled the reigns of power for so long have now become targets of popular anger and protest not just in America but across the globe. Americans aren’t the only ones who are mad as hell!
Sadly, the social structure in the Caribbean a product of its colonial legacy has remained almost unchanged and its accompanying inequalities have led to brief but destructive periods of unrest and resistance.
Martinique and Guaduloupe may now be experiencing one of those periods, other Caribbean islands are also at risk.
Violent rebellions and revolts once the most powerful weapon in the masses arsenal have long been abandoned for more peaceful protests. But with economic discontent spreading and global resentment rising 2009 may become known as the ‘Year of Violent Discontent’.
So Rihanna doesn’t know if she wants to pursue charges against Chris Brown for beating her up and is suffering from depression and conflicting emotions after watching the implosion of his career over the last few days.
Hopefully her wavering demonstrates, for the world to see, how tough it is for a woman in domestic abuse situations. And that we really view those women who do testify against those that have battered them as brave and heroic. Because in most cases they aren’t doing it for themselves they’re doing it for their families, their sons and daughters.
I hope the world sees what strength and will it takes for a partner to pursue charges against a ‘loved one’ even if that loved one has physically hurt or brutally assaulted (emotonally, physically and sexually) them for years.
Because if Rihanna a single women with almost everything in the world who has access to all of life’s greatest pleasures and luxuries is having her doubts imagine how difficult it is for women who with less- a lot less to pursue charges or obtain an order of protection? The Rihanna case also shows why the US’s conviction rates for domestic violence is only 37%!!
And according to some Caribbean scholars if her battering had happened in the Caribbean (Rihanna is Barbadian) her domestic violence case, if brought to the police would probably, simply disappear!
I don’t know if many consider Rihanna a role model or more importantly if she considers herself to be one but I do hope that if she chooses NOT TO pursue charges against him other women DO NOT follow her example.
She may be able to overlook his shortcomings but I doubt the general public will be as forgiving.
George Pataki, former Governor of New York may run for the Senate in 2010.
If Pataki does run this would probably be the first shrewd and sensible political decision the GOP has made in about four months.
So we could be looking at Rudy Giuliani as governor and Pataki as senator interesting…
According to reports today Senator Ted Kennedy’s brain cancer has worsened and he may have only a few months left with us.
However, there’s a twist to this story, the long time Massachusets Senator Kennedy may be grooming his wife Vicki Kennedy to succeed him. Vicki Kennedy wouldn’t be the first wife to succeed her husband, according to Wikipedia seven of the 37 women senators in US history (that figure is absolutely appalling) were appointed to succeed their husbands.
Senator Dick Durbin, the senior senator from Illinois and the No.2 democrat in the US Senate asked Roland Burris, the junior senator from Illinois to consider resigning based on all the information that’s emerged in the last few weekes. And guess what Burris did? He politely declined!!!! And then he went further and said he may even consider running in 2012!
Burris has finally got his ‘precious’ and now these idiots want him to give it up how dare they!
You know that serves them right!! A corrupt, comical idiot appointed him, idiots seated him and now the idiots can’t get rid of him!!!
How funny!!!!!
It’s 2am, I think, and like most other nights I can’t sleep.
So what do I decide to do? I decide to Google stories..hmm. What to read? What to read?
Obama and his budget plans..nah too heavy.
Watch past American Idol reject videos on You Tube..nah too funny.
Read about Rihanna and Chris Brown getting back together.Yup! Just right!
What role models these two are?
His sadistic behaviour, her naive acceptance of it and her resulting forgiveness of him leaves me with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach and a sour taste in my mouth BUT I’m not surprised . Many victims forgive their partners and tolerate intimate partner abuse for years and should they find the strength of will to leave they are at a high risk of being killed by their former partners and Rihanna with all her wealth and beauty is no different.
But their case is different for obvious reason the entire world is watching. And her ’forgiveness’ of him will have serious and lasting consequences for domestic violence agencies and law enforcement across the US. Domestic violence advocates better brace themselves for the onslaught of victims who will unfortunateley and undoubtedly say, “If Rihanna can go back to Chris Brown after all that shit why can’t I go back to him/her?” and victims who are already unwilling to prosecute will now site their reconciliation as proof of why charges aren’t necessary ‘because we’re working things out’, because of these two people the entire DV world has just got a whole lot harder as if it needed to be.
Kanye West has lost his damn mind!
He must have in trying to suggest we should cut Chris Brown some slack after he beat up Rihanna but he’s not the first black star to suggest that we ease up on Brown.
First it was Terrence Howard and his insane comment that beating up women is “ just life” and “that everybody’s got to get out of their way.” Now it’s Kanye West and his ‘ give Chris a break‘ .
What the hell is wrong with them?
How can these black men ask the public to forgive or even sympathize with this idiot?
Seriously, would Kanye have suggested we give Brown a break had that been his mother, sister or daughter’s face plastered across TMZ? All the men I know, black or white would be out looking for Chris Brown if that had been one of their relatives. And instead of talking bs they would be looking to give Brown a taste of his own medicine and Brown would be in hiding right now instead of riding around on a jet ski in Miami!
How can they look at her bruised and battered face and say that Chris Brown is a cool guy? I know a lot of cool, hot headed guys and not one of them would raise their hand to hit a woman and any guy who does is a PUNK!!!
Everyone knows that this was a punk move yet neither of these black stars is calling it that instead these two are rushing to his defence and they want us, the public, to see it as youthful indiscretion or a private matter.
Look Chris Brown didn’t just beat up one of his friends or a photographer outside a bar after a night of drinking or he didn’t get caught smoking weed or doing coke at a party. HE BEAT UP A WOMAN! HIS GIRLFRIEND! HE BEAT HER UP!!! HE TOOK HIS FISTS AND POUNDED HER FACE IN! I don’t care what she said or what she did no woman deserves this and if you’re man enough to put your hands on a woman, you’re man enough to take the verbal blows and insults that society dishes out.
With murder by a former or current partner being the leading cause of death for black women ages 15-34 and black women experiencing domestic abuse at a rate 35 percent higher than that of white women they might be able to ignore these facts but I can’t and unfortunately for West and Howard many of us can’t or wouldn’t either.
When was the last time you sent or received a hand-written letter? And cards don’t count.
A LETTER , written by hand on paper preferably go on think about it? Hmmm..I bet you can’t remember the last time you got one? I can’t remember when I last got one either so don’t feel too bad.
Well, Obama’s letter to the Russian president got me thinking about this simple, immensely pleasurable art form and the fact that it’s slowly vanishing from our lives-my life.
Don’t get me wrong I love email and twitter but there are only a few things more pleasurable than going to my mailbox and finding a letter from a relative or friend tucked between a mountain of bills and if you really think about it a warm letter is one of life’s simplest pleasures.
I can still remember rushing home from school to get the latest juicy details on Canadian high school life from my Canadian pen pal and when my best friend moved to Boston we stayed in touch via letters and to this day she still tells me about those letters and how much they meant to her. And on my first day of college I received a letter from my mother telling me how proud she was of me. I honestly don’t think an email from her would have made me cry as hard as I did that day.
So I’ve resolved to start writing more letters and no I’m not giving up email I’m just picking back up the pen and you should too and maybe we’ll all start looking forward to going to the mailbox a little bit more and God knows we need a little more joy in our lives these days.
According to Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Mass) will be awarded an honorary knighthood.
He made this statement a few minutes ago during his address to a joint session of congress.
So from now on we’ll all have to call him Sir Ted. I don’t know about you but I didn’t need this title to call him Sir.
An American tabloid is claiming that Rihanna and Brown got married at Puffy’s (I just can’t call him Diddy..sorry) Miami mansion.
If this story is indeed true and giving all the drama that’s transpired between these two in the past few weeks, it’s entirely possible, this story has just gone from bad, to worst, to ABSOLUTELY horrible!
Do you like Microsoft’s new people ready ads?
Do you think they were really original, creative and cool?
Well I was a big fan of the ads until I found this video on youtube.
Look familiar?
I don’t know if Microsoft hired the guy who did the walrus video but even if they did that doesn’t excuse the lack of originality in their ads.
But, hey you be the judge?
First Michael Steele, GOP Chairman, thought he was a bad a#@ by calling Rush Limbaugh ’ugly’ and an entertainer.
Then Limbaugh called him out and instead of holding firm as a good leader should or is expected to do particularly when he’s right he ran to Limbaugh with his tail between his legs and apologized and apologized. He apologized to the entertainer for calling him an entertainer! And then he boosted Limbaugh’s ego even further by calling him a leader! And Steele did all this publicly.
Talk about punked!!!
You know this entire Rush/Steele debacle played out similar to one of my classic high school memories. I’m sure we’ve all seen or experienced this scenario at some point in our lives.
One kid calls another kid a name when he’s with his friends, the other kid finds out and confronts him on it telling him ” Say that to my face? “. The other kid responds by saying , ” You know I didn’t mean that? I was just playing around, you know I got you..” and the other kid says, ” That’s what I thought.”
This would all be pretty funny if this wasn’t a major political party in the most powerful country on earth.
And it only gets worst for Steele prominent GOP members aren’t offering him any support either. So how can Steele be an effective leader if he can’t garner the support of his own members?
It seems the GOP wants him to lead from behind and are willing to put him out front to get votes and raise money but are unwilling to support him when it matters most. And Steele seems to be quite comfortable with this role because it’s quite clear that many within the GOP ranks don’t respect his leadership and he has not real interest in shaking up the GOP because if he did he wouldn’t have apologized to Limbaugh.
Is this what the GOP has been reduced too? A collection of factions with a talk show host as their de facto leader?
My oh my how the mighty have fallen!
For the past few days I’ve been frantically flipping through Lifetime’s t.v schedule. I’ve been searching for The Golden Girls and I couldn’t find the show’s listing anywhere! I thought I had screwed up the schedule or that I was just going crazy. But I finally solved the dilemma.
It’s moved!
The Golden Girls are now on Hallmark.
After eons on Lifetime Television the iconic 80s sitcom (and one of the best show on tv) has found a new home on the Hallmark channel.
Some of Lifetime’s most loyal viewers aren’t too happy with the network’s decision and many are planning on boycotting the network. Many want the network to return GG to their lineup or apologize for taking it off the air. One fan even declared they were having GG withdrawal.
I don’t know if the nework has to the capacity or desire to accomodate their demands but I can sympathize with these fans because I don’t know what I would do without my girls!
According to police notes Brown told Rihanna he was going ‘ to beat the s*** out of her’ when the two got home after Rihanna found and read a text message from another woman on Brown’s phone.
Rihanna is no longer cooperating with authorities and Brown is expected in court in a few hours but he probably wouldn’t go to jail.
Brown will be arraigned today at 3.30pm
Today at Obama’s Health Care Summit at the White House Senator Ted Kennedy who doesn’t appear to be ailing, declared that this time ’we will not fail’ at achieving health care reform/universal health care for all Americans.
It seems Sir Ted is ready for a fight. Brain tumor be damned!
You go Sir Ted!
We got cha your back!
On another note, I love these White House/Obama summits. In January there was the Fiscal Responsibility Summit today it’s the Health Care Reform summit. It’s so healthy and democratic to see the President and our political leaders, Republican and Democrats, working together on a issue if only for one day.
I know it’s just one big photo op nevertheless it’s extremely refreshing and it makes for riveting day time television.
Chris Brown appeared in a LA court today to answer two felony charges stemming from his assault of Rihanna.
He was granted a continuance postponing his arraignment until April 6th. He didn’t enter a plea either.
Donald Trump doesn’t mince words and most of the times he hits the nail right on its head. But this time he may have gone a bit too far by calling Rihanna a loser.
Weighing in on the Rihanna/Brown drama ‘the Donald’ told Inside Edition that Rihanna should ‘get the hell out’ and “If she goes back, she’s a loser and…doesn’t deserve to have any future success.”
Trump seems to be blaming Rihanna/the victim and I understand why most people in our society tend to do this but this goes a bit too far in saying she doesn’t deserve to be successful.
Could you imagine if we had given up on Tina Turner because she always took Ike back?
But what do you think?
Meghan McCain has an opinion on everything.
And while I don’t agree with everything she says the other night on Rachel Maddow’s show Meghan McCain made a critical yet valid observation of the two major American political parties. She stated, ” I think there’s an extreme on both parties and I hate extreme…I have friends that are the most radically conservative and radically liberal people possibly ever and we all get along. We can find a middle ground.”
Some members of the far-right didn’t like her comments. And one far right conservative commentator Laura Ingraham took issue with McCain and instead of attacking her statements alone, Ingraham decided to attack Mccain’s weight as well.
How immature!
What does Meghan McCain’s weight have to do with her political observations or her opinions of the GOP?
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!
But today on The View Meghan McCain responded by suggesting that Ingrahams’ comments sends the wrong message to young women. It does. But McCain’s response sends an equally wrong message (see above video). By lashing out at Ingraham’s vitriolic comment in the crudest, most vulgar manner (she suggested that Ingraham should kiss her ‘ fat ass’) McCain barely, just barely retains the high ground in this fight and does nothing to raise the level of discourse either.
Did McCain think about the message SHE was sending to young women by responding in that manner? Is she telling young women that when attacked in a disgusting, idiotic manner you should respond with an equally distasteful, ugly remark?
McCain began her interview in an articulate, sensible manner and for the first few minutes of the interview she made me nod my head, in the ’you go girl’ fashion but as soon as the ‘kiss my fat ass’ remark left her lips I started to see this as a fight between two women rather than an honest discussion on the future of the GOP and the state of politics in America. I had to force myself to remember that this was not about the two of them.
Honestly, we can never stop people from ’getting personal’ but what we can do is teach high profile, politically active women how to effectively respond to public personal attacks.
Meghan McCain didn’t start this fight but she blew her opportunity to throw a winning knock-out punch and to convey an important message to young women.
Today Edward Liddy, Chairman and CEO of AIG, told a Congressional House Panel that the US Federal Reserve has been aware of the retention bonuses for months.
Now, before Tim Geithner became Treasury Secretary he was chairman of the New York Federal Reserve and Ben Bernanke, the current Federal Reserve chairman were both instrumental in crafting AIG’s bailout.
If Liddy is to be believed both men were well aware that these bonuses were to be distributed on Friday March 13th months in advance.
However, it seems politicians are increasingly pointing the finger at Geithner.
I know it’s hard to be fair right now but Geithner isn’t the only one to be blamed for the situation we now find ourselves in. Bernanke was there too and so was previous Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson .What was his contribution to these million dollar bonuses? What did all these men know? And why didn’t they do something about this bs then?
And now we find out that there was a provision to cap these bonuses but it was removed from the final stimulus bill!
ARE THESE PEOPLE MAD?
I want answers!
Drag all of them up to Capitol Hill. Not just Liddy and Geithner! Supboena Paulson too!
It’s easy to dislike Tim Geithner. From his tax avoidance problems during his confirmation hearings, to his very first press conference where he was described by one writer as ‘looking like a terrified spaniel’ . Geithner doesn’t seem to be doing anything right. And the more he tries, the worse it gets. He hasn’t inspired confidence in the markets or the American people. And during bad economic times confidence is what most people seek and eagerly look for from their leaders. And he’s failed miserably.
However, if Geithner is forced to submit his resgination Bernanke should submit his as well since they are both equally responsible for this debacle. And one man shouldn’t be left holding the bag for the international mess known as AIG.
Will Senator Chris Dodd resign?
Probably not.
Will the treasury officials who supposedly ‘forced’ his hand be exposed?
Probably not.
Will the American tax payer and the Chinese consumer/saver have to bail out more companies that don’t deserve it a few weeks from now?
YOU BETCHA!!!
When you or I make a mistake what do we do?
First we take responsiblity and then we try correct it. If we are successful we never repeat that mistake. Sometimes we fail and we end up repeating that mistake regardless of how hard we’ve tried. But most of us usually try really, really hard not to do that.
Politicians, however, are a different species of human. They never take responsibility for anything bad and they are always blaming others for their shortcomings.
First, Senator Dodd points the finger at the treasury. Treasury officials point the finger at Obama officials and then congressmen and congresswomen (who obviously don’t read the bills they pass) point the fingers at greedy AIG execs!
Everybody agrees that a mistake has been made yet nobody is willing to take responsiblity for it and for the first time President Obama’s words are ringing hollow with me. I don’t believe a word he says when it comes to AIG.
And I’m pretty sure that if we weren’t mad as hell none of these politicians would be speaking out against these bonuses. Why would they? AIG has given them millions of dollars over the years. Tell me, are you really going to bite the hand that feeds you? I doubt it.
However, we want our money back and we intend to get it with our without them and if the men and women in Congress want to get reelected they will find a way to quell our anger.
Of course, we’re entitled to ‘a refund’ but we shouldn’t get it by taxing the corporate executives to death or by unconstitutional methods and the bill passed today just screams unfair taxation. And didn’t Americans fight a war against that?
Last night President Barack Obama appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
What we witnessed was vintage Obama. Eloquent, confident and in control.
He told us went wrong in the American economy, what he and others are doing to fix it and reassured us that brighter days are ahead and he did it all with a smile on his face and in language we can comprehend.
His interviewer, Jay Leno, is no Mike Wallace but The Tonight Show host covered all the bases. From AIG, to clean energy, to the Obama’s search for a family dog. Leno got the mix of questions just right and he did it smoothly, respectfully and with the perfect amount of humor. We could ask for nothing more from the big hearted comedian. He gets top marks all the way around!
It wasn’t a flawless appearance. Obama did make an off the collar remark comparing his recent bowling game to ’the Special Olympics or something’. It was a poor comparison. And others, I’m sure, will make an issue out of it and I wouldn’t be surprised if Obama clarifies or apologizes for the unfortunate remark later today.
All in all it was a good night for television.
In the future sitting presidents probably wouldn’t make it a habit of appearing on The Tonight Show but I do think President Obama has started a trend and he wouldn’t be the last sitting president to appear on the late-night talk show circuit.
*** BTW I love the 99 cent segment. Jay, we all know that most of the products sold at these stores are crap and not worth more than the few pennies it takes to produce them but I dare you to find another store other than a dollar store or 99 cent store where you can buy all your junk food, cleaning supplies, a cutesy ornament or plaque for your wife and a cool toy for your niece or nephew for a combined total of less than $20 ? I DARE YOU JAY! I DARE YOU! lol***
A real pink, baby elephant has been spotted and photographed in Botswana!
Mike Holding, a BBC wildlife cameraman photographed the albino elephant with its herd.
Isn’t it cute? Let’s all say awwww…I really hope it beats the odds and survives to adulthood.
I would travel half way across the world just to see that pink elephant wouldn’t you?
Obama is a funny guy. That’s one of the reasons so many of us like him.
On the campaign trail we saw brief glimpses of his humorous side but he never really loosend up always wary of the fact that one overblown joke could cause him the presidency Obama kept his self-deprecating, dry sense of humor in check.
But over the past few months as Obama has become increasingly comfortable with the presidency and his role as president and unfortunately as the situation has become more and more dire he’s started to lighten up and it’s not uncommon for him to crack a joke during a national press conference or address and admitedly most of the time his jokes or observations are witty and funny.
But on Thursday during his appearance of “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno a characteristically self-deprecating joke about his bowling skills left a lot of families and people hurt. Then during an interview with “60 Minutes”, which aired yesterday, Obama joked about some aspects of the American economy likening his humor to ‘gallows humor’.
After he said, ” The only thing less popular than putting money into banks is putting money into the auto industry,” noting that, ” There’s got to be a little gallows humor to get you through the day.” Obama’s first statement was dead on but it’s no laughing matter. Detroit one of the US’s largest cities and the capital of the world’s auto industry is on the brink of collapse and Obama is joking about it?
Call me bias if you want (I lived in Detroit for over two years and I have a special fondness for Ferndale and Royal Oak MI) but I don’t get the joke.
Obama is the person charged with fixing all our problems and if he doesn’t make substantial headway in achieving many of them he’s going to be a one term president. And with everything he’s dealing with he’s probably suffering from a ‘contact high’ brought on from being so close to all these disasters but frankly with the most powerful country currently on its knees and our collective suffering becoming a bit too overwhelming for even the strongest and the brightest among us I’m in no mood to laugh.
I admit I’ve never been one to laugh in the face of adversity, (I’d probably jump kick it..lol) so forgive me if I can’t laugh it off. And maybe if I lighten up I’d be able to see the humor in all of this like President Obama.
Today on MSNBC I watched Contessa Brewer and her co anchor Melissa Francis smirk and commiserate with the wife of a man after she handcuffed and attacked her husband for not listening to her after he told her he wanted a divorce.
If you listen carefully to the call the man sounds absolutely terrified as he pleads for help from authorities. Not only did she handcuff them together, to the bed, she had changed the locks on their bedroom door and as he sought help she repeatedly bit him.
You hear the man plead with the operator as he details that she has a record of violence.
How is there anything funny about this?
We know that if the roles had been reversed and a man had handcuffed his wife and then attacked her we wouldn’t be laughing at least most of us wouldn’t.
But what if it were a woman and a woman? or a man and a man? Would we condone this? Is this level of violence and control acceptable in any type of relationship? No. And what about the brutality would we have even seen it on the national news if it were a same sex couple? No. Yet, we should know by now that regardless of the gender of the perpetrator this type of behavior is unacceptable.
One in four lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are battered by a partner that’s the same level of intimate partner violence we see in heterosexual couples!
That’s why domestic abuse is no laughing or smirking matter regardless of the gender of the perpetrator.
Granted the cases of women being the perpetrators of violence against male partners account for less than five percent or fewer of the domestic violence cases in the US. However, when we view a woman attacking a man as funny we are intentionally reinforcing a myth that men cannot be victims of domestic violence and also unintentionally suggesting that there is only one type of intimate partner violence man-woman and this myth continues to do harm to women and men in same sex relationships.
That’s why we have to stop looking at the gender of the perpetrator and view domestic violence as DOMESTIC VIOLENCE!!
I just love these it’s the American version of the weekly Question Time in the British parliament.
Obama just wrapped up a post G20 international press conference in London and lo and behold he didn’t embarass himself or us! Can you believe that?
A president that knows right from left and who doesn’t think he’s the world masseuse!
My goodness how times have changed! LOL
And Obama did all that, he even looked tired during the press conference. It was as if he was up all night trying to solve our problems and negotiate with his international counterparts. Imagine that! And as if that wasn’t good enough Obama even took questions from the international press corps. Gulp! People that he might never, ever see again he gave them the opportunity to ask him questions. Why did he do that? Didn’t he know that those journalists people don’t count..my guess is because he knows that he can answer their questions and he wants the world to be involved in fixing the world’s problems..that’s just my guess..the arrogance of that man thinking that the global economy is really GLOBAL.
I really don’t know if Obama should maintain such high standards we might start to expect our leaders to behave like that all the time..lol
And just in case you wanted to know British, Australian, Chinese and Indian journalists were the chosen ones.
I just heard this new song on the radio it’s about well you read the title of the blog..lol, Chris Brown should get his ass kicked!
The song is by Chicago group Smoke Jumpers and all I can say is well done people and don’t worry about Chris Brown, WE (the people) GOT YOU!! It’s about time we heard a song like this and you can dance to it too..wicked!!!
Chorus goes something like this:
Boy hits girl,
Boy should be taken down
No matter who’s around
The more I search the more I found..can’t really figure out the rest of the words, lol, regardless this song is tight you’ll be singing the chorus in minutes probably a lot better than me as well..lol!
You know it’s going on my iphone right? And will someone please do a cool video mashup for this song? PLEASE!!!
Listen to the song here:
I’m a hugger.
I hug people all the time.
Last night I hugged a woman I’d only met an hour before and you know I think she liked it. That simple gesture made her feel good and I wanted to show her how much I had appreciated her thoughts and help in solving a problem I was having and a hug was the simplest way to do that.
Friends will tell you that I hug and touch them a million times during a conversation and I probably started doing it from the moment I met them luckily they still became my friends and didn’t run away screaming that girl is crazy..lol.
Even when I’m in the heat of a debate I’m probably touching the person I’m vehemently disagreeing with. And I wouldn’t lie sometimes it makes individuals uncomfortable, I guess they feel i’m intruding upon their personal space and as a woman I have to be aware of this aspect of my personality when it comes to the opposite sex and some members of my gender as well because it could convey the wrong message. But for the most part people understand that that’s just how I am and when I lean in to give a hug they give one back even after they just accused me of being a tree hugging liberal it still feels good to get a hug.
And that’s the true benefit of hugs they are universal and under most circumstances it always feels good to give or to get one regardless of your station in life.
So protocol be damned Michelle Obama should keep on hugging (even half hugs like the one above are good..lol) I know I will and maybe just maybe these hugs will change the world.
I can’t believe I’m saying this but I really like this Twitter thing. Go ahead, call me a fraud..I can take it..lol at least I’m honest.
Granted, I only have two followers and I really don’t expect the number to grow anytime soon but I’m already day dreaming about hitting that 100 mark..100 followers boy, I’m setting the bar really high aren’t I? LOL
I’m a vocal supporter of gay marriage.
And in the very near future gay marriage will not be an issue that divides instead it will be viewed as a basic legal right for all men and women regardless of their sexual orientation-this is inevitable. Frankly because of the social changes that have occurred over the past 30 years and due to zealous efforts undertaken by lesbian and gay organizations and activists.
Anyway, an article I recently read is suggesting, in the future, the American government (us. the people) should consider paying reparations to gay and lesbian people due to economic loss and the pain and suffering many have had to endure before the were granted full rights as citizens.
While I fully understand the premise Jacob Appel is asserting reparations do and can serve two distinct purposes-’monetary restitution and expression of moral opprobrium‘ however I don’t believe that this is an issue the gay community should discuss or embrace with any fervency.
Currently gay people have not been allowed to exercise their full rights as American citizens and that is where the focus and energy should remain. The agenda should not be changed or amended to reflect possible future issues.
It’s all about priorities.
1.The granting of full citizenship rights and the ability to exercise those rights
2. An end to and consequences for those who discriminate against gay people
3. More social programs to assist and serve the members of the gay community
In the future the American government might consider paying monetary compensation and/or issuing an apology to gay Americans for their mistreatment but that’s an the issue for the future.
But I wouldn’t hold my breathe, if i were them, hell we black people are still waiting for our 40 acres and a mule!
Last night a very spirited game of Trvial Pursuit could’ve ended in murder!! Murder most foul!
Luckily my husband and I aren’t the murdering types but Trivial Pursuit’s 20th anniversary edition is filled with at least one error that could have been a contributing factor in at least one homicide yesterday..lol
Question: What nation is not amused that its FTSE stock exchange name is pronounced “footsie” in the US?
TP’s answer: Japan
Correct answer: England or the UK.
Can you believe they got this wrong? It’s so simple. It does make you wonder what else they got wrong?
I’m definitely on the prowl now for more errors in this game.
Have you ever found a major error in a board game? Tell me about it..
Reports are all over the internets that MSNBC’s Chuck Todd is poised to get his own show.
Yeah!!!!!!
Chuck Todd is awesome apparently not only do his coworkers like him but politicians actually seem to like and respect him too and that’s pretty cool and rare for a journalist-to be close but not too close.
Todd isn’t my favorite anchor/reporter of all time honestly I haven’t figured that one out yet..lol but he’s definitely up there with Rick ’I rule the internets’ Sanchez- they are smart, exceptional, political, news characters/reporters/anchors and they make politics and the news interesting for the masses and I love that and I can’t wait to watch Todd’s new show.
Today Glen Greenwald of Salon wrote a passionate post in support of leading a criminal investigation against those at the highest level of the American government who knew about the torture being conducted, in our name, across the world.
He stated quite eloquently that, ” The need for criminal investigations is motivated by one simple, consummately apolitical fact: serious and brutal crimes were committed at the highest levels of the government, ones that left a trail of many victims. A country that purports to live under the rule of law has no choice but to treat its most powerful members who commit serious crimes exactly the same as ordinary citizens who do so.”
Unlike many of my liberal friends I haven’t been as steadfast on the issue as I have been on many other political issues. I’ve waivered. Going back on forth on what constitutes torture and if prosecuting high level officials is actually possible.
Of course I don’t condone torture but like many people my idea of torture revolves around devices, use of electricity and nails etc etc. For the average citizen, myself included, differentiating between roughing up a bad guy and outright torture is extremely, extremely difficult.
And even if we can accept that waterboarding is torture how do you prosecute those at the top who I’m sure have protected themselves against prosecution? Don’t you think Cheney and Rice knew the laws?
Come on now.
And you don’t even have to look too far to see who pays the price for breaking laws and treaties.
Remember Abu Grahib who took the fall there? The foot soldiers. The women and men at the bottom of the ladder were the ones ridiculed and prosecuted when in most cases I believe they were only following orders.
I can honestly tell you that I was not entirely supportive of the idea of prosecuting those soldiers and I believed if anyone should have been prosecuted it shouldn’t have been their commanders but I wasn’t naive enough to believe that was going to happen.
And until yesterday I was in total support of Obama’s policy not to seek criminal charges against those in the Bush administration because selfishly it’s not in the best interests of the Democrats to do so and more importantly the cost the Obama administration would pay, I believed, would be waaaaaaay too high.
How could prosecuting ex Bush officials help us turn around the economy or fix what is going wrong in Afghanistan or bring our troops home from Iraq?
But the more I thought about it the stronger my conclusion became that to not investigate those at the top of the torture pyramid would be tantamount to saying that the law does not apply to them or to those who govern. And it’s my belief that if they are two groups of people within a society who shouldn’t break the law its those who lead and create the laws and those who enforce those laws.
We depend on these men are women to be our leaders and if they don’t follow the law at the times when it is most difficult to do so what does that say to the everyday man or woman who is forced to abide the law even if those laws are against their best interests or the interests of a loved one?
An average citixen is not allowed to break the law and claim moral grounds neither should a leader regardless of their good intentions.
Justifiable illegal acts DO NOT AND CANNOT make those acts legal.
After 911 we were scared. We were suddenly confronted by an enemy that was a lot stronger and more dangerous than we initially thought and many of us including our leaders responded in ways that we now question and many may even have concluded, incorrectly, that some of our laws needed to be broken/bent in order to keep us sage.
However in an effort to protect our nation from the bad guys we shouldn”t have abandoned our morality or disregarded the laws that have made us the nation that we are today.
So we must prosecute those who ordered or sought to legalize torture.
In the beginning these proceeding will be extremely uncomfortable but ultimately we’ll reclaim the moral authority and increase the goodwill we once had in the world and arguably that will reap far more rewards than any information gleaned from a tortured prisoner.
Today at the White House Press briefing on swine flu we learned from White House Press Secretary David Gibbs, that President Obama decided to go golfing today as the CDC confirmed 20 cases of swine flu, in five states here in the US and declared a public health emergency.
I couldn’t help but wonder if Bush had gone golfing during this health emergency what the reaction from the media and the public would’ve been?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that Obama shouldn’t have gone golfing I honestly don’t think it warrants him giving a press conference or national address YET to do so would probably cause a panic.
But I’m pretty sure if Bush had done the same thing we would’ve been up in arms right now and the media would’ve been in a tizzy.
In one of the truest cases of the pot calling the kettle black ever Mike Tyson, former heavyweight champion of the world, ex convict and woman beater in a recent interview stated that he understands the situation Chris Brown now finds himself in..you don’t say Mike? The whole world knows how you earned that title woman beater .
Tyson in discussing the Chris Brown/Rihanna debacle declared that Chris Brown is, ”Just a baby. He’s just a little baby that don’t know how to handle his emotions when it comes to a woman.”
A ‘little baby’ that doesn’t know how to handle his emotions? Sounds sooooooooo familiar to me you know?
In promoting his new documentary Tyson states that he’s a changed man. But surprise, surprise he hasn’t changed that much because he still can’t say that beating a woman is wrong instead he seems to sympathize with Brown. Yet we’re to believe that he’s ‘not weak’ anymore and that his recent sobriety is proof of his new found strength.
Mike might believe that the old ‘Iron Mike’ is dead and gone away but I don’t.
Tyson may have beat his addiction to cocaine and sex good for him, but if he’s unwilling to state publicly that domestic violence is wrong and that beating a woman is always wrong and is never ever justifed then in my eyes he will forever remain a weak and pitiful man.
As Mexco appears to be on voluntary lockdown and some other nations shut Mexican and American meat products out in response to the swine flu outbreak. I can’t help but wonder if this is the big one? The long overdue pandemic (a pandemic is a global epidemic that spreads to different continents) scientists and TV shows have been warning us about this for years now.
We had to deal with SARS and avian flu a few years ago and the world escaped from those relatively unscathed when compared to the deaths and economic losses suffered during the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. That pandemic killed an estimated 50 million people!
Hopefully, we’re able to dodge the bullet one more time with the understanding we might not be as lucky the next time.
FIVE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT SWINE FLU
1. Swine Influenza (swine flu) is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza viruses that cause regular outbreaks in pigs.
2. Swine flu is contagious. It is spread from human to human but you CANNOT get it by eating pork or pork products.
3. The symptoms of swine flu are similar to regular flu symptoms and include fever, body aches, runny nose, sore throat, nausea, or vomiting or diarrhea.
4. Cases of swine flu have been confirmed in Mexico, Canada and the United States. With suspected cases in Spain, New Zealand, France, Brazil and Israel.
5. There is no vaccine for swine flu but Mexican and World Health Organization officials have reported the effectiveness of regular flu medications Tamiflu and Relenza against the virus.
AND REMEMBER DON’T PANIC!!!
So it appears another Republican has seen the writing on the wall and decided to jump ship.
What this means for the Democrats? It takes them to an almost 60 seat majority in the US Senate. It currently stands at 58, Specter’s seat ups the number to 59 and when Al Franken is declared the winner of the Minnesota senate race Democrats would have reached that filibuster proof majority.
Honestly with such major losses to the GOP over the past few years what will this party look like in two years?
How can Republicans expect to be a competent , competitive national party if they can’t hold on to moderate Republicans like Specter?
I really hope his departure will quicken the GOP’s metamorphosis into a 21st century American political party.
Look, Republicans can compete with the Democrats on many issues in almost every state in the US but until they realize that cutting taxes, support of guns and opposition to gays are NOT ENOUGH to win votes anymore they will continue to wander in the political wilderness.
Say it ain’t so Joe? You didn’t put your foot in your mouth again, did you?
You can bet Saturday Night Live will make fun of this one too
American Vice President Joe Biden is known for speaking his mind but sometimes he honestly shouldn’t and this morning on NBC’s Today show he should’ve thought just a little bit more before speaking about what precautions he would advise family members to take in order to avoid contracting swine flu.
I’m sure Obama wasn’t too happy when he heard what Biden had to say wonder if had that same look on his face?
Honestly if Biden hadn’t played such a pivotal rule in engineering the Specter coup the day before and Obama and most in the media didn’t know that his heart is in the right place even if his words aren’t Biden would be in for an extremely difficult time as VP.
It seems Biden likes making a splash a day after a big Obama event. The day after Obama’s inauguration Biden made the John Roberts commentsand the day after Obama’s 100 days in office he makes a controversial swine flu comment that has to be clarified by senior administration officials….hmm I wonder what comment he’ll make after Obama’s first year in office? I hope it’s a good one.
Every single word Carrie Prejean, the reigning Miss California, has uttered about gay marriage I disagree with.
I think Prejean is on the wrong side of the issue and that her idea of ‘protecting marriage’ from gay men and women is laughable BUT Prejean does have a right to her opinion as wrong and discriminatory as it maybe just as we the masses have a right to reject that opinion the first chance we get and in the near future America WILL reject her prejudice overwhelmingly.
However, the fact that Prejean is being attacked and dissed for her breast implants by commentators and news anchors is unacceptable.
Last night Keith Olbermann and Michael Musto blasted Ms.Prejean but they seemingly forgot that Prejean is only using the platform she has been given to advance her belief in the validity and morality on an issue and her career. Olbermann does it every night and politicians and celebrities do it everyday Prejean is only following their lead.
Who cares about her breast implants and who paid for them? What does that have to do with her opinion on gay marriage? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
And if pageant officials released the breast implant information to embarass and force Prejean off the national stage I’m not convinced it’s going to work she’s handled the questions about her implants extremely well so far and support for her should the personal attacks continue will only grow.
Prejean’s views on marriage represent a significant portion of the American electorate and although I’m pretty certain we wouldn’t convince many on the religious right to support our views on specific cultural issues, like gay marriage, to demonize the opposition or resort to name calling or taunts simply because we don’t like their stance on the issue only deepens the divide (and is hypocritical) and does nothing to get us closer to full equality for gays.
So criticize Prejean’s views all you want but leave her breasts out of it.
Rihanna may finally have dissed the punk Chris Brown.
THANK GOD!!!!
According to media reports Rihanna is seeing her ex boyfriend another Bajan national Neagus Sealy whose arms she’s apparently run too after all the BS she’s suffered at the hands of Chris Brown. I’m sure his support, compassion and Barbadian sunshine are doing wonders for the lass.
However, Rihanna really should take things very, very slowly and if I were her there would be three things on my to do list right now. 1) I would start seeing a therapist, 2) concentrate on rebuilding and rebranding my public image and 3) find a domestic violence shelter/charity to volunteer with and you know having a good man by your side through all this doesn’t hurt either. I hope she’s finally find a good one.
This is ridiculous..
A few minutes ago the organizers of the Miss California contest in more than a few words said that Miss California is outta there!!!
And you know why they’re not happy with Ms. Prejean?
BECAUSE MISS CALIFORNIA HAD THE GUTS TO VOICE her opinions. Not because of some semi ‘nude’ photos that violated her contract and yet they have the audacity to claim they empower young women!
What bs and remember, I’m a liberal and an ardent supporter of gay marriage yet I disagree wholeheartedly with what’s being done to this woman. She has the right to her opinion even if she’s wearing the Miss California crown.
Just one more person has to weigh in on Carrie’s fate and make it official-Donald Trump.
It seems John Edwards was screwed from the beginning as he was out screwing around!!!!
Even his own staff didn’t want anything to do with him after they confirmed for themselves that he was having an affair. And according to George Stephanopoulos his own staff were planning on sabotaging him if he’d won the nomination!!!
Can you believe that? Talk about being stabbed in the back..
But seriously if you think about the situation it’s entirely in the relm of possibility especially in the world of politics-which is notorious for being a dog, eat dog kinda world.
But what I can never understand is why do their wives stay? And no I don’t believe the reasons Elizabeth Edwards gave to Matt Lauer this morning, ‘ because I believed he cared about other people’ and ‘because I really believe in the words better or worse’ blah, blah blah etc etc.
Gimme a break Elizabeth, you’re a smart woman, but that statement is almost, almost, as unbelievable as the response your husband gave during one of the presidential debates, ” If there’s one flaw I have it’s that I care too much…” remember that one?
From Elizabeth Edwards, to Hillary Clinton to Silda Spitzer these high profile women were embarassed and disrespcted publicly by their powerful, philandering husbands yet they all stayed and continue to stay with a man that seemingly cares very little about them or their marriage vows.
I think the real reason these smart, beautiful, accomplished women stay with their cheating husbands is because of the status, fame etc etc they gain/have gained by being the wives of these politically, powerful men.
Because as we all know trust can only be broken oh so many times before it’s gone completely and if there’s no trust in a marriage there can be no meaningful marriage or relationship. Period.
Ladies, I guess one of the only benefits of being the wife of a poor man is that when he cheats on you you get the satisfaction of telling (yelling most likely..lol) him to, ” Pack his bags and get to hell out!” LOL
I’ve reached the point where I’m honestly expecting to wake up one morning to a banner headline on Google or a blog somewhere that shouts LOOK NOW!! RECENTLY RELEASED NUDE PHOTOS OF THE GOLDEN GIRLS!
I think having nude photos has actually become a prerequisite since it appears all stars even the D-list, unattractive ones have nude photos of themselves!
Rihanna is now the most recent member of that club.
Chris Brown says he didn’t leak the naughty photos of Rihanna well then if he didn’t, who did? The drama surrounding Rihanna continues…
Alice Cooper and President Obama will both be attending Arizona State University’s commencement ceremony to be held tomorrow at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Cooper will perform and Obama is delivering the commencement address.
ASU and Arizona officials are expecting 71, 000 people to attend ASU’s five hour long graduation ceremony some in the Arizona press have even begun to call the event ’a spectacle’ . Hmm if John Mccain was president and he was giving the commencement address would the event still be called a spectacle?
Alice Cooper and the President of the United States on the same stage..I wonder if Obama will be able to resist the temptation to hold Cooper’s snake? I just couldn’t resist sorry..lol
You thought swine flu was a recent thing didn’t you?
Well, I did. Until last night.
While watching a particularly sad episode of Cheers (it’s an 80s sitcom) one of the characters mentions the words swine flu (she mentions it at 2:38) to disparage the main character.
Imagine my shock and surprise when I found out that swine flu was flying around the world even back than? I was left wondering however why they weren’t calling the virus by it’s ‘ proper name’ H1N1 (honestly, don’t those letters remind you of a formula for a mineral or something?) ?
The Centers for Disease Control and the US Department of Agriculture are unaware of this episode existence they must be? Because if they had they certainly would have asked for that part to be dubbed over with the correct term for the virus…I can just see H1N1 rolling off Diane’s tongue just as easily as swine flu can’t you? LOL
A four year old girl was raped and abducted by a 53 year old man in St.Ann’s Jamaica on Friday. The Gleaner newspaper reported that the little girl was found wondering the streets naked after she was abducted from the home of a family friend.
A man is currently in police custody as the little girl recovers in the hospital from bruises and cuts she received in the assault.
You know, sometimes when I read stories like these it makes me glad that I don’t have kids because I honestly don’t know what I would do if that little girl was my daughter.
Eliot Spitzer wants back in. He wants back in baaaaaad.
The ex governor of New York is slowly creeping back into public life. He denies it up and down but all you have to do is watch his interview on The Rachel Maddow’s show earlier this week and you can see the eagerness all over his face.
He’s done several interviews in the past few weeks from cable news to news blogs he’s clearly testing the waters of public opinion to see if we’ve forgiven him for his indiscretion and private failings and if we’re willing to listen to him again.
Spitzer knows we’re angry as hell, at corporations, banks and Wall Street and as one of only a handful of men to have taken them on successfully his opinion and insight on financial regulation and averting future financial diasasters is invaluable.
The financial crisis has created an opening for Spitzer and at first glance it appears that there will be no more wondering in the political wilderness for the disgraced attorney but before Spitzer leaps head first back into the public’s arms he should make sure that we are indeed willing to give him a second chance.
In a recent poll New Yorkers said they prefer Eliot Spitzer to current Governor David Pattersen but that doesn’t mean they want him back as Governor! What this really says is that Patterson is doing a really, really bad job!
At best Spitzer’s record as governor receives a question mark because who knows what could’ve been? A 14 month term is not enough time to render judgment.
However, should Eliot Spitzer decide to seek public office again he has to accept that his wife and his daughters will be reliving his disgrace and humiliation alongside him.
He has to accept that no question will be out of bounds and that “No comment,” or “I’m not answering that,” will not be tolerated. Reporters and journalists will demand access to him at all times and full disclosure on every issue for obvious reasons. And on the campaign trail the mudslinging would be at unprecedented levels and the public probably will have no sympathy.
The road back to the top will be extremely, extremely difficult but it can be done indeed it has been done. And if the public has forgiven him and more importantly wants him back Spitzer is well on his way back to the top of New York politics.
I don’t know if I can ever separate his private shortcomings from his well-intentioned, results driven crusades on behalf of the public interest and the fact that he is so talented and does brings so much to the public square does cause me to stop and think twice.
But Spitzer prosecuted men who were Johns and he even sought and signed stiff laws against the sex trade while spending over $80 000 on prostitutes.
In my book that makes him a hypocrite. Listen to him yes, vote for him probably not.
After admitting that she knew the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was torturing detainees from as early as 2003 Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has effectively said that for three years (Democrats retook Congress in 2006) she stood quietly and allowed others to break our laws and international treaties.
Pelosi has even asserted that she and other members of congress were lied too by the CIA about the types of techniques being used on detainees.
I didn’t believe Bush and Cheney then, I don’t believe Speaker Pelosi and the CIA now.
They were all telling lies.
And I think one of the reasons those briefings are as vague as they are, in part, is to protect the politicians.
These agencies expect politicians to protect their interests first and a combination of fuzzy memories and ambiguous documents give them the cover to do that.
We’ve seen it play out before a member of congress is being pressured for information on a controversial topic or issue she/he fingers or blames some governmental agency, opposition members pressure the agency, in this case it’s CIA, in order to clear their name the CIA waves their records (the intelligence briefings) around asserting, “Of course the member knew what we were doing. Look it says so right here!”
In effect it forces the issue to a stalemate and who are we to believe in a situation like that?
A member of congress trying to cover her assets or a political agency seeking support for its past illegal actions? Hmm..it’s a tough one isn’t it?
I do think the Speaker of the House has given the Republicans the opening they were looking for. Her rambling press conference yesterday, the constant changing of her stories and her tacit support for their actions by her inaction, will allow Republicans to exploit the situation and damage her reputation.
Pelosi should’ve known and expected that the use of these enhanced interrogation techniques was going to comeback to haunt her and if she truly believed that what the Bush administration was doing was wrong and illegal she should have been more vigorous in her disapproval and more importantly have a record of her actions. And if she really wanted to make a stand against them she should’ve resigned and then speak out.
She wasn’t powerless and to suggest that she was Pelosi does herself and the United States Congress the biggest disservice.
You may have heard that Rihanna and Lady Gaga had teamed up to do a new track about Chris Brown.
Well it turns out the song, titled, “Silly Boy” which first surfaced on Kanye West’s blog is a fake and Rihanna’s rep confirmed it when speaking to Us magazine said ” This isn’t them..total fake track.”
I think the public wants Rihanna to speak out so badly against Chris Brown that they keep clutching at straws hoping that she has I’m not going to lie I hope she does soon as well.
Yesterday I went on one of my Google adventures and guess what/who I came across?
The Westboro Baptist Church!! You know those people that pickets the funeral of veterans and high schools claiming that we’re being punished for tolerance?
Honestly, I don’t know how I ended up on their page but you know how one click, leads to another click and then another suddenly you’re on the website of a bunch of crazy, homophobic people who live in Kansas.
Some of the things these people say OMG!!
Well, anyway like all my Google adventures this one had a happy ending I found this great site Phelps-a-thon.com that uses the protests of Fred Phelps (he’s the founder of the Church) and his band of crazies to raise funds for the local gay/straight alliance or LGBT community centers where Phelps and his haters (and they really are haters) are holding their protest
Isn’t that awesome? Not an original concept I know using hate to spread love but it’s still wicked!! And the best part is after the protest they send Phelps a thank you card telling him how much money he helped them raise! DOUBLE WICKED!!!!
At phelps-a-thon.com you can see where the haters are going to be next and send the counter protesters a few dollars of encouragement. Phelps and his haters will be protesting on May 22nd at Key West High School, Key West Florida from 3:45 PM to 4:15 PM and if you can and only if you can donate a little something to the local Gay Straight Alliance of Key West, Florida.
We want that frown on Phelps’ face to reach the floor after he reads that thank you card..LOL
Pittsburgh Steelers and MVP James Harrison will not be going to the White House on Thursday to meet President Obama because he believes that Obama wouldn’t have invited them if they hadn’t one the Super Bowl!!!!
This isn’t the first time he’s told the President to shove his invitation and honestly I would suggest that meeting the last President wasn’t that high on the list of many people either but come on dude, if there was a year of the black man last year was it and you happen to be in the top three and you’re going to miss out on it because, ” This is how I feel, if you want to see the Pittsburgh Steelers, invite us when we don’t win the Super Bowl. As far as I’m concerned, he would’ve invited Arizona if they had won.”
Dude are you fuh real?
You are giving up the opportunity to meet the most powerful man in the world, who just happens to be the first black president of the United States because you wouldn’t have been there if you hadn’t one a major American sporting event?
Harrison has definitely suffered too many blows to his head!
According to Michael Steele, GOP Chairman, Republicans are done ‘looking in the rearview mirror’.
But in his speech yesterday all he did was look back.
From his comments about Reagan to the fact that he failed to offer no new policy positions on any current issue all Steele did was remind millions of Americans why they aren’t Republican anymore.
Steele tried his very best to convince us that there is a new GOP we just haven’t seen it yet, ” Our comeback is well underway out in the states, I can assure you of that..the folks inside the beltway don’t know it yet but those of you who toil in the vineyards, spending time in communities, in diners, barber shops, and coffee shops where real every day people can be found…you know it is real.”
Steele obviously sees things that we don’t.
It has become quite obvious that the only reason Michael Steele got the RNC Chair is because he’s a black guy. And unfortunately, many GOP leaders wrongly believe the only way to effectively criticize President Obama is to have another black guy do it. That’s the only conclusion I can come too because Michael Steele has nothing else going for him.
He can barely rally the GOP base. He doesn’t have the support of the GOP leadership (what leadership there is) and he’s an ineffective leader and communicator and his money raising skills are mediocre at best.
So why is he still there?
Could this be the reason why millions are abandoning the GOP?
The GOP seems to be perpetually stuck in the past on everything and instead of moving forward Republican leaders are constantly looking over their shoulders as if they are hoping President Regan will ride in on his white horse and save them from themselves and those bad Democrats!
The GOP must STOP LIVING in the past and STOP DIRECTING their message to those who want to return TO THE PAST because if they aren’t careful they will become a PARTY OF THE PAST!
But who am I to offer any advice? I’m just a no good liberal right? LOL
From what I gather we’re not closing Guantanamo Bay because some members of the House and Senate don’t think we can safely house the prisoners here in the US and Obama hasn’t provided the Congress with a detailed plan on what he wants to do with the prisoners.
Ok..so if Obama does provide the plan, which is only fair, he’ll get Democratic support to shut down Gitmo right?
Wrong!!!
Even if President Obama provides Congress with a plan there’s no guarantee that Guantanamo Bay will be closed because our leaders don’t want the responsiblity of housing convicted terrorists in their backyards.
And it isn’t just the Republicans who are saying no Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid has joined them as well. He states emphatically, ” We don’t want them them around,” and if Reid can’t be convinced to shut dowm Gitmo how can he be expected to rally other Senators behind Obama’s plans?
Greaaaaaaaaaaaat..Obama just celebrated his first 100 days a few weeks ago and already Democrats are stabbing him in the back.
Let’s see how long we keep that Democratic majority if Obama is handed significant defeats like this over and over again? You can bet it wouldn’t be too long..
First Iman says Michelle Obama is ‘no great beauty’ and now a comedian has declared, that our first lady is really a man.
This is going to be a tough week for Mrs.Obama.
Honestly, I don’t care what the comedian Jay Mohr has to say. It’s his job to be offensive. He knows that the more offensive he is the more airplay he gets and by extension the bigger his salary becomes.
But the no great beauty comment by Iman, well, that kinda hit home.
And before you say, “She’s just voicing her opinion,” her observation of Michelle Obama goes a lot deeper than just a casual comment by a public figure about a major public official as one blogger asked does Michelle Obama make dark skin stylish?
Obviously Iman doesn’t think so and to a wide section of the public we dark skinned black woman still have a long way to go before we’re considered as beautiful as our lighter skinned sisters black or white and that’s with or without the First Lady’s help.
Iman does go on to say that Ms. Obama is, “So bright and interesting looking and in the end that will always take you farther.” However, I don’t understand what Iman means by interesting looking?
Interesting looking?
An axolotl is interesting looking but they aren’t too many people out there who want to look like that. And I’m pretty sure Michelle Obama like most women, myself included, like to be complimented on our beauty as well as our intellect.
But I’m sure Iman’s comments wouldn’t be the first time Michelle Obama has heard or been told ‘she’s no great beauty’ or ‘that she’s not pretty’ by a sista.
I can relate to that.
Like most dark skinned black women I too, grew up being told over and over again by my peers and in some cases by adults that I was ugly and when I wasn’t told that it was often decided that I would be really pretty if I weren’t so black.
Great! I would be really pretty if I didn’t look like me! LOL
Anyway, for some girls that would’ve been enough to inflict lasting emotional damage but what hurt the most weren’t the jokes about my dark skin, I got used to those, it was the barage of comments I would always undoubtedly face from a schoolmate if my mom picked me up or visited me at school.
The next day I would be asked one or all of these questions, ”Are you sure that’s your mom?” or “Are you adopted?” and the best of them all, ”Your mom is so pretty..how come you look like that?”
And for the rest of the day I would be left thinking that the words pretty and beautiful were reserved for those with lighter skin (my mom is birracial and my sister has lighter skin) than mine and that I would never be called beautiful by anyone outside my immediate family.
Inevitably those thoughts would pass until the next time my mom visited the school and then the process of self doubt and self-pity would start all over again.
Those comments have help to shape my world view but they also prepared me to face the cruelty and pain in the world with grace and dignity. And although I no longer face ridicule, I have never allowed myself to forget what it feels like to be on the opposite end of hateful comments and I credit those bullies and ignoramuses for heightening my ability to empathize not just with those of my race or in my community but with my fellow human being regardless of gender, race or complexion.
But they were days that I was afraid to go to school because I knew that most of my day would be spent in emotional turmoil. A teenager has more than enough to deal with and managing emotional conflict with her peers shouldn’t be one of them.
Luckily my parents didn’t allow those comments to destroy my self esteem or my self worth and I thank them every day for molding me into the woman that I am. But many black women aren’t as lucky as I was and millions of them continue to be at war with their dark skin and seek to change their complexion by any means necessary.
A simple Google search,dark skinned black women, provides valuable insight into this psychological dilemma that continues to plague the black community and the world in general when it comes to seeing beauty in the black race.
Even the term classic beauty when Googled produces not one black woman in fact none of the top 20 women in that search have dark skin!
While our concept of beauty continues to evolve be it very, very slowly sadly we have not reached the point where a tall, dark skinned black woman can be considered a classic or great beauty by the majority on this planet.
I wonder when, if ever, we’ll reach that point.
**Update** Just Googled Classic Beauty and I actually came across two black women! One was Iman and the other, was this lady..wow progress. Two black women can be called classic beauties! Progress!!! Lol
Former Vice President Dick Cheney’s rebuttal speech on national security at the American Enterprise Institute in one word-stupefying!!!
This man is defiant!
He refuses to accept the world has changed and that his world view is no longer acceptable or rational.
And he refuses to lay down his arms and he still has the energy to fight the old battles against the New York Times, the peace loving liberals and those sissy Europeans man..he just wouldn’t let go will he?
Unfortunately, I must say that Dick Cheney is the real leader of the GOP!
Is this what Michael Steele meant when he said the GOP had ‘turned the corner’ and that they were done‘ looking in the rearview mirror’?
I don’t think they can do that with Dick Cheney clinging to their bumper..
” The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.” General of the Army Douglas MacArthur
By now you would undoubtedly have heard or read that President Obama nominated U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court.
Sotomayor is the first Hispanic to be nominated for the highest court in America.
I can’t wait for the confirmation hearings..’cause you know the Republicans are just itching for a fight? We’re already hearing claims that while Judge Sotomayor’s personal story is inspiring, she’s really not that smart and of course the Republican cliché is being tossed around repeatedly..she’s an activist judge amazing!
I wonder what other types of mud will be slung at Judge Sotomayor?
Republicans have to be extremely careful in resorting to their traditional tactics as the confirmation hearings progress.
Republicans have already alienated a significant portion of the Hispanic community with their immigration policies which are widely seen in the Hispanic communityas anti-Hispanic and if their questioning of Sotomayor is viewed as unfair or discriminatory Republicans run the risk of losing the Hispanic vote completely.
Well that didn’t take long Rush Limbaugh is now calling Sotomayor a racist!!!
Here we go…
In celebration of Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court, all this week, I’m going to write a post about the Supreme Court and the US constitution. Hopefully at the end of this week we’ll all be a little bit more knowledgeable about the highest court in the land and the American constitution.
1.The president of the United States has the right to argue a case in front of the Supreme Court! Yup! And the last president to argue a case before the court was Richard Nixon..he lost!
2. The US justices used to wear white wigs, similar to the ones worn by British justices, but during the first session of the court in 1790 William Cushing was the only justice to show up wearing the wig (I guess he thought it was cool..) But his fashion faux pas didn’t go unnoticed. And Thomas Jefferson eventually convinced Cushing to get rid of it declaring that the wigs made the judges ” look like rats peeping through bunches of oakum.”
3. The US Supreme Court has no specific size and the number of Justices on the Supreme Court has increased as the US has grown geographically and as judicial circuits have increased.
4. If the 10 000 bill was still in circulation it would be called a Chasey (at least that’s what I would call it..lol) because Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase appeared on it.
5. The 27th President of the United States William Howard Taft also served as the 10th Chief Justice of the United States. He was nominated by President Warren Harding after the death of Chief Justice Edward Douglass White. Wouldn’t you just love to have those two jobs on your resume?
Mike Tyson’s four year old daughter Exodus died yesterday in Phoenix, Ariz. The little girl was found dangling from a treadmill’s cord at his Arizona home. She had been on life support for a few days.
In recent weeks Mike Tyson has been travelling around the country promoting his new documentary that chronicles his struggles with addiction and alcoholism and his road to redemption.
Tyson has been at the precipice of self destruction more times than we can count. We can only hope that this horrible, horrible tragedy doesn’t push him over the edge entirely.
We all understand why Senator Roland Burris (D-IL) hasn’t resigned but why haven’t the Democrats found a way to unseat him?
Hopefully, with the release of the FBI wiretap tapes Democrats, maybe even President Obama, can now persuade Burris to resign since we now have proof that he was involved if only on the margins in the effort by former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich to sell Obama’s US Senate seat.
Burris is an embarrassment not only to himself and the Democratic Party but he has become a recognizable stain on the United States Senate. The longer Burris remains seated the longer, we the public, have to endure the media’s coverage of this egomaniac and his pathetic attempts to cover up his role in this deplorable scandal.
You gotta hand it to Blago he knew what he was doing when he appointed Roland Burris but in the end all parties got something from this Burris/Blago debacle.
Blago got a really good laugh not the last, mind you, but he got a hearty chuckle.
Burris gets to engrave the title Senator on his tombstone and Hardball Award recipient.
And the American people got yet another shocking glimpse at high-level public corruption.
But enough is enough. Democrats. Republicans. Independents. GET ROLAND BURRIS OUT OF THE SENATE!!!
Without the Constitution America and it could be argued the world would be a significantly different place.
So here are six facts you should know about one of the world’s most important ‘living’ documents.
1. Over one hundred nations have used the American Constitution as a model to create their own constitution.
2. You will never find the word ‘democracy’ in the Constitution. Interesting…
3. Treason is the only crime defined in the Constitution.
4. The 10 amendments known today as The Bill of Rights (whenever I read the Bill of Rights I get goose bumps..lol) were added three years after the ratification of the Constitution.
5. Bucking convention Vermont ratified the Constitution on January 10, 1791, even though it hadn’t officially become a state.You gotta love Vermont.
6. During World War II the constitution was moved to Fort Knox.
Rihanna WILL testify against Chris Brown next month.
On June 22nd the Barbadian entertainer will face Chris Brown and his lawyers in a California court.
The preliminary hearing is to determine if there is enough evidence for the felony assault case to go to trial.
I’m glad that Rihanna has finally come to her senses and decided to testify against Brown because for a minute there it looked like she was planning to stay with that joker/woman beater Chris Brown!
So it’s Friday and we don’t really want to read anything heavy right?
Well here are some very cool and not so cool (I’ll let you decide which ones aren’t) facts about the guys and gals that have sat in those seats.
1. Robert H Jackson was US Attorney General and a Supreme Court Justice and he didn’t graduate from law school.
2. Justice Byron ‘Whizzer’ White was once the leading rusher in the National Football League (NFL). He played for the Steelers and the Lions.
3. Justice Thurgood Marshall was a big fan of soap operas (so was my dad..lol) and he loved to play poker. I wonder if he was any good?
4. Sandra Day O’Connor was the first female jurist on the Supreme Court we all knew that but did you know that she learned to drive by age seven, had a bob cat as a pet and learned to shoot a gun before she was eight? She’s also a fan of the Olive Garden.
5. Before Frank T Murphy became an Associate Justice his professional career included: First Assistant U.S. District Attorney, Eastern Michigan District (1920-23), Recorder’s Court Judge, Detroit (1923-30), Mayor of Detroit (1930–33), Governor-General of the Philippines (1933-35), U.S. High Commissioner of the Philippines (1935–36), Governor of Michigan (1937-39) and United States Attorney General (1939–40). My goodness what did this guy do in his spare time?
6. Justice Hugo Lafayette Black was a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
7. Associate Justice Charles Evans Whittaker got admitted to law school without a high school diploma. He dropped out in the ninth grade to go hunting, trapping and farming! Hmm how does one go farming? lol
8. The second US Supreme Court Justice John Rutledge was the only Justice in American history to be forced out of office against his will.
9. Celebrated Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis belonged to a polo club but never played polo but he loved canoeing. And apparently he preferred to reorder his suits rather than go shopping for a new one. I think he’ll get the support of most men on that one.
10. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg took her love for opera to the next level when she appeared as an extra in two Washington Opera productions once in full costume and once as herself.
Have a good weekend!
OMG!!! I just saw the commercial for the season finale of Breaking Bad and I’m already excited I thought I was getting bored with the show but I guess I was wrong because my heart just started pounding.
I don’t remember the last time I got this excited about a tv show. Hmmm, now that I’ve thought about it, the last show I got into was HBO’s Six Feet Under I didn’t miss one episode of the last season and the final episode left me in tears infact I’m tearing up right now thinking about it. I really miss that show.
However, I think the writers of Breaking Bad deserve a round of applause for keeping the show’s characters and the dialogue so realistic.
I can’t wait to see what they do in Season Three.
UPDATE: OMG!!!! OMG!!! WHAT AN ENDING! I’m not going to spoil the ending just in case a couple of you haven’t watched the episode but all I will say is you will be SHOCKED !
And after you’re done watching it/have watched it tell me if you think he crashed them on purpose? I think he did.. Q is sick bastard we Trekkies know that..lol
Pennsylvania Congressman Joe Sestak was on Hardball with Chris Matthews a few minutes ago discussing his potential Senate run against the newest Democrat in the US Senate Arlen Specter.
He still hasn’t decided according to him he’s still consulting with his family. I don’t buy his reason at all but it does sound nice and keeps the press back a bit. But what I think he’s really doing is weighing the costs to his political future if he runs against Specter because he knows he wouldn’t be running against Specter alone he’ll be running against Obama, Biden and the current Democratic leadership.
And that’s a tough call for a politician.
But I hope he does run.
We’re Democrats damn it! We don’t want people telling us who to vote for even if that order comes from a well liked President. Leave the anointing of leaders to the Republicans..lol.
Sestak might be a long shot and he might suffer severe blowback for running against Specter BUT this is America if you believe in something you go for it and fight for it every inch of the way and I think if Sestak really believes that he’s the better candidate he shouldn’t let anything deter him from running.
Who knows he just might win and all he has to do is look at the current occupants at the White House to know that anything is possible in this great country!
In just a few hours President Obama will deliver arguably one of the most important speeches of his presidency in Cairo, Egypt.
But I believe that in order for Obama to get the Arab world actively engaged in the issues that are important to us and our allies he must do three things.
One reiterate that the US is NOT at war with Islam. Reinforce our support for Palestinian statehood. And three show respect for the view held by many people across the Arab world (and arguably the entire world) that the American way is not the ONLY way.
These are the three main points Obama has to hammer home in order for his words to resonate with the average muslim man and woman in the Middle East.
Every rational American can accept that the US is not at war with Islam however a majority of muslims believe that we are actively seeking to destroy Islam. This perception has arisen primarily due to conflicting political interests and it will disolve into thin air after his speech. But what Obama and diplomats can do is to highlight our common interests-the establishment of a free and secure Palestinian state and the mutually desired withdrawal of our troops from Iraq.
If we can actively work to align these two key interests and maybe even achieve one of them in coming years we can then begin to work on our differences. However, in order to achieve a desirable outcome on those two issues I believe that we must be willing to accept and adjust our way of thinking.
Now I’m not suggesting that the adjustments have to made solely on our end, not at all. Arab states and muslim men and women everywhere must be willing to do more than simply pay lip service to the idea of rejecting radical elements within their communities. Instead they must wholeheartedly renounce and squash those elements within their midst before members of their citizenry have become radicalized and a threat to America and its allies. We can’t do that for them they must do that on their own.
As a hyperpower the United States could tell any state or nation ’to shove off’ but we tried that route look how far it got us? Our influence and dominance on the world stage can be increased tenfold if we admit to a few mistakes.
And this is one of those occasions.
To admit a mistake as a nation doesn’t make us apologists as some have suggested instead when a world leader is willing to admit his or her mistake what it says to the rest of the world is that the country is big enough to admit its shortcomings, accept that it doesn’t have all the answers and is wise enough to seek counsel and assistance from others in an effort to never repeat that mistake in essence it is a state deserving of the mantle of leadership.
However the idea of our President acknowledging past mistakes bothers millions of Americans.
And I can understand that.
Forgive me for using my own character as an example but like most people I hate admitting mistakes but what I hate even more is act of admitting to others that I was WRONG that gets under my skin. And I don’t know a single individual as strong willed and stubborn as I am that likes to admit that she/he could’ve been wrong on anything…LOL!.
But there are times in our lives when a simple acknowledgment of a past mistake is enough to garner us respect and admiration from our loved ones and even our enemies and I believe this principle can be applied to a state as well.
How we go about rectifying those mistakes will say more about us as a country than any wrong we have committed in the last past years. Let’s hope that those men and women in the Arab world are also ready for a fresh start because I know that we are.
In one of the most public cases of tic for tac.
Rihanna is reportedly planning on leaking nude photos of her ex Chris Brown!
Apparently the Barbadian singer blames him for leaking the nude photos of her last month that cost her a Vogue cover.
Reportedly the photos of him will make Rihanna’s look tame in comparison! I can’t wait to see these photos!
But if I were Rihanna the best revenge still, for me, would be watching Chris Brown go to jail! But I guess she’s got to live her life right?
Have you tried Microsoft’s new search engine bing?
I tried it not bad. Not bad at all.
My favorite part of the new search engine is its look and the image search section. I loved it! The images are sharp and they appear on your screen uncluttered unlike Google’s and I have to admit that’s one area they’ve got Google beat hands down at least for the moment.
I’m not sure they are the ultimate Google-Killer, many have tried but none have suceeded but they will give Google a run for their money.
And I like their ad!
This is a tough one for me and I really, really don’t know how I feel about this one.
After Dr. George Tiller was allegedly murdered by 51-year-old suspected anti-choice terrorist, Scott Roeder on May 31st his family has decided to close his Kansas, Women’s Health Care Services Inc, clinic forever.
According to one of Tiller’s lawyers, the family is ’proud of the service and courage’ shown by Dr. Tiller and they will continue to honor his death by contributing to private charities.
While I understand and respect the family’s decision to close the clinic I can’t help but wonder if Dr. Tiller’s memory, honor and courage wouldn’t have been better served by keeping the clinic open?
Dr. Tiller is the fourth doctor and eighth abortion clinic worker to be killed in the United States or Canada since 1977. Abortions became legal in the United States in 1973.
But as Dr.Warren Hern, a provider of abortion said, “What doctor, what reasonable doctor would work there? Where does it stop?”
Have you seen this public service announcement (PSA) asking Americans to support economic sanctions against Iran?
The 35 second PSA was created by the non-partisan, coalition United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) has been running on CNN for the past few days.
According to UANI’s website their primary objective is ’ to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons.’
UANI hopes to initiate grassroots opposition against a nuclear armed Iran and the danger that poses to the region and the world by inviting average citizens to create UANI chapters in their communities and to send messages to their leaders and elected officials, the press and Iranian companies.
It seems that every group in the world is looking to duplicate Obama’s success in rallying and coalescing grassroots support for their particular agenda, policy or candidate. Unfortunately Obama’s success wouldn’t be easily duplicated.
We’ll soon find out how willing the Iranian people are to take those first crucial steps towards normalizing their relationship with the West and the United States.
The last time I got this excited, for the middle east, was way back in 2005 during Lebanon’s Cedar Revolution.
And now that same excitement coupled with anticipation is killing me.
Last year, young people in the US finally stepped up and put their votes where their mouths and hearts have been for a very long time. Young people all across the United States worked their butts off, convinced their friends, families and in some cases coworkers to vote for and support a candidate that many pundits had declared as having a snow ball chance in hell of winning the American presidency.
But most importantly millions of those young people showed up at the polls on voting day showing that with unparalleled determination, hard-work and just a bit of luck change is indeed possible even at the highest levels of power.
And for the past few weeks we’ve been watching a replay of that same process in Iran.
Iran’s young people have catapulted their version of Barack and Michelle Obama unto the world stage by openly displaying their support for underdog presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi and his wife Dr. Zahara Rahnavard.
Obama won the election because he was able to harness and direct the energies and passion of millions of young people. Mousavi is hoping that their efforts coupled with the current economic conditions in Iran and the desire for positive changes amongst the Iranian people will be enough to topple the country’s current president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Can Mousavi accomplish the same thing? Maybe. It’s certainly looking like he has a real shot at winning but it is a long shot. Nevertheless I’m willing to argue that his chances are much better than Obama’s were that’s for sure..lol
And what happens if he does? Would a Mousavi win have any influence on Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Hoseyni Khamenei the ’real’ leader of Iran? Maybe. According to some reports it appears Ayatollah Khamenei is willing to work with Mousavi although the two men were once fierce rivals for the affections and adulations from the previous and first Supreme Leader Ayotallah Khomeini.
However it appears Khamenei is willing to put the past behind him and Mousavi appears to be a realist and if elected he intends to pursue a pragmatic approach on the international stage and he’s even said it!
So should Mousavi win we could finally see direct talks, (remember what Obama said during the election?) or we could see multi-lateral talks but chances for constructive and significant diplomacy undoubtedly increase with a Mousavi presidency.
Now, I’m not suggesting that you should start planning a trip to Iran or that President Obama will be visiting Iran anytime soon but should Mousavi win we can definitely expect a thaw in US-Iranian relations.
How significant a thaw? Well, we’ll just have to wait and see…
Sarah Palin has every right to demand an apology from David Letterman.
His joke was crude and offensive and his apology or lack thereof was insufficient.
I just finished watching Ed Schultz and Danny Deutsch on MSNBC imply that Sarah Palin must be a bad mother because her teenage daughter got pregnant out of wedlock!
They also implied that Palin is a hypocrite because she’s using or has used her kids to get a political advantage and that she’s irresponsible for ‘parading’ her daughter around in the media and that she should expect attacks like the one Letterman dished out.
WHAT THE HELL!!
Are they serious?
It almost sounded like they were blaming Sarah Palin for Letterman’s tasteless joke!
Now I’m no fan of the Republican party or Sarah Palin (she has potential but she needs brush up on some critical areas) but I do know right from wrong and this isn’t a liberal v conservative issue it’s a simple right vs wrong.
Sarah Palin is not the first and she certainly wouldn’t be thelast politician to use their family for political advantage. All politicians have at some point in their political career used their relatives to appear more appealing to women, to men, more normal and ‘just like us’.
What do you think all those photo ops with Obama and his wife, Obama his wife and the kids, Obama, his wife, the kids and the dog are all about?
Hello??
Sarah Palin is not a horrible mother for ’using’ her family to get votes. She’s not a horrible mother for not knowing that her teenage daughter was sexually active either. Sarah Palin is not in the wrong here, at least, not this time. David Letterman is and anyone who suggests that his joke was acceptable because she brought her family into the political limelight is missing the point.
Just call it what it is. An offensive joke about a 14 year old girl who happens to be the daughter of a politician. If the joke was about any other 14yr old girl would we be laughing? No. So why should we laugh if it’s about Sarah Palin’s daughter? We shouldn’t and it’s unacceptable regardless of who the target was.
Unfortunately this type of offensive language and negative media coverage directed towards female politicians and their families prevent many women from seeking political office (it’s not going to stop me..you betcha..lol) and as a female politician your skin might be as tough as an elephant’s but your family members may not and ultimately many women choose to do what’s in the best interest of their families.
It’s a pity we’re still forced to make that choice family or career because many in the media aren’t big enough to leave our families out of it.
I’m a fan of adverts. Well, to be more specific I’m a fan of WELL-MADE adverts.
And Ally Bank’s ads have definitely caught my eye.
If I had money I might even consider banking with them just because of their ads and that’s a home run for any commercial isn’t it?
My favorite Ally ad so far is the one featuring two little girls and a pony. The look on the little girl’s face that DIDN’T get the pony is priceless! And I love the guy playing the mean banker.
Do you think the kids reactions in these ads are genuine?
Am I the only one that believes that the banks are only repaying us because they want us (the government) out of their business?
Because I really don’t believe they would be repaying these TARP funds if we hadn’t got on their cases and called them out as quickly as we did or if the media hadn’t been keeping a watchful eye on their behaviour and what they were doing with our money.
But it’s all good.
Hopefully, we’ve all learned something from this government bailout debacle.
This time we were able to stop the collapse of our economy, save the banks’ and CEO hides and STILL get our money back. The next time and believe me there will be we may not be as lucky.
For the past week, I, like so many of you, have been riveted to my seat as I’ve watched the infancy of yet another Iranian revolution play out right before my very eyes.
Americans have devoured and disected every image, parsed ever morsel of information and formulated their own opinions on what is taking place in that Middle East country. And as Iranians have turned to Twitter and Facebook we’ve publicly followed and encouraged them while simultaneously praising their bravery in disobeying their governments’ bans.
Iranians have inspired us and made us extremely hopeful that for the first time since the establishment of the Islamic Republic, the majority in the country were finally prepared to take the first steps towards establishing a true democratic state.
However, as the week wore on and protesters’ calls fell on deaf ears many of us suspected that their demands would be rebuffed, at Friday prayers Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei confirmed a crackdown was immenient.
This past Saturday millions of us watched as grainy videos uploaded to Youtube made their way into our living rooms via national news channels showing demonstrators being beaten and attacked in the streets as they defied their Supreme leader and rallied in support of Mousavi.
But after all of this I am still unsure of how far these supporters are willing to go in support of Mousavi and if the movement I’m watching on tv and the internet has really morphed into a pro democracy crusade similar to the one that occurred in Lebanon?
I sense this is no longer about an election.
I believe this is no longer about deposing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and appointing Mir Hussein Moussavi.
And I know that the majority of protesters do not want the Islamic Republic to fall.
But what do they really want and are they willing to continue to spill their blood and sacrifice their lives in pursuit of a democratic state if that is truly their demand?
So far the death toll, as reported by the Associated Press, stands at 19.
However like most movements that oppose oppressive regimes expect that total to increase. And undoubtedly a critical point will be reached when leaders and protesters, enforcers and supporters start to play a dangerous game of chicken.
In Iran this game has been occurring at various levels for the past 30 years. The battle between democracy and despotism, modernity and tradition may finally have come to a head this past week but in the past these drives have been crushed and the reformers have always backed down.
But this time the elites and intellectuals, leading the movenment appear to have significant support among the mases and that could lead to significant societal change.
And if we are currently witnessing a regime change in Iran unfortunately and inevitably that means there will be hundreds more Neda Soltans. I don’t know if the protesters or the ruling elites and clerics are really prepared to accept that reality.
The last nail has been hammered into the Brown-Rihanna relationship.
Rihanna can finally move on with her life and Chris Brown well he’s going to have wait a few years before he can say that.
In what has become one of the highest profile domestic abuse assault cases of all time Chris Brown was sentenced today ater pleading guilty to felony assault charges. He received 5 years probation and 180 days of community labor which will be performed in his home state of Virginia and he has to stay 50 yards clear of Rihanna at all times and must enroll in a domestic violence counseling program.
So I guess that means we wouldn’t be seeing photos like the one above ever again?
I sincerely hope Brown gets help and that he never abuses another woman again and that Rihanna understands that once your partner hits you once he/she will most likely do it again.
Can anyone explain to me why train operators are sending text messages while operating trains?
A reasonable explanation!! PLEASE!!!! ANYONE!!!!
Come on! Isn’t this a no-brainer?
Do we really need to make this a law in order to prevent accidents like this from happening?
TRAIN OPERATORS OR ANY OPERATOR OF A MASS TRANSIT VEHICLE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO SEND TEXT MESSAGES WHILE OPERATING THEIR VEHICLES UNLESS IT IS TO ALERT FIRST RESPONDERS TO AN ACCIDENT OR POTENTIAL INCIDENT!!!!!!
Does the average intelligent human being really need to be told that while operating a 240 tonne vehicle, he/she should keep the distractions to a minimum?
And that those distractions should not include TEXT messages from a co worker/significant other/friend etc!!!!!!
THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE!!!
HOW MANY MORE PEOPLE WILL HAVE TO DIE BEFORE WE PUT AN END TO THIS STUPIDITY?
This was just too easy people!
Woods, naked hiking and his wife can’t know his whereabouts. Dudes..South Carolina’s Governor Mark Sanford made this joke waaaaaaaay too easy!!! LOL
So Gov Mark Sanford was really in Buenos Aires, Argentina instead of hiking the Appalachian Trail!
Again, his wife didn’t know, his kids didn’t know and his staff had no clue where he was why couldn’t he tell them that he was taking an ‘exotic’ trip?
Well, Buenos Aires is known as the gay capital of South America!
I’m watching his press conference about this incident and dude is crying..seriously crying..can you believe this…he’s talking about him letting down his loved ones..now he’s talking about God!!! WTF!!! This entire situation is weird it just makes you more curious about what he really did in Argentina!
Now this is all makes sense..
He developed a relationship with a friend..is this friend male or female?
And now he’s crying even more..MY GOD!!! Now he admits he was unfaithful with a friend. He developed a relationship with a dear, dear friend from Argentina!!
My God these Republicans and their family values..you see, they don’t practice what they preach!!!
And that’s the height of hypocrisy!!!
Why can’t these men live up to their own standards?
I came across a really cool blog today on one of my Google adventures.
It’s an awesome blog written by Donald Mills called The Problem With Young People Today Is and yes the name appropriately describes his musings and observations on young people and life today.
I really liked his observations of my generation and his latest post on sweatpants with words across the backside is hilarious! My grandmother hates those sweatpants too, she thinks they are crude! LOL
Anyway, I’m considering myself one of his newest fans even if I am one of those ‘damned young people’ he continually disses.
Keep up the great work Donald!
I just finished reading a few excerpts from emails between Mark Sanford and his mistress and I have to confess I’m actually starting to feel a bit sorry for the guy (I’m sure that’s going to disappear soon..lol)!
And I usually don’t have any sympathy for men who cheat on their wives particularly sanctimonious men but in this case it does sound like he’s in love with Maria.
I know that doesn’t excuse what he did and if I was his wife, he would’ve received divorce papers long ago but these recent revelations by Republican politicians of extra marital affairs should force the GOP to accept the reality that they cannot govern or dictate what men and women do in their bedrooms. And that their so called ‘family values’ party is and has always been just a figment of their imaginations.
Martina Navratilova is going through another messy divorce.
This time the ex-tennis superstar is being sued by her second wife Toni Layton who is claiming that Navratilova wasn’t very nice during their seven year marriage and that she’s suffered ‘emotional, mental and physical trauma’.
Normally, I wouldn’t care one bit about a messy celebrity divorce but this one piqued my interest for two reasons. Apparently Navratilova is using current Florida law which doesn’t recognize same sex marriage to argue that Layton doesn’t deserve a dime and an animal sanctuary built by the two has been put up for sale.
As an outspoken advocate for gay rights and supporter of same sex marriage, which Navratilova claims to be as well, I would argue, that if she uses a law that she believes is unfair and unjust, simply to shield her money and assets, not only is she a hypocrite but she’s doing serious damage to the same-sex marriage movement which she claims to support. I’m not saying that Layton is entitled to half or some large monetary settlement not at all. What I’m saying is a lot simpler than that. If Navratilova doesn’t recognize the legality of her own marriage she cannot expect or demand nationwide recognition of same sex marriage.
And in regards to the animal sanctuary I know the sale of the sanctuary doesn’t necessarily mean the animals will be homeless and often in situations like these, conditions are attached to the sale in order to protect the animals. And I refuse to believe that the great Martina Navratilova could throw defenseless animals out on the streets but then again according to Layton, Martina did throw her out with only the clothes on her back!
The wife of outspoken Iranian opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi may be under detention in Iran.
According to some unconfirmed reports circulating the web, Zahra Rahnavard who has been likened to Michelle Obama by many Iranians, may have been detained by the Iranian government after she called for the immediate release of those who had been arrested since the beginning of the protests.
If she has been detained we can only assume that Mousavi may be next on their list.
After reading the emails between Marc Sanford and his Argentinian mistress Maria I’m left wondering one question will he leave his wife for her?
What do you think?
Michael Jackson battled demons, real and perceived, his entire life.
I hope he’s finally able to have some peace.
OMG!!!
A few moments ago while watching CNN’s coverage of the BET Awards, Joe Jackson, Michael Jackson’s father got some lady to read a statement for him as he’s standing on the red carpet speaking with CNN’s Don Lemon!
The entire scene was awkward with this woman standing between the two men reading from a piece of paper.
Then he introduced another spokesperson, his lawyer to answer a simple question that he could have responded too with a ‘no comment’ or ‘I would prefer to talk about that later’. And if that wasn’t bad enough he introduced and seemed to be pluggin a guy’s recording studio which apparently he used to work for/with!
MY GOD!!!!
I hate saying this but Joe Jackson appeared and acted like a frigging moron and if you didn’t know it, you wouldn’t have believed this man had just lost a son! I’m not saying he should’ve broken down in tears or cried a river but the least he could’ve done is show a bit of genuine emotion.
All I can say is what bizarre behaviour from a man that just lost his son.
The biological mother of two of Michael Jackson’s children, Debbie Rowe, admits Michael Jackson isn’t the father of his two eldest children Prince Michael and Paris Katherine.
And the two never had sex.
The most interesting part of this article was her insistence that Michael Jackson didn’t want anything to do with her when he found out she couldn’t have anymore children.
Hmmm…
***UPDATE*** ROWE will receive visitation rights under a custody agreement granted to her and Michael Jackson’s mother Katherine Jackson.
Am I the only person in the world, who thinks that last night’s BET Awards tribute show to Michael Jackson could’ve been much better?
Midway through the awards show, it was clear to me and to quite a few other people that the performances were at very best sub par. And as for the host Jamie Foxx, well let’s just say before his next hosting gig my advice to him, is to at the very least give Chris Rock a call and get some pointers.
Anyway, I Googled the award show and of course they were the typical recaps of what happened but I haven’t seen one news post that actually notes how terrible the performances were. From the beginning with New Edition’s massacring of The Jackson 5′s songs to the absolutely horrible performance by Keri Hilson’s et al. It seemed that while most of the artistes were capable of costuming themselves like Michael Jackson NOT ONE of them could come close to matching the King of Pop’s legendary stage performances. And the only performance that came significantly close to anything MJ would’ve done was Beyonce Knowles’ medley.
I know the tribute show was last minute and that most of the artistes would never have been able to or even claim to be half the entertainer Michael Jackson was so I’m willing to give them a pass there. However, I do believe that if many of these performers sincerely wanted to pay tribute, to a man that many of them consider to be their inspiration and the Greatest Entertainer who ever lived, they should have stepped up their routines and put a bit more effort into their performances. And based on what I saw last night that didn’t happen. If by some chance that was the best crop of musical talent in the black community, Michael Jackson himself would have to shake his head in disappointment.
Today CNN’s Don Lemon gave Joe Jackson, Michael Jackson’s father, another chance to redeem himself and act like grieving father instead of a promotion manager.
Did he take that chance? NO. He got on television once again and acted like a moron. So I have to say it again.. JOE JACKSON IS A MORON and it appears he wants to cash in on his son’s death and the resulting publicity.
Anyway, a few hours ago Lemon interviewed Jackson and once again he greeted Lemon laughing and smiling and as Lemon questions him about his grief he has the audacity to declare that he’s crying on the inside and right in the middle of all this is a serious looking Al Sharpton.
Is Jackson high?
Look, I’m black and I understand we mourn in different ways of that there is no doubt. Funerals in black communities across the globe are celebrated in ways that I’m quite sure many cultures would find a bit strange. However they are some omnipresent themes at most of the Christian black funerals I’ve attended. Alcohol is served. There’s lots of food and drinks and at some funerals mourners may even start dancing and singing at the grave side as a way of celebrating the life of the deceased.
That’s different. But that’s how many of us mourn in the black community.
However, Joe Jackson’s isn’t mourning in that way or a different way, he simply isn’t mourning. The man doesn’t even appear sad! I’ve seen more emotion from people who have lost a beloved family pet!
This man appears to be more concerned about all the press he’s getting, all the positive press his son is getting and the fact that he could use the press to his advantage and the advantage of his friends! There’s only one thing Joe Jackson should be concerned about right now and that is the fact that he just lost his son who happened to be a superstar and I haven’t seen one moment when he appears to be genuinely upset about his lost. Instead of acting like a grieving parent, he’s acting like a manager that has lost his biggest client.
The public got its first view of Michael Jackson’s will today.
Of course TMZ has copies of the King of Pops’ will up on their site. TMZ is just beating the traditional media up and down.
Oh and one more thing about the will that I’m frankly quite happy to learn, Joe Jackson isn’t mentioned but there is a Michael Jackson Family Trust and who knows who will ultimately have ‘true’ control of that?
OMG!!!!!
I’m one of the biggest nerds in the world.
I love politics and I could listen to policy discussions on most topics but listening to President Obama’s health care town hall on CNN bored me to tears today. Even MSNBC refused to air it and they cover ever little thing he does. LOL
Yes, I know we have to fix health care.
Yes, we have to get people covered.
And the personal stories we often hear at these town halls should provide us with even more incentives to fix our health care system.
But couldn’t Obama put some interesting graphics up there? Seriously. Where are the power point presentations on how reducing health care costs could actually help Rush Limbaugh or help most of the members of the Senate live even longer? I don’t know but these health care town halls need something.
But I guess there are some things even President Barack Obama can’t do.
Oh wait the part about the retained surgical sponge in the gut that was interesting.
But you know what I really like the fact that he can bore me to tears because that means we finally have a president that reads!
He has a new movie out Public Enemies and I’m sure it’ll make him millions of dollars and millions more will see it.
But I have just one question will Johnny Depp ever get old?
I know that Father Time is better to men than women but somehow he looks younger now than he did back in the 80s! Doesn’t he? Good light and makeup can work wonders..I know but… I’m sure he would deny it but I’m actually starting to believe that Johnny here, may actually have made that deal with the devil after all.
Debbie Rowe, Michael Jackson’s ex wife and the biological mother of Jacksons’ two eldest children has now declared that she wants custody of all three of his Jackson’s children.
Yup! Tell me you didn’t see this one coming? Rowe has now decided to step up bcause she ‘has too’ even though she once said and seemed quite comfortable with the idea, that she probably would never have seen her kids again had Michael Jackson lived.
Amazing!!
Can you believe her?
Can you believe these people?
His father?
Debbie Rowe?
His doctors?
Everybody wanted a piece of Michael Jackson and from all appearances, granted I don’t know who he really was or what his family life was like, and I would never claim too but it seems that every individual in his life wanted something from him and that nobody really genuinely cared about him or his needs.
Because, frankly his entire life has been a tragedy and that includes the talent, the fame and the money.
I can honestly say that if I had a choice between Michael Jacksons’ life and my life I would choose my life. Because at the very least I know that the people around me really do care about and love me for me.
With the ways things have played out thus far with Michael Jackson it seems he was never entirely sure what peoples’ motives were and that includes his own family.
And that ultimately leads to a very sad, sad life.
Michael Jackson’s last rehearsal video has now been released!
And he’s dancing to one of his most controversial yet eerily prophetic songs They Don’t Care About Us. One of the most fitting lines of the song states MJ says, ” I look to heaven to fulfill its prophecy..set me free. “
How fitting that this would be the last song we hear from him.
Does American society glorify the wrong people?
For the past few days its been Michael Jackson but for the past thirty years, idiots, celebrities, sports stars, reality stars, porn stars have received, in many cases, baseless adulation, catapulting these mere mortals into the relms of gods and goddesses.
So do you think Rep. Peter King has a point when he says we have to start admiring those who protect, serve and educate society instead of those who merely entertain us?
I can only hope, our fair-minded representative Peter King, would include Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly in the entertainer ranks as well and that he would admonish those within his own party who seek to elevate the opinions of these two..well..you find the word? LOL
Watched another high-speed chase on MSNBC.
They just love these chases on MSNBC. And I guess we like them too because they wouldn’t cover them if we didn’t watch them right?
Anyway, today’s chase involved the driver of a white Dodge caravan and it occurred in Houston, Texas.
The driver successfully evaded cops for almost an hour and it only came to end when the driver abandoned the mini-van and tried to escape the police by jumping off the roof of a parking garage.
And of course MSNBC had to bring us minute to minute coverage this time it took a team of anchors to tell us what we were seeing on television. Tamron Hall, Contessa Brewer and David Shuster were there to give us their opinions on everything from the stupidity of the driver to the fact that we might see a man jumping to his death on live television. We didn’t see that of course but cable now has a new high-speed chase team.
Oh the drama!
Three anchors, high-speed chases and daytime television-just another day on MSNBC!
I’m not making this up.
A 21-year old woman in Cambridge, Minnesota allegedly called her grandmother 45 times in one day and threatened to kill her. This is in addition to telling the 69 year old woman that “she was being watched” and that ”she’s going to die”.
And why would a grandchild do this to a grandparent? You might think she did this because her grandmother was a Nazi or pedophile or something equally horrid right? WRONG! She did it because she was BORED!
Can you believe this?
With all the activities out there to become involved in, books to read, movies to watch, thrift stores to search through, my girl couldn’t find anything else better to do than to call her grandmother up WITH A FRIEND and scare her to death! SHE DID THIS WITH A FRIEND!!!
Seriously, the next time your nana starts to scold you for not calling her more often, tell her this story I think she’ll go to bed a lot happier with you that night. She may even send you a couple bucks in the mail! LOL
That’s was Al Sharpton’s message to the world and to the critics of Michael Jackson. At Michael Jackson’s public memorial held at the Staples Center in California today. Sharpton received a standing ovation for his fiery defense of Jackson’s legacy.
To the world Sharpton emphatically stated in a veiled reference to the pop stars’ very public trials, “It’s not about mess..it’s about message.”
I for one don’t agree with Sharpton’s assertion but I’ll leave that argument for another day.
And he got a standing ovation when he said pointedly to MJ’s kids, “There was nothing strange about your dad..it was strange what your daddy had to deal with!”
Again..an argument for another day.
Today Michael Jackson’s family, friends and admirers paid tribute to the King Of Pop-Michael Jackson at the Staples Center in California.
From the emphatic speech by civil rights crusader, Al Sharpton to the emotional, tear jerking, outburst of his daughter Paris Katherine who confidently stated, “Daddy was the best father you could ever imagine!”
Regardless of what you thought, think about Michael Jackson, if you watched the tribute today you would have to be an alien if you didn’t see that this man was loved and appreciated by many, many people and that his contributions to the United States and the world will never be matched again.
Michael Jackson was harassed, ridiculed and persecuted for a large portion of his life and some of it, if we are honest was deserved, but today for 90 minutes today the world paused to celebrate the life and talent of man who by chance and sheer determination happened to be better at singing, dancing and entertaining than 99 percent of those who live or have ever lived on this planet but the world did stop, if only for a few minutes to reflect on the life of one man- a man who changed the world.
From a very pregnant Jennifer Hudson to a 12 -year old British boy Shaheen Jafargholi song after song, speech after speech was a declaration of the love, respect and admiration Michael Jackson garnered around the globe.
But to me, the most fitting image to Michael Jackson’s legacy came almost at the very of end of the service when people of every race, bi racial kids, black men, white women and the Jackson family all shared the same stage, linked arm in arm and sang one Michael Jackson’s most popular and powerful songs, Heal The World in tribute to a man who tried in his own way to heal the world.
Swearing doesn’t actually make everything better or make the pain go away but we now have proof that swearing helps us to be better able to tolerate a painful situation.
Unlike most people, I didn’t start swearing until I was 19. I was a sheltered child..lol. Anyway I had to ‘learn to swear’ and I still haven’t developed the knack that some people have for combining swear words George Carlin comes to mind here. So I tend to rely on the most used ones and I must confess that to this day they are just some some swear words I could never, ever use. But who could deny the fact that sometimes the only appropriate word for a specific situation is $UCK!
And during my various travels I found that Americans are a lot better at swearing than Europeans. We’re born naturals the words kinda roll off our tongues. And the British have a way of swearing that makes you feel dirty all over and not in a good way..LOL.
One more thing, I have to applaud the women and men who took part in this study because what they were asked to endure in order to determine the affect of swearing on an individual’s tolerance to pain sounds like an act Dick Cheney would have sanctioned!
Anyway, all we have to do now is get them to do a study proving that swearing at our PCs causes them to work faster so we’ll be able to swear at work-in front of our bosses!
Today Sonia Sotomayor begins the confirmation hearings that will undoubtedly lead to her becoming the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice in United States history.
I disagree with those who assert that Sotomayor’s journey has been remarkable.
Like most who succeed Sotomayor went to the best schools, worked extremely hard, put in her time on the job and became known to all the right people. The only thing that differentiates Sotomayor from other nominees is her race. And what is truly remarkable, to me, is that it has taken us this long as a society to recognize the contributions and abilities of those, like Sotomayor, that weren’t born white and male and that firsts like Sotomayor’s and Obama’s are still occurring.
However, in a few hours we’ll watch numerous Senators applaud and celebrate Sotomayor’s nomination. They will tell us how impressed they are with her life story and recite what a uniquely American story hers is and that will fill most of our hearts with pride and joy.
However, as we watch the hearings I will also be hoping that the next time a Hispanic man or woman is being considered for the Supreme Court, his or her life story wouldn’t garner as much attention and that hopefully in the future when my generation are controlling the reigns of power we can honestly say to the public that the only aspect of any nominee’s life that will be considered will be their opinions and rulings on the bench and we hopefully would’ve climbed another rung on the ladder of equality.
Did any of you happen to watch the Martin Bashir interview with Michael Jackson this weekend on MSNBC?
I didn’t see the interview when it first aired some years ago and I still didn’t get to watch the entire interview but the parts I watched were excruciating because Michael Jackson clearly needed therapy and over the years it seems he was allowed to get worst and worst.
Of all the signs Jackson displayed, that seem to indicate he needed some type of therapy, the one that leaped out at me was the answer he gave to Bashir about his plastic surgery. Jackson seemed to believe that he could actually convince Bashir and the world that he only had two operations and that he was born with pale skin and a dimpled chin! He even tried to convince Bashir that the changes occurred because of puberty and him ‘changing’. Whoa!
It was also hard to watch Jackson become visibly upset when it looks like his fans had turned against him after the Berlin baby dangling incident. And how abruptly his body language changes when Bashir starts to talk about the treatment he received from his father while growing up and why it’s understandable he would want to change his appearance because of all the teasing he received. And most adults that were tormented as children can definitely sympathize with Jackson here but it’s evident that even after all this time, some thirty to forty years later, Jackson had yet to come to terms with the treatment he received at the hands of his father Joe Jackson.
I don’t know if Jackson had ever been to or sought therapy or mental health treatment because the topic of therapy is still a big taboo in the black community however his behavior went beyond eccentric and his family and friends should have convinced him to seek help.
Many of those around him will now have to come to terms with the fact that Michael Jackson may have been crying out for help all this time and none them were able to or allowed themselves to hear his calls.
I don’t think many people could read what Dr.Regina Benjamin has accomplished in the rural town of Bayou La Batre, Alabama and not tear up.
Dr.Benjamin gave up lucrative career opportunities only to watch the practice she helped to build with her own hands be destroyed twice by hurricanes-Hurricane Georges in 1998 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
She has used her own money, gone without pay, accepts what ever her patients can afford, makes house calls all in in an effort to deliver quality, preventative medical care to the residents of this small rural town.
Nothing stops Dr. Benjamin. Not rain. Not fire. Not money. With a dedicated staff firmly by her side, including 78 year old nurse Nell Stoddard, Benjamin continues to receive numerous accolades and awards for her valiant attempts and successes at providing affordable health care at her family practice clinic, helping others establish rural clinics across the nation when interviewed Benjamin has said that her goal in establishing the clinic was, ” To find a way to provide the best possible medical care to patients who often can’t afford health insurance and the only way to do that was to learn how to run a business efficiently.”
Should Benjamin become the next US Surgeon General and she still maintains the goal of finding ‘a way to provide the best possible medical care to patients who can’t afford health insurance’ you better believe she will have just as big an impact on the nations’ health care system as she’s had on La Batre, Alabama.
Chris Matthews’ show Hardball with Chris Matthews got a makeover.
The political commentator debuted his show’s new intro and their new HD studio a few minutes ago.
The studio is HUGE! They did a wide shot and panned around the entire studio at the beginning of the show and just by the looks of it you could fit my first studio apartment into that place!
The intro to the show is now a lot more serious however I think I prefer the old one but you never know this one will probably grow on me too.
I’m sure there’s going to be just as much drama in this studio as there was in the last one because wherever Chris Matthews goes drama is sure to follow.
See. it’s only been 20mins into Matthews’ ‘new’ show and he’s already called former Vice President Dick Cheney, “that man” in regards to the reported involvement of the VP in a CIA secret assassination program.
Let the drama begin!
Levi Johnston became known for one thing- fathering Sarah Palin’s grandchild with her daughter Bristol Palin.
However, over the past few days, if you didn’t know better you might’ve thought Johnston was a seasoned political commentator. He’s been appearing on morning shows and most recently on CNN voicing his opinion on Sarah Palin’s resignation.
Of course Johnston has a right to his opinion and in certain cases, the media speaking to knowledgeable family members can give the public valuable insight into a candidate or an individual, but not in this case. This guy doesn’t have any credibility or political knowledge so the media shouldn’t be legitimizing his opinions by broadcasting them around the world. I’m willing to bet they are only a handful of people in this country who would trust Levi Johnston’s opinion on the right brand of jeans let alone his opinions on who to vote for.
Yet they keep seeking his opinion. I’m sure they don’t actually believe that Johnston’s opinion on Palin could actually contribute to a more informed electorate so the continuing focus on Levi Johnston’s opinion by the mainstream media is just baffling.
No doubt, things are bad out there. Obama is trying his best but to be honest it doesn’t seem to be working.
But I don’t care how bad things are with me, I would have to be so damn desperate (dying of thirst and my legs shot off) and without any hope of reaching a lake or fresh water river before I drank MOP SODA.
I’m sure you’ve seen the smart mop ad. It’s the one where this guy, pitchman Anthony Sullivan, squeezes spilled soda from a mop into a glass as he explains how awesome this ‘smart mop’ is and tries to convince you that times are so tough we can’t afford to waste even one glass of spilt soda.
I don’t know where the marketing and advertising people came up with that concept but it sucks because most people I know, even the ones hurting for money, are not going to drink soda squeezed from a mop!
What were the ad people thinking? Using that as a reason to buy the smart mop is not smart-it’s simply disgusting.
President Obama and the Democrats in the US Congress are in the process of hacking out a health care bill.
Some say we can’t afford to cover all Americans-it would cost too much. Others, we can’t afford NOT too cover all Americans.
With one in six Americans uninsured and with the highest health care costs in the developed world what looked like a sure thing a few months ago, has now become a huge dilemma for President Obama and the Democratic Leadership.
If Democrats don’t pass health care reform, and remember Democrats are the overwhelming majority in the House and the Senate, one of Obama’s major campaign promises will not be achieved and probably wouldn’t even be achieved in his first term. And in the end you can bet that he and fellow Democrats will pay for it come election day in 2010 and 2012. But if they do listen to the opposition, within their own party, the bill may be derailed anyway because most of these Democrats oppose a public option- a ‘government health insurance program akin to Medicare which would be open to anyone’ and would move with the individual from job to job and even state to state.
So Democrats are left with only one option. Pass a watered down version of a health care bill and tout it as reform and hype the hell out of it so that the public may actually believe that they accomplished something truly significant and monumental this session.
We all knew that comprehensive health care reform wasn’t going to be easy and that there would be significant opposition to the president’s efforts, however as Democrats appear to be lugging a bill through Congress and more and more officials talk about the spiralling costs of the proposed reforms, at a time when the economy is in perail and a lot of people don’t know where the next pay check is going to come from, its unlikely that we’re going to see any significant reforms.
An unscientific observation has led me to believe that during these hard times, mop soda and all that while many people may understand the importance and support health care reform they are unwilling to abandon an imperfect but tried system and put their faith, once again, in an untested and somewhat dubious process, in the end Democrats will have to balance today’s hardships against tomorrow’s benefits and do what’s in the best interest of the American people and not themselves.
Chris Brown has finally publicly apologized for beating up Rihanna.
In a new apology video Brown is seeking and asking for the public’s forgiveness and states that he has wanted to apologize for months but was advised not too by his attorney.
In a two minute statement Brown says, “I’m not going to sit here and make any excuses..and what I did was inexcusable. I’m very sad and very ashamed of what I’ve done.”
In the end Brown tires to reassure us that he would never beat up another woman and that he wants to work to regain the title of role model. After the Rihanna incident, the title role model may remain elusive but I do hope for his sake and the sake of his future relationships, that he can earn the title of a recovered batterer.
I have refrained from commenting on the Crowley-Gates-Obama affair until today.
Why? Because I didn’t know how I really viewed the incident and if I considered race the main motivating factor behind the officer’s actions. And when I’m suffering an intellectual dilemma or an internal conflict I keep my mouth shut and blogging about the incident wouldn’t have allowed me to reach a resolution.
I think I’m now seeing things a bit more clearly.
You see, while I do believe that Gates should never have been arrested and if the situation had been reversed, I would have supported a White or Latino man in this circumstance as well, I don’t know if Professor Gates really was a victim of racial profiling.
On one hand I believe Gates was arrested because he was being mouthy to Sergeant Crowley and while I agree that’s not a justifiable reason to be arrested, the cop exercised his discretion to the fullest by conducting the arrest when he should have walked away. BUT cops arrest mouthy people all the time-in some instances it’s to prove they can. However, these arrests don’t typically occur in the person’s own home! But I don’t know if he wanted to arrest a mouthy, black man or if he just wanted to arrest a man that was giving him lip.
Look, I’ve never been mouthy with a cop and the times I have been caught breaking the law, i.e speeding I have been polite and courteous and most often or not the cop gave me a ticket for another minor traffic offense instead of the speeding ticket. Once, I even dared to tell the truth when asked the dreaded question, “Do you know why I stopped you?” I replied, “Yes. I was speeding and I know I shouldn’t be.” The cop smiled, looked at me, said something which I can’t remember right now, talked with me for a few more minutes, checked my ID and registration and then he let me go with a warning. And this was in a small town, in Upstate New York where you can count the number of black people on one hand! LOL
But I can also tell you that I believe my husband and I have been victims of racial profiling in Arizona. And that we’ve been pulled over more times in that state than in any other state we’ve lived or travelled too in the United States.
So I can see both sides of the issue.
Anyway,President Obama, James Crowley and Louis Gates have all decided to have a beer together at the White House. What a great photo op! The three peace makers should break into song-Kumbaya would be perfect..LOL. Until the next incident involving race confronts and divides us. But I believe the Crowley-Gates incident had more to do with class than it did about race and that is something we have not even begin to honestly confront in America.
Dr. Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson’s doctor gave him the drug Propofol or Diprivan that killed him!
CNN is confirming this right now. WOW!!!
I wonder what the toxicology report is going to detail? Will it say that Diprivan was the cause of death?
If it does, this doctor well he wouldn’t be smiling like that anymore. However, it’s stared to appear more and more each day that someone is going to jail or will have to pay in some way for Michael Jackson’s death.
Honestly, can the Democrats get at least one thing right this session?
Why didn’t Democrats expect the public would take advantage of the Cash for Clunkers program and fund it accordingly? It was so simple. So, very, very simple.
Congress came up with the money for the banks and they didn’t seem to run out of money to fund them (banks got $700 billion, Cash for Clunkers was a measly $1 billion) yet one of the programs that could really help the average man or woman and the ailing auto industry, runs out of money after just four days!!!
And they wonder why people hate Congress and politicians?
My Monday morning just started and already I’m wishing I had just stayed in bed because these Monday morning blues are stressing me to hell out!
From the moment I turned on my television set, headlines and anchors across the cable news networks have been asking the question, “Will Obama raise taxes on the middle class?”.
OMG!! that can’t be right? I need more coffee! Taxing the middle class, with the economy as horrible as it is, would be Obama’s Waterloo. It was the first George Bush’s and Obama is smarter than him right? So he wouldn’t make that mistake…right?
I don’t know what Larry Summers and Tim Geithner were thinking when they appeared on the Sunday morning chat shows talking about the ways and means that could be used to pay for health care and to reduce our deficit.
Do Democrats want Obama to be a one-term president? Or more importantly does President Obama want to be president again? Or is he satisfied with the fact that he was able to beat all the odds and become America’s first black president? I don’t know anymore because if you analyze Obama’s actions and words lately you might think he wants the GOP to kick him out the White House in 2012! He just keeps giving them more and more ammunition. God, even John McCain thinks it’s safe to come out of hiding.
One way or another Democrats and liberals find a way to f#$% things up!
It would appear that President Obama wants to stay in the White House for eight years. He sent his main man, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs out today to let us know that he WOULDN’T BE raising taxes on middle class folks after all.
He probably didn’t get any sleep this weekend with all the problems Geithner and Summers caused him. No wonder the president looked so tired today his head must be throbbing.
Former President Bill Clinton is in North Korea today working to secure the release of two American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee.
Speaking on MSNBC earlier today, Senior Obama advisor and political truth teller David Axelrod said that Clintons’ trip was a ’private humanitarian mission’. And while the White House is publicly tip-toeing around the trip releasing few significant details you know that Clinton has the full blessing of the White House.
What an awesome and high profile way to use the former president?
While Clinton may not always say and do the right things at home, abroad Bill Clinton exemplifies all that is great about America. And while his reputation may have dimmed just a bit due to some negative campaigning on behalf of his wife during the 2008 Democratic primary, the ex-president is still a widely respected and adored global leader. And you better believe when you’re negotiating with a ‘personality’ reportedly as big as Kim Jong-il’s those two characteristics will go a long way in ultimately securing the release/pardon for these two women and who knows what else could emerge from this trip?
***UPDATE***..MSNBC is reporting that North Korean media is reporting that the two women have been granted a special pardon.
Bill Clinton showed the world today that he’s still got it!
Former President Bill Clinton may have lost a bit of his mojo over the years but today he proved that he’s still got some of that orginal Clinton magic left in the tank.
Today, Clinton was able to obtain a special pardon, freeing two American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, imprisoned in the totalitarian state of North Korea for the past five months.
It’s good to know and TO SEE that the former president is not only out there working for Democrats but also on behalf of the American people.
Well done Mr. President!
And I’m quite sure the White House welcomes this ‘aren’t we awesome’ distraction from their health care reform agenda.
I don’t understand why some liberals and Democrats are upset about Republican groups organizing and shouting at national health care reform town hall meetings?
I say, let them SHOUT!
There is nothing wrong with these men and women shouting or voicing their passion in an aggressive manner. Shouting at an individual may be considered rude and uncouth, yes, but a rational argument can still be had during and after these meetings. And in most cases the individuals shouting slogans will not change the mind or opinion of those present at the meeting with their behaviour.
What changes an individual mind or heart is information. Simple and clear information. And to be honest, a town hall meeting, isn’t the venue to provide information about a specific plan or subject as complex and detailed as health care. It’s a place to interact with your representative in a positive or negative manner. And that interaction can be productive or worthless but in the end if DEMS want to convince voters and the public at large to support their health care bill-direct mail and the internet is the way to go or even door to door meetings.
Republicans and those oppose to health care reform will show up to these town halls ready for a fight and to say NO and nothing we do or say will stop them from shouting or being disruptive. But liberal groups have now started to organize their own shouting groups too counteract this opposition. So what will we achieve in the end? A shouting match between two very passionate groups.
While I do agree that shouting at these meetings is not very progressive or polite IT IS very democratic.
In his new documentary Good Hair, out in October, Chris Rock and a bunch of Black celebrities attempt to explain the meaning of ‘good hair’ (to some in the Black community the straighter your hair the better your hair, hence the term good hair) and to highlight the billion dollar black hair care industry.
After a question posed to him by his daughter, Rock turns the camera on black women and the many different techniques we use to enhance or complement our looks whether it be weaves, wigs or extensions. And in a very funny but extremely revealing way, he highlights the constant conflict many Black women face with their natural hair.
For obvious historical reasons, Black womens’ self-image struggles have been more public and visible. However, beauty complexes are varied, culturally and ethnically specific and no race can claim to fully accept women as they are. Many Black women struggle to accept their hair, White women are at war with their bodies and many Asian and Hispanic women are continuously fighting the melanin in their skin.
So while I agree with the documentary’s underlying premise, from the various clips I’ve seen I have to say that Rock has forgotten to highlight one major element in his documentary, hair extensions have never been a Black girl thing -it’s a woman thing and in some periods of history it’s been a guy thing too!
Just think about your favorite female celebrity for a moment Black, White or Asian. I’m pretty certain she has rocked hair extensions or worn something ‘not natural’ in her life in order to enhance her look and appeal. And she’s not the only one. Almost every female celebrity in the world has at one time or another used hair extensions regardless of their ethnicity even if they don’t admit it.
And this is where we Black women have excelled. Black women and men through talent, ingenuity and in some cases necessity have been able to provide specific looks to other Black women and men for a tenth of the cost.
And as it became more mainstream to rock a celeb look and to change your hairstyle monthly, women from other races have once again decided to embrace what we black women have been doing for decades. And not only has it become socially and culturally acceptable to wear hair extensions, you can buy them almost anywhere too! So now, any woman that wants a specific hairstyle can achieve the look almost instantaneously.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to my stylist over the past ten years and seen a White girl sitting in the chair next to me getting a weave or braids. Or have visited my local beauty supplier and seen Hispanic and Asian women shopping for wigs and extensions. During my last visit to my stylist, guess who was sitting next to me getting his hair braided? A blond haired, White kid about 12 years old and his mother was the one who brought him!
Highlighting the trials and tribulations of some Black women and their hair battles does have some comedic value, I wouldn’t lie (have you ever seen a woman wearing this hairstyle?) BUT in the end I hope we understand that women of every race and every age struggle with self-acceptance and Black women are no exception.
Cougar- term used to describe a woman that sexually pursues men at least eight years her junior. O.K. So what’s the male equivalent? Hyena? Since these men are typically desperate, move really fast and are most likely covered in ugly liver spots. Nope. There is no male term.
You see a man that dates a younger woman is just a man but a woman is a Cougar. Nah…that’s not right. If we’re going to label women that date younger men, Cougars, I think we should start calling older men that date much younger women Hyenas it’s only fair. LOL.
Hyena-term used to describe a man that sexually pursues a woman at least eight years his junior.
“A little group of willful men, representing no opinion but their own, have rendered the great Government of the United States helpless and contemptible. ” –Woodrow Wilson, 1917
This quote accurately describes what is taking place in the United States as average Americans respond to lies and ambushes set up by those that are only interested in protecting their own pockets, their jobs (politicians of both parties) and the bottom lines of their share holders.
And these masked and willful men and women preventing health care reform are definitely not robbing from the rich to give more to the poor or the middle class!
So think about the next time you think about who’s really behind stopping the uninsured from becoming insured?
I needed something to take my mind off the fact that Democrats and President Obama have already blown the 2010 elections by messing up health care refrom.
So I started fooling around on You Tube. After watching numerous kitten videos and ridiculous spoofs of back in the day cartoon shows, I came across this wicked track Spinnin’ by British Emcee Speech Debelle.
And what a distraction she proved to be! Not only am I lovin’ her name-Speech Debelle, I’m feelin’ her music and I can relate just a tiny bit to the lyrics and her story. And that’s saying a lot these days..ain’t it? lol
Anyway, Speech Debelle just released her debut album, appropriately titled Speech Therapy. I haven’t heard a female emcee this good in years! Granted, Debelle is no Lauryn Hill but you don’t have to listen too closely to hear Hill’s influence on the South London rapper.
Anyway, check her out and let me know what you think?
Just showing my British peeps some love…
Amazing!
Most husbands wouldn’t spend five minutes looking for the tv remote but this one searched the deepest ocean to find his wedding ring.
Well, it wasn’t the deepest ocean but Wellington Harbour in New Zealand might seem like the deepest ocean on the planet when you’re looking for an object the diameter of a penny. And the fact that a man would spend so much time searching for something without asking his wife “Where is it?” well that’s a miracle in itself! My god his wife is a lucky woman!
Anyway, after finding his wedding ring at the bottom of the harbour Ecologist Aleki Taumoepeau has more than earned lifetime control of the tv remote along with some other lifelong marriage benefits..lol
Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts is dead.
There is so much that has been said, can be said and will be said about Senator Kennedy over the next few days that I wouldn’t even attempt to discuss his legacy in this small, almost insignificant blog post. But I do hope that those who will be asked to speak about his legacy and his political efforts on behalf of all Americans will remember regardless of what side of the aisle they come from that “Great men stand like solitary towers in the city of God,” and though the ‘Lion of the Senate’ roars no more, his voice will echo throughout the halls and chambers of the American Senate forever.
Being candid doesn’t just apply to talk show hosts and average citizens.
The beloved characteristic can also apply to Presidents as well. And yes, I’ll agree it is a bit surprising when politicians are frank with us but I have to admit that some of them are actually capable of telling the truth-at times.
President Obama’s comment about West’s behavior was off the record but when you act like a jackass (include Serena Williams here too) you should be called out swiftly and without regard to race, sex, age, national origin, religion or culture and if a president wants to express his/her outrage with a person’s behavior he/she should be able too as well.
Thankfully President Obama had the guts to say what we’ve all been collectively expressing for the past few days and although it’s not the politest term in the world describing Kanye West as a ’jackass’, is the one word he can get away with calling him out loud!
I could think of quite a few other words to describe the big mouth, artist can’t you?
Keith Bardwell a Louisiana Justice of Peace refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple but he does allow black people to use his bathroom!
Beth Humphrey, 30, and Terence McKay 32, were denied a license by Bardwell because Bardwell believes the children of such unions suffer and that it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long.
And if you aren’t already gasping with disbelief and shaking your head in disgust then this bit of information should do it..Bardwell has the audacity, to declare that his actions are justified and that’s he’s not racist at all since he has piles and piles of black friends AND..he even lets them use his bathroom! So that proves it right there! He’s not a raging racist at all because HE LETS BLACK PEOPLE USE HIS BATHROOM if he didn’t then and only then would we know that he’s a racist and a lunatic.
OMG!! WTF!!
You wanna know the real reason Bardwell refuses to marry interracial couples? It’s because he knows that sooner or later one of these interracial marriages, maybe even mine, is bound to spawn the devil’s offspring if we haven’t already with President Barack Obama!
You would never believe that 2010 is just a few weeks away.
More and more details are emerging about balloon boy’s father, Richard Heene.
By now you’ve probably heard about the little Colorado boy, Falcon Heene who garnered worldwide attention because he was thought to be soaring above the earth in a homemade helium balloon for hours but was actually hiding in his parents’ garage.
Well, anyway according to one of Richard Heene’s past employees, Perry Caravello, Richard Heene will do anything to become famous and this balloon saga was just his latest attempt at grabbing his 15 minutes of fame.
Now, I don’t know if Caravello statements are credible since Heene, according to him, owes him money and we all know how money can cloud events and darken the debtor’s personal character. But as this story develops I’m becoming convinced that this may have been one of the biggest hoaxes in recent history and unfortunately the little boy’s nervous reaction (he’s vomited on camera twice) and statement ‘we did this for the show‘ have only heightened speculation that this was just one big put on by the Heene family.
So far officials have stated it wasn’t hoax but if it is determined that the Heene’s hustled us I hope they are fined and ordered to reimburse all the costs of the rescue operation.
***UPDATE*** Misdemeanor charges will be filed against Richard and Mayumi Heene.
So now we know most of the truth behind The Great Balloon Hoax of 2009.
It seems the entire Heene household was in on the balloon hoax from the beginning. And apparently it may have taken just fourteen days to fool the entire world.
Now, why would parents get their kids to lie and participate in such a scheme? Because they wanted to draw attention to a cause, an issue, a loved one who was dying or suffering..nope, nope, hell no! They did it because.. because..they wanted their own reality show!
Well, of course they did!
Ah mean, who doesn’t want to broadcast intimate family details and their dirty laundry to the world 24hrs a day, corrupt their kids with worthless values and achieve fame and success with little or no talent and absolutely no hard work. Oh yeah, I forgot hard work and talent that sh#$ is for suckers!
Anyway, according to Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden the entire family was in on the hoax and Falcon, the youngest son who was thought to be in the balloon, “For all we knew may have been two blocks down the road playing on the swing in the city park.”
You know, if the world hadn’t bought the Heene’s family bs hook, line and sinker for almost six hours I could almost laugh at the absurdity of this story. But the fact that Richard Heene is still out there trying to pedde his crap, beseeching to the world that “This thing has become so convoluted,” while sobbing his alligator tears instead makes me angrier and angrier by the minute.
I swear if he or his family gets a tell all book deal, clothing line or anything at all from this sorry escapade you better believe I’m going to start my own Brooklyn Bridge For Sale website. Don’t laugh, I’m serious I have certificates of sale printed and ready for mailing.
So the police got Richard Heene to come in and were able to (wink, wink) get a confession from him by telling him they wanted to return his aircraft and tie up some loose ends with a few questions..lol
And dude fell for it!
Ok.
I know that we have to simplify everything these days but do people really have to be told that burglars look for open windows?
Honestly, this headline is ridiculous. The story is horrible but the editor should have thought twice before writing this headline.
And if you haven’t figured out by the time you reach age 10 that thieves come in through open windows and doors and you’re not suffering from significantly impaired cognitive functioning, you should not be allowed to call yourself an adult.
Really now.
Yes, I know I haven’t written in a minute. But as I often tell my friends and my three or four fans (and yes that includes my mother..lol) I refuse to write just for the sake of writing. No matter how hard I seem to try I just can’t do that. If I’m not feeling an issue or a story or anything for that matter I just can’t seem to blog. To me writing when you don’t have anything to say is almost as bad as talking just to hear your voice and I refuse to do that too.
But over the past few days my inspiration bucket has overfloweth and Lou ‘maybe I’m a birther, maybe I’m not’ Dobbs is the one responsible for getting me to start banging away on the old VAIO again. Dobbs’ statement, “I am one of your greatest friends,” on Telemundo didn’t just inspire me to start writing it also got me to burst into a fit of laughter and I haven’t done that in a while either.
Maybe Lou Dobbs believes we’ve forgotten or more importantly that we can’t do a YOU TUBE search for his Broken Borders segments on CNN, his insensitive and almost if-not-quite there racist rants or perspectives depending on how you look at it on immigration or his attempts at legitimizing some far, far right opinions and ideas.
But I haven’t forgotten and I’m sure millions more, his fans included, are already gasping with disbelief at his about-face statements on Telemundo but I would be lying if I didn’t at least acknowledge that I expected Dobbs to tone down some of his rhetoric if he was seriously considering running for office. But these statements aren’t simply toned down they are completely opposite to what he’s said before- he’s flip flopped. And flip-flopped really big. It’s probably the biggest one I have ever seen from a possible political candidate and it was completely unexpected.
Over the years that I’ve watched and listened to Dobbs I could never accuse him of being spineless and I honestly respected him for having the audacity and courage to speak his mind to favorable or unfavorable audiences. But this attempt to curry favor with Latinos could only be described as spineless since he’s now attempting to switch sides and appeal to an ethnic group he came pretty close to demonizing for years. That type of double talk might be acceptable on cable news shows but it’s not kosher in real life. In real life those types of people are called hypocrites and everyday folks like me don’t like to vote for hypocrites we like to find out our politicians are hypocrites AFTER we’ve voted for them not before! LOL
Ironically Lou Dobbs railed against hypocritical politicians and leaders for years now he is seemingly following in their foot steps. Mr.Dobbs has some serious explaining to do if he wants to get even close to a long shot presidential or senatorial candidacy but in the meantime I’m thankful to Mr.Dobbs for being my latest muse.
Tiger Woods apologized ‘with all his heart’ to his family and fans today.
In a statement on his website, Woods acknowledges the drama that has gone down and continues to unfold in his life stating, “I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart. I have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves. I am not without faults and I am far short of perfect.”
Ummm Tiger..how many transgressions are we talking about here? And couldn’t he/they find a better word than transgression?
So we’ve heard about Rachel Uchitel, Jamie Grubbs and Kalika Moquin..will there be a fourth transgression?
So I guess that blank circle on the previous post can now be filled in with this face.
A fourth woman has alleged she too is a mistress of Tiger Woods. Jamie Jungers a Las Vegas waitress and a model for TrashyGirls.com has said she had an 18-month affair with the international sports star.
Tiger Woods is crazy!!! And he will never, ever live this down. If I was his wife I would be horribly depressed and hurt and my marriage with him would be over. One extra marital affair is bad enough but four maybe even five mistresses?!
I wouldn’t be able to handle this could you?
Elin Woods, Tiger Woods’ wife has had enough!
The Daily Mail is reporting that Elin Woods will file for divorce from the former golfing superstar after Christmas and she’ll return to her home country Sweden at the start of the new year.
A part of me hates to ask this question since I do understand why she would want to work things out with him but if the story is true what took her so long? Did she want to see how many women were going to come forward? I know I would and then I would want him to beg and beg and beg and then beg some more for my forgiveness and then I would still leave him.
I think like most women I would rather be alone and happy with millions than married with millions and humiliated.
The city of Houston, Texas will now be led by an openly gay woman Annise Parker.
Parker, who has served as the city’s controller for the past six years, defeated Gene Locke a former city attorney in Saturday’s run off election for mayor.
I’m so tempted to say it..oh what the hell..You go girl! lol
I wouldn’t go as far as some of my friends have in suggesting that sexual addiction is not a disorder. I’m sure they are people out there who are legitimately suffering from this affliction.
However, I don’t believe Tiger Woods is one of those people.
Tiger Woods is simply a married man who couldn’t keep it in his pants and they are millions of those out there. A lot of these men wind-up in divorce court but I don’t think the majority of them would claim to be sex addicts. They are a lot of reasons why Tiger Woods cheated on his wife but the fact that Tiger’s people have started to push the sex addict angle and his caddy Steve Williams is the first one to publicly start slinging this bs by asserting that Woods ‘has a problem’ is not only ridiculous it’s insulting.
Of course Tiger Woods has a problem it’s called ass-*#%*#*-ness!
And another thing when will people stop trying to find excuses for bad and destructive behavior in smart and accomplished people? Sometimes intelligent and talented people do stupid things because they want too and there doesn’t have to be an underlying cause it’s not a psychiatric disorder it’s called making a mistake. And we’re all capable of doing that regardless of how successful or wealthy we are.
I’ve been seeing this rumor all over the net. Apparently the remix to Jay-Z’s hit song with Alicia Keys Empire State of Mind will feature Nas his one time enemy and 50 Cent.
If you haven’t heard the song yet check it out.
A remix featuring a collaboration between the three men would obviously mean the reported feud between Jay-Z and Nas is over and that the two popular artistes have been able to put their issues behind them and move on.
I guess they’ve realized too many people, too many black men, have died and continue to die over stupid s%*& we don’t need to add two more to the list.
Like you I haven’t switched channels all day either. My eyes and ears have been permanently fixed on CNN’s anchors and reporters.
But as I see more images and hear more of the stories from Haiti’s earthquake disaster zone I can’t help but be reminded of those end of the world/mega disaster shows that air repeatedly on the History Channel.
This earthquake in Haiti was what those experts on those shows were talking about!
Haiti was a disaster before this natural disaster I can’t imagine what this country will be like in a few months..a few years.
How will Haitians respond not just in the first few days but in the months and years to come?
How long can the national solidarity last?
How much daily suffering can a people take and for how long?
Will the world respond fast enough to avert a global catastrophe?
Obviously we haven’t been listening to what the experts have been saying about Port-au-Prince and the possibility of an earthquake occurring there..hmm..I wonder if we will be listening the next time?
What a horrible way for the world to begin the new year..
This isn’t the first time Pat Robertson has spewed such disgusting, despicable comments but I hope it isn’t the last time he feels the warth of Americans and the global community for afflicting even more damage on the already depressed and downtrodden Haitian people.
Wow!
Sarah Palin obviously doesn’t harbor any ill will towards John McCain and his former campaign aides well at least that’s what she wants you to believe.
In a few weeks Palin will help John McCain campaign for his senate seat. McCain doesn’t need any help in Arizona but it will be a nice photo op for Palin. Maybe it will remind all her supporters of the good old days..lol and who knows the senior Senator from Arizona might actually enjoy having her around for a few hours–this time.
There was never a doubt. He knew he was the kid’s father and we knew it too.
To deny having an affair is one thing but to actually deny your own child that’s pretty low and despicable.
And yes, I will be reading The Politician by Andrew Young. And who wouldn’t want to read this book after reading excerpts like the one below I’m actually considering rooting for the made- for-TV movie!
Hunter’s pregnancy: According to Young, Hunter called him in May 2007 to say she was pregnant. Young says that when he informed Edwards, the senator told him to “handle it,” to which he replied: “I can’t handle this one.” Young writes that Edward unloaded on Hunter as a “crazy slut,” said they had an “open relationship,” and put his paternity chances at “one in three.” Young says that Edwards asked him for help persuading Hunter to have an abortion. Young writes that Hunter believed the baby to be “some kind of golden child, the reincarnated spirit of a Buddhist monk who was going to help save the world.”
Seriously, who would’ve thought Edwards was so grimmy? And what’s with the golden child,buddhist monk comment..really?!!!
Ok, so I have the IPhone and it’s cool but I must have the IPad but for $500 price tag and a 3 month waiting list I’d probably donate the money to the Haitian people. I know me and my damn do gooder liberalism..lol.
IPad vs ipad..lol
What do Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh all have in common?
They are all contributing and should shoulder some of the blame for the lack of bipartisanship and extreme political polarization in Washington DC and across America according to popular CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer.
Blitzer made the comment during today’s The Situation Room as he was speaking to Donna Brazile and Mary Matalin about President Obama’s rare and extraordinary appearance before the House Republican Issues Retreat in Balitimore, Maryland.
Hmm..Wolf does have a point. These news commentators exacerbate the conflicts and differences that exist between the two parties with their over the top rhetoric but in many ways they are just reflecting how a lot of Americans feel and think on the left and the right.
Where are the independent commentators? And no CNN doesn’t count.
Joe Stack, the man who crashed his plane into a seven story building housing the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) in Austin, Texas was an angry, angry man with immense personal and financial problems and he obviously wasn’t mentally equipped to handle them all.
Stack who left a suicide note on his website embeddedart.com wrote, ”I know I’m hardly the first one to decide I have had all I can stand…I know there have been countless before me and there are sure to be as many after…I choose not to ignore what is going on all around me, I choose not to pretend that business as usual won’t continue; I have just had enough.”
Read the full text of his suicide note below:
If you’re reading this, you’re no doubt asking yourself, “Why did this have to happen?” The simple truth is that it is complicated and has been coming for a long time. The writing process, started many months ago, was intended to be therapy in the face of the looming realization that there isn’t enough therapy in the world that can fix what is really broken. Needless to say, this rant could fill volumes with example after example if I would let it. I find the process of writing it frustrating, tedious, and probably pointless… especially given my gross inability to gracefully articulate my thoughts in light of the storm raging in my head. Exactly what is therapeutic about that I’m not sure, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
We are all taught as children that without laws there would be no society, only anarchy. Sadly, starting at early ages we in this country have been brainwashed to believe that, in return for our dedication and service, our government stands for justice for all. We are further brainwashed to believe that there is freedom in this place, and that we should be ready to lay our lives down for the noble principals represented by its founding fathers. Remember? One of these was “no taxation without representation”. I have spent the total years of my adulthood unlearning that crap from only a few years of my childhood. These days anyone who really stands up for that principal is promptly labeled a “crackpot”, traitor and worse.
While very few working people would say they haven’t had their fair share of taxes (as can I), in my lifetime I can say with a great degree of certainty that there has never been a politician cast a vote on any matter with the likes of me or my interests in mind. Nor, for that matter, are they the least bit interested in me or anything I have to say.
Why is it that a handful of thugs and plunderers can commit unthinkable atrocities (and in the case of the GM executives, for scores of years) and when it’s time for their gravy train to crash under the weight of their gluttony and overwhelming stupidity, the force of the full federal government has no difficulty coming to their aid within days if not hours? Yet at the same time, the joke we call the American medical system, including the drug and insurance companies, are murdering tens of thousands of people a year and stealing from the corpses and victims they cripple, and this country’s leaders don’t see this as important as bailing out a few of their vile, rich cronies. Yet, the political “representatives” (thieves, liars, and self-serving scumbags is far more accurate) have endless time to sit around for year after year and debate the state of the “terrible health care problem”. It’s clear they see no crisis as long as the dead people don’t get in the way of their corporate profits rolling in.
And justice? You’ve got to be kidding!
How can any rational individual explain that white elephant conundrum in the middle of our tax system and, indeed, our entire legal system? Here we have a system that is, by far, too complicated for the brightest of the master scholars to understand. Yet, it mercilessly “holds accountable” its victims, claiming that they’re responsible for fully complying with laws not even the experts understand. The law “requires” a signature on the bottom of a tax filing; yet no one can say truthfully that they understand what they are signing; if that’s not “duress” than what is. If this is not the measure of a totalitarian regime, nothing is.
How did I get here?
My introduction to the real American nightmare starts back in the early ‘80s. Unfortunately after more than 16 years of school, somewhere along the line I picked up the absurd, pompous notion that I could read and understand plain English. Some friends introduced me to a group of people who were having ‘tax code’ readings and discussions. In particular, zeroed in on a section relating to the wonderful “exemptions” that make institutions like the vulgar, corrupt Catholic Church so incredibly wealthy. We carefully studied the law (with the help of some of the “best”, high-paid, experienced tax lawyers in the business), and then began to do exactly what the “big boys” were doing (except that we weren’t steeling from our congregation or lying to the government about our massive profits in the name of God). We took a great deal of care to make it all visible, following all of the rules, exactly the way the law said it was to be done.
The intent of this exercise and our efforts was to bring about a much-needed re-evaluation of the laws that allow the monsters of organized religion to make such a mockery of people who earn an honest living. However, this is where I learned that there are two “interpretations” for every law; one for the very rich, and one for the rest of us… Oh, and the monsters are the very ones making and enforcing the laws; the inquisition is still alive and well today in this country.
That little lesson in patriotism cost me $40,000+, 10 years of my life, and set my retirement plans back to 0. It made me realize for the first time that I live in a country with an ideology that is based on a total and complete lie. It also made me realize, not only how naive I had been, but also the incredible stupidity of the American public; that they buy, hook, line, and sinker, the crap about their “freedom”… and that they continue to do so with eyes closed in the face of overwhelming evidence and all that keeps happening in front of them.
Before even having to make a shaky recovery from the sting of the first lesson on what justice really means in this country (around 1984 after making my way through engineering school and still another five years of “paying my dues”), I felt I finally had to take a chance of launching my dream of becoming an independent engineer.
On the subjects of engineers and dreams of independence, I should digress somewhat to say that I’m sure that I inherited the fascination for creative problem solving from my father. I realized this at a very young age.
The significance of independence, however, came much later during my early years of college; at the age of 18 or 19 when I was living on my own as student in an apartment in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. My neighbor was an elderly retired woman (80+ seemed ancient to me at that age) who was the widowed wife of a retired steel worker. Her husband had worked all his life in the steel mills of central Pennsylvania with promises from big business and the union that, for his 30 years of service, he would have a pension and medical care to look forward to in his retirement. Instead he was one of the thousands who got nothing because the incompetent mill management and corrupt union (not to mention the government) raided their pension funds and stole their retirement. All she had was social security to live on.
In retrospect, the situation was laughable because here I was living on peanut butter and bread (or Ritz crackers when I could afford to splurge) for months at a time. When I got to know this poor figure and heard her story I felt worse for her plight than for my own (I, after all, I thought I had everything to in front of me). I was genuinely appalled at one point, as we exchanged stories and commiserated with each other over our situations, when she in her grandmotherly fashion tried to convince me that I would be “healthier” eating cat food (like her) rather than trying to get all my substance from peanut butter and bread. I couldn’t quite go there, but the impression was made. I decided that I didn’t trust big business to take care of me, and that I would take responsibility for my own future and myself.
Return to the early ‘80s, and here I was off to a terrifying start as a ‘wet-behind-the-ears’ contract software engineer… and two years later, thanks to the fine backroom, midnight effort by the sleazy executives of Arthur Andersen (the very same folks who later brought us Enron and other such calamities) and an equally sleazy New York Senator (Patrick Moynihan), we saw the passage of 1986 tax reform act with its section 1706.
For you who are unfamiliar, here is the core text of the IRS Section 1706, defining the treatment of workers (such as contract engineers) for tax purposes. Visit this link for a conference committee report (http://www.synergistech.com/1706.shtml#ConferenceCommitteeReport) regarding the intended interpretation of Section 1706 and the relevant parts of Section 530, as amended. For information on how these laws affect technical services workers and their clients, read our discussion here (http://www.synergistech.com/ic-taxlaw.shtml).
SEC. 1706. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN TECHNICAL PERSONNEL.
(a) IN GENERAL – Section 530 of the Revenue Act of 1978 is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection:
(d) EXCEPTION. – This section shall not apply in the case of an individual who pursuant to an arrangement between the taxpayer and another person, provides services for such other person as an engineer, designer, drafter, computer programmer, systems analyst, or other similarly skilled worker engaged in a similar line of work.
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE. – The amendment made by this section shall apply to remuneration paid and services rendered after December 31, 1986.
Note:
Admittedly, you need to read the treatment to understand what it is saying but it’s not very complicated. The bottom line is that they may as well have put my name right in the text of section (d). Moreover, they could only have been more blunt if they would have came out and directly declared me a criminal and non-citizen slave. Twenty years later, I still can’t believe my eyes.
During 1987, I spent close to $5000 of my ‘pocket change’, and at least 1000 hours of my time writing, printing, and mailing to any senator, congressman, governor, or slug that might listen; none did, and they universally treated me as if I was wasting their time. I spent countless hours on the L.A. freeways driving to meetings and any and all of the disorganized professional groups who were attempting to mount a campaign against this atrocity. This, only to discover that our efforts were being easily derailed by a few moles from the brokers who were just beginning to enjoy the windfall from the new declaration of their “freedom”. Oh, and don’t forget, for all of the time I was spending on this, I was loosing income that I couldn’t bill clients.
After months of struggling it had clearly gotten to be a futile exercise. The best we could get for all of our trouble is a pronouncement from an IRS mouthpiece that they weren’t going to enforce that provision (read harass engineers and scientists). This immediately proved to be a lie, and the mere existence of the regulation began to have its impact on my bottom line; this, of course, was the intended effect.
Again, rewind my retirement plans back to 0 and shift them into idle. If I had any sense, I clearly should have left abandoned engineering and never looked back.
Instead I got busy working 100-hour workweeks. Then came the L.A. depression of the early 1990s. Our leaders decided that they didn’t need the all of those extra Air Force bases they had in Southern California, so they were closed; just like that. The result was economic devastation in the region that rivaled the widely publicized Texas S&L fiasco. However, because the government caused it, no one gave a shit about all of the young families who lost their homes or street after street of boarded up houses abandoned to the wealthy loan companies who received government funds to “shore up” their windfall. Again, I lost my retirement.
Years later, after weathering a divorce and the constant struggle trying to build some momentum with my business, I find myself once again beginning to finally pick up some speed. Then came the .COM bust and the 911 nightmare. Our leaders decided that all aircraft were grounded for what seemed like an eternity; and long after that, ‘special’ facilities like San Francisco were on security alert for months. This made access to my customers prohibitively expensive. Ironically, after what they had done the Government came to the aid of the airlines with billions of our tax dollars … as usual they left me to rot and die while they bailed out their rich, incompetent cronies WITH MY MONEY! After these events, there went my business but not quite yet all of my retirement and savings.
By this time, I’m thinking that it might be good for a change. Bye to California, I’ll try Austin for a while. So I moved, only to find out that this is a place with a highly inflated sense of self-importance and where damn little real engineering work is done. I’ve never experienced such a hard time finding work. The rates are 1/3 of what I was earning before the crash, because pay rates here are fixed by the three or four large companies in the area who are in collusion to drive down prices and wages… and this happens because the justice department is all on the take and doesn’t give a fuck about serving anyone or anything but themselves and their rich buddies.
To survive, I was forced to cannibalize my savings and retirement, the last of which was a small IRA. This came in a year with mammoth expenses and not a single dollar of income. I filed no return that year thinking that because I didn’t have any income there was no need. The sleazy government decided that they disagreed. But they didn’t notify me in time for me to launch a legal objection so when I attempted to get a protest filed with the court I was told I was no longer entitled to due process because the time to file ran out. Bend over for another $10,000 helping of justice.
So now we come to the present. After my experience with the CPA world, following the business crash I swore that I’d never enter another accountant’s office again. But here I am with a new marriage and a boatload of undocumented income, not to mention an expensive new business asset, a piano, which I had no idea how to handle. After considerable thought I decided that it would be irresponsible NOT to get professional help; a very big mistake.
When we received the forms back I was very optimistic that they were in order. I had taken all of the years information to Bill Ross, and he came back with results very similar to what I was expecting. Except that he had neglected to include the contents of Sheryl’s unreported income; $12,700 worth of it. To make matters worse, Ross knew all along this was missing and I didn’t have a clue until he pointed it out in the middle of the audit. By that time it had become brutally evident that he was representing himself and not me.
This left me stuck in the middle of this disaster trying to defend transactions that have no relationship to anything tax-related (at least the tax-related transactions were poorly documented). Things I never knew anything about and things my wife had no clue would ever matter to anyone. The end result is… well, just look around.
I remember reading about the stock market crash before the “great” depression and how there were wealthy bankers and businessmen jumping out of windows when they realized they screwed up and lost everything. Isn’t it ironic how far we’ve come in 60 years in this country that they now know how to fix that little economic problem; they just steal from the middle class (who doesn’t have any say in it, elections are a joke) to cover their asses and it’s “business-as-usual”. Now when the wealthy fuck up, the poor get to die for the mistakes… isn’t that a clever, tidy solution.
As government agencies go, the FAA is often justifiably referred to as a tombstone agency, though they are hardly alone. The recent presidential puppet GW Bush and his cronies in their eight years certainly reinforced for all of us that this criticism rings equally true for all of the government. Nothing changes unless there is a body count (unless it is in the interest of the wealthy sows at the government trough). In a government full of hypocrites from top to bottom, life is as cheap as their lies and their self-serving laws.
I know I’m hardly the first one to decide I have had all I can stand. It has always been a myth that people have stopped dying for their freedom in this country, and it isn’t limited to the blacks, and poor immigrants. I know there have been countless before me and there are sure to be as many after. But I also know that by not adding my body to the count, I insure nothing will change. I choose to not keep looking over my shoulder at “big brother” while he strips my carcass, I choose not to ignore what is going on all around me, I choose not to pretend that business as usual won’t continue; I have just had enough.
I can only hope that the numbers quickly get too big to be white washed and ignored that the American zombies wake up and revolt; it will take nothing less. I would only hope that by striking a nerve that stimulates the inevitable double standard, knee-jerk government reaction that results in more stupid draconian restrictions people wake up and begin to see the pompous political thugs and their mindless minions for what they are. Sadly, though I spent my entire life trying to believe it wasn’t so, but violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer. The cruel joke is that the really big chunks of shit at the top have known this all along and have been laughing, at and using this awareness against, fools like me all along.
I saw it written once that the definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting the outcome to suddenly be different. I am finally ready to stop this insanity. Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let’s try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well.
The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.
The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.
Joe Stack (1956-2010)
02/18/2010
I hope I used ’eh’ correctly if I didn’t I apologize..l0l.
Anyway, for a girl who can’t stand on a pair of skis correctly and regardless of all the winters I’ve spent trekking through the snow in Upstate New York and Michigan skis and ice skates are still foreign objects to me but I’ve always been fascinated with and absolutely adore the Winter Olympics.
And after watching the past three winter games I have to say and no disrespect to Salt Lake City or Turin the Vancouver Olympics were the best and frankly the most uplifting Winter Olympic games I have ever watched.
Canada, did a great job hosting the Olympic games and although the games began on a somber note with the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, Canadians rose to the moment and allowed us to witness the best in most of the world’s greatest athletes and in themselves. If there is such a thing as a collective pat on the back each and every Canadian involved in hosting the Vancouver Winter Olympics deserves one.
Canadians take a bow, well done!
I don’t know if it’s the official Chatroulette movie but it’s the first one I’ve seen about the cool, if used wisely video chat service..
This is just too funny..
Setup: Jennifer was happily ‘stealing’ Wi-Fi, person(s) finds out encrypts their network and now Jennifer is mad and wants to know where her wifi has disappeared too..lol. At least she admitted she was a Wi-Fi thief.
Normally, I don’t care about what I read or see on Yahoo! Answers because I know that many people post questions on these forums just to get a reaction.
O.K whatever, some people need to offend in order to get their kicks and that’s cool sometimes..and it can actually be quite funny to offend. BUT what is funny about this statement? Thinking about an abortion to lose weight.
And by the way, I’m pro-choice.
Honestly WTF?!
And how did I came across this question? On one of my Google Adventures-I was looking for songs about strong women!!!!
Who would believe that Slovakia could beat Italy at the World Cup? Wow! Only a few minutes to go but so far Slovakia is up by two goals!!!!
OMG!!! Slovakia beats Italy!!!
It’s been on for less than ten minutes and I can’t keep from smiling. It’s so great to have them back on tv. With all the s%$# going on around us it’s nice to feel like an excited 12 year old kid again, if only for a few minutes.
By now you’ve probably heard about Chris Brown’s latest emotional outburst at the BET Awards.
No, he didn’t beat anybody up this time but he did cry a lot and put on a really good show for the cameras and the audience. I don’t believe for a second that his tears were genuine or that this bad boy has gone good or that MJ’s song Man in the Mirror touched him so deeply at that exact moment that he couldn’t do anything other than cry. I will admit that an epiphany can occur at the most inauspicious time hell, I’ve had one break through moment while shopping for toilet paper at the grocery store!
Unfortunately I don’t believe that the 2010 BET Awards was one of those times for Mr.Chris Brown. Dude, knew that a lot of people would be watching and he wants his career back and he’s willing to do anything even cry to get it back..do I begrudge him that? No. He wants redemption and he should try everything he possible can to achieve it but we, the public, shouldn’t forget all the crying Rihanna probably did after Chris Brown smashed her face in and welcome Chris Brown back into our open arms. Forgive him if you can but in my book they are some mistakes you should pay a lifetime for and beating up your partner is one of them. I know I can’t forgive him but then again I’ve never claimed to be a forgive and forget kinda gal.
But Chris Brown does deserve an award for one of the best performances of the evening tears included.
Happy Independence Day to Americans everywhere!
And don’t forget to sing:
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island..
BP has finally stopped their gushing Gulf of Mexico oil well leak!
Could this 87 day old environmental nightmare finally be over?
I’ve seen some weird headlines in my life hell I’ve probably written a few myself but this is definitely one of the weirdest headlines and story I’ve ever seen from a mainstream news source!
Ok, go ahead and yell at me. I deserve it. I really do deserve to be yelled at and I promise to not get mad or to yell back at you.
I know you’re used to me taking long breaks from blogging but this has definitely been my longest break so far and I’ve probably lost quite a few of my most loyal fans and readers. To you should you ever return to Conversations With An Unapologetic Black Liberal I offer you my sincerest apology and I hang my head in shame. In fact I’m hanging it right now…lol.
So why have I been away for this long? It’s not because I don’t have a lot to talk about with the 2010 midterm elections right around the corner and the Democratic majority in danger and all the crap they seem to be doing..I have loads to talk about..and it’s not because I got bored either although I will admit those were some of my past reasons. Nope, this time I have a great reason—–I’ve started a business. And I’m in the final stages of establishing it. Meaning I’m about to sign the lease and I should start moving my inventory to the location by the middle of November!
Now, I wish I could give you all the details right now so that you can share in my excitement but I can’t. I’m still holding a few of my cards to my chest as usual but I promise you that I will now try to dedicate at least one hour a day to blogging.
And while I can’t promise to never, ever take a break again bloggers need vacations too you know? I will promise to never stay away as long as I have this last time.
Now, let’s start the journey once again.
Eleanor Roosevelt, ” You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with the best you have to give.”
I am not a woman of few words. I usually have a lot to say but for the past few months I’ve been silent uncharacteristically so I know.. well tonight I’m breaking my silence (I’ll reveal more of why I have been so silent in later posts) to say that earlier this evening, in Tucson Arizona President Barack Obama gave one of the best speeches of his entire presidency.
Obama’s speech didn’t just succeed because it eloquently articulated what most of us have been feeling about the tragedy in Arizona, it succeeded because it reminded us of why we fell in love and voted for him in the first place-it gave us HOPE. HOPE that tomorrow, our collective tomorrow, will be better that any individual yesterday. He made the six individuals that lost their lives whole again in our minds if only for a few minutes. And in that speech he did something that only a president, a great leader, can do he unified our hopes and aspirations and told us what the future can really look like if we gave the best of ourselves, even when we disagree on how to get there, in celebration of the lives that were so horrifically snatched away from us.
This tragedy doesn’t just hit close to home for me it comes pretty darn close to breaking my heart. You see, I live in Arizona. I too can remember going to my first political meeting as a little girl and I too was a member of my student council. Bushy tailed and bright eyed my love affair with politics has lasted ever since. I can also see members of my own family reflected in all the lives that were lost in Tucson just a few days ago. The grandmother, the leader, the communicator, the hero, the sweethearts. Leadership, compassion, love, warmth and dedication. The best of who we are as a state, a country, a people, a species was at that meeting last Saturday, January 8th, 2011 I hope that as nation, as we heal and the events of that day grow dim that we never forget that.
*UPDATE* Here’s a sample of what others are saying about Obama’s Tucson memorial speech.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie thought the speech was ‘excellent’.
According to some even the mighty FOX news was ‘pretty gaga’ over the president’s speech.
And Marc Thiessen over at The Washington Post’s PostPartisan thought Obama’s memorial speech was brilliant and courageous.
I can’t believe I’d never seen the movie Flash Gordon, the 1980 version, until yesterday.
This movie was so much fun! I couldn’t stop watching it. I was laughing so hard my neighbors probably thought I had finally lost my mind. The rampant sexual innuendo, overt S&M imagery and the campy kitch feel of the entire movie was enough to add it to my ‘must buy’ list.
OMG I’m such a nerd!
What in the world?
The language coming out of these two little girls is filthy and despicable! How does one allow a child to be filmed saying such disgusting inappropriate language. I’m not claiming that kids don’t swear most children will say something ‘cuss’ worthy at some point in time but the incident shouldn’t end up on youtube for the entire world to see. But the fault in this case clearly does not lie with the children..they are children..little kids..the adult in this case was clearly prompting these little girls and if anyone should be blamed it’s her and what gets me is that she’s laughing through the entire video which makes me either want to vomit or slap her..I haven’t quite figured it out yet.
And another thing there seems be an entire market or niche out there for these types of videos. Check out how many kids cussing videos they are on youtube.
Three letters OMG!!!!!
Keith Olbermann, the dude that made MSNBC has decided to ditch the liberal news channel or is it the other way around? I dunno I’m not an insider but I can honestly say that Olbermann’s audience, in fact most of us who follow politics, never saw this coming to say it’s a surprise is the equivalent of saying with certainty that Neil Armstrong never really walked on the moon it was all fake.
I can’t wait to read all the juicy details in Huffington Post, Salon or Politico ’cause you know it will be there but apparently Olbermann and MSNBC, according to the WSJ, had been discussing parting ways for some time. Really?! Wow! Who would’ve known? Countdown has been just as good as it always had been. And I think most of us thought the two parties had kissed and made up after Olbermann’s political donations to democratic campaigns this past November. Guess dude really wanted out wonder where he’s going to end up?
As a liberal political analyst or commentator he would probably be welcomed to comment on the day’s issues at most national networks but as an anchor what national network would be willing to have him on their prime time lineup? CNN? We’ll just have to wait and see.
And what will the 2012 presidential elections be without Keith Olbermann? I can’t imagine. Noooooooooooo! I will not tolerate such talk so let’s end it now…..lol oh well, no more Countdown, at least we still have Rachel Maddow.
Osama Bin Laden is dead and it was President Barack Hussein Obama that got him!
Black women aren’t pretty! Well, maybe the light skinned ones are but MOST DEFINITELY NOT the dark skin ones! This isn’t a new topic. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard this from the mouths of men of all different races but it doesn’t just come from men it also comes from women, BLACK women as well. Big shock? Nope, we hate on ourselves the worst. Given the recent controversy surrounding the Psychology today article written by Satoshi Kanazawa of the London School of Economics asking “Why Are Black Women Less Physically Attractive Than Other Women? Why black women, but not black men ?” I hope that the ‘shadeism ‘ that exists within our own community is discussed and that we don’t just admonish Kanazawa but we admonish all those who attempt to degrade and denigrate black women especially our dark skinned black women.
Check out a post I wrote a few years back about this same issue when Iman, a sista, declared Michelle Obama to be ‘not a great beauty ‘.
And if you want some candid and beautiful shots of black women check my blog every Wedneday for my pick for the Wednesday Beauty of the week.
Dear People,
Political fever has me in its’ grasps once again.
That means a return to blogging and writing.
I wouldn’t bore you with any of my lame blogger excuses, I’ve been away for a multitude of reasons some self-imposed, some were imposed upon me but I’m back and actually I couldn’t think of a better way to return to the blogosphere than blogging about tonight’s GOP Presidential debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.
It’s the first debate to feature Presidential Candidate Texas Gov. Rick Perry and of course everybody is asking will Perry and Mitt Romney mix it up on the stage? You know I have a feeling that if these two men, Mitt Romney and Rick Perry, were in a physical brawl Perry would win hands down..but hey debating isn’t brawling at least that’s what my debating coach used to tell me..ha!
On another note, to all those that continued to visit my blog during my exile thank you so much for your comments and for taking a few seconds to peruse the archives and I hope that’ll I’ve a lot more interesting and thought provoking blogs for you to read and comment on from here on out.
Once again thank you and let’s hope that my political fever lasts a long, long, long time.
Black Liberal
Since I always have a lot to say and I love making silly one line comments..Twitter is perfect for me tonight during the debates, I’ve decided to tweet the GOP debate and do a follow up blog after the debate like a ‘real’ reporter! Follow me on twitter @blackliberal.
There’s not much to really write about after the GOP Presidential Debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California a few hours ago. I give the overall debate a 3 on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being off the hook and 1 an absolute bore.
Current GOP front-runner and Texas Governor Rick Perry won. Well, he won by default. He won because none of the other candidates could actually land a political punch that didn’t seem contrived and insincere. When Romney and Perry attacked each other’s job record, early in the evening, the entire exchange between them with each pointing out that previous Governors Michael Dukakis in Massachusetts and George W. Bush in Texas were the real job creators in their states it seemed almost childish.
In addition, when Representative Ron Paul attacked Perry for not being nearly as conservative as he says he is, Perry accused Paul of betraying Ronald Reagan’s GOP. If you’ve seen Ron Paul’s latest ad TRUST which completely disses Rick Perry you may have thought Paul would’ve hit Perry a lot harder than that but he didn’t. I guess Paul decided he had more important things to tell the American people for example how he would eliminate airport security, dismantle FEMA and get us a gallon of gas for a silver dime!
And Former Governor of Utah Jon Huntsman, oh man, the guy just seemed out-of-place up there.
Yes, really that’s the best they could do. And Tea Party favorite, Representative Michele Bachmann, wasn’t really given the chance to say much she was thrown a couple of questions here and there but nothing that could really get her going. And the other three candidates, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum received the same treatment as Bachmann.
So with just a few sparks here and there from the other candidates Romney and Perry were allowed to pretty much go after each other and we expected that since the two have been declared the ones to beat with Rick Perry now leading most of the national polls.
But what was surprising, to me, was how easily the six other candidates were marginalized and dismissed. When either moderator, NBC’s Brian Williams or Politico’s John Harris decided to ask any of the other candidates a question I’m sure I’m not the only one who was thinking “Why are you guys even bothering?” since most of the debate was centered on either Romney or Perry.
To be honest, if I had been one of the other candidates on stage tonight I wouldn’t be hard press to consider the entire evening a waste of my time.
At last night’s Republican debate Michele Bachmann got very little air time since most of the debate was spent questioning either Mitt Romney or Rick Perry.
Well, Bachmann sure found a way to make sure Rick Perry and Mitt Romney don’t suck all the life out of her candidacy by holding her own press conference tonight after President Obama’s jobs speech.
I don’t know if this will help her presidential bid in the long run but it sure feels like she’s waving to America saying, “Hey don’t forget about me, I’m still in this thing.”
You know sometimes you come across a story on the net that either makes you want to burst out laughing or hit your head against a wall and scream, “Why!! Why!! Why!! ? Well, I came across one such story earlier today.
Apparently Chris Jeon a UCLA Student traveled to Libya to fight with the rebels against Qaddafi!
Jeon apparently had some free time on his hands after his internship and he decidecd, this UCLA, Math major who doesn’t speak a word of Arabic, has no connections to Libya whatsoever decided to go there to fight with the rebels because..wait for it…because, “It is the end of my summer vacation, so I thought it would be cool to join the rebels.” He thought it would be cool!! Dude thought it would be cool!
Now obviously this guy can think logically, he’s a math major at UCLA and yet he thought it was quite logical to go to a war torn country, try to gain rebel acceptance and fight alongside them against one of the most brutal regimes that has ever existed. I don’t know if to laugh, cry or salute this crazy guy!
However, this isn’t surprising if you know just a little bit about Jeon. You see Jeon has taken these types of ‘vacations’ before travelling to Cambodia to spend time at a local orphanage that is surronded by landmines, he’s also been to the Amazon living with local families in Ecuador, Peru and Costa Rica and now he’s in Libya.
To be honest his last two vacations probably weren’t that far fetched I know two people who’ve taken similiar vacations to the Amazon but travelling to Libya as it’s in the throes of war is not a good time for him or them to be mingling with each other sampling Ghreyba and sipping tea.
But you know what I’ll let you decide if you think Chris Jeon is cool and if he belongs in any warzone other than -a digital one he can play on his computer.
Last time I checked Jeon was on his way home. Let’s hope he doesn’t plan to stop off in Afghanistan or Somalia on his way back home. Let’s hope!!!
When I first heard Rapper Yelawolf’s “Pop the trunk” I liked it. I liked the realism, the skill and the beat.
However, I couldn’t, as hard as I tried, stop myself from asking, “Isn’t this dude just a Southern Eminem?”
In a few weeks he’ll be releasing his debut album so we’ll know soon enough if there’s any truth in my question.
Undoubtedly he was influenced by Eminem but I hope that influence hasn’t morphed into imitation.
Warning this is the uncensored version.
Republican Presidential Candidaten Michele Bachmann claimed after the CNN/Tea Party debate on Monday,on the ”Today” show, that a woman came up to her and told her that her daughter had become “mentally retarded” after being vaccinated against Genital human papillomavirus (HPV).
A few hours ago two doctors offered to pay more than $10 000 for proof of the woman’s claim and Bachmann’s assertions.
The doctors only want the medical records of the woman or child involved in the story but I’m taking it a bit further I doubt there ever was a woman!
Now, don’t get me wrong I’m not saying that people don’t make these types of claims all the times and politicians and public figures probably hear these types of stories more than psychiatrists! However, they tend to either dismiss the story or do their own private investigative work to see if their is any validity to the claims. And sometimes, where there is smoke there is fire. For instance, last year the US government issued an official apology to the Guatamalan government some 40 years after it was revealed that Guatamalan prisoners and mental health patients were intentionally infected with gonorrhea, syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Michele Bachmann supposedly repeated a story she had just heard from a woman, she had just met just after the CNN/Tea Party debate on Monday September 12th on a national television show the day after. I don’t think she’s that dumb. However, I do believe that she would take an issue that she knows could resonate and top it off with a wild accusation that feeds into the public distrust of public health inoculation programs, throw it at her main opponent Rick Perry and hope that it sticks.
She has said that she doesn’t know if this story is true, but putting aside the crazy accusations this ‘mystery woman’ made to Representative Bachamann and the examination of her records, I just would love for the Bachmann campaign to produce the woman that said it and allow her to be questioned by the media. I doubt they can. They can certainly produce many people who would make that claim but the actual person who told Michele Bachmann that story, right after the debate and with all the cameras around her I’m sure some photographer would’ve captured the exchange. So that would be proof.
I doubt that woman and her daughter will ever be found because they probably don’t exist.
And I’m not the only one who doubts Bachmann’s story either. Laura Curtis, a conservative blogger has now had a change of heart about about Bachmann and states on her blog, Pursuing Holiness, that Bachmann either, “lied or was incredibly stupid to repeat such a ridiculous story.” I don’t normally agree with conservatives but on this point I’m definitely nodding my head in agreement.
Denmark just elected its first female Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt . Thorning-Schmidt leader of the Danish Social Democrats ended the far right’s 10 year lock on the Danish government. She led her party (a four party coalition actually) to victory by capturing 89 seats in Denmark’s 179-seat parliament effectively bringing to an end 10 years of center-right rule.
Just one more lady out there doing her thing an inspiring more young women around the world to get up and start doing rather than just talking.
Congrats to her and to the Danish people!
I think Beyoncé’s song Run The World is appropriate don’t you?
At one minute past midnight tonight the United States military ended its ban on openly gay men and women serving in the military.
It took 18 years to repeal ”don’t ask don’t tell” and in my opinion that was too damn long but at least now my gay friends and gay people everywhere in America, who are eligible and wish to according to militaryspot.com, “defend the United States and its territories; support national policies and objectives; and defeat adversaries responsible for aggression that endangers the peace and security of the United States and our allies,“ can do so proudly and with the support of most, if not all, of their fellow citizens!
HOOAH!!!
I couldn’t say it any clearer than that!
Texas Governor Rick Perry wants to be President of the United States and he may have been told and shown a clear path by his strategists on how to get there but these debates clearly highlight his weakness, he doesn’t know how to efficiently articulate his points when he’s standing toe to toe with his opponents.
Tonight’s Fox News/Google Presidential Debate clearly points out Gov Perry’s shortcoming. I don’t know how he prepares for debates but as a former debate captain he would not be on team! He doesn’t know how to get and keep a debate crowd, which is different from a crowd on the stump on his side and he struggles continuously on how to answer the moderator’s question without undercuting the main issues that his campaign is running on.
While Former Governor Mitt Romney, although still very robotic, gets more and more human with every debate and yes I am really saying that Perry just gets worst. Romney comes prepared and he attacks Perry from all corners but what is even more important is that he looks natural doing it. He actually seems to like the fact that he has a real opponent. Perry gets on stage and tries to maintain his positions and then crumbles and stands around with this plastic smile that’s almost worst than George Bush!
I’m shocked that he is as bad a debater as I have ever seen on the national stage.
The other candidates all had their moment but I think the best line of the debate was from former Governor Gary Johnson who said that his neighbor’s two dogs have created more shovel ready jobs than this administration. That was the best line!
And one of the worst moments; the booing of a gay soldier Stephen Hill, by an audience member who asked Rick Santorum about repealing, “Don’t ask don’t tell.”
All the other candidates will continue to run until their money runs out or until debate organizers stop inviting them to participate. I don’t see anyone emerging to threaten Romney and Perry’s front runner status Ron Paul is going to hang in there for third place but once again the battle remains between Mitt Romney and Rick Perry.
I am eagerly looking forward to tonight’s Republican Presidential debate at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. The debate sponsored by The Washington Post/Bloomberg will focus almost entirely on the economy.
But what I want to see is:
Will Rick Perry perform better or will he just collapse?
Will Mitt Romney finally realize that the nomination is in his grasp and will he finally grab?
Will Herman Cain, not disregarding his rise in the polls, show that he has the depth of knowledge and character needed to be a serious presidential candidate?
To be honest I don’t think any of the other candidates, on the stage tonight will have a viable shot at the nomination they are all struggling to raise money, struggling to be heard, struggling to get energy and momentum behind and in their campaigns, with maybe the exception of Ron Paul, however Perry, Romney and Cain have the most to lose or gain after tonight’s Presidential Debate.
Who will emerge ahead of the pack? Well, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Ok, maybe that headline may a bit of a stretch but it’s not that far fetched.
At Tuesday night’s GOP Presidential debate, held at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, almost everybody had something to say to Cain. From moderator Charlie Rose fielding the first question of the night to Herman Cain to the other presidential candidate’s seeming obsession with Cain’s 9-9-9 economic plan.
Most of the debate was centered around Cain’s 9-9-9 economic plan, with many of the candidates expressing their doubts about whether or not it could be successful and outright attacking it from all sides. Cain’s plan would dismantle the current tax system and establish a 9 percent corporate tax, 9 percent income tax and a new 9 percent national sales tax.
Cain, defended his plan consistently and even after a statement by Governor Jon Huntsman who said he thought Cain’s plan referred to a ‘price of pizza’, Cain said his plan, ” Will pass and it is not the price of pizza, because it has been well-studied and well-developed. It starts with, unlike your proposals, throwing out the current tax code.”
Herman Cain did nothing but bolster his campaign tonight.
Governor Rick Perry is done. He did not perform. He looked lost and confused on several occasions and at one time he even appeared to be rolling his eyes at a statement made by Governor Jon Huntsman. Perry’s campaign has gone from white hot to code blue in a matter of weeks and I attribute it all to his debate performances. He just can’t seemingly articulate his ideas or attack his opponents in a coherent and articulate fashion for any audience and this does not inspire confidence in the GOP base and from donors.
Governor Romney was solid. He was prepared as usual, showed up did his job and made sure to look everybody in the eye (even though I have yet to figure out anything about this guy other than the fact that he wants to president, really, really, really badly) when they spoke and he didn’t make and critical mistakes. As they say slow and steady wins the race.
And all the other candidates, they showed up, were asked a couple of questions by the moderators because the moderators had too, just to be politie, but again if you walk away with anything from this debate it’s this-Rick Perry’s campaign is over. Herman Cain’s campaign and status is on the rise and Mitt Romney is still solid and appears to know what he’s talking about.
Bring on the next one!
I watched a great classic movie today Goodbye Again with Ingrid Bergman, Yves Montand and Anthony Perkins it got me thinking can it ever work between a younger man and older woman? And on the heels of the supposed cheating scandal swirling around Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, with Kutcher allegedly cheating on Moore on their sixth anniversary, I wonder if this dynamic is not only the hardest for society to accept and we’ve come a long way with this type of relationship, of that there is no doubt, with it no longer being considered taboo however we already know that relationships with significant age differences face considerable hurdles but are May-December relationships the hardest relationship to maintain?
After watching Goodbye Again I’ll be honest if I had to make a choice similar to the one Paula (Ingrid Bergman) faces in the movie (and I wouldn’t spoil it for you..) there would be no question who I would choose-the man who loves me, the most regardless of his age!
What about you ladies would you date a man 10-15 years younger than you?
Every Friday I’ll be posting a clip from classic (70s, 80s and 90s) Sesame Street. I still love Sesame Street but today’s Sesame Street can’t compare to the Sesame Street I watched as a kid!
This first clip I’ll be featuring is Dr.Thad and the Medications with The Ten Commandments of Health!
My favorite part: I love how the docs and nurses keep pushing the blue guy/patient back unto the table!! Hilarious!
And if you any suggestions for a clip or a favorite clip I should feature don’t be shy drop me a line.
CNN’s Las Vegas GOP Presidential debate was the best one so far!
Of course the candidates repeated their usual talking points but so many punches were thrown at Mitt Romney and Herman Cain that it’s a wonder either candidate came out alive but the most revealing aspect of the debate wasn’t the fact that punches were thrown at the two top contenders Cain and Romney but it was how each candidate responded.
Romney got down and dirty while Cain just laughed off his attacks and attackers-for the most part.
However, the most telling exchange of night occurred between Texas Governor Rick Perry and Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney over Romney’s alleged hiring of illegal immigrants to do some landscaping at his home. It was the best exchange I’ve seen at any of the debates this year! Not only were you able to visually witness the well documented disdain Perry and Romney have for each other spill over into the public arena, but you were able to see how each candidate responds when being attacked Romney was appealing to Anderson for help and Perry was seemingly saying, as he glared Romney down, “No Mitt don’t bring anybody into this. This is between you and me.” I thought the two men would stop trading verbal blows and start physically assaulting each-but alas they didn’t.
I’ve heard a few commentators say that Romney’s response, lowers him in the eyes of perspective voters but I disagree as someone who has often said that Mitt Romney acts like a robot who doesn’t like to get dirty, this exchange proves that he has some life in him and that he’s not afraid to get down in the mud with someone, he doesn’t like/who doesn’t like him and fight. And at the very least, the VERY least it shows he’s human and if someone throws a punch at him, he CAN punch back.
Perry needed at the very least a mediocre performance tonight. And he performed. He threw punches at Romney all night and their exchange over immigration will be headline news tomorrow. Perry will certainly get GOP voters that clearly have a problem with Romney and those that are undecided about Romney as the GOP Presidential candidate, to take a second look at his campaign and Perry desperately needs that. After the last debate I thought he was done, now I’m not so sure maybe he does have something left in him.
Cain, the other contender spent the first half of the debate fending off attacks on his 9-9-9 plan that was to be expected. I don’t think that he has adequately explained his plan so far and he didn’t do it again tonight. He has to be able to explain his plan in enough detail to convince an average voter who goes to H&R Block to get their taxes done that this will plan will not only simplify the process but it also be more beneficial to
Rick Santorum, I want him to get more questions in every debate. Dude was on fire! He went after Romney, Perry and Cain was cordial to Ron Paul, Michele Bachmann and Newt Gingrich but he needs more questions so that he can accuse other candidates of not having ‘a track record’ as he did with Mitt Romney emphatically stating,” You just don’t have credibility on Obamacare Mitt…you have no track record that we can trust you that you’re gonna do that (and repeal it).” It was just electrifying television. I couldn’t get enough.
Overall CNN’s Western Republican Presidential Debate in Las Vegas was the best one so far I hope it gets better!
Teiko Dornor a beautiful black woman.
The first Wednesday Beauty.
Know a beautiful black woman that I should feature send me an email or a picture at blackliberal@yahoo.com.
“Imagine the nerve of that guy telling me what I want?” “I want the…………….
Be careful what you wish for Fat Blue..lol
This past Sunday Mustafa Abdul Jalil, chairman of Libya’s National Transitional Council, said, “We, as an Islamic state, have adopted the Islamic Sharia as the main source of legislation as such, any law that runs contrary to the Islamic principles of the Islamic Sharia is legally void”.
You could hear the collective gasp of many in the West who after spending billions of dollars to help liberate Libya were left wondering after Jalil statements, if they had actively helped to create another oppressive Islamic regime? Chairman Jalil, has since then, sought to assure and calm Western leaders that this is not the case but only time will tell however here are 10 facts we all should know about sharia law.
This week’s Wednesday Beauty is….
I don’t know her name but that pose says it all!
If you know her name please share it..I’ll be more than happy to post it.
Black Liberal
They both have the creepiest smiles I have ever seen.
Check out Nicki the Llama smiling from about 0.42-0.45 and tell me, isn’t that one of the creepiest smiles you’ve ever seen in your life? Well for me that smile was number one until I saw Herman Cain’s latest campaign ad, with him smiling at the end. I didn’t know what he was trying to accomplish did he want to go for inspiration and authenticity or did he just want to creep us all out around Halloween? Lol I don’t think he was going for the latter but after seeing him smile, at the end of that end most of the viewers probably did what I did lurch backward, raise an eyebrow and muttered, ”What the hell was that?”Lol
But it’s all good Mr.Cain you don’t need any of those fancy ads, your authenticity is winning you millions of friends and your campaign coffers are swelling so obviously you’re doing something right and people love it! But I’d practice my smiling in the mirror just a few more times before appearing in any more ads.
But to be fair Me And My Llama wins the best song contest hands down! So my dear vintage Sesame Street fans go ahead and sing along you know you want to and don’t worry if you feel like a kid when you’re singing it’s ok. A whole bunch of ‘big kids’ will be singing right along with you!
Tide, a popular American laundry detergent, is running a new commercial featuring a stay-at-home dad speaking about the benefits of Tide Boost.
I can’t recall another major household brand, as well-known as Tide featuring a stay-at-home dad, I wonder if we’ll see more brands following suit?
At this moment corporate America, hell corporations in general, don’t deserve one iota of praise from the public but Proctor & Gamble has earned at the very least a “well done” for having the guts to flip the gender roles and promote this non-traditional spokesman and in effect, an idea, for one of their most beloved products. I applaud Proctor & Gamble’s efforts to empower men who have chosen to throw off society’s shackles and embrace the primary care-giver role which once the main and in most cases the only role for women. P&G, I tip my hat to you!
