Obama’s press conference..

 I just love these it’s the American version of  the weekly Question Time in the British parliament.

Man attacks woman-uproar; woman attacks man-we laugh?

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!!

Obama laughing in the face of adversity?

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.

Seeing pink elephants-for real..

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?

Vintage Obama on ‘Tonight Show’ with Leno

 

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***

Rihanna and Brown sex tape?

Tabloid magazines across Britain and America are reporting that Rihanna may have made a sex tape with Chris Brown apparently the tape might contain role playing and BDSM footage of Rihanna and Brown.

Honestly could this year get any worse for Rihanna?

Taxing AIG bonuses is illegal and idiotic

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?

So it was Senator Dodd who gave our money away..

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!!!

If Tim Geithner goes Ben Bernanke should resign as well..

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.

Personal attack leads to crude Meghan McCain comment

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.  

Rihanna is a ‘loser’ and she doesn’t deserve anymore success!

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?

Chris Brown pix in court today!!!

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.

” We will not fail,” Sen Ted Kennedy delcares

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 charged with two felonies..

Brown will be arraigned today at 3.30pm

Brown to Rihanna ” I’m going to beat the s***out of you..”

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.

The Golden Girls are now on Hallmark..

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! 

GOP chairman, Michael Steele, got punked!

  

 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!

Did Microsoft rip off viral web video in their new ads?

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?

Rihanna and Brown married?

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!

Senator Ted Kennedy to be knighted

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.

My passion for hand-written letters

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.

No, Kanye I can’t give Chris Brown a break..

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.

A bit of advice for the GOP