I’m Thrown Off Course By The Heidi Klum/Seal Divorce!

 

 

Hey, kiddies! I just got a new computer for one of my X-mas gifts. Now, I can hopefully start posting more. Since I am still a unpaid writer, I can only do so when I feel inspired. And the way things are going in this stagnant economy, we all could use some inspiration in this nation. Especially those of us who fall into the bottom percentile of that 99%. Every now & then, I need to be reminded about some of the  things that make me like America. Don’t you?

New Americans like Heidi Klum & Seal are a great, inspirational couple that represent the music & fashion industry well. They are a Hollywood couple that seemed to have it all. And now marital strife may produce yet another crumbling marriage. Contrary to Mitt Romney’s beliefs, I honestly admire successful people. As long as they don’t prey on others for their own financial benefit. I root for successful folks like them every single day. Feeling like your dreams & aspirations are tangible is all a part of the American dream. I don’t bemoan anyone’s success.

I guess that’s why I really hope that their differences don’t wind up being irreconcilable. Everyone still loves a good success story. And those two are the embodiment of success & wealth. C’mon, guys! Work it out!

Here’s more from The Daily Mail:

“Their union was believed to be one of the strongest in showbusiness – reinforced by regular public declarations of love and an annual ceremony to renew their wedding vows.

But last night it was reported Heidi Klum’s seven-year marriage to British singer Seal is over – with the model preparing to file for divorce within days.

German-born Heidi, 38, is expected to file papers at Los  Angeles’ County Superior Court this week citing irreconcilable differences between the pair who  married at Seal’s beachfront home in Mexico in 2005.

The reasons behind the sudden split remained unclear but a spokesman for the former Victoria’s Secret model yesterday said a statement was being prepared which would be released imminently.

A spokesman for Seal, 48 – real name Seal Henry Samuel – did not return calls but a cryptic message posted on the singer’s Twitter page on Friday read: ‘The End.’

The message was attached to a picture that appeared to show the star’s forearm bearing an imprint of a set of wings – a possible reference to Miss Klum’s role as a Victoria’s Secret winged ‘Angel’ model.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2089816/Heidi-Klum-Seal-file-divorce-years-marriage-according-reports.html#ixzz1k9Nlbr2i

You Can Get Away With Murder Like Casey Anthony & Robert Blake, Etc……

If you live in a society that is as free as America is,you can expect that some folks will escape justice.Here in America, you can get a jury of your peers or a judge to decide your fate. Sometimes the legal system works & oftentimes it does not. There have been innocent people whose lives have wasted away in prison because the system failed them. And there are others,like Casey Anthony,Robert Blake,etc… who get away with murder.

MSNBC Suspends Keith Olbermann!

Keith Olbermann was not forthcoming about campaign contributions he made to several Democrats. So,he has been suspended from MSNBC indefinitely without pay. He violated a NBC News rule against donating to candidates from either party.

The reasoning behind this NBC News policy is that “these activities jeopardize his or her standing as an impartial journalist because they may create the appearance of a conflict of interest.” Since when has Keith Olbermann passed himself off as an “impartial journalist?!!“

He practically screams liberal on every show. Who are they kidding? Do you think that they are suddenly worried about impartiality because the country just voted a bunch of conservatives back into office? And MSNBC is just as synonymous with liberal progressive as Fox is the synonym of conservative.

Don’t fire him.Reinstate Keith Olbermann. I like to have his viewpoint in juxtaposition to Glenn Beck’s opinions. One thing that makes me like America is the political discourse that our citizens engage in. Keith Olbermann’s voice is an important part of that discourse. Whether you like him or not.

Here’s more from The Los Angeles Times:

“As Politico, which broke the story, reported Friday, Olbermann gave $2,400, the maximum legal donation, to Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva on Oct. 28, the same day Grijalva appeared as a guest on Olbermann’s “Countdown” show. There’s no way that should happen, for the very reasons stated in NBC’s rules against employees contributing to political campaigns–it’s a breach of journalistic independence to contribute to the candidates that you’re covering.

Not objectivity, since no one is arguing that Olbermann is objective, but independence. How can we, the viewers, possibly expect Olbermann to ask a candidate the toughest possible questions if he’s giving him money at the same time? Or even worse, it could be perceived as pay-to-play: I give you money, you appear on my show. The same goes for Fox News, which now has a host of leading 2012 GOP presidential hopefuls all serving as paid on-air contributors. When I see them being interviewed by Fox newsmen, that exchange looks a lot more like media back-scratching and self-promotion than journalism.

The Olbermann mess simply highlights the dilemma MSNBC faces as it plays second fiddle to the Fox News juggernaut. If it wants to be a liberal advocacy network, fine, then it can reinstate Olbermann and start shaping the news to benefit liberal causes, the way Fox does on the right. But if it wants to be taken seriously as a real news network, then it should make Olbermann serve a suspension, make sure its other anchors understand the rulebook and, most important, say loud and clear: Unlike our competition, when we say we practice independent journalism, we really mean it.”(End of Excerpt) Read more here.

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Mariah Carey Is Pregnant & Glowing!

Beautiful songbird,Mariah Carey,finally comes clean about her impending motherhood. Yep,she’s pregnant & glowing. She hasn’t confirmed how far along she is or what the baby’s gender is. But, rumor has it that she’s four months along with a baby boy.

She looks lovelier than ever. What a lucky chap Nick Cannon is!

Congratulations,guys!

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Celebrity Stylist Rachel Zoe Is Reportedly Pregnant!

I first heard of Rachel Zoe when she was styling Lindsay Lohan. There was speculation that she was introducing the young starlet to an unhealthy lifestyle of extreme dieting. A lot of folks believe that Rachel Zoe has an eating disorder. Here’s more on that from CelebWarship:

“Rachel Zoe shocked onlookers at the Cracked Xmas Fundraiser in Los Angeles on Sunday with her protruding ribcage and sunken face. The 37 year old celebrity stylist recently admitted she sometimes thinks she’s too thin, but has no plans to take care of herself.

“We’ve had Audrey Hepburn, we’ve had Twiggy, we’ve had Veruschka, we’ve had Kate Moss,” she said. “I’m trying to figure out why I am to blame for skinniness.

“Truthfully, I’ve never seen myself as being too thin,” she added. “Sometimes I’ll look at photos and be like, ‘Oh, that’s not a good look. ‘But generally speaking, I’m not too thin.” (Read more here.)

Sorry to disagree with you,Rachel. People cannot help but notice just how skeletal you look. It’s beyond being “too thin.” Hopefully, you will get cravings that will force you to eat. Because even though she seems to have an aversion to food,her pregnancy will change that.

At least,I hope it does.No one should try to emulate her body-wise. She is a great fashionista. But,Rachel Zoe is not someone I would take nutritional advice from.

Greg Giraldo Dies Of An Overdose!

I’ve only seen Greg Giraldo on a Comedy Central Roast once. But,he was pretty funny. It’s too bad that we won’t be privy to his raunchy brand of humor any longer. Giraldo has passed away from an prescription pill overdose. Another celebrity dies from taking too many prescribed pills. Will this scenario ever come to an end?

Here’s more from MTV:

“Comedian Greg Giraldo died Wednesday (September 29) at age 44 from a reportedly accidental prescription-drug overdose. Giraldo had been hospitalized in New Brunswick, New Jersey after he overdosed on prescription pills last weekend. According to TMZ, the overdose was not a suicide attempt.

Giraldo reportedly collapsed Saturday evening in his hotel room in New Jersey, where he was performing at a club. He was discovered by friends after he failed to show up for his scheduled performance. He was rushed to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick.

Jim Norton confirmed the news via Twitter, including a picture with his fellow comedian: “Greg Giraldo passed away today. This is the last photo of us together, taken June 28 at Noam’s wedding. RIP buddy.”

A source close to Giraldo told TMZ: “Greg passed away today at the hospital in New Brunswick as a result of an accidental overdose. His family was by his side.”

The Giraldo family’s plans for a memorial service will reportedly be made public when they become available.

Giraldo was best known for his celebrity roast appearances and was a frequent guest on “The Late Show With David Letterman,” “Late Night With Conan O’Brian” and “The Howard Stern Show.” He had also been a judge on NBC’s “Last Comic Standing” and appeared as a panelist on Jerry Seinfeld’s “The Marriage Ref.” (End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

Chrysler Workers Caught Smoking Pot While On The Clock!

You would think that after taxpayers bailed out Chrysler, all of their employees would feel compelled to produce the best cars that money could buy. I mean,the general consensus about American-made cars is that they are the worst cars on the market. A lot of people drive foreign cars for that reason.This incident sure won’t sway people to purchase American cars. It’ll probably steer them even further away from the cars that are manufactured in America.

When the video showing Chrysler workers drinking & smoking pot while on the clock hit the airwaves,I was disgusted.In a time when most people dream of getting a decent job,these guys are putting theirs on the line.Now, these guys will end up talking about the unemployment line instead of the assembly line.We don’t need inebriated GM workers assembling our cars. So good riddance!

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Tony Hawk Helps South African Kids Out With Their Skateboarding Skills!!

Tony Hawk is a skateboarding phenomenon &  hero to a lot of American kids.But,they are not the only children who admire him. Mr. Hawk is an inspiration to a group of South African kids as well. He just gifted the Indigo Youth Movement with a brand new portable Half-Pipe to practice their skateboarding skills on. Charity is one of the things that makes me like America. It’s really fantastic to see Tony Hawk carry on that great American tradition on an entirely different continent.

Here’s more from Africa News:

“Multi-skateboard world champion Hawk handed over the Half-Pipe, which Laureus has made available to Indigo that will allow more children in the region to access the sport and benefit from the advantages of taking part in the Laureus-supported project.

The new portable, easy to set up Half-Pipe will allow the Indigo project to visit various locations around the region where people currently do not have access to skateboarding.

During his 20-year skateboarding career, Hawk defied gravity with his amazing tricks and became a role model to millions of young people around the world. After seeing the Half-Pipe set up in the Zulu village for youngsters to try out, Hawk said it was a very emotional moment.

He said:

“I first came to Indigo last year and I was amazed what I saw. This is one of the most remarkable skateboard sites in the world. And now I am excited to come back with a new ramp for the kids to enjoy. They are progressing at a rapid rate and I know this new structure will help them push their limits even more. Being able to watch these young people from difficult backgrounds test their skills on this new halfpipe is something that will stay with me forever. I am honored that we are able to provide such a great facility for these kids. It could truly change their lives.” (End of Excerpt) Read the article in its entirety here.

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China May Finally Let People Have More Than One Child!

Since the family structure has now changed,China wants to “re-engineer the demographic balance.” Their population is made up of too many old folks & not enough workers. As a result,China’s one-child policy may finally be relaxed.

They want couples who are both only children themselves to have a second child.Then, they will gradually ease into a two-child policy for all the people of China. Well,how gracious of them!

Aren’t you glad that in America you can become an Octo-mom if you want to?! There’s no blatant attempt to control the population in this country. You can have 18 kids if that is your desire! The sky is the limit,even if your finances say otherwise.

It’s called freedom of choice! And it’s just one more reason to love being American! No matter what the haters say!

Here’s more from UPI.com:

“China may relax its one-child policy as its population ages and a need for workers increases, a demographer in close contact with policymakers says.

The world’s most-populous country, with more than 1.3 billion people, plans to start pilot projects in five low-birth-rate provinces next year to allow a second birth if at least one spouse is an only child, He Yafu tells USA Today.

Beijing, Shanghai and four other provinces will follow suit in 2012, and the policy will be repealed nationally by 2013 or 2014, he says.

The National Population and Family Planning Commission, which enforces the one-child policy, refused interview requests, USA Today says.

In 2008, China’s top population official, Zhang Weiqing, minister of the family planning commission, said the policy would remain in place for roughly another decade.

In February the planning commission’s deputy director said the policy would remain unaltered through 2015.

The policy — one of the world’s strictest, which authorities say has prevented 400 million births — went into effect in 1979 after a multidecade population boom followed by mass death due to food shortages.

Most urban couples are limited to a single child, while farmers are often allowed to have two. Critics say the policy is coercive and has led to numerous abuses, including forced abortions, which are reported to continue in some areas.

But a growing need for more children to care for parents, plus a gender imbalance that will leave tens of millions of men without wives, are two arguments for relaxing the one-child policy, Siu Yat-ming, who researches Chinese family planning at Hong Kong Baptist University, tells USA Today.”(End of article) Read more here.

China May Finally Relax Their One-Child Policy!, posted with vodpod

Female Circumcision Is Not Common Here

The fact that we can choose to circumcise our children is one reason to be happy you’re an American! Don’t you know that in some cultures the decision has already been made? I saw an interesting episode of “The Tyra Banks Show” that dealt with female mutilation & the victims of it. One young African female guest was a former contestant on ” America’s Top Model” & a victim of this. She explained that she was both Somolian & Ethiopian. As a muslim girl, it was decided that this procedure should be done to preserve her sanctity. In her culture, female circumcision is a rite of passage. This poor woman did not discover what had been done to her until she came to America. But according to this video, the procedure was performed here also. Now that is something I did not know! It is very informative & I’m glad as Americans there is freedom of choice! Just one more reason to be patriotic!

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American Women Don’t Have To Live With Polygamous Men

In some parts of Africa, having a co-wife is a part of tradition. It is a cultural thing that many women have had to adapt to. Polygamy is common in other parts of the world as well. The freedom to leave such a situation is not an option for many women. They must live with it because there are no laws to prohibit it.
Fortunately, we live in America where polygamy is a crime. The women depicted in this film are unaware that they have a choice. And that my friends is reason number two. The freedom to be in a monogamous or polygamous society. The women make their choice at the end of the movie. Enjoy!

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Our Conspiracy Theories Are Pretty Believable

Yeah, some of the theories out there are pretty preposterous. I’ve seen some hilarious videos on the internet that propose to have the evidence. The alien, ghosts, angels, & bigfoot videos really bring out the skeptic in me. But they are fun to look at. Secretly, I want to see something mystifying like a flying humaniod but I have not. The UFO videos are hard to discount although I know most of them are hoaxes.
The New World Order is a scary prospect that I hope is just a conspiracy theory. These chips make science fiction movies like ” Gattaca” look documentaries. In that movie, the genetic code could be manipulated to produce perfect human beings. Check out this video! There are portions of it ( the implantable chips) that freak me out! The 9/11 & terrorism aspect of this theory is bogus, though!

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IRA Bombings Don’t Happen In America!

At least Americans are faced with Al-Qaeda as our biggest threat. Sept. 11, 2001 was the worst terrorist attack in modern American history. It was also the scariest because it came from perpetrators not born on American soil. They were from a part of the world that is used to suicide bombings.

In Britian, not only do they have to worry about Muslim extremists attacking their citizens. They must deal with the Irish Republic Army as well. Bombings have occurred all over Britian for decades.We have had one massive terrorist attack. Around the world, they have lost count. That makes me glad to be an American!

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Noone Has Ever Been President For 28 Years!

Robert Mugabe has been President of Zimbabwe for 28 years! Their economic woes are far worse than ours. We’ve all been outraged by the bailout. Well, the inflation there is the worst that the world has ever seen. There is no real democracy there either.
Thank God that we have a real presidential race with two candidates to choose from. After November 4, we will have gotten rid of our bad president. If we lived in Zimbabwe, it might be like the war in Iraq. No end in sight! American presidents only get two terms to fuck up! What a relief that George Bush is on his way out! And if my prayers are answered, we will get the change we need! Not the confused reformed maverick! Do you catch my drift? Leave me a comment if you do or even if you don’t.

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Only in America, Baby! Hip Hop Emerged from South Bronx!

I like Nas wit’ his prolific/gifted/ ill ass flow.
Talent is not the status quo/ like it was in this video…
What would this country be like without hip-hop? As someone who grew up immersed in it, I don’t ever want to know. All of the exhilaration I felt after going to a rap concert hasn’t ever been matched. Well, maybe when I went to the Reggae Sumfest it was.

But, I am proud to be an American that grew up with this music. Hell, my dad’s favorite rapper is Slick Rick. That in itself adds to his cool hip image. Even he couldn’t resist the pull that those hypnotic melodic raps had.Unfortunately, my mom was a huge MC. Hammer fan. He seemed like a great entertainer but that was it. She later told me that she liked Biggie Smalls which redeemed her in my eyes. 

What music stirs long lost memories for you? Is it new wave, punk rock, soul, funk, jazz… For me, it’s funk music & rap that brings back my childhood.  I’m so glad to that I found this video. Biz Markie is hilarious & a beat box phenom! Big Daddy Kane was recently in a low budget straight-to-dvd flick that I saw. He has put on some weight since this video. I forgot how good he used to look. He reminds me of Tupac in the way he finesses you with his voice. He can be strong & sexy at the same time.

Soulja Boy, Hurricane G, Lil’ Boosie, etc… is all that we see on 106 & Park. I have nothing against them but that shit is not my cup of tea. I loved Jay-Z because he really knew how to manipulate words. There is still good rap out there. These days you really have to find it. The gems are hidden & bullshit gets promoted to the masses. What a shame!

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In Comparison To Other Countries, We’re Still Rich!

The U.S. dollar bill is declining in value in the world . Food & gas seem unobtainable to most. I had to quit my job when I got relocated. That would have added an extra 30 miles a day to my commute! In these times, that’s an absolute no-no. We are facing another great depression in America. Even so, we are still one of the wealthiest countries in the world. This video shows how the food crisis affects different parts of the world. By compiling news bits from various countries, they show you the different reactions to it. The news report from the United States had no sense of urgency or panic to it. In other countries, they were dealing with riots, starvation, & death. Here we’re trying to compromise on a trillion dollar bailout to save our ass! In comparison to other countries, we’re not doing so bad.

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Arranged Marriage Is Not The Cultural Norm

http://www.alternet.org/sex/92561/the_rise_of_arranged_marriage_in_america/

Preceding this entry is a link to an article that really gets in-depth on this subject. There are some arranged marriages here in America. But it is not common. Personally, I do not think there is anything wrong with it. When someone is forced into a marriage it is wrong. Many courtships past & present were arranged for financial reasons.

For instance, I know a lady who got hitched to help a Spainard gain U.S. citizenship. That type of arranged marriage is common in the U.S. She knew what she was getting into & she increased her assets in the process. Another chick I was acquainted with actually wound up paying the guy she married. He was from Saudi Arabia & he worked at a liquor store. For some reason, she thought he really loved her when he proposed. But she knew that his citizenship was not permanent. In his mind, he made an arrangement to marry a girl until he was legal. To her, it was real love. Imagine her dismay & suprise when he dumped her. You see, his family had arranged for him to marry someone from Saudi Arabia. Although he could have bucked tradition he did not. It just so happened that his intended was hot!

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Global Warming Will Affect Poor Countries More Than Rich Ones

  

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=21448&Cr=climate&Cr1 If the economy keeps plummetting, we won’t be classified as rich too much longer. For now, everybody is scraping up the $4 bucks for gas & etching out their existence. People who reside in poorer countries aren’t worried about gas. They’re worried about food & other basic needs. But they also need to be concerned about global warming. Follow the link for the full story.

Basically, the United Nations Secretary-General warns that poor countries will suffer more because of global warming. We all have not come to an agreement, here in America ,on whether global warming is real or not. Apparently, the majority of the world has come to the conclusion that it is an impending threat.  Global warming is caused by human activity which has affected the environment.  Poor countries that may not have contributed to global warming at all will suffer greater consequences. Since America’s still a rich country, we’ll suffer less from global warming. It all depends on an economic turnaround.

An African American Woman is One of the Most Powerful Women In The WORLD

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http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/11/06women_Condoleezza-Rice_MTNG.htmlI  You will have to click on to the video link in order to view it. I have also included a link to an article in Forbes magazine that listed 100 of the most powerful women in the world. The second woman on the list was Condoleezza Rice. As if you didn’t know, she is a 51-year old african american woman who advises George Bush regularly. She has a major role in his cabinet as the Secretary of State. This woman handles foreign affairs & has a very distinguished career. Her involvement in this administration may taint her accomplishments in the public’s eyes.  In fact as this video demonstrates, she is detested by many because of the war in Iraq. But she has achieved a lot & has paved the way for Barack Obama to be taken seriously as a presidential candidate. After all, she has proven that blacks are able to play the game of politics just as well as whites.

The view of blacks may still be negative & there is much to be done if that is to be corrected. Whether you like her or not, Condoleezza Rice has elevated the views towards blacks worldwide. She is noted in Forbes magazine as being “America’s top diplomat“.  Unfortunately, she was mentioned on MSNBC today as being a war criminal that should be prosecuted for violating the Geneva convention. It seems to me like Condoleezza Rice & Colin Powell were among the many that were used as proxies for President George Bush. If his administration should be prosecuted, then the president’s fate should be much more severe. Since I am not privy to all of the facts, I won’t be so quick to condemn her. I will commend her for obtaining one of the most powerful positions in the world. Believe me, she broke a lot of glass ceilings which benefited Hilary Clinton as well. Who knows if America is ready for a black or female president? I think that she prepared the country for that to be a possibility. In Condoleezza Rice, America got to see the potential for a black female president. For that, you have to give her props! The fact that those of african descent are making measurable progress is one of the greatest things about America!

The 2008 Election Is One Of The Most Fascinating In History!

Did you ever think you’d live to see such a grand sight as we did tonight? With all of the troubles that befall America, this debate was a very important one. We are facing a great depression here & I’m glad Senator McCain showed up. This is truly a time of change in America & the stakes have never been so high! That’s why those who have never been involved in the political process are registering to vote in record numbers. If you have not registered to vote, make sure you do it now! Time is running out!!

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The World’s Biggest Sex Symbol Was Born & Bred Here

 

 Marilyn Monroe was one of the world’s sexiest women of all time! She oozed sex appeal & encouraged sexual freedom in women. She is a different kind of feminist but she is one. This woman was intelligent because she gained her fame from exploiting a stereotype. She was the stereotypical dumb blonde. In her life, she was a determined young woman who had a enviable drive. Most people are not as fearless as she was. They are scared to take a chance in life. If she would have just stayed Norma Jean, America may not have the women they have come to love today. Women like Pamela Anderson, Anna Nicole Smith, Paris Hilton, etc… They all were inspired by this great American movie star. We love ya, Marilyn!!!  We will always remember you.

America Is Still A Beacon Of Democracy

With all the talk of our corrupt government due to this bailout, you forget just how bad other democratic societies are. We have enjoyed the best political & economic system in the world! Unfortunately, the damage done by this Wall Street debacle is like has had a domino effect. We are still watching them fall.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, there is terrible greed & corruption. The civilians are being murdered & terrorized by numerous militia groups. This has been an ongoing ordeal for years & it has virtually been ignored by America. As one of the greatest countries on earth, we must not let that beacon of democracy fade away.

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Our Citizens Are the Most Heavily Armed in the World!

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL2834893820070828 Follow the link to this article to read about how heavily armed we are in comparison to the rest of the world. You’ll be stupefied by it!There is a ongoing debate on whether or not gun control works. If you’ve lived in the ghetto, you’ve probably seen your fair share of weaponry. With all the crime in places like Flint & Oakland, it’s hard for me to argue against it. By the same token, I know what happens when most citizens are armed. It can prevent crime or it can create it. Let me tell you that being broke with artillery within reach is not an ideal situation for anyone. Even if you are not criminally inclined, it is tempting.

Living in the ghetto gets to be very dicey. Almost on a weekly basis, you’re pulled into the drama that is the streets. Having a gun has led to many unintended shootings. When you’re outnumbered by an angry mob of people, it’s too easy to start popping off caps. Since America has the most heavily armed people in the world, we should have better control on who obtains them. If we cannot do that then we need to control the guns.

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America Loves A Free Market System!

We live in a capitalistic society & that’s the integral part of the American dream. You know, the white house with the picket fence & all that jazz! That’s why a large minority has found the “bailout” to be quite an atrocious idea! What is even more appalling is the partisan blame game! How is it that the officials that the people elected are unclear on what the resolution should be? Maybe congress has no clue about what is taking place in the economy.
The average U.S. citizen really doesn’t understand. We’re just scared of losing our free market system. Perhaps we already have if you trust the information in this video.

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Josephine Baker Because She Was the Epitomist of Beauty & Sensuality

Bronze Venus

 In the 21st century, the celebrities have been oversexualized & true glamour seems to elude so many. Although many women can look sexy, it is tough to exude sexuality. I mean, how many times does Paris Hilton have to tell us she’s “hot”?! Shouldn’t we be telling her that??!! Well, Josephine Baker exemplified sensuality in a way that has influenced the style of many contemporary women. Beyonce has emulated one of her trademark costumes & dances in one of her perfomances. Josephine Baker’s trademark sleek & slick hairstyle was adapted by Jada Pinkett Smith in the 90′s. This woman was such a trendsetter that you can set trends with her style. She was simply iconic.

What makes her truly remarkable is how confident she was in her own skin. In a time when black women were not associated with “sex goddess” , Josephine Baker became the epitome of just that. She was called “Bronze Venus” because she was so bewitchingly sensual & beautiful. Freda Josephine Mcdonald had pursued stardom since she was 13 years old. Born in 1906, she was of an era that was not far removed from slavery. So it was remarkable that she was able to leave such an indelible impression as a world famous entertainer. Not only that but she ushered in a new epoch for black women. She made the world take notice of the black beauty. With her erotic partially nude perfomances, her sensuality was undeniable.

Although she was a major star, she faced racism. She became the first African-American to integrate an American concert hall. Tired of all of the racial calamity in America, she became an expatriate & moved to France. Josephine Baker craved racial equality so she contributed to the civil rights movement. She inspired many future actresses by becoming the first black to star in a major motion picture. This woman took the smallest opportunity & turned it into a promise of success. For those women who try so hard to be hot, take a cue from Josephine Baker. You just might learn something!

Americans Have Less Abortions Than Russians!

In this election, Americans have two very different choices. For many women, it is inspiring to have a female VP candidate no matter what their political stance is. Hillary Clinton gave hope to the progress of the feminist cause which is the right to be considered equal with men. They felt that the female voice had been stifled when Hillary lost. The emotions ran so high that it is still a challenge for Barack Obama to sway these women to vote for him. After Obama picked Joe Biden, John McCain made a shrewd political move & picked a woman. He hoped that his decision to name Sarah Palin as the VP would assuage those feelings of dejection these Hillary supporters felt.

It is hard for those liberal feminists who adored Hillary Clinton to do anything for Sarah but silently cheer her on. They may be keen on a woman for vice president but it’s too bad she’s not akin to Hillary Clinton in any way except her gender. We’ve all heard the dissimilarities between them but the most blaring one is on the topic of abortion. Sarah Palin is wholeheartedly against it no matter what the circumstances which is quite different than Hillary Clinton’s viewpoint on abortion.

Now, I think that we need to reduce the number of abortions in the U.S. We are the second country that performs the most abortions in the world.  Only Russia has more abortions than we do . There are several birth control methods that can prevent unwanted pregnancies. We need to educate our youth about the choices that are available to them. I don’t want the government to control whether or not I can make a decision about my body. The right to choose is part of a democracy. It is a key component of American principles to have the freedom of choice.  Thank God we can choose in this country. Here is a link to some countries that limits a woman’s right to choose. http://www.reproductiverights.org/pdf/pub_fac_abortionlaws.pdf

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Because ” America Sure Loves Those Hockey Moms”!

I was watching the vice presidential debate tonight with Sarah Palin & Joe Biden. When I see Sarah Palin I always think of a hockey or soccer mom. You know that they say she’s great with the one-liners & the zingers. Well, that’s one line that really sticks out for me. I would love to be a soccer, hockey, softball, karate, or any other kind of mom. The problem is that even before the stocks started plunging my finances went kaput! I’ve got a new line for whatever campaign wants to pick it up. “A lot of American moms are somewhere between a welfare mom & a hockey mom. They can’t afford the hockey lessons but their income is too great to receive welfare. Check out this post from a blogger that knows how costly hockey or any sport can get. (http://bentcorner.com/2008/09/so-what-exactly-is-a-hockey-mom/

What we need is a more substantive debate that would talk about those who are basically poor. Has the middle class taken the place of the poor in the minds of the wealthy? When Sarah Palin talks about being a “hockey mom”, she’s not talking about your average mom trying to make ends meet. Ms. Palin has a six-figure income & she identifies with being a hockey mom. Being a hockey mom is reserved for those who make enough to afford it. I’m not sure who in this campaign has talked about those who are low-income & facing even greater poverty. Who is really going to address the poor on a more frequent basis? Apparently, the middle class is all that counts when you’re trying to appeal to voters. Watch the video because a teacher talks about poverty for once in this campaign. Too bad the candidates aren’t talking about the really poor Americans. I guess they figure Barack Obama’s got their vote already.

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Upstanding Humanitarians Like Paul Newman Do Us Proud, America!

Who is as handsome, suave, & sophisticated as Paul Newman in today’s crop of movie stars? There is nobody who is as magnificent looking & talented as Mr. Paul Newman was.The only actor I can think of is Brad Pitt but he doesn’t even suffice. Women & men idolized this great human being because his acting was so diversified & superb! My father loves him in “Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid”. My mother fawned all over him when he was in ” Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”. Those roles were very different types of men but he convinced you because he became those characters.

Oh, those sparkling blue eyes possess the same beauty & clarity of the waters of Hawaii. Those beautiful eyes really were the window into the soul of a gorgeous man. His exterior matched his interior in every single way. This was no vain self-centered man whose only concern was his career. Paul Newman was a true humanitarian who lent a helping hand to those who needed it. His salad dressing donates it’s profits to charity. The proceeds have been no small pittance either. It’s in the ballpark of $200 million. We should all be inspired by this great actor & philanthropist that passed away September 26,2008. I know that heaven has anointed him. He was an earthly angel & an example to all of humanity. His work shall live on.

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This Is Turning Out To Be The Best Election I’ve Ever Seen!

And the Battle Still Rages On….. http://www.ebaumsworld.com/pictures/view/561435/#

I started voting when John Kerry was running against George Bush. The most dramatic thing that happened was the “swift boat ads” that attacked John Kerry’s service record. At that time, the country was still living in constant fear of another terrorist attack. Unfortunately, Americans felt much more safe with the same president that had resided over the country after 9/11. George Bush won because people thought that he was the best bet. Then Hurricane Katrina hit & his delayed reaction was devastating to the victims & the rest of the country. People really started to compile a list of negatives about George Bush which has resulted in the low approval ratings that he has today! Not only that, there are some who consider him to be a war criminal for the Iraq war. For those reasons, the 2008 election has dominated the minds of the majority of Americans. The current president is so disliked that voters want to make sure they don’t make the same mistake again. More people are registering to vote than ever. But it’s not just George Bush that’s got the country energized this election cycle.

During the presidential primaries, there were two democratic candidates that got the country motivated to vote. Hillary Clinton & Barack Obama’s heated race brought so much passion to each candidate’s supporters. It created a huge divide in the democratic party & when Hillary lost it outraged her devotees. Although Barack Obama won, some Hillary Clinton enthusiasts have become some of his most vocal detractors. Their passion seemed to overwhelm all sense of logic even though this was a historical moment! Because never in America has there been a black man leading the democratic party in the fight to win the presidency! That moment was almost overshadowed by all the drama involving both of the Clintons!

Up until this point, there’s been barely a ripple of excitement coming from the republican pick, John McCain. Oh, there was a little attention paid to him during the primaries because his campaign was running out of money. Many political pundits thought he would have to drop out. They kept talking about Mike Huckabee or Mitt Romney. Frankly, Mitt Romney is good-looking so it would have made this race more thrilling if he would have gotten it. I don’t think people felt comfortable with because he was Mormon. Most republicans have an evangelical background so they were gravitating towards Mike Huckabee. But, John McCain emerged as the victor in the presidential primaries.

He was touted as the ultimate war hero but he wasn’t exciting the republican base. Well, they almost ejaculated when they found out who the VP pick was. Sarah Palin stimulated more than the base. The whole country became beguiled with this unknown female governor from Alaska. They became even more fascinated because she had some drama going on in her life.

With the revelation that she had an unmarried 17 year-old daughter, people really started to dissect her whole life more. Then it was revealed that she may have tried to get her brother-in-law fired because he was going through a bad divorce with her sister. It’s the basis of an investigation many have dubbed “troopergate”. Then, a tape was shown of Sarah Palin at Wasilla Church. There was an excerpt of the tape that was of particular concern to many. Sarah Palin revealed that a witch hunter put his hands on her & she became governor of Alaska! A lot of people just didn’t know what to make of the tape! They found that to be an incredulous claim & they speculated about her belief in witchcraft! Pretty spooky! But, if that’s not enough drama then let’s rewind back to Barack Obama.

As the first black candidate, there is drama in just that fact alone. Then, it came to light that he had a controversial preacher who has preached some radical sermons. The fact that he had any involvement at all with Reverend Wright threatened to derail his campaign. Especially when the preacher started making public appearances. It seemed like this scandal would never die down. Fortunately for him, that is the worst of his indignities. The other tittle-tattle was easily disproved. Everyone that has the capacity to do research knows he is a Christian & not a Muslim. There’s been a lot of speculation about each of these candidates. From celebrities to talk show hosts, these candidates have dominated the airwaves! Comedians like Tina Fey have delighted people with her dead-on impersonations of Sarah Palin! Who could forget her parody of that awful Katie Couric interview? This presidential election has had more plot twists than an Alfred Hitchock movie! It’s a mystery who will win but I’m sure glad I’ll have a hand in solving it!

American Life Has Had Its Cakewalks

For some, life could literally become a cakewalk. In the days of enslaved labor, there were plantation songs & dances created by the slaves. One of these dances was the “cakewalk“. This was a lampoon of the European ballroom dances that their masters held. Every movement in the dance was overexaggerated in the slave’s simulation of the white ruling class & their style of dance. All of the mannerisms of the privileged were emulated as well. Although these were satires of their masters, the slave’s owners sponsored these contests which were originally called “chalk-line walks. The winner of these slave contests would get a cake as the prize. Hence, the name cakewalk was born. It is also believed that the american expression “that takes the cake” came from the cakewalk. But something far more special to American culture had its roots in the music that accompanied the cakewalk dance.
Ragtime music is akin to the two-step & cakewalks. If you love jazz, then you know that rags were the precursor to this great American art form. There was a wonderful movie called ” Ragtime” that traces the life of Scott Joplin who is known as one of the greatest composers of ragtime music. Cakewalk music is the forefather of ragtime. Here is a link to a great website that discusses the history of the cakewalk. (http://www.basinstreet.com/cakewalk.htm). These dances were  generally held on Sundays as a form of recreation for the slaves. It was also a form of entertainment for the folks who were the caricatures,the slave masters. Cakewalks may have been a early form of black humor as well. The slaves may have taken some delight in the opportunity to poke fun at those who kept them in bondage. During those slave contests, they were able to imitate the lavish lifestyles that they had no part of. Lives that were filled with such negativity were able to find some humor in it due to these cakewalks. At least, that is the belief. There is another school of thought when it comes to the subject of cakewalks. The cakewalk may have been a source of humiliation. I think it may have been a bit of both depending on who the participants were.
There are some who can find some hilarity in life no matter how downtrodden they are. Some people don’t let circumstances control their outlook on life and others do. Isn’t it ironic that we define “cakewalk” as an easy victory? In actuality, a cakewalk was a difficult strutting dance invented by slaves who had an arduous existence. For those slaves, life was a cakewalk on special occassions & Sundays. It was an interruption from the strenuous work in the fields. From those cakewalks, many American traditions & art forms emerged. For more information on how minstrel shows sprung from these slave dance contests go to  :http://www.aliciapatterson.org/APF0204/Watkins/Watkins.html Lastly, the cakewalk is a very painful reminder of slave life for many blacks especially during the civil rights era. Many feel that it gives credence to stereotypes of blacks that have persisted since slavery until the present. “Sambo” is the one stereotype that could have been enhanced by these cakewalks. A  “Sambo” is a black slave who whites defined as at ease with his life of servitude. The laughter & comradery present at these cakewalks helped advance the claim that blacks were comfortable being slaves. This was not the true position of blacks. Slavery was an absolutely miserable lowly life. Even though the cakewalk may have started out as a parody of whites, it ultimately became a parody of blacks as it evolved into minstrel shows. There is more detailed information on black stereotypes here(http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/coon/ ) The historical challenges that black Americans faced gave birth to some great forms of artistic expression like blues & jazz. Who would have thought that the history of American music sprung from a “cakewalk”?

 

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Barack Obama Represents Both Sides In The Race Issue!

Black & White Man

How is it that race is such a huge factor in this election? A whole lot of folks are up in arms about Barack Obama’s race. I don’t want to vote for a black man to be the president of the United States! These are the impassioned cries of some American voters. But, why all the fervor over this race issue? After all, whose to say that Barack Obama is even black? He is a composite of two different ethnic groups. He embodies the diversity of our great nation. In a country that has a history of hatred between blacks & whites, I think it’s pretty moving that Barack Obama is a combination of both warring races. He is of the same ancestry as both the slave & the master. In fact, his white ancestors owned slaves in America. Here’s an excerpt from www.thebaltimoresun.com.

“While a relative owned slaves, another fought for the Union in the Civil War,” campaign spokesman Bill Burton said last night. “And it is a true measure of progress that the descendant of a slave owner would come to marry a student from Kenya and produce a son who would grow up to be a candidate for president of the United States.” Read the rest of the article by following the link(http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/politics/bal-te.obama02mar02,0,3453027.story).
I found this really interesting documentary online about race identity on youtube.com. It is about creoles who feel that they are, “Too White To Be Black, Too Black To Be White“. As the title states, it is an in-depth look into how this multicultural group fits into a black & white world. It is very informative & it grapples with the all the issues of race. A clip of it is shown in this video.
One article I read about ethnicity was really astonishing! It is frome www.mixedheritagecenter.org. This website has a claim that has been disputed by some. That is that Barack Obama may not be the first black president of the United States of America! Link here for more info on that http://www.mixedheritagecenter.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1471&Itemid=29
It wouldn’t suprise me one little bit if there were presidents who didn’t divulge their black ancestry. And if that’s true, maybe that’ll take the steam out of the race debate once & for all.

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We Are Very Patriotic People

Don't Question The Last 8 Years ! That's Not Patriotic!

 Since 9/11, patriotism has been an underlying theme during election time in America. Some people define patriotism as supporting your country. That’s all fine & dandy. What does country really mean, though? Your country is the land and it’s people. If you view your country as the Bush administration,  then those who don’t support George Bush & his policies are deemed to be unpatriotic. During this year’s election, we have heard extensively from the campaign trail about patriotism. Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, John McCain, & Joe Biden have all had their love of country questioned. John McCain has even made it a central part of his campaign with his slogan “COUNTRY FIRST”.That motto almost implies that you are disloyal to America if you don’t vote for John McCain. Barack Obama’s message of “Change That We Need” speaks to the voice of the dissenter. Barack Obama’s catchphrase seems to be catching on because of the mood of the country. Most of us have become a dissenting voice against the current state of affairs in America. The huge bailout that they all signed really has a lot of Americans feeling disheartened. It may have been the change that we need but who really put the whole country first? Wall Street is the hierarchy of the country which is what made the whole nation balk at this bailout! We all are in disagreement with the way our government has been operating. This is when it is time to become truly patriotic by doing all that you can as an American to ensure that this country remains the land of dreams for future generations.

This video shows two different types of patriotism. The mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah named Rocky Anderson took part in an anti-war rally during a George Bush speaking engagement. This caused a lot of outrage because his state was one of the biggest supporters of the Iraq war. He is a voice of dissent because he fears the direction his country is going in. The founding fathers were also voices of dissent against Britian. That is how America came to be. Another kind of patriotism is consistently on display whenver you tune your tv to the Fox channel. That would be blind patriotism. According to Glen T. Martin,
“But such blind patriotism destroys democracy and corrupts the people who blindly follow their corrupt and deceitful leaders. Today, we reap the whirlwind, the judgment of God, so to speak, the consequences of our trashing the vision of the founding fathers. For today, our leaders no longer keep it a secret. They openly admit and act on the truth that the United States runs a brutal, world-wide empire based on the immense military might of the Pentagon and the immense domination of U.S. multinational corporations over the global economy.” (end of quote). To continue reading this article follow this link:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5534.htm

There are hardly any voices of dissent in the mainstream media regarding the Bush administration’s deceitful practices. What I have witnessed since the fear of terrorism struck Americans is this show of blind patriotism. By questioning the government, you run the risk of being accused of being a terrorist sympathizer. The entire staff at Fox will charge at their guests like raging bulls whenever they voice dissent. We must support our country at all costs is the view of the blind patriot. Even if the president has lied to the American citizens about weapons of mass destruction. Are we forgetting the “Declaration Of Indepence”? In particular,

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.”

The Patriot Act would have the founding fathers turning over in their graves if they knew how the Constitution was being disregarded. Government has been spiraling out of control before this economic crisis. This article talks about how unpatriotic the Patriot Act is. Follow this link to read it. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/23/politics/23patriot.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

It is our duty as Americans to not follow our government blindly. To consider yourself patriotic, you must really take into account what is best for the future of our country. Putting your country first means putting both the land & it’s people first. All of it’s people regardless of their stature in society. If the people are not doing well then the country is failing. Recognizing that fact is true patriotism to me.

 

 

 

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Saturday Night Live Has The Best Political Send-Ups

 

 

Supporters of McCain Express Their Views

I have to devote a whole post to Tina Fey as Sarah Palin in the future. She has really helped lighten the mood for those who are feeling depressed by the falling economy. Her impersonations are so dead-on & funny that even the most ardent Palin lover has to chuckle. This video I posted is a spoof of the most boring uninformative debate thus far. It was far more interesting to watch this skit. The guy playing Tom Brokaw has perfected the deep guttural tone of his voice. Barack Obama’s tendency to give highly wrought answers instead of austere ripostes was illustrated in this piece. John McCain’s assertion that he is a nonconformist was parodied quite well. It was comical in the real debate when John McCain meandered right in front of the camera when Tom Brokaw was giving his closing remarks. That was a very peculiar moment for John McCain & one of the most memorable occurrences in the whole humdrum discussion. I hope we actually gain some knowledge of what these two candidates will actually do if they become the president.

They have both been talking in vague generalites. Barack Obama has been slightly more specific on the economy then John McCain. Gentlemen, the country is starved for more details on just how you propose to help the core of the economy. That would be the middle class, sirs. How will you bail us all out of this chaos? Many of us have been in a tight spot well before this latest bailout that we, as taxpayers, are now paying for. Give us more facets on the rescue plan for the middle class & the poor! I’m assuming that one of you has a strategy. Let’s hear it in the next debate. No more stump speeches!

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John McCain Fighting To Be Revered As A Maverick Instead Of A Sidekick!!

John McCain In Fighting Mode

He has been illustrated as being the ultimate war hero. Heck, he never lets us forget that he has the wounds to prove that fact. He survived torture by his captors during the Vietnam War which is how he got those aforementioned battle scars. That is one facet of his career that cannot be disputed. His life has been a series of ups & downs just like those shifting numbers in the polls. There has been some scandal & triumph in his political life. In fact, he took on campaign finance reform because of the Keating 5 debacle that he was involved in. He has had to gain acceptance from the republican party due to his reputation as one who goes against his own party. He has always been known as a true pugilist! The question has now become who is he actually in a conflict with?  Is Barack Obama the only opposition in his battle to win the White House?

Since waging a character battle with Barack Obama, he’s had to fight the importunate blather about his own moral fiber. There are anecdotes about John McCain’s mafia ties, his gambling sprees, adultery, etc… If you want to hear more detail about these stories go to (http://www.realchange.org/mccain.htm ) He has had to fight his own words as well. What you say in the age of youtube will come back to bite you in the ass! I have included a video below where you can witness one of John McCain’s biggest fights! It is the battle with himself that is John McCain’s biggest challenge during this whole election. Should he be the maverick that he’s infamous for being or does his association with Bush relegate him to being just a sidekick? It seems that McCain has been skirmishing with these two conflicting views of him. What impression is the public getting from the choices he has made during this election?

Looking at today’s polls, it seems that John McCain is losing this battle with himself & Barack Obama. He was running neck to neck with Obama barely a month ago. But, he made a lot of choices that made the good American folks question his true motives. The choice of Sarah Palin as his VP pick left many wondering about his integrity. Did he really think she could sway Hilary Clinton voters? Because those two are poles apart in everything but gender!

John McCain has decided to reassert himself as the maverickduring the final weeks of this election. This economic crisis has him fighting an uphill battle because he signed the bailout bill along with Barack Obama! It has plenty of pork barrel spending tacked on to it, which he said he had no tolerance for. A lot of McCain supporters were dismayed by that fact! Then, when he suspended his campaign there was a huge dispute as to the true reason behind this announcement. Especially when it was not clear what role he actually played in the bailout talks. People still mull over what his real objective was in doing that. Therefore, he must now fight this image of him being just a sidekick of George Bush. That is what is embedded in the psyche of countless voters that are in those battleground states that Obama & McCain are fighting for. Can he make a comeback in just 3 weeks ? That is one of the many unknowns that will keep us engrossed with this election until they finally announce the victor!

 

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The Last Presidential Debate Has America’s Attention Tonight!!

Aren

McCain cannot afford to be the same old cornflake that he has been in the last two debates. It is imperative for him to give straightforward answers & stick to the issues. Let’s hope that this one is much better than the last one. I am writing a follow-up post once this last presidential debate ends. The moderator claims he is going to ask the questions that America has not heard yet. Let’s hope they actually answer them this time. Doesn’t it feel great to be an American at this moment? We all have the power to change the last 8 years by voting! Let’s hope these two politicians become humans that we can relate to. Someone needs to emerge as the clear winner or it’s over. That would be John McCain. If he is considered to be the loser, his fight will be nearly impossible! But if it’s dull as hell like the last one, here is a classic that you can watch. Bill Clinton whupped George Bush & won! Let’s see what happens tonight! Please let’s have some great one-liners that will make my next posting super funny!!!!

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” I AM NOT GEORGE BUSH! You Should Have Run Against Him 4 Years Ago!

I AM NOT GEORGE BUSH

 

The spirit of the fighting irish was definitely in John McCain this evening! He is of Scottish & Irish descent so he called on his ancestry tonight. He was aggresive & came ready for a fight. My last post talked about the two public opinions of John McCain. There are some who view him as a war hero who is a political maverick. Then, you have those who look at him as just a sidekick of George Bush. McCain’s job was to establish himself as a rebel who does not conform to any of the Bush doctrines. To prove that point he delivered one of the best zingers of all three presidential debates. “I am not George Bush, Senator Obama. You should have ran 4 years ago if you wanted to run against him.”
Obama apologized for not being able to distinguish between McCain & Bush, since both agree 90% of the time. According to everyone but Fox (who Obama threw a great zinger at), McCain was the loser. He appeared a little too angry for some while Obama was cool & casual. I don’t know what could possibly happen to change the game for McCain now. The voters will decide in less than 3 weeks. This was not a game changer for McCain. But, he won for the best zinger of the night! Go to the video if you want to see McCain’s clever retort!

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We Can Vote On Who Won The Most Debates Now!

 

Who Won All 3 Debates? Who is the next president?

This is a silly representation of both candidates that I thought was amusing & a good match for this post. We have finally come to the end of what I like to call these debates. This last one did not disappoint & it is time for me to pose my question. Who do you think won the most debates? Was it Senator Obama or Senator McCain? And who will you pull the lever for on November 4? Leave me a comment with your response.

Joe “The Plumber” ! Is He America’s Newly Minted Folk Hero?

 

The Real Joe The Plumber!

The internet is exploding with all types of speculation about just who “Joe The Plumber” really is! He was the focal point of the final presidential debate. “Joe The Plumber” was used by both candidates as an example of the typical small business owner who would be affected by the Obama tax plan. As it turns out, he doesn’t even fall in the financial bracket that would be taxed by Obama. He makes under $ 250,000 a year!This has sparked the ire of many who questioned the legitimacy of his concerns. Get the full story by following this link;
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-campaign17-2008oct17,0,373757.story

Is he a hard-working plumber who has scraped up every dollar to buy his employer’s business? Well according to various news sources, it’s not even clear that he really is a plumber at all! So, why would he present a theoretical example of a financial dilemna that really has no relation to his situation? The supposition is that because he is a Republican, he must be a McCain decoy planted by the campaign to poke holes in Obama’s tax cut.It is obvious that he supports John McCain & why he didn’t state that is a mystery to me. There is some titillating tittle-tattle that connects him to Charles Keating in a six degrees of separation kind of way!

Then, there are those conservatives & republicans who think of him as the classic example of an “average joe“. Sorry guys, but making $250,000 per year is hardly run of the mill. Most folks I know make between $30,000 to $40,000 per year. By today’s standards, that means they are completely poverty-stricken. I am struggling to see how this guy represents all of America. This speaks to the upper middle class which is only a portion of America. Why aren’t we concerned about the real struggling working-class folks who can’t pay their bills because of this bad economy?

Is  “Joe The Plumber” a mythical figure or a real hard-working man? To some,  Samuel Wurzelbacher is not a red herring that is being masqueraded as a real representation of the middle class white voter. You know, the ones that both candidates are trying to appeal to for votes. He stands for every hard-working American.  He stands for white male small business owners, I would think. Not every American ( black, asian, poor, white, mexican, gay, etc..) that was listening to these two go on about a caricature of the ordinary person. Many people were insulted by the constant reference to “Joe The Plumber”!

But, some think he is America’s newly minted folk hero. He is the stuff of tall tales like Johnny Appleseed. Remember, that the word hero is defined in the following ways; remarkably brave person, somebody who is admired, main character in fictional plot, & a man with superhuman powers. So, which description fits Samuel Wurzelbacher? According to the New York Times,

“He also says he actually isn’t in the bracket where Obama would raise his taxes — but he’s worried that Obama will shift the bracket down. He also said that, in his encounter with Obama, the Illinois Senator “a tap dance…almost as good as Sammy Davis, Jr.”  To read the full article follow the link: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/16/plumbing-joe/?ref=opinion

Following that statement, some have wondered if he could be characterized as a racist also. I mean, you just don’t compare two black men who have nothing in common & then bring up “tap dance“. What was the purpose of associating Sammy Davis, Jr. & Barack Obama? People are still in a state of puzzlement. Who is “Joe The Plumber” ? Depending on who you talk to, every definition but a superhero. If he can save John McCain’s bid for the presidency, maybe that one will apply too.

 

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“Joe The Plumber” Looks Like….

Lost Relatives?

 

I found this picture at TotallyLooksLike.com. And guess what, folks? He actually does look like Michael Chiklis from the movie “Fantastic Four”. He also stars in “The Shield”. Don’t you think they look alike?

“King Joe” Represents More Than Just The Plumbers! Watch The Video!

Man Scared To Be Labeled As Anti-American

I feel like I have travelled through a time warp! What the hell is really going on? I posted this video of the cartoon representation of the all-American working man called “King Joe“. He comes from the era of McCarthyism . This is the pro-American” propaganda film that I believe gave birth to this century’s “King Joe“! That would be ”Joe The Plumber” who has gained fame as the poster boy for working class Americans. Are we hearkening back to the olden days where everyone who wasn’t clearly a Republican was a communist? Check out this piece from a writer who is from that era : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-love/mccarthyism-with-lipstick_b_133191.html

Yesterday, Sarah Palin made a controversial statement that I consider to be divisive. She said that certain parts of the country are “pro-American“. C’mon, gal! That is a ridiculous statement! Only certain people are anti-American. I didn’t realize all folks from small towns were pro-American. Remember Timothy McVeigh? He was the one of the perpetrators of the Oklahoma City bombings. He was a small-town guy who joined the military & was a member of the NRA. He was a registered Republican who later identified with the Libertarian Party, although they denounced him. He was opposed to liberals & identified with the views of the extreme right. He definitely thought that he was pro-American. But, he committed one of the worst terrorist acts before 9/11. He felt that he was protecting the constitution & destroying the all-consuming government. In his mind, the government was anti-American.

This is a quote from Timothy McVeigh that I found on wikipedia.org,
“The government is afraid of the guns people have because they have to have control of the people at all times. Once you take away the guns, you can do anything to the people. You give them an inch and they take a mile. I believe we are slowly turning into a socialist government. The government is continually growing bigger and more powerful, and the people need to prepare to defend themselves against government control.” (end quote)

 Check out this next passage from wikipedia.org,
“Various speculations have suggested that “the government” was involved in a conspiracy behind the bombing, or that the government planned the attack as a false flag operation in order to justify persecuting right-wing organizations.”(end quote)

Sarah Palin must really be naive of just how extreme some folks are that call themselves “pro-American.” That is why I used Timothy McVeigh to illustrate my point. But, wait a minute, guys! Wasn’t she involved with the Alaska Independence Party which some describe as a fringe SECESSIONIST movement? SO MUCH FOR THE RED, WHITE, & BLUE! Read more about it here: (http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/09/sarah_palin_and_the_alaska_ind.php

All of this talk about socialism is very, very scary. It is eerily similar to what I had hoped was a bygone epoch! It is simply history repeating itself. We’ve already had a “King Joe” during the anti-communism era or the McCarthy era. In the 21st century, King Joe has morphed into “Joe The Plumber“! Now we know where this idea came from. And now we know we have officially entered the “Time Machine”. My question is, does reform mean using the same tactics as another Republican from the 1950′s? Is it Senator McCain or Senator McCarthy? I thought we were done with the old kind of divisive politics! Words like this can give rise to the worst kind of extremism. I think it really is time to bring in a change agent after all. It’s all about PROGRESSION NOT REGRESSION! As Americans, we should all be insulted by these discordant statements that Sarah Palin made. They were very unpatriotic, indeed! We are one nation that is striving for unity in a multicultural society. Let’s reach our goal, America!

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Marie Laveau: A Mystical Creole Voodoo Legend

The Many Images Of Marie Laveau

Every Hallow’s Eve, I think of a New Orleans legend that has captivated America since the early 1800s. Marie Laveau was a free French Creole who was a formidable business woman. Not only did she style hair magnificently, Marie Laveau possessed other skills that couldn’t be reckoned with. She is a voodoo priestess that will forever be woven into the fabric of America. She is a celebrated figure in all metaphysical societies across the world.

The details of her past are very sketchy. What is known is that she was a true humanitarian who found time to help others, even though she had 15 kids!From helping escaped slaves to stopping public executions, she showed tremendous compassion towards others. Marie Laveau was a devout Catholic who interwined her religion with voodoo. Her magic was uncanny & the charms she created brought her wealth & great eminence in society.

New Orleans has always been like the soul of America. It is the birthplace of jazz & it is an overall magical place. Is it any wonder that it would be the birthplace of Marie Laveau? Her energy is still said to be felt all over the city!Her tomb is the destination of those who indulge in witchcraft & other types of magic. Voodoo rites are performed at her grave site & people ask her to grant their wishes. Her ghost is said to have been spotted throughout the years.

There is a book called Voodoo Queen that gets more into the mystery of Marie Laveaus’s life. Some people  conjure up the image of a witch in their minds when she is mentioned. Others visualize a saint. The video I posted gives a brief description of her life. This is an excerpt of a book review of Voodoo Queen that was taken off the following website: http://www.matrifocus.com/IMB06/review-nonfiction.htm

“The book tells of the “lives” because two Marie Laveaus — mother and daughter — were influential voodoo priestesses in New Orleans. The Laveaus were free women of color, property owners with much freedom and many of the rights of Anglos. They were prominent, French-speaking, Catholic Creoles. Ward, professor of anthropology at New Orleans, traces the roots of Creoles descended from Africans brought to Louisiana, most of them sailing directly from Africa without stopping in the Caribbean first. They brought a rich and sustainable culture with them, and became a mixture of races and cultures — French, African, Native American, and Spanish.

The first Marie, who lived from 1801 to 1881, was a fever nurse who ministered to men on death row and worked in a prison setting. She stopped public executions, helped slaves escape, and attended to many of the earthy and mundane concerns of her community. Marie was a member in high standing at St. Louis Cathedral. Baptized and married at its altar, she continued to worship there: the priests there had made their peace with her. “The Creole church in the heart of the city was only a few blocks from St. Louis Cemetery and from Congo Square. Congo Square was at the crossroads, the pivot for people of color, and the epicenter of their mystical geography and directly associated with the soul of American dance and the roots of jazz. No other place in America where black people gathered is as well documented (89).”

“The first Marie used her Catholic connections and Voodoo magic to influence the legal system and protect members of the community from its grasp. “Not everyone, however, was impressed with the quality of Marie’s devotion to her church (23),” as she would take the palms from Palm Sunday and then walk “out into the sunlight of the parade ground in front of the cathedral to the square (22),” to dance with snakes and commune with divinity…” Read more by following the above link.

Her life is one of the most enduring mysteries of America’s past. Marie Laveau was said to be a true conjurer who could commune with the spirits. She was a truly supernatural woman. Although, some have speculated that her political connections helped her grant some of her client’s requests. This beautiful & potent American voodoo priestess is still worshipped by people all over the world. She is the prevailing queen of magic & voodoo.

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Colin Powell Finally Posed The Question “What’s Wrong With Being Muslim?’

 

 Colin Powell made his endorsement on the show “Meet The Press” this Sunday. He gave an in-depth explantion as to why he was doing so. He has angered folks like Rush Limbaugh who claim he’s just doing this for racial reasons. Now, Retired Gen. Colin Powell is a very notable man in U.S. history because of his very accomplished career. But many question just how much Colin Powell even identifies with being black! Back on Oct. 15, 2002, Harry Belafonte appeared on CNN where he made some very disparaging remarks about Colin Powell. He basically called him an  Uncle Tom. Read the full transcript by following this link  :  (http://www.blackcommentator.com/14_belafonte.html) As you can see, there is are some blacks who have questioned just how much he identifies with being black. Colin Powell said he didn’t like the direction that the Republican Party was taking. He said that it was moving more to the far right.

“Obama’s an Arab! He’s a Muslim“! These are the screams that can be heard at McCain rallies. John McCain has not come out & actually denounced those untruths. He did clarify that Barack Obama is a “decent man“. The implication being that Arab or Muslim men are not “decent“. I have not heard anyone repudiate that notion until I saw Colin Powell on “Meet the Press” today. He suggested that there is an even bigger question looming than whether or not Obama is a Muslim or not. Although he clarified that Obama is a Christian, he said “What’s wrong with being Muslim”?
I think that’s a question that America should ask itself. Especially since you have Muslims in the military who are willing to lay down their life for this country. I am not of the belief that God created religion. Or that religion created God. Man created religion to divide & conquer other human beings. I do not subscribe to the idea that a certain religion is bad. There are terrible extremists in every faith.

 

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The Sarah Palin Parodies Helped Elucidate Tina Fey’s Comedic Genius!

Sarah Palin AKA Caribou Barbie! She's A Real Tough Chick!

 

Who knows just how much Tina Fey’s impressions of Sarah Palin have hurt her bid for the vice presidency? What is patently obvious is that is has given Tina Fey more notoriety than she already had! She’s already won 5 Emmys, a Golden Globe, & a SAG award. Her career was already sizzling & 30 Rock is one of the coolest sitcom comedies! She is the full package with her brains, humor, & talent!

There has been some outrage expressed by John McCain’s top economic advisor Carly Fiorina over these skits. Ms. Fiorina claims that they are sexist! I don’t believe that Tina Fey believes that her own sex is inferior to men. Some could argue that the McCain campaign has been sexist by not letting Sarah Palin be herself. Tina Fey has said that if Palin wins she’s leaving the earth! So it’s no wonder that Tina Fey & Sarah Palin barely appeared in one skit together! I was hoping for more interaction between Palin & Fey. I like this interview better than the Palin appearance on SNL because it was too constrained. This is a funny interview from the David Letterman Show that gives you a glimpse of Tina Fey’s personality.

 

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Joe Biden: The VP With The Potential To Sabotage His Own Ticket!

Obama Finds The True Motives Behind Biden’s Gaffes

Talk about kicking a man when he’s already down! Barack Obama’s grandmother has a broken hip & is gravely ill. He suspended his campaign for two days to visit her. So this could not have come at a more inopportune time. Maybe this guy’s just seeking attention. Joe Biden barely gets mentioned in the media. All of the focus has mainly been  on Sarah Palin, Barack Obama, & John McCain.

Joe Biden’s latest goof was his fear laden statement about an imminent international crisis if Obama wins! Is this guy secretly against Barack or what? He’s politically astute enough to know the kind of damage those types of remarks can cause! These dire predictions sound like they came from the McCain camp. You know, Joe Biden has said he never wanted to be vice president. This is just pure speculation but maybe this is Joe’s unconscious attempt to sabotage the presidential race. Either that or he’s a total buffoon! How is this helping the top of your ticket?  And folks worry about Sarah Palin hurting McCain! Joe Biden isn’t much better!

 

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The Attitudes Of “The Birth Of A Nation” Still Exist In America! It’s Time For Some American History X!

American History X!

President Woodrow Wilson went to the premiere of one of the most controversial Hollywood “classics“. After he saw “The Birth Of A Nation “, it was alleged that he made the following statement, ” It is like writing history with Lightning. And my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.” Whether or not President Wilson really said that is not the point. This movie is indicative of the general views on race in America which are still present today. In the present election between McCain & Obama, Americans are being confronted with race baiting tactics. If you have ever seen this film, you know that it is blatantly racist & portrays blacks as brutes. The Ku Klux Klan is painted as being valiant saviors instead of terrorists.
Roger Ebert gave a great review & you can access the article by following the link that is after this excerpt:
” Certainly “The Birth of a Nation” (1915) presents a challenge for modern audiences. Unaccustomed to silent films and uninterested in film history, they find it quaint and not to their taste. Those evolved enough to understand what they are looking at find the early and wartime scenes brilliant, but cringe during the postwar and Reconstruction scenes, which are racist in the ham-handed way of an old minstrel show or a vile comic pamphlet. Cited until the 1960s as the greatest American film, “Birth” is still praised as influential, ground-breaking and historically important, yes–but is it actually seen?”

“It is a stark history lesson to realize that this film, for many years the most popular ever made, expressed widely-held and generally acceptable white views. Miss Gish reveals more than she realizes when she quotes Griffith’s paternalistic reply to accusations that he was anti-Negro: “To say that is like saying I am against children, as they were our children, whom we loved and cared for all of our lives.”

“In that case, “The Birth of a Nation” is worth considering, if only for the inescapable fact that it did more than any other work of art to dramatize and encourage racist attitudes in America.”
“Racism of the sort seen in “The Birth of a Nation” has not been acceptable for decades in American popular culture. Modern films make racism invisible, curable, an attribute of villains, or the occasion for optimistic morality plays. “Birth of a Nation” is unapologetic about its attitudes, which are those of a white Southerner, raised in the 19th century, unable to see African-Americans as fellow beings of worth and rights. It is based on Thomas Dixon’s racist play, The Clansman, and the fact that Griffith wanted to adapt it reveals his own prejudices.” (END OF EXCERPT)  Follow this link for the article in it’s entirety :
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030330/REVIEWS08/303300301/1023

Those racist attitudes that were so prevalent during 1915 have not vanished from America in 2008. We still have negative views of blacks, muslims, indians, etc… That’s why films like these are so relevant now. Even if it was made almost a century ago! Americans need to know the history of race perception.  “The Birth of a Nation” is an offensive reminder of how race has been regarded in America. Another film that deals with racism is the 1998 flick “American History X”. It is a look at two brothers who grew up being taught racism by their father & have joined a white supremacy group. In the movie, circumstances change both brothers attitudes towards blacks.

It is easy to find parallels between” The Birth of A Nation” & “American History X“, even though they were made almost 70 years apart! The theme of both movies is white supremacy but that is where the congruence ends. You see, “American History X ” is like the finale of “The Birth of A Nation “. The characters realize the error of the ways & renounce their pro-white stance. There is some semblance of unity between blacks & whites at the end of the film. How I wish that one day we can change the racial attitudes towards one another in America. Because united we stand and divided we shall fall. This country was built not just for one but for all!

 

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Sarah Palin Is Known As The “VPILF” Because She’s Hot! Why Did She Need A $150,000 Makeover?

Sarah Palin aka VPILF

John Edwards was a good-looking VP choice. But, sorry dude! Sarah Palin is now the only VP in history to bring sex appeal to an election. Before Sarah Palin came on the national scene, she was on “The Late, Late Show”. The host couldn’t help but bring up her attractiveness. Craig Ferguson said she had that “naughty librarian” look! He looked like he was about to ejaculate! Since she became the VP pick, she is now known as the “VPILF“. I don’t think we’ve ever had a vice presidential pick that made people horny until Sarah Palin.

Even though she ridicules her IQ, Tina Fey had to applaud Sarah Palin’s stunningly good looks. Here’s an excerpt from Eonline which has a statement from Tina Fey & Alec Baldwin on it:

“I’ll tell you, that lady is five times better-looking than I am,” Fey says in the latest issue of TV Guide. “She’s 44? She’s got none of that droopy s–t. She’s keeping it tight!”

Even 30 Rock costar Alec Baldwin seemed to share Fey’s feelings when he told Palin on last weekend’s SNL, “You are way hotter in person. Seriously, I can’t believe they let her [Fey] play you.” (End of excerpt) Link here to read the rest: (http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b64846_whos_hotter_tina_fey_vs_sarah_palin.html)

So, what the hell was the RNC thinking when they spent that $150,000 on Sarah Palin? She’s no Greta Van Susteren! This chick is a total babe already! They could have saved themselves all the scandal. Here’s an excerpt from (www.politico.com:

“The Republican National Committee has spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.

According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74.

The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September.

The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting no such costs in August.

The cash expenditures immediately raised questions among campaign finance experts about their legality under the Federal Election Commission’s long-standing advisory opinions on using campaign cash to purchase items for personal use.” (End Of Excerpt) Follow this link to read all about it: (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14805.html)

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Hillary Clinton Because She’s No Shrinking Violet!

She's No Shrinking Violet!

Hillary Rodham Clinton is an arduous female politician who has spellbinding qualities that attract countless women. She is a role model & a feminist’s dream because she has come closer to the presidency than any woman in history. Even Sarah Palin had to marvel at the 18 million votes that were cast for Hillary Clinton! This was a woman who seemed equal to men & inspired females to seek equality in their own lives. But, there was a time when Hillary Clinton was pitied & despised by many women because of the choices she made. Many were puzzled as to why she stayed with Bill Clinton after the Monica Lewinsky scandal!

I mean, she’s no shrinking violet. But if you want to be a future president, you might not want to do anything to hurt your chances. Hillary Clinton may have also had her daughter, Chelsea Clinton, in mind.  Most likely, her decision to stay with him was a shrewd political move. A lot of females thought that she was just a weak woman back then. They just could not understand what motivated her to stand by her man.

Since then, Hillary Clinton has emerged as a pillar of strength. Her nickname is “Iron Lady” which is really quite fitting. So, when Sarah Palin said that Hillary Clinton should stop her “persistent whine” about sexism & unfair media coverage, I thought she’d be tougher than Hillary. As it turns out, Sarah Palin hasn’t subjected herself to any real scrutiny. And judging from the interviews she has given, it might be best to keep her cloistered until Nov.4!

Sarah Palin blames the “media filter” for her appalling performances. It’s sexism when anything negative gets attention. She is making the same complaints that she accused Hillary Clinton of making. How hypocritical because I’ve heard plenty of whining about the unfairness shown towards Sarah Palin. She had a quick change of heart once she saw herself getting dissected by the media. I think Sarah Palin should have stayed true to the words she spoke in this video instead of bleating.

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I Forgot How Funny Will Ferrell’s George Bush Impersonations Really Are!

Will Ferrell The Funnyman

This is so freakin’ hilarious! George Bush is toxic to the McCain campaign & they have really been making a great effort to distance themselves from Bush. This skit really plays up that fact. What makes SNL so funny when they parody politicians is just how well they get into their heads! You know that it’s true that John McCain visibly winces whenever George Bush is mentioned. Although he launched his campaign during the primaries as the most supportive ally of Bush, he has now tried to ditch him. I love it when the fake George Bush says, “Remember this face when you vote! A vote for John McCain Is A Vote For George Bush!” SNL is  uproarious! For more side-splitting Bush absurdity, look for Will Ferrell on Broadway. Here’ s the scoop on that from The Insider.com :

“Funnyman Will Ferrell is planning to bring comedy and spontaneity to the stage, when he makes his Broadway debut January in the comedy, “You’re Welcome America. A final night with George W. Bush,” says Variety.”

For the full story go to :  http://www.theinsider.com/news/1269275_Will_Ferrell_to_Bring_Bush_Humor_in_Broadway_Debut

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The Making Of America By Michael Moore

This is Michael Moore’s banned cartoon clip from his movie “Bowling With Columbine”. It’s a sardonic twist on the standard telling of American history. It is a bold piece of work that is worth watching. I have included a link to a great website that deals with genocide & prejudice:
(http://www.understandingprejudice.org/links/genocide.htm

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Material Girl Madonna Will Share More Wealth With Guy If She Divorces In The UK Instead Of The US!

Madonna Over The Years

Madonna has always been daring, scandalous, & a tangible sex symbol. She merged punk,rock,& hip-hop in her sexy eclectic look when she first burst onto the 80′s pop scene. Her style was so urban that a lot of people thought she was black when they heard her sing “Holiday“! A lot of young girls were emulating her look right down to the rubber wristbands. Madonna made them realize their own sexuality & appeal. She is a controversial entertainer who has been accused of blasphemy among other thing.

She mocked the establishment & religion with her song “Like A Virgin“. Every Madonna fan remembers her performing in that white wedding dress at the 1984 MTV Video Awards.  She looked anything but pure & innocent. Madonna had the same raw sexuality that Jimi Hendrix & Prince had. It was in your face raunchy sexiness. The movie “Desperately Seeking Susan” has captured the Madonna who talked with a New York accent on film. Nowadays, Madonna has adapted a slight British accent since she’s moved to the UK with Guy Ritchie.

Do you recall her extemely volatile relationship with actor Sean Penn? It seemed to be a brief but deeply passionate union. That was her first encounter with a bad marriage that ended in divorce.
Now comes the news that the gossip about Madonna & Guy Ritchie breaking up was solid. And it sounds like this guy was a real geniune English prick! It’s hard to picture a strong lioness like her being the victim of any type of abuse. But it appears that this relationship was an emotional drain on her. And if she gets her divorce in the UK it’ll be a bit of a financial drain on her as well. Apparently, it’s cheaper to get divorced right here in the US. Madonna may be facing one of the biggest divorce settlements in the history of the UK!

 Read more about how the dissolution of a marriage is handled in the United Kingdom:
(http://www.insidedivorce.com/divorce-help/How-divorce-affects-your-money-and-your-emotions/?stage=A5D0E3C493500B427E453CDBDD04B1F2&subject=B0875360A0906896DA25C58745F8D4D1

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America Has Always Been Multicultural ! What Does “Pro-American” Really Mean?

Races Intermixing In Early America

Rep. Michelle Bachman has been very vocal about what she deems to be an anti-american problem. She caused a lot of uproar over these ridiculous remarks! Even though she issued an attempt at an apology, this is not the first time. Back in 2005, she made these comments:
“There is a movement afoot that’s occurring and part of that is whole philosophical idea of multi-cultural diversity, which on the face sounds wonderful. Let’s appreciate and value everyone’s cultures. But guess what? Not all cultures are equal. Not all values are equal.”( Excerpt taken from Huffington Post). Here is the link :
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-uptake/michele-bachmann-not-all_b_137463.html

What cultures are equal & how do you determine that? America has been multicultural before it’s inception. American dishes are a reflection of the intermingling of different ethnicities. Corn is one of the biggest food commodities & it was first cultivated & grown by American Indians. Although American history tends to be told from a Eurocentric point of view, the truth is undeniable. We have always been a pluralistic society. I’ve included a great video that is about America’s multicultural history.The next paragraph is a snippet from an essay called “White Pride”. I thought I’d post it because it speaks to the underlying meaning of terms like “pro-american”. Sarah Palin & John McCain have been talking about “pro-americans”. Is this what they mean?

“Today people in the USA are living in a new era of white supremacy. Activists have found new effective tactics to convince as many people as possible of their beliefs. The white supremacist movement has learned to shift its tactics. No longer was it able to rely on open racism as an effective recruiting tactic. For this reason hate groups were worried that they could never convince the majority of white Americans to join them. Although many whites may share their prejudices, only very few are willing to display them openly. To spread their message, they needed a new strategy and took advantage of fears of change or difference and used homophobia, anti-abortion, pro-family values, and pro-American, traditional together with racist and anti-Semitic beliefs. This way they have managed to attract the attention of whites who may not consider themselves racist, but patriotic Americans concerned about the moral decay of their country.” (End Of Excerpt)
Follow the link to read the rest:
 http://uedo100.uni-graz.at/magazine/racism.html

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CODEPINK Protester Trying To Handcuff Karl Rove!

What Karl Rove Deserves!

Code Pink protester, Janine Boneparth , is fucking amazing for having the audacity to pull this stunt! To make a statement, she went onstage at a Mortgage Bankers Conference in San Francisco to make a citizen’s arrest. The charge was treason. Many folks believe that Karl Rove is a war criminal. Obviously, this woman is one of those people.

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Eartha Kitt: A True American Sex Kitten

 

American Sex Kitten

 She played catwoman in the 1960′s series Batman. Eartha Kitt was one of the most memorable ones because her voice purrs with sensuality as if she were a human cat. So, she was a natural in that part. In fact, Halle Berry found it hard to fill the role that Eartha Kitt had played to perfection when she starred in the movie “Catwoman. As her rumored lover Orson Welles said, “She is one of the most exciting women in the world!”

Eartha Mae Keith was her birth name & she was a child of rape. Her life began on a cotton plantation in South Carolina in 1927. She was a multiracial child who had to endure a terrible childhood. Her career began as a dancer for the Katherine Dunham Company & she was a singer with a distinctive voice. It oozes with seduction & is a part of her sexual allure. Her cat-like eyes are almost as hypnotizing as her voice.

In the late 60′s, Eartha Kitt suffered a professional setback. She made an anti-war statement to Lady Byrd Johnson at a White House Luncheon. During an earlier period spent in Europe, she had become fluent in French & other languages. So,when she was professionally banned from performing in America, Eartha Kitt did shows overseas.

At 81, Eartha Kitt is alive & still sought after. She has appeared on Broadway as recently as 2004. I have included an all-american song that is one of her signature hits. Nope, it’s not “Santa Baby”,either! The song is “I’m Just An Old-Fashioned Girl”! If you’ve never heard it before, it’s in the same vein as “Material Girl” & “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend.” Eartha Kitt is the most unique sexual being in this stratosphere! I am in awe of her!

*UPDATE ON THIS POST: Eartha Kitt passed away on Christmas Day of 2008. RIP Eartha Kitt!

 

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Minnie Riperton: A Beauty With An Angelic Voice!

 

Beautiful American Angel

When I saw Maya Rudolph portray “Michelle Obama on SNL, I couldn’t help but to laugh. Maya Rudolph has a lot of talent & spunk! But for some reason, I always think of her late mother, the great Minnie Riperton. She was a master of her craft whose singing capabilities are unmatched to this day! Minnie Riperton was a elegant chic songbird. There was nothing tacky about her, unlike today’s artists. She was a class act.

Minnie Riperton had such an angelic prescence & voice. It’s unfortunate that she passed away at the tender age of 31. Even Mariah Carey pales in comparison when you hear those high octaves that Minnie Riperton was able to reach. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1976. As a result, she became the first black female to serve as a spokesperson for the American Cancer Society. Unfortunately, she succumbed to the disease in 1979. But she always be loved & adored by many. For more information on breast cancer go to:
http://www.breastcancer.org/

Maureen McCormick Is The Antithesis Of Marcia Brady

The Fantasy Family!

 

Most Americans have dysfunctional families. That’s why “The Brady Bunch” was so popular. You could escape into an alternate reality when watching that show. Everything was so perfect & pristine. The parents got together because they were widowed,not divorced. All of their kids became one,big happy family! I just assumed that the actor’s lives were duplicates of their characters. It comes as a shock to find out that the personal life of Maureen McCormick was more comparable to Lindsay Lohan or Britney Spears. Although she seemed synonymous with Marcia Brady, she really was the antithesis of her.

Maureen McCormick told the world that she had been a coke addict & had a fling with Greg Brady! There was some lesbian type interaction between her & Eve Plumb who played Jan Brady. Wow, it all sounds so salacious! She gives the sordid details in her book, “Here’s the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice.”For info. on all the actors go here http://www.bradyresidence.com/families.html)

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Can A Kicked Off Survivor Like Elizabeth Hasselbeck Help The McCain/Palin Ticket Survive?

Sarah Palin Using "Sexism" When It Suits Her!

Only in America could you become what Elizabeth Hasselbeck has. She transformed herself from a booted off reality contestant to co-host with some social status & relevance. She’s the only Sarah Palin defender on “The View”! And now she’s taken to the campaign trail to speak out against sexism. That’s kind of ironic since she had no problem with it when she was on “Survivor“. She was cavorting around the island wearing clothing that was sure to draw attention that was of a sexual nature. Sexism is defined in two ways. It is discrimination against a certain sex or sexual stereotyping. Both of these women have utilized sexual stereotyping to their benefit. Check out this excerpt from AskMen.com:

“Sexiness

Petite, shapely and very cute, Elisabeth Hasselbeck has a lot going for her physically. Thanks to her outgoing personality, she is always smiling, which highlights her attractive face that is nicely framed by blond hair. As she proved on Survivor when she wore the famed bandannas as tube tops, she also has a great body. If you can tear yourself away from her curves, you’ll notice bright eyes and nice legs too.” (End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:              http://www.askmen.com/celebs/women/models_300/301_elisabeth_hasselbeck.html

All in all, she’s not too radical with her views, normally. But, I do think it’s a bit of a stretch to cry sexism every time someone has a legitimate question about Sarah Palin. It’s not sexist to inquire about why she spent $150,000 perfecting her image if she’s just a “regular mom”. She’s the one promoting frugality so it would make sense to question her. They scrutinized Hillary Clinton & John Edwards for those same reasons.

This sexism stuff is a bunch of malarky. C’mon,people! If you use your femininity to surge ahead by dressing suggestively then you have used sexism to your advantage. I’ve noticed that everyone is talking about how good Sarah Palin looks. I don’t hear any cries of sexism from her camp when the comments are complimentary toward her.Here’s an excerpt from Fox News that talks about how much Hillary Clinton & John Edwards spent:

“Two $400 cuts by stylist Joseph Torrenueva, who told The Associated Press that the former North Carolina senator is a longtime client, showed up on Edwards’ campaign spending reports filed this weekend. Edwards spokesman Eric Schultz said it never should have been there.

“The bill was sent to the campaign. It was inadvertently paid,” Schultz said. “John Edwards will be reimbursing the campaign.”

Political candidates often have hair and makeup done before media appearances. Edwards rival Hillary Rodham Clinton got some attention last year when her campaign paid $2,500 for two hairstyling sessions that the campaign classified as media production expenses.” (End of Excerpt) Read the full article here:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,267042,00.html

It was remarkable to me just how much Elizabeth Hasselbeck’s facial expressions & manner of speaking was similar to Sarah Palin. Since they really don’t favor one another, I was still able to tell them apart. But, it seems like Elizabeth Hasselbeck is just another right-wing fan of Sarah Palin. I just don’t know how a kicked off “survivor” can help Sarah Palin “survive” all the riducule that she basically brought on herself. Plus, Elizabeth Hasselbeck’s star power only exists on “The View” because that’s where her opinion is required. But on the campaign trail, she becomes just another victim of the Palin fever. Noone’s going to put any real credence on what Hasselbeck says. If Sarah Palin really wants to make a difference in the polls, she should go on “The View”.

Real sexism definitely has taken place in the campaign just like racism has. I don’t hear anyone from the McCain/Palin campaign speaking out against all forms of bigotry. They should have denounced their own campaign worker when she lied about a black man carving a “B” in her cheek,beating,& robbing her! Why the loud silence on this issue, Sarah & John?  This reprehensible act came from someone who was involved with your own campaign.  There has been a hell of a lot more racial prejudice than there has anything else!

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The Fact That A McCain Aide Called Sarah Palin A “Rogue Diva”!!!

 

2012,BITCHES!!!!

It’s getting so malevolent in McCain country. From the crazed Mccain volunteer to the spiteful Mccain aide, the whole campaign seems to be imploding! The Palin crew vs. The McCain posse are engaged in a battle within. The atmosphere is so explosive that the leaks to the media have been coming in at a rapid speed. These sources from the McCain campaign are really slamming Sarah Palin’s intellect & gameness. They said she’s off message & that she’s going “rogue” on them. Evidently, it’s no longer “COUNTRY FIRST”! It’s “PALIN FIRST” from here on out! She’s forging ahead to 2012 where she will be the forerunner on the ticket! Unless a miracle happens in less than a week & they win! That would be a case of life being stranger than fiction.

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John McCain Is A Socialist!

Is He A Socialist? He Wanted To Tax The Wealthy,Too!

It seems a bit hypocritical to call Obama a “socialist” if you’re supporting John McCain. Apparenty, McCain shared this same “marxist “idea as Obama until recently. He felt that the rich were comfortable enough to afford paying higher taxes in order to fund lower taxes on the middle class. He just didn’t say “spread the wealth”. That’s the only difference. Watch this video & tell me how he’s any better than Obama on this issue. According to his own definition, John McCain is a socialist!

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Barack Obama’s 30 min. Infomericial! This Guy Is Full Of Firsts! He Is The SuperChanger!

 

Let Go Of Your Fear! SuperChanger Is Here!

Someone take my temperature because I’m coming down with the Obama fever! Whoa, Michelle! You better watch this guy once he gets in the White House. You’re going to have a posse of Monica Lewinsky’s vying for alone time with the president! Not to mention all the female celebrities, like Scarlett Johansson, who will be fawning all over him. Remember John F. Kennedy & all of his temptations? But, I’m sure Michelle Obama will tighten her reins on him. She’s a beautiful woman of great wisdom. No hussy is going to bypass her & straddle her man! You notice there has been no reports of infidelity in their marriage. Hopefully, it will stay that way!

 She is married this suave,ridiculously handome man who just happens to be a brainiac! Oooh, good-looking & smart to boot! He’s the first black man to represent a party that was historically racist from it’s inception. It took decades for the Democratic party to become what it is today. Ironically, the Republican party helped blacks a long time ago. Here’s an excerpt from MSN Encarta :
“The coalition was composed of former members of the Whig, Free-Soil, and Know-Nothing parties, along with Northern Democrats who were dissatisfied with their party’s conciliatory attitude on the slavery issue (see Free-Soil Party; Know-Nothings; Whig Party). The early Republicans were united in their opposition to extending slavery into the Western territories.” (End of Excerpt) Read the whole entry here : http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761568416/republican_party.html

Being the first black Democrat to represent the party in a presidential election is not his only first. He decided to forgo the usual & opt out of public financing. He has raised exorbitant amounts of money which is how this infomercial was able to take place. He has changed the way people will raise money to campaign in future elections. Let’s not forget that he’s also changing red states to blue. He’s changed the political map, much to John McCain’s chagrin!This is a guy that is a true original. Judging by how well he has ran this campaign, I have no problem saying “President Obama deserves to be the first black president in the history of the United States of America!” Barack Obama is the SuperChanger! If anybody can unite us, America, he can! Yes, he can!

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Chris Matthews Calls Obama & Clinton”The Blues Brothers”! Too bad For McCain That Bush Is No Clinton!

Isn't That The Freakin' Truth?!

Tonight you saw two stubborn Leos come together. Chris Matthews of Hardball on MSNBC says that Bill Clinton seems to really be coming home. He said the camaraderie between Obama & Clinton was like “The Blues Brothers“. That’s that crazy comedy that starred Dan Akroyd & John Belushi. I was touched by the stirring speech that they both gave. At first, I thought Bill Clinton was going to be anal about Hillary Clinton’s loss all the way until the end of the election! Although his speech at the DNC convention was stirring, that was the most passionate he had been about Obama.But tonight, whew! Bill Clinton really helped cement an Obama nomination.
Jack Cafferty of CNN posed a question tonight to his viewers! Why isn’t George Bush campaigning for John McCain? Well, isn’t that quite obvious! I think that must have been a rhetorical question. The answer is very, very simple. George Bush is no Bill Clinton. John McCain is avoiding him like the plague. The failure that has been the Bush presidency has help boost Clinton’s favor-ability in America. Folks feel a strong sense of nostalgia whenever they see Bill Clinton. And it seems like we may be getting the good years back that we enjoyed with Clinton on Nov. 4.

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The Excitement Felt After Philly Won The World Series Let’s Us Know Baseball Is One Of Our Favorite Pastimes

Before It Was Integrated

After a little over a quarter of a century, Philly has finally won the World Series! I know a whole lot of baseball fanatics who were waiting with bated breath to see if Philly would beat Tampa Bay. The excitement that erupted in that stadium shows just how intense the fans can get. The spirit of America almost becomes palpable & visible to the naked eye. Major sports events like this gives Americans a sense of commonality. Here’s an excerpt from an interesting article on World Series programs:
“From the patriotic themes of the covers and advertisements during World War II to a celebration of the space age in the 1960s, to the illustration of a baseball cap over a player’s heart in October 2001, they offer not only a connection to the game’s history but a cultural narrative of the world around it.

“I love how the World Series programs reflect history or the time,” says Tim Wiles, director of research at the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library.”(End of Excerpt) Read the whole article here:

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/playoffs/2008-10-29-world-series-programs_N.htm?csp=34

The video I included in this post is about an exhibit called “Baseball As America“. It shows baseball memorabilia & talks about how integral baseball has been to the progress of America. Here’s a nice quote that I took from their website which sums it all up:
“I think there are only three things that America will be known for 2,000 years from now when they study this civilization: the Constitution, jazz music and baseball. They’re the three most beautifully designed things this culture has ever produced.

— Gerald Early, Scholar (End of Quote taken from:

http://www.baseballasamerica.org/

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At Least Sarah Palin Won’t Be Our President Anytime Soon!

She’s Completely Out Of Her Element!

I like the fact that a woman is making strides in a male dominated world like Sarah Palin is. She is to be lauded for that. It’s funny that McCain has an ad saying that Barack Obama isn’t ready yet. And there is emphasis put on the word yet. Which really makes me wonder what’s up with all the contradictions that he’s been making? Does he enjoy being hypocritical or what? It’s now become apparent that his own campaign staff didn’t feel Sarah Palin was competent enough to be the Vice President. One McCain staffer even said that she had no “world view.”

On Larry King last night, John McCain said that Sarah Palin shares the same view of the world as him. Really, John? Unless she’s changed her mind about global warming, there’s a difference of opinion between you two on that! Here’s how she feels about global warming:
“In an interview released by Newsmax magazine today, Palin said that while she recognized her state would be affected by climate change, that didn’t mean humans are responsible.

“A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location,” she said. “I’m not one though who would attribute it to being man-made.”

Palin’s comments stand in sharp contrast to those of McCain, who says at every campaign stop that he believes human activity is driving global warming.”(End of Excerpt) Read the whole article here :
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/08/29/palin_not_convinced_on_global.html

I sure am glad that Sarah Palin won’t be our president anytime soon ! Hopefully, Obama will win & we won’t have to worry about her until 2012. But if we get John McCain as president, it’s a package deal. We will have to hope that he makes better decisions than he has throughout this election. Whether you think picking her was a good choice or not, I don’t know. God forbid John McCain croaks & Sarah Palin has to fill his shoes as president! She’s not up to speed on a whole lot of issues. Global warming is one of them. According to CNN, “As previous IPCC reports have pointed out, the effects of warming at the poles are already being felt by indigenous polar species and communities. This new report is confirmation of the culpability of humans in contributing to these rising temperatures.

“I’m afraid that there will always be people that don’t believe that we are making all these changes,” Dr Karpechko said.(End of Excerpt) Read the whole article by following this link:
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/10/30/polar.warming/index.html

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Does Sarah Have A Little Bit Of Hip-Hop In Her?

She Could Be In A Lil' Wayne Video!

 Did they prep her with a bunch of rap videos? Probably so! I think she could make a few guest appearances in a rap video? What do you think? Can she dance better than Michelle Obama?

CNN’S Rick Sanchez Trying To Get Some “Straight Talk” From McCain Spokesman Mike Goldfarb About Rashid Khalid!

 

Has John McCain gotten off “The Straight Talk Express” permanently? Because it’s been a bunch of baloney for too long now. This latest attack on Obama’s associates is really ludicrous.  Rashid Khalidi has a connection with McCain & Obama.This is the latest in a long line of attacks to paint Obama as the enemy of both America & Israel. The problem is that the proof is in the pudding. And they never seem to have that pudding, as evidenced in this video. Rick Sanchez is trying his damndest to prod this guy for answers. But McCain Spokesman Mike Goldfarb is being mendacious so Rick gets visibly annoyed & wraps the interview. The way John McCain has ran his campaign has been substandard to say the least & it is an indicator of how he would run the country. Mike Goldfarb ought to be ashamed of himself for helping John McCain spread more conspiracy theories about Obama. It’s all smoke & mirrors. Thanks to Rick Sanchez more people may come to the same realization.

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Arnold Schwarzenegger : Can The “Governator” Save John McCain?

Can He Save John McCain?

Can Arnold Schwarzenegger reprise his role as “Conan The Destroyer” & obliterate Obama’s lead? I’m sure that John McCain hopes so! Today, he used Arnold’s star power to try & do just that. But, will it help in the last 4 days of this election? I don’t know, but it’s really fitting to have an actor turned governor speak for him. Lord knows, John McCain has created a cast of characters worthy of a Hollywood production! We’ve got Joe the plumber, Sarah the Hockey Mom Reformer, John the Maverick, Obama the Wealth Spreader, & Arnold the Governator. I guess Joe Biden should be called  Joe, the Gaffe Maker. Wow! This sounds like the script of a summer blockbuster movie.

But, Arnold’s star has been descending in California since 2005. The Terminator’s actions as governor have some folks wanting to terminate him from that position. Here’s an excerpt from :http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/nation/10/12/1012arnold.html

“Even so, Schwarzenegger’s most recent fall in the polls is different, some say.

“The real frustration (among many Californians) is that he doesn’t seem to be able to get things done in Sacramento because he doesn’t have any solid relationships with state legislators any more,” said Hoffenblum. “He’s in a situation where he has very few allies.”

That may ultimately affect Schwarzenegger’s future ambitions, too.

Schwarzenegger, 61, has said he would serve in the administration of either presidential candidate. Because of his clean energy policies in California, he has been mentioned as a potential energy secretary or green energy czar. He also could entertain a run for Congress.

But all of that could depend on how the next two years — or the next eight months, if the recall efforts proceed as organizers plan — go for the former Hollywood superstar.” (End of Excerpt)

Many say that Arnold Schwarzenegger is one of the “last rock stars” of the Republican party. But, can the Governator save John McCain’s bid for the office of the president ? This election has been all about star power & not enough about the issues. John McCain wants to build the story lines   of the characters,like Joe The Plumber, instead of spending time on the issues. Will it work out? Only time will tell. Until then, I’m biting my fingernails in suspense! I’ve included a fun video of Arnold when he was young , robust, & smoking a joint. Enjoy.

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Is Sarah Palin A Socialist? Keith Olbermann Says So & Even Fox News Ponders The Question!

What A Hypocrite!

Sarah Palin is not exactly the right person to call someone a “socialist.” She did “spread the wealth” in Alaska after all. But as we know, this whole election has been a showcase of hypocrisy. Even Fox news, who usually delivers Republican talking points, have pointed out that Alaska is also known as “America’s socialist state” because of Sarah Palin. Here is an excerpt from Fox News :
“John McCain and Sarah Palin have escalated their campaign to peg Barack Obama as a wealth-spreading socialist — but the principles they accuse Obama of espousing are not foreign to the governor of what some call America’s socialist state.

In Alaska, where Palin is governor, natural resources are state-owned, and Alaska residents receive yearly dividend checks from a $30 billion state account built largely from oil royalties.
However, Palin has in touting her state’s policies used language similar to the “spread the wealth” comment made by Obama that has since drawn fire from Republicans.

“We share in the wealth when the development of these resources occurs,” she was quoted as saying in a recent New Yorker article. “It’s to maximize benefits for Alaskans, not an individual company.”

In a January address to Alaskans, Palin praised “our commonly owned natural resources” as a “state treasure.”

And in a July column in the Anchorage Daily News, she was quoted as saying: “These payments represent a distribution of Alaska’s resource wealth to the owners of the resource.”

When home fuel and gas costs soared this year, Palin raised taxes on oil companies and used some of the money to boost residents’ checks by $1,200. Every eligible man, woman and child got a record $3,269 this fall.” (End of Excerpt) Read the full article here:
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/30/palins-alaska-shares-oil-wealth-residents/

Is Sarah Palin a hypocrite for accusing Obama of “spreading the wealth” considering she has done just that in Alaska? Leave a comment.

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Even The White House Has It’s Ghost Stories…

Is The White House Haunted?

We are getting very close to picking a winner on Nov 4. It’s either going to be Barack Obama or John McCain that will be moving their family into the White House. But, will they hear things go bump in the night or see a wisp of a transparent Abraham Lincoln in the hallways? Since it’s Halloween, I thought about the rumors that the White House was an eerie place. It has been around for over 200 years so it’s not unlikely.  Here’s an excerpt from suite101.com :

“Winston Churchill refused to sleep in the Lincoln Bedroom after he purportedly witnessed the ghost of Abraham Lincoln walking the room. Another witness, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, fainted after seeing Lincoln in the room. Maids, butlers and employees have claimed to see Lincoln. In one instance, a witness reported that Lincoln removed his boots over the bed.

According to various White House members of staff, Abigail Adams cleans her laundry in the East Room. When the wife of President Woodrow Wilson, First Lady Ellen Wilson, wanted to dig up the rose garden and the spirit of former First Lady Dolley Madison supposedly manifested and told the workmen not to ruin the garden.

Gary J. Walters served as the White House Chief Usher since his appointment by President Ronald Reagan in 1986. Although he’s never actually seen an apparition, he and several police officers shared a strange experience. According to Walters, “I was standing at the state floor of the White House adjacent to the staircase that comes up from the ground floor. The police officers and I felt a cool rush of air pass between us and then two doors that stand open closed by themselves. I have never seen these doors move before without somebody specifically closing them by hand. It was quite remarkable.” A common report by various members of staff claims that doors close by themselves all over the building.” (End of Excerpt) Read the whole article here:  http://ghostshauntings.suite101.com/article.cfm/ghost_stories_abound_in_washington_dc

George Bush: Watch Lou Dobb’s Report On His Vision Of A “New America”!

This Time We'll Get It Right On Nov 4! Vote For Barack Obama!

 

Richard Nixon was the most hated president until recently. Now, George Bush has taken his place. Initially, people were immediately charmed by the Texan who they felt they could relate to. When 9/11 hit, it was almost sacrilegious to voice any concerns about the President. People had pledged blind allegiance to George Bush’s decision to invade Iraq. But it all fell apart when Americans found out there were no weapons of mass destruction.It had all been one big deception. There are theories about why George Bush was so intent to go to war with Iraq. Here’s an article that has an interesting hypotheis from Mar 17,2003:
“As the United States stands this day virtually upon the precipice of
determining the fate of not only our nation, but the entire world for
generations to come silence in the face of George W. Bush’s dogs of war is
morally and politically unacceptable. At the risk, therefore, of alienating
many of the readers of THE AGRIBUSINESS EXAMINER this issue is one
journalist’s effort to speak truth to absolute power, a power we can see
each and every day is corrupting absolutely!!!

Blindly, in a false sense of patriotism, and led by a war mongering
president, and cheered on by such publications as The Washington Post and
television networks like FOX, in addition to the dozens and dozens of
right-wing radio “commentators” who spend most of their waking hours
complaining about the “liberal” bias in the media (???), the American
people are being hoodwinked into a war designed to solely benefit those
“gamblers in the necessities of life.”

As our friend political columnist Molly Ivins recently pointed out:

“According to a poll conducted by The New York Times and CBS, 42% of
Americans believe Saddam Hussein of Iraq was personally responsible for the
attacks on the World Trade Center, something that has never even been
claimed by the Bush administration. According to a poll conducted by ABC,
55% believe Saddam Hussein gives direct support to Al Qaeda, a claim that
has been made by the administration but for which no evidence has ever been
presented. President Bush has lately modified the claim to “Al Qaeda-type”
organizations. This is how well journalism has done its job in the months
leading up to this war. A disgraceful performance.” (End of Excerpt) Read the whole article here http://www.organicconsumers.org/corp/crazybush031803.cfm%20
In this video, Lou Dobbs talks about George Bush’s fulfillment of a vision that his father had. Lou Dobbs describes it as “A New World Order”. You know Dobbs is fixated on border control & immigration, so he was reporting on this quite a bit. George Bush hopes to implement open borders from Mexico to America and Canada to America by 2010. Did you know that? This video contains part of his report.

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Some Folks Are Happy That Compulsory Voting Isn’t Part Of The American Political Process!

 

No Voice Is No Choice!

Some folks are just so disgusted with their options in this election that they remain undecided. They just can’t decide who they would rather share a beer with, like they could when Bush was running for president. These guys are both just too elite, they say. For that reason, everyone in America will not cast their vote on Nov. 4,2008. But, what if you got fined for not voting? 

Compulsory voting is part of the political process in countries like Australia. Here’s a description of their voting practices from On Line Opinion:
“The impact of compulsory voting on the dynamics of a national election is striking. The billions of dollars spent in time and effort trying to ensure that people actually register to vote and then fill in a ballot paper just doesn’t happen in Australia. Political parties focus their efforts on promoting their leader and his or her party’s policies.

And as Adelaide University’s Lisa Hill, who has researched and written extensively on this topic notes, “By ensuring that voting participation is not confined to the more prosperous members of society, compulsory voting serves to protect such important democratic values as representativeness, legitimacy, accountability, political equality and minimisation of elite power”.

No doubt this fact does not concern those on the conservative side of politics in this country who support voluntary voting.

Participating in democracy should not be optional. Even if you despise politicians and the political process, you have to turn out a couple of times every three or four years to vote for your state or national government. It forces even the most cynical individual to at least cast a fleeting glance at the political process and that is a desirable outcome. An outcome we should cherish.” (End of Excerpt) Read the whole article here:
(http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=2807

What do you think of compulsory voting? Do you believe it’s your civic duty to vote or just a right that you should be able to shirk? Because this country has been speeding down the wrong road, I believe it is my civic duty to get off my ass & vote! Compulsory voting would also get rid of all of the scandals involving ACORN & voter suppression by the GOP. If people had to vote anyway, these voting issues would not exist. The candidates would each have to define who they are instead of trying to undermine voter’s rights & bombard us with attack ads. Now, I don’t need someone to hold a candle to my feet to get me to mark my ballot. I don’t understand those that do. If you truly love your country, then you should make sure your voice is heard. Don’t be ignorant of your rights & the importance of your vote. There is a reason why people want to suppress it & discuss ACORN instead. Read this form TPMMuckraker:

“A former top Department of Justice voting rights official – who once worked with John McCain in defense of the senator’s campaign-finance reform bill — has added his name to the growing chorus that is denouncing the department’s investigation of ACORN as a shameful and inappropriate politicization of Justice along the lines of the US attorney firings.

Speaking to TPMmuckraker, Gerry Hebert described the investigation, word of which was leaked off the record to the Associated Press less than three weeks before the election, as “a continuation of injecting DOJ into what has clearly become a political issue.” (End Of Excerpt) Read the full article here:
(http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/ex_doj_voting_rights_chief_its.php

Go here for answers to questions about voting rights :
http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting/misc/faq.php

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Sarah Palin:For Providing More Laughs Than Substance During This Intense Election! The Latest Is This Prank Call!

Some Men Want To Vote For McCain Because Palin’s So Hot!

People say that Sarah Palin is too much of a lightweight to be vice president. I,for one, hope that it’s all just an act. You know like Marilyn Monroe’s dumb blond image. I seriously think that Palin wants to come across as “the sexy librarian.” That’s why she wears those glasses with the form-fitting suits & sexpot heels. But, there’s one problem. I think that most librarians have a better grasp on things, like the Constitution, then Sarah Palin does. I mean, she doesn’t even realize that this obvious prank call is bogus. If you haven’t heard it, listen for yourself.

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John McCain: We Know He Was More Than Half-Serious When He Said It Was His Turn To Be President!

 

 

John The Humorist!

Tonight was John McCain’s best night in weeks. He was relaxed & humorous. He even seemed to be tickled standing next to Tina Fey. I hate to add to the gossip about the tension between the two running mates. But, I think McCain was more at ease with Tina Fey than he is with Sarah Palin. Tina Fey really does portray Sarah Palin as slightly more of a ditz than she is. John McCain didn’t seem to mind. I wonder if Palin found it funny. Nah, she probably was not amused but I sure was!

I’m not so sure that he should have pleaded, jokingly or not, for the voters to give him a chance. We should take pity on an old man & give him the presidency. He’s been saying that we need to let Obama wait 4 more years. Well if he’s a “socialist” that “palls around with terrorists” and “anti-americans”, why aren’t you saying that he should never be allowed to run again? Because you know that you have been spreading untruths,sir. You are a war hero who deserves tons of medals but your service does not mean that America is indebted to you. Sorry, John! Right now, it really is the economy,stupid! No, but really!That seemed like a desperate attempt to make an appeal to voters under the guise of comedy. All in all, it was a good show tonight. But, I’m still voting for Obama on Tuesday.

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SNL & Politics:Tina Fey May One Day Seek A Political Seat! Al Franken Has!

The Next Minnesota Senator?

I still like Al Franken’s wry & naughty sense of humor. He was one of the original writers on SNL. As a comedian, he is profane & wickedly funny. You can witness his comedic style in this clip I included of the movie God Spoke. In fact, some of his raunchy lines from his comedy shows have been used in political ads against him. I’m sure you’re aware that Al Franken is running against Norm Coleman in the Minnesota U.S. Senate race. The race is close between the two. It might be due to some new scandals that have come to light:

“What this means is that after more than a year of exhaustive campaigning, a whopping $40 million spent and nonstop ads ranging from policy clashes to character attacks, it could be a last-minute development — performances in tonight’s final debate on Minnesota Public Radio, unusually heavy voter turnout or ongoing fallout from breaking controversies — that determines the outcome.

In the past few days, Coleman has charged Franken with breaking the law by allegedly airing falsehoods in his ads. Meanwhile, the senator has faced questions about two lawsuits alleging that his wealthy friend transferred $75,000 to him from a Texas company through his wife’s employer. Each candidate vehemently denies the respective accusations.” (End of Excerpt) Read the whole article by following the link:

http://www.startribune.com/politics/state/33698624.html?elr=KArks8c7PaP3E77K_3c::D3aDhUoaEaD_ec7PaP3iUiacyKUnciaec8O7EyU

I like the fact that Al Franken has drawn the ire of Fox News. According to Wikipedia.org:

“[edit] Fox News conflict
Main article: Fox v. Franken
In 2003, Penguin Books published Franken’s book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, which included a cover photo of Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly and a chapter accusing O’Reilly, with whom Franken was feuding, of lying. In August of that year, Fox News sued, claiming infringement of its registered trademark phrase “Fair and Balanced”. A federal judge found the lawsuit to be “wholly without merit” and Fox then filed to dismiss it. The episode with Fox focused a great deal of media attention upon Franken’s book and, according to Franken, greatly increased its sales. Reflecting on the lawsuit during a September 2003 interview on the National Public Radio program Fresh Air, Franken said that Fox’s case against him was “literally laughed out of court” and added that the judge’s comment that the case was “wholly without merit” was a good characterization of Fox News itself.[15] After the lawsuit was dismissed, Franken and O’Reilly continued to feud.” (End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Franken

He has also confronted the preposterous personality that is Ann Coulter. The nonsensical ramblings of Rush Limbaugh was the subject of his best-selling book called, “Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot & Other Observations.” I told you that this election was the wackiest one that I have ever seen. We’ve got two SNL comedians that are heavily entrenched in this year’s elections. The lovely Tina Fey has portrayed the equally pretty Sarah Palin,the VP pick. Al Franken is actually trying to become a Minnesota senator. And it just might happen for him! This is a definite case of life imitating art & art imitating life. I won’t be suprised if Tina Fey runs for political office one day. It seems like anything is possible. That’s what makes America both a dream & a nightmare.

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First Official Election Results:Barack Obama Wins In Dixville Notch, New Hampshire!

They Ran A Shitty Campaign In The End!

We have the first presidential result, ladies & gentlemen. Barack Obama for president in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire. I believe 21 votes total were cast. 15 for Obama & 6 for McCain. Do you think it will be a close race or a landslide for Obama?

McCain’s Straight Talk Express Breaks Down Again! John “The Coal Booster” Was Once John “The Coal Reducer!”

The Bullshit Express!

Oh, lordy ! He is such a maverick that he outmavericks himself! All of a sudden, we get a November stunt! It’s not a surprise that this is another hypocritical manuever that is being pulled by John McCain. The McCain amendment was said to be detrimental to the coal business. This is the opposing view to his amendement which is taken from Think Progress.com:

“During the 2005 debate, Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) was one such critic: “It is my understanding that the amendment, according to Charles River Associates, which analyzed its provisions, would cause the loss of 24,000 to 47,000 Ohio jobs in 2010. … The McCain amendment will put coal out of business.” Three years later — after unprecedented wildfires, hurricanes, and droughts — McCain has abandoned his brave stand. Instead, with the help of those of the far right he once challenged, he is now putting polluters first. (End of Excerpt) Read the whole article here:(http://thinkprogress.org/2008/11/03/mccain-coal-booster/

Now , we have a new Obama controversy involving his stance on coal. The McCain campaign took a statement he made & totally misconstrued it. Now, Sarah Palin is promising to protect the very coal industry that McCain wanted to move the country away from. But, as usual the talk is far from straight. He really has proven that he will go to great lengths to win! Here’s an excerpt from L.A. Times:

“Among the first to respond to Palin’s attack was Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, an Obama supporter.

“After John McCain said he’d like to ‘transition away from coal entirely,’ his campaign is hardly in a position to criticize a coal-state senator like Barack Obama, who has outlined a $150-billion investment in clean coal and other technologies to create jobs and build a new energy economy,” said Strickland, referring to a comment made in 2000 by the Arizona senator during a Senate hearing on global warming.

“The truth is, John McCain and Sarah Palin can’t name a single thing they’d do differently on the economy than George Bush, so all they have to offer is last-minute desperate distortions.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/11/palin-coal-1.html

I’ll be glad when this whole thing is finally over! And that is some straight talk for your ass! All of the finger-pointing made me feel like I was back on an elementary schoolyard. Although the whole political process was exhilarating & entertaining, I hope that future elections won’t be so dumbed down. I mean, “lipstick on a pig” & “Joe, the plumber” were two of the most sickening phrases that I hope fade with the memories of this election. Either way it goes, it will be history in the making. I know I will be helping to write a history that will bode well for America’s future by voting for Barack Obama. Tomorrow, I pick genius over the same “experience” that we have had for the last 8 years.

Will You Be Upset If Obama Wins?

I Predict Obama!

I know I won’t! I voted for Barack Obama today as promised. John McCain is just not my cup of tea. So, I must confess that I will be harboring more anger & bitterness than a Hillary Clinton supporter if he loses! This country was so prosperous when Bill Clinton was president that it was easy for some to take it for granted. America is the greatest nation on this earth. That is a statement that rings as untrue around most of the world. Our reputation has really gone down. Now, you may not care about regaining the repect of the world. I don’t believe that George Bush did either. Since McCain is so big on waging wars, I couldn’t go for him. We need the right kind of change which I believe we will get tonight. If my prediction is accurate, I pose a question to you. Will you be upset if Obama wins? Leave a comment.

BARACK OBAMA WINS!!!! Comedians Like Richard Pryor Will Have A Real Black President To Imitate!

AMERICA'S FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT!!!!

 

This is the moment in history that so many blacks have hoped for. America has finally started to tear down it’s racial barrier. Barack Obama is the first black president in THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES!! A multicultual America has made it’s choice. Sorry, Sarah & John! We were the “real Americans” all along! The festering racial wounds that has blighted the beauty of America will heal at long last. This nation has always gone through different phases. With the election of Barack Obama as president, we have entered a new definitive era of change. Hopefully, we will all embrace this transformation of America. It will once again be known as the land of opportunity to disenfranchised people around the world.

I picked this really funny clip of a Richard Pryor skit where he portrays the first black president of America. Since this was just pure fantasy back in the 70′s, I wonder how Richard Pryor would view this major shift in American politics. He probably never imagined that it would become an actuality over 30 years later. What was striking in this video was just how accurately he incorporated the fears people have about a black man becoming president in this skit. Richard Pryor as the first black president, knows the Muslim greeting,& he wants to include a Black Panther in his cabinet. All of the same accusations that were hurled at Obama could be seen in this skit. It seemed like some whites were fearful of Obama turning this country into a black nation. I know Obama will turn this into an equal nation with an opportunity for all.

Well, AMERICA HAS SPOKEN! THIS IS AN INCREDIBLE MOMENT FOR THE WORLD NOT JUST THE UNITED STATES! I’m so elated ! Yes, we can become one America! No more freakin’ Sarah Palin & John McCain! All of the people who fought for the right for blacks to vote have given us this moment! Thank God that blacks, asians, mexicans, indians, etc… will all have their chance at governing. Maybe now things won’t be so lopsided & everyone will have a chance to elevate themselves. I am confident that we made the right choice here in America. Yes, we did! Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream is coming to fruition.

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Oprah Winfrey: Her Endorsement Really Helped Obama Win!

There are so many blacks who paved the way for Barack Obama’s victory last night. Condoleezza Rice & Colin Powell are two recent examples of African -Americans who made tremendous gains in their political careers. They helped prepare America for a black president.The very American Oprah Winfrey really helped influence the way whites view blacks. She is the first black female billionaire that we know of! I really don’t know of any 80′s talk show that’s still around except for “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” This is one female who is one of the most powerful & respected women in the world. People listen intently to Oprah because of her astounding success & wisdom.

Her endorsement of Barack Obama really helped propel him out of the political stratosphere. He is a celebrity around the world because he is the antithesis of George Bush. He is charismatic, extremely intelligent, unbelievably handsome, serene, & he is biracial. Barack Obama really does represent America. And Oprah had a big hand in getting a lot of Americans to realize that. She helped pave the way for America to gain the president that it deserves. Her words carry a lot of weight in the world. Thank you, Oprah Winfrey for helping Barack Obama win.

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The New President Is Received Well In The Mideast

The Whole World Expects Change!

I told you he was the SuperChanger! Barack Obama’s win has put most of the world at ease. Finally, they can see America living up to the phrase “all men are created equal.” Right away, he has affected change. Folks around the world are thrilled with America’s new young president. They are excited in Africa because he has Kenyan roots. In Asia, a lot of people are feeling optimistic about this man who once lived in Indonesia. The Mideast are optimistic about Barack Obama as well. Our new leader has a whole host of challenges to tackle. The world is looking to Barack Obama to be that SuperChanger. The pressure is on him now. Let’s see how long it takes before he starts to go gray. Here’s a link to the story about the Mideast:

Election Aftermath: “The Straight Talk Express” Has Ran Over Sarah Palin! And Joe Lieberman Has His Tail Between His Legs!

Sarah Palin Was Thrown Under It & Ran Over By It!

Barack Obama is now the president of the United States. I bet Joe Lieberman never thought that was going to happen. Poor fool! He really believed that he was on the winning side of the political game. Joe Lieberman was one of John McCain’s biggest cheerleaders. So, that should be his fate. He should be stuck with the losing side. Joe Lieberman put self-interest first instead of country, just like McCain did. As of right now, Joe Lieberman’s fate is up in the air. And so is Sarah Palin’s political destiny.

Some folks are still in awe of the Republican superstar & are dismayed to see her star plumett. Others are trashing her & she has become a scapegoat for the failure of the campaign. I mean, is it really true that she did not know that Africa was a continent? Sarah Palin must have known what NAFTA was, right? And that she spent thousands more than the $150,000 that was being reported? If Sarah Palin is that fucking stupid, why the hell was she on the ticket in the first place? Aren’t you glad he didn’t get elected? Because the people surrounding him are despicable & these Mccain staffers would have had some part in his administration. Don’t you just love when people get thrown under the bus? In Sarah Palin’s case, “The Straight Talk Express”ran over her then backed up & did it again. Damn!

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Dr. Martin Luther King: The Dynamic American Visionary

The Dream Is Slowly Coming True!

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lived from (January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968). He was a man of great eloquence & consequence who left an indelible print on America. That’s why we have a national holiday so that we will never forget the impact that he has on people. It was a struggle that is recounted in an article on the following website:http://www.holidays.net/mlk/holiday.htm

Because he was a man of peace, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. believed strongly in non-violence. Although he lived in tumultuous times, he refused to fight fire with fire. How he chose to deal with the brutality that faced him was to remain peaceful. This is why many regard him as being a martyr for the civil rights movement. He literally put his life on the line so that future generations could enjoy a better America.

Oh,my! His moving, melodic speeches mesmerized throngs of Americans. But, there were many who didn’t want equality & unity in America. They wanted the Jim Crow laws & segregation to continue. Who were “they”? Well, the FBI for one. Here’s an excerpt from CNN that talks about how the FBI tracked Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s every move intently:

The almost fanatical zeal with which the FBI pursued King is disclosed in tens of thousands of FBI memos from the 1960s.

The FBI paper trail spells out in detail the government agency’s concerted efforts to derail King’s efforts on behalf of the civil rights movement.

The FBI’s interest in King intensified after the March on Washington in August 1963, when King delivered his “I have a dream speech,” which many historians consider the most important speech of the 20th century. After the speech, an FBI memo called King the “most dangerous and effective Negro leader in the country.”

The bureau convened a meeting of department heads to “explore how best to carry on our investigation [of King] to produce the desired results without embarrassment to the Bureau,” which included “a complete analysis of the avenues of approach aimed at neutralizing King as an effective Negro leader.” (End of Excerpt) Read the rest here: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/31/mlk.fbi.conspiracy/index.html

So, to have the country elect a biracial man with a black family to lead the nation was a very powerful step in establishing equal opportunity for all Americans.That is why Jesse Jackson openly wept at the news that a black man had actually become president of the United States. He was a part of the vicious struggle for civil rights & he knew Dr. Martin Luther King personally. So, to see Barack Obama step up & give his acceptance speech was a powerful moment that Jesse Jackson knew he had played a part in. This is a turning point in history just like the civil rights era was. John Lewis ,another civil rights leader, was very emotional as well. You see, they knew that Dr. Martin Luther King had more than a dream. He was a dynamic American visionary who spoke of an America that we can actually see racial progress in. Many African-Americans truly believe that Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream is finally taking shape. They point to Barack Obama’s historical win as evidence of that. Here is a quote from his famous “I Have A Dream” speech taken from American Rhetoric.com:

“And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. ” (End of Excerpt) See & read the speech by following the link:http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm

The Obama’s Will Be Residing In The White House!

What A Beautiful Family!

Finally, a first lady that all women can be inspired by. A tall statuesuqe beauty with a superior brain would be the best way for me to describe Michelle Obama. And if you’ve read my previous posts you know what adjectives I’ve used to describe our new president, Barack Obama! The Obama’s perfect match will draw the envy of the hordes of folks who are married but wish that they were not. The love between them is so strong & visible. It doesn’t seem like they doubt their choice of mate. Natasha & Malia Obama are two of the most adorable little girls that I have ever seen. This is a beautiful loving family who honestly love each other. Because it is a black family, they have been compared to ”The Cosbys“. Remember that this is no fictional family,though. The Obamas represent a great American family who will project the right image to the world. I don’t think they’ll be any lewd scandals with White House interns or anything. And that’s because the Obama’s will be residing there. You don’t have to wonder if their relationship is sustained for political reasons,like the Clintons. I believe that this president won’t be caught with his pants down. This is a respectable family that will make all of America proud instead of embarrassing us with their sexual proclivities or ignorance. Thank God for that!

Strange Phenomena Like The Roswell Ufo Sparks My Imagination

I remember that my mother took me to a UFO convention in Berkeley just to see what goes on there. She is a very inquisitive woman who loves to dabble in the occult & all things supernatural. So, this was right up her alley. Well, it was not like the Roswell Ufo convention that is shown in this video. There were no exhibits & the audience was seated. We listened to a couple of credible looking people talk about their experience with a UFO. I started to listen intently to them even though my mother had to convince me to go with her in the first place! We left in the middle of the convention because it all started to go downhill when the wackos started to surface. The breaking point for us came when a lady claimed that her cat was really from outer space.

The Roswell incident is very intriguing,indeed. It makes you really wonder what those men recovered from the crash site. Was it a weather ballon or a crashed spacecraft? Were there really little alien beings discovered at the scene? I,for one, do not think that we are the only intelligent species in the universe which is what makes this all so appealing to me ! What makes this an ongoing mystery was the bungled attempt at a cover-up by the government. You know we love a good conspiracy in America. And this one, ladies & gents, is one of my faves!

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American Traditions Like Veterans Day…

Veteran’s Day is an American tradition that celebrates the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I in 1918. Most Americans have either served in the military themselves or have known someone that has. This is the day that is reserved for you to pay tribute to the living & deceased soldiers. Since most of the men in my life have been in the military, I know that they appreciate this day. They just wish that they were honored for more than just one day. All of the veterans that I know have voiced the same concerns about the military. When they complete their service, it is hard for them to find work & good healthcare. The treatment of veterans really needs to be improved. We should do more for those who are willing to put their lives on the line for our country. They should be able to obtain good health care & employment once they are a civilian. Let’s honor the veterans by assuring that they are protected when they are out of the military.

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Dorothy Dandridge: A Sepia Rose

The Sepia Rose

She had a creamy & smooth complexion that I am in awe of. Her face was sweet but seductive & her body was the quintessential hour-glass shape. Beauty like that can’t be bought, packaged, or sold. Only God can create this type of splendor & exquisiteness. God broke the mold when he made Dorothy Dandridge. I mean, she was so beautiful that it took my breath away the first time I ever saw “Carmen Jones.” Her life was filled with so much tragedy & drama that it seemed destined for the screen. Her life & death was comparable to Marilyn Monroe. That’s why she is known as the “Black Marilyn Monroe.” Forgive me for saying so, but I believe that Dorothy Dandridge was much more beautiful & talented then Marilyn Monroe was. But, that’s just my opinion.

So, it came as no surprise to me when so many black actresses were dying to portray her on film. She  lived from Nov. 9, 1922 – Sept. 8,1965. Dorothy Dandridge was the first African-American woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. So, I thought it was quite fitting forHalle Berry to portray her. It was almost eerie that she then went on to become the first African-Amercian woman to win the Academy Award for Best Actress. Maybe Dorothy looked out for Halle because she depicted her life so beautifully in the biopic “Introducing Dorothy Dandridge.” Even Halle Berry said that she felt Dorothy Dandridge’s presence during the making of that movie. Read this article to find out more about her : http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Dorothy-Dandridge

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We Can Smoke Marijuana Legally If It’s For Medicinal Reasons!

I remember that crazy anti-marijuana propaganda film “Reefer Madness” from the 1930′s. It was designed to deter people from smoking weed by claiming that it could make you go blind or lose your mind. I think my grandmother must have seen that movie because she swore that these were the actual effects people got from smoking herb. Now, I happen to know that the movie was just a fear tactic & not based on fact. Let’s just say that my eyes haven’t failed me yet.

What’s great about marijuana is that it can cure nausea & give you an appetite. That’s why it’s legal to use it for medical purposes. There is a downside to everything,including ganja. If you smoke too much, you can get stuck in one spot. This may be why folks think that it makes you lazy. For me, it helps me to relax & unwind like a glass of wine does for some people. Unlike wine & liquor, I never feel sick to my stomach from smoking the herb. It always makes me feel better when I’m not well.

Apparently, it’s not just hip-hop that’s big in Japan. The Japanese are discovering the pleasure of the green herb in a big way in Japan. According to the guardian.co.uk:

“Japanese law takes a dim view of the recreational use of soft drugs. The 1948 cannabis control law calls for prison terms of up to 10 years and hefty fine for anyone found importing, exporting, growing, selling or buying cannabis.

Its use for medical purposes, permitted in some other countries, is also banned.

Japanese activists are pushing for a change in the law to permit the use of cannabis among sufferers of diseases such as cancer, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s.

“Cannabis is harmless compared to alcohol and tobaccos, but still the government overreacts and ruins the lives of anyone found with it,” Koichi Maeda, the founder of the Japan Medical Marijuana Association, told the Guardian. “We asked the government to provide evidence of the harm they say marijuana causes, but they couldn’t.” (End of Excerpt) Follow the link to read the rest:http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/03/japan

Wow! And I was mad because marijuana is only legal if used for medicinal purposes in America ! I was hoping that it would be legal one day like it is in Amsterdam. But, holy crap! I think I will appreciate the fact that we can use it at all in America. In Japan, it’s not even okay for sick people to use it. This is a very interesting video that centers around a book about marijuana. I mean, we’re so relaxed about marijuana usage in this country that you can write a kid’s book about it! The author of the book makes the point that a whole lot of parents use marijuana. Watch the video because it’s really interesting.

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Lindsay Lohan Getting Her Comeuppance When Animal Activists Threw Flour On Her

Lindsay Lohan

Lindsay Lohan is not one of my favorite actresses. I think that she is remarkably similar to the character she portrayed in “Mean Girls.” Yeah, she had a difficult childhood & all that jazz! I know! But, most American families are dysfunctional so that’s really no excuse. We either learn from our parent’s mistakes or we repeat them. Since both of her parents have had drug & anger management issues, it seems like she has emulated their lives.

We all know about her cocaine & alcohol addictions because they were so well-publicized. I sympathize with anyone who is struggling with issues in their lives, so she did have my empathy at first. But, she blew it when she was involved in that wild car chase in 2007.Remember that she blamed the black guy once she got caught. Here’s an excerpt from ivillage.com:

“When police finally arrived on the scene, Dante claims that Lindsay told the officers, “I wasn’t driving. The black kid (Jakon) was driving.” Dante and Jakon reportedly watched Lindsay flunk her field sobriety test, saying when she tried to touch her nose, she almost fell over.”(End of Excerpt) Read the whole post by going here:  http://dailyblabber.ivillage.com/entertainment/archives/2007/07/passengers-tell-their-side-of.html

In that incident, she allegedly told those guys that since she was a celebrity she could do whatever she wanted. Lindsay Lohan seems to be under the impression that she say anything she want as well. I guess that’s why she called Barack Obama America’s “first colored president.” What if we branded Lindsay Lohan as America’s “first Disney dyke ?” I think that would be equally as harsh as using racist & outdated terms such as “colored” to describe someone. Even Disney stopped using “colored” to refer to blacks a long time ago. Maybe the former disney darling didn’t get that memo. Frankly, I think she intended for that comment to get the reaction that it did. Remember, she wanted to help Barack Obama during his campaign & he refused? This was this little uppity chick’s way of trying to insult the president-elect. It’s just like calling someone a fag or a dyke.

So, I wasn’t mad at those animal activists who threw flour in her face because she was wearing fur. Follow this link to read more about it:   (http://64.90.166.18/news/lindsay-lohan-gets-flour-dumped-on-her-for-wearing-fur     ) All the shit that she has done to others makes me have no empathy for her. What those animal activists did was extreme, though. I may not like Lindsay Lohan but noone should be able to assault you physically in any way, shape, or form. It made me think of a movie that I really like called “Year of the Dog.” That movie was about a woman who goes through a lot of emotional turmoil due to her passion for dogs. The death of her dog leads her to discover  that her true destiny in life is to become a animal activist. This woman almost went over the brink of sanity because of it. In one scene, she attacks her neighbor because she believes he inadvertently poisoned her dog! This woman went to great extremes to save animals. Here’s an excerpt from an article on extremism in America which I got from the Anti-Defamation League’s site:

“During the past two decades, radical environmental and animal rights groups have claimed responsibility for hundreds of crimes and acts of terrorism, including arson, bombings, vandalism and harassment, causing more than $100 million in damage. While some activists have been captured, ecoterror cells – small and loosely affiliated – are extremely difficult to identify and most attacks remain unsolved. Although it has been overshadowed by Islamic terrorist threats since September 11, ecoterrorism remains one of the country’s most active terrorist movements. ( End of Excerpt) Read the entire article by following this link: http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/ecoterrorism.asp

The Republican Party Finally Has To Come To Grips With Their Lack Of Diversity!

The General Consensus

People jokingly referred to the GOP as the party of “old white men” throughout the election. Not a good thing when you claim to represent a country that is increasingly becoming a true “melting pot.” I daresay, but I think the GOP is in a bit of a pickle unless they can find a way to modernize their party. How can you do that if you’re not being all-inclusive? Some minorities feel that the Republican party really does take care of their needs, though. Check out this excerpt from the Indian American Republican Council:

“Why the Indian-American vote should go to the Republican candidate

     2004 will be remembered as a watershed year for the Indian-American community and the Republican Party. Community activism combined with President George W. Bush’s leadership has led to a new, dynamic relationship between Indian-Americans and the GOP:

· Nearly 20 Indian-Americans served as delegates to the Republican National Convention, the highest number ever, with close to 30 South Asian delegates in all. Indian-Americans have received 14 full-time political appointments in the administration of President George W. Bush. This is the highest number ever.
· There are at least 7 more Indian-Americans appointed to presidential commissions.
· For the first time ever in American history, a Hindu spiritual leader was welcomed into the White House. This occurred when President Bush welcomed Sri Sri Ravi Shankar into the Oval Office in May 2004.
· President Bush regularly mentions Hindus in his speeches in reference to his faith-based initiative, something no President ever did before.
· President Bush honored Hindus with an official White House celebration on the occasion of Diwali in November 2003. This was the first time ever such an event took place.
· President Bush honored Sikhs with an official White House celebration on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the installation of the Sikh Holy Scripture, Guru Granth Sahib, in the Golden Temple. This was the first time such an event ever took place.
· For the first time in our nation’s history, an Indian-American, Bobby Jindal, will be elected as a Republican Member of Congress.
· Nikki Randhawa Haley, an Indian-American woman, will be elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives as a Republican.
· For the first time ever, the Indian American Republican Council (IARC) hosted a successful reception and dinner at the Republican National Convention to honor our Indian-American delegates and to express our support for Republican leadership. Nearly 200 people attended this event, including Members of Congress, media and other dignitaries.
· The IARC is also expanding, with 13 independent state affiliates in existence and more on the way.(End of Excerpt) Read the entire article here:http://www.iarcnational.org/index.php?content=L11022004

A lot of minorities really don’t feel like the Republicans care about their issues until they need their vote. And the Republican convention really did not help mobilize the minority vote either. If anything it helped to discourage it because it was almost totally whitewashed. I am sure that they will finally realize after the upset that occurred in this election that they desperately need to find a way to appeal to all minorities. Here’s an interesting excerpt from guardian.co.uk:

“The GOP is now virtually an all-white party, and being an all-white party in the United States of today is an unmitigated liability.

The party hasn’t had one non-white federal office holder in several years – not one. John McCain is going to get maybe 5% of the black vote, perhaps 25-30% of the Latino vote, and maybe a slightly larger percentage of the still-small Asian vote.

America is just getting more and more racially diverse.” (End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2008/oct/28/uselections2008-republicans

 

 

 

 

Will Bill Kill Hillary’s Chance At Becoming Secretary Of State?

Will Bill Kill Hill's Chance? The Saga Continues...

Some people really think that Bill Clinton hurt Hillary’s bid to become president & they believe he may get in the way of her becoming Secretary of State. During the primaries, a lot of folks were turned off by Bill Clinton’s style of campaigning. Even former President Jimmy Carter shares this view. Here’s an excerpt from the Washington Times:

“Taking a rare shot at his fellow White House alumnus, former President Jimmy Carter told The Washington Times that Bill Clinton became an unwittingly divisive figure during the Democratic primaries, damaging his wife Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s chances to win the presidency with a series of verbal gaffes.

“As he tried to campaign for his wife, I think in the heat of the campaign he made some verbal mistakes,” Mr. Carter said in an interview Wednesday night, just minutes before Mr. Clinton took the podium at the Democratic National Convention.”(End of Excerpt) Read the whole article by going here:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/aug/29/carter-says-bill-clinton-hurt-hillarys-campaign/

As Obama assembles his administration, there are the inevitable leaks as to who his picks will be. It’s a guessing game that political pundits love to play. Everyone’s talking about how Obama will model his administration after that of Abraham Lincoln, a man that Obama said he greatly admires. This “team of rivals” theory has really taken shape due to his possible decision to offer Hillary Clinton the most powerful position in his administration. The big buzz right now is that Hillary Clinton may very well be America’s next Secretary of State ! Noone saw that coming. Whoopi Goldberg says she feels that Hillary would make a better Secretary of Health. There is a lot of debate about not only whether she’s right for the job. People are also discussing whether or not Bill Clinton will cost her this opportunity. Here’s more on that from Fox News:

“Could former President Bill Clinton’s charitable affairs cost Hillary Clinton the secretary of state job in Barack Obama’s administration?

That’s what insiders are wondering after reports that the former president’s financial and foreign entanglements could hurt the New York senator in her bid for a Cabinet post.

Politico.com reported Monday that Democrats “are becoming exasperated” by Bill Clinton’s response to requests for information about his finances.

“The sense among the no-drama Obama world is: This is well on its way to winning best Oscar for drama,” an unnamed Democrat told Politico.com.

Of worry, Politico.com said, is whether Clinton’s charity would create a conflict of interest with foreign governments. The New York Times reported Sunday that lawyers from the Obama camp were looking into the former president’s dealings with foreign governments and pharmaceutical companies.” (End of Excerpt) Read the whole article here: http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/11/17/clintons-foreign-affairs-cost-hillary-secretary-post/

 

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E.D. Hill:The Fox News Anchor Who Called The Obama’s Pound A “Terrorist Jab”Will Not Be Returning To Fox!

Fox News might have gotten rid of E.D. Hill because she’s getting old. You know they like to have the hot chicks over there. That is a totally oversexualized network. The women wear short skirts & low-cut blouses. Most of the female anchors look like they could be on some daytime soap opera like “The Young & The Restless“.

But most likely, E.D. Hill got canned from Fox because she inferred that both Michelle & Barack Obama were making a terrorist gesture when they did the infamous pound. There were a lot of baffled individuals out there after she called it a “terrorist jab.” What the fuck was that about & how did she even come up with such a notion?! In the video below, Rachael Maddow & Keith Olbermann discuss this ignoramus & it’s really quite funny. But, I am glad that Fox made her ass apologize a few days later. And now comes the news that the harebrained blond’s contract won’t be renewed. Good riddance!

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We Don’t Have Rogue Pirates On Our Shores!

Modern Pirates Help Fund Terrorist Groups!

I know you’ve been hearing about all of these bold & brazen pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia. It’s nothing like the “Pirates of the Carribean” either. There’s nothing to romanticize here. These pirates are hijacking an alarming number of ships. They have gotten so out of control that the world is being forced to take notice. But, piracy has put parts of Asia in a predicament as well. On uniorb.com there is an article that details the pirates of Southeast Asia.It was a bigger dilemna than Somalia is right now back in 2004 . Here’s an excerpt:
“The Straits of Malacca has a long history of sea piracy, dating back to the arrival of European colonizers. In those days, piracy plagued the waters of Southeast Asia as a form of rebellion against the foreign rulers. Social poverty drove many Southeast Asian individuals to pursue piracy to make a living. In defense, the British and the Dutch drew a demarcation line dividing the Straits of Malacca, with the agreement to hunt down pirates within their own spheres of influence. To this very day, the British-Dutch demarcation line separating Malaysia from Indonesia remains a border problem in combating piracy.

Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, has been thrown into limelight after the catastrophic tsunami in December 2004, followed by two destructive earthquakes in Sumatra in 2005. Still reeling from the natural disasters, the nation has been plagued with increasingly perilous piracy in its waters, drawing international outcry for more security and effective measures to protect tankers, container and cargo ships, yachts and fishing boats. However, during the presence of international relief operations for tsunami victims in the Aceh region, piracy actually ceased for two months but later resumed more violently after the departure of the foreign naval ships.

The IMB believes from eyewitness testimonies and reports that the vast majority of pirates in the Straits of Malacca are Indonesian in origin. Apparently, the Indonesian Navy seems to be far from adequate to curtail the sea menace — lacking modern equipment and sufficient ships for pursuits (only 30% ships are considered seaworthy), and short of resources for patrolling Indonesia’s sprawling territories. Nevertheless, the Indonesian Navy has positioned six battleships in the Straits with more than 20 ships and 10 aircraft to conduct daily traffic patrols.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:http://uniorb.com/ATREND/piracy.htm

But even though these rogue pirates are not operating anywhere near the shores of the United States, there actions are affecting trade among other things.Here’s an excerpt from guardian.co.uk with more on this matter:

” The actions of the pirates could hurt consumers worldwide, Roger Middleton, an author who studies piracy in Somalia, writes, also in the Times. If international shipping reacts by avoiding the route via the Gulf of Aden and the Suez canal and taking the longer way around the Cape of Good Hope, someone will have to pay – very probably the consumer.

The latest act of piracy prompts reflection on Somalia’s parlous state. Simon Tisdall in the Guardian reminds us that Somalia is arguably the world’s biggest single humanitarian disaster; more serious than Darfur, Zimbabwe and eastern Congo. Yet, he says, leading countries and their navies seem more exercised about safeguarding sea lanes than helping the 3.25 million Somalis – 43% of the population – who are dependent on food aid.

The Bush administration bears much responsibility for Somalia’s state of anarchy, Martin Fletcher argues in the Times. Because of the “war on terror”, the US backed an invasion of Somalia by Ethiopia to throw out the Islamic courts movement which had brought a semblance of stability. Fletcher says the intervention helped destroy Somalia’s best chance of peace for a generation and, far from stamping out militancy, turned Somalia into a breeding ground for Islamist extremists and gave al-Qaida a valuable foothold in the Horn of Africa.”(End of Excerpt) Read the whole thing here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2008/nov/18/somalia-piracy

This video talks about the way the United Nations dealt with the conflict & you can see how some Somali human rights activists felt that the help was not genuine. Here’s a link to a great site that traces the history of Somalia’s conflicts:http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/somalia.htm
This is an excerpt from that site:
“Subsequent fighting among rival faction leaders resulted in the killing, dislocation, and starvation of thousands of Somalis and led the United Nations to intervene militarily in 1992. In 1992, responding to the political chaos and humanitarian disaster in Somalia, the United States and other nations launched peacekeeping operations to create an environment in which assistance could be delivered to the Somali people. By March 1993, the potential for mass starvation in Somalia had been overcome, but the security situation remained fragile. On October 3, 1993 U.S. troops received significant causalities (19 dead over 80 others wounded) in a battle with Somali gunmen. When the United States (in 1994) and the UN withdrew (in 1995) their forces from Somalia, after suffering significant casualties, order still had not been restored.

Conflict between rival warlords and their factions continued throughout the 1990s. No stable government emerged to take control of the country. The UN assisted Somalia somewhat with food aid but did not send peacekeeping troops into the country. In the late 1990s, relative calm began to emerge and economic development accelerated somewhat. The country was by no means stable, but it was improving. A transitional government emerged in 2000 but soon lost power. Somaliland and Puntland, two regions in the north broke away from the country and set up regional, semi-autonomous governments. They are not internationally recognized.” (End of Excerpt)

 

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I Hope That Obama Will Allow Freedom Of Press To Be An Actual Fact Again!

No More Fear Since Bush Is Gone!

Did you know that there is more freedom of press in Finland & the Czech Republic than it is in the United States? Our first amendment rights have slowly been slipping away in this country under George Bush. There have been other presidents who have tried to manipulate the news, for sure. During the time George Bush has been in office, he has controlled how he would interact with the media. What he has done is largely ignore the media & treat them as if they were a nuisance.According to The Punch:

“The US (53rd, 13.00) has slipped nine places since last year, after occupying 17th position in the maiden ranking carried out in 2002. The assessor attributed the dwindling fortune of the press freedom in the US to the frosty relationship between the media and President George Bush after the latter acted under the pretext of “national security” to regard as suspicious any journalist who questioned his “war on terrorism.”

This was further compounded by the refusal of US federal courts, unlike those in 33 states, to recognise the media’s right not to reveal its sources, even threatens journalists whose investigations have no connection at all with terrorism.

For instance, Reporters Without Borders observed that a freelance journalist and blogger, Josh Wolf, was imprisoned when he refused to hand over his video archives. Sudanese cameraman, Sami al- Haj, who works for the pan-Arab broadcaster, Al-Jazeera, has been detained without trial at the US military base in Guantanamo, Cuba, since 2002, and Associated Press photographer, Bilal Hussein, has been held by US authorities in Iraq since April 2008.”(End of Excerpt) Read the whole article here:http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20081120231498

Not surprisingly, China was one of the 10 worst violators of freedom of press.They just made it legal for their reporters to cover natural disasters truthfully in 2005,after all.Talk about draconian laws, China’s got them. But, according to Reuters:

“The Chinese government has started to loosen its control on the negative information,” an academic source close to propaganda authorities told Reuters.

“They are trying to control the news by publicizing the news,” said the source, who declined to be named.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE4AJ1VF20081120

My hope is that Obama will restore the freedom of press in this country. It is on a steady decline,most noticeably under the reign of George Bush. Instead of reporting what’s really going on around the world, we get news organizations that all show the same information almost in perfect synchronicity. I’m not kidding,either. I tend to channel surf & I switch from CNN to MSNBC to FOX. More often than not,they are all covering the same stories as if there isn’t much going on in the world. You can tell that the news is controlled in the United States. This video that I included from Democracy Now really breaks it down.

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The Smithsonian National Musueum Of American History

The Smithsonian National Musuem of American History has relics of America’s past that are hard to come by. Things like the Gettysburg address & the Star Spangled Banner are on display there. If you are new to America, this is a great way to get a sense of American heritage.  The musuem was under reconstruction & it reopened November 21. Here’s why you should go:

“For people of all ages, a visit to the National Museum of American History can be a defining event — providing a deep and fundamental understanding of what it has meant to be an American,” said Brent D. Glass, director of the museum. “Millions of visitors will enjoy new opportunities to explore the American narrative and the core stories of our national experience in an inspiring and memorable setting.”(End of Excerpt) Find out more by clicking on the link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20081119/pl_usnw/national_museum_of_american_history_reopens_nov21

Amanda America Dickson: Known As One Of The Most Moneyed Black Women Of The 19th Century

Amanda America Dickson

Most people have heard of Madame C.J. Walker as being one of the first black female millionaires in America. She invented a hair straightening method called the straightening comb. Of course, we know about the richest black woman of this century. That would be Oprah Winfrey who became the first black female billionaire. But, I bet there’s one lady that you haven’t heard of.

There was a great little movie I saw on television called “A House Divided.” It was about the daughter of a slave & her owner who was left property by her father. Her father’s relatives contest the will because the beneficiary was a daughter of a slave which made her part black. The events that are depicted in the movie are based on Amanda America Dickson. Here’s more on her life from the New Georgia Encyclopedia:

“She was born on November 20 or 21, 1849, on the Hancock County plantation of her father, the famous white agricultural reformer, David Dickson (1809-85). Her birth was the result of the rape of her slave mother, Julia Frances Lewis Dickson, when Julia was twelve years old. At the time, David Dickson was forty and the wealthiest planter in the county. Amanda America Dickson spent her childhood and adolescence in the house of her white grandmother and owner, Elizabeth Sholars Dickson, where she learned to read and write and play the piano—the survival skills of a young lady but not ordinarily the opportunities of a slave. According to the Dickson family oral history, David Dickson doted on Amanda, and Julia quite openly became his concubine and housekeeper.

In the winter of 1885 David Dickson died, leaving the bulk of his estate to Amanda Dickson and subsequently to her children after her death. Executors appraised the estate, which included 17,000 acres of land in Hancock and Washington counties, at $309,000. In his will David Dickson stated that the administration of his estate was to be left to the sound judgment and unlimited discretion of Amanda Dickson without interference from any quarter, including any husband she might have. A host of David Dickson’s white relatives contested the will, but the superior court of Hancock County ruled in favor of Amanda Dickson in November 1885. The disgruntled relatives then appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court, which upheld the lower court decision in 1887. The higher court stated that the “rights of each race are controlled and governed by the same enactments or principles of law”—in other words, whatever rights and privileges belonged to a bastard white child belonged to a mixed-race child as well.”(End of Excerpt) Read the full article here:

   http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-821

   

November Is Not Just About Eating Turkey! It’s American Indian Heritage Month!

Most people have been waiting for November to get here so that they can chow down on some turkey. This is the month of cranberry sauce,homemade sweet potato pie, & warm dinner rolls. It’s a time to get cozy & spend time with as many loved ones as possible. But,there’s more to give thanks for than just scrumptous food & good times in November. This is also American Indian Heritage month!

It is a time to celebrate American Indian tradition & culture. But, who designated the month of November for this time of reflection? Here’s more on that:

“To honor the American Indians who lost their lives and their land to the Europeans, New York declared the first American Indian Day in 1916. For years, several states followed New York in celebrating American Indian Day. Finally, in 1990, President George Bush declared November as National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month to nationally recognize their great contributions to the United States.

“Oh Great Spirit, who made all races, look kindly upon the
whole human family and take away the arrogance and hatred which
separates us from our brothers…”

Cherokee Prayer

This prayer from the Cherokee tribe reminds us of the importance of every human being, no matter where we’re from or what we look like. In November, we recognize the contributions of American Indians and Alaska Natives during National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month.(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://turkey.thebeehive.org/Templates/Misc/Level3NoRight.aspx?PageId=1.1793.6269
The accompanying video contains information about the American Indian Cultural Center& Musuem of Oklahoma.It has a lot of information about the activities that take place during the American Indian Heritage month.

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Very Emotive Tween American Idol Fans Going Ballistic When David Cook Wins!

David Cook is totally hot. He has that dark,brooding rock star persona down pact. I’m feeling his style,too. There is something that is very sexy about him. But,for these little girls,it was all about his competitor,David Archuleta. I don’t know if they were really that passionate about his loss or if they were just play-acting. Because it’s not that serious!

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Auto Industry Execs Sure Know How To Lower Worker Morale!

These executives from the auto industry let it be known that they are far from paupers.First class,my ass! They’re doing it Big Willie style with the corporate jet. Which is understandable, I guess, if you’re a very profitable corporation. It’s distasteful,though, if you’re asking the taxpayers to bail you out. Who thought that would go unnoticed? Only the fools who let it get to this point in the first place! These auto industry execs sure know how to lower worker morale,too. I mean, these guys want everyone else to pay for the failure that they had a hand in. They want $25 billion freakin’ dollars! Why aren’t these executive’s fringe benefits & huge salaries being cut if things are so bad? Look at how much this ABC report says they make. I’ve heard folks say that the blue collar worker that assembles these cars for $30 hr. makes way too much. Well, what about these guys?

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Obama’s “Team Of Rivals” Demonstrates That He Is The SuperChanger After All!

SuperChanger Mosaic

Whether Obama represents change or not should not be under any kind of speculation. He has already changed the way the world views America and he hasn’t even been inaugurated yet! Not to mention that he’s changed the face of the administration as well. I believe that we will have a diverse administration that is made up of a lot of young & attractive people. Obama’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emmanuel, may have a hot temper but that’s not the only thing that’s sizzling. He is a cutie for sure. Yeah, Barack Obama is bringing a change from the last 8 years already.

Obama is not shy about drawing on the past to get a sense of how to handle the future. Everyone has been talking about how many folks from the Clinton administration will now be a part of his. But he knows that in order to change the direction that America is headed in, he can’t have a team of unknowns. Taking a cue from Abraham Lincoln’s playbook, Barack Obama may be constructing a “team of rivals“.

Barack Obama is a very intellectual & studious man. Having a president that is a thinker is also a definite change. Look at what Obama said at a town meeting earlier this year:

“”I will tell you, though, that my goal is to have the best possible government, and that means me winning,” Obama said, per ABC News’ Sunlen Miller. “And so, I am very practical minded. I’m a practical-minded guy. And, you know, one of my heroes is Abraham Lincoln.”

Obama then referred to “a wonderful book written by Doris Kearns Goodwin called ‘Team of Rivals,’ in which [she] talked about [how] Lincoln basically pulled in all the people who had been running against him into his Cabinet because whatever, you know, personal feelings there were, the issue was, ‘How can we get this country through this time of crisis?”(End of Excerpt) Read the entire article here:(http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/05/obama-proposes.html

 

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Alan Colmes Feels His Liberal Point Of View Is No Longer Needed On Hannity & Colmes!

The male version of “The View” is losing it’s liberal voice for the moment. On Hannity & Colmes, Alan Colmes announced that he will be stepping down as co-host of the show. After Sean Hannity joked that now that we had a Democratic House, Senate, & president that Alan was done, he agreed that his work was finished. I say that this show is the equivalent to “The View” because one view always seems to outweigh the other. “Hannity & Colmes” was supposed to present both a liberal & a conservative’s take on the issues of the day. Somehow, Sean Hannity’s view always seem to overshadow Alan Colmes. If they decide to replace Mr. Colmes, they should get a liberal that is just as loud & boisterous as Mr. Hannity. Now, that would be interesting!

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Ashley Dupre Claiming That She Didn’t Know That Eliot Spitzer Was The Governor Because She Was Only “22″!

Did you see the little intimate one-on-one chat that Diane Sawyer had with call-girl Ashley Dupree? There Ms. Dupree sat trying her best to look all innocent & doe-eyed. But, what was really the clincher in the interview was how Ashley Dupree answered the question about her former client, Governor Eliot Spitzer. Ashley Dupree claimed that she had no idea who he was because she was only “22“! C’mon,girl! Did you really have to perpetuate the stereotype about hookers being uneducated? I mean, if you’re not that into politics just say that. But, I do not get what being 22 has to do with not knowing who the governor of your state is. Then, she really made herself look like a bimbo by saying she doesn’t read newspapers. Kids in grade school read newspapers so that they can keep abreast of current affairs. So, that’s a ridiculous excuse!

 

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GM Just Can’t Afford Tiger Woods Anymore!

You know the economy is in dire straits when major sports figures start to lose endorsement deals because of it! After laying off blue collar workers, GM has finally let go of Tiger Woods who had an exorbitant $7 million dollar contract as their Buick spokesman. Cutting his contract was a no-brainer & should have been done before they considered laying off the folks who actually make the cars! If the economy keeps sinking companies, celebrity endorsements may no longer be the norm.

 

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Ann Coulter Has Been Temporarily Silenced! Her Mouth Is Wired Shut!

The obnoxious, anorexic-looking Ann Coulter’s jaw is wired shut! After the boorish behavior she has shown, I’m not sure I feel sorry for her. Remember what she said about the 9/11 widows? It was so ill-bred that it would in bad taste for me to repeat it here. This is a badly informed woman who trys to project the image of a tough honest journalist. What tough honest journalist would distort the truth on a regular basis while dressed in lewd attire? Yes, her choice of garb shows how desperate she is to promote her sexuality. She’s a self-professed conservative whose clothing is anything but! What man hasn’t noticed her long,scrawny legs that she displays at every given opportunity? Isn’t it obvious how high my opinion is of her? Doesn’t it seem like she’s getting her just desserts due to the fact that she was supposed to start promoting her book?Here’s more on that from the L.A. Times:

” But here’s the best part about the Coulter broken jaw news. No really, this is really good: Seems she has a brand new book titled “GUILTY” due out in early January and, of course, was all booked on TV and radio talk shows to discuss the “much-needed reality check on a Left gone wild,” declares the book’s jacket.

Her latest work reportedly exposes and mocks the media’s love affair with all things Democrat and all things President-elect Barack Obama.

Too bad Ann won’t be able to say a word about her new book.

That’s just a gosh darn shame.”(End of Excerpt) Read the whole article here:(http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedishrag/2008/11/oh-dear-page-si.html

My sentiments exactly! But, there’s more people who don’t appreciate her ridiculous rationale. In this video, Ann Coulter almost gets pied!

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The Phelps Family: The Most Hated Family In America!!!!!

Brace yourself when you enter into the world of irrationality & insanity that the Phelps family lives in. Now, this is the most deplorable family that I have ever seen! How is it that noone has taken these kids away? Is it okay to raise children on a steady diet of hate & vitriol? I shudder to think what a nation of these types of psychos would be like! Here’s a little background info on them from Wikipedia:

“Fred Waldron Phelps, Sr. (born November 13, 1929) is an American pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC), an independent Baptist church in Topeka, Kansas.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]} He is a disbarred lawyer, founder of the Phelps Chartered law firm and previous candidate for political office. He and his family are currently notorious for their anti-gay protests, claiming that most natural disasters and terrorist attacks are God’s punishment for a society that tolerates homosexuality.

He is known for public use of slogans (and banners carrying slogans) such as “Pervert Pope”, “The Godfather of Pedophiles”, “You’re Going to Hell“, “Don’t Pray for the U.S.A.”, “Thank God for 9/11“, “Thank God for Katrina“, “Thank God for Dead Soldiers”, “America Is Doomed”, “God Hates Fags“, “AIDS Cures Fags”, “God Is Your Enemy”, “Too Late to Pray”, “God Hates You”, “Priests Rape Boys”, “Catholic Priests Are Liars” and “Fags Die, God Laughs (or Mocks)”, and claims that God will punish homosexuals as well as people such as Bill O’Reilly, Coretta Scott King, Ronald Reagan, and Howard Dean, whom his church considers “fag-enablers”.^[7][8] He has also thanked God for the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and the 2005 flooding of James Bay in central Canada.^[9]

Phelps and his followers frequently picket various events, especially military funerals, gay pride gatherings, high-profile political gatherings, and even Christian gatherings and concerts with which he has no affiliation, arguing it is their sacred duty to warn others of God’s anger. When criticized, Phelps’ followers say they are protected in doing so by the First Amendment.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Phelps

That’s what so great about America! Even these miscreants can emit the most vile language,say they hate America,& then use the First Amendment as a safeguard. How deplorable! There are many folks who detest their pestilent conduct. And one of them may have set their garage on fire. Here’s more on that from CJOnline:

“Topeka firefighters were dispatched to Westboro Baptist Church, 3701 S.W. 12th St., at 1:05 a.m. A fence and garage were engulfed in flames. “

“Shirley Phelps-Roper said she thinks the fire was intentionally set.

“None of what they do is going to stop us from delivering our message,” Phelps-Roper said as she watched firefighters continue to spray water on the garage.

“We’re not surprised by this,” Phelps-Roper said, adding that anyone who may have started the fire were “cowards.”

Phelps-Roper said firefighters responded and “did what they were supposed to do.”

As she pointed to the house where her parents live, she said, “There are two elderly people who live here.” Phelps-Roper said her mother, Margie Phelps, is 82 and her father, Fred Phelps Sr., is 78.

She also said this is the most aggressive act toward her family to date.”(End of Excerpts) Read the whole article in it’s entirety here:(http://www.cjonline.com/stories/080208/bre_fire.shtml

The video I included contains a interview with the Phelps family that was conducted by Louis Theroux of BBC. It’s a very disturbing & engrossing look at this odious family.

 

 

 

 

 

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George & Laura Bush: They Actually Made Christmas & Hanukkah One Holiday!

The Christmas/Hanukkah Invite!

Don’t worry George & Laura Bush! You’ve got less than 60 days to embarrass yourselves again. Because this oversight with the Christmas/Hanukkah invititations is pretty darn strange! Here’s an excerpt from New York Post about these peculiar invites:

“In the background, the White House windows are festooned with Christmas wreaths.

The incongruity of the message did not go unnoticed.

“It’s absolutely bizarre to receive an invite to the White House for Hanukkah in a Christmas format,” said one person who was invited. “They should have consulted with their chief of protocol before sending this out. This belongs right in the ‘Weird But True’ column.”

Jewish community leader Isaac Abraham of Brooklyn had a simpler explanation.

“It’s obvious what’s going on here: The Christmas tree is being taken out of the White House and the menorah is being brought in the back,” he quipped.” (End of Excerpt) Read the whole article here:(http://www.nypost.com/seven/11262008/news/politics/let_santa_light_the_menorah_140965.htm

Hot Anchor Anderson Cooper: Everyone Wants To Know Which Team He Bats For!

 

Anderson Cooper & His Boyfriend?

Oh, Ne-Ne from “Real Housewives of Atlanta” is really lucky to have Anderson Cooper’s admiration. What I wouldn’t do just to get those crystal blue eyes to gaze upon me! He is serious eye candy & that is no exaggeration. I look at his show more for how good he looks than how in-depth his journalism is. So, I’m wondering if all of those persistent rumors about his sexuality are true or not. The guy in the picture is supposed to be his live-in lover,wine importer Julio Cesar Recio. Isn’t he fine? Since this is one area where Anderson Cooper remains less than candid, we can only speculate which team he bats for!

Adrienne Bailon: Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade Nixed The Cheetah Girls Because One Cheetah Got Too Wild!

Oh,you naughty Disney girl!

 

Tsk,Tsk,  Adrienne Bailon! Those naughty,nude photos of you that have been in circulation all over the internet may have just ruined more than your Thanksgiving. A lot of little girls are going to be crushed about The Cheetah Girls cancelled performance in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade,not to mention the other members of your group. Since you’re dating Kim Kardashian’s brother, I wonder if her sex tape influenced you to create a “scandal” of your own. Controversy always works when you’re trying to grab some attention for yourself! Check out this excerpt from N.Y Daily News:

“It’s a cheetah-licious scandal that’s apparently become too hot to swallow on Thanksgiving.

Thekid-friendly act, the Cheetah Girls, has been scratched from the Macy’sThanksgiving Day Parade after seminude photos of one of the Disneydarlings surfaced on the Internet.

Macy’s officials insisted”scheduling issues” caused the trio’s sudden disappearance from theparade schedule, suggesting the naughty snapshots of Adrienne Bailondid not influence the decision. “

And on the possible motives for the emergence of said photos:

“Bailon’s friend, Jonathan Jaxson, said he and the 25-year-old singerconcocted the story that the racy photos were swiped from her laptopand posted without permission.

“Adrienne wanted me to plant thestory about the laptop,” Jaxson, a Hollywood publicist, told the DailyNews, explaining Bailon’s desire to be seen as more adult and sexy.

“[She]wanted to distance herself from the Cheetah Girls. She decided, ‘Let’sspice it up’ and say possible nude photos were stolen from her laptop.”

Jaxson said the publicity stunt was hatched after Bailon’s laptop was indeed stolen at JFK Airport more than a week ago.

“I’vedone this before with several stars and we’ve had great success, butthis is the first time it’s ever bitten me in the rear or a client,”Jaxson said. “(End of Excerpt) Read the whole article here:(http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2008/11/18/2008-11-18_cheetah_girls_dumped_from_macys_thanksgi.html

And I’m off to eat some great Thanksgiving spread! Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there!

The Beat Generation:Artists like Bob Dylan & The Beatles Were Inspired By The Beat Culture

America has gave birth to many different interesting cultures. The Beat culture was definitely one of the most cool & influential ones. Those who subscribed to the Beat philosophy were against the consumption of wealth. It was a way of life that inspired artists like Bob Dylan & The Beatles. Here’s more from Wikipedia:

“Since 1958, the terms Beat Generation and beat have been used to describe the anti-materialistic literary movement that began with Kerouac in 1948, stretching on into the 1960s. The Beat philosophy of anti-materialism and soul-searching influenced 1960s musicians such as Bob Dylan, the early Pink Floyd and The Beatles.

At the time that the terms were coined, there was a trend amongst young college students to adopt the stereotype, with men wearing goatees and berets, rolling their own cigarettes and playing bongos. Fashions for women included black leotards and wearing their hair long, straight and unadorned in a rebellion against the middle-class culture of beauty salons. Marijuana use was associated with the subculture, and during the 1950s, Aldous Huxley‘s The Doors of Perception further influenced views on drugs.”(End of Excerpt) Read the entire entry here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatnik

This video is a documentary on The Beat Generation. If you weren’t born during this era like me, you will be able to get a feel for what it was like back then. I’ve always imagined 1950″s society to be similar to ”Leave It To Beaver” & “I Love Lucy”. The Beat culture was such a cool contrast to the squeaky-clean Stepford society of the 1950′s. Oh, how I wish I could have witnessed Jack Kerouac read his poetry in person instead of having to rely on you-tube.

Americans Know They Can Save Money On The Item Of Their Dreams On Black Friday!

Black Friday is the day where high-priced items are brought down to a reasonable price. Huge discounts & the fact that X-mas is almost here drives millions of Americans to get up before dawn to go shopping.If you’ve got the money to spend,now is the time to get to the stores& get all of your Christmas gifts and whatever else you need.But, it seems that folks get crazed about the prospect of not being able to save a couple of bucks.

Black Friday stampedes happen as a result of greedy shoppers salivating over how much stuff they can buy.And they will do whatever it takes to get to those items first,including trampling over folks.That’s what happened at Walmart today as soon as the store opened. There were throngs of people pushing their way into the store & it was a mob scene. I mean, they took the doors off the hinges & a Walmart worker was crushed to death by these avaricious consumers . We can’t allow ourselves to become psychotic over a “deal”. And these retail stores need to find a way to make Black Friday a safe shopping experience. Every year,people act like animals instead of human beings the day after Thanksgiving. You just spent time reflecting on how thankful you are for what you have,hopefully. And the next day, you become this rapacious thing that is determined to get what you want,by any means necessary. I guess the Thanksgiving spirit only lasts for one day for most people.

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Britney Spears Is Bringing Sexy Back ,Bitch! Watch Her Perform “Womanizer” In Germany!

So Steamy That You Knew Britney Was Going To Boil Over!

Okay,I admit that this performance at the Bambi awards in Germany isn’t exactly original. But, Britney Spears looks almost as sexy as she did when she appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone in her undies looking like the innocent virgin who was ripe for the picking. Whether or not she was really virginal did not matter. For some reason, you believed her when she said she was saving it for marriage. How naive we all were that took her for her word.

It turned out that she lost her virginity at 14. Thanks to her loyal,caring mom the world found out that Britney Spear’s virtuous persona was concocted by her managers. You see, I guess Lynne Spears thought it would be a good idea to write a tell-all book about her troubled daughter’s life. She allowed her own flesh & blood to present herself as a writhing,seductive, “Lolita”. Here’s more on that from NY Daily News:

“In a tell-all book, Spears’ mother, Lynne, reveals her daughter surrendered her chastity to a high school football stud when she was just 14.

Mama Spears, 53, also dishes that the pop icon took a liking to booze when she was a 13-year-old Mouseketeer and began experimenting with drugs at 15.

By age 16, Britney’s wild-child behavior stunned her family when she was caught with cocaine and marijuana on a private jet, Lynn Spears claims.

The book, “Through the Storm: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World,” is set for release Sept. 16, but The Sun of London published titillating highlights on Thursday.

Lynne Spears, 53, confesses her regret of losing control of Britney’s career to handlers who promoted her as a sex object and put her in raunchy videos.” (End of Excerpt) Read the whole article here:
(http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2008/09/04/2008-09-04_britney_spears_lost_her_virginity_when_s-2.html

We all know that Britney Spears had a nervous breakdown because of Kevin Federline. Her song “Womanizer” shows just how callous he was toward her. But really, I think that Justin Timberlake was the real catalyst of her problems. Once they broke up, it all went rapidly downhill from there.

But, she’s back looking fierce & hot! Some people have compared her to Madonna with her new dominatrix look. Britney Spears is too much of a Southern belle to have that hard edge that Madonna has. In this video, she is making a comeback at an awards show in Germany, especially body wise. Wow, look at her ass in this video! It’s perfectly fashioned into a rotund shape! Britney Spears is bringing sexy back, bitch!

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Bobby Jindall: Is He The Republican’s Answer To Obama?

Is He The Republican's Answer To Obama?

Bobby Jindall is a role model for so many Southeast Asians. Look how far he has ascended up the political ladder. He is the first non-white to become governor of Louisiana for over a century. Many folks feel that since Bobby Jindall has made so many great strides in life, a 2012 run against Barack Obama is a very foreseeable future for him. It would certainly be a better choice than Sarah Palin. Whenever Bobby Jindall starts to talk, it makes sense what he is saying. But when Sarah Palin speaks for any real length of time, I get lost in translation. Yes, a dark, handsome Indian man would seem to be the ideal candidate for a party that seems to be mostly caucasian. Having Bobby Jindall as the face of the Republican party would make the GOP not seem so antiquated. But, what does he have to say about running for president in 2012? He’s more concerned about the gubernatorial re-election in 2011. But here’s more on Jindall from Right Pundits:

“Jindal would bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to a presidential ticket. He is known for his systematic ways of accomplishing goals. He sets out a straight forward agenda, and he executes. Listen to what he said the Republicans need to do to win back congress:

“Republicans have to do three things. First, the party has to start doing the things which it says it stands for, like demonstrate fiscal discipline.

No. 2, we have to stop making excuses for corruption in our own party, and third, we have to be the party of solutions, not just blame Democrats for every problem.”

Seeing the man, you probably wouldn’t expect a southern accent. It made me chuckle. But it shows that even in Louisiana, skin color isn’t holding people back like it used to. He is the first non-white to be elected governor of Louisiana since reconstruction.“(End of Excerpt) Read the entire article here:(http://www.rightpundits.com/?p=2358

Although Bobby Jindall is the most known Indian American in politics, there are many more Indian Americans who paved the way for Bobby Jindall to become the first Indian American governor in any state, let alone Louisiana. Here’s a brief history of Indian Americans in government & politics:

“Dalip Saund (1899-1973) became a U.S. congressman in 1957. Born in the Punjab region of India, he immigrated to the United States in 1920. He earned a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley and was one of the earliest activists fighting for the citizenship and residence rights of Asian Indians in the United States. 

Many Asian Indian Americans have been appointed to administrative positions. Joy Cherian was Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner from 1990 to 1994. Cherian was first appointed by President Ronald Reagan to the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission in 1987. In 1982 Cherian founded the Indian American Forum for Political Education and today runs a consulting firm. Sambhu Banik, a Bethesda psychologist, was appointed in 1990 as executive director of the President’s Committee on Mental Retardation. Kumar Barve (1958– ), a Democrat from Maryland, was elected vice chairman of the Montgomery County’s House delegation in 1992. Barve became the first Asian Indian in the country to be elected to a state legislature. Bharat Bhargava was appointed assistant director of Minority Business Development Authority by President George Bush. Dinesh D’Souza, a graduate of Dartmouth and an outspoken conservative, was appointed a domestic policy advisor in the Reagan administration. He is a first generation Asian Indian, having come to the United States as an undergraduate student, and is the author of Illiberal Education: Politics of Sex and Race on Campus. D’Souza is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). T.R. Lakshmanan was head of the Bureau of Statistics in the Transportation Department. Arthur Lall (1911– ) has been involved in numerous international negotiations, has written extensively on diplomacy and negotiations, including the 1966 book Modern International Negotiator, and has taught at Columbia University. President Bush named Gopal S. Pal a member of the board of regents, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences under the U.S. Defense Department. Arati Prabhakar served as research director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Department of Commerce. Zach Zachariah of Florida was President Bush’s 1992 finance committee chairman in that state, and had the distinction of raising the most funds of any one person in that campaign. Three Asian Indians have won elections as mayors: John Abraham in Teaneck, New Jersey, David Dhillon in El Centro, California; and Bala K. Srinivas in Holliwood Park, Texas.” (End of Excerpt) Go here for the whole article:(http://www.everyculture.com/multi/A-Br/Asian-Indian-Americans.html

We Are Not The Most Promiscuous Country In The World!

The Victorian Era Was Just An Illusion That Has Now Evaporated!

 

With all the sex that is bombarded down our throats by way of the media & the entertainment industry, it’s a mystery how we’ve avoided becoming a nation of sexual degenerates. There’s a wealth of porn addictions here in America that has helped boost the divorce rate. Your next sexual conquest really is just a click away if you join sites like AdultFriend Finder. Sex is readily available in America. We make no bones about it. So, it would seem like a country that promotes so much sex would be having the most of it, right? Well, not quite. The country that was known for it’s Victorian attitudes, which bordered on being asexual, has reinvented itself in the modern era. Britian’s uptight,prim, & proper ways have caved, which is a sign of the times. Now, it is the most promiscuous country in the world,according to an international sex survey. Amazing how times change, isn’t it? Here’s more from DailyMail UK :

“It appears the days when we took a strict moralistic approach towards sex are long gone.
Researchers blamed the situation on a decline of religious scruples, the growth of equal rights for women and a highly sexualised popular culture.They found that when it comes to one-night stands, numbers of partners and attitudes to casual sex, Britain leads the field, ahead of even liberal nations such as the Netherlands and the passionate Italians.

The results are part of wider research carried out by Professor Schmitt, who releases this part of his study in this week’s edition of New Scientist magazine.

The findings also confirm earlier research showing that the British are more likely than other nationalities to have ‘stolen’ other people’s lovers. ” (End Of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1090612/Brits-casual-sex-league.html?ITO=1490

But, was Britian’s “strict moralistic approach towards sex ” just a facade? Well, according to “The Illustrated Book of Queen Victoria’s Secrets“ it was all just pretense. Here’s an excerpt from eroticprints.org:

“As we all suspected… beneath the veneer of middle class respectability lurked a heaving mass of juvenile prostitutes, depraved gentlemen, adulterous ladies and stifling bourgeois hypocrisy. And if that all sounds rather similar to today, these two books will give you a fascinating glimpse of how very modern and sophisticated the late Victorians were, sexually speaking. In fact, what seems new and risqué today would have held few surprises for our forefathers – and -mothers.”(End of Excerpt) Read the whole article & view more erotic prints by clicking on the link:(http://www.eroticprints.org/erbooks/illustratedvictoriasecrets.asp

Arianna Huffington: Political Pundit & Creator Of Huffington Post Gets $25 Million In Funding!

The Way They Were: The Huffingtons

Arianna Huffington is one cool ,sophisticate with a tintilating Greek accent. She has been both a Republican & a Democrat. She now classifies herself as a populist. Originally from Greece, she was a columnist named Arianna  Stassinopoulos who basically got rich once she divorced her husband, Michael Huffington. But, it’s not that cut & dry. He waged one of the most costly senatorial campaigns in history,which he lost. Then to top it all off, her husband revealed to the world that he was bisexual. He claimed that ,unlike James McGreevey, his wife knew that he was attracted to men. In any case , Arianna Huffington was well compensated in the divorce settlement. Here’s more from Wikipedia:

“She met oil millionaire Michael Huffington, a family friend of the Bushes at a 1985 party hosted by Ann Getty in San Francisco. The couple were married in 1986 at a wedding paid for by Ann Getty, who had declared that she needed to find Arianna a husband. They moved to Washington, D.C., when he was appointed to serve as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Negotiations Policy. They later established residency in Santa Barbara, California, in order for him to run in 1992 as a Republican for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, which he won by a significant margin. He was a political conservative on most issues. Arianna campaigned for her husband, courting religious conservatives, arguing for smaller government and a reduction in welfare. In 1994 he narrowly lost the race for the U.S. Senate seat from California to incumbent Dianne Feinstein. The couple divorced in 1997, and in 1998 Michael Huffington revealed that he was gay. A 1999 magazine article claimed that Arianna Huffington “entered the marriage… with full knowledge of Michael Huffington’s sexual interests in men”. The financial terms of their divorce agreement remain undisclosed, but Huffington gained most of her wealth from her husband. Arianna Huffington chose to retain her former husband’s surname, although she had been known as Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington during the period of her marriage.” (End of Excerpt) Read the whole entry here:(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arianna_Huffington

I like Arianna Huffington because she is an immigrant who found great success in America. She is a prime example of the “American Dream”!Now, her site “The Huffington Post” has received $25 million dollars in funding. Here’s more from Editor & Publisher.com:

“The Huffington Post, which this year became one of the most popular online news outlets (as ranked by Nielsen) today announced that it has secured $25 million in funding from Oak Investment Partners, a venture capital firm based in Palo Alto, California.

As statement from the news/opinion site said it would “invest in its technology and infrastructure, increase its in-house advertising capabilities, and continue to expand its content offerings — including a new investigative journalism initiative and a rollout of local versions of The Huffington Post in select cities.” The announcement was made by Arianna Huffington and Kenneth Lerer, co-founders of The Huffington Post. An Oak Investment representative will now join the five-person board.

“This commitment from Oak Investment Partners will allow us to accelerate our growth, with more verticals, more video, more citizen journalism initiatives, more cities for our local editions, and a fund for
investigative journalism,” said Huffington in a statement.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here: http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003917825

Congratulations & you go, Arianna!

The Bad Girls Club: Season 3 Premieres Tonight!

These reality shows really appeal to my voyeuristic side. That’s why I can’t wait to see what happens in this season of “The Bad Girls Club“. These are some of the raunchiest broads who could find great success as female mud wrestlers. There’s at least one stripper in the house & this time is no different. The goal of this show is to help these “ladies” get to the root of their behavior. But, really it’s just about getting a bunch of sexy chicks under one roof & letting the fur fly!

“The Bad Girls Club” really lends credibility to a study’s findings that 1 in 5 young adults have some type of personality disorder. Here’s more from Fox News:

“Almost one in five young American adults has a personality disorder that interferes with everyday life, and even more abuse alcohol or drugs, researchers reported Monday in the most extensive study of its kind.

The disorders include problems such as obsessive or compulsive tendencies and anti-social behavior that can sometimes lead to violence. The study also found that fewer than 25 percent of college-aged Americans with mental problems get treatment.

One expert said personality disorders may be overdiagnosed. But others said the results were not surprising since previous, less rigorous evidence has suggested mental problems are common on college campuses and elsewhere.

Experts praised the study’s scope — face-to-face interviews about numerous disorders with more than 5,000 young people ages 19 to 25 — and said it spotlights a problem college administrators need to address.”(End of Excerpt) To read more go here:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,459930,00.html

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Democrats Did Not Get The 60-Seat Filibuster-Proof Majority Because Chambliss Won!

Sean Hannity is a confirmed Republican. I wish you could have witnessed the glee that he was exhibiting tonight on “Hannity & Colmes” over the Senator Saxby Chambliss victory. He even went so far as to give Georgia his gratitude. Oh, how sickenenly sweet! You see he’s gloating over the fact that the Democrats won’t reach that magical number of 60,which would have given them the filibuster-proof majority. But,look at it this way,guys. At least now the Democrats will be able to share the blame if they screw up. Personally, I think it’s good to have a balance of power. With more Democrats in office than Republicans, that’s what you will get this time.

 

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Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: The Republican Congresswoman Who Hung Up On Barack Obama Because She Thought It Was A Fake Call!

I guess bipartisanship is a hard concept to swallow for Ileana Ros-Lehtinen ,a Republican congresswoman.  No, I’m just kidding. But, Barack Obama wasn’t kidding when he tried to call her & she hung up on him twice. You see,she thought that it must be a prank call. Here’s more from Politico.com:

“On Wednesday, the Republican congresswoman got a call from President-elect Barack Obama, didn’t believe it was him, and hung up on him. Twice.

According to Ros-Lehtinen’s flack Alex Cruz, the congresswoman received the call on her cell phone from a Chicago-based number and an aide informed her that Obama wanted to speak to her. When Obama introduced himself, Ros-Lehtinen cut him off and said, “I’m sorry but I think this is a joke from one of the South Florida radio stations known for these pranks.” Then she hung up.

Moments later, Obama tried again, this time through his soon-to-be chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel.  

“Ileana, I cannot believe you hung up on the President-Elect,” Emanuel said. And then–yes, you know what’s coming–she hung up on Emanuel saying she “didn’t believe the call was legitimate.”

And what did she say when she finally spoke with Barack Obama?

“So, Obama tried again and this time he was successful. (Phew!)

“It is very funny that you have twice hung up on me,” Obama said. Ros Lehtinen responded by telling Obama that radio stations in South Florida always make these sorts of jokes. Obama said similar pranksters reside in Chi-town.

“You are either very gracious to reach out in such a bipartisan manner or had run out of folks to call if you are truly calling me and Saturday Night Live could use a good Obama impersonator like you,” Ros-Lehtinen joked with the president-elect.” (End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/1208/RosLehtinen_hangs_up_on_Obama_Twice.html

The “Impeach Bush” Christmas Ornament That Deborah Lawrence Made For The White House Tree!

The "Impeach Bush" Christmas Ornament!

This Christmas will surely be one of the most memorable for the Bush family. George Bush & his family will celebrate their last Christmas in the White House. So far, it’s been quite a holiday season for them! Remember the Christmas/Hannakah card that they sent out? What a goofy gaffe! But it doesn’t stop there! Now, one of the artists selected to design a Christmas ornament made a satirical one that said “Impeach Bush” on it. Here’s an excerpt from the Seattle Times:

“A spokeswoman for first lady Laura Bush said Tuesday that the White House tree will not include an ornament by a Seattle artist that supports President Bush’s impeachment.

Artist Deborah Lawrence said she wanted to salute Democratic Rep. Jim McDermott, of Seattle, a longtime Bush foe who backs impeachment.

The nine-inch ball Lawrence created is covered with swirly red-and-white stripes and features a picture of McDermott. Tiny glued-on text hails the impeachment resolution.

Mrs. Bush had asked members of Congress to pick artists to decorate ornaments for the White House tree to showcase all 435 congressional districts.

Sally McDonough, a spokeswoman for Laura Bush, called the ornament inappropriate. “I think it really is a shame and, quite frankly, not very much in the holiday spirit,” she said.” (End of Excerpt) Read the whole article here:(http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008462148_ornament03.html

Chris Matthews: The Talking Head’s Causing Controversy Over His Interest In Becoming A Senator!

The Vociferous Talking Head Known As Chris Matthews!

 

I like Chris Matthews rapid fire style of commentary. The Hardball host has a boyish charm about him that makes him very appealing to watch. I like his wide  grins when he aggrees with his guest & the churlish smirks when he does not. He can get very vociferous when he feels passionate about a subject. I think he would make a very interesting candidate for the Philadelphia Senate seat. But, some feel that he should step down as a commentator for MSNBC if he has political ambitions. Here’s more from Politico.com:

“MSNBC and its talk show host Chris Matthews are coming under increasing criticism as more and more details have emerged to reveal the extent of the pundit’s preparations to challenge Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.

After Politico reported Thursday that Matthews has taken steps to establish residency in Pennsylvania and been advised by partisan operatives to quit MSNBC and begin his campaign, the network took incoming flak from all sides. 

“Should Chris Matthews use his air time to fawn over the voters and governor of Pennsylvania while also weighing a run for Senate in Pennsylvania?” asked Eric Burns, president of Media Matters, a liberal watchdog group. “Of course not and these are issues [NBC News President] Steve Capus should address.” 

In a strange bedfellows moment, Brent Bozell, founder of the Media Research Center, a conservative watchdog group, had a similar view.

“MSNBC has tarnished NBC’s reputation so badly, that the last thing NBC needs is a new controversy caused by MSNBC,” Bozell said, mentioning the perception of biased coverage during the presidential race brought on by the sister network’s commentators. ” (End of Excerpt) Read the entire article by  clicking on the link:(http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1208/16218.html

Can Obama Change Hillary Clinton’s View On The Importance Of Human Rights?

Barack Obama has assembled a lot of political heavyweights for his administration. And from the picks that he’s presented to the public thus far, it looks as if he won’t get bolshie on us. He’s  pragmatic &has demonstrated that he will govern more towards the center than the left. But, some people feel that he is appealing too much to the right with his choices.  Especially when he decided to make Hillary Clinton his  Secretary of State. She has sided with George Bush many times when it comes to international affairs. Not only that, but the Rwanda genocide occurred during President Bill Clinton’s term. With all of the crisis spread out all over the world , can President Obama assure us that she will be dilligent in dealing with human rights issues now? Many are pondering this question . Here’s more from The Huffington Post:

“Because the Bush administration had taken things to new lows, many seem to have forgotten the fact that the Clinton administration had also greatly alienated the international community. Regarding Iraq, Iran and Israel, the Clinton administration engaged in a series of policies which put the United States sharply at odds with most of its Western allies and a broad consensus of international legal scholars. And these were not the only issues during the Clinton years over which the United States found itself isolated from the rest of the international community: there was U.S. opposition to the land mine treaty, the strengthening of the embargo against Cuba, support for Morocco’s occupation of Western Sahara, foot-dragging on the Kyoto Protocols, support for Turkey’s vicious military offensive in the Kurdish regions of that country, among others.

Even worse, Hillary Clinton allied herself with the Bush administration on many its most controversial actions, such as the 2003 invasion of Iraq, threats of war against Iran, support for Israel’s 2006 offensive against Lebanon and 2002 offensive in the West Bank, opposition to the International Criminal Court, attacks against the International Court of Justice, and support for the unrestricted export of cluster bombs and other anti-personnel munitions used against civilian targets.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-zunes/hillary-clintons-disdain_b_148785.html

Jon Favreau: This Facebook Picture May Cost You That State Job You Applied For!

 

This photo could be considered sexist, but for some reason I haven’t heard any outcry about it. Now, if it was Sarah Palin, we’d never hear the end of it. Is that because Palin is actually sexy? I have to admit that’s probably why we haven’t heard a peep from the P.C. police! But, what’s really funny about this photo is that Hillary Clinton actually has the last laugh! Jon Favreau,the recently appointed director of speechwriting for the White House, is interested in working in the State Department. So I mean, was he plastered or what? Did he not know that these photos would surface? I guess he thought  that he was amongst friends at this party. But,one of them posted this on Facebook! Thank God this wasn’t during the campaign because it might have cost Barack Obama a couple of votes! I wonder how Hillary feels about Jon Favreau’s gag photo. Here’s an excerpt from The Washington Post:

“Favreau’s case seems unlikely to be so dire; Clinton senior adviser Philippe Reines cast the photos as evidence of increased bonhomie between the formerly rival camps.

“Senator Clinton is pleased to learn of Jon’s obvious interest in the State Department, and is currently reviewing his application,” he said in an e-mail.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/12/04/one_more_question.html

Will Hillary Still Hire Jon Favreau After This?

This Is A Scanned Copy Of Obama’s Birth Certificate!And Questions About The Lame Duck President, George Bush!!

The Disputed Barack Obama Hawaii Birth Certificate!

***POST UPDATED AUG. 21:

A reader pointed out that I had another person’s birth certificate posted instead of the one that is in dispute. Since I do not possess Barack Obama’s real birth certificate anyway,I won’t beat myself up over it.And if you are one of those birthers,it probably didn’t matter what birth certificate accompanied this post.Those who don’t believe that Barack Obama is a natural born U.S. citizen will continue with their beliefs.But,thanks for the heads up on this one, Mike from Louisiana!

Here is a scanned copy of Barack Obama’s Birth Certificate. Now, those who want to insist that this is an urgent matter must let this red herring go. There seems to be a lot of animosity towards the President-Elect. What about the lame duck President Bush? People seem to be oblivious to the fact that we have lost over 500,000 jobs last month alone! Henry Paulson & George Bush should have the ire of all patriotic people because they have helped to derail the progression of America. There are so many folks who have been put into the poor house under the Bush administration. Where’s the outrage over the fact that George Bush is moving into a $2 million home after so many of us are losing our homes? But, somehow we are consumed with questions about the incoming president? Is he a Muslim? Is he a U.S. citizen? But, we seem to be letting George Bush fall by the wayside on so many issues! For instance, take the issue of war crimes. Here’s more from The Times Online:

“The Washington Post reported that “current and former officials” said the torture lasted weeks and even, according to some, months, and that the techniques included hypothermia, long periods of standing, sleep deprivation and multiple sessions of waterboarding. All these “alternative procedures”, as Bush described them, are illegal under US law and the Geneva conventions. They are, in fact, war crimes. And they were once all treated by the US as war crimes when they were perpetrated by the Nazis. Waterboarding has been found to be a form of torture in various American legal cases.

And that is where the story becomes interesting. The Bush administration denies any illegality at all, insists it does not “torture” but refuses to say whether it believes waterboarding is torture or not. But hundreds of hours of videotape were recorded of Zubaydah’s incarceration and torture. That evidence would settle the dispute over the extremely serious question of whether the president of the United States authorised war crimes.

And now we have found out that all the tapes have been destroyed.

See what I mean by Hollywood? We know about the destruction because someone in the government told The New York Times. We also know the 9/11 Commission had asked the administration to furnish every piece of relevant evidence with respect to Zubaydah’s interrogation and was not told about the tapes. We know also that four senior aides to Bush and Dick Cheney, the vice-president, discussed the destruction of the tapes – including David Addington, Cheney’s right-hand man and the chief legal architect of the administration’s detention and interrogation policies.”(End of Excerpt) Read the entire article here:(http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article3086937.ece

O.J. Simpson: There Won’t Be Any “Juice” Until At Least 9 Years From Now! Karma’s a Bitch, Ain’t It?!!!

Nothing Can Save Your Dumb Ass Now!

Most people I know think that O.J. Simpson was guilty 14 years ago. Where most people differ in opinion is the reason he was found not guilty by a reasonable doubt. And it’s wasn’t just that Johnnie Cochran made sure that the glove wouldn’t fit or that the race card was played. How about crooked,racist cops & a shoddy prosecution team for starters! Mark Furhman is one prime example why race was ever on the table in this trial. Like you heard O.J. on tape bragging about getting his stuff back in Vegas, Mark Furhman was heard on tape talking about blacks & racial profiling. He even said “nigger” numerous times on the tape. Unbelievable! Here’s more from Wikipedia:

“In March, Fuhrman testified to finding blood marks on the driveway of Simpson’s home, as well as a black leather glove on the premises which had blood of both murder victims on it as well as Simpson’s.^[4] Despite an aggressive cross-examination by F. Lee Bailey,^[16] Fuhrman denied on the stand that he was racist or had used the word “nigger” to describe black people in the 10 years prior to his testimony.^[16] But a few months later, the defense played audio tapes of Fuhrman repeatedly using the word – 41 times, in total. The tape had been made in 1986 by a young North Carolina screenwriter named Laura McKinny. She had interviewed Fuhrman for a story she was developing on female police officers. The Fuhrman tapes became one of the cornerstones of the defense’s case that Fuhrman’s testimony lacked credibility. The prosecution told the jury in closing arguments that Fuhrman was a racist, but that this should not detract from the evidence showing Simpson’s guilt.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O._J._Simpson_murder_case

 Not to mention some of the other characters in the police department,like Dennis Fung. Marcia Clark & Christopher Darden were lackluster in their performance as if they didn’t really believe their case was strong. So, I think there was definitely some reasonable doubt. And I think you do the jurors in that murder case a great disservice if you insist that they could actually convict him knowing that it was possible he was set-up by a racist cop. If the case was so solid, why was the evidence consistently compromised in the Nicole Simpson& Ron Goldman case? You just can’t convict people because you think they did it & that is what the police in that case did. Unfortunately, the black jurors, who I am sure have faced those kind of police before, couldn’t believe the evidence presented to them. Look at the folks who presented it!

O.J. was probably guilty but the evidence & the way it was collected was questionable. The DNA evidence created room for doubt. It is plausible that he could be found not guilty under those circumstances, which is what happened. But, now karma has come back to bite him in the ass. And I know the so-called “race card” won’t help him. In this case, the evidence was more than reliable.He got 9 to 33 years in prison for the dumb ass jack move that he made in Las Vegas! The “Juice” will be gone for at least 9 years & I say good riddance!

Obama Tapping Gen. Eric K. Shinseki As VA Secretary!

General Shinseki Is A Spectacular Pick!

Barack Obama will announce the appointment of the first Japanese-American,Gen. Eric K. Shinseki , as his Veterans Affairs Secretary on “Meet The Press”. Sunday also happens to be the 67th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. How befitting that he will make the announcement on that day. I love how many “firsts” that this man has pulled off. Here’s more on why Obama picked him from MSNBC:

“Shinseki’s tenure as Army chief of staff from 1999 to 2003 was marked by constant tensions with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, which boiled over in 2003 when Shinseki testified to Congress that it might take several hundred thousand U.S. troops to control Iraq after the invasion.

Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, belittled the estimate as “wildly off the mark,” and the army general was forced out within months. But Shinseki’s words proved prophetic after President George W. Bush in early 2007 announced a “surge” of additional troops to Iraq after miscalculating the numbers needed to stem sectarian violence.

Obama said he selected Shinseki for the VA post because he “was right” in predicting that the U.S. will need more troops in Iraq than Rumsfeld believed at the time. “

And on the diversity of the Obama administration thus far:

“Obama’s choice of Shinseki, who grew up in Hawaii, is the latest indication that the president-elect is making good on his pledge to have a diverse Cabinet.

In Obama’s eight Cabinet announcements so far, white men are the minority with two nominations — Timothy Geithner at Treasury and Robert Gates at Defense. Three are women — Janet Napolitano at Homeland Security, Susan Rice as United Nations ambassador and Hillary Rodham Clinton at State. Eric Holder at the Justice Department is African American, while Bill Richardson at Commerce is Latino. “(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28086691/

 

 

Betty Page: Pin-up Icon With The Raven Haired Bangs & The Banging Body!

Merry XXX-MAS!

Hot diggeddy damn, she is erotica personified. How could someone look so chaste in pictures that were considered wholly  indecent at the time. Betty Page represented corporeal feminism in the 1950s. She was completely comfortable with her body & showing it off. This raven haired beauty was known for her bangs  & her risque, nude bondage photos.There was a so-so movie about her life called “The Notorious Betty Page“. The best thing about that film was the uncanny resemblance between Gretchen Mol & Betty Page. And there was a girl on this past season of “Project Runaway” that hijacked Betty Page’s raven hairstyle ,right down to the bangs. For those retro chicks, she is just as relevant now as she ever was. Here’s more on this pinup icon:

“Scandalous at the height of her career, and almost innocently retro now, Bettie Page remains an icon of glamour and sexuality — even today, as she turns 85.

Bettie began her pin-up career in 1950, posing for private camera clubs that were essentially legal erotica rings in an era when nude photography was heavily restricted. Her friendly smile and uninhibited poses made her a hit with both photographers and the readers of men’s magazines. When photographer Bunny Yeager shot Bettie in animal-print lingerie amid a variety of wild animals, she quickly became a softcore supermodel, and the “Jungle Bettie” series became some of her most iconic work, leading to her January 1955 Playboy centerfold.
But Playboy was wholesome compared to Bettie’s “Dark Angel” work with photographer Irving Klaw. Klaw specialized in fetishistic content for his mail-order erotica business, and Bettie’s bondage and sado-masochism photo shoots led to her appearance before a Senate hearing on juvenile delinquency.

Bettie retired from modeling in 1957 and fled the public eye. She found religion and worked as a missionary. Later, still in anonymity, Bettie battled mental illness, and struggled through a series of failed marriages.”(End of Excerpt) Read the entire article here:(http://dir.yahoo.com/thespark/category/Pin-Ups

Unfortunately, Betty Page suffered a heart attack this past week and is in a coma. At this time, it is not known what her chances of survival are. I hope she makes it!

Inauguration Day: Because The Civil Liberties Americans Lost Under Bush May Finally Be Restored

Lest We Forget!

George Bush may seem sentimental about the time he has served in office. But most Americans are not reminiscing with him one bit!  They are  just super anxious for January 20 to get here. Now, some of you  are worried about the legality of Obama being sworn in almost to the point of paranoia. Do I detect yet another conspiracy theory? I got a lot of comments about my post about his citizenship. One person commented on the type of document it was. Someone else sent me  “the most coherent & unbiased” posting that he claims he ever read,even though it came from a blog that had “redneck” in it’s title. Yeah, that sounds really unbiased to me. And of course I was accused of being short sighted because I said he will take office. Another person wrote that I didn’t care about the Constitution if I wasn’t upset about Obama becoming our next president.

Since I guess all of these people have unrefuted evidence that he is not a U.S. citizen, I won’t lambaste them! Although, most of them identified themselves as Republicans. Yeah, we all know who they think the “real Americans” are. And not one of them said a peep about the part of my posting that talked about George Bush. I really want to hear from anyone out there who cares about this country. And I mean a true patriot. Because,man, George Bush has destroyed our civil liberties with his Patriot Act.

 Now, there is evidence that the N.S.A. illegally wiretapped a Muslim scholar. And if you write me a comment about Obama, don’t forget to tell me why you don’t care about the civil liberties that Bush so callously disregarded. I’d love to hear that from those who are fretting over Obama’s citizenship. Here’s more from The NY Times:

“A Congressional oversight panel plans to ask the National Security Agency to start an investigation into new evidence that the agency illegally wiretapped a Muslim scholar in Northern Virginia and concealed the eavesdropping during a 2005 trial in which the scholar was convicted on terrorism charges.

Representative Rush Holt, a New Jersey Democrat and chairman of the Select Intelligence Oversight Panel, said in an interview that he planned to ask the inspector general of the N.S.A. to open what would be the first formal investigation by the agency into whether its eavesdropping program had improperly interfered with an American’s right to a fair trial.

Mr. Holt said he was responding to new evidence presented to him and other Congressional leaders by the Muslim scholar’s lawyer indicating that the Bush administration tried to hide the full extent of the government’s illegal spying in the criminal case.” (End of first excerpt)

Here’s more on the government’s involvement:

“In a recently unsealed transcript of an October closed-court hearing in the case, the judge stated that she believed that the government appeared to have committed violations of federal rules governing evidence and discovery. She also ordered the government to search for further evidence of its use of secret surveillance operations against Mr. Timimi.”(End of Excerpt) Read the article in it’s entirety:(http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/08/washington/08nsa.html?_r=1&hp

That’s not enough for you. Well, here’s more from Washington Independent.com:

“US President George W. Bush is proposing a new law which allows local and state police to spy on American citizens with no evidence.

The law proposed by the Department of Justice would permit local and state cops to gather intelligence on police suspicion, not evidence, keep it secret for up to 10 years, and share it with the federal government.

The draft has mounted fears among American activists as it gives the US police the go-ahead to stake out antiwar groups or people who the cops might deem as threats.

The police will be free to use public records, the Internet, undercover surveillance and other techniques to spy on threat groups and listen in on Americans’ communications, even when no crime has been committed and the likelihood of a crime is low.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.presstv.ir/Detail.aspx?id=66956&sectionid=3510203

I guess these people who are so upset about Obama were oblivious to everything else that’s been going on for the past 8 years. They think America’s in trouble now because the incoming president is a suspicious character. We’re back to trying to figure out who Obama is when we should be doing something about who George Bush was. George Bush stepped all over the Constitution that some of you are screaming about. He lied to the American public every chance he got & had the whole world thinking that we were a country of buffoons & idiots. The outrage that I’m seeing expressed towards Obama is really misplaced. You should be seething with rage as an American about all that George Bush has yet to answer for! War crimes, police state, economy etc…

The Laid-Off Workers in Chicago Who Are Involved In That 4 day Sit-In Are Showing Solidarity!

I wonder where George Bush is on this issue. For that matter, he seem’s to be missing in action an awful lot lately! Whether you like Obama’s economic policies or not, at least he voiced his support for the plight of the common workers. I agree with these workers because when I was laid-off we were given a 60-day notice. But, the company knew it was in trouble beforehand & had lied to everyone,including the local newspaper,about the business closing. The company I worked for shut their doors three days before Christmas in 2006. That was one of the most depressing holiday seasons that I have ever had! So, I understand just how angry these guys are because they were only given 3 days notice. But what’s really apalling to me is that Bank of America is the reason why the company folded & B.O.A. claims that they have nothing to do with it! All they did was cut the company’s line of credit. What is Bank of America doing with it’s bailout money? Why don’t they live up to their name & help the American worker? After all, these workers are the taxpayers who are financing the bailout that Bank of America has received! Here’s more from Yahoo:

“Gov. Rod Blagojevich ordered all state agencies Monday to stop doing business with Bank of America to try to pressure the bank into helping laid-off workers staging a sit-in at their shuttered factory.

The governor wants the North Carolina-based bank to use some of its federal bailout money to resolve the protest by about 200 workers at Republic Windows and Doors.

The sit-in began Friday and has fast become a symbol of the sour economy’s impact on labor. The workers have promised to remain inside the plant in shifts until they get assurances they will receive severance and vacation pay.

“We hope that this kind of leverage and pressure will encourage Bank of America to do the right thing for this business,” Blagojevich said from outside the plant. “Take some of that federal tax money that they’ve received and invest it by providing the necessary credit to this company so these workers can keep their jobs.”

Republic has not made a move to evict the workers since they began the sit-in Friday, the day they lost their jobs with just a few days’ notice.

Their plight has drawn support from President-elect Barack Obama, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and others.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081208/ap_on_re_us/workers_takeover

 

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U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald On The Arrest Of Gov. Blagojevich:”This conduct would make Abraham Lincoln roll over in his grave.”

He Just Wants To Get Paid!

  Now if I had any doubts or concerns about Obama,I have to admit that the arrest of Illinois Gov.Blagojevich would increase them! The birth certificate issue is much ado about nothing in my opinion! But, this business about Blagojevich looking to sell Obama’s Senate seat raises a whole lot of questions. Even if you like & admire Barack Obama as much I do, it makes you wonder… This is one for the Obama conspiracy theorists to feast on! Although, U.S. attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said Obama had nothing whatsoever to do with this case! But,Obama is a Chicago politician,after all. Remember, John McCain said that during one of his speeches?

I saw one comment on the internet concerning this scandal that really piqued my interest! This person said that we are replacing an ignorant president with a corrupt one! Does this individual really believe that George Bush isn’t corrupt? Some Bush conspiracy theorists believe the whole war in Iraq was behind his greed for oil.

You see, most politicians are dishonest & corrupt. But if the allegations about Gov. Blagojevich are true, he takes the cake! He is a true believer in capitalism because he was trying to capitalize off Obama. Except he wasn’t selling Obama t-shirts or any other gear. The goods that Gov. Blagojevich was trying to auction off were Obama’s senate seat! It’s being called a pay-to-play scheme & he has been under investigation for 3 years for corruption. Apparently, Blagojevich knew that he was being wiretapped & he is alleged to have tried to sell the senate seat,anyway! W.T.F,dude!!!!! I’m sure that Abraham Lincoln would be turning over in his grave! Illinois is now gaining the reputation as being the most politically corrupt state in the union!

This isn’t the first time that Chicagoans have had a crooked governor. Check out this interesting tidbit from a Republican perspective. It’s from a site that reports on what they perceive as media bias.Here’s more from NewsBusters:

“As folks in Illinois were waking up or just getting to work, news hit like an avalanche that Governor Rod Blagojevich had been taken into custody by federal authorities this morning. The news was flying hot and heavy, and still is, over what the feds are alleging that Blago (as we call him in Chicago) did. There are reports of wiretaps, solicitations for bribes, mail and wire fraud… the list is long and shocking.

But one thing seems to be missing from many of these news reports. You guessed it, the fact that Blago is a Democrat seems to have slipped under the radar. But also his connections to Obama and his associates has continually gone unnoticed.”

And on Chicago politics,the blogger states:
“There is an intricate and deep web of corruption that surrounds Illinois politics. We already have our last Governor, George Ryan (Republican), in jail at this time. He was jailed for bribery and for selling Illinois drivers licenses for campaign cash. From this illegal action, many truck drivers got licenses they did not qualify for. Ryan and Blago are part of what many Chicagoans call “the Combine.” The Combine is the close and corrupt intermingling of both major parties. In Illinois is is widely considered true that the state’s Democrats and Republicans are absolutely indistinguishable. Both fill each other’s pockets with the public’s cash on a regular basis. But, because of the corruption of Chicago, the Democrats have institutionalized it to the enth degree.

Now the rest of the nation is getting a small taste of Illinois politics. It’s business as usual, sadly.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://newsbusters.org/blogs/warner-todd-huston/2008/12/09/ill-gov-taken-custody-feds-media-never-did-connect-him-obama

Although it is a stretch to claim that Obama is somehow involved in this sordid scheme,folks who were suspicious of him sure as hell won’t be reassured by this! Most of Obama’s skeletons have been in other people’s closets. He has always been guilty by association in the minds of his detractors. The author of the excerpt that I posted definitely feels that Obama has been implicated in this scandal.And so the conspiracy theories begin. Check this out from TPM Election Central:

“The GOP is wasting no time trying to tie Obama to the news of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s arrest on charges of conspiring to sell Obama’s Senate seat.

The Republican National Committee blasted out an email highlighting Obama’s ties to the Governor, noting that Obama advised Blagojevich on his gubernatorial run and highlighting an August 2006 quote from Obama:

“We’ve got a governor in Rod Blagojevich who has delivered consistently on behalf of the people of Illinois.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/12/post_8.php

See what I mean, folks? But, I think that the statement, ” In Illinois it is widely considered true that the state’s Democrats and Republicans are absolutely indistinguishable”, applies to just more than Illinois.Maybe they should just be called Republicrats or Demopublicans! If you don’t know what that is, here’s an excerpt from Wikipedia:
“Republicrat or Demopublican (also Republocrat[1] or Demoblican[2])* is a portmanteau of the names of the two major political parties in the United States (the Republicans and the Democrats) to form a pejorative term used by those on both the right and left who allege the policies of the two parties are in practice indistinguishable, and so form essentially one party with two names. One of the earliest uses of the term online was a net.politics.theory usenet post from 1985.” (End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republicrat

 

 

 

 

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Remember When Former Senator Larry Craig Called Bill Clinton A Nasty,Bad,Naughty Boy?! It Sounds Perverse Now That We Know What We Do About Him!

Hey,Senator Larry Craig! You already plead guilty to soliciting sex in a men’s bathroom & paid your fine. Why,for heaven’s sake, are you insisting that you aren’t gay? If I were you, I would have just went on with my life. But, some folks like to conduct their lives under false pretenses.Here’s more on the appeal that Larry Craig lost from The Boston Globe:
“Craig still has the option of appealing to the Minnesota Supreme Court, and he said yesterday that he was considering future options.

Craig was arrested June 11, 2007, by an undercover police officer who was conducting a sting operation against men cruising for gay sex at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

He quietly pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor and paid a fine, but changed his mind after word of his arrest became public that August. Craig insisted he was innocent and said he was not gay. His attorney argued that the police officer misconstrued Craig’s foot-tapping, hand movements, and other conduct.

The case brought widespread ridicule and effectively ended his political career. Craig lost several GOP leadership positions in the wake of the scandal, and the Senate Ethics Committee said in February that Craig had brought discredit to the Senate.”(End of Excerpt) Read the entire article here:http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/12/10/craig_loses_appeal_on_airport_sex_sting/

In light of all that we know now about the former senator, doesn’t it sound like he’s talking dirty in this video? It almost sounds like he had a thing for Bill Clinton back in the 90′s. Who is the nasty,bad,naughty boy now, Mr. Larry Craig? I cringe whenever I have to urinate in a public toilet! Trolling around in public bathrooms looking for sex is about as freaky as it gets.It doesn’t matter if you’re straight or gay!

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The Man In San Diego Who Does Not Blame The Pilot In The F-18 Crash That Wiped Out His Family!

Dong Yun Yoon lost his whole family in a F-18 crash where the pilot survived. There are many out there who wouldn’t even be able to get over their grief long enough to address the public. Let alone forgive the pilot who was at the helm of the fighter jet that obliterated your wife, mother-in-law, & two children. He is a fine example of a good,forgiving Christian. Dong Yun Yoon’s gracious statement had me getting teary-eyed. Here’s more from CBS News:

“His wife, two children and mother-in-law were dead – killed by a fighter jet that lost power and by chance crashed through their home and burst into flames.

One day after losing his family, Yoon held a news conference asking guidance from people who have suffered “more terrible things.”

“Please tell me how to do it,” Yoon told reporters Tuesday, trying to contain his emotions with his pastor, brother and sister at his side. “I don’t know what to do.”
Yoon, sobbing into a tissue at the foot of his destroyed home, also asked the public to pray for the jet’s Marine pilot, who ejected safely from the F/A-18D Hornet after his training mission went awry Monday.

“I don’t have any hard feelings,” Yoon told reporters, speaking haltingly. “I know he did everything he could.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here: (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/12/09/national/main4656983.shtml

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Knowing That Reality Tv Is Often Just Fantasy! Look At The Real Housewives Of Atlanta For Example!

Ne-Ne from “The Real Housewives Of Atlanta” was everyone’s favorite, loud-mouthed diva on this “reality” show. She spent a lot of time talking about how fabulous she was & how much she loved diamonds. This is to be expected because that’s what this show is about. These women represent the uppercrust of society. But, evidently, there was an imposter this season & Fox News has done a whole segment on her. All that posturing that Ne-Ne was doing for the cameras was all just an act. When her friend Kim called her “a low-budget bitch“, that seemed to really get under her skin something terrible! With all the financial troubles she has, now we know why!

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Some Americans Are Outraged By George Bush’s Attempt To Rewrite History!

George Bush is attempting to dictate his legacy before he leaves office. He wants to be remembered for all of the things that he didn’t really do. Does he really think that America will have fond memories of a man who bucked the Geneva convention & conducted his administration like a dictatorship?If so, he’s more delusional than I thought!

 In this video,Keith Olbermann does a superb job in detailing how he has failed the American people.Has terror decreased since we waged this war on terrorism? Apparently, support for the Taliban has increased. Here’s more from The Huffington Post:

“The increase In Taliban popularity, argues ICOS, is in part because NATO are the “failed occupying force” and the Taliban are the dominant opponent. The suffering of the Afghan people makes them wary of the true intentions of the international community and powerless against the Taliban’s proselytizing or coercion.

“Afghans support those who can provide security from physical harm, and many have no choice but to support the Taliban when they come to their district. We have heard stories of families who have one son in the Taliban and one son in the Afghan army – hedging their bets,” she says. “Our research has also shown many people join the Taliban as they are paid to fight – and unemployment levels are extremely high amongst young men – especially in the South. Until food, water and basic medicines are made available to the country’s population; the people of Afghanistan will remain vulnerable to Taliban recruitment and Taliban propaganda against the West.” (End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/virginia-moncrieff/taliban-support-increasin_b_150115.html

And I find it interesting that U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald is being heralded as the “new Elliot Ness“. It’s great that he’s intent on rooting out the corruption in politics. So, I’m waiting for him to announce that he has George Bush under his radar.Because he is one of the biggest moral & political corrupters in U.S. history! Check this out from AfterDowningStreet.org:

“If we allow future presidents, vice presidents, and top officials to believe there is no penalty for war crimes, we will be making war crimes far more likely. We will be handing human beings absolute power and hoping it doesn’t corrupt them.

A grass roots effort is needed, in collaboration with attorney allies. We need to do outreach to prosecutors and to elect better prosecutors at the state and district levels, to do outreach to gold star families, to lobby Congress for a special prosecutor, to lobby the U.S. attorney general for a special prosecutor, to educate the public, to organize and filing mandamus petitions, civil suits, and other law suits that peace groups and individuals can file, to work with allies abroad to use foreign and international mechanisms for justice, to pass resolutions like Brattleboro’s and Berkeley’s, and to advocate against abuse of the pardon power.

President Elect Obama’s official website is Change.gov, not to be confused with Change.org. At Change.gov, Obama is asking you to ask him questions about policies that are important to you. This new feature can be found here.

We would like to encourage you to vote in support of a particular question that has already been asked, so that it rises to the top of the list and stays there, this question:

“Will you appoint a Special Prosecutor – ideally Patrick Fitzgerald – to independently investigate the gravest crimes of the Bush Administration, including torture and warrantless wiretapping?”
Bob Fertik, New York City”(End of Excerpt) Go here to find out more about this:http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=taxonomy/term/15

Why are we focusing no attention on one of the most corrupt politicians of our time?It is confounding to me! Ask Obama to hold George Bush accountable for the crimes he has committed. We must not allow Bush & his cronies to go quietly into the night.

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George Bush Issuing A Statement Saying Robert Mugabe Had To Go!

Have you heard about the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe? I’m sure you’ve seen the heartwrenching photos & coverage on CNN. It’s unbelievable that most  Zimbabweans are living in such squalor in what is supposed to be a democratic society! And while his fellow countrymen are dying because of impoverishment, Robert Mugabe lives a life of regality! This video shows the beautiful palace that he resides in. How did he go from a freedom fighter to someone who won’t even lift a finger to provide assistance to those who are engulfed in this crisis? Has all sense of humanity left President Mugabe? I agree with George Bush’s statement. Robert Mugabe must go! He is now claiming that there is no cholera in Zimbabwe. Here’s more from Sky News:

“In a televised speech to the nation, the president said that cholera no longer existed in the country.

“I am happy to say our doctors have been assisted by others and WHO (the World Health Organisation)… so now that there is no cholera,” he said.

Mugabe also hit back at calls from Gordon Brown and George Bush for him to step down.

“Because of cholera, Mr Brown wants a military intervention,” he said.

“Bush wants military intervention because of cholera.”

“There is no cause for war any more,” Mugabe continued.

“The cholera cause doesn’t exist any more.”

Despite Mugabe’s claims, the number of people killed by the disease has risen to 783, with more than 16,000 suspected cases reported so far, the UN said.

The WHO has warned that the disease could affect up to 60,000 people in the coming weeks.” (End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:
(http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Zimbabwe-Cholera-Robert-Mugabe-Says-Disease-Does-Not-Exist-South-Africa-Declares-Disaster/Article/200812215176778?lpos=World_News_Top_Stories_Header_1&lid=ARTICLE_15176778_Zimbabwe_Cholera%3A_Robert_Mugabe_Says_Disease_Does_Not_Exist%2C_South_Africa_Declares_Disaster

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Update On Previous Bettie Page Post: The “Embodiment Of Beauty” Has Passed Away!

The raven-haired beauty who cause quite an uproar in the 1950′s has passed away! Bettie Page died yesterday. I did an earlier post on this remarkable pin-up sensation who continues to influence women to this day. She really represented corporeal feminism. Here’s more from BBC News:

“Her provocative poses – often in bikinis – made her a cult figure and she was one of the first models to appear in Playboy magazine.

She “captured the imagination of a generation with her free spirit and unabashed sensuality“, her agent said.

Bettie Page was credited with helping to pave the way for the sexual revolution of the 1960s.

The secretary-turned-model was admitted to hospital last month, suffering from pneumonia. She had a heart attack last week and never regained consciousness.”(End of Excerpt) To read the rest,go here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7778963.stm

Bernard Madoff Confessing To Running “A Giant Ponzi Scheme” & Deciding It Had To End Now!

More greed on Wall Street has been exposed. This time there will be far-reaching negative consequences for the wealthy investors who were swept up in  Bernard Madoff’s continuous $50 billion dollar con. This avaricious man has confessed to his two sons that he was running “a giant Ponzi scheme”. The losses for investors are staggering & has many rich folks in a state of panic because some of them invested a huge chunk of money with him. CNBC is talking about some of the hedge funds that are affected. And what about the SEC? There has been suspicions about Madoff Securites for almost a decade! Why didn’t they protect the investors as they should have?!! Here’s more from ClusterStock :

“The Wall Street Journal describes the world wide impact of Madoff’s alleged fraud:

Christopher Miller, chief executive of London hedge fund ratings agency Allenbridge Hedgeinfo, said: “Some very big investor names are involved in this. The scheme could only work if enough investors were subscribing for him to pay money out. Some of the world’s biggest hedge funds have been hit by this. There will be a monumental impact for the hedge fund industry, it could be larger then Enron.

“Some investors in Madoff’s funds face 100% write-downs on the money they invested, they will suddenly be nursing full write-downs in December. When people realize the magnitude of this it will be fizzing around the stratosphere.”

One asset manager based in Switzerland, home to many high-net-worth individuals who invest in funds of hedge funds, said: “Everyone’s talking about this in Geneva. Several wealthy investors could be facing big losses.”(End of Excerpt) To read more about this story go to:(http://clusterstock.alleyinsider.com/2008/12/bernie-madoff-hosed-client-list

And Madoff’s lawyer, Dan Horowitz, claims that Madoff is “a person of integrity.” Sir, I beg to differ! He is a duplicitous individual who admitted to committing one of the largest frauds in history! How does he represent integrity?

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We Allow All Types Of Dating Sites Here, Unlike Iran!

Did you hear about the controversial,racy AshleyMadison.com ads that ran on ESPN? This video contains a report about that incident.And that was the only time I’ve heard much of an uproar about the adultery-promoting  site.  But, it’s certainly not out of business! If you even attempt to look at any porn on the internet, a thousand more of these websites pop up advertising sex with married women, singles, etc…

But in Iran, a dating site got banned for “promoting prostitution. Here’s more from Telegraph Uk :

“A popular Iranian internet dating website that has been visited by millions of people has been banned for “promoting prostitution”, on the advice of leading Islamic clerics.

Hamsarchat.com, which promises to help users find husbands and wives, was fined and ordered to pay back money collected from clients, the Guardian reports.

The move came after a judge consulted senior ayatollahs – known as “sources of emulation” – following a complaint from Teheran’s public prosecutor.

The site marketed itself as “Iran’s most complete spouse-finding website” an promised to link members with “the closest person or persons to your standards” in return for a 25,000 rial (£1.66) fee, the paper said.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here: (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/3704994/Iranian-dating-site-banned-for-promoting-prostitution.html

 

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PETA Has A Way For You To Help Animals Even After You Die!

Get a PETA coffin with one of their slogans & you will be helping animals even after they put you in the ground! And the coffins actually look quite lovely, too. Follow the link to view the coffins. Here’s an excerpt from SF Gate:

“A New Mexico company is building all-wood human coffins in a partnership with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. They bear painted slogans, such as “Lifetime PETA Member” or “I saved 500 animals.”

Another serves up a last laugh that plays on a long-running PETA advertisement: “Told You I Wouldn’t Be Caught Dead in Fur!”

The coffins, which went on sale last week, are priced from $620 to $670, which includes a $75 PETA contribution. Made of wood, they are designed to be Earth-friendly, with no screws, nails, hinges or animal-based glues.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/12/11/national/a013601S36.DTL

Knife Crimes In Glasgow Are So Out Of Control They Are Looking To America For A Solution!

In this video, you will get to see firsthand these knife-wielding young boys attack each other. Secret police video shows the utter chaos when a melee breaks out in downtown Glasgow. Gangs in Scotland have been around for decades. The brazenness of these violent mobs are nothing new there. But, the method that will be employed to combat gang violence is. A police technique that was successful in reducing violence in Boston will be used as a model for a similar program in Glasgow.How did it work in Boston? Well,basically the offenders were trailed, nailed, & then jailed,according to one officer.  The Boston police dogged the suspect’s every step. But, the problem came back in Boston.(see more on that below). Hopefully, it will work in Glasgow. Here’s an excerpt from The Daily Record:

“GANG members in Glasgow’s east end are turning away from violence thanks to a hard-hitting US-style project.

Police said the £5million scheme, which uses social networking sites as a starting point, offers hope to kids as young as 10 in one of the most deprived areas of the city.

But Andy McKay, who heads the Community Initiative to Reduce Violence, vowed to crack down on those who abuse the opportunity. The detective chief inspector said: “We want to help these young men turn their lives around. We want them educated, working and most of all, safe.

“If they choose to continue with the gang lifestyle, we can and we will pursue them.”

Police believe the east end of Glasgow has more than 50 gangs and as many as 700 gang members, aged 10 to 26.

The scheme, launched in Garthamlock yesterday, was adapted from Boston’s Operation Ceasefire. It worked by treating gangs as a unit and helped to dramatically reduce the number of killings in the city in the 1990s.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2008/12/13/new-5m-scheme-to-tackle-scourge-of-glasgow-s-gang-culture-86908-20966953/

Here’s more on the problems with Operation Ceasefire from The Boston Globe:

“Surprisingly, the Boston Police Department and the TenPoint Coalition were ill-prepared to deal with a new cycle of gang violence,” the paper states. “In contrast to the 1990s, both suffered from highly dysfunctional relationships within their respective organizations and a lack of strategic focus on disrupting conflicts among high-risk youth.”

The study delves into the causes behind the stunning disintegration of an urban success story that was known across the country as the Boston Miracle.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Boston suffered huge spikes in the number of homicides, especially among people 24 years and younger. In 1990, 73 people in that age group were slain in the city, according to the study.

In 1996, police started Operation Ceasefire, which focused on identifying members of gangs, offering them ways out, and threatening them with federal sentences in prisons far away from their families if they continued to be violent. Clergy from the Boston TenPoint Coalition helped by offering services to gang members, such as job and education opportunities, to steer them from trouble.

By 1999, the number of homicides had plummeted to 31 – from a record of 152 in 1990 – and the city received national praise for the decrease. By 2000, Operation Ceasefire had begun to fade away as key police officials were transferred to other units and as the department began to focus on other problems, such as the large number of ex-convicts returning to the city, according to the report.

“The city generally thought they had solved the youth violence problem,” said Christopher Winship, one of the study’s three authors and a professor of sociology at Harvard. “But you need to contain it before you ever solve it. It’s not like a disease that you get cured of.”(End of Excerpt) Read the whole article here:(http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/06/30/report_describes_missteps_on_gangs/

 

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How Calm Bush Was When A Iraqi Man Threw A Shoe At Him!

Is George Bush on some kind of sedative or something? I remember how he seemed to be on the verge of letting out a barrage of expletives whenever he was asked prodding questions in interviews or press conferences.Now,when a shoe almost hits him square in the face, he simply ducks & jokes that the shoe was a size 10! An Iraqi journalist hurled two shoes at George Bush to show him the intensity of the hatred that he harbors towards him. He ducked those shoes like a pro & kept calm!

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Parents Are Found Liable For 18-Yr. Old Son’s Crime & Must Pay 60,000!

I have heard so many parents tell their children that they can’t wait until they turn 18 whenever they do something bad. Well, what if your son turns 18 & rapes a 7-year old girl? Some parents would disown him & let them handle the situation by themselves. For those parents who think that 18 is the magic number, you better be glad that you don’t live in South Korea! Here in America, parents do get fined for their teenager’s screwups. But, it’s not as huge as $60,000 buckaroos! Here’s more from BBC News:

“ South Korean court has fined the parents of a teenage rapist more than $60,000 (£40,000) for failing to supervise their son.

The 18-year-old, who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, raped a local seven-year-old girl in 2006.

The court said the boy had grown up watching pornography and had imitated a film he had seen, during the attack.

It said his parents could have prevented the crime with appropriate education, but neglected their duty.

The teenager is serving a 10-year sentence for the rape, but a court in Seoul ruled that his parents were also liable for his crime.

A court statement said: “The parents could have prevented the crime with appropriate education but failed to show enough attention to their child.

“They neglected their duty to raise their child so that he can properly adjust to society.”

The girl’s parents were seeking 225m won ($165,000; £111,000) in damages. “(End of Excerpt) Read the whole article here:(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7782245.stm

Here’s a breakdown of parental liability from the San Diego Police Dept.:

“In addition to the liabilities mentioned above, parents or guardians are legally liable in various ways for the acts of their children.  These are additional reasons for parents to deal with their child’s behavior before it results in criminal acts. 

• Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor.  Parents or legal guardians who fail in their legal duty to exercise reasonable care, supervision, protection, and control over their minor children can be charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a misdemeanor punishable by one year in jail and/or a  $2,500 fine per count.  In October 1995 the City Attorney started a new Parenting Project to help correct this situation.  It gives parents of first-time juvenile offenders a choice — participate in a parenting education program or face criminal prosecution.
• Liability for Restitution, Fines, and Penalties.  Starting on January 1, 1996 the California Welfare and Institutions Code will allow judges to order parents or guardians to pay up to $25,000 to cover losses suffered by the victims of crimes committed by their minor children, and other fines and penalties that may be assessed against the minor.  Furthermore, the future earning power of the parent, guardian, and minor can be considered in setting these liabilities.
• Liability for Civil Damages.  Under the California Civil Code parents or guardians are liable for civil damages of up to $25,000 for any act of willful misconduct of a minor in their custody and control that results in injury or death to another person or in any injury to the property of another.
• Civil Liability for Injury Caused by Firearms.  The California Civil Code makes parents or guardians liable for injuries caused by the discharge of a firearm by a minor in their custody and control, where the minor was permitted to have the firearm or the firearm was left in a place accessible to the minor.  Damages are limited to $30,000 for injury to or death of one person, or $60,000 for all persons in a single occurrence. ”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here: http://www.sandiego.gov/police/prevention/exercisingauthority.shtml#parental  

December 15,1791 Is The Day The U.S Adopted The Bill Of Rights!But, What Would The U.S. Be Like Without The Bill Of Rights?

Dec. 15 is a day to celebrate because that’s when a newly formed United States of America adopted The Bill of Rights back in 1791. You know, the one that George Bush has tried to tweak to fit his own agenda. These are the rights afforded to you as a citizen of the United States. Here’s more on this important day in history from America’s Library.gov:

“Do you know your Bill of Rights? It is the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, confirming the fundamental rights of American citizens. The new United States of America adopted them on December 15, 1791. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion, speech, and the press, the rights of peaceful assembly and petition. Do you know what the others do?
George Mason, the “Father of the Bill of Rights,” carefully wrote out these amendments to ensure individual liberties. He was a lifelong champion of the rights and freedoms of people.”(End of 1st Excerpt)

“There was one issue, however, that the Constitutional Convention did not resolve to Mason’s liking. The founding fathers compromised, permitting the continuation of the slave trade through 1808. Mason wanted to stop the importation of slaves. Because of the inability of the founding fathers to resolve the slavery issue, among other problems, Americans struggled through a bloody Civil War. Yet, it would take another hundred years to remove a web of state and local laws that prevented African Americans from a fuller exercise of freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. The civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s helped raise the awareness of Americans to the injustice of segregation and discrimination.”(End of 2nd Excerpt)
Learn more about The Bill of Rights by clicking on the link:(http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/jb/nation/bofright_2

Now, what if The Bill of Rights was discarded by the government?How would we handle losing all of the personal freedom that we enjoy in America? Although some would argue that has already started to take place under the Bush admin., I have included a clip from a Discovery Education program that is a depiction of an America with no Bill of Rights. It is a dramatic portrayal of a family who has been out of the country for 7 years & upon their return they learn that The Bill Of Rights has been suspended. It’s a frightening look at what could become our reality.

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Both Madonna & Her Ass-ets Have Taken A Fall!!

Madonna & her ass-ets(get it?) have taken a fall! While on her Sticky & Sweet tour, she fell plum on her ass! She was on stage, so she tried to make it look like it was a part of her act. But, not only did she physically take a tumble, her finances took a bit of a plunge as well. Check out the amount she reportedly paid Guy Ritchie,according to NME.COM:

” Madonna and  Guy Ritchie have reached a divorce settlement, it was announced today (December 15).

The pop star has settled with her director ex-husband for at least $76 million (50 million pounds), according to her spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg.

The massive sum includes the value of their English country home. Ritchie will reportedly hold on to their west London pub, the Punchbowl.

The settlement is nearly twice the value of the one reached by former Beatle Paul McCartney and his ex-wife Heather Mills earlier this year.

“I’d assume it’s one of the largest payouts ever in a divorce settlement,” Rosenberg told the Associated Press.

The couple’s combined assets were reportedly valued at $525 million, the majority of which belonged to Madonna.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest of this entry here:
(http://www.nme.com/news/madonna/41661

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John Walsh,Host of “America’s Most Wanted”,Finally Gets What He Most Wanted! The Identity Of His Son’s Killer Was Confirmed!

I remember that MSBNC did a special on whether or not Jeffrey Dahmer killed Adam Walsh. All of the speculation can now come to a halt because the killer of John Walsh’s son has been identified. This 27-yr. old cold case is closed at last.And I’m sure the host of “America’s Most Wanted” is happy to have finally received closure for his family. After helping to find justice for countless victims, he can rest assured that his son’s killer died in prison.It’s just too bad that so much time has lapsed before the case was resolved. Even though the killer has passed on, I’m hoping that he now resides in the infernos of Hell. Here’s more from ABC News:

“The six-year-old son of “America’s Most Wanted” host John Walsh went missing from a Hollywood, Fla., mall more than 27 years ago. His head was discovered two weeks later, though his body was never found.

Hollywood, Fla., police named Ottis Toole, a convicted killer long suspected of the Walsh murder, who died in prison in 1996, as the perpetrator.

“For 27 years we’ve been asking who could take a six-year-old boy and murder him and decapitate him? Who? We needed to know,” said John Walsh, as tears streamed down his face. “And today we know. The not knowing has been a torture but that journey is over.”

Hollywood Police Chief Chad Wagner apologized to the Walshes for mistakes that he said were made early on in the investigation, before he became police chief, saying there was enough evidence against Toole to charge him before his death.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:
(http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=6471791&page=1

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It’s Snowing In Las Vegas!

I found this great video that shows palm trees covered in snow in Las Vegas. Wow, what a sight! You gotta really love Las Vegas if it starts to become less humid & hot over time. Too bad that all of these climate changes are signs of global warming. I mean, it is absolutely freezing in Northern California & it even snowed in San Jose! What the heck is going on with those who deny these obvious shifts in weather patterns? I don’t remember it ever being this cold out here. If it was, I must have been really little or not born yet. But whatever is going on, it sure is a beautiful thing to have a winter wonderland in Las Vegas that may last until Christmas. Wouldn’t that be lovely?

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We Don’t Have A Monarchy As Our Form Of Government! That’s Why Some Folks Aren’t Happy About Caroline Kennedy’s Bid For The Clinton’s Senate Seat

Here’s One Of Many Books On This Subject!

There’s no bowing down to the queen in this country, although Americans  do just that when they meet her royal majesty. And some of us even move to London & talk with an accent that is an amalgam of both America & England. Britney Spears did it when she going through her spaced out stage & Madonna became a fake Brit as well. You see, some of us are secretly enamored with the crowned heads. We still admire royalty,even though we liberated ourselves from British rule long ago.That’s why we love the Kennedy’s ,the Vanderbilts, & elected George Bush & his son as the president of the United States. These families represent the American version of a royal family. Here’s an excerpt from a article about American Dynasties that was written when George Bush was reelected:

“Today President George W. Bush, 43, is sworn in for to second term in as President. The President’s father, George H. W. Bush, is himself was a former president. The President’s brother, Jeb Bush, is the current the Governor of Florida. The President’s grandfather, Prescott Bush, was a U.S. Senator from Connecticut. The Bush family is an American political Dynasty. The dynasties of ancient China lasted at most three hundred years. The United States is only a little over two hundred years and the Bush dynasty has had an influence in the political arena all the way back to about a hundred years. It is also speculated that the current President will not be the last Bush to hold the office of the President of the United States.

But the Bush Dynasty was not the first in American politics. I would say that the first political dynasty was that of the Adams. John Adams was the first vice president and the second president. John Adams was a cousin of Samuel Adams. Samuel Adams is perhaps more famous today for the beer that bears his name but he was also a famous American revolutionary. John Adams’ son, John Quincy Adams, was the sixth President. The Adams’ was the first family to produce both a father and a son that would both hold the office of president. Charles Francis Adams was the son of John Quincy Adams and also a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts.

The Kennedy family only produced one president but the Kennedy family has nonetheless had an influence in American politics by providing several senators, representatives, and ambassadors. The Kennedy family enters into politics with Patrick J. Kennedy as a Boston democrat. Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Sr., the son of Patrick J. Kennedy, served as ambassador to the United Kingdom. John F. Kennedy, son of Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Sr., became president of the United States. Robert F. Kennedy, brother to John F. Kennedy, was a Senator from New York and a candidate for the Democratic nomination before he was assassinated. Currently there are two Kennedy family members in public office. Edward M. Kennedy, brother to John F. Kennedy, is a senator from Massachusetts. The son of Edward Kennedy, Patrick Joseph Kennedy, is currently a representative from Rhode Island. Also in the Kennedy family, Maria Shriver, granddaughter of Joseph Patrick Kennedy is married to Arnold Schwarzenegger, the current Governor of California.

There have been many other families whom had had great influence in American politics. For example, the Rockefellers which has produced a multiple of senators and governors as well as dynastic fortunes.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.epilef.com/05/dynasties.html

 That’s why some of Caroline Kennedy’s contenders for the Senate seat have gotten a little miffed about her bid. Folks like Fran Drescher are pondering just what it is that makes her qualified to be a senator besides her family name. But, the fact that her family has been so immersed in American politics makes me think that she would be better suited for the job than Fran Drescher. Check out what Politico. com had to say about dynasty politics:

“Barack Obama’s path to the presidency included beating what had been one of the nation’s most powerful families. But, in an unusual twist, his election last month is helping accelerate the trend toward dynasty politics.

His secretary of state will be Hillary Clinton, the wife of the former president. The Senate seat she’ll vacate is being pursued by Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of a president and the niece of two senators. Joe Biden’s Senate seat may go to his son Beau. Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar, Obama’s pick for interior secretary, could end up being replaced by his brother, Rep. John Salazar. 

And Obama’s own seat could go to the son of the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. – less likely now in light of developments in the Rod Blagojevich scandal – or to the daughter of Illinois’ current House speaker.

The U.S. Senate could end up looking like an American version of the House of Lords – and Republicans have begun to take notice.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest by following the link:(http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1208/16664.html

Caylee Anthony Can Finally Rest In Peace & Her Mother Will Be Tried For Her Murder!

I can’t say whether Casey Anthony murdered her own daughter or not. What has been proven thus far is that she is a habitual liar & a sociopath! If she is the culprit, I hope they give her ass the death penalty! I mean, Casey could have given Caylee up for adoption if she didn’t want her. Look at how she was discovered! Caylee Anthony’s body was in a trash bag & discarded in the woods. The meter reader that found this  mysterious bag had actually tried to report it back in August. But the first time a deputy came to the scene to investigate this bag, a snake scared him away! The meter reader made two more calls to the police which were not heeded. It just all sounds bizarre because the cadaver dogs had already covered that area & were not drawn to this bag. So, when did this bag get placed here & who put it there?

But, I’m just glad that they have finally identified the remains of Caylee Anthony. Now, she can be given a proper memorial & burial. May this beautiful angel ascend to heaven & those who are responsible for her demise should be put to death!

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10 Years Ago Today, President Clinton Was Impeached For Committing Perjury! I Wish That A Decade From Now, We Can Say We Impeached President Bush!!

This Is What Comes To Mind During The Clinton Years! The Lewinsky Scandal!

 

Did you know that 10 years ago today President Bill Clinton was impeached behind the Lewinsky scandal?And that the repercussions from that impeachment can still be felt as the Obama administration takes shape. Here’s more on that from the International Herald Tribune:

“It came to John Podesta during a jog through Rock Creek Park over the Thanksgiving weekend. His boss was going to be impeached and there was no way around it. It took Rahm Emanuel a little longer to reach that conclusion. And it fell to Gregory Craig to pick up the pieces once it happened.

Ten years ago this week, Bill Clinton became the first elected U.S. president ever impeached by the House of Representatives, the culmination of a sex-and-lies scandal that consumed the United States and fractured its political system. Although he was eventually acquitted by the Senate, the scars run deep even as veterans of that showdown return to power under a new president promising to repair a breach that still divides Washington.

As key members of Clinton’s defense a decade ago, Podesta, his chief of staff; Emanuel, his senior adviser; and Craig, his special counsel, bring the lessons of that searing moment to the table as they now serve in President-elect Barack Obama’s inner circle.

They learned the imperatives of moving quickly, closing ranks, controlling information and never conceding an inch when the president faces a threat, strategies employed with varying degrees of effectiveness back then.

Those instincts took over again last week with the furor surrounding the alleged scheme by the governor of Illinois to sell Obama’s old U.S. Senate seat for personal advantage, perhaps a cabinet position or other favors from the incoming president. Podesta, now Obama’s transition co-chairman; Emanuel, the incoming White House chief of staff; and Craig, tapped to become White House counsel, knew the playbook.
Even though Obama had no known personal involvement, the Clinton veterans understood that was only part of the issue. They had Obama publicly declare he had never spoken with Governor Rod Blagojevich about the Senate appointment. They imposed a cone of silence on colleagues so they would not make a remark that could come back to haunt them. And they ordered an internal inquiry to document any contacts with the governor’s advisers.

Republicans were ready to pounce, rushing out statements linking Obama to Blagojevich within an hour or so after the governor’s arrest was reported. They, too, knew the script and that any opening must be exploited. Politics in this hyperpartisan age, after all, is the ultimate contact sport.

Except for brief interludes, Washington in the last decade has been governed by a climate of anger and animosity, a modern-day tribalism pitting faction against faction that some people trace to the days of the impeachment.

“It definitely poisoned the well on both sides,” said Representative Peter King of New York, one of the few Republicans to vote against impeachment. “Without getting into the merits of anything, there’s no doubt there were Democrats waiting from the day George Bush took office to even the score for Bill Clinton. And Republicans are the same today with Barack Obama and the Rod Blagojevich scandal.”(End of Excerpt) Read the whole article here:(http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/12/14/america/poison.php

In this video, Bill Moyers conducts an interview with Bruce Fein, a constitutional scholar who wrote the first article of impeachment against Clinton. Bruce Fein felt that Clinton should be impeached because, as the president, Clinton thought that he was “above the law“. Fein goes on to say that” Bush’s crimes are “more worrisome than Clinton’s because he has crippled checks & balances.” Bruce Fein goes on to lay out in more detail why Bush should be impeached.Basically, Bush tried to make his role as president into more of a dictatorship.It’s really boggles my mind that George Bush is even trying to dictate to the American public how we should record him in our collective memory.Too bad this isn’t “Men In Black“. Then, Bush can just use the little memory eraser that Will Smith & Tommy Lee Jones used in that movie.Unfortunately, this is real life & no one will ever be able to forget these Bush years! It would take a miracle device like that for him to be remembered favorably! He should just thank his lucky stars that he won’t go down in history as an impeached president!

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We’ve Had All-Girl Bands Since The 1920′s! Now Pakistan Has It’s First All-Female Music Group!

Helen Lewis & Her All Girl Jazz Syncopators

Like most professions in Pakistan, music is a career that is mostly male-dominated. That is one reason why Pakistan’s first all-girl music group has created a bit of sensation. Although they may need a bit of fine tuning, the excitement they have created just by being an all-female band was enough to cause quite a buzz. Zeb & Haniya’s music has been well-received by many music critics so far. Here’s more about their group from BBC News:

“But the most startling fact about these girls, for Pakistanis and the world at large, is their origin.

Both Zeb and Haniya are ethnic Pashtuns, and their families hail from the town of Kohat in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province.

That region has, of late, become synonymous with the Taleban and al-Qaeda.

“We’ve never lived there, but we do keep going back for family functions and get-togethers,” Haniya explains.

How accurately the militants represent the cultural identity of the Pushtuns is one of the mostly hotly debated topics in the region.

Zeb and Haniya are a living and vivid example of how much more there is to the Pushtun sensibility than the images of gun-toting renegades.

But that is all by default – the girls say they are here to be recognised for the quality of their music, not their background.

So far they seem to have struck all the right chords as the praise keeps on coming from the media.

“It all started five years ago when we were in college in the US and starting writing songs,” Zeb explains.

The girls were then undergraduate students at Smith and Wesleyan college.

“I started experimenting with different instruments and sounds,” Haniya recalls.

“Zeb had been taking singing classes for a while and we got together to record some songs.”

That might have been that, Haniya says, if not for the decision to upload the songs on to the internet.

“When we got back to Pakistan, we found out that some of the local FM radio stations had actually been playing them.”

Since 2001, Pakistan has seen a boom in local radio channels which broadcast both local and international talent.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7786423.stm

While Zeb & Haniya were students here in the U.S., the American culture inspired them to start making music. In fact, the article states that ”their music blends western and eastern influences seamlessly.” I hope that Zeb & Haniya can inspire more Pakistani women to increase their prescence in music & other fields. Just like I’m sure Helen Lewis and Her All-Girl Jazz Syncopators  were an inspiration to other American female musicians.They were the first all-female music band that emerged during the roaring 20′s. Here’s an excerpt from  Wikipedia with more on them & other all-girl bands:

“In the Jazz Age of the 1920s, “all-girl” bands such as “Helen Lewis and Her All-Girl Jazz Syncopators” were briefly popular. (In 1925, Lee DeForest filmed Lewis and her band in his short-lived Phonofilm process, in a film now in the Maurice Zouary collection at the Library of Congress.^[4]) Blanche Calloway, sister of Cab Calloway, led a male band, Blanche Calloway and Her Joy Boys, from 1932 to 1939, and Ina Ray Hutton led an all-girl band, the Mellodears, from 1934 to 1939. Author and professor Sherrie Tucker published a book detailing the times and trials of All-Girl Swing bands of the 1940s, titled “Swing Shift”, in 2000. (Duke University Press)

Groups composed solely of women began to flourish with the advent of rock and roll. Among the earliest all-female rock bands to be signed to a record label were Goldie and the Gingerbreads, to Atlantic Records in 1964 and Fanny in 1969 when Mo Ostin signed them to Warner Bros. Records.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-female_band

We Know That $1.6 Billion Went To The Bailed-Out Bank Executives Instead Of Those That Really Need It!

Now we see why a lot of workers covet executive status. Look at all the perks you get whether you succeed or not! These banks that failed should have started their layoffs at the corporate level instead of firing lower level bank employees.The rich really do get rewarded in this society. At least in this case they did. Bank executives already make a huge salary. Why the hell did they receive the extra perks & bonuses that you get when the company is doing well? They laid off regular workers, like you & me, in order to continue pampering these overpaid executives. It’s reprehensible!These banks were on the verge of complete collapse until they were bailed out by the government. Are they really in a position to reward the very same executives who contributed to their failure? Here’s more from MSNBC:

“Banks that are getting taxpayer bailouts awarded their top executives nearly $1.6 billion in salaries, bonuses, and other benefits last year, an Associated Press analysis reveals.

The rewards came even at banks where poor results last year foretold the economic crisis that sent them to Washington for a government rescue. Some trimmed their executive compensation due to lagging bank performance, but still forked over multimillion-dollar executive pay packages.

Benefits included cash bonuses, stock options, personal use of company jets and chauffeurs, home security, country club memberships and professional money management, the AP review of federal securities documents found.

The total amount given to nearly 600 executives would cover bailout costs for many of the 116 banks that have so far accepted tax dollars to boost their bottom lines.

Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services committee and a long-standing critic of executive largesse, said the bonuses tallied by the AP review amount to a bribe “to get them to do the jobs for which they are well paid in the first place.

“Most of us sign on to do jobs and we do them best we can,” said Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat. “We’re told that some of the most highly paid people in executive positions are different. They need extra money to be motivated!”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28337800/

So, Lou Dobbs was wondering exactly how this bailout money was being spent by these banks in this video. He was wondering where $2 trillion taxpayer dollars have gone. Well, now we know where a small portion of it went. In the pockets of the rich executives who didn’t deserve to be rewarded for a hideously poor performance!

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The White House Is Responding To Negative Media Reports

The furor over the way that the New York Times has reported on the Bush adminstration has prompted the White House to respond fast & furiously! I guess all of the negative ratings & commentary about President George Bush has pushed more than a few buttons. And this article in Sunday’s NY Times has really gotten them pissed! Check out this excerpt from Politico.com:

“The White House on Sunday issued a blistering 500-word response to a scathing 5,000-word article on the front page of Sunday’s New York Times that says President Bush and his style and philosophy of governing played a direct role in the mortgage meltdown that’s crippling the nation’s economy.

The response accused the nation’s largest Sunday paper of “gross negligence.”

“The Times’ ‘reporting’ in this story amounted to finding selected quotes to support a story the reporters fully intended to write from the onset, while disregarding anything that didn’t fit their point of view,” White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said in an e-mailed statement.

In an unusual double-header, The White House later issued a document headlined, “Setting the Record Straight: The Three Most Egregious Claims In The New York Times Article On The Housing Crisis.”

The article was part of the newspaper’s “The Reckoning Series” about the nation’s market implosion, and was headlined, “‘Ownership society’: White House Philosophy Stoked Mortgage Bonfire.”

“Eight years after arriving in Washington vowing to spread the dream of homeownership, Mr. Bush is leaving office, as he himself said recently, ‘faced with the prospect of a global meltdown’ with roots in the housing sector he so ardently championed,” says the article by Jo Becker, Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Stephen Labaton. “There are plenty of culprits, like lenders who peddled easy credit, consumers who took on mortgages they could not afford and Wall Street chieftains who loaded up on mortgage-backed securities without regard to the risk. But the story of how we got here is partly one of Mr. Bush’s own making, according to a review of his tenure that included interviews with dozens of current and former administration officials. From his earliest days in office, Mr. Bush paired his belief that Americans do best when they own their own home with his conviction that markets do best when let alone….”(End of Excerpt) Read the whole article here:(http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1208/16787.html

At Least Two Online Games Have Been Created Thanks To The Bush Shoe-Throwing Incident!

Funny Online Games Created From "Shoegate"

People can be so creative. The latest online inventions gives you a chance to become the  Bush shoe-thrower in that infamous incident in Iraq. What fun that will be for all the anti-Bush folks out there! Here’s more from the Sydney Morning Herald:

“In internet land, yesterday’s news is today’s viral web hit, especially when it involves a chance to poke fun at US President George Bush.

Within hours of the now infamous shoe-throwing incident – or “shoegate”, as it was inevitably labelled – online hoons began remixing the footage into funny animated images and at least two online games.

In the first game, created by mischief makers in France, players assume the role of Bush and earn points depending on how long they can dodge shoes, which fly at him at a rapidly increasing frequency.

In the second game, Bush’s Boot Camp, the shoe, so to speak, is on the other foot, with players taking the role of a gun-toting security agent who must shoot the flying shoes before they reach the President.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/12/16/1229189605640.html

The New Expression For Cloistered Politicians Is “You’ve Been Sarah Palin-ized!”

Sarah Palin was kept under wraps for most of the presidential race. She didn’t readily answer questions & she was scripted when she did. And oh what a bad script it was! Now, when a budding politician ignores questions there is a new expression that is tailor made for them. Here’s more from the NY Daily News:

“The name Palin has now officially become an insult.

Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Queens) has compared Caroline Kennedy with vice presidential flop Sarah Palin, accusing the senatorial hopeful of hiding behind her handlers.

“They’ve basically Sarah Palin-ized her,” he said on CBS‘ “Face the Nation” Sunday.

“They’re answering questions that you have to submit in writing.”

Kennedy’s spokesman did not return calls, but others jumped to her defense.

“Caroline Kennedy has written books on the Constitution,” said Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-Rochester).

“Sarah Palin, bless her heart, could not even name the newspapers she read every day.”

Ackerman didn’t stop with the Palin slam.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/12/21/2008-12-21_pols_give_palinized_celebrity_caroline_k.html

California Is Going Broke Just Like Me!

Everyone thinks of Hollywood & a land of total fabulousity when you mention California. In Michigan, folks treated me like I was a celebrity just because I could afford to live in what they thought was the lap of luxury! Well, I’m not staying in a dilapidated apartment or anything. But, I am living paycheck to paycheck. You see, California is one of the most expensive states to reside in. So, I find it ironic that California is going broke just like me.Here’s more from The Huffington Post:

“California’s chief financial officer warned Monday that the state would run out of money in about two months as hopes of a Christmas budget compromise melted into political finger-pointing by the end of the day.

Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger began the day on a cheerful note, suggesting that negotiations with Democratic leaders could lead to a budget deal as early as this week to help close the $42 billion shortfall that is projected through June 2010.

“Yesterday we sat there for hours and we worked through it step by step and we made some great progress,” the governor said during a morning news conference in Los Angeles. “So we feel like if we do that two more times like that, I think we can get there … before Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.”

The thaw didn’t last long, as legislative leaders later in the day criticized Schwarzenegger and indicated their work was done until the start of the new year.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/23/california-broke-state-co_n_153022.html

A lot of Californians are angered by the fact that we are in this situation. And they are calling Arnold Schwarzenegger “the governor that stole Christmas” because he is making state workers take a cut in pay. When you’re living in a state with one of the highest cost of livings, any decrease in wages is almost too much to bear!

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I Tried To Stay Away From The Shirtless Obama Photos But I Just Couldn’t Contain My Thoughts!

Bauer Griffin Was Lucky Enough To Obtain This Sizzling Picture Of President Obama!

We haven’t seen a president that looks this sexy since John F. Kennedy was photographed in his swimming trunks! How is it that a man in his 40′s has a better bod than most guys half his age?!! Who says that you can’t age gracefully? If you have the right amount of discipline,which President Obama obviously has, you can display a body that you are proud of as well. Because Obama has a whole hell of a lot to  take pride in when he looks in the mirror. Bauer Griffin is the source of this picture. Here’s a link to his site:(http://bauergriffinonline.com/

The Heated Debate Over Obama’s Decision To Have Rick Warren Deliver The Invocation At His Inauguration!

Anderson Cooper hosted a lively debate over the homophobic views of Rick Warren & whether or not Obama should have picked him to deliver the Invocation at his Inauguration.I understand why President Obama picked Rick Warren. It’s all a part of his strategy to bring the country together. Those who did not vote for him should be inspired by the fact that he wants to be all-inclusive.I find it interesting that Melissa Etheridge is not taking issue with Rick Warren.Here’s an excerpt from a post that she wrote on The Huffington Post:

“Well, I have to tell you my friends, the universe has a sense of humor and indeed works in mysterious ways. As I was winding down the promotion for my Christmas album I had one more stop last night. I’d agreed to play a song I’d written with my friend Salman Ahmed, a Sufi Muslim from Pakistan. The song is called “Ring The Bells,” and it’s a call for peace and unity in our world. We were going to perform our song for the Muslim Public Affairs Council, a group of Muslim Americans that tries to raise awareness in this country, and the world, about the majority of good, loving, Muslims. I was honored, considering some in the Muslim religion consider singing to be against God, while other Muslim countries have harsh penalties, even death for homosexuals. I felt it was a very brave gesture for them to make. I received a call the day before to inform me of the keynote speaker that night… Pastor Rick Warren. I was stunned. My fight or flight instinct took over, should I cancel? Then a calm voice inside me said, “Are you really about peace or not?”

I told my manager to reach out to Pastor Warren and say “In the spirit of unity I would like to talk to him.” They gave him my phone number. On the day of the conference I received a call from Pastor Rick, and before I could say anything, he told me what a fan he was. He had most of my albums from the very first one. What? This didn’t sound like a gay hater, much less a preacher. He explained in very thoughtful words that as a Christian he believed in equal rights for everyone. He believed every loving relationship should have equal protection. He struggled with proposition 8 because he didn’t want to see marriage redefined as anything other than between a man and a woman. He said he regretted his choice of words in his video message to his congregation about proposition 8 when he mentioned pedophiles and those who commit incest. He said that in no way, is that how he thought about gays. He invited me to his church, I invited him to my home to meet my wife and kids. He told me of his wife’s struggle with breast cancer just a year before mine.

When we met later that night, he entered the room with open arms and an open heart. We agreed to build bridges to the future.

Brothers and sisters the choice is ours now. We have the world’s attention. We have the capability to create change, awesome change in this world, but before we change minds we must change hearts. Sure, there are plenty of hateful people who will always hold on to their bigotry like a child to a blanket. But there are also good people out there, Christian and otherwise that are beginning to listen. They don’t hate us, they fear change. Maybe in our anger, as we consider marches and boycotts, perhaps we can consider stretching out our hands. Maybe instead of marching on his church, we can show up en mass and volunteer for one of the many organizations affiliated with his church that work for HIV/AIDS causes all around the world.

Maybe if they get to know us, they wont fear us.

I know, call me a dreamer, but I feel a new era is upon us.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here: (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/melissa-etheridge/the-choice-is-ours-now_b_152947.html

Well said, Melissa Etheridge!

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Symbolism Is Important To President Obama! He’s Using Abe Lincoln’s Bible For His Swearing-In!

Click On The Picture To Link To Site Where This Photo Of Lincoln's Bible Came From!

President Obama is a man who really enjoys using symbolism in his life. This time, he is using Abraham Lincoln’s bible to symbolize just how far America has come since the time of the Great Emancipator! Here’s more from the Washington Wire:

“President-elect Barack Obama will be sworn in on the same Bible as former President Abraham Lincoln when he takes the oath of office on Jan. 20, the Presidential Inaugural Committee said today.

Obama will be the first president to use Lincoln’s bible since it was first used in 1861. The book is part of the collection at the Library of Congress.

As the PIC notes, there is no constitutional requirement for presidents to use Bibles for the ceremony, but history dictates that president-elects generally select a volume of historical significance.

“The President-elect is committed to holding an Inauguration that celebrates America’s unity, and the use of this historic Bible will provide a powerful connection to our common past and common heritage,” said PIC Executive Director Emmett Beliveau in a statement.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/12/23/obama-to-use-lincoln-bible-for-swearing-in/

NORAD’S Santa Tracking Program Is Absolutely Delightful!

One of the things that’s great about Christmas is that we have picked this day to celebrate the birth of Jesus. But, all some people really care about is what Santa’s got in his sack tonight! There is so much anticipation on Christmas Eve for the young ones that it’s almost too much for them to bear! So, thanks to NORAD for letting the little children track Santa’s whereabouts! Happy holidays to you all! Here’s more on the Santa tracking program from the Telegraph.co.uk:

“Millions of children will be able to track Santa Claus on his global rounds via the internet and mobile phones thanks to a new programme from Google and the American defence organisation.
The programme, developed by the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) and the search engine Google, has become an internet sensation with close to a billion hits since its inception last year.

The Colorado-based centre usually provides aerospace warning and control for North America every day but on Christmas Eve they traditionally turn their attention to Santa’s journey from the North Pole.

Last year the organisation and Google developed the internet programme “NORAD tracks Santa” to allow excited children log on to see how Father Christmas is getting on delivering their gifts.

So far about 10 million people from more than 200 countries have visited the website last year.

NORAD, which is also responsible for defending the US and Canada from incoming nuclear missiles, claims it can follow him with their radar and satellite technology as well as the infra-red signature left by Rudolph’s red nose.

Children can also follow his progress with three dimensional “Santa Cams”.
Google will use its mapping service to give up-to-the-date analysis on where he is.

NORAD has been “tracking Santa” since 1955 when a child acidentally called up the organisation asking to speak to Santa.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here: (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/google/3935017/Santa-tracking-programme-reveals-Father-Christmas-global-flight-path.html

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Christmas Is Legal Everywhere In The U.S.!

Did you know that early Americans did not celebrate Christmas? They considered it to be a pagan holiday. Aren’t you glad that isn’t the case nowadays?Although, you do have a lot of folks who get offended if you say “Merry X-mas” to them. Here’s how Christmas came to be what it is today, according to World Net Daily:

“Every December, a call goes out from the nation’s pulpits to “put Christ back into Christmas,” but growing numbers of Americans – including fundamentalist Christians – are claiming Jesus Christ had nothing to do with the holiday, and news items from across the country this week indicate that the U.S. has become the new battleground for Christmas.

Cases in point:

• A first-grade teacher in Sacramento Co., Calif., says her principal has prohibited instructors from uttering the word “Christmas” in class or in written materials;
• A school superintendent in Yonkers, N.Y., banned, then unbanned, holiday decorations that contained religious themes more than the generic “season’s greetings”;
• New York City schools are being sued for alleged discrimination against Christians;
• and atheists reposted their vandalized winter solstice sign in the Wisconsin Capitol, as they declare “Christians stole Christmas” from ancient pagans.”(End of First Excerpt)

“The fact that atheists view Christmas with disdain is not astonishing, since they’ve attempted to remove the phrase “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance and “In God we trust” from U.S. currency, as well as Ten Commandments displays from numerous publicly owned places.

What may be surprising, though, is that some devout Christians, many dating all the way back to the days of Jesus, never celebrated the birth of Christ, nor sought to. America’s early colonists banned observance of Christmas, and still today, there are many Christians abstaining from what millions more of their brethren joyfully celebrate as God’s coming in human form.

The Catholic Encyclopedia states, ‘”the word for Christmas in late Old English is Cristes Maesse, the Mass of Christ, first found in 1038, and Cristes-messe, in 1131.”

It explains “Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church,” pointing out “first evidence of the feast is from Egypt” around A.D. 200 with attempts by theologians to assign not only the year of Christ’s birth, but also the precise date.

Historians agree that through the subsequent centuries, traditions from ancient pagan (non-Christian) religions became intertwined with those of Christianity, and depending upon one’s point of view, either paganism became Christianized, or Christianity became paganized.

In 1644, the English Parliament outlawed the holiday, compelling shops to be open that day, and condemning plum puddings and mince pies as “heathen.”

In his Pulitzer Prize finalist, “The Battle for Christmas,” historian Stephen Nissenbaum at the University of Massachusetts documents the American development of the holiday now ensconced in popular culture.

“In New England, for the first two centuries of white settlement,” writes Nissenbaum, “most people did not celebrate Christmas. In fact, the holiday was systematically suppressed by Puritans during the colonial period and largely ignored by their descendants. It was actually illegal to celebrate Christmas in Massachusetts between 1659 and 1681 (the fine was five shillings). Only in the middle of the nineteenth century did Christmas gain legal recognition as an official public holiday in New England.”

Nissenbaum agrees with other historians that the first recorded observance since the New Testament recounted Christ’s birth took place hundreds of years after Jesus’ resurrection.

“It was only in the fourth century that the Church officially decided to observe Christmas on Dec. 25. And this date was not chosen for religious reasons but simply because it happened to mark the approximate arrival of the winter solstice, an event that was celebrated long before the advent of Christianity. The Puritans were correct when they pointed out – and they pointed it out often – that Christmas was nothing but a pagan festival covered with a Christian veneer.”(End of Second Excerpt) Read the article in it’s entirety here:(http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=29995

Jack Johnson: It’s Been One Century Since He Became The First Black Heavyweight Champion & Now There Is An Online Comic-Book Bio On Him!

Online Comic Book About Jack Johnson’s Life!

Jack Johnson was one of the greatest boxers of all time & he was an African-American. In fact, he became the first black heavyweight champion a century ago. Jack Johnson paved the way for the Mike Tysons of the world. He was a huge panther-like man who had a clever boxing style. Johnson beat the holy crap out of  Tommy Burns in the fight that earned him that title. Before Jack Johnson demolished him, the camera was cut off because it just wouldn’t do for an even wider audience to witness a black man knock out a white man. I mean, racist views would not permit some caucasians to accept that Jack Johnson could be a better boxer than any white boxer. Here’s more from Wikipedia:

“After Johnson’s victory over Burns, racial animosity among whites ran so deep that even a socialist like Jack London called out for a “Great White Hope” to take the title away from Johnson — who was crudely caricatured as a subhuman “ape” — and return it to where it supposedly belonged, with the “superior” white race. As title holder, Johnson thus had to face a series of fighters billed by boxing promoters as “great white hopes”, often in exhibition matches. In 1909, he beat Victor McLaglen, Frank Moran, Tony Ross, Al Kaufman, and the middleweight champion Stanley Ketchel. The match with Ketchel was keenly fought by both men until the 12th and last round, when Ketchel threw a right to Johnson’s head, knocking him down. Slowly regaining his feet, Johnson threw a straight to Ketchel’s jaw, knocking him out, along with some of his teeth, several of which were embedded in Johnson’s glove. His fight with “Philadelphia” Jack O’Brien was a disappointing one for Johnson: though scaling 205 pounds (93 kg) to O’Brien’s 161 pounds (73 kg) , he could only achieve a six-round draw with the great middleweight.

In 1910, former undefeated heavyweight champion James J. Jeffries came out of retirement and said “I am going into this fight for the sole purpose of proving that a white man is better than a Negro”.^[2] Jeffries had not fought in six years and had to lose around 100 lb (45 kg) to try to get back to his championship fighting weight.

At the fight, which took place on July 4, 1910 in front of 22,000 people, at a ring built just for the occasion in downtown Reno, Nevada, the ringside band played “All coons look alike to me”. The fight had become a hotbed of racial tension, and the promoters incited the all-white crowd to chant “kill the nigger”.^[3] Johnson, however, proved stronger and more nimble than Jeffries. In the 15th round, after Jeffries had been knocked down twice for the first time in his career, his people called it quits to prevent Johnson from knocking him out.

The “Fight of the Century” earned Johnson $225,000 and silenced the critics, who had belittled Johnson’s previous victory over Tommy Burns as “empty,” claiming that Burns was a false champion since Jeffries had retired undefeated.

United States, from Texas and Colorado to New York and Washington, D.C. Johnson’s victory over Jeffries had dashed white dreams of finding a “great white hope” to defeat him. Many whites felt humiliated by the defeat of Jeffries and were incensed by Johnson’s comments.^[1]

Blacks, on the other hand, were jubilant, and celebrated Johnson’s great victory as a victory for the entire race. Black poet William Waring Cuney later highlighted the African-American reaction to the fight in his poem “My Lord, What a Morning”. Around the country, blacks held spontaneous parades, gathered in prayer meetings, and purchased goods with winnings from backing Johnson at the bookmakers. These celebrations often drew a violent response from white men.”(End of Excerpt) Read the entire entry here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Johnson_(boxer)

This is a part of America’s past that should never be forgotten. And thanks to an online comic-book about Jack Johnson’s life it will not be. Here’s more on that from the NY Times:

“The legend of Jack Johnson, who became the first black heavyweight champion 100 years ago Friday, keeps growing. His story was already inspiration for a stage play and a feature film. Now he has inspired an online comic-book biography, “The Original Johnson.”

The comic, which is being serialized in weekly installments at www.comicmix.com, is written and illustrated by Trevor Von Eeden, and is unflinching in its depiction of racism in America, the brutality of the boxing ring and the tragedies and triumphs of Johnson’s life, including his sexual conquests. New chapters are scheduled to be posted every Wednesday.

“Trevor has really put his heart and soul into this,” said Mike Gold, an editor at ComicMix who worked on the biography. “He’s been researching for years and years,” and he has filled his story with what he uncovered in news clippings and books. “(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/25/sports/othersports/25comic.html?_r=1&em

The Self-Proclaimed “Toughest Sheriff” In America Has His Own T.V. Show!

This guy is such a pompous ass! Joe Arpaio delights in self grandioseness & he is always in the spotlight.Whether you love him or hate him, Fox has decided that enough folks will be interested in a reality show featuring “America’s toughest sheriff!” Here’s more from MSNBC:

“In Arizona, seeing Joe Arpaio on TV is nothing new. But the self-described “America’s toughest sheriff” now has a national platform to pursue lawbreakers that stretches beyond the 5 o’clock news.

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, which oversees the state’s most populous county, has a starring role in “Smile … You’re Under Arrest!,” a new reality show debuting Saturday on Fox Reality Channel.

A cross between “Punk’d” and “Cops,” the program sets up elaborate sting operations to snare people wanted on outstanding warrants. Actors and undercover deputies play along in faux scenarios where scofflaws are enticed to have a good time; the drama comes when cast members reveal the prank and waiting deputies slap on handcuffs.(End of First Excerpt)

“The sheriff is known for overseeing the Tent City Jail, where inmates are housed under surplus military tents. In Maricopa County jails, inmates don old-fashioned prison stripes and work on chain gangs.

But Arpaio has fielded harsher criticism in recent years for how things operate behind the scenes. The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office has paid millions of dollars in settlements involving dead or injured inmates.

“The reality is the man has lost complete touch with reality,” said Michael Manning, a Phoenix attorney who has won settlements for clients against the sheriff’s office. “He’s spending time on something like this as opposed to getting those felony warrants executed on our streets. … If it weren’t so serious, I’d say it would be funny.”

County officials have generally approved of inmates’ treatment, and Arpaio said he’s just doing his job. His critics, he said, are the ones out of touch and gunning for publicity.

“It’s the same little group of people that try to get me defeated. Well, I was just re-elected for the fifth time. The people like what I’m doing,” Arpaio said.”(End of Second Excerpt) Read the rest here: (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28393237/

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The Top 10 List About Annoying “Americanisms”!

After Christmas, everyone looks forward to the coming year. And we reflect on the current year. I enjoy some of the various top ten lists, especially this one. Here’s an excerpt from the Telegraph.co.uk:

“The term “Happy Holidays” is certainly one that grates on this British ear and I confess it’s not the only one. Every day, I have to navigate the common language which, as George Bernard Shaw put it, divides our two nations.

But I don’t mean simple Americanisms like stroller (pushchair), diaper (nappy), ladybug (ladybird), Mom (Mum), entrée (main course), Santa (Father Christmas), takeout (takeaway), pre-owned (secondhand), mad (angry), chill (calm down), Santa (Father Christmas) etc etc but the phrases that really make you want to go postal.

Here are the top 10 that, after nearly seven years here, infuriate me most:

1. “Happy Holidays.”

Translation: “Merry Christmas but I realise you might be Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Bahai, something even more exotic, agnostic or Godless and I don’t want to offend you.”

2. “Have a Nice Day.”

Translation: “I would like you to have a pleasant time today” or “I hate you” – or anything in between.

3. “You’re welcome.”

Translation: Meaningless Pavlovian response to thank you.

4. “Do the math.”

Translation: “Work it out yourself, stupid.”

5. “Let’s visit with each other.”

Translation: “We should spend time together.”(End of Excerpt) To read the entire list go here:(http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/toby_harnden/blog/2008/12/23/top_10_most_annoying_americanisms

American Teens Like Spencer Brodsky For Helping Women In Darfur!

What A Compassionate Young Man!

While most teens are obsessed with video games & hot chicks, Spencer Brodsky is more concerned with helping provide the women of Darfur with fuel-efficient stoves. He has sent 420 stoves to Darfur so far. It’s great to see a young man that can empathize with the pain & suffering of others instead of being totally self-absorbed. Here’s more on his humanitarian efforts from CNN:

“But, from his suburban home, one Maryland teen has dedicated himself to making life a little safer for those women.

The United Nations estimates that 300,000 people have been slaughtered in the ongoing violence in the north African country. Countless others have been forced out of their homes and are living in refugee camps.

People living in the camps are relatively safe, but there is danger for the women and young girls who leave the compounds in search of firewood to cook meals. Firewood in the desert is scarce, and the women often have to walk up to seven hours to gather enough wood to bring back to their camps. Some women have been targeted, sexually assaulted and killed.

Spencer Brodsky, 17, learned about the violence and decided to raise money to purchase fuel-efficient stoves to send to Darfur. The stoves burn 75 percent less firewood.

Brodsky reasons that if he can do something to keep Sudanese women in the camps, this would decrease the likelihood of violence.

“We need to be able to benefit them in any way that we can so they don’t have to be out as many times of their compound,” he said.

Brodsky, who is Jewish, said his elders have compared the genocide in Darfur to the Holocaust. He believes that his peers should not stand for such injustice in their lifetime.

They always taught about what was happening in that region in that the social injustice that’s happening. And how you know how people said during the Holocaust during World War II — you know this can never happen again.”

At $30 per stove, Brodsky has raised enough money to ship 420 stoves to Darfur.

The project is a joint effort between Brodsky and CHF International, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the economic conditions of people in some of the most troubled regions of the world.

Naila Mohamed, leader of the stoves project at CHF International, has witnessed the reaction of Sudanese women when they receive the stoves.

“These women are so grateful for this initiative and actually thankful to the American people who are so passionate to let these women know that there is help out there,” Mohamed said.

Together, Brodsky and CHF International want to continue raising awareness around the world of the plight of the Sudanese.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/12/27/stoves.darfur/index.html

How A NPR Reporter Handled News Of Her Layoff By Incorporating It Into The News!

Ketzel Levine was a senior correspondent for National Public Radio until she got laid off. The irony in her situation is that she created a series for NPR that looked at how Americans were dealing with the economic decline. It was called “American Moxie: How We Get By” & it had just started in December! So when she received word that she would be laid off, Ketzel Levine included her own story in the final episode. Here’s more from NY Times:

“But there was an unexpected ending. Midway through her reporting, Ms. Levine found out that she had been laid off as part of a 64-employee cut at NPR.

Ms. Levine, who has worked at NPR since 1977, said she decided the final episode, and her final piece for NPR, should be about her own situation.

Ellen McDonnell, the director of morning programming, was not immediately sold on the idea. “I had some natural hesitation,” she said. “As a reporter, you never want the story to be about you.” At the same time, she said: “I also recognized a very unique opportunity for Ketzel to tell a story that lots of people can relate to. She found out in a very personal way what it’s like to have to start over again and to have that moxie she spoke about.”

The end result “was kind of eerie,” Ms. McDonnell said. “The whole concept that one person in the story would lead to another, and then it would all end with her, was not something any of us anticipated.”

In the short piece, which first ran last week just after a “Moxie” story about a Chicago landscaper, Ms. Levine took a personal approach. “It’s only today that I’m sane enough to tell you” about her having been laid off, she told listeners.

Ms. Levine, who lives in Portland, Ore., said she had no idea what she would do next. “Every story that we all do, we’re always looking for the perfect ending,” she said. “And suddenly it was handed to me. It was not one of my choosing, but as a storyteller, what could make a better story?”(End of Excerpt) Read the entire article here:(http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/29/business/media/29levine.html?_r=2

Bobby Rush Daring Anyone To Challenge Roland Burris As Obama’s Replacement In The Senate!Is The “Race Card” Being Played?

Time and time again, you hear accusations of the “race card” being played.Oftentime it’s debatable whether or not that was really the case. For instance, there was ample reason to bring up race in O.J. Simpson’s murder trial because of folks like Mark Fuhrman. That made a whole lot of sense to me. But in the case of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s appointment of Roland Burris to replace Barack Obama in the Senate, I don’t see the purpose of bringing up the skin color of Burris. Rep.Bobby Rush was being completely candid & honest when he pointed out that there would be no African-Americans in the Senate if the Burris pick was rejected. But,that speaks to the ongoing problem with race that still plagues America. Remember the CD that Republican National Committee chairman candidate Chip Saltsman sent to his fellow RNC members? You know,the one with the infamous “Barack the Magic Negro” song on it.

Bobby Rush should have focused on Roland Burris’s accomplishments instead of his race. Roland Burris is qualified to replace Obama. He should get it based on merit, not race.This is truly an instance where the “race card” is being played. I don’t think that this should be about putting another African-American in the one seat that was vacated. It should be about putting a qualified person in Obama’s Senate seat. And if they happen to be African-American then that’s great! I think this was Gov. Blagojevich’s way of trying to force his pick down everyone’s throat.

 

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2008 Was A Historic Year For Both Good & Bad Reasons! Happy New Year!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I don’t really have a list compiled for you because my thoughts just aren’t that organized. But, I do have a couple of reasons why 2008 will be one of the most memorable years in history. For starters, we elected Barack Obama this year which means George Bush is almost out of the picture. That’s two positives right there. The fact that Hillary Clinton put “18 million cracks ” in the proverbial ceiling & almost became McCain’s opponent was an historic moment as well.

In times of turmoil, we had Tina Fey helping us laugh. Sarah Palin was a good source of entertainment as well, although I’m sure it was unintended. This was a good year for folks like “Joe the Plumber” because he has gotten a lot out of being the subject of this election.  Yes, 2008 will definitely be a year for the history books!

Unfortunately, it will be for both good & bad reasons. A lot of stuff that was in the dark came to light. Although George Bush claimed we were not in a recession, the dire economic situation that America was really in became apparent this year. We’re not done with these bailouts yet.The housing crisis was revealed this year. Piracy really became a problem that the world became aware of. The horrific killings in Mumbai took place as well. Now, we have the Israel-Gaza conflict as well. Which brings me to the negative events that will carry over into 2009.

The Gov. Blagojevich scandal will continue to play out this year. Roland Burris will continue to assert that he is the right person to sit in Obama’s Senate seat. Hopefully, this will be the year that Caylee Anthony’s killer will be convicted & sentenced to death. 2009 will be an interesting year & we might even find out who got that Senate seat in Minnesota once & for all!

Charles Barkley: He Actually Told The Cops He Was Trying To Get Some Head From A Hot Girl!

It’s being reported that before Charles Barkley’s arrest he was partying with “Urkel” from “Family Matters.” Now, that is really funny! But even more hilarious is the fact that this sex-crazed belligerent jerk actually told the police that he was in a hurry to get some head from his passenger because it was the best he had ever had.Then,Charles Barkley asked the cop if he noticed how hot the girl was. Isn’t that something?!

Now, I heard his wife is really unattractive. So, she better divorce his stupid ass & get one expensive ass makeover before she does.Here’s more on Barkley’s arrest from NY Daily News:

“”I was going to drive around the corner and get [oral sex],” the basketball Hall of Famer told police in Scottsdale, Ariz., a police report said.

He said the woman had performed the sex act for him last week and “it was the best one he had ever had,” the report said.

Barkley, 45, was pulled over around 1:30 a.m. A cop saw him blow through a red light, then pull over to pick up the woman, who wasn’t charged.

“I am disappointed that I put myself in that situation,” Barkley said.

The burly retired superstar was seen partying at a club with ex-Giants star Michael Strahan and Jaleel White, who played the nerdy Steve Urkel on the sitcom “Family Matters.” (End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2008/12/31/2008-12-31_charles_barkley_admitted_he_was_looking_.html

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Claiborne Pell: A Senator Who Truly Served The People By Helping Millions Attend College!

Claiborne Pell Shaking Ronald Reagan's Hand!

 

 

With all of the politicians that are in the news for all of the wrong reasons, it’s good to be reminded of one that was great. Claiborne Pell created the Pell Grant which has helped many who could not afford college otherwise get their education. He barely made it to the year 2009 because he passed away shortly after it. This is a man to be remembered. What a wonderful man! Here’s an excerpt from a NY Times obituary:

“Claiborne Pell, the quirky, patrician former senator from Rhode Island who created the college grant program that bears his name and wrote the legislation that established the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, died just after midnight Thursday at his Newport, R.I., home. He was 90.

Mr. Pell was stricken with Parkinson’s disease at the end of his Senate career, and his illness forced him to retire in January 1997 after six terms in the Senate. His death was confirmed by Thomas G. Hughes, his former chief of staff.

Mr. Pell, a Democrat, was widely regarded as the most formidable politician in Rhode Island history; in six statewide victories over Republican opponents, he received an average of 64 percent of the vote.

Mr. Pell was best known for devising legislation that created the program that has dispensed grants to tens of millions of poor and middle-class college students.

He often remarked that he had been motivated to help students meet the high cost of a college education because the G.I. Bill of Rights — the program of federal educational grants to returning service members after World War II — had meant so much to him personally. The fact was that with Mr. Pell’s vast family wealth, derived from an 18th-century royal charter of land from King George III of England, he could have purchased some of the educational institutions they attended, let alone paid their tuition bills.”(End of Excerpt) To read the entire obituary go here:(http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/02/us/politics/02pell.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

If Obama Really Were “The Magic Negro”,Ignorant “Satires” Like This Would Cease To Exist!

This is the best video that I have found that talks about why the “Obama The Magic Negro” song is so offensive! It hearkens back to the not so distant time when blackface & minstrel shows were a part of American entertainment.Is this “political satire“ appropriate? In a time when folks are looking to unify,why would Chip Saltsman, who is looking to become the Republican Party’s next national chairman, send a tape with this song out as a Christmas gift? Here’s more on that from the L.A. Times:

” Given the current state of affairs, the Republican Party’s next national chairman probably will need a sense of humor. A little judgment wouldn’t hurt either — unless, of course, the GOP elders think it’s a good idea to further refine their party into a pure aggregation of fervently religious heterosexual white people who hate taxes.

The notion that salvation resides in a zealous remnant is always appealing to traumatized true believers. But to gloss the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous admonition on justice: The arc of the American electoral universe is long, but it bends toward the inclusive center.

That brings us to Chip Saltsman, the former Tennessee state Republican chairman who ran Mike Huckabee’s underfunded but shrewd bid for the GOP’s presidential nomination. Saltsman now wants to be Republican national chairman, and, apparently as part of his campaign, he sent his associates a Christmas gift consisting of songs by the satirist Paul Shanklin. The title track, sung in a voice meant to impersonate Al Sharpton, is “Barack the Magic Negro.” It parodies the president-elect as a black man acceptable to whites. Another song, “Star Spanglish Banner,” disparages Latinos.

Shanklin, who first performed his parody on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show (and they say ideologues don’t have a sense of humor) said he was inspired by an Op-Ed article by David Ehrenstein that appeared in The Times this year. Saltsman, who as you can imagine has come in for a bit of criticism for his gift, now characterizes the column as “irresponsible.” (We’ll leave it to him to explain why he distributed irresponsible ideas.)”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here: (http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-oe-rutten31-2008dec31,0,5283160.column

What in the heck is funny about a song that promotes racist divisive views? We already know that Rush Limbaugh is a bigot & a drug-addicted pig man! He has proven that time & time again. But, what about Chip Saltsman? Does he find racism humorous? This is an offensive tape because it disparages Hispanics as well. How does this help the GOP appeal to minorities? Someone please tell me.

And why would Fox News allow this text message to air on the New Year’s Eve broadcast? We already know how they went after President Barack Obama during the campaign. So, isn’t it a bit strange that this racist text message showed up on their network? Since they are basically a right-wing network, that doesn’t look good for Republicans,either.Here’s more on the Fox controversy from Alternet.org:

“As ThinkProgress recently noted, Fox News allowed at least one racist message directed toward President-elect Obama to make it on the air during its New Years broadcast. In a statement to TVNewser yesterday, Fox News VP of programming Suzanne Scott defended the incident, claiming that the text message referring to Rush Limbaugh’s “Barack the Magic Negro” song was “inadvertently cleared for air.” Instead of offering an apology, Scott took the opportunity to attack Fox’s rivals:

Fox News VP of programming Suzanne Scott explains, “We received tens of thousands of text message submissions during our New Years Eve special, and this particular viewer submission was inadvertently cleared for air. At FOX we recognize our error as opposed to networks who allow their hosts to utter crude vulgarities to the public.”

Fox New has a history of allowing racially-charged language aimed at Obama and his family to make it on air and then claiming it was simply a mistake. In June, after a Fox chyron referred to Michelle Obama as “Obama’s Baby Mama,” Fox’s Senior Vice President of Programming Bill Shine explained it by saying that “A producer on the program exercised poor judgment in using this chyron during the segment.”(End of Post) Read more here:(http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/117044/fox_news_claims_’magic_negro’_text_was_’inadvertently_cleared_for_air’/

So, is this just light-hearted political satire or “something more sinister“? Is the phrase “Obama,the Magic Negro” just another racist connotation? I believe that is it the latter. Because of the history of racial relations in America, it is extremely difficult for me to accept any other rationalization! But,you can draw your own conclusions.

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Obama Picked CNN’S Dr. Sanjay Gupta As His Surgeon General!

Both Neil Cavuto & CBS News is reporting that Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN has been tapped by Obama to be his Surgeon General! I love this guy so I hope that it’s true. He is so handsome & congenial. Sanjay Gupta seems like the perfect doctor & family man! There is even an unofficial fan page for Dr. Sanjay Gupta:      (http://sanjayguptacnn.worldbreak.com/

But, not everyone has sung his praises in the past. I wonder if Michael Moore is still smarting over Dr. Gupta’s findings regarding the accuracy of Moore’s movie “Sicko“! Although Gupta agreed with Moore’s assessment of our health system, he questioned some of the statistics & data in the movie.In this video, Larry King hosts a debate between Michael Moore & Dr. Sanjay Gupta where they try to point out each other’s inaccuracies. Here’s more on the Surgeon General pick from CBS News:

“The transition team has announced that Barack Obama will make an announcement tomorrow morning at a 10:15 ET press conference. Could it be that he is tapping CBS News contributor and CNN correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon, to be surgeon general?

The Washington Post, citing two sources, first reported that Obama had offered Gupta the job.

“Gupta has told administration officials that he wants the job, and the final vetting process is under way,” reported the Post. “He has asked for a few days to figure out the financial and logistical details of moving his family from Atlanta to Washington but is expected to accept the offer.”

CBS News has learned from a source close to Dr. Gupta that he was approached weeks ago about the position and that he had sought advice about whether or not he should take the job shortly after he was approached about it.

Another source close to Dr. Gupta (who was asked for advice from Gupta) tells CBS News that Gupta feels drawn to public service and confirms the approach was made a while back.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here: (http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/01/06/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry4702699.shtml

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Joe Biden Is An Affable Guy That Makes A Lot Of Goofs! That’s Why I Kind Of Like Him!

Joe Biden really irritated me during the election because I thought that his mouth would cost Obama dearly. But since Obama won, all is well with me. I’m sure that the Obama transition team gets irked though when he makes slip-ups like the ones reported by Politico:

“Joe Biden hasn’t said much in public since the election, but one of Washington’s most prolific talkers is back – and making news whenever he speaks.

In fewer than five minutes on Tuesday, Biden criticized his own incoming Obama administration and disclosed information his aides have kept secret for security reasons.

And on Monday, Biden declared, “We’re at war!” and compared the economic turmoil to 9/11.

Team Obama kept Biden under wraps immediately after the election, but with his Senate swearing-in and upcoming Iraq trip, he’s back in front of the microphones.

Chatting with reporters after he was sworn in for a seventh term in the Senate, Biden called it “a mistake” that the Obama transition selected Leon Panetta as CIA director without consulting the Senate intelligence committee.

“I’m still a Senate man and I always think this way. I think it’s always good to talk to the requisite members of Congress,” Biden said. “I think it was just a mistake.”

Biden then went on to reveal the key stops on his upcoming overseas trip with a Senate delegation – without even being asked.

“This will be my God-knows-how-many trips, I guess my 10th or 11th trip into Iraq and I don’t know how many times in Afghanistan and Pakistan,” Biden told reporters who had questioned him about what he expects to accomplish on his South Asia trip.

Just yesterday Biden’s Senate office took care to conceal these destinations, declaring in news release announcing his travels: “For security reasons, details of the delegation’s itinerary will be released as the trip progresses.”

And on Biden’s criticism of the Panetta rollout, one transition official noted that President-elect Barack Obama and Biden were in agreement on the matter – both felt it should have been handled differently. Biden called Feinstein to apologize personally, and Feinstein said that Obama also had called to apologize.” (End Of Excerpt) Read the rest here: (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/17139.html

Joe Biden just wrote a book called “Promises to Keep” which he discussed with Larry King.  I hope that he didn’t promise to choose his words carefully before he speaks. That’s one promise that Joe Biden knows he would never be able to keep!

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The Porn Industry Wants A Bailout,Too!When Sex Stops Selling, You Know Times Are Tough!

Tits and ass just aren’t racking up the sales that they used too. I guess that’s why Larry Flynt & Joe Francis are jumping in the long line of bailout seekers! And about $5 billion can help them get sex back on the minds of the American people. Are these guys bleepin’ kidding or what?! Who cares if my guy can’t ogle some other chick’s surgically enhanced body? I’m sure most women will be glad to see a serious reduction in porn.It would save a lot of relationships as well. Here’s more on this ridiculous story from the Telegraph.co.uk:

“Porn baron Larry Flynt is seeking a $5 billion bailout from Washington to rejuvenate the industry, which he says is suffering because of the economic downturn.
The Hustler magazine founder has teamed up with fellow adult entertainment mogul Joe Francis, creator of the Girls Gone Wild video series, to approach Congress for the same kind of financial assistance recently approved for car manufacturers.

The pair have asked the 111th Congress, which convened on Tuesday with the economy at the top of its agenda, “to rejuvenate the sexual appetite of America” with a bailout.

“Congress seems willing to help shore up our nation’s most important businesses, (and) we feel we deserve the same consideration,” Francis said in a statement.

“In difficult economic times, Americans turn to entertainment for relief. More and more, the kind of entertainment they turn to is adult entertainment.”

“The take here is that everyone and their mother want to be bailed out from the banks to the big three,” Owen Moogan, a spokesman for Flynt, told CNN.

“The porn industry has been hurt by the downturn like everyone else and they are going to ask for the $5 billion. Is it the most serious thing in the world? Is it going to make the lives of Americans better if it happens? It is not for them to determine.” (End of Excerpt) Read the entire article here:(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/4165049/US-porn-industry-seeks-multi-billion-dollar-bailout.html

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Obama Assembling All The Living Presidents For “The Ultimate Power Lunch”!

The Living President's Had A Power Lunch!

This is such a beautiful photograph! Five presidents came together to have what has been called “the ultimate power lunch” today. Apparently, it was the President-Elect’s idea & George Bush liked it. Jimmy Carter’s smile looks a little tight in this picture. Other than that, they all seem at ease. Here’s more on this historic event from the NY Times:

“President-elect Barack Obama convened the most exclusive club in the world on Wednesday, huddling at the White House for the ultimate power lunch with the living Presidents.

“All the gentlemen here understand both the pressures and possibilities of this office,” Obama said during a pre-meal photo op. “For me to have the opportunity to get advice, good counsel and fellowship with these individuals is extraordinary.”

President Bush and ex-Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter – with 24 years of chief executive experience among them – posed with Obama in the Oval Office.

“I just want to thank the President for hosting us,” said Obama, who requested the summit to discuss working together to tackle challenges like the worsening economy. “(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/01/07/2009-01-07_all_the_presidents_lunch_barack_obama_me.html

George Bush & His “Bushisims”!

George Bush certainly is not one of the most well-spoken presidents in history. His mistakes have led to the creation of a new word called “Bushisms“! When you hear that word, you will know automatically what they are talking about. He’s no Barack Obama, that’s for sure. Here’s more on the eloquence that he lacks from BBC:

“All politicians are prone to make slips of the tongue in the heat of the moment – and President George W Bush has made more than most.

The word “Bushism” has been coined to label his occasional verbal lapses during eight years in office, which come to an end on 20 January.

Here are some of his most memorable pronouncements.

ON HIMSELF

“They misunderestimated me.”
Bentonville, Arkansas, 6 November, 2000 (End of First Excerpt)

(What a dumb ass,right? It’s underestimated for the grammatically challenged.) Here’s another one from BBC:

 FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.” Washington DC, 5 August, 2004 “I think war is a dangerous place.”
Washington DC, 7 May, 2003

 

“The ambassador and the general were briefing me on the – the vast majority of Iraqis want to live in a peaceful, free world. And we will find these people and we will bring them to justice.” Washington DC, 27 October, 2003 (End of Excerpt) For even more ignorant comments from George Bush, go here:(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7809160.stm

Oh,What Some Of Us Do For Love! NY Doc Wants His Kidney Back From Cheating Wife!

Now, if my husband gave me one of his kidneys,I’d feel more than obligated to be faithful to him. I mean,what more can a man do to prove his love? But apparently, that wasn’t enough in the case of a New York doctor who gave his cheating wife his kidney! He’s so hurt & humiliated that he wants either $1.5 million or his damn kidney back! Here’s more from MSNBC:

“Lawyers are trying to settle a bizarre divorce case in New York state: a doctor wants the kidney he donated to his wife back as part of their settlement.

The doctor held a news conference at his lawyer’s Long Island office Wednesday to publicly talk about his demand. He says he gave his wife his kidney in 2001, then she filed for divorce in 2005 after 15 years of marriage.

The doctor claims his wife began having an affair sometime after the transplant.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here: (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28547971

Oh,what some of us do in the name of love!

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People Like Elvis Presley Never Die!

Thank God for the man known as Elvis Presley. His beautiful angelic voice still touches the souls of both the young & old.It doesn’t matter if Elvis was before your time. You still know who he is. Graceland is as synomous with America as apple pie & baseball. Some have given him the title “The King Of Rock N’ Roll“, although many have disputed it. This is one man who is timeless,like Marilyn Monroe. His image & persona lives on to this very day. People like the magnificent Elvis Presley never die. That southern drawl & slicked hair-do will be imitated for an eternity. He was ultra suave,& sleek. Elvis Presley is male perfection. Here’s more on Elvis from the History of Rock.com:

“Elvis Presley was the first real rock and roll star. A white southerner who singing blues laced with country and country tinged with gospel, Presley brought together music from both sides of the color line. Presley performed this music with a natural hip swiveling sexuality that made him a teen idol and a role model for generations of cool rebels. Presley was repeatedly dismissed as vulgar, incompetent and a bad influence. However the force of his music and image signaled to the mainstream culture it was time for a change.

Born January 8, 1935, in East Tupelo, Mississippi, Presley was the son of Gladys and Vernon Presley, a sewing machine operator and a truck driver. Presley’s twin brother Jesse Garon was stillborn, and he grew up as an only child. At age three, Vernon was sent to prison for forgery. It seems that Vernon, Travis Smith, and Luther Gable changed the amount of a check from Orville Bean,Vernon’s boss, from $3 to $8 and cashed it at a local bank.Vernon pled guilty and was sentenced to three years at Parchment Farms Penitentiary. Vernon’s boss, Mr. Bass called in a note that Vernon signed to borrow money to build the house and Gladys is forced to move in with Vernon’s parents. Vernon would only serve eight months. Afterward Vernon’s employment was spotty and the family lived just above the poverty line. The Presleys attended the First Assembly of God Church whose Pentecostal services always included singing.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here: (http://www.history-of-rock.com/elvis_presley.htm

This video talks about how the King still lives on! It’s been thirty years since Elvis Presley died,but the legend is still as vibrant as ever. Even in Russia,the place that had once banned his music .

 

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This Close-up Video Of A Bart Police Officer Killing Oscar Grant Isn’t The One Being Shown All Over The News! That’s Because You Can Really See What’s Going On!

I’m sure you’ve heard about the handsome 22-yr. old man who was killed by a merciless police officer on New Year’s Day. Oscar Grant’s death was completely unwarranted & the streets of Oakland have been very vocal about that fact! This was an unarmed man who was lying face down on the ground being totally compliant. As you can see in the video, the officer shoots him in the back for no apparent reason at all. People want to know why such brutal,deadly force was used on someone who did not pose a threat. In fact, the Bart police officer who murdered him in cold blood was the one who looked intimidating. This person has since resigned & has not answered any questions or issued any apologies for taking the life of a human being. What kind of an individual are we dealing with here? Here’s more on this story from the Mercury News.com:

“As family and friends of Oscar Grant III pleaded for peace Thursday afternoon, broken glass still was being cleaned up from the previous night’s near-riot in downtown, burned cars were towed away, and some business owners — fearing a repeat of the violence — made plans for nightfall, closing early and sending employees home.

“I am begging the citizens to not use violent tactics anymore,” said Grant’s mother, an emotional Wanda Johnson, who appeared with about 30 of Grant’s relatives and friends at a news conference called by attorney John Burris at his East Oakland office.

Burris is representing Grant’s mother and 4-year-old daughter in a $25 million lawsuit filed against BART in the officer-involved shooting of an unarmed Grant, 22, in the early hours of New Year’s Day after a scuffle at the Fruitvale BART station. BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle, who fired the fatal shot, has resigned from the force.

“I know it’s a very frustrating time,” Johnson said, referring to the protracted police investigation into the shooting. “But Oscar would not want to see the violence and the fires. We believe this situation is going to come to a close and justice will be served. I’m asking you please, please stop it and let justice prevail. Please stop it.”

Mayor Ron Dellums and other city leaders urged the public to remain peaceful and said the Oakland Police Department will investigate the shooting.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_11405848?source%253Dmost_viewed.20F88DA3D7D369F5BB70F372987EAE1F.html

If this was the video that was being broadcast & analyzed on CNN by Rick Sanchez, the analysis would be that this cop murdered Oscar Grant. It did not look like it was by any accident to me. There was no reason to reach for anything. This guy was already cooperating with law enforcement. What happened is reprehensible & despicable. Johannes Mehserle will have to face the music sooner or later. This will not be swept under the carpet.

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The Impeached Governor Blagojevich Just Needs To Quit!

This press conference that Gov. Blagojevich held today was so surreal. It almost seemed like a campaign stump speech! He did not address any of the criminal complaints against him. The first governor to be impeached in the history of Illinois says he will do that in the proper forum,a federal court. So, I ask, what was the point? This was just another opportunity for him to give a self-aggrandizing speech. He even had people that he was using as his props.Noone believes that this man cares more about the people than himself! None of my heartstrings were pulled by his acts of kindness. The impeached Gov. Blagojevich just needs to quit!

 

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Prince Harry Has Proven That Europe Has Racial Issues As Well!

I received a comment from a European vistor to my blog. It was in reference to my posting about the Bart policeman who killed an unarmed man in Oakland,CA. The person wrote that something like that would never take place in Europe. Oh,really? Check out what happened in Stockwell back in 2005:

“Faith communities and civic groups are expressing concern about the shooting dead of an apparently unarmed Asian man at Stockwell station in central London yesterday. They are anxious that a shoot-to-kill policy against suspects will fuel tension and anger in the wake of the recent bombings in the capital.

According to eyewitnesses at Stockwell a man was seen racing down an escalator and onto a tube train at just after 10am yesterday. He was hotly pursued by security operatives who pinned him down at the entrance to a carriage and shot him in the head five times. An official enquiry has been launched.

In a brief news conference statement, senior police chief Sir Ian Blair said that it was unclear whether the man shot dead was linked to Thursday’s incidents. It has since emerged that he was not one of four men who planted devices on three underground trains and a bus on Thursday. But he may have been under surveillance at a nearby house.

Police say that the man refused to stop when challenged. Observers say he was not brandishing any kind of weapon and did not appear to have a package on him. No verbal warning has been reported prior to the killing.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone and local MP Kate Hoey were quick to back the action of the security services. ‘If you are dealing with someone who might be a suicide bomber, if they remain conscious they could trigger plastic explosives or whatever device is on them,’ Mr Livingstone said. ‘Therefore overwhelmingly in these circumstances it is going to be a shoot-to-kill policy.’

However, mainstream Muslim groups have expressed alarm about the events in Stockwell. A Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) spokesperson said many Muslims were now ‘jumpy and nervous’ and feared reprisal attacks.

Inayat Bunglawala declared: ‘There may well be reasons why the police felt it necessary to unload five shots into the man and shoot him dead, but they need to make those reasons clear.’

He added that the fact that the man has not been linked to Thursday’s attempted suicide attacks ‘increases the urgency of the question of why this man was shot dead instead of being disabled or arrested.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_syndication/article_050723kill.shtml

That sounds like the police shot an unarmed man in Europe to me. So, my friends, people are not treated or viewed equally on both sides of the ocean. Now, we’ve got someone from the royal family making racist remarks. Prince Harry is the source of a lot of anger because of the things he said in this video. Here’s more from the Daily Mail.co.uk:

“The father of a Sandhurst recruit called a ‘Paki’ by Prince Harry has condemned it as a ‘disgraceful insult’.
Muhammad Yaqoob Khan Abbasi has he is ‘hurt and angry’ at the comments.
He accused the prince of using a ‘hate’ word, and dismissed his claims that it was not intended in a derogatory manner.
Harry, 24, will be given a severe dressing down by Army chiefs after being captured on video using the phrase ‘our little Paki friend’ to describe fellow cadet Ahmed Raza Khan.
The film was made in March 2006 during Harry’s final year of officer training at the Royal Military Academy in Camberley, Surrey.”(End of Excerpt) Read the whole article here:(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1112342/Sorrys-good-Harry-insult-disgraceful-says-father-Asian-cadet-called-Paki-prince.html

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Roland Burris Will Be The Next Illinois Senator!

Harry Reid said way too much far too soon. He insisted that whomever Gov. Blagojevich appointed would be rejected. So, how is it that Roland Burris will now become the next Illinois senator? It seems like Mr. Reid has stuck his foot in his mouth once again. And I love the perserverance that Roland Burris has shown throughout this whole drama! According to the Seattle Times:

“Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Sunday it was likely that former Illinois Atty. Gen. Roland Burris would be seated as the state’s newest senator this week.

Burris was appointed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich three weeks after the now-impeached Illinois governor was arrested on federal corruption charges that included allegations he attempted to sell the Senate seat left vacant by President-elect Obama.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2008617149_burris12.html

Roland Burris is a man of many achievements. And like Barack Obama, he is a history maker. Here’s more from The History Makers:

“Born in Centralia, Illinois, Roland Burris received his bachelor’s degree in political science from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 1959. He then studied at the University of Hamburg, Germany, for a year before entering law school at Howard University.

Burris began his career in 1963 as a national bank examiner for the U.S. Treasury Department. This gave him the honor of being the first African American to examine banks in the United States. From 1964 to 1973, he served as vice president of Continental Illinois National Bank, making significant contacts in both the corporate and African American communities. Burris began his government career in 1973 as director of the Illinois Department of General Services. In 1978, with his election to the first of three terms as state comptroller, he made history as the first African American elected to state office. On November 6, 1990, Roland W. Burris was elected attorney general for the state of Illinois. At that time, the only African American ranking higher in state office was Douglas Wilder, the governor of Virginia. He served as Illinois attorney general from 1991 to 1995.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest of his bio by following this link:(http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.thehistorymakers.com/bio_images/1029871850.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/biography.asp%3Fbioindex%3D38&h=265&w=360&sz=14&tbnid=SRhL2FDz1UKGcM::&tbnh=89&tbnw=121&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpictures%2Bof%2Broland%2Bburris&usg=__kIRUQsKrOAbW12Y95tvyWiwibhw=&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=4&ct=image&cd=1

The Horrific Guantanamo Bay Prison May Finally Be Shut Down!

Obama has promised to start closing Guantanamo Bay down within the first week on the job. Let’s hope that this is one campaign promise that he will be able to fulfill. That place is one big human rights violation! Here’s more on Obama’s plans from the TimesOnline:

“President-elect Barack Obama is moving on a campaign pledge to close the Guantanamo Bay prison, preparing to issue an executive order in the first days of his administration on one of the most controversial developments of the Bush administration.

The order to close the prison, which houses suspected terrorists at the US Naval base in Cuba, will be the first grand gesture of the President-elect in an effort to distance himself from the outgoing Bush administration.

An adviser to Mr Obama, who will be inaugurated as the next US president in Washington on Tuesday, said is expected to issue the order within his first week in the White House.

“There is going to be an executive order on closing down Guantanamo,” the adviser told Reuters. However the practicality of closing the controversial prison is much more complicated and Guantanamo Bay is unlikely to shut right away. Mr Obama has already admitted that closing the facility would take some time, saying last weekend it would be “a challenge” to close it even within the first 100 days of his administration.

“(It) is more difficult than I think a lot of people realize,” Mr Obama said in an interview on US television.

“You have a bunch of folks that have been detained, many of whom may be very dangerous who have not been put on trial…and some of the evidence against them may be tainted even though it’s true.”

But the President-elect said closing the prison was non-negotiable for him.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here: (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5506559.ece

This video shows why the calamity known as Gitmo need to be obliterated from the face of the earth! It’s definitely a torture camp!

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The Natalie Dylan Virgin Auction

Natalie Dylan says that she’s just practicing capitalism. Auctioning off her virginity gives her the chance to capitalize on a very valuable commodity. How much are some folks willing to pay to pop her cherry? Well,according to Huffington Post, there are offers for up to $3.7 million! I’ve never heard of anyone selling their virginity before. But, this is not an uncommon practice in other parts of the world. Here’s more on the virgin auction from Digital Alchemy TV:

“Intriguingly, the 22-year-old San Diego woman, who already holds a B.S. in women’s studies, plans to finance her graduate school education in marriage and family therapy from the proceeds of the virginity auction. To prove her chastity, she will undergo a gynecological exam as well as a lie detector test.

Surprisingly, Natalie Dylan is entering into a not uncommon online marketplace. For instance, in 2007, 18-year-old Carys Copestake tried to sell her virginity for £10,000. In 2004, 18-year-old Rosie Reid, a lesbian student at Bristol University, auctioned hers off for £8,400. Oddly, British women are very over-represented although there are many other cases in other countries, including men who have sold their services online. Asked about her decision and doubters, Dylan replied, “We live in a capitalist society. Why shouldn’t I be allowed to capitalize on my virginity?”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.digitalalchemy.tv/2008/09/natalie-dylan-virgin-auction-photos.html

The All-Obama Cable Channels!

 

 Dish Network had an all-Obama channel that they launched during the campaign. Now, Comcast has jumped on the bandwagon with an Obama channel of their own. I think that this is a really neat idea! Here’s more from Politico.com:

“Do you need Obama coverage 24 hours a day? In several markets, Comcast cable is launching an all-Obama, On Demand channel. (In D.C., it’s channel 963). “(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.politico.com/blogs/michaelcalderone/0109/Comcast_launchs_allObama_channel.html

President Obama Dines With The Liberal’s Enemy, The Conservatives!

 

Obama has drawn many comparisons between himself & Abraham Lincoln. He is greatly inspired by Lincoln & Obama recently visited his memorial with his family. Obama believes in surrounding himself with differing opinions,like Abraham Lincoln. Here’ s more on his admiration of Lincoln from Newsweek:

“If Obama is to accomplish much of anything, he is going to need all the leadership skills of a Lincoln.

The theme of Obama’s Inauguration is taken from a line in Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address: “A New Birth of Freedom.” Asked in January by CBS anchor Katie Couric which book, aside from the Bible, he would find essential in the Oval Office, Obama answered, “Team of Rivals.” Doris Kearns Goodwin’s 2005 bestseller recounts how Lincoln surrounded himself with advisers who were better educated and more experienced and who made no secret of coveting Lincoln’s job. Obama has yet to announce his cabinet, but he is clearly looking at some strong personalities, such as Larry Summers at Treasury, and he is considering keeping on Bush’s secretary of defense, Robert Gates. Bursting with ego, Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s pick as White House chief of staff, does not at all fit the “No Drama” Obama mode of the campaign. Emanuel once sent a foe a dead fish wrapped in newspaper.

The most intriguing possibility to emerge last week was the suggestion that Hillary Clinton might become secretary of state. She flew to Chicago to meet with Obama, and a senior Obama aide, speaking anonymously about confidential matters, tells NEWSWEEK she is “under consideration.” She would, of course, have to decide whether she should abandon her career in the Senate, and Obama will have to weigh the risk of back-seat driving by her husband, the former president.

During the Civil War, Lincoln was able to brilliantly manage his team of rivals. His secretary of state, William Seward, came into office thinking “he would actually be controlling Lincoln,” notes Goodwin, but Lincoln was able to sit Seward down, remind him who was president—and ultimately make him his close friend. Lincoln, in some ways, had it easier than Obama will. Cabinet secretaries in the 1860s could not step out on the White House lawn and hold press conferences with cable-TV networks. But Goodwin, who has spoken with Obama about her book, thinks he has absorbed the deeper meaning of Lincoln’s leadership style. “I think he’s got a temperamental set of qualities that have some resemblance to Lincoln’s emotional intelligence,” Goodwin tells NEWSWEEK.” (End of Excerpt) Read the article in it’s entirety by clicking here:(http://www.newsweek.com/id/169170

So, is it any wonder that he would continue to create a dialogue with his enemies? Some people are a little peeved at Obama for dining with his enemies, conservative journalists! But,he is trying to live up to another campaign promise,which was to be a unifier instead of a divider. If he doesn’t engage those with a completely different political stance than his own,then how could he ever fulfill that pledge? That’s why he went on the Bill O’Reilly show. And that’s why he had a dinner with conservative writers this evening. Here’s more on that from Salon.com:

“Even King David might have found Barack Obama’s choice of dinner companions a bit too literal. (Psalm 23, “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies,” for those of you not up on your Biblical allusions.)

Columnist George Will hosted the president-elect and at least two other prominent conservative pundits at his Maryland home Tuesday night. The pool reporter on the scene has confirmed that New York Times columnists David Brooks and Bill Kristol at the dinner, but was apparently unable to spot any other guests.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/01/13/obama_dinner/

Keep your enemies close, President Obama! Keep em’ close!

They Got That Rogue Cop Who Executed An Unarmed Man At The Transit Station !

People were incensed by the senseless murder of Oscar Grant,including me! So, I feel good today because they have arrested this S.O.B. in Nevada. Can you believe this evil creature was on the lam? From the way this cop has behaved, it’s pretty obvious that he feels absolutely no remorse for taking Oscar Grant’s life. They did the right thing by charging his ass with murder.Here’s more on this creep from SF Gate:

“Mehserle was arrested in the New Year’s Day shooting of Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old supermarket worker from Hayward who was lying facedown after being pulled off a BART train by police investigating a fight. An Alameda County judge signed an arrest warrant alleging murder, and Mehserle surrendered without incident, authorities said.

The shooting, which was recorded by passengers in videos widely circulated on the Internet and television, prompted public outrage, and some viewers said that the shooting appeared to be an execution.

Sources said Mehserle was in Nevada because he feared for his safety after death threats were made against him. Douglas County is 15 miles south of Carson City in northwestern Nevada and includes part of Lake Tahoe.

Mehserle’s attorney, Christopher W. Miller of Sacramento, confirmed early today that his client was arrested on suspicion of murder. He said he would not comment further until a news conference today.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/13/BAM615A08A.DTL

Hallelujah!

 

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The New Jersey Kids With Nazi-Related Names Have Been Taken Into State Custody

Have you heard about the New Jersey couple who gave their children Nazi names & tried to get their son’s name, Adolf Hitler Campbell, put on a cake at a supermarket bakery? Their kids have been removed & placed in state custody,which I think is good.

 I know that racism is taught & engrained in some children’s very being. Parents like these two do not deserve to have any kids at all. I mean, this is the type of upbringing that breeds racists. It’s a freakin’ cycle that is neverending. Hopefully, the authorities got to these kids before there minds were programmed to harbor hate for fellow human beings. It starts with your environment & upbringing. Noone is born hating people. You are taught how to eat, walk, talk, & who you should hate. Racism is passed down from generation to generation. This story is proof of that! Here’s more from nj.com:

“Police say three Holland Township siblings whose names have Nazi connotations have been placed in the custody of the state, according to a story first reported in The Express-Times. But a New Jersey Department of Youth and Family Services spokeswoman said that the agency would not remove children from a home based on their names alone.

Police Sgt. John Harris says workers from the state Division of Youth and Family Services on Tuesday removed 3-year-old Adolf Hitler Campbell and his younger sisters, JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell from their home Friday.

“Just to be clear, removal of a child from a family is only done when there’s an imminent danger to a child and that wouldn’t include the child’s name alone,” spokeswoman Kate Bernyk said. “We wouldn’t remove a child based on their name.”(End of Excerpt) Read the whole story here:(http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/01/state_removes_hunterdon_county.html

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: A Prophetic American Visionary Whose Killer Is An Enigma!

Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday is actually Jan. 15,although it will be celebrated one day before Obama’s inauguration.Our incoming president represents the culmination of MLK’s famous dream. We have this great American visionary to thank for helping to start the Civil Rights movement. Who knows what this country would be like if Martin Luther King Jr. had not sprung up from it? He was like the Pied Piper with the way he delivered his melodic speeches. Everyone became mesmerized by the way he weaved his words & created moving,stirring dialogue that compelled folks to not only listen,but to act. Here’s more about Martin Luther King Jr. from Wikipedia:
“Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an African American clergyman, activist and prominent leader in the American civil rights movement. His main legacy was to secure progress on civil rights in the United States and he is frequently referenced as a human rights icon today.

A Baptist minister,King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, serving as its first president.

King’s efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. There, he raised public consciousness of the civil rights movement and established himself as one of the greatest orators in U.S. history.

In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other non-violent means. By the time of his death in 1968, he had refocused his efforts on ending poverty and opposing the Vietnam War, both from a religious perspective.

King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and Congressional Gold Medal in 2004; Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a U.S. national holiday in 1986.”(End of Excerpt) Read the whole entry here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.

Who really killed Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr remains an enigma. Oh,the mystery was supposedly solved when they named James Earl Ray as the shooter. But, many believe that there is no way that he had the wherewithal to act alone. And with evidence that the FBI sent the letter pictured above to coerce Martin Luther King into taking his own life, is it really that far-fetched to believe they were involved in his death? Here’s more on that theory from truthmove.org:

“Credible evidence, research, even a civil trial have shown that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was undoubtedly killed by a conspiracy of institutional forces. The FBI, mafia, military intelligence, and Memphis Police Department are all linked to the assassination.

The US media is guilty of suppressing and censoring vital information that contradicts the official story. The media and government position that James Earl Ray was the lone assassin is absurd in the face of the actual evidence.

MLK was one of the most inspiring and effective leaders in US history. Like Malcolm X, his struggle for civil rights broadened from race issues to larger concepts of class, values and peace.

Shortly before he was murdered, he was involved in organizing a “poor people’s movement” and march on Washington DC. He had also become an outspoken critic of the Vietnam War. King was considering running for office on a presidential ticket with Dr. Benjamin Spock on an anti-poverty, anti-war platform.

He had been under surveillance for years by the FBI–in official attempts to tie him to communism and blackmail him. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was, by all accounts, obsessed with stopping King.

The 60’s were a different era. Popular revolution and truly radical progressive change were concrete possibilities. Civil unrest and “race riots” had erupted in many American cities. By some twisted institutional logic, the King assassination may have been “justified” or sanctioned in terms of “National Security.”

After you digest the facts of the MLK assassination, we hope you find it harder to go along with a system that killed him. He stood for love, justice, equality and peace. He is held up as a national hero, with his own national holiday. And yet it is this very system that killed him and continues to cover up the truth.

Since his death, King’s popular image has been diluted and stripped of significance. In many people’s minds, he’s just that 60s black leader who said, “I have a dream.” There is little connection to his actual revolutionary vision. This is the true tragedy and the likely motivation behind the King assassination.

Like other assassinated leaders, Martin Luther King had the ability to bring words and ideas to life, to inspire passion, and to wake people up. Such leadership is very dangerous to a system built on deception and manipulation.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest of this engaging article by clicking here:(http://www.truthmove.org/content/mlk/

 

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The Heroic Pilot Who Safely Landed A Plane In The Hudson River!

 

 Chesley Sullenberger is the heroic pilot who safely landed the plane that went down into the Hudson River. Stories like this just really warm my heart to it’s very core. Every passenger on the plane lived & only one was seriously hurt with broken bones. And they all had nothing but the utmost respect & praise for the pilot who brought them to safety. It’s amazing that a flock of birds could bring a whole plane down. Here’s more from Newsday:

“US Airways Flight 1549 pilot Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger III has been hailed as a hero for safely landing the plane after two engines blew out Thursday in New York City. The captain for US Airways has more than 40 years of flying experience, according to a safety Web site.Chesley Burnett Sullenberger wanted to fly from the time he was a boy, watching fighter jets roar over his small hometown in Texas.

After a long career as a commercial pilot, Air Force fighter pilot, accident investigator and safety expert, Sullenberger, 57, faced his own emergency Thursday, landing US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River.

As the last passengers climbed onto ferry boats, Sullenberger walked the entire plane, twice, making sure that no one was left behind, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a news conference last night.

“I’m not surprised at all,” said Doug Hoover, 58, who was a high school classmate of the pilot in Denison, Texas. “This is his first chance to be a hero, but he always had it in him. He would have gone down with the ship, if that’s what it took.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.newsday.com/news/local/transportation/ny-lipilo0116,0,267091.story

 

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Ricardo Montalban: The Muy Caliente Mexican-Born Actor Will No Longer Grace The Earth With His Prescence

Ricardo Montalban will no longer grace this earth with his prescence.Most of us only know him as “Mr. Roarke” from “Fantasy Island“. But, Ricardo Montalban already had a long, illustrious career before that show.This stunningly good-looking Mexican-bred actor was already a budding star in his homeland. That’s why he was glad that they didn’t change his name to Ricky Martin. But, one of the main reasons he was glad to be known as Ricardo Montalban is because he was proud of his Mexican heritage.This may be why he did his best to make the Hollywood fantasy translate into an actuality for Latinos,although many say it was to his own detriment. He even created the nonprofit Nosotros Foundation to help Latinos find more employment in Hollwood. Here’s more from the Guardian:

“Ricardo Montalban died on Wednesday at age 88, and we got the news from a local politician who made the announcement at a Los Angeles city council meeting. To those who only knew the Mexican-born actor as the mysterious Mr Roarke of TV’s Fantasy Island or may only remember his purring praise for “soft Corinthian leather” in those old Chrysler commercials, it was just as well.

But to those who recognise that the Emmy-winning icon was a talented but underused actor who persevered through decades of Hollywood bigotry and typecasting with elegance and grace, a trailblazer who jeopardised his own career by advocating for younger generations of Latino actors, it was a meagre send-off. What we’ve lost, simply put, is one of the last remaining Hispanics who first busted through Hollywood’s doors and then struggled not to pay for their audacity with their dignity and cultural identity. “My career has been the constancy of doing the best I could with the role I had,” Montalban once said. “I persevered. That’s the only quality that I recognise in myself.”

Already a Latin American star when he hit Hollywood in the mid 1940s, Montalban could act, dance and sing and showed it off in his first American film, the Mexico-set musical Fiesta. Montalban, born in Mexico of Spanish parents, had style and phenomenal presence. Hollywood, however, was a topsy-turvy world where Latinos – particularly Mexicans – were often portrayed onscreen as “bandits, gigolos, hot señoritas and indolent peons,” as Montalban once put it. Lead Latino characters, such as they were, were often played by white actors. Latino actors were mostly relegated to playing stereotypical ethnic bit roles – everything from filthy Mexican peasants to Japanese soldiers – even if they had the chops to do more. It’s as if they were paying a never-ending string of dues for a reward that rarely came.

Hispanics who succeeded in old Hollywood did so by either passing as Anglos, as in the case of Rita Hayworth – a flamenco-dancer-turned-actress who became a leading lady only after dying her dark hair red and dropping her Spanish father’s last name of Cansino – or by sheer will and the willingness to risk obscurity, as in the case of Puerto Rican actress Rita Moreno. By the time Moreno won a best supporting actress Oscar in 1962 for West Side Story, the actress had endured several demeaning Latin sex-pot roles and, she once told me in an interview, the scorn of racist directors who ignored her on set. After her win, Moreno refused to make a film for seven years. Despite the award, she continued to be offered infuriatingly one-dimensional roles.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/jan/16/ricardo-motalban-hollywood-latinos

Here are a few other links to articles about Ricardo Montalban:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricardo_Montalban

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-me-montalban15-2009jan15,0,3732229.story

 

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Joaquin Phoenix: You Got Skills In Front Of A Camera,Dude,Not A Mic!

Please put down that microphone & shave that scraggly beard quick, Joaquin Phoenix! At least, I think that’s him under there. He used to have some sex appeal & looks. Now, he looks more like a dirty woodcutter than a rapper or actor. He’s no Justin Timberlake or Eminem, that’s for damn sure. Hell, he’s not even on the level of Kevin Federline. This dude is really trying to Walk The Line where his career is concerned. His irrationality & dishelved appearance makes him the poster boy for the anti-drug movement! Please let me know what he is on so that I can stay far away from it! His talent is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to mastering characters from a script. Stick to being in front of the cameras, dude. Hand the microphone to those who have musical talent.

If you want a good chuckle,check out Joaquin Phoenix’s debut as a rapper. It’s the best laugh I’ve had in awhile! And here’ s more on this odd guy from FoxNews.com:

“ If Joaquin Phoenix fans were shocked by his decision to retire from acting, their heads will no doubt spin when they hear about his next career endeavor.

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The Oscar nominated actor is now an aspiring rapper, and introduced his new identity to the world on Friday.

“This is me saying who I am,” Phoenix, 34, told People magazine before taking the stage to perform as a rapper in Las Vegas. “This is my story.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,480565,00.html

If Joaquin Phoenix wants to tell his story, he should just write a book.

You Can Still Follow Your Dreams Because “Anything Is Possible In America!

Barack Obama is living proof that “anything is possible in America“! That Inauguration concert had such a feeling of geniune comradeship to it. I loved the way Will I Am talked about racial unity & progress while Sheryl Crow backed him up on the guitar. Totally freakin’ cool! The air seemed to be electric with emotion. Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin called it “a great American moment” & I couldn’t agree more!

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Jill & Joe Biden Both Have Something In Common:They Both Give Too Much Information!

 

 Did you see the Bidens on Oprah? While everyone was watching with bated breath to see what gaffe Joe would make, Jill Biden is the one creating headlines with her remarks. She let it be known that Joe Biden has his choice between Hillary’s job & the one that he accepted. It was funny to see her get shushed by her husband.For once,he was embarrassed by a slip-up that someone else made.It was funny because she seemed to get almost defiant when she offered a retort to his attempt at silencing her. This cute couple has one thing in common for sure.They both offer too much information.I’m sure that’s not something that Obama wanted Hillary to know.Look at the denial that was issued by Biden’s spokeswomen,according to The Huffington Post:

“Joe had the choice to be secretary of state or vice president,” she said. Her husband turned to his wife with his finger to his lips and a “Shhhh!” that sent the audience into laughter. “OK, he did,” Jill Biden said in her defense.

The vice president-elect blushed, grimaced and gave his wife a hug while the audience continued to erupt in laughter. “That’s right,” he finally said to his wife. “Go ahead.”

Mrs. Biden said she told him vice president would be better for the family.

“If you’re secretary of state, you’ll be away, we’ll never see you, you know,” she said. “I’ll see you at a state dinner once in a while.”

After the exchange aired on television three hours later, Biden spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander denied Jill Biden’s account in a statement e-mailed to reporters.

“To be clear, President-elect Obama offered Vice President-elect Biden one job only _ to be his running mate,” the statement said. “And the vice president-elect was thrilled to accept the offer.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/19/biden-had-a-choice-betwee_n_159159.html

 

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Glenn Beck Tells Sarah Palin “You Are One Hot Grandma,I’m Just Sayin’”!

“Gee, Glenn Beck,why did you have Sarah Palin on? Haven’t we heard enough from her?” That’s what one of Beck’s staffers asked him when told that Sarah Palin was going to be a guest on his show. Those are my sentiments exactly. But, going even further than that. Why the heck does Beck have a show at all? I guess there’s an audience for pricks like him. I was touched,though,to learn that he has a special needs child.That revelation makes him much more human to me. Because I think of him as an attack dog usually. As you can tell, I can barely tolerate 2 seconds of that man.I did find it funny when he told Sarah Palin that she was “one hot grandma“. It seemed like Glenn Beck got all hot & bothered when he said that. He probably got a stiffy as he was paying her that “non-sexist compliment“. And did they say anything about Martin Luther on the day that America celebrates his life? What’s up with that? I’m just sayin’!

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No More President-Elect Obama! It’s PRESIDENT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA NOW! YAY!!

President Obama says he is “humbled by the tasks before us“. Our new president began his speech by laying out the challenges that Amercans face. He talked about how hard our forefathers worked & the sacrifices that they made. President Obama reminded America that we are a strong,great nation. We will meet these challenges & defeat them.

 Here are some quotes from his speech that I especially liked:

“America has carried on because we have remained faithful to the ideals of our forefathers. “

“The challenges we face are real….the time has come to set aside childish things.”

“The God-given promise that all are equal, all are free…..”

“Greatness is never a given, it must be earned….”

“All this we can do, all of this we will do…they have forgotten what this country has already done.”

” It’s not whether our government is too big or too small,but whether it works.”

“Spend wisely,reform bad habits,& do our business in the light of day…”

“As for our common defense, we reject the idea of safety over our ideals…we will not give them up for expedience’s  sake.”

“We are ready to lead once more.”

“Our common humanity will reveal itself.”

“A new era of responsibility…this is the price & promise of citizenship.”

“Let us mark this day in remembrance of who we are & how far we traveled.”

I could go on & on because there are so many great quotes that can be pulled from President Obama’s speech. It was a pep speech for America. Yes, we will, America! And President Obama laid out exactly how America can proceed towards a better future. He wove historical events into the present to illustrate how durable Americans have always been. I believe all the hype that surrounds Barack Hussein Obama is completely warranted. For America has elected a truly,great man with an ethereal aura to bring us out of the wilderness of despair. I believe that this is one president that most Americans will be proud of.

I Thought Michelle Obama Looked So Eloquent & Regal In Her Inauguration Dress!

Wow, Michelle Obama! You are the perfect companion for President Barack Obama! A man as beautiful as him has found a woman who is just as lovely as he is! They seem to really have it all! An highly intellectual couple who happen to look exquisite as well. And today, Michelle Obama looked like a rare jewel. She outshined everyone in her beautiful, sparkling dress that was made by a Cuban designer. Some are wondering if she chose this designer because of her heritage as well as her talent. Here’s more on that from Newsday:

“Drum roll please. After months of heated speculation about what our brand new First Lady Michelle Obama would wear to the official swearing-in ceremony, the big news is in: Isabel Toledo.

Obama’s choice of a sparkly gold-yellow lace ribbon-closed coat and dress ensemble with a bejeweled collar is significant on at least two counts. First, the color. Since the Elizabethan Era, shades of yellow have symbolized renewal and hope, a platform on which Obama based his campaign. Also, newly sworn in President Barack Obama has been vocal about his desire to improve relations with Cuba, and some wonder if the First Lady’s choice of Toledo, who is Cuban-born, and Narciso Rodriguez, also of Cuban descent, for Sunday’s “We Are One,” concert — has deeper meaning.

While the 48-year-old designer’s name was always in the mix, she wasn’t considered a front-runner, with names like Tracy Reese, Thakoon and Obama’s hometown designer Maria Pinto considered to be the ones to watch. In June, Obama wore a black outfit by Toledo to a New York City fundraiser.

Early reaction to the ensemble was positive with some comparison to the famously fashionable First Lady Jackie Kennedy.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/ny-michellewatch0119,0,1043123.story

Ted Kennedy’s Medical Drama At Inaugural Luncheon For Obama!

 

 I hope that Senator Ted Kennedy’s brain tumor hasn’t resurfaced. At Obama’s Inaugural luncheon, it is being reported that he started to have violent convulsions from an apparent seizure. My prayers go out to both the senator & his family. Here’s more from CNN:

” Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, collapsed Tuesday afternoon during a luncheon for President Barack Obama in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall.

Paramedics were called to the scene at 2:35 p.m. ET.

Kennedy, who appeared to be suffering from a seizure, was transported to a hospital.

“Sen. Kennedy had a seizure” which “lasted a while,” a Republican House member told CNN.

The member said Kennedy was still experiencing seizures when he was put in a wheelchair and taken out through the Rayburn room, located to the side of Statuary Hall.

Kennedy, 76, was first elected to the Senate in 1962.

The source did not know whether President Obama saw it happening because “there was still a lot of talking” and the program was still going on; the incident happened at the end of lunch.

This source was sitting at table in front of Kennedy and said Kennedy was sitting with former Vice President Walter Mondale and Sen. Daniel Inouye.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/20/inauguration.kennedy.collapse/index.html

The $175 Million Cosmetic Giveaway That’s Happening Across The United States!

Do you know that department stores across the country are giving away high-end cosmetics & perfumes until Jan. 26 or when their supplies run out? Judging from the long lines,the giveaways will be gone before that date! In fact, I’m on my way out the door right now to get my free item.I am one of those consumers who bought a cosmetic between 1994 & 2003. A lot of folks are getting freebies who didn’t purchase anything. Here’s more from cbs5:

“A beauty product giveaway totaling $175 million starts Tuesday. The giveaway is actually a lawsuit settlement involving cosmetics manufacturers and department stores. Macy’s, Nordstrom, and others will hand out Chanel, Estée Lauder, L’Oreal and other high-end brands.

The defendant manufacturers were sued for allegedly fixing prices and preventing competition to offer discounts. No company admitted fault, but they agreed to give free products to consumers who say they bought an item between 1994 and 2003.

Lotions and perfumes will be valued at about $20.

The cosmetic class-action settlement runs until January 26, 2008, while supplies last. “(End of Excerpt) Go here to view the rest of the article,which lists all of the participating stores:(http://cbs5.com/consumer/lawsuit.makeup.perfume.2.914251.html

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Chris Wallace Of Fox News, Obama Retook The Oath! You Don’t Have To Wonder If He Really Is The President!

Jeez, Chief Justice John Roberts made a mistake & flubbed the oath.That’s not a big deal,right? Well, folks like Fox’s Chris Wallace said that he doesn’t believe that Barack Obama is really the president! What a dumb remark! Even CNN’s Lou Dobbs said that mistake doesn’t mean that Obama is not our president. But, you know how the right-wing is. Here’s more on why he should retake the oath from the Telegraph:

“Barack Obama should take the oath of office again after Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts made him fluff one of the lines, US constitution experts have claimed. Failure to do so could lead to four years of arguments or legal writs by extremists that Mr Obama is not a legitimate president.

Mr Roberts’ gaffe, which led him to be dubbed the “oaf of office” by one US newspaper, came when he pronounced crucial words in the wrong order. He should have said “faithfully execute the Office of the United States”, but instead said “execute the Office of the President of the United States faithfully”.

Mr Obama, smiling, clearly recognised the mistake, and gave Mr Roberts a chance to correct himself, but the judge put faithfully in the right place but left out the word execute”.

Mr Obama then followed Mr Roberts’ first incorrect version, before proceeding to finish the oath. At the inaugural luncheon shortly afterwards, witnesses said Mr Roberts apologised to the new president, saying “It was my fault.”

Constitution law professors said that taking the oath again would be wise, though it was not strictly speaking necessary. “Out of a superabundance of caution, perhaps he should do it again,” Akhil Reed Amar, of Yale University, told the Washington Post.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/4307886/Barack-Obama-should-retake-fluffed-oath.html

So,for all the idiots out there who are scraping for dirt on Barack Obama,I’ve got some bad news for you! Barack Obama retook the oath today. You’ll have to find something else to bitch about!

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All Of The Speculation About The Real Reason Caroline Kennedy Withdrew Her Bid For Hillary

I’m sure you’ve heard by now that Caroline Kennedy is no longer seeking Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat. She withdrew her name for personal reasons. But, there is plenty of speculation as to what really prompted her to withdraw her name from the list of potential appointees. It is being reported in the media that her uncle,Ted Kennedy, is the reason. When he fell ill at the Inaugural luncheon,she decided to stop bidding for the seat. At least that’s what some reports claim an unnamed source told them. Now, I remember Gov. Paterson saying on Inauguration Day that he had made his decision. He said he would wait until Friday to reveal his choice for Hillary’s Senate seat. I believe that she was informed that day that she wasn’t going to get it. Before his pick was made public, Caroline Kennedy decided to save face & withdraw her bid,citing personal reasons. Now,that’s pure speculation on my part. And Politico’s gossip section is reporting that Carolyn Maloney thinks Kennedy’s explanation is baloney also:

“And this morning the New York Democrat was overheard at Bubbles salon, of all places, letting her ambitions be known for all to hear, saying that she’d “be ready from day one” – what a recognizable quote – and that “this isn’t the time for on the job training,” according to someone who overheard the congresswoman.

Maloney also added that Caroline Kennedy was ruled out by Governor Paterson and that it “wasn’t a voluntary decision.”  Adding that she “couldn’t see how [Kennedy] had any business in the Senate anyway.”

As for Maloney, she mentioned she’s set to talk to Gov. Paterson this evening before her flight back to NYC.

Maloney, for her part, denies talking about the Senate race in public.”(End of (http://www.politico.com/blogs/anneschroeder/

But reporter,Dominic Carter, of NY1 told Chris Matthews that he ran into Gov. Paterson on Inauguration Day & he claims that the governor was going to name Caroline Kennedy. Dominic Carter also said that” the governor was caught completely off-guard & he was going to name her“. Now, he will make his final decision tonight & he might name that person by noon tomorrow. So,the speculation continues…

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Mayor Daly Is Right About Gov. Blagojevich! He Is “Coo-Coo”!

Did you happen to catch Gov. Blagojevich’s press conference today? I happen to like Shepard Smith so I watched it on his program.He was so passionate about what Blago was saying that he kept constantly interrupting! That was funny to me but some viewers weren’t that amused. As Chris Wallace said, it was like watching “Mystery Theater“.

Which is really what that whole press conference was anyway.It was just another crazy scene in the drama that Blagojevich has created.So,I thought it was quite appropriate when Shepard Smith kept interjecting with his observations! Why should anyone take what this guy is saying seriously? As Shepard Smith said,things are different on “planet Blago“! The mayor of Chicago summed it up in one word.This guy is “coo-coo“! Here’s more on today’s press conference from the Chicago Sun Times:

“During a news briefing, the governor then called on the editorial boards of the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Sun-Times to weigh in on the matter.

“Whatever happened to the presumption of innocence?” the governor said. “Political figures are just waiting to get me out of the way.”

Under the rules, “they’re hanging the 12 million people of Illinois who twice have elected a governor,” Blagojevich added.

He challenged the editorial boards to “look carefully at these two rules, weigh in and encourage the state Senate to change those rules so I can have a chance to defend myself.”

After the governor’s press conference, state Sen. Matt Murphy (R-Palatine) — who helped craft the Senate rules — responded to the governor’s allegations, calling them “theater of the absurd.”

One of the rules the governor challenged, Murphy said, was adopted out of President Clinton’s impeachment trial “and you don’t have to be a history buff to realize Bill Clinton was acquitted.”

This video contains an interview with the “innocent” governor. Rod Blagojevich likens himself to America when Pearl Harbor got hit. Wow, how freakin’ nuts is that!

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Jeremy Piven: He’s Almost Identical To The Character He Plays On “Entourage”!

 

 One of my favorite shows on television is HBO’s “Entourage“. The standout on the show is by far Jeremy Piven.He is freakin’ ferocious & plays the part of a savvy Hollywood agent with great expertise. As it turns out, he probably plays that part so well because his own personality is similar to that of “Ari Gold“. It’s not any surprise to me considering the fact that his zodiac sign is Leo,the lion. That ferocity he has is second nature to him.But, it’s best to leave that type of behavior to “Ari Gold. Because now there’s reports that he’s really becoming more & more like his character off-screen. The Defamer reports:

“Here’s a few reasons you might want to think twice about posing for the cover of Page Six Magazine:

Reason #1: It’s called Page Six Magazine.
Reason #2: Three months later, they’ll repurpose the material in a new, four-page story entitled, “Is Jeremy Piven the biggest jerk in showbiz?”

From the article:

Page Six Magazine writer Annie Karni reports that Jeremy Piven doesn’t always take kindly to direction. At a September Page Six Magazine photo shoot to promote his starring role in the Broadway revival of Speed-the-Plow, the actor was in a foul mood. “This isn’t my first time on the merry-go-round,” he shot at a staffer who asked that he pose for a traditional headshot and make eye contact with the camera. “You want mediocre? I can give you mediocre.” He mocked the crew by grinning like he was posing for a DMV shot.

An hour later, Jeremy didn’t want to give mediocre anymore. He popped his collar. He ducked under the photographer so that the camera would catch him at a height-enhancing angle. Letting out a gutteral moan, he ripped the sleeves off a $350 Giorgio Armani shirt.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://defamer.com/5138039/photoshoot-thrown-into-chaos-after-jeremy-piven-complains-of-acute-shirtsleeve-poisoning

 

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Former Pastor Ted Haggard: The Skeletons Just Keep Coming Out Of The Closet!

Ted Haggard was trying to present himself as a Christian leader who upholds family tradition & values. But in reality, there is nothing conservative about him except his religious jargon. He loves butt & oral sex,& he’s a speed demon! Who knew that Ted Haggard was such a freak! It really wouldn’t matter what he did if he wasn’t preaching against his own preferred lifestyle.What a hypocrite! Anyway,someone has made a movie that documents his downfall.Here’s more from SF Gate:

“It will be impossible for many not to feel at least some schadenfreude watching the new HBO documentary “The Trials of Ted Haggard” that premieres Thursday, and Haggard knows it. It is a portrait of the disgraced conservative evangelical Christian leader and friend of the Bush White House in exile, and a pathetic exile at that.After admitting in 2006 to buying methamphetamine from a male prostitute and confessing to “sexual immorality” amid accusations that he had a sexual relationship with the man, the Colorado pastor who once led the 30 million-member National Association of Evangelicals was banished from the state by church leaders and told not to publicly discuss his story. He resigned from the NAE and was stripped of his pastorship of the 12,000-member New Life Church in Colorado Springs. Haggard once was a staple of cable news shows, but for the past two years his large-toothed, wide, ever-smiling mouth has been silent.

With only a high school education – he called his college degree in “English Bible” worthless in the secular world – and his name a toxic Google search, the only job he can get is as a traveling health insurance salesman. After several scenes of schlepping his family from motel to rented home of a friend to cramped apartment in a moving van, he eventually looks at the camera and says, “I’m a first-class loser.” He didn’t think he could tell anyone his secret because he was afraid he would be ex-communicated and abandoned. “All that happened,” he says. “And worse.”

Over the phone a few weeks ago, Haggard, 52, says he realizes that some people will see his life spiral, recall his anti-gay marriage views and condemnation of homosexual behavior, and say he deserved it.

“I think they’re right,” Haggard told The Chronicle. “I think I did deserve it. I betrayed a trust. I did things that were not consistent with my role or my own belief system. So when people call me names or when people are harsh, that’s justice. When people are kind, I think that’s a gift.”

This video contains a news report about his most recent scandal.

 

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The Dolls That Were Inspired By Sasha & Malia Obama!

Aren’t Sasha & Malia Obama two of the most adorable little girls that you’ve ever seen? Michelle Obama ought to have known that sooner or later someone was going to model a doll after them. With all of the Obama merchandise out there, did she really think that her kids were exempt from the Obama frenzy?Everyone is trying to profit off of this historic moment in America. I know that Mrs. Obama doesn’t want her babies to be “exploited”. But, these dolls are absolutely stunning! Here’s more on these dolls from the Kansas City Star:

“Welcome to the White House, Michelle Obama. And welcome to the world of free enterprise and the pursuit of a buck.

President Barack Obama‘s wife is fuming because a company is selling dolls based on her daughters, Sasha and Malia.

But the dolls are cute.

They could be seen as providing good role models for young black girls.

And, if the dolls sell well, that will help the teetering U.S. economy.

What’s not to like?

The dolls are being sold by Ty, which came up years ago with the Beanie Babies dolls.

The dolls are called “Sweet Sasha” and “Marvelous Malia.”

An Obama spokeswoman said the First Family felt it was “inappropriate to use young private citizens for marketing purposes.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://voices.kansascity.com/node/3425

Gov. Blagojevich Comparing Himself To Gandhi & Martin Luther King!

It would seem that Gov. Blagojevich would like Americans to believe that he is a political martyr who is fighting the good fight for the sake of the people who elected him. He even gave us some examples of those who have gone before him. Nelson Mandela,Martin Luther King, & Gandhi were the three people he cited to emphasize his point! He isn’t trying to save anyone but himself, unlike the aforementioned real political martyrs. What cause has he suffered for? Here’s more on what he said & why he’s talking to every form of media that he possibly can from The Washington Post:

Then the day unfolded and I had a whole bunch of thoughts, of course my children and my wife, and then I thought about Mandela, Dr. King, Gandhi and trying to put some perspective in all of this and that’s what I’m doing now.

— Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich

 

Instead of attending his own impeachment trial, embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is busy today trying to sway public opinion.

State lawmakers in Illinois have begun proceedings to unseat Blagojevich as a result of his indictment on federal corruption charges for allegedly trying to sell President Barack Obama‘s former seat in the U.S. Senate.

The Illinois State House voted earlier this month by a margin of 114-1 for impeachment (the governor’s sister-in-law was the only dissenting vote). A vote for removal by 40 of the state’s 59 senators would result in Blagojevich’s immediate ouster from office.

Blagojevich has hired a Tampa-based public-relations firm to handle his “media blitz” (the firm specializes in “high-profile clients”) and has hit the talk-show circuit:

“The fix is in,” Blagojevich said of the impeachment trial, speaking on “Good Morning America” in New York.

The trial is “rigged and it’s fixed,” the governor said yesterday on NBC’s “Today” show. “I think what you’ll see is a roll call that will be pre-designed, and we’ll see whether or not I even get one vote.”

“You can conceivably bring in 15 angels and 20 saints led by Mother Teresa to come in to testify to my good character, to my integrity and all the rest,” he went on to say. “It wouldn’t matter.”

“The heart and soul of this has been a struggle of me against the system,” Blagojevich said at a news conference Friday, in which he likened his situation to a cowboy being falsely accused of stealing a horse (he also accused his critics of launching an attack against him in order to raise taxes).

“This is like an old Frank Capra movie,” Blagojevich said on NBC. “Whether it’s Jimmy Stewart or Gary Cooper, I do, I see myself in those movies.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://voices.washingtonpost.com/washingtonpostinvestigations/2009/01/trials_on_two_fronts.html?wprss=washingtonpostinvestigations

He has contrasted himself with martyrs,cowboys, & everyone else under the sun! I agree with Shephard Smith! This guy is on “planet Blago“! Has he taken up permanent residence there or will he eventually come back down to earth? That remains to be seen….

*UPDATE: On Larry King Live, Gov. Blagojevich just said that he was not trying to compare himself to those great men. He said that in his time of need he was using them for “sustenance & inspiration“. Now, those sound like the words of a sane man,unlike his previous outrageous comments! Maybe Gov. Blago has started his descent to earth.

Senator Oprah Winfrey? Hey,I Like It! Too Bad She’s Not Interested!

Gov. Blagojevich claims that he considered Oprah Winfrey for the infamous senate seat. But, Oprah Winfrey says she wouldn’t have taken it because she’s not interested. And if she would have been on the treadmill when she heard his pronouncement,Oprah says she would have fallen off the treadmill. Besides, she’s got enough stuff on her plate, no pun intended. Senator Oprah Winfrey. Hey, I like the ring of that. Maybe one day, Oprah Winfrey will do more than just dabble in politics. She’s already helped so many people already. That’s one promise that she wouldn’t have to make.

Rumer Willis: She Had A Thing For Ashton Kutcher Before Her Mom Hooked Him!

Poor Rumer Willis. It must be really,really hard to have a mother that looks so freakin’ hot. I mean,she has way too much to live up to. Demi Moore is a timeless beauty,albeit she has had plastic surgery to maintain her youthful appearance. Unfortunately, Rumer has Demi Moore’s facial features mixed with Bruce Willis’s face & body shape. She’s still cute,though. As long as you don’t compare her to Demi Moore!

So, I know she was crushed when she found out that her mom & Ashton Kutcher were dating. As it turns out, he was her teenage crush. Normally, your mom doesn’t end up with the guy you fantasize about. But, her mother is Demi Moore so what’d you expect! I’m glad that my mom & I would never go for the same guy. That would freakin’ suck! Here’s more from the Metro:

“Rumer Willis had a teenage crush on Ashton Kutcher before he started dating her mother, Demi Moore.

The actress, 19, said she had pictures of the 30-year-old on her wall at boarding school.

‘I remember my mom saying that her new “friend” Ashton was going to come and hang out with us.

And I said, “Whoa, wait… Ashton Kutcher?” and I kind of freaked out a little bit. I definitely blushed,’ she admitted.

‘But I got over any strangeness because I’d never seen my mom happier. It was like watching two 16-year-olds who were totally in love.’(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.metro.co.uk/fame/article.html?Rumer_Willis_admits_to_crush_on_stepdad_Ashton&in_article_id=500887&in_page_id=7

The Caylee Anthony Doll Will Not Be Sold!

 

What kind of sick society are we freakin’ living in? Jackonville’s Showbiz Promotions had created a doll (pictured above) in Caylee Anthony’s image, supposedly as a tribute to her. As you can imagine, that sparked a lot of outrage which has caused them to suspend production of the doll. Thank goodness! How disgusting that people try to profit off tragedy ! From the folks in the Bahamas who tried to extort $25 million from John Travolta ,to keep his dead son’s pictures out of the tabloids, to these creatures who made that Caylee doll, the parasites seem to feed off of tragedy. How gross! Here’s more from ABC News:

“A Florida manufacturer’s development of a doll resembling slain toddler Caylee Anthony has stirred controversy and added to the state’s growing reputation as an incubator for odd news stories.

The Caylee Sunshine Doll comes clad in a bright T-shirt that bears her name and plays “You Are My Sunshine” when her stomach is pushed. It was developed by Jackonville’s Showbiz Promotions, a company that, according to its Web site, specializes in gifts and items that are in the news.

But it is the company’s decision to create the doll, and not its attempt to pay tribute to the young girl, that is now dominating headlines, so much so that the company has halted production and suspended the doll’s launch.

“After reviewing the response to our media introduction of the Sunshine Caylee Doll and listening to the advice of the general public, we feel that it is best to suspend the launch of the Sunshine Caylee Doll,” Showbiz Promotions President Jaime Salcedo wrote in a statement released today. While we still feel it is important to raise awareness and raise money to help stop this type of crime from being committed, we feel we can be more effective using traditional methods,” wrote Salcedo.

On its Web site, the company said that “holding a Caylee Sunshine Doll can help us remember that all the children taken from this world prematurely are dancing, playing & singing their sunshine song forever!

“This is an example of another person trying to profit from the tragedy of Caylee’s death,” family lawyer Brad Conway told the Sentinel Monday. “[Salcedo] has never met my clients, spoken to my clients and has not gotten the authority of any type to do this.”

Showbiz Promotions had planned to sell the doll for $29.99.”(End of Excerpt) Read the article in it’s entirety here: (http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=6741655&page=1

 

Mickey Rourke Has Made The Best Comeback In History As “The Wrestler”!

 

How could I forget to mention just how great Mickey Rourke was as “The Wrestler“? I really felt like I was getting an in-depth look into the life of a real washed up wrestler.His portrayal of a wrestler is one that should garner him an academy award. . Wow! Here’s more on his magnificent comeback from MSNBC:

“Leo Braudy teaches English and film at the University of Southern California. He said there is an appetite among Americans for stories of redemption like those of Rourke, Downey Jr. and others.

“It’s certainly an old pattern,” he said. “The mythology is there for someone to come along and fill it. ‘Rocky,’ for example, which won best picture. That’s the basic story of a down-and-out boxer who comes back and redeems himself. Even if he doesn’t win, he redeems himself.

It has to do with the puritan DNA of our country. It’s about revealing yourself to the congregation and then being washed clean by the audience essentially.”

And even though the comeback story is quintessentially American, Braudy pointed out that different cultures have different responses. The French, he said, never stopped liking Rourke.

“The French tend to like the primitive in American artists in general,” Braudy said. “They like what they feel is really American. They used to do this with the Brits as well. They don’t like the sophisticated American artist. They like the primitive artist. They like someone who has gone through the mill rather than someone with a more obvious acting style.

“It’s the noble savage, dating back to the 18th century. The primitive and the natural. That’s a pattern that’s American.” (End of Excerpt)Read the rest here: (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28882888/

Mickey Rourke is so pumped by his comeback that he challenged pro wrestler,Chris Jericho, to a wrestling match.In this video, Chris Jericho responds. And on Larry King, Chris Jericho told Mickey Rourke to “be careful what he wished for“. Then, he told Mickey Rourke that he gave an immaculate perfomance as a wrestler.He told him to stick to acting, as if wrestling is not performance art!

After that, Chris Jericho told him that he had no respect for him as a person. I thought this proposed wrestling match between the two was a publicity stunt.Now, I’m not so sure. Chris Jericho seemed to be geniunely angry. Mickey Rourke looked sheepish & said that maybe he had “stuck his foot in his mouth“. Here’s more on the wrestling challenge from Reuters:

“Rourke made the announcement on the red carpet at the Screen Actors Guild awards on Sunday night. The news was reported by celebrity news outlets Access Hollywood and E! News. Rourke even fit in a bash against pro wrestler Chris Jericho, telling a reporter that he “better get in shape.”

Rourke was stuck in the Hollywood wilderness for years because of on-set troubles and run-ins with the law. He gave a salty acceptance speech when he won a best actor award for “The Wrestler” at the Golden Globes on Jan. 11, and it’s clear that being back in the limelight has not taken the edge off Rourke. The question is: how will he fare in the ring? He is, after all, just an actor.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://blogs.reuters.com/fanfare/2009/01/27/wrestler-mickey-rourke-jumps-into-the-ring-for-real/

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John Updike Wrote About The Average American In His Novels!

John Updike is the author whose book inspired one of the wackiest movies I’ve ever seen,”The Witches Of Eastwick“! He was an American literary great whose passing has touched many. He wrote about the people of the small towns across America. Being that he is a man of so many achievements, I will use this excerpt from Wikipedia to describe some of them:

“John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic. Updike’s most famous work is his Rabbit series (Rabbit, Run; Rabbit Redux; Rabbit Is Rich; Rabbit At Rest; and Rabbit Remembered). Both Rabbit is Rich and Rabbit at Rest received the Pulitzer Prize. Describing his subject as “the American small town, Protestant middle class,” Updike was widely recognized for his careful craftsmanship, his highly stylistic writing, and his prolific output, having published more than twenty-five novels and more than a dozen short story collections, as well as poetry, art criticism, literary criticism and children’s books. Hundreds of his stories, reviews, and poems appeared in The New Yorker, starting in 1954. He also wrote regularly for The New York Review of Books. His work attracted a significant amount of critical attention and he was considered one of the most prominent contemporary American novelists.Updike died of lung cancer on January 27, 2009.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Updike

Here’s an excerpt from an article that talks about how his writings represented “middle America” from the Telegraph:

“Updike became famous – and infamous – with his fourth novel, Couples, a sexually-explicit tale of New England suburbia in which jaded thirtysomethings stave off marital boredom by drinking, “frugging”, coupling and uncoupling in an account which captured the mood of souring Sixties optimism. Published in 1968, it was to the ageing trendies of the era what Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye was to its teenagers.

But the world which Updike really made his own was that of the muddled, junk-food-guzzling patriotic small town American male and his failure in marriage and in life. In his two series of novels – the “Bech” and the “Rabbit” books – he created two engagingly flawed heroes, versions of himself which somehow seemed to symbolise the American everyman: Bech, a hairy, self-scrutinising American-Jewish writer, and Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom, a former basketball champion turned second-hand car dealer trapped in a tedious marriage from which he seeks refuge in extra-marital affairs.

Updike’s critics took him to task for what they perceived as his cold-heartedness: “His work seems motivated by covetousness, exhibitionism and a stony heart” wrote John Cheever in a letter published posthumously. Misogyny was a recurrent charge: “There is only one reason for women to exist in Updike’s world,” protested one feminist writer – “to be f—ed, or at least f—able. His inability to create depth in a female character means his women must collude even in abuse.”

There was much in Updike’s writing to justify the charge: “She is liking it, being raped,” he wrote in a voyeuristic passage in Rabbit Redux. “As a raped woman might struggle, to intensify the deed,” runs a passage in Couples. But such criticisms ignored the fact that Updike was reflecting the point of view of male characters of a particular age and class, and in that context they demonstrated psychological insight.

In a short story, Natural Color for example, Updike devastatingly suggests the paradoxical quality of infidelity. The central character’s “own (marriage) was enhanced by his betrayal, his wife and children rendered precious in their vulnerability. Returning to them, damp and panting from his sins, he nearly wept at their sweet ignorance.” In the story, the husband chooses to stay with his wife despite being madly in love with the other woman.

It was the tension between opposed poles in Updike’s best work that gave it its power. The attitudes of a patriot and a hawk in the Rabbit books are undermined by a recognition of the consequences of American consumer excess – when Rabbit leads a Fourth of July parade dressed up like Uncle Sam, his paunch “in itself must weigh as much as an Ethiopian child”. The guilt-ridden anxieties of small town Protestantism (Updike was a churchgoer all his life – first Lutheran, then Congregationalist and finally Episcopalian) make the explicit and highly visual eroticism of his depictions of sex all the more potent. “(End of Excerpt) Go here for the article in it’s entirety:(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/4362638/John-Updike.html

The Support Group “Dating A Banker Anonymous”!

Some girls just want to shop & have fun,but the damned economy is getting in their way! That’s because some chicks were getting their dividends from a Wall Street banker! We know what’s happening on Wall Street. Now,the girlfriends who are pining for their old lavish lifestyles are blogging about it. And they’ve started a support group, Dating a Banker Anonymous, because this is all just too much for them to handle! I mean, gosh! It’s a catastrophic time for them because their rich boyfriends are going broke. Don’t you just feel so sorry for them? Not I! I’m saving my sympathy for those who have lost their jobs & are worrying about how they’ll keep food on the table! But, they can keep feeling sorry for themselves! The N.Y Times has more:

“They shared their sad stories the other night at an informal gathering of Dating a Banker Anonymous, a support group founded in November to help women cope with the inevitable relationship fallout from, say, the collapse of Lehman Brothers or the Dow’s shedding 777 points in a single day, as it did on Sept. 29.

In addition to meeting once or twice weekly for brunch or drinks at a bar or restaurant, the group has a blog, billed as “free from the scrutiny of feminists,” that invites women to join “if your monthly Bergdorf’s allowance has been halved and bottle service has all but disappeared from your life.”

Theirs is not the typical 12-step program.

Step 1: Slip into a dress and heels. Step 2: Sip a cocktail and wait your turn to talk. Step 3: Pour your heart out. Repeat as needed.

About 30 women, generally in their mid- to late-20s, regularly post to the Web site or attend meetings.

“We do make light of everything on the blog and it’s very tongue in cheek,” said Laney Crowell, 27, who parted ways with a corporate real estate investor last month after a tumultuous relationship. “But it all stems out of really serious and heartfelt situations.”

When she introduces other Wall Street widows to the group, Ms. Crowell added, “They call their friends and say, ‘You’re not going to believe what I just read. It’s going to make you feel so much better.’ ”

Once it was seen as a blessing in certain circles to have a wealthy, powerful partner who would leave you alone with the credit card while he was busy brokering deals. Now, many Wall Street wives, girlfriends and, increasingly, exes, are living the curse of cutbacks in nanny hours and reservations at Masa or Megu. And that credit card? Canceled.

Raoul Felder, the Manhattan divorce lawyer, said that cases involving financiers always stack up as the economy starts to slip, because layoffs and shrinking bonuses place stress on relationships — and, he said, because “there aren’t funds or time for mistresses any more.”

(One such mistress wrote on the blog that when she pouted about not having been taken on a trip lately, her married man explained that with money so tight, his wife had taken to checking up on his accounts.)”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/nyregion/28daba.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

Don’t You Just Love How Rush Limbaugh Distorts Reality?

There’s claims out there that the Democrats are thrusting Rush Limbaugh into the spotlight,as reported by The Guardian:

“Last week, Limbaugh said:

If I wanted Obama to succeed, I’d be happy the Republicans have laid down. I don’t want this to work. So I’m thinking of replying to this guy, say ‘okay, I’ll send you a response, but I don’t need 400 words, I need four: ‘I hope he fails’.

Obama brought this on himself by making Limbaugh his debating partner. Last week he told congressional Republicans that they need to quit listening to Limbaugh if they want to get along with him.

Limbaugh clearly leaped at an off-hand remark. The man has hours and hours of airtime to fill each day, and this is a boon for him. Obama was telling the Republicans they need to move beyond the movement-conservative ideology that has shaped their politics since the Reagan years and seek a more pragmatic approach to opposition. But he could have chosen a way to make his point that didn’t elevate Limbaugh’s stature.”(End of Excerpt) Read the entire article here:(http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/deadlineusa/2009/jan/28/obama-white-house-democrats

But, Rush Limbaugh has been a part of the political discourse for almost two decades! Unfortunately,his ideology is shared by countless Americans. So, the ignorance that he spews must be addressed. Words are powerful weapons & he knows how to wield them! Just look how Phil Gingrey has thrown himself onto the mercy of the court. Here’s more on his pitiful apology to Rush Limbaugh from the Huffington Post:

“Following statements made to Politico yesterday telling Rush Limbaugh to “back off,” Republican congressman Phil Gingrey now has his tail between his legs. In a groveling call to Limbaugh’s conservative radio program this afternoon, Gingrey offered a humble apology and described Limbaugh as a “conservative giant” who plays an integral role in maintaining the ever-decreasing Republican base.

Here’s the meat of it, via Think Progress:

Rush, thank you so much. I thank you for the opportunity, of course this is not exactly the way to I wanted to come on. … Mainly, I want to express to you and all your listeners my very sincere regret for those comments I made yesterday to Politico. … I clearly ended up putting my foot in my mouth on some of those comments. … I regret those stupid comments.”(End of Excerpt) Follow this link to read more & see the video:(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/28/phil-gingrey-gop-congress_n_161964.html

I just don’t understand how someone like Rush Limbaugh is receiving such reverence from the Republican party. Like I said, he has made baseless remarks & represents belligerence to the fullest! A pill-popping drug-addict is the lord of the Republican party! Good luck with having him as your decider! Here’s more on why you’re going to need it from fair.org:

“This kind of sloppiness, ignorance and/or fabrication is run of the mill in Limbaugh’s commentary, both broadcast and print. From dioxin to Whitewater, from Rodney King to Reaganomics, Rush Limbaugh has a finely honed ability to twist and distort reality.

Limbaugh’s facts are almost never challenged on his programs. A hostile caller hardly ever gets through the screeners on his radio show, and his TV show is just him doing a monologue in front of his cheering audience. No one in the history of national television has had such a political platform. He has almost never corrected anything he’s said–although he did apologize once to the aerosol industry for implying that spray cans still had CFCs in them. (CFCs were removed in 1978.)

Limbaugh’s chronic inaccuracy, and his lack of accountability, wouldn’t be such a problem if Limbaugh were just a cranky entertainer, like Howard Stern. But Limbaugh is taken seriously by “serious” media–in addition to Nightline, he’s been an “expert” on such chat shows as Charlie Rose and Meet the Press. The New York Times (10/15/92) and Newsweek (1/24/94) have published his writings. A U.S. News & World Report piece (8/16/93) by Steven Roberts declared, “The information Mr. Limbaugh provides is generally accurate.”

He’s also taken seriously as a political figure. A National Review cover story (9/6/93) declared him the “Leader of the Opposition.” Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who recently officiated at Limbaugh’s wedding, says he tapes Limbaugh’s radio show and listens to it as he works out (USA Today, 5/13/94).

FAIR is publishing a compilation of some of Limbaugh’s more obvious whoppers in order to convince journalists and political leaders alike that when Limbaugh says, “I’m not making this up, folks,” it’s time to duck and cover.

Journalists, in particular, have an obligation to challenge Limbaugh’s brand of hysteria. Someone who has amassed a powerful political following through the regular use of half-truth and distortion is begging for tough media scrutiny. In 1954, Edward R. Murrow confronted another demagogue who had a similar allergy to facts and documentation. Today’s TV networks don’t ask themselves how they can challenge Limbaugh’s reign of error–but how they can profit from him. CBS News, the platform from which Murrow denounced Joe McCarthy, has been seeking to hire Limbaugh as a political commentator.

Real democracy is built on debate. But Limbaugh has little use for debates; he has forged a media empire largely on unchallenged monologues. The following confrontation–Limbaugh vs. Reality–is an attempt at stimulating (or at least simulating) a debate.

The list of fallacies compiled here is not exhaustive. It was assembled from easily available sources–Limbaugh’s books, The Way Things Ought to Be and See, I Told You So; transcripts of several weeks’ worth of his TV show; gleanings from as much of his radio show as we could take; and other published evaluations of Limbaugh’s accuracy. (There’s a publication, the Flush Rush Quarterly (FRQ), largely devoted to chronicling Limbaugh’s falsehoods, and a book, The Bum’s Rush, by Don Trent Jacobs, that debunks his environmental rhetoric.) As Josh Shenk showed in the New Republic (“Limbaugh’s Lies”, 5/23/94), scrutinizing the TV show for a month results in errors too numerous to count.

“There’s a pathology here, folks,” is a phrase Limbaugh likes to use when discussing President Clinton’s alleged inability to tell the truth. A psychiatrist might agree–and label it projection. “(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1895

Is this the guy who represents conservative values? Really?! Rush Limbaugh,the blithering village idiot, is the voice of the GOP?! Wow, you guys are in big trouble because you’re regressing not progressing! Get behind Sarah Palin again! She was much smarter than him. And a hell of a lot better to look at!  That’s not a distortion of reality. It’s the damn truth!

The Video That Brought Over 34 Million Hits To John Legend’s Website!

This video is so cool because it shows just how hip Barack Obama is! I mean, he knows the words to a Beyonce song.And he’s even got some of the moves down.Don’t you just love someone who is as down-to-earth as our new president? Let’s just hope he stays that way.Being the most powerful leader in the world tends to make one rough around the edges,I’m sure. But for now, Barack Obama is one jovial,accessible president!

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It Looks Like The Chicks That Belong To “Dating A Banker Anonymous” Hooked Up With The Wrong Banker!

I visited that blog that I discussed in my last post & saw a posting about dating broke bankers. Well, honey, it looks like you were right! You just hooked up with the wrong “financial nerd”. With all the havoc that went down on Wall Street, some bankers earned millions last year,according to The NY Times:

“While the payouts paled next to the riches of recent years, Wall Street workers still took home about as much as they did in 2004, when the Dow Jones industrial average was flying above 10,000, on its way to a record high.

Some bankers took home millions last year even as their employers lost billions.

The comptroller’s estimate, a closely watched guidepost of the annual December-January bonus season, is based largely on personal income tax collections. It excludes stock option awards that could push the figures even higher.

The state comptroller, Thomas P. DiNapoli, said it was unclear if banks had used taxpayer money for the bonuses, a possibility that strikes corporate governance experts, and indeed many ordinary Americans, as outrageous. He urged the Obama administration to examine the issue closely.

“The issue of transparency is a significant one, and there needs to be an accounting about whether there was any taxpayer money used to pay bonuses or to pay for corporate jets or dividends or anything else,” Mr. DiNapoli said in an interview.

Granted, New York’s bankers and brokers are far poorer than they were in 2006, when record deals, and the record profits they generated, ushered in an era of Wall Street hyperwealth. All told, bonuses fell 44 percent last year, from $32.9 billion in 2007, the largest decline in dollar terms on record.

But the size of that downturn partly reflected the lofty heights to which bonuses had soared during the bull market. At many banks, those payouts were based on profits that turned out to be ephemeral. Throughout the financial industry, years of earnings have vanished in the flames of the credit crisis. “(End of Excerpt) Read the entire article here:(http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/29/business/29bonus.html?_r=1&hp

Dick Armey: You Came Off As A Total Dick With The Sexist Venom You Spewed At Joan Walsh!

Did you catch Hardball on MSNBC today?If not, I’ve posted one segment that really caught my attention.The guest commentators were Joan Walsh of Salon.com & (R-TX) Fmr. House Majority Leader, Dick Armey. Well, I guess the subject matter,Rush Limbaugh ruling the GOP, really got Mr. Armey extremely heated! Because he told Ms. Walsh that he was glad that she wasn’t “his wife“! After he carried his tirade even further, Joan Walsh said “That was an outstanding comment“!

And what age are we living in again?!!

This is what is wrong with the Republican brand. Guys like him, Sean Hannity, & Rush Limbaugh are speaking for the party. With views this jaded, is it wonder they lost the election so miserably? It was more than the economy.The disdain shown towards women & minorities is palpable.That’s one reason why Obama & Joe Biden won.People really do want change & inclusion.His exclusionary remarks towards Joan Walsh are ,sadly,what one has come to expect from most Republicans.They would benefit greatly as a party if they really were inclusive instead of just feigning inclusion during election cycles!

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Gov. Blagojevich Speaks At His Impeachmeant Trial & It Didn’t Help! He’s No Longer The Governor Of Illinois!

Gov. Blagojevich gave us a colorful closing argument today at  his impeachment trial. He  recited his personal history again today & seemed to be contrite. But, the big news was that he tried to drag Rahm Emmanuel,Ted Kennedy & John McCain into it. He said that if people feel that he should be thrown out of office,then John McCain & Rahm Emmanuel should be considered his co-conspirators. And Blagojevich said that Rahm Emmanuel should be fired as well. Because they are all guilty of the same thing. Basically what he’s saying is that all politicians play dirty & double deal. They’re all guilty of wrongdoing. Blagojevich has tried to make this whole incident about the process instead of his actions. They’re “setting a dangerous precedent” if he is removed from the governor’s office. Wow! I wonder if Rahm Emmanuel will respond to Blagojevich’s call for him to be fired.

But, it was wrong to drag Senator Ted Kennedy into this. He’s sick,man. Let him recover & try to save your own ass in a different way. I don’t think this speech he gave will change the outcome, which is that he will be replaced by Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn. It was very entertaining,even though he never answered the charges. Here’s some of the accusations from the AP:

“Blagojevich, 52, doesn’t deny making the comments alleged by federal prosecutors. But he says they were taken out of context and don’t amount to anything illegal.

In the recordings, which were played during Tuesday’s session, one person, identified as Blagojevich’s brother and campaign chairman Robert Blagojevich, assures the governor that a horse racing track owner “is good for it” and just has to decide “what accounts to get it out of.”

Another person, lobbyist and former Blagojevich chief of staff Lon Monk, assures him the track owner knows he must keep his “commitment” soon. Blagojevich replies with comments like “good” and “good job.”

The allegation at the center of the tapes is that Blagojevich improperly pressured John Johnston, owner of two Chicago-area harness-racing tracks, to donate money by the end of 2008, when a new ethics law would take effect and restrict donations. Prosecutors say Blagojevich threatened not to sign legislation giving tracks a portion of casino-generated revenue unless he got the donation.

It’s not clear whether Johnston ever made a donation; federal prosecutors have seized Blagojevich’s campaign records. Johnston has not been charged with any illegal activity, and his attorney denies Johnston ever requested any quid pro quo.

None of the people on the calls specifically mention money. Monk and Robert Blagojevich have not been charged with any crime.

The governor was arrested last month on a variety of corruption charges, including scheming to benefit from appointing President Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate replacement and demanding campaign contributions in exchange for state services.

Lawmakers, who could vote within days on whether to remove Blagojevich, heard only a few minutes of FBI tapes. But an FBI agent vouched for the accuracy of many other Blagojevich quotes that were included the federal criminal complaint.

If the Senate convicts him, Blagojevich will be removed from office and replaced by Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn, a fellow Democrat.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:  http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ga4r6Ic7fPOykfh6cdeLeKYKO6vwD960AUJ81

And that’s all, folks! Mr. Blagojevich’s self-aggrandizations didn’t help anything but his ego. He is no longer the governor. Finally.

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act Was Signed Into Law By President Obama!

I still have a bad taste in my mouth from the posting that I did about Dick Armey’s outrageously sexist remarks towards Joan Walsh.So, the news that President Obama has signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law is helping to wash it away! This bill makes it easier for anyone to sue who is being discriminated against. Here’s more about the bill from the AP:

“Ledbetter became a regular feature in Obama’s campaign for the White House, addressing the Democratic National Convention in Denver last year and traveling to Washington aboard Obama’s train for the inauguration ceremonies. Obama spoke strongly in support of legislation to change the Supreme Court decision during his campaign and the Democratic-controlled Congress moved it to the top of the agenda for the new session that opened this month.

The high court said a person must file a claim of discrimination within 180 days of a company’s initial decision to pay a worker less than it pays another worker doing the same job. Under the new bill, given final passage in Congress this week, every new discriminatory paycheck would extend the statute of limitations for another 180 days.

Congress attempted to update the law to extend the time, but the Bush White House and Senate Republicans blocked the legislation in the last session of Congress.

Obama cited Census Bureau figures that women still receive only about 78 cents for every dollar that men get for doing equivalent jobs — “women of color even less,” he said.

The measure, which amends the 1964 Civil Rights Act, also applies to discrimination based on factors such as race, religion, national origin, disability or age.”(End of Excerpt) Read the entire article here: (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5isOFwdbq0tsqatW6vJpkDRTI1gMgD960TTL87

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Scientists May Have Saved Millions Of People From Going Hungry Worldwide!

 

 I happen to love rice. So, I’m happy we live in a country where you can go to the corner store & buy a sack of rice! And I’m especially glad that U.C. Davis professor,Pamela Ronald, & her colleagues have discovered a way to make rice flood-resistant. Rice is a part of the majority of the world’s diet which makes this an important discovery. Here’s more from CNN:

“If every scientist hopes to make at least one important discovery in her career, then University of California-Davis professor Pamela Ronald and her colleagues may have hit the jackpot.If every scientist hopes to make at least one important discovery in her career, then University of California-Davis professor Pamela Ronald and her colleagues may have hit the jackpot.

Normal rice dies after three days of complete flooding. Researchers know of at least one rice variety that can tolerate flooding for longer periods, but conventional breeding failed to create a strain that was acceptable to farmers.

So Ronald and her colleagues — David Mackill, senior scientist at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines and Julia Bailey-Serres, professor of genetics at the University of California-Riverside — spent the last decade working to find a rice strain that could survive flooding for longer periods.

Mackill identified a flood-resistant gene 13 years ago in a low-yielding traditional Indian rice variety. He passed along the information to Ronald, who isolated the gene, called Sub1, and introduced it into normal rice varieties, generating rice that could withstand being submerged in water for 17 days.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/01/29/waterproof.rice/index.html

Michael Steele Is The First Black RNC Chairman!

Michael Steele was talking about a 50 state strategy when he gave his acceptance speech. That’s great & all. But, what about the issue of diversity in the RNC? There really isn’t any. Republicans need to take a cue from the Democrats. What a sight it would be if you had folks from every race making up both parties! Because the DNC looks like America while the RNC looks like an all-white country club. But, at least it’s a step towards inclusion. I think Michael Steele was chosen because Barack Obama is the president of the United States. Will the RNC make an effort now to include folks of every racial background? I wonder if Michael Steele will make a difference & transform that party! Congratulations, Michael Steele! You have made history! Here’s 10 things you didn’t about Michael Steele from U.S. News:

“1. Michael Steele, who was adopted as an infant, was born at Andrews Air Force Base in Prince George’s County, Md., on Oct. 19, 1958.

2. He grew up in a family of Democrats. Steele credits his mother, Maebell, and Ronald Reagan with turning him toward the Republican Party. Reagan’s pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps message recalled a trait Steele’s mother exhibited after her first husband, Steele’s father, died in 1962 of alcoholism-related liver disease. She refused to go on welfare. Instead, she went to work as a laundress earning minimum wage to support Michael and his sister.

3. One of the first in his family to go to college, he earned a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Johns Hopkins University and a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center. Steele also spent a few years at the Augustinian Friars Seminary at Villanova University, in preparation for the priesthood, before deciding instead on a career in civil service.

4. After graduating from law school in 1991, Steele joined Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, an international law firm, based in Washington, D.C. In 1997, he left and worked briefly at the Mills Corp., a real estate development firm based in Virginia, as in-house counsel. He then went out on his own, starting a consulting firm, the Steele Group.

5. Steele rose quickly in the Republican Party, beginning at the local level in Prince George’s County as chair of the Prince George’s County Republican Central Committee from 1994 to 2000. Then, he was elected chairman of the Maryland Republican Party in December 2000.

6. Steele became the first African-American elected to statewide office in Maryland, taking office as lieutenant governor in January 2003.

7. In 2004, Steele was tapped to speak at the Republican National Convention, eliciting comparisons with Barack Obama’s keynote address at the Democratic convention.

8. When Sen. Paul Sarbanes, a Democrat, announced he would not seek re-election, several prominent Republicans, including President Bush, persuaded Steele to run for the Senate seat. In November 2006, Steele lost the election to Democrat Ben Cardin.

9. On Feb. 1, 2007, Steele was named the chairman of GOPAC, a political action committee working to elect Republicans to office (Newt Gingrich once held the same position).

10. A devout Catholic, Steele is a member of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Landover Hills, Md. He regularly attends services with his wife, Andrea, and their sons, Michael and Drew.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/campaign-2008/2008/04/07/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-michael-steele.html

The Octuplet Controversy!

I guess 6 kids just wasn’t enough for the mom who filed for bankruptcy & abandoned her home 18 months ago! Instead of figuring out the best way to take care of her existing kids,this lady made the decision to have even more babies.And it wasn’t accidental,either.Although she filed for bankruptcy, she must have paid to have those embryos implanted.Now,she’s had octupulets,which means she’s got 14 kids to raise. Why would someone claiming to be so broke that they have to file for bankruptcy have 8 more kids? Did I mention she lives at home with her parents? What in the world was she thinking? Here’s more on this from NBC Bay Area:

“Suleman said her daughter had embryos implanted last year, and after finding out she was pregnant with multiple babies was given the option by doctors of selectively reducing the number of embryos. The woman declined.

“What do you suggest she should have done? She refused to have them killed,” Suleman told the Times. “That is a very painful thing.”

Dr. Harold Henry said the woman was already pregnant when she came to Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center, and she was counseled about the risks of her pregnancy and on the option of aborting some of the fetuses. Doctors had been expecting only seven babies, but an eighth was born in the cesarean delivery.

Dr. Mandhir Gupta said seven of the babies were breathing without assistance. One was still receiving oxygen through a tube in his nose.

Seven of the infants were being tube-fed donated breast milk. One of the boys was expected to begin feedings Friday.

All babies continued to receive an intravenous nutritional combination. They were expected to remain in the hospital for several more weeks.

Some fertility specialists have said the children face increased health risks because they are octuplets and born nine weeks premature. At birth, they ranged between 1 pound, 8 ounces (0.45 kilograms) and 3 pounds, 4 ounces (1.36 kilograms).

Doctors say they advise against higher-order births, but acknowledge the decision is not theirs to make.

“Who am I to say that six is the limit?” said Dr. Jeffrey Steinberg, medical director of Fertility Institutes, which has clinics in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York City. “There are people who like to have big families.”

Dr. James Grifo, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the NYU School of Medicine, added: “I don’t think it’s our job to tell them how many babies they’re allowed to have. I am not a policeman for reproduction in the United States. My role is to educate patients.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Mom-of-Octuplets-Lives-with-Parents-Has-6-Other-Kids.html

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Iraq Might Finally Become A Democracy!

 

 George Bush said that he wanted democracy in Iraq.That would be wonderful if that were the case since so many soldiers have died fighting for that very reason. So,is democracy finally starting to take hold in Iraq? That is what some are wondering after millions of Iraqis showed up to vote in the first election since 2005. Here’s more from the Telegraph:

“Prime minister Nouri al-Maliki hailed what he said looked like an enthusiastic turnout and called for Iraqis to cast their votes.

Hopes are high that the election will show extremists have been losing ground and that democracy is starting to take root.

It is hoped that Saturday’s vote will be starkly different to 2005 when Sunnis largely boycotted the first election held since the fall of Saddam Hussein and extremist Shia parties did well.

Although today’s election is for power at a local level in 14 of Iraq’s 18 provinces, it is also expected to be a referendum on Mr al-Maliki’s leadership with candidates supporting him expected to do well.

The prime minister said: “I am very happy today because all our information shows that we are going to see a large participation in the vote by Iraqis.

“This is a victory for all the Iraqis. I call on all my Iraqi brothers and sisters to vote.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here: (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/4409408/Nouri-al-Maliki-hails-turnout-as-Iraqis-vote-in-their-millions.html

 

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I Feel So Sorry For The Australians That Are Getting Hit With That Heatwave!

Wow, some Australians have remarked that this heatwave is one of the worst heatwaves in 100 years! Unfortunately, some people are believed to have suffered heat-related deaths. I have so much empathy for those Australians that are getting hit with that heatwave. Here’s more from Reuters:

“A heatwave blamed for raging bushfires and a spate of deaths eased a little in Australia’s densely populated southeast on Saturday, but a ban on lighting fires in the open remained in force.

Temperatures slipped below 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in most major centres for the first time in several days, but parts of Melbourne and Adelaide still recorded temperatures above that mark.

Authorities fear several elderly people may have died due to the heatwave, after 22 “sudden deaths” in Adelaide on Friday.

Sudden deaths are those caused by medical conditions such as heart attacks and strokes, said an ambulance official, adding autopsies would determine whether the deaths were heat-related.

In Melbourne, power was largely restored after blackouts left hundreds of thousands of homes in the dark on Friday, but a major bushfire was still burning in the east of Victoria state.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSSP416848

Michael Phelps:”He Was The Gold Medal Winner Of Bong Hits”!

 

 Damn,how much weed did it take to fill that big ass bong up? I wish I could have been there to find out. It’s jacked up for Michael Phelps that the folks who were there obviously didn’t let him have his privacy. They took  a photo of him smoking pot & blabbed to the media every single detail of what he did at the party where this picture was taken. If you’re an Olympic Gold medalist, it’s probably not wise to indulge in any activities that you don’t want anyone to know about. Because when you’re rich & famous, your friends are your enemies & your enemies are your friends. Here’s more from News of The World:

“THIS is the astonishing picture which could destroy the career of the greatest competitor in Olympic history.

 

In our exclusive photo Michael Phelps, who won a record EIGHT gold medals for swimming at the Beijing games last summer, draws from a bong.

READ: I’M SORRY, SAYS MICHAEL PHELPS

The glass pipes are generally used to smoke cannabis.

 And after sporting chiefs announced laws which mean four-year bans for drug-taking, Phelps’ dreams of adding to his overall 14 gold medal tally at the 2012 games in London could already be OVER.

Those dreams seemed the last thing on his mind when he puffed from the bong during two days of partying with students last November, a quiet time in the swimming calendar when athletes would not expect to get tested for drugs.

 One party-goer who witnessed the star’s behaviour told the News of the World: “He was out of control from the moment he got there.

 “If he continues to party like that I’d be amazed if he ever won any more medals again.”

 Phelps’ aides went into a panic over our story and offered us a raft of extraordinary incentives not to run the bong picture.

 It was on November 6, weeks after his Beijing triumph, that 23-year-old Phelps surprised students at the University Of South Carolina in Columbia by showing up unannounced at a house party.

 He was visiting Jordan Matthews, a girl he was secretly seeing who was a student there.

 Our source revealed: “Michael came to visit Jordan but ended up just getting wasted every night.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here: http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/150832/14-times-Olympic-gold-medal-winner-Michael-Phelps-caught-with-bong-cannabis-pipe.html

Santonio Holmes & The Philadelphia Steelers: The Team Has Won The Most SuperBowls Ever! And Holmes Is The Game’s MVP!

Coach Mike Tomlin has helped the Philadelphia Steelers win the most Superbowls ever. He says that he’s just happy to “contribute to that trophy case”! Wow, Philadelphia Steelers,you sure do make most of America proud. Except,of course,the fans of the Arizona Cardinals.

 But, I know that everyone was a fan of both Bruce Springsteen & Jennifer Hudson’s performances! Although she has suffered a tremendous tragedy, Jennifer Hudson really sang the hell out of the National Anthem. Then, Bruce Springsteen rocked the SuperBowl with his great American sound during half-time. Yes, the SuperBowl is one of the best American past-times. It’s an excuse to eat bad food, be unruly, & have the best celebratory sex ever if your team wins. In my house, we were rooting for the Philadelphia Steelers. So, you know we’re going to party well into the night!

Here’s more on the game from The AP:

“Their Steel Curtain shredded, Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh offense ended a Super Bowl of incredible swings with a final-minute touchdown for a historic victory.

Santonio Holmes made a brilliant 6-yard catch deep in the right corner of the end zone with 35 seconds remaining Sunday, lifting the Steelers to a record-setting sixth Super Bowl win, 27-23 over the Arizona Cardinals.

It was one of the most thrilling finishes to the NFL title game, certainly equaling last year’s upset by the New York Giants that ended with Plaxico Burress’ TD catch — with 35 seconds left, too.

But this one was even wilder.

The Steelers (15-4), winning their second Super Bowl in four seasons, led 20-7 in the fourth quarter, only to see Kurt Warner and the Cardinals stage a remarkable rally to go in front 23-20 with 2:37 remaining.

Warner hit All-Pro receiver Larry Fitzgerald in stride for a 64-yard touchdown with 2:37 left. Already owning a slew of postseason receiving marks this year, Fitzgerald sped down the middle of the field, watching himself outrun the Steelers on the huge video screen.

Fitzgerald could only watch from the sideline as Roethlisberger engineered a 78-yard drive to win it in what resembled Heinz Field South. With waves of twirling Terrible Towels turning Raymond James Stadium into a black-and-gold tableau — Steelers fans supporting their beloved team, the economy be damned — Pittsburgh’s offense rescued the title.

Holmes was selected the game’s MVP. “(End of Article) Taken from:(http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gMQe6GWmgDs_32FQ8QdkC6bYLfDAD9636E4O0

And here’s more on MVP Santonio Holmes from The Seattle Times:

“These are small, low-economic towns, but the athletic program gives them something positive they can brag about, gives them some notoriety,” said Eddie Rhodes, a Belle Glade native who retired in 2005 after more than 30 years as an administrator and coach at Pahokee Middle-Senior High School. “You look at guys like Rickey Jackson, Fred Taylor, Anquan, Santonio. If it weren’t for those guys, you would have never heard of Belle Glade or Pahokee. Or you would only hear negative things.”

Holmes knows all about those negative things.

Holmes knows about poverty. He was raised in Belle Glade by a single mother in a public-housing project. Patricia Brown was 16 when Holmes was born, and she worked in the cornfields throughout his childhood.

He also knows about the drugs. He said Tuesday that he spent about a year dealing drugs when he was in elementary school because that was what his friends and older relatives did. He used whatever money he made to buy shoes and snacks, but he said he quit when a friend was arrested and sent to jail.

“I’m not proud of it, but it definitely showed me that there’s a different way to go about living your life, and that’s not selling drugs,” Holmes said.

Though Brown said she always viewed her son as being too small to play football — even now she thinks he’s not big enough (189 pounds), she said — there was never denying Holmes’ speed.

He developed it by chasing rabbits in the sugar-cane fields with other boys, and he refined it by running track in high school. He was the anchor leg on three state-champion 1,600-meter relay teams. And of course, he excelled at football, where he was a receiver on three state-championship teams.

Holmes was one of at least nine players from his senior class to earn a college scholarship and is one of two in the NFL. The other is Ray McDonald, a defensive end with the 49ers.

“Those were the great years,” said Curtis Holley, the quarterback on Holmes’ high-school team. “That generation put Glades Central on the map.”

McDonald’s grandfather, Willie, has taught and coached football and track in Belle Glade since before schools there were integrated. He’s the town’s unofficial athletic historian, and he recently commissioned a mural to be painted at the entrance to the school’s football stadium that lists every Glades Central graduate who has reached the NFL. There are 31 names on that wall, including the four current players: Holmes, McDonald, Jacksonville running back Taylor and Cleveland defensive tackle Santonio Thomas.

Yet Holmes will be the first to play in a Super Bowl.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/seahawks/2008691216_super31.html

FBI Agents Found 27 Stolen NY Giants Super Bowl Rings!

 

 And I bet these crooks really thought that they had pulled off the perfect heist back in June! FBI agents have found 27 New York Giants Super Bowl rings that were worth $172,000. I hope it was worth it for the three people that got arrested. Here’s more from The Boston Herald:

“State police and FBI agents found 27 New York Giants Super Bowl rings in a Saugus safety deposit box yesterday that had been ripped off during a bold June heist.

Three people have been charged with receiving stolen property connected to that theft of the rings – intended for the Giants support staff – from Attleboro jeweler E.A. Dion, where crooks cut a hole in the roof and finagled a 1,000-plus-pound safe filled with $2 million in valuables out of the building.

The 27 rings recovered yesterday were estimated at $172,000, about $6,400 per ring.

Police said the break in the case came Friday, when state police served warrants and rounded up three people: Sean Murphy, 44, and Kristen Sullivan, 22, both of Lynn, and Rikkile Brown, 21, of Peabody. Several stolen items were recovered from Murphy’s home, including an unfinished New York Giants Super Bowl ring.

The three were charged with receiving stolen property over $250. Sullivan and Brown were released on bail while Murphy was held because of a pending case of domestic assault and distribution of marijuana charge.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here: http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2009_01_28_3_nabbed_in__172G_Super_Bowl_ring_heist/srvc=home&position=4

This Tom Daschle Campaign Ad Just Underscores How Hypocritical He Is For Not Paying His Taxes!

The video after this post contains an old campaign ad that Tom Daschle ran that talks about his frugality. One line in particular really sums up why he didn’t pay his taxes like he should have! “A penny saved is a penny earned“! But in his case, it was thousands of dollars that he was trying to save, not pennies. It’s particularly disgusting for him to have evaded paying his taxes when he has called out tax cheats in the past. And this ad just underscores how hypocritical he is for not having paid his own taxes. He’s purporting to have driven this old Pontiac for 15 years because he’s not a big spender like the rest of the politicians in Washington. Well, Mr. Frugal, I guess you’re so cheap that you didn’t want to pay income taxes on the free chauffeured limousine that you used.

But really,it’s outrageous that three of Obama’s nominees have evaded paying taxes! Here’s more on that from The Washington Independent:

“President Obama’s team of advisers, initially touted for its wealth of experience and qualifications, continues to unravel as Nancy Killefer withdraws her nomination for chief performance officer, CNN reports. In this newly created position, Killefer would have worked with the Office of Management and Budget to increase “efficiency, transparency and accountability” in government.

This tax-evasion revelation comes on the heels of similar scandals that have embroiled Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and health czar-designee Tom Daschle. While Killefer’s post is not as high-profile as Geithner’s or Daschle’s, its central focus is fiscal responsibility. A lack of such discipline in Killefer’s personal life would reflect poorly on her integrity for the job.

If her case were an isolated one, she might be able to push through with an apology, as Geithner has and Daschle likely will. But now that a pattern has formed, she appears to be the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.

She is the second Obama nominee to withdraw her name. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson gave up his commerce secretary nomination amidst a federal investigation into his dealings with a California financial company contracting with the state government.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:(http://washingtonindependent.com/28683/another-tax-evasion-another-obama-administration-casualty

This is not change that I can believe in. Everybody makes mistakes & I’m glad President Obama takes responsibility for the Tom Dashcle pick. But, four different nominees have personal financial issues. Why is it that they felt like paying taxes didn’t apply to them? Because a lot of rich folks feel like they’re akin to royalty here in America. Especially politicians & celebrities. I mean,why should they have to pay taxes like the serfs? Here’s an excerpt from an article on this very subject from The Progress Report:

“The personal income tax is a bad thing, but as long as it continues it should at least be applied fairly. Currently it is not.

Here is a news update from Taxpayers for Common Sense. TCS is the best organization that monitors excessive government spending, corruption and corporate welfare. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently released tax statistics from the past year revealing that the number of wealthy individuals and large corporations audited in the 2004 fiscal year increased sharply, though it still trails highs from the mid 1990′s.

The new numbers underscore that the IRS pit bulls have been a wealthy tax scofflaw’s best friend for too long. Audits were at an all time low, allowing taxpayers to cheat the federal government out of tens of billions annually. With low-income taxpayers facing more audits than high-income taxpayers, the agency has become our nation’s pet Chihuahua: a lot of bark, but no bite.

However, the IRS’s new data suggests that they may be turning the corner. Audits for taxpayers earning $100,000 or more rose 40 percent over the previous year. More than 195,200 individuals were audited by the agency in fiscal year 2004, up from nearly 139,400 in fiscal year 2003.

While this represents a 75 percent increase over the last two years, it falls significantly short of the 210,000 high-income individuals audited in 1996. The IRS data also showed an increase in the number of large corporations audited. More than 4,400 companies with assets of at least $250 million were audited, an increase of 32.5 percent over the 2003 fiscal year, when just over 3,300 companies were audited.

The audit rate for the largest companies was 40 percent last fiscal year, compared with 30 percent in fiscal 2003. Corporate audits have declined sharply for nearly a decade. The audit rate for large companies peaked most recently at 49.6 percent.

Audits are vital because tax evasion schemes continue to multiply like rabbits, through seminars held by present day snake-oil salesman and even at some of America’s leading law firms, investment banks and accounting firms. These slick promoters trick people into believing that they don’t have to pay taxes because of some bogus exemption, deduction or credit. The hucksters get rich and the suckers go to jail.

Currently, only about 1.5 percent of personal returns from America’s wealthiest taxpayers get reviewed, and this number is unlikely to go up. The IRS is requesting increased funding so they can be more effective by targeting specific abuses. However, thanks to Congress, the IRS disproportionately continues to target the tax returns of the working poor. Wage-earning taxpayers are held to the rules while the IRS and Congress pass over those with the greatest means to disguise their income. The purpose of audits is to recover the greatest amount of unpaid taxes; the IRS should be targeting the very taxpayers they are ignoring.

Working Americans have very few ways to hide their income from the IRS. The Bill Gates and Warren Buffetts have a panoply of options such as using off-shore accounts and hiding their earnings by creating paper companies or business partnerships. Lost taxes on partnerships are estimated at $9-$64 billion.

Congress is as much to blame as the IRS for these problems. Part of the difficulty in determining the accuracy of partnership returns is the complexity of the tax code. Moreover, in recent years, Congress has decimated funding, and consequently the auditing staff, for the IRS. Congress should work with the IRS to increase equity and fairness of the auditing process and give the IRS the resources the agency needs to target even more wealthy tax scofflaws.”(End of Article which was taken from: http://www.progress.org/2004/tcs173.htm)

The wealthy are doing their very best to evade taxes in other countries as well. Let’s use Germany as an example. Time reports:

“On Monday, more than three dozen prosecuting attorneys and several hundred police swarmed out to search offices and private homes of other suspected tax evaders in Frankfurt, Munich, Stuttgart, Ulm and Hamburg. And prosecutors said their work was just beginning.

For the coalition government led by center-right Chancellor Angela Merkel, the scandal could hardly have come at a worse time. Germany is already engaged in a deepening ideological battle over the bloated salaries of its top corporate executives. Socialists are calling for a statutory minimum wage, a move most conservatives oppose, as well as for a law to limit executive salaries. Many voters are angry that ordinary workers have to carry the burden of Germany’s economic reforms while executives give themselves huge pay increases, and they have been flocking to an opposition party called the Left, an amalgam of the former East Germany’s ruling communist party and West German leftists. Though long established in the East, the Left managed in January to enter state legislatures in the large western states of Hesse and Lower Saxony.

No one expects a communist uprising, of course: The Left is still a negligible presence in most of Germany. But as the police swarmed out on Monday, it was becoming clear that society’s wrath would be swifter and harsher than usual for Germans deemed greedy enough to shirk taxes. Even Merkel, generally reluctant to rush to judgment, seemed stunned by the breadth of the scandal. “I think a lot of people in Germany feel the way I do: that this goes well beyond what I ever imagined could be possible,” Merkel told reporters.

The tone was even harsher from Merkel’s aides and leaders of the other political parties, many of whom called for stiff jail sentences for those convicted of tax evasion. “It would be unbearable if, in the end, deals were made instead of putting people on trial,” said Kurt Beck, chairman of the Social Democrats, junior partner in the federal government coalition.

Merkel’s political challenge now is to prevent the widespread anger over the tax evasion scandal from becoming a broader political crisis. In Germany, it’s not necessarily enough to just throw a few corporate executives in jail and be done with it. A poll conducted earlier this month by Infratest Dimap found that 69% of Germans feel wealth in the country is unjustly distributed. And that sense could have political ramifications: polls show declining support for Germany’s social market economic system. The Left has surpassed the Greens and the Free Democrats to become, with the allegiance of 11% of the electorate, the country’s third largest political party.”(End of Excerpt) Read the entire article here:(http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1714241,00.html?iid=sphere-inline-bottom

 

 

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Even Though Christian Bale Is British,He Sure Sounds Like An “American Psycho”!

Oh,my goodness! Most of the British folk that I’ve met pride themselves on their manners & perfect etiquette. Americans are the ones who are uncouth & unruly,not the Brits. Well, once you’ve heard Christian Bale erupt like a volcano on a movie set,you will see why they picked a British actor to portray an “American Psycho“! Here’s more from The Chicago Tribune:

“Batman actor, Christian Bale is the focus of a newly surfaced audio in which he engages in a long, profanity-laced verbal freak out to cinematographer Shane Hurlbut. Bale also lashed at anyone who tried to calm him down on the set of ” Terminator Salvation,” the upcoming movie in which he is starring.

The Web site TMZ.com first posted the three-minute freak out on Monday and has become a viral sensation on the Internet. Bale’s rant has even spawned a dance music remix of the audio tape.

In it, the actor who portrayed in “The Dark Knight” rails against cinematographer Hurlbut for apparently walking behind co-star Bryce Dallas Howard and through Bale’s line of sight, considered a film-set foul.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

And I bet you thought making movies was fun! This sounds like workplace terror instead of just workplace drama! What the hell crawled up Christian Bale’s ass? I have to commend the cinematographer that was getting totally debased by Bale for not slapping the shit out of him! Maybe he was terrified of losing his job. Or just terrified period! This kind of behavior is completely unacceptable in any workplace. How far removed from human emotion is Christian Bale?

 

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Another Famous Brit Makes A Racist Remark!This Time It’s Margaret Thatcher’s Daughter!

Former U.K. Prime Minister’s daughter, Carol Thatcher, has called  a black sports player a “golliwog” which is a racist term commonly used in Britian. Here’s more on why this word is so offensive from Wikipedia:

“The “Golliwogg” (later “Golliwog“) is a character of children’s literature created by Florence Kate Upton in the late 19th century, inspired by a blackface minstrel doll which Upton had as a child in America. The character, depicted in the books as a type of rag doll, was reproduced, both by commercial and hobby toy-makers as a children’s toy. The toy was known as a “golliwog”, and had great popularity in North America, Britain, Europe and Australasia, into the 1960s. While home-made golliwogs were sometimes female, the golliwog was generally male. For this reason, in the period following World War II, the golliwog was seen, along with the teddy bear, as a suitable soft toy for a young boy.

The toy golliwog has become a collector’s item. However, the image of the doll has become the subject of heated debate. One aspect of the debate in its favor argues that it should be preserved and passed on as a cherished cultural artifact and childhood tradition, while opponents argue it should be retired as a relic of an earlier time when racism against black people was blatant.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

Carol Thatcher was a contributor to a  BBC program,but she was dropped from the show because of this incident. But, it has caused a backlash against the BBC. People feel that they are being too politcally correct. Really? I think that the golliwog doll is a part of racist memorabilia that should be a relic of the past. And anyone with good sense knows that this is offensive to folks who belong to the African diaspora.

But, as you can see from the picture above, golliwogs are still being sold today all over Europe! And some folks across the pond still want to claim that racism is an American problem! This type of stuff proves that we are not the only country dealing with racial issues. Here’s more on what happened from the Telegraph:

“She was sacked because her reporter role potentially brought her into contact with ethnic minorities, the insider added. However, she has not been banned from the BBC altogether and will continue to appear on other shows.

A friend of Baroness Thatcher said the affair was “very sad”, adding: “Carol would not have intended the word to be taken as a form of malice. She is just not that sort of person.”

Lord Bell of Belgravia, the PR guru who masterminded Baroness Thatcher’s three election victories, said: “Considering the issues facing Britain today, you would think people would have far more important things to worry about.”

Others said Thatcher’s remark had no place in 21st century Britain. Colleen Harris, the Guyanese former press secretary to the Prince of Wales, said: “I was shocked. It is completely out of step with modern, multicultural britain. No-one ever uses a word like that when I’m in the room. Maybe they use it when I’ve left the room. It makes me wonder.”

A spokesman for the Kick It Out campaign against racism in sport likened the comment to Ron Atkinson’s racist slur against black footballer Marcel Desailly in 2004, which was intended as a private remark but made public: “Use of the term ‘golliwog’ is completely unacceptable. The fact that Carol Thatcher doesn’t know the word is offensive is worrying. Whether it is said off air or not doesn’t really matter.”

The source of the leak is unknown. The agent of Jo Brand insisted she was not behind it. She said: “Jo heard the remark. She was offended and astonished by it. But she absolutely did not make any complaint.” (End of Excerpt) Read the entire story here.

I Agree That “America Doesn’t Deserve”Joe The Plumber!

 

 

Joe the faux plumber (or whatever he goes by these days) says that he’s not sure about a career in politics. And do you want to know why? Well, he’s just not sure if “the American Public deserve me“. Damned if I don’t agree with something this jokester says after all! The American public does not deserve any more ignorant politicians. So, I’m glad he understands that & I hope he never decides to run for anything. And let me tell you what he really,really doesn’t deserve. His super-duper overextended 15 minutes of fame! Here’s more from The Huffington Post:

“Joe The Plumber yesterday, transitioning from war reporter to political strategist, appeared before congressional aides to offer his two cents on the stimulus plan. Joe is taking a stand against the entire package, claiming that it is just another example of “American government” having its way with the people.

The New York Daily News has subsequently explored the possibility of Joe pursuing public office at any point in the near future. But according to Joe, “I don’t know if the American public deserve me, but my son definitely deserves my time now.” (End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

Etta James,In Her Classless Act,Said”I Can’t Stand Beyonce”!

 

 Etta James should be setting an example for younger entertainers to follow.Instead, she would rather be in competition with them.Jealousy seemed to rear it’s ugly head at a show that Etta James did in Seattle.And it was all aimed at Beyonce.President Obama got honorable mention as well.That’s because he had the audacity to have Beyonce sing at the Inaugural Ball & not Etta! Here’s more from MTV.com:

“Remember a few months ago when Etta James had some nice things to say about Beyoncé’s portrayal of her in “Cadillac Records”? Well, apparently the good vibes have dissipated. James unleashed a verbal beat-down on B last week during a concert in which she, believe it or not, threatened to whip the “Single Ladies” singer’s butt.Though she wasn’t the first singer to perform it, the 71-year-old James has made the smoldering ballad “At Last” her signature song since it became a hit for her in 1961. Beyoncé sang for President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama’s first dance at the Neighborhood Ball two weeks ago. For some reason, that seems to have angered James, who put Beyoncé, and the president, for that matter, on blast during a show at Seattle’s Paramount Theatre on January 28.

During the gig, she criticized the singer’s performance at the inauguration. “You guys know your president, right? You know the one with the big ears?” began her rant, a recording of which was obtained by TMZ. “Wait a minute, he ain’t my president. He might be yours; he ain’t my president. But I tell you that woman he had singing for him, singing my song — she’s going to get her a– whipped.

“The great Beyoncé,” James went on. “Like I said, she ain’t mine. … I can’t stand Beyoncé. She has no business up there, singing up there on a big ol’ president day, gonna be singing my song that I’ve been singing forever.” (End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

Does Etta James really want these types of shenanigans to be a part of her legacy? What a classless act! I am sorely disappointed because I consider Etta James to be a legendary singer with an astoundingly beautiful voice. This just diminishes her in my eyes. And it also proves that not everyone matures with age. Older performers can be just as lewd & disrespectful as the younger ones.

 

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The Upcoming Book “Manhattan Madam”!

These are going to be some real sordid tales of “Sex In The City“! The infamous N.Y. madam,Kristin Davis has compiled them all into a book,”Manhattan Madam“! Now, I think it’s unfair that she went to jail & the guys that may have used corporate credit cards for sex were not even investigated. The tricks who patronized her business ought to have their name dragged through the mud. Since those who prosecuted her didn’t care to do it, Kristin Davis is putting some of those names out there. Here’s more from ABC News:

“Some of these guys, I was invoicing on corporate credit cards,” she said. “I was writing up monthly bills for computer consulting, construction expenses, all of these things, I was invoicing them monthly so they could get it by their accountants,” Davis said.

A spokesperson said district attorney Robert Morgenthau had “no comment” on the handling of Davis’ case or her allegations.

Davis provided ABC News with a print-out of her computerized client list, the same one she says that was offered to the district attorney.

The document shows Davis kept meticulous notes about her clients, their credit card numbers and mobile phone numbers. (End of First Excerpt)

“Some of the men contacted by ABC News denied they used their corporate cards, and ABC News could not independently confirm if the credit card numbers listed were corporate accounts.

Watch the story tonight on 20/20 at 10 p.m. ET

Davis says one CEO ordered her to send him invoices for “roof repair on a warehouse” to disguise the payment for prostitutes from corporate funds.

“That is fraud,” said former New York prosecutor Sid Baumgarten, who told 20/20 the district attorney should have investigated the men.

“Not necessarily just for the patronizing but for the use of these business records and credit cards to see what kind of fraud or tax fraud was being used. And if so, that is a major offense,” Baumgarten said.

When ABC News contacted that CEO, he said he used his corporate card to pay for the escort service to entertain clients, but that there was no sex involved.

Davis operated her escort service as a prostitution conglomerate, with five different “brands” over a four year period, each with its own “price point” and websites.

At the high end was an escort service called Carlyle Trust, mimicking the name, but not connected in any way, to a prestigious investment firm. Davis said she recruited top fashion models who charged up to $2,000 an hour for clients of Carlyle Trust.

Her lower cost services charged $400 an hour for a “body rub,” she said.

The “best little whorehouse on Wall Street” was located just a few blocks from the New York Stock Exchange, in apartment 3A at 136 William Street.

Davis operated three other “in-call” locations in the mid-town area of Manhattan.

The escort business took in as much as $200,000 a week, Davis estimated.

But it came to a screeching halt last year in the crackdown that followed the revelation that then-New York Governor Eliot Spitzer was client #9 of a rival escort service.

In a book to be released Feb. 6, “Manhattan Madam,” Davis claims Spitzer had earlier been a client of her service but was banned because of his aggressive behavior trying to get girls to have unprotected sex with him.

Manhattan psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert, who works with many Wall Street clients, told ABC News that many of his clients who patronize escort services are accustomed to high risks and high stakes on the job, and seeing a prostitute, especially if one is married, provides the same rush. “You’re playing with fire…it’s part of the culture of Wall Street. A lot of drugs, cocaine use, fast times, sex–it’s part of the culture.” (End of Second Excerpt) Read the entire article here.

I mean, you’d have to be coke’d out to pay Kristin Davis for sex. She looks like a bad transsexual. Is that pendant on her necklace an upside down cross? Wow, she looks satanic,not sexy! And those have to be some of the worst breast implants I have ever seen! She must be really good at what she does because she sure is an eye sore! Yuck!

We’re Not The Only Country That Gives Failed Bank Execs “Rewards For Failure”!

There was considerable outrage when it was learned that bonuses were paid to the failed Wall Street bank executives. Why would anyone reward failure? Well, that’s exactly what they’re doing in Europe.Here’s more from the Telegraph:

“The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is proposing to pay close to £1 billion in bonuses to its staff, just months after it was rescued by a £20 billion taxpayer bail-out, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.
The bank’s board has begun discussions about the bonuses with UK Financial Investments (UKFI), the body set up by the Treasury to manage the Government’s shareholdings in Britain’s ailing banks.

The scale of the plan is likely to increase public anger as the recession deepens, and add to the frustration of ministers. It comes as Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, announces in The Sunday Telegraph today his plans for an independent review of the way banks are managed, including the bonus system.

The review, which ministers hope will address voters’ concerns about big payments to executives, will examine the roles of directors and institutional investors and study how British banks compare with overseas institutions.

“We cannot return to business as usual,” writes Mr Darling in this newspaper. “It is in everyone’s interest to get banks’ governance right. It would be wrong to reward people whose excessive risk-taking brought the banks down, causing misery to millions of their customers. Success should be rewarded. Failure should not.” The Chancellor will announce the detailed terms of reference of the review, and its chairman, tomorrow.

In an attempt to appease ministers, RBS has indicated that no individual banker will receive a bonus with a cash element of more than £25,000 under its plans.

The remainder of the bonuses, to be paid next month, will be in RBS shares, with a large proportion of them deferred or not paid at all if an employee leaves RBS within an agreed period, or if their area of the bank makes significant losses in the following two years.

The bank has decided it will not pay any bonuses to employees who work in loss-making areas of the business.

UKFI, which is led by John Kingman, a senior Treasury official, is considering the proposals.

About half of the bank’s “bonus pool” will consist of payments that RBS believes it is contractually obliged to pay. Much of this sum will be paid to employees of ABN Amro, the Dutch banking group for which RBS is now acknowledged to have overpaid at the height of the banking boom. The proposed remaining bonus pool, worth about £500 million, is discretionary.

Although the sum of nearly £1 billion will provoke outrage, it represents a fall of about 60 per cent on the previous year’s bonus payments. The cash component is understood to be about 80 per cent down on last year.

RBS, which has a new chairman and chief executive in place of their sacked predecessors, is sensitive to accusations that it is paying “rewards for failure”. Stephen Hester, the new boss, will give evidence to the Commons Treasury select committee on Wednesday, when he is likely to be questioned about the bonuses. His predecessor, Sir Fred Goodwin, will appear on Tuesday.

A statement issued by UKFI last week said that “as a majority shareholder in RBS, [UKFI] is in discussions on possible approaches to remuneration. No decisions have yet been taken.”

The row over bonuses will also affect employees at Lloyds, in which the taxpayer owns a 43pc stake, and Barclays. Lloyds’ executive directors are understood to be planning to retain their share-based bonuses for last year.” (End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

While the bailed out bank execs received their bonuses, let’s take a look at how the rest of us are dealing with the credit crunch.This documentary,”In Debt We Trust_America Before The Bubble Bursts” talks about how the banks survive off the debt that Americans continue to incur.  Basically,how the fat cats on Wall Street got that way.Now that it’s so hard to get credit,it would be a great time to reflect on our “culture of consumption“.How much debt are you in?If you are up to your neck in it,you’re not alone.That’s what this whole documentary is about.More  Americans than ever are living in a “modern serfdom“.

 

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One Of The World’s Scariest Looking Blonds,Ann Coulter,Is Being Investigated!

Why am I aiming such vitriolic language at Ann Coulter,you might ask? It’s because I think that she should get a taste of her own medicine! After all, Ann Coulter said this about the 9/11 widows:

“These broads are millionaires, lionized on TV and in articles about them, reveling in their status as celebrities and stalked by grief-arazzis. I’ve never seen people enjoying their husbands’ deaths so much.”

If that wasn’t evil enough for you, look at this transcript of an interview that Ann Coulter did with Sean Hannity that I obtained from Media Matters. Here’s an excerpt:

From the June 7 edition of Fox News’ Hannity & Colmes:

HANNITY: “Coulter the Cruel.” From what I understand, even Hillary was attacking you today.

COULTER: Yes.

HANNITY: And what were her comments?

COULTER: She said the book should have been named “Heartless.” It was mean to these women. And I responded to the New York Times reporter asking for a comment that, before Hillary refers to other people being mean to women, she should talk to her husband, who was accused of rape by Juanita Broaddrick and was groping Kathleen Willey simultaneously with her own spouse committing suicide. Maybe she should talk to her husband about being mean to women.

HANNITY: Let me start — let’s set the controversy for the book, because I actually read the book cover to cover, and I read the chapter in question here.

COULTER: Thank you.

HANNITY: You’re making a broader point. You’re saying that liberalism cannot be sold by the people in office, and you feel people like Cindy Sheehan, who lost a son in Iraq –

COULTER: Right.

HANNITY: — Jack Murtha, who was a former Marine –

COULTER: Right.

HANNITY: — these four — what you call Jersey women.

COULTER: They call themselves the Jersey Girls.

HANNITY: The Jersey Girls, they lost husbands on 9-11.

COULTER: Right, along with thousands of other women, yes.

HANNITY: And you are saying that they are being used by the left to make points that they cannot make on their own. Isn’t that the point of the chapter?

COULTER: Yes, it’s liberal infallibility. They used to have complete, 100 percent control of news dissemination in America. They lost that with Fox News, with talk radio, with the Internet. So then they started complaining about, you know, angry voices, political dialogue has never been so divisive. And then people remember the sweetness and light we were getting from the left during, say, the [Supreme Court nominee Robert] Bork hearings, so that wasn’t really working.

So now they send out spokespeople who, because of some personal tragedy, we’re not allowed to respond to, because their husbands died in 9-11, because they had a son die in Iraq. If they’re making a point worth making, they are entering the public dialogue, how about letting Howard Dean make the point?

HANNITY: All right, but here’s — here — I guess this is what people are saying. This is why you’re on the front page of the tabloids in New York. You’re saying they’ve entered the political arena. Now, I’ve gone and I’ve been looking at some of the comments, for example, of the Jersey women in particular.

COULTER: Right.

HANNITY: They have been very harsh about Condi Rice, about Karl Rove –

COULTER: Oh, yes.

HANNITY: – about President Bush, very outspoken. They were on the campaign trail with John Edwards and with John Kerry.

COULTER: Right. They cut a campaign commercial for Kerry.

HANNITY: They cut a campaign — so basically what you’re saying is, if they’re going to enter the political arena separate from the loss of their husbands, that now this is a dialogue. If they call the president a liar, this is now a dialogue. And you’re saying most people won’t dare get engaged with them because of what they’ve been through, which is the purpose of –

COULTER: That’s certainly been true until now. I think I’ve opened it up now. I think I’ve broken the taboo.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest of this transcript & others by clicking here.

And now that cackling scarecrow,known as Ann Coulter, is being investigated for voter fraud. Ha, ha, ha!! Sorry,but this is so funny that I couldn’t contain my laughter! She’s such a horrid person that I can’t help but to feel gleeful about her current dilemna. Here’s more from The Daily News:

“Ann Coulter is being probed. Following our Jan. 11 column, Connecticut’s Elections Enforcement Commission is making a “thorough investigation” of whether the conservative pundit broke the law by voting in the Nutmeg State while living in New York City, according to a commission spokeswoman.
Officials are responding to a formal complaint filed by Coulterwatch.com blogger Dan Borchers. “For over 10 years, Ann Coulter has gotten away with illegal, immoral and unethical behavior, ranging from plagiarism to defamation, perjury to voter fraud,” claims the conservative Borchers. Coulter declined to comment, but in the past has branded Borchers a stalker. He says the FBI has determined he poses no threat.”(End of Excerpt) Read more here.

Australia Wondered If The Wildfires Were Caused By Climate Change! It Now Appears To Be A Case Of Arson!

Earlier, Reuters reported that scientists believed that climate change may have been a contributing factor in the Australian Wildfire disaster! Now, it appears that these infernos were deliberately set. Although climate change is affecting Australia, this bushfire seems to be the evil handiwork of one or more arsonists.People are getting burned alive because it’s spreading so rapidly that it’s hard to escape.Here’s the updated story from the Telegraph:

“Suspicions that the worst wildfires ever to strike Australia were deliberately set led police to declare crime scenes Monday in towns incinerated by blazes, while investigators moving into the charred landscape discovered more bodies.

As the smoke cleared over parts of Victoria and police and fire crews began the painstaking task of picking over the rubble and ash in search for more bodies, more than half of the state was been declared a crime scene.

Police believe several of the more than 400 blazes that devastated town and farmland, killed at least 130 people and destroyed 750 homes on Black Saturday were deliberately lit.

Forensic teams of investigators are now moving into burned out houses and farms, looking for evidence of how the infernos were started, and who could have lit them.

Authorities have warned that the toll from the fires that swept through the state “like a steam train” could still rise, as many people remained unaccounted for.

Relatives of the missing have been warned it could be days before the bodies are identified because the remains are so badly burned it is “like they have been cremated“.

Prime minister Kevin Rudd, who has suspended parliament and is touring the affected region, said whoever was responsible for lighting or relighting the fires had committed “mass murder“.

A clearly-shaken Mr Rudd struggled to express his horror at the actions of the arsonists.

“What can you say? What can you say? There are no word to describe it other than mass murder,” he said.

“It is a level of horror few of us had anticipated.” Keiran Walshe, Victoria’s deputy police commissioner, said finding who was to blame for the fires would be difficult, but not impossible.

“There’s always something that will tell us where the ignition point was and what was used to ignite it. Then we can start to piece together who could have done it.” Police have warned that offenders implicated in the fires could be charged with arson causing death, a crime that carries a 25 year prison sentence.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

Here’s the earlier report from Reuters that talked about climate change as a factor in the wildfires:

“Australia’s deadliest wildfires increased pressure on the national government to take firm action on climate change on Monday as scientists said global warming likely contributed to conditions that fuelled the disaster.

At least 130 people were killed in wildfires, set off by a record heatwave in southern Victoria state over the past week days, while large areas of Queensland state remain flooded by tropical downpours.

Scientists said Australia needed to prepare for more extreme weather events due to global warming, while the Greens and environmentalists said the fires and floods proved the government needed to toughen its targets to curb Greenhouse emissions.

“It’s very clear, both globally and in Australia, there has been a warming trend since about 1950,” leading Australian climate scientist Kevin Hennessy told Reuters.

“In a nutshell we can say the heatwaves and the fires we’ve seen in Victoria recently maybe partly due to climate change through the contribution of increased temperature.

“Going forward, we anticipate there will be continued increases in greenhouse gases and that locks in a certain amount of warming, and in the case of southern Australia further drying, and this will increase the fire weather risk.”

Australia is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change because of its hot, dry climate, with the nation’s south in prolonged drought and temperatures tipped to rise by 3 degrees Celsius by 2050 across the tropical north and desert interiors.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has set a target to cut overall greenhouse gas emissions by 5 percent by 2020, and will only cut further, to about 15 percent, if there is widespread international agreement on tougher action.

But Green groups want Australia, which creates about 1.5 percent of global emissions, to cut emissions by at least 25 percent by 2020 as an example to the developing world, particularly India and China, about the need to take firm action.

Greens climate spokeswoman Christine Milne said all Australians had been deeply touched by the fire tragedy and the increased risk of fires from global warming.”(End of Excerpt)Read the rest here.

In this 2007 video, Philip Adams (presenter of Late Night Live on Australia’s ABC Radio National), talks about the problems that climate change presents to the world & how Australia is contributing to global warming.

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A-Rod Comes Clean About His Steroid Use!

Alex Rodriguez had maintained that he had never used steroids in his life . Then,it was revealed that he had tested positive for the drug back in 2003. At first,he kept mum.Now, A-Rod admits to having once been an “A-Roid“! Even though he blatantly lied to Katie Couric, Alex Rodriguez said that he was in denial himself. His life is already in a tailspin with his performance not being quite up to par on the baseball field. Will his fans forgive him for this giant fib? That’s one question that most folks think will be answered if he starts playing more like his old self. Another question that people are pondering is who leaked the positive test results to Sports Illustrated in the first place. More on that from the NY Daily News:

There were 104 names on the supersecret list of major league baseball players who tested positive for steroids in 2003, but only one in the bombshell report that outed A-Rod.

So, who’s the snitch – or snitches?

That question hovered over baseball Sunday after Sports Illustrated revealed that Alex Rodriguez allegedly juiced.

Four independent sources told SI that Rodriguez tested positive for two kinds of steroids, raising questions not only about A-Rod’s place in baseball history but about who had knowledge of a confidential test under seal in a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals case.

The roster of candidates who knew that the game’s biggest superstar was on the list and were willing to violate a gag order imposed by the court is short: a scorned player or teammate, a rogue union official or someone in MLB, a vengeful prosecutor or federal agent or even somebody close to the player himself. The A-Rod ‘roid story could only have come from a handful of organizations and people who had knowledge of the 2003 drug testing results.

Here are the candidates:

THE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION

Union officials knew the identities of the 104 players who tested positive, but it’s highly unlikely they intentionally leaked the news, according to sources. Union leaders Donald Fehr and Gene Orza had long resisted efforts to introduce mandatory drug testing. A report that the Players Association’s biggest star had tested positive for steroids would only increase calls from lawmakers and fans to beef up baseball’s drug program.

But union officials may have inadvertently spread the news. After the results of the 2003 survey tests became available in September of that year, Orza and other union officials approached players in clubhouses to inform them of their positive tests. It soon became obvious that union officials were informing players of their test results and players began talking to each other about the implications.”(End of Excerpt) View the rest of the suspects here.

Octupulet Mom Looks Like She’s Had Bad Plastic Surgery!

So,the unemployed, single octupulet mom can’t provide for her 14 kids. Even her own mother said that she wonders how her daughter will be able to afford them. But,she’s got a plan.And that’s to become one of those experts that you see on television.Because she got herself implanted with embryos, that does not make her the go-to person for child-rearing advice. That just shows you how demented she is.Apparently,she’s gotten herself a publicist & the whole she-bang! Time to sell her story to the highest bidder! Here’s more on the banged-up version of Angelina Jolie from The Dish Rag:

“Nadya Suleman, the mother of those eight tiny in vitro-created babies, is waiting for the right price for her first interview.And yes, we’re talking millions.The mother of 14 kids is asking for $2 million for her octuplets story.Oh, and she would also like a TV career as a child-care expert.Wow. How about scam artist instead?The divorced working mom lives in her parents’ three-bedroom house in Whittier, Calif.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

Where is Child Protective Services in all of this? The doctor is being investigated that administered these fertility treatments. This woman should be looked at by CPS to make sure that she is capable of taking care of these premature babies. How pathetic & selfish is Nadya Suleman? It’s being reported that she was not providing any financial support for her 6 kids. All 14 kids are going to stay with her mom. Her mother complained about it on national television & said that what her daughter did was “unconscionable“. Who would put all of those kids off on their mother & then bring home 8 more? I would have to agree with her Angela Suleman’s assessments about her daughter.

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Freestyle Motocross Star Jeremy Lusk:The “Pitbull” Passes Away From Head Injuries He Got In A Costa Rican Event!

Jeremy Lusk was very passionate about his Motocross career & he was very deft at performing all sorts of difficult tricks with his motorbike! He was able to walk away from a 2007 crash that could have killed him.This time, Jeremy Lusk didn’t make it.The “Pitbull” was only 24.Here’s more on this sad story from ESPN:

“Freestyle motocross star Jeremy Lusk died early in the morning EST on Tuesday, Feb. 10 from head injuries he suffered at an event in Costa Rica on Saturday, Feb. 7. Lusk sustained the injuries when he under-rotated a Hart Attack backflip and slammed head-first to the dirt. Like the fighter he was, Jeremy — nicknamed Pitbull for his tenacious attitude and great strength — survived an initial surgery late in the evening on Saturday that was designed to stem brain swelling, even though his odds of living through the surgery were very long. But his condition — touch and go from the moment he went down — worsened late in the day on Monday.Some may remember that he crashed in almost identical fashion in the Freestyle semifinals at X Games ’07: He under-rotated a Hart Attack backflip but somehow walked away from that scary slam. In March ’08, while preparing for April’s Moto X World Championships, Lusk said that he didn’t throw the Hart Attack backflip for months after his X Games crash. “I was a little scared of it,” he stated.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here:

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America Is Not The World-Renowned Destination For “Suicide Tourism”!

When people come to America,they automatically think of all the opportunities that this country offers! This is the land of rebirth. A place where dreams don’t have to be deferred & life can begin anew.Even though there is an ongoing debate in this country over euthanasia,America is not the destination of “suicide tourists“. Switzerland holds that dubious honor. Here’s more on that from Softpedia.com:

“Ludwig A. Minelli, the leader of Dignitas, says that his group only assists someone willing to die if that someone “suffers from an illness that inevitably leads to death, or from an unacceptable disability, and wants to end their life and suffering voluntarily.” He adds that his practice is non-profit, even though he charges about 8,500 Euros (roughly $11,500) for each patient.Most of the money goes to salaries for his employees, while the rest goes to anti-suicide counseling and programs in the country. He says he wants to keep things this way because otherwise opponents to the idea of assisted suicide would have reason to believe that he is advocating death for his own personal gain.Public support for suicide under guidance is very widespread in Switzerland, and most of the nation’s citizens believe that each and every one should be able to do with their bodies as they please. However, there are numerous voices that critic the fact that the country has become a world-renowned destination for “suicide tourism.” Church groups are the most die-hard opponents to this law, ever since it was first approved, in 1942, saying that life is sacrosanct, and that no one should be able to end it as they please.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

Here’s an interesting article on euthanasia from USAToday:

“In euthanasia, a physician administers a fatal injection or a fatal combination of drugs. In assisted suicide, a physician provides drugs that the patient takes on his or her own.

Discussions about these practices are fueled by the rising number of senior citizens and the declining role of religion in politics and daily life, says Henk Jochemsen, director of medical ethics for the Lindeboom Institute in the Netherlands. Both trends are stronger in Europe than in the USA, which may explain broader public support in Europe for legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide.

By 2030, one in four people in Europe will be 65 or older; in the USA, it will be one in five, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. As members of the baby boom generation age, their increasing frailty will strain health care and welfare systems, not to mention their families. As a result, governments will be under pressure to bow to demands to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide, Jochemsen says.

The Dutch legislature is likely to legalize euthanasia for the handful of babies born each year with painful and terminal diseases. The protocol, performed only with the parents’ consent, is expected to be tacked onto the existing euthanasia law in 2007, says Boris Dittrich, a Dutch politician and chief author of the country’s euthanasia law.

Assisted suicide and euthanasia take place in every nation, including in American states where it’s illegal, Dittrich says. “We want to write it down and have it in the open … so we know what’s going on. We don’t want any misuse or abuse. If you don’t do it in a transparent way, the chances for abuse or misuse are bigger.”

In fact, in countries where euthanasia is legal, there has not been a dramatic increase in cases. In the Netherlands, about 3,800 deaths a year (or about 2.5% of the total) are listed as euthanasia or assisted suicide requests.

Of Oregon’s 30,000 deaths in 2003, just 42 were assisted-suicide cases, or 0.14% of the total.

Elly de Hullu-Vlaspolder, a retired yoga teacher who lives in a suburb of Amsterdam, says she would support changing the law to add the provision for terminally ill infants. She says she will never forget the day in 1961 when her daughter Marina, 6, died of cancer. Though Marina was in great pain in her final days, no one talked of euthanasia.

Almost 30 years later, when her husband, Peter, was diagnosed with cancer, euthanasia was still illegal, but it had nevertheless become an accepted option. As the end drew near, Peter, a ship captain, asked the family doctor to help him die. The doctor agreed, though he risked prosecution for murder.

Peter, then 65, spent his last day with Elly and the couple’s surviving daughter, Ondine. “It’s strange to say that we were happy, but we had a wonderful last afternoon,” Elly recalls. “The three of us could talk about everything. He laughed. For weeks there had been no smile, but that afternoon he smiled. He was happy there would be a good end of his life and all that pain.”

Opponents of legalized euthanasia and assisted suicide worry that they will become too acceptable and will be sought by people who are not suffering from terminal illnesses or are unable to make rational decisions.

“What I find very worrying is that now there are situations of patients tired of life, suffering of life,” says Jochemsen, the medical ethicist. “Here, you want to talk about a slippery slope, this has changed in just three years (since the Netherlands passed its law). … Anyone who is tired of life can be a candidate for euthanasia. What kind of society are we generating?”

Gerrit Kimsma, a family doctor in the Netherlands, disagrees. He is on one of the medical review committees for euthanasia cases and has helped some patients end their lives. “In each and every case, I can say I bonded with the families, before and after,” he recalls.

In Belgium, which passed a legalized euthanasia law in 2002, there were 347 registered cases last year. In Switzerland, the number of assisted suicides has ranged from 300 to 350 a year, but it is rising because more people are coming from countries where it’s banned.”(End of Excerpt) Read the article in it’s entirety here.

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When Representative Walden Asked The Peanut Butter Execs To Eat Salmonella-Laced Products,They Pleaded The Fifth!

The U.S. Constitution can work for everyone in this country. The weasels at the Peanut Butter Corporation are well aware of that. So,they plead the Fifth on every single question that Rep. Greg Walden asked them. Even when they were asked if they would eat any of those products that are contaminated with salmonella! That speaks to their guilt & knowledge of what they were doing right there!

Where is the remorse & sorrow about the illness & death that they are responsible for? Because they didn’t want to suffer a loss,these men sent out contaminated peanut butter that gave people salmonella poisoning.They should have been forced to eat it! That would really be a fitting punishment!

All of these men appeared to be nervous about their own futures.It’s all about self-preservation for these inhuman creatures.They are evoking their Fifth Amendment right when it comes to answering basic questions about what they knew & when they knew it! They are lucky that they are in America.If this were China,they would have a lot more to be worried about.Here’s more on that from 8Asians.com:

“If you’ve been watching the news at all lately you already know that the Chinese government has sentenced to death those responsible for the milk contamination that caused the death of Chinese babies and sickened thousands more. And if you’ve been watching the U.S. news you know that the U.S. government just found out that the Georgia firm that sold salmonella tainted peanut butter did so knowingly 12 times in the past year.There’s still debate about whether or not there’s even a criminal violation in the U.S. case, but in China the government vowed to prosecute from the beginning. My dad used to talk about the difference between Western culture and Asian culture and he described it as the difference between right brain thinking and left brain thinking. For the Chinese there was no doubt that poisoning milk was a criminal act, for Americans it’s not so clear cut. My guess is in the U.S., the execs involved will get no more than a slap on the hand and possibly fired for their actions, and as someone else mentioned, we in the U.S. will forget all about this in a year.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest by going here.

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Anna Nicole Smith:The Voluptuous Blond With The Porcelain Face

Anna Nicole Smith has been gone now for 2 years.She may be gone,but she is certainly not forgotten! Anna Nicole Smith was often compared to Marilyn Monroe.I’ve always thought that she really resembled & acted more like Jayne Mansfield (pictured above).The voluptuous blond bombshell was known more for her looks & antics than her talent.Unlike Marilyn Monroe, I’m not sure if she ever really wanted to be taken seriously as an actress.Anna Nicole Smith just seemed to really crave & enjoy the fame & fortune that a celebrity gets.She was a very animated,colorful character whose life has now been adapted for a libretto. Here’s more from the Telegraph:

“Her controversial relationships, court battles over the paternity of her children and the sudden death of her 20-year-old son will among the dramatic twists in a libretto written by the co-creator of Jerry Springer The Opera.The anti-heroine is considered by artistic directors at the Covent Garden venue to be a relevant character in a tale of modern times. The project is part of the Royal Opera House policy of staging a new opera on the main stage approximately every two years, with recent premieres including Harrison Birtwistle’s Minotaur, and Thomas Adès’ The Tempest.Elaine Padmore, Covent Garden’s director of opera told The Guardian. “It is not going to be tawdry; it is going to be witty, clever, thoughtful and sad. In broad outline, it will tell the story of her life, the people who influenced her, her progress … Clearly the story is about a woman who met an ancient gentleman in a wheelchair, but it’s not going to be a straight narrative; choices have been made about significant moments, selecting which incidents in her life are to be built up.”The opera will be written by Mark-Anthony Turnage, one of the most celebrated names of British contemporary music, with the libretto provided by Richard Thomas.Ms Padmore added: “It is not just a documentary about her, but a parable about celebrity and what it does to people. It can be moving, it can be funny and it tells universal truths about human frailty.”It is a very sad story - a larger-than-life American story, as was Puccini’s Girl of the Golden West. It will be a slice of our times – of America in the pre-Obama days.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

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Both A Brit & An American Helped Shape Modern Thinking!

Happy birthday to two 19th century fellows that brought in a new way of thinking. In the book “Angels and Ages: A Short Book About Darwin,Lincoln, & Modern Life“, author Adam Gopnik illustrates how two great minds helped shape the thinking of modern-day Western society. Charles Darwin & Abraham Lincoln shared more than a birthday. One of their other commonalities is the main focus of this book. They both were extremely gifted intellectuals that left their mark on the world. One was a Brit whose theory of evolution is the subject of great debate & has influenced the way modern human beings approach science. The other was an American who is known as “The Great Emancipator” & as the man who was quite crafty with words! Here’s more on this book from Time:

Much has been made in recent weeks of the shared birthday of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin, two juggernauts not only of their own age, but of all the years since. New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik explores their legacies in this book-length series of essays, focusing on their abilities as writers and thinkers of the highest caliber. As Gopnik writes, “Literary eloquence is essential to liberal civilization; our heroes should be men and women possessed by the urgency of utterance.” With their adherence to logic and observation, and devotion to thoughtful expression, Lincoln and Darwin — in addition to everything else they accomplished — helped kickstart the engine of the modern age.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

First Cross-Dressing Mobster Is Arrested In Italy!

Now,I’m sure that there are homosexual mobsters.But I hadn’t heard of one that was a transvestite until now! A gangster who dresses & identifies himself as a woman was arrested in Italy! And from the way the report below reads,it seems like this was one ugly ass bitch! Let’s just hope for his sake that he isn’t as hideous as these two transvestite characters from “Little Britain“!

Here’s more on this strange story from the Telegraph:

“The cross-dressing criminal, whose real name is Ugo Gabriele, was arrested by armed police during a raid in the southern port city of Naples, home to the Camorra, one of Italy’s four mafia groups.Gabriele, 27, hardly conforms to the image of a gangster’s moll – his police mugshot shows him to be heavy set, with broad shoulders and a double chin.But there is also an incongruous feminine touch – carefully sculpted eyebrows, blonde highlights in his hair and a light dab of lipstick.Police said Gabriele was a mafia ‘capo’ or godfather who masterminded a drug dealing and prostitution racket in Naples for the Scissionisti clan of the Camorra.

Investigators said it was the first time they had arrested a transsexual mafia gangster.Despite his chunky physique and masculine appearance he insisted on being addressed as Kitty, they said.Gabriele was arrested with another 27 members of the Camorra, a powerful criminal organisation which was investigated by the Italian journalist Roberto Saviano in his best-selling book, Gomorrah, later made into a film.

“It’s a sign that the Camorra has changed not only its code of honour, which once forbade the killing of women and children; it has also changed its internal rules,” said the Corriere della Sera newspaper.”(End of Excerpt)Read the rest here.

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President Obama Talks About The Buffalo Plane Crash That Killed 50 People! One Of The Victims Was A 9/11 Widow That He Met With Last Week!

Flight 3407 didn’t have the miraculous ending that the plane that went down in the Hudson River did.Everybody on the commuter plane that crashed into a house in Buffalo,NY have perished.There were 50 deaths in that tragic plane crash.One of the victims was a 9/11 widow who was instrumental in getting President Bush to form the 9/11 commission.Beverly Eckert refused to take any money from the 9/11 victim’s compensation because she felt that the government just wanted to silence her! Here’s more on Beverly Eckert from the NY Daily News:

Eckert, 57, was traveling to her hometown, Buffalo, to celebrate what would have been Rooney’s 58th birthday.They were high school sweethearts and tops on Eckert’s agenda was presenting a scholarship at Canisius High School that she established in Sean’s honor.A week earlier, Eckert was among the relatives of those killed in the Sept. 11 attacks and the bombing of the USS Cole who met with Obama at the White House.Eckert, co-chairwoman of “Voices of Sept. 11,” had pushed for a formal commission to investigate the intelligence failures that led to the attacks.She also wanted to know how the new President would prevent terror attacks and handle terror suspects.“She was such an important part of all of our work,” said Mary Fetchet, another 9/11 family activist whose son, Brad, was killed in that attack.The willowy blond’s tale of how she was on the phone with her husband just before he died was one of the most wrenching to emerge from the Sept. 11 tragedy.An insurance executive, Rooney called his wife just after the south tower was hit, trapping him and thousands inside.”We spoke together until the building went down,” Eckert said in a recent interview. “He faced death with an awesome amount of courage.”Eckert became one of the leaders of the grieving family organizations that demanded answers and reforms from the Bush administration.While many of the relatives refused to cry in public, Eckert let tears flow as she roamed the halls of Congress and shamed elected officials into acting.In 2004, Eckert and the others finally forced lawmakers to pass sweeping reforms of the U.S. intelligence services. Then Eckert went home and tried to return to a normal life.”I did all of this for Sean’s memory, I did it for him,” she said. “I just wanted Sean to come home from work. Maybe now, someone else’s Sean will get to come home.”(End of Excerpt) Read the whole article here.

Now, I like conspiracy theories and all,but there is nothing “fishy” about this plane crash. All we know is that the weather conditions were really bad & that probably caused the plane to nosedive into someone’s house. There are some kooks out there who are trying to make a connection between Beverly Eckert’s meeting with President Obama  & her death in this plane crash a week later. These loons have suggested that President Obama wanted to silence her because of her concentration on improving U.S intelligence. You should question your sanity if you believe that this tragedy had nefarious origins.

I’ve also heard people talking against Ann Coulter as if she were involved in this tragedy. No matter how much disdain you have for her & what she said about the 9/11 widows, I hope that these folks don’t truly believe that she’s happy about Beverly Eckert’s death. And I really am worried about you if you think that our new president killed 50 people just to get a woman because she stood with the USS Cole & 9/11 family members who are opposed to the closing of Guantanamo Bay! Find a new conspiracy theory! News reports suggest that ice was the likely cause.

Here’s the president speaking about this awful tragedy that he had nothing to do with.President Obama mourns the victims just as the rest of the sane members of the world are doing. All of you conspiracy theorists should follow suit!

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The Porn Star,Stormy Daniels,Feels That If Hypocrites Like David Vitter Can Be A Senator,Then So Can She!

This might just be an expose of the hypocrisy that Louisiana Senator David Vitter has shown.He was involved with a prostitute while he was toting family values as a conservative. Stormy Daniels feels that David Vitter should not only be kicked out of office,but that he should be put in jail.Because he still is in the senate, Stormy Daniels is considering running as a senator herself! In her opinion, David Vitter is just as much of a social misfit as she is.

We know that the tricks hardly ever go to jail in these types of situations.They only want the pimps,madams,& prostitutes to pay for breaking the law.I like this little ploy,though.It highlights the hypocrisy in politics & the law! What a way to make a statement, Stormy Daniels! I know you don’t want to “take the pay cut because porn is a lucrative business“. But if you did & actually got elected,you would be one smoking hot senator! Here’s  more from CNN:

“She said she’s planning a “listening tour” around Louisiana to talk about a range of matters, including the economy — which along with women in business and protection of children are the three issues listed on her Web site. When told Vitter can be a tough opponent, she said she’s “always up for a good fight.”

“I think anyone that knows me … is more than aware of that,” Daniels said. “Politics can’t be any dirtier of a job than the one I am already in.”

According to a capsule bio on the Draft Stormy Web site, Daniels has been “breaking barriers and shattering glass ceilings her entire life,” serving as editor of her high school newspaper and president of her school’s 4-H Club and eventually transferring “her determination and talents to the professional level, becoming a featured performer in the adult entertainment industry.”

Another stride was “signing an exclusive contract with the video production company Wicked Pictures, a company committed to a health and safety first policy, as pertaining to its video performances. Stormy’s decision to sign with Wicked highlighted her commitment to sending a positive message to young people of the importance of practicing safe sex,” the bio said.

Daniels has directed films for the company, won awards for writing, directing and acting, and has appeared in mainstream films such as “The 40-Year-Old Virgin.”

“Originally, the focus wasn’t even about making me as a candidate,” Daniels said. “I think it was about bringing attention to the Senate race in general. Then the response was overwhelmingly positive. And I think everyone is just running with it.”

While her political aspirations may be a light diversion for Louisiana voters, reality will set in if Daniels tangles with Vitter. Clancy DuBos, political director of the New Orleans alternative newspaper Gambit, said Vitter is a brilliant politician with a campaign war chest worth $2 million.

If the Daniels campaign is meant to remind voters of Vitter’s D.C. Madam link, the move could backfire, DuBos said.

“You are going to need someone better than a porn star, or a lap dancer, or a sex worker to nail David Vitter on this,” he said. “You need a serious opponent who is himself, or herself, not guilty of something like that to say, ‘Let’s talk about family values, shall we?’ (End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

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Valentine’s Day Is The Best Time To Catch A Lying,Cheating Significant Other!

Oh,so you think you’re special because your significant other bought you a lovely bouquet & a box of chocolates,huh? Well,in some cases what you don’t know won’t hurt you! I remember finding that out the hard way.There is one Valentine’s day that has left an indelible imprint on my memory!I got a thong,flowers,& some chocolates from a fellow that I was dating.How sweet,right?

Well,this guy was a complete idiot! I found out that he had given someone else lingerie as well.Do you want to know how?There were two empty,discarded Fredrick’s of Hollywood boxes sticking out from under his bed.He must have forgotten to throw them away which really grossed me out.

You see, I figured that this guy must have bedded the recipients of these Valentine’s Day gifts right there.Yuck!Needless to say,we didn’t have sex.I didn’t know if he even changed his sheets,for goodness sakes! Who wants to be gifted with either crabs or an STD for Valentine’s Day? Not I!

In this video,Neil Cavuto talks to Todd Martin ,a man who sells products that help entrap a cheater. “Cheaters Day” is the day before Valentine’s Day.That’s when suspicious lovers do the most business with Todd Martin.One of the most popular devices that he sells is the “Semen Spy“!

And for those who are blinded by love,their is an infidelity expert who has tips that will pry those eyes open! Here’s more on Ruth Houston from American Chronicle:

“Most people are unaware of the link between infidelity and Valentine´s Day. But infidelity expert Ruth Houston set out to change that with her annual Valentine´s Day Infidelity Awareness Campaign, which is now in its 5th year. Houston, the founder of InfidelityAdvice.com and author of Is He Cheating on You? – 829 Telltale Signs, has single-handedly set out to inform infidelity victims around the world about the link between Valentine´s Day, infidelity and extramarital affairs, and tell them how to use this information to their advantage to get proof of an affair or catch a cheating mate.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

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Senator Roland Burris Was At War With The “Liberal” Media At His Press Conference Today!

I thought that the “liberal“ media only went after poor republicans like Sarah Palin. Well,if that was true,it sure isn’t anymore.Did you witness the press conference that Sen. Roland Burris held today? The media seemed to be unable to contain their anger & cynicism whenever they asked a question. Many of the journalists  had derisive tones in their voices & they were being totally condescending! Sen.Burris was a perjurer in their eyes,no matter what he said! It was the most uncivilized press conference that I had ever seen! Poor Sen. Burris could barely keep his composure while the reporters tried to nail him to the podium!

Some of the irritation may be due to the fact that the media feels that there isn’t enough transparency in the current administration.Another Democrat was being evasive & they were fed up with that! Sen. Roland Burris is right about partisan politics being a factor in this new scandal,though! That’s why he should have came forward with any information that could be used against him.Because the Republicans are looking to pounce on any & everything that the Democrats do! Transparency is key for both parties! And it’s something that neither party has ever achieved.

So far,it does not look like it will be any different this time around! President Obama can only change so much. He really would be the “SuperChanger” if he could make bipartisanship more than just a Utopian dream!

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Another Ridiculous Press Confererence Was Held Today By A Illinois Politician!

Should Senator Roland Burris resign after giving incomplete testimony in the Blagojevich impeachment hearings? Well,the republicans sure think he should! Really,I think that he just pussyfooted around the question of whether or not he was solicited for cash.But, today the press did not allow him to dance around the issue. As a result, his answers were jumbled & he looked like he was dumbfounded! So,this press conference was a terrible P.R. decision! Like Blagojevich’s press conferences,it was not short on entertainment,though!

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Happy President’s Day! See What Folks Are Saying About President Obama’s Job Performance So Far!

President Obama has a humongous job that he has to tackle over the next four years. Politcal pundits & commentators have blasted him for not having done enough & he hasn’t even been in office over a month! Even though he placed a high standard on his own administration,that does not mean that he promised perfection. I think some folks are having trouble differentiating between striving to achieve perfection & being perfect! Here’s what everyday people from Georgia think about President Obama’s job performance so far:

Carl Collins of Columbus is a 61-year-old disabled construction worker who supported John McCain.

“I think President Obama is trying to do a good job, but he’s got a lot ahead of him,” said Collins. “He’s working hard but he has to get the Senate and House behind him.”

Collins said “getting people back to work” has to be Obama’s main cause. That said, Collins isn’t a big fan of the bailouts that the president is pushing.

“I think it’s just throwing good money after bad,” he said. “Let some of those car companies go bankrupt and just start over.”

He said time will tell about Obama: “It’s going to take years to get the economy going.”

Pat Voisine used to work at Marvin’s Market in Columbus. Now disabled, she stays at the Ralston.

“He’s too inexperienced,” she said of the president. “He may be trying to do too much too fast. I’m afraid he’ll fall flat on his face. I hope not.”

She believes people may be expecting too much. “He’s just one man,” she said.

And as far as bailouts go, she laughed and said she was going to e-mail the president. “I want one,” she said.

Charlie Griffin, 33, is a computer programmer who voted for McCain. He said three weeks is not enough time to judge Obama or predict how he will do.

“It’s really hard to tell much about the man,” Griffin said. “I think he has good intentions and is working hard. He has made a lot of promises, but all politicians do.”

Griffin said he is disappointed that Obama, who has come down hard on lobbyists, “has two in his cabinet.”

Keith Hicks, 52, is a Columbus truck driver. He believes Obama is on the right track for getting the economy going but may have to compromise to get what he wants.

“He has good intentions,” said Hicks, “and isn’t just sitting back thinking about the problems. He’s doing something. Whether any of it’s going to work, well, that’s wait and see.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

We Were Mad Because Our Treasury Secretary Had No Plan! Imagine How Japan Feels About Their Drunken Finance Minister!

Timothy Geithner may have been vague & sketchy about his financial strategy to pull us out of this economic mess! But,at least he wasn’t plastered out of his freakin’ mind like the Japanese Finance Minister was.Now,he denies it & attributes his slurred speech to jet lag & cold medicine.Yeah,right! Needless to say,he has announced his impending resignation! Here’s more from BBC News:

“Japan’s Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa has said he will resign for health reasons, amid claims that he was drunk at a recent G7 meeting. Mr Nakagawa said he would resign after the government’s budget is passed by the lower house of parliament. He earlier apologised for his behaviour at last weekend’s news conference in Rome but blamed cold remedies for a slurred performance there. He said he had not drunk more than a sip of alcohol before facing the media. “I want to apologise once again as I caused tremendous bother to people because of the press conference after the G7 in Rome,” Mr Nakagawa told reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday. “I visited hospital last night and this morning and was diagnosed to have a bad lower back, cold and fatigue. I’ll do my best to fulfil my duties for the remaining days.” (End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

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Eric Holder: “Racial Matters Continue To Divide Us”! Meanwhile, Sean Delonas Draws A Racist Chimp Cartoon For The NY Post!

President Obama really doesn’t broach the subject of race often.He seems to only talk about ethnic matters when he is asked a question about it.For,like most Americans,I think that race is an uncomfortable subject for President Obama.With Eric Holder,there’s no holds barred! He wants to start a national dialogue about race.

And this subject couldn’t have come up at a better time.There is a racist cartoon that the New York Post has vehemently defended! It’s being called “the stimulus monkey“! I have posted the cartoon with the hidden meaning above.It is filled with both blatant & subliminal racism! There’s no satire or humor here.That should be obvious to any sensible person! Racism is such an unnecessary evil! Here’s more on the cartoon from CNN:

“A New York Post cartoon Wednesday drew fire from civil rights activist Al Sharpton and others who say the drawing invokes historically racist images in suggesting an ape wrote President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus package.

The artist, Sean Delonas, called Sharpton’s reaction “ridiculous,” and the newspaper defended its decision to run his cartoon. But other African-American leaders joined Sharpton, who has been the butt of previous Delonas panels, in attacking what they called the cartoon’s racial overtones.

“Sean Delonas’ cartoon in today’s New York Post is insensitive and offensive,” National Urban League President Marc Morial said in a statement issued Wednesday afternoon. “Comparing President Obama and his effort to revive the economy in a manner that depicts violence and racist inferences is unacceptable.”

The cartoon showed two police officers standing over the body of a chimpanzee they just shot, a reference to this week’s mauling of a Connecticut woman by a pet chimp, which police killed after the attack. In the cartoon, one of the officers tells the other, “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.”

The nearly $800 billion stimulus package was the priority for Obama, the first African-American U.S. president, who signed it Tuesday.

The cartoon in today’s New York Post is troubling at best, given the racist attacks throughout history that have made African-Americans synonymous with monkeys,” Sharpton said.

Sharpton questioned whether Delonas “is making a less-than-casual inference to this form of racism.”

“The Post should at least clarify what point they were trying to make in this cartoon, and reprimand their cartoonist for making inferences that are offensive and divisive at a time the nation struggles to come together to stabilize the economy if, in fact, this was yet another racially charged cartoon,” he said.

In a brief phone interview with CNN, Delonas called the controversy “absolutely friggin’ ridiculous.”

“Do you really think I’m saying Obama should be shot? I didn’t see that in the cartoon,” Delonas said.

“It’s about the economic stimulus bill,” he added. “If you’re going to make that about anybody, it would be [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi, which it’s not.”

Col Allan, the Post’s editor-in-chief, said the cartoon “is a clear parody of a current news event.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

Where is the parody, Mr. Allan? The only thing that is clear to me is that the chimp making news gave Mr. Delonas a really bad idea. And that was to equate President Obama to a chimp. That is a racist comparison that Mr. Delonas was making under the guise of political satire. He did not draw two white cops & a beware of the dog sign for nothing! All of these things are out of place if you are talking about a stimulus bill. But not if you are talking about the black man who signed the stimulus bill! You would have to be a fool to believe that this guy was not talking about race . Please tell me how a dead chimp relates to the stimulus bill.Because I’m just not buying it! That cartoon is disturbing on so many levels!

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Rick Santelli’s On-Air Temper Tantrum Over The Stimulus!

I’m sure you’ve seen Rick Santelli of CNBC’s on-air freakout over President Obama’s plan to bail out some homeowners who are facing foreclosure.Why is he so enraged about actually helping real people? Rick Santelli should be angry as hell about Wall Street getting the bulk of the assistance instead of the regular working folks! His anger seems to be both belated & displaced.Not to mention completely unprofessional! Here’s one opinion from Air America on Rick Santelli’s “rant of the year“:

“Remember when the TV weatherman was the goofy whackster? The loud-mouthed buffoon. The oafish goofball. That was then. Enter the formerly staid financial analyst in the media clown circus. CNBC’s Rick Santelli is the latest example and Exhibit A of the decline of rational commentary, critical thinking and the move of “news” programmers to showcase the showboaters and the loud-mouthed, obstreperous analysts whose sole goal is not to elucidate or educate or even illuminate, but to make YouTube.

We saw it first with Jim Kramer the mad man anent mad money. Kramer made the nervous breakdown an art form. Wrong about virtually every prognostication, Kramer wowed us with histrionics and arm-flailing. Think Travis the Chimp on meth. Who cares if virtually every stab at financial and market augury was erroneous, Kramer delivered his baleful bleats daily and on cue. Enter CNBC’s Santelli. Not to be outdone, I suspect he huddled with his agent and concocted his new version of “Son of Kramer,” a new and improved version of Jimmy Boy. His video went viral. From the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade, Santelli plead with President Obama to reconsider mortgage bailouts. It was classic. Kramer must have seethed with envy. This was good. And Santelli joins the roster of other whacky financial types. There’s the perpetually gruff Mark Haines, also from CNBC, who looks like he’s shaking off the effects of a katzenjammer. Cutesy-cutesy Erin Burnett (also CNBC). Poor Neil Cavuto, Fox’s whatever. CNBC has redefined financial reportage by introducing the loud-mouth, hyperkinetic whack job.

What’s very serious, and I’ll be serious, is that the economic situation that is before us is without peer. No words can explicate truly how perilous these times are for us and the world. If Santelli and his band of Financial Merry Pranksters were speaking of and commenting on anything else, any other topic, I wouldn’t be the least offended by this inane pap posing as analysis. And, under other circumstances and times, Santelli’s grandstanding would be tolerable. But when I think of how this fellow has abnegated his responsibility as a journalist, yes, a journalist, to report what is occurring, I seethe. This buffoon speaks, albeit tangentially, to the doctrine of moral hazard, a sound principle that has little to no relevance now. Axiomatic economic prospects aren’t so axiomatic today when viewed through the prism of this meltdown. Deficit hawks, liberal pundits, name it, are reconfiguring and reevaluating economic doctrines to fit today’s financial straits. And while Rome burns, Nero Santelli howls and hoots, hoping to make YouTube.

Is there any responsibility that these folks owe us, the public? Wait. Did I just ask about journalistic ethics and duty? I must have forgotten what year I’m in. This is the era of O’Reilly, Beck and that other guy. TV reportage today is about volume and hubris and chest-thumping. Give me a sound bite, give me video. Content, schmontent.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

Now, here’s the opinion of some of those folks who agree with Rick Santelli. More on that from The Atlantic:

During campaign season, when the political microscope is turned to high power, anything mildly outrageous can be a theme for a day. Could CNBC’s Rick Santelli be one of those themes for the GOP?

Two websites and a petition have sprung up since Santelli’s now widely publicized on-air rant yesterday, in a pit of traders on the floor at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, against President Obama’s $75 billion plan to help struggling homeowners refinance, all in favor of Santelli’s proposal for a Chicago Tea Party in July.

“We’re thinking of having a Chicago Tea Party in July. All you capitalists that wanna show up to Lake Michigan, I’m organizing,” Santelli fumed yesterday. “We’re gonna be dumping in some derivative securities, what do you think about that?”

Turns out Santelli may not be the one organizing after all: the conservative American Free Market Fund’s American Future Fund’s petition, launched yesterday afternoon, invites signers to attend such a party in Chicago in July. 3,500 people have pledged to attend, the group says, and the idea of busing people in has been floated. That’s on top of two smaller sites dedicated to promoting Santelli’s suggestion.

“The Chicago Tea Party of 2009 will reinvigorate that American and Patriotic spirit; one that demands respect for individual rights and property,” one of the sites, www.reteaparty.com, promises.

Conservative outcry over Obama’s economic policies appears to be real. Prominent blogger Michelle Malkin has promoted several small protests against the stimulus, drawing 500 protesters (by her estimate) in Denver on the day Obama signed it. Only 28 percent of Republicans supported Obama’s stimulus according to Gallup, and 61 percent oppose his mortgage plan according to Rasmussen. The tops of all three network newscasts last night made mention of Santelli or related objections, and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) — one of three Republicans in Congress to vote for the stimulus — was jeered by protesters for the vote yesterday at a press conference in his home state.”(End of Excerpt)Read the rest here.

The battle between the classes is really heating up!

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Sean Penn:The Gentle Lion Finally Gets His Oscar!

Wow,Sean Penn sure has mellowed out over time.He no longer seems to be seething with rage.In fact,Sean Penn himself even said that he used to be a difficult person to like.And some folks still can’t stand him because he stands up for what he believes & his political antics drive so many folks mad. How many times has he met with Hugo Chavez again?

So, I think that Sean Penn was born to play Harvey Milk.Despite his tough guy image,he played the part of a tender,gay politician to the hilt! And I’m sure that he was able to draw on one similarity between himself & Harvey Milk.Sean Penn has the fortitude to stand firm in his beliefs,just like Harvey Milk did.And I respect him for not giving a damn whether you or I like his political views or not! Sean Penn used to be a ferocious lion.But now,the older,gentler lion finally gets his Oscar!

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Gary Locke:The Former Washington Governor May Become President Obama’s Commerce Secretary

America’s first Chinese-American governor may have been tapped to be President Obama’s commerce secretary.I told you that Obama loves “firsts”.And I love how he’s looking to include every nationality that makes up this vast “melting pot” called America! Here’s more from CNN:

“President Barack Obama’s pick for commerce secretary is likely to be former Washington Gov. Gary Locke, two administration sources told CNN Monday. Locke, 57, was the country’s first Chinese-American governor, elected to lead Washington in 1996 and re-elected in 2000.Prior to becoming governor, the Democrat served five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and one term as executive of King County, Washington. He was chairman of the House Appropriations Committee from 1989 to 1994.Locke would be Obama’s third nomination for the post. Obama’s first choice, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, withdrew his nomination in early January, citing the distraction of a federal investigation into ties to a company that has done business with his state.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

Let’s just hope that Gary Locke’s slate is clean. President Obama does not need any more nominees with financial issues!

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Jahna Steele:One Of Las Vegas’s Most Beautiful Showgirls Was Born A Man!

It’s been over a year since Jahna Steele passed.I first saw & heard of her in the film “Transtasia”. Her story is a very interesting one because she was once known as the most beautiful showgirl in Las Vegas.But,the angelic looking Jahna Steele was actually a man.Here’s more on her from Wikipedia:

“Jahna Erica Steele (29 September 1958 — 24 January 2008[1]) was an American transgender entertainer and Las Vegas showgirl who was voted Las Vegas’ “Sexiest Showgirl on The Strip” in 1991,[2] “Entertainer of the Year, 1992,” and “Most Beautiful Showgirl, 1993.”[3] She was fired after being outed as “a man” by a tabloid television show. Steele made numerous film and television appearances, including hosting a transgender beauty pageant featured in the film Trantasia.

Steele made her comeback in 2004 when she hosted The World’s Most Beautiful Transsexual Contest at the Riviera. [8] A documentary feature film based on the pageant, Trantasia, recognized Steele’s pioneering place in the history of the transsexual community. Steele was also featured on several segments of Entertainment Tonight in connection with Trantasia. Following the success of the film, Steele continued her singing career and was the spokesperson for Tingari Skin Care System. Steele was working on her “kiss-and-tell” autobiography, Always a Lady [9] when friends reported she died in Las Vegas.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

I hope that her sweet soul is resting peacefully.

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The Scrumptious George Clooney Is Using His Celebrity Status To Shed Light On The Crisis In Darfur!

George Clooney is such an elegant gentleman & a fine actor! But,he is also a philanthropist & an activist.Clooney is not just another superficial,shallow thespian who can only function if they have a script in their hand. George Clooney realizes just how important his celebrity status is.And he is using it to shed light on the crisis in Darfur,which proves to me that his inner self is just as lovely as his outward appearance! I wish there were more actors like him! Here’s more from The Christian Science Monitor:

“After touring Darfur refugee camps in eastern Chad last week, Hollywood heartthrob and two-time “sexiest man alive” George Clooney met separately with both President Obama and Vice President Biden on Monday night.

Mr. Clooney says he urged the two to seize the opportunity for Darfur peace that he says could arise with the International Criminal Court’s decision next week on whether to issue an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on war crimes charges. (Read Monitor Africa Bureau Chief Scott Baldauf’s story on Mr. Bashir’s efforts to gain diplomatic support.)

Clooney then told reporters that Mr. Obama would appoint high-level, full-time envoy to Darfur.

Later, Clooney appeared on CNN’s Larry King Live, pointing out that he’d worked with Obama on Darfur three years ago and that Mr. Biden “has been very vocal on the issue.”

Clooney said of his conversations with Obama and Biden: “Basically, we were just talking about coming back from Chad and right on the border of Darfur. And we were talking about there’s a moment coming up relatively soon – probably by the middle of next week – where the International Criminal Court is going to indict the president of Sudan for war crimes, which has never happened before – a sitting president.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

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President Obama’s Assurance:”America Will Emerge Stronger Than Before”!

For all of those who needed to hear uplifting words from President Obama,you got them tonight! Really,I didn’t need our president to paint a brighter picture of America’s future for me in his State of the Union address. All I’m expecting to hear is honesty,whether it is brutal or not. But, apparently there are many out there who are looking for more optimism.Why everyone is worried about how grim President Obama sounds is puzzling to me. If the situation is dire, then I’d rather be told that directly.

But, he did try to encourage those who were worried that he has been too gloomy about the current state of affairs!Here’s more on President Obama’s speech from the Times Online:

“Laying out an extraordinarily ambitious agenda that Republicans and some economists have said is unattainable, Mr Obama called for kick-starting the economy through massive stimulus spending, while expanding health coverage, reforming education and creating new sources of alternative energy — simultaneously cutting the ballooning federal budget deficit in half within four years.

“The only way this century will be another American century is if we confront at last the price of our dependence on oil and the high cost of health care; the schools that aren’t preparing our children and the mountain of debt they stand to inherit. That is our responsibility.”

Tomorrow Mr Obama will release details of his budget for the coming fiscal year, and in referring to it last night he made clear his determination to place the blame for the economic crisis on the Bush Administration.

He said the budget “reflects the stark reality of what we’ve inherited – a trillion dollar deficit, a financial crisis, and a costly recession. Given these realities, everyone in this chamber — Democrats and Republicans — will have to sacrifice some worthy priorities for which there are no dollars.“

In a clear reference to Republican opposition to the massive government intervention Mr Obama believes is needed to halt the economic crisis, he added: “But that does not mean we can afford to ignore our long-term challenges. I reject the view that says our problems will simply take care of themselves; that says government has no role in laying the foundation for our common prosperity.”

He vowed, among other cost-cutting measures, to end waste and fraud on money spent in Iraq and to reform the Pentagon “so that we’re not paying for Cold War-era weapons systems we don’t use.”

Again, in a remark aimed at Republicans, he said: “I know that we haven’t agreed on every issue thus far, and there are surely times in the future when we will part ways. But I also know that every American who is sitting here tonight loves this country and wants it to succeed. That must be the starting point for every debate we have in the coming months.”

New polls released yesterday showed that Mr Obama has overwhelming support for the way he has tried to tackle the economic crisis, with congressional Republicans’ approval ratings at barely 30 per cent.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

What I am most concerned about is not the tone of President Obama’s speeches. But the fact that,bipartisanship is a huge issue! I mean,you’ve got Michael Steele threatening to punish the three Republican senators who voted for the stimulus. Here’s more from The Huffington Post:

“During an appearance on Your World with Neil Cavuto yesterday, Michael Steele told the host that he was “open to” punishing Senators Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, and Arlen Specter for their votes on the stimulus package, by withholding RNC monies for their re-election bids.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

And then you’ve got Mitt Romney sending checks to those who voted against the stimulus,as reported by the L.A. Times:

“But anytime you see these guys like Romney, and more recently Gov. Sarah Palin, create their own PACs to support like-minded politicians (and their own political forays), they’re also creating a financial means to accumulate owsies from those fellow party members they help for use down the road.

Then Sen. Hillary Clinton sent a last-minute e-mail fundraising blast to her vast donor lists just before Nov. 4 to round up funds for Democratic candidates like Mark Begich, who won the Alaska Senate seat and will forever feel fondly toward the current secretary of State.

Today, as ABC’s perceptive Rick Klein notes, Romney’s PAC — Free and Strong America — donated $1,000 each to 11 Republican congressmen targeted in a retaliatory ad campaign by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for voting against President Obama’s economic stimulus bill. Romney praised the Republicans as “standing up for fiscal responsibility and saying no to spending abuse.”

This as the president, speaking to the nation’s governors gathered at the White House, was suggesting that opposition to parts of his spending bill was politically motivated. “There’s going to be ample time for campaigns down the road,” The Ticket quoted him as saying earlier today.

So opposition to the spending bill is politically motivated. As opposed to opposition to the opposition to the spending bill, which surely is pure-minded, well-meaning and just plain OK.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

Yes, “America will emerge stronger than before“, but only if we all pull America up by it’s bootstraps. That’s going to take a whole lot of manpower. Both Republicans & Democrats have to be willing to come together for the good of the country. Pledge allegiance to America instead of your party, Mitt Romney, Gov.Bobby Jindal, Michael Steele,Rush Limbaugh,etc…

Stop being the party of oppositon & try to become the party of solutions instead.

Nadya Suleman Can Do Porn If All Else Fails!

Nadya Suleman remains the subject of an ongoing national debate. Since she’s receiving so much attention,people are looking for ways to get a piece of the action.And I guess the porn company,Vivid Entertainment,figures they’ll reap a substantial profit if they can get Nadya Suleman to accept their $1 million dollar offer.Here’s more from NBC Los Angeles:

” Warning, you may be disgusted by this story.

Nadya “OctoMom” Suleman has been offered $1 million to make a pornographic movie by Vivid Entertainment.

The deal also includes health insurance for Suleman’s swollen family.

“Nadya obviously needs income to assure that her children are secure so we are offering her up to $1 million to act in one movie,” said Steven Hirsch, co-chairman of Vivid. “We’ve had many single mothers work with us over the years and their income from Vivid has been very helpful to them. We would schedule production so that the movie could be shot in less than a week.”

A Vivid spokesman said they hope she receives the offer in the mail today.

The story was first reported on TMZ.com, where they had a copy of the letter Vivid sent to Suleman.

In the letter, Hirsch points out that OctoMom would join the Vivid-Celeb imprint line, which has featured stars such as Pam Anderson, Kim Kardashian and former Miss USA and NBC daytime star Kelly McCarty.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

David Brooks Calls Bobby Jindal’s Response “An Unmitigated Disaster”!

David Brooks does not mince words,that’s for sure! He sure let Bobby Jindal have it for delivering that weak response to President Obama’s magnificent speech! And this is something that both democrats & republicans seems to agree on.Except for Sean Hannity who said( on his Feb. 25 show tonight) that he thought Bobby Jindal’s speech was great! Hannity claims he doesn’t understand all of the criticism.You can always depend on Sean Hannity to continue to be dishonest! He seems to be allergic to the truth because he sure stays the hell away from it! Here’s Bobby Jindal’s “response” to President Obama’s address. Despite Sean Hannity & Rush Limbaugh’s claims that the criticism is unwarranted,you will see why most folks agree with David Brooks. Jindal’s speech is shockingly bad.

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Salma Hayek:La Chica Bonita!!!

Salma Hayek is the stuff of dreams! She is the Rita Hayworth of our times. A undeniably beautiful,sexy,& classy femme fatale! I’m sure she has left a lot of broken hearts in her path. But,not anymore! She has captured the heart of the French billionaire who fathered her baby girl. Here’s more from Vogue:

“ONE of fashion’s most famous on-off relationships took a happy turn on St Valentine’s Day when actress Salma Hayek married her fashion mogul beau, Francois-Henri Pinault. What started as a rumour this weekend became official this morning as the French magazine owned by the Pinault family, Le Point, announced the nuptials.

The report confirms Hayek and Pinault were married on Saturday, in the City Hall of the Sixth Arrondissement, in central Paris. The Mayor of the borough, Jean-Pierre Lecoq, subsequently confirmed the report to French news agency Agence France-Presse.

The couple initially confirmed their engagement in March 2007 when the Mexican actress-producer also confirmed she was expecting her first child. Their daughter, Valentina Paloma Pinault, arrived in September 2007 - but in July 2008 they announced the engagement was off.

US magazine People reported that recent trips Hayek made to Paris, towards the end of last year may have revived the relationship – and that public displays of affection at the Dubai Film Festival fuelled rumours that the marriage could be back on.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

Rita Hayworth:The Love Goddess!

Rita Hayworth is known as one of America’s greatest stars.Of Spanish-Irish & English descent,Rita Hayworth was a flamenco dancer & one of the biggest musical stars of the 1940′s! Not only that,she also was one of the most requested wartime pinup girls!Even though she was known for her beautiful red hair,she was actually a natural brunette! And this shy beauty was once married to a prince,like Grace Kelly!Here’s more on the American “love goddess” from Wikipedia:

“Rita Hayworth (October 17, 1918 – May 14, 1987), was an American actress who attained fame during the 1940s not only as one of the era’s top musical stars, but also as the era’s defining sex symbol, most notably in the 1946 film Gilda. She is listed as one of American Film Institute’s (AFI) Greatest Stars of All Time.

Margarita Carmen Cansino, better known as Rita Hayworth, was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Spanish flamenco dancer Eduardo Cansino (Sr.) and English/Irish-American Ziegfeld girl Volga Hayworth.Hayworth was on stage by the age of six as a member of The Cansinos, a famous family of Spanish dancers working in vaudeville. Also, her father had performed in a dancing duo with his sister, and later revived the duo with his daughter Rita as his dancing partner, performing in nightclubs in California and the Foreign Club in Tijuana, Mexico. At age sixteen, she attracted the attention of film producers as part of “The Dancing Cansinos” and was signed by Fox Studios in 1935.

After her option was not renewed by Fox, Rita Cansino freelanced at minor film studios before signing with Columbia Pictures in 1937.In 1937, Margarita Carmen Cansino became Rita Hayworth. After two more years of minor roles, she gave an impressive performance in Howard Hawks’ Only Angels Have Wings (1939), as part of an ensemble cast headed by Cary Grant. Her sensitive portrayal of a disillusioned wife sparked the interest of other studios. Between assignments at Columbia Pictures, she was borrowed by Metro Goldwyn Mayer for George Cukor’s Susan and God (1940) with Joan Crawford and Warner Brothers for Raoul Walsh’s The Strawberry Blonde (1941) with James Cagney.

While on loan to Fox Studios for Rouben Mamoulian’s Blood and Sand (1941) starring Tyrone Power, Hayworth achieved stardom with her sizzling performance as the amoral and seductive Doña Sol des Muire. This Technicolor film forever branded her as one of Hollywood’s most beautiful redheads. Gene Tierney was originally intended for the role but was dropped by Darryl F. Zanuck when she eloped with Oleg Cassini. Carole Landis was the next choice for the role, but refused to dye her blonde hair red and was replaced by Rita Hayworth prior to filming. Fox then borrowed Hayworth from Columbia and dyed her dark brown hair auburn which soon became her best remembered feature. Her stardom was solidified when she made the cover of Time Magazine as Fred Astaire’s new dancing partner in You’ll Never Get Rich (1941).

Rita left her film career in 1948 to marry Prince Aly Khan, the son of the Aga Khan, the leader of the Ismaili sect of Shia Islam. Initially Hayworth and Prince Aly had trysts at the Pontchartrain Hotel in New Orleans. The couple moved to Europe, causing a media frenzy. Joseph L. Mankiewicz, in writing and directing 1954′s The Barefoot Contessa, was said to have based his title character, Maria Vargas (played on film by Ava Gardner), on Hayworth’s life and her marriage to Aly Khan.After the marriage collapsed in 1951, Hayworth returned to America with great fanfare to film a string of hit films.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

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Mardi Gras Began On Feb. 27,1827!

There was a lot of violence at this year’s Mardi Gras! People seem to forget that this is more than just one humongous party!It is actually the celebration of the beginning of Lent!But,this isn’t the first time that this carnival has seen violent behavior.That,unfortunately,is a part of the long history of Mardi Gras! Here’s more from History.com:

“On this day in 1827, a group of masked and costumed students dance through the streets of New Orleans, Louisiana, marking the beginning of the city’s famous Mardi Gras celebrations.

The celebration of Carnival–or the weeks between Twelfth Night on January 6 and Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Christian period of Lent–spread from Rome across Europe and later to the Americas. Nowhere in the United States is Carnival celebrated as grandly as in New Orleans, famous for its over-the-top parades and parties for Mardi Gras (or Fat Tuesday), the last day of the Carnival season.

Though early French settlers brought the tradition of Mardi Gras to Louisiana at the end of the 17th century, Spanish governors of the province later banned the celebrations. After Louisiana became part of the United States in 1803, New Orleanians managed to convince the city council to lift the ban on wearing masks and partying in the streets. The city’s new Mardi Gras tradition began in 1827 when the group of students, inspired by their experiences studying in Paris, donned masks and jester costumes and staged their own Fat Tuesday festivities.

The parties grew more and more popular, and in 1833 a rich plantation owner named Bernard Xavier de Marigny de Mandeville raised money to fund an official Mardi Gras celebration. After rowdy revelers began to get violent during the 1850s, a secret society called the Mistick Krewe of Comus staged the first large-scale, well-organized Mardi Gras parade in 1857.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

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Alex Haley:The Famous American Author Had More Than African “Roots”!

Alex Haley is a great American author who wrote about his own lineage in the epic Roots which became a very popular television miniseries & the subject of great controversy.Here’s more on that from Wikipedia:

“In 1976, Haley published , a novel based loosely on his family’s history, starting with the story of Kunta Kinte, kidnapped in Gambia in 1767 and transported to the Province of Maryland to be sold as a slave. Haley claimed to be a seventh-generation descendant of Kunta Kinte, and Haley’s work on the novel involved ten years of research, intercontinental travel and writing.

He went to the village of Juffure, where Kunta Kinte grew up and which is still in existence, and listened to a tribal historian tell the story of Kinte’s capture.[1] Haley also traced the records of the ship, The Lord Ligonier, which he said carried his ancestor to America. Genealogists have since disputed Haley’s research and conclusions and Haley made an out-of-court settlement with Harold Courlander, who had sued him for plagiarism.

Haley was briefly a “writer in residence” at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. He began to write “Roots” there. Many local people remember Haley fondly. He enjoyed spending time at a local bistro “The Savoy” in Rome New York where he listened to the piano player. Today, there is a special table in honor of Haley with a painting of Alex writing “Roots” on a yellow legal tablet.Haley said the most emotional moment of his life was on September 29, 1967, when he stood at the site in Annapolis, Maryland where his ancestor had arrived 200 years before.

Roots was eventually published in 37 languages and Haley won a Special Award for it in 1977 from the Pulitzer Board. Roots was also made into a popular television miniseries that year. The film reached a record-breaking 130 million viewers when it was serialized on television. Roots emphasized that African Americans have a long history and that not all of that history is lost, as many believed. Its popularity sparked an increased public interest in genealogy, as well.In 1979, ABC aired the sequel miniseries Roots: The Next Generations, which continued the story of Kunta Kinte’s descendants, concluding with Haley’s arrival in Jufureh. Haley was portrayed (at various ages) by future soap opera actor Kristoff St. John, The Jeffersons actor Damon Evans, and Tony Award winner James Earl Jones.

In the late 1980s, Haley began working on a second historical novel based on another branch of his family, traced through his grandmother Queen—the daughter of a black slave woman and her white master. Haley died in Seattle, Washington of a heart attack with the story unfinished and was buried beside his childhood home in Henning, Tennessee. At his request, it was finished by David Stevens and was published as Alex Haley’s Queen; it was subsequently made into a movie in 1993.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

Although most of his research has been disputed regarding  Roots, it seems that there is scientific evidence that supports the research he did for the book  Queen.Here’s more on that from the Telegraph:

“The tests have established that Haley – whose work is credited with helping transform the self-image of millions of black Americans – is directly descended from a Scottish paternal bloodline. The findings came after a sample of DNA from Haley’s nephew Chris Haley matched that of his distant cousin June Baff-Black, who lives in Wales and whose shared lineage starts in 17th century Scotland. Until recently, Chris Haley had only word of mouth family history to show that his great, great-grandfather had been born of an African slave mother and white Scottish father, both of whom lived and worked on a slave plantation in the US.

The findings, by the website Ancestry.co.uk, are the first scientific confirmation of Alex Haley’s own research in which he traced his ancestry back to William Baugh (a variation of Baff) – an overseer of an Alabama slave plantation – who was thought to have fathered a child with a female slave, called Sabrina, or “Viney“. Their son, named Alec, is thought to have been born between 1850 and 1860. Alex Haley, who died in 1992, traced this side of his family history in his book Queen, which followed the biographical novel ‘Roots: the Saga of an American Family’.

He was unable to fully prove his research by traditional genealogical methods using birth, marriage and death certificates and parish records, as his ancestors were African-American slaves and so very little documentation about them existed. Since many female slaves were raped by their owners there was frequently no record of the true father. Instead Haley relied on the oral histories handed down from generation to generation as his primary source of ancestral information.”(End of Excerpt)Read the rest here.

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It Seems That The British Government Aren’t Treating Their Veterans Right Either!

America is not the only country whose treatment of military veterans is greatly lacking.The mental health of American veterans is an issue that is not being properly addressed.It has been reported that there are more deaths from suicide than combat in the American army. Still,it’s an issue that barely receives coverage in the media. I saw one CNN report about the treatment of American veterans.

Now,a Victoria Cross hero is speaking out about the British Army’s treatment of it’s veterans.Here’s more from the Telegraph:

“Lance Corporal Johnson Beharry, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for twice saving the lives of colleagues in Iraq while under heavy rocket fire, said it was “disgraceful” that some veterans struggled to receive treatment that is rightfully theirs.

He said the Government was relying on military charities to cover its own failings and called on ministers to do more to help the growing number of his comrades suffering from severe combat stress, depression and mental breakdowns.

In his most outspoken interview since receiving the VC four years ago, L/Cpl Beharry told The Independent: “These are people who have served this country. Why can’t they get treatment? I don’t think the Government is doing enough for soldiers.

“Those who are still serving get some form of help for combat stress but even those who are serving don’t get enough support.”

L/Cpl Beharry became the Army’s most high-profile war hero when he was awarded the VC for “repeated extreme gallantry and unquestioned valour” for the two rescues in May and June 2004 “despite a harrowing weight of incoming fire”.

He was almost killed when a rocket-propelled grenade exploded six inches from his head during an attack on his convoy. Despite receiving horrific injuries, six weeks later he drove his vehicle out of an ambush and again saved his crew.

While serving with the 1st Battalion, The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment in Al Amarah in the summer of 2004, L/Cpl Beharry’s unit came under fierce attack more than 800 times.

The 29-year-old, who is still a serving soldier, has decided that it is time for him to stand up for the thousands of servicemen and women still suffering from post-traumatic and combat stress, having served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He broke his silence to reveal that almost five years after the incidents for which he was decorated, he still suffers from the severe injuries he received and is still racked by mental anguish and excruciating pain.

He said he has received first-rate treatment, but has chosen to speak out on behalf of less high-profile service personnel, criticising the fact that charities have been forced to step in where the Government has failed.

He described it as an outrage that former military personnel were forced to wait for NHS treatment: “I think it is disgraceful that an ex-serviceman or woman has to go to the NHS. The Government should have something in place for ex-servicemen and women.”

L/Cpl Beharry described the nightmares, mood swings and irrational rages that plagued many soldiers.”(End of Excerpt)Read the rest here.

Sir Allen Stanford:His Sordid Sex Life & The Sean Hannity Connection!

I knew that this story would get juicier & juicier! That’s why I waited for more titillating details to come out about the latest major financial fraud.Although he didn’t steal nearly as much as Bernie Madoff, Sir Allen Stanford bilked an untold amount of folks out of $9 billion dollars.And Sean Hannity endorsed Sir Allen Stanford to thousands of potential customers,as Rick Sanchez reports in this video! Hannity’s America is going broke if they listened to this joker’s advice.Here’s more on Sir Allen Stanford’s sordid sex life from The Daily Mail:

“Stanford is, of course, the self-styled banking billionaire who promised to pump millions into international cricket, but who is now under investigation in his native America for money laundering and fraud on an extraordinary scale – a suspected £5.3bill

And last week his glamorous right-hand woman, the statuesque ‘ice maiden’ Laura Pendergest-Holt, was charged with obstructing the investigations.Now The Mail on Sunday can reveal that the hulking Texan’s personal life is as tangled and secretive as his business empire.

He remains married to Susan, his wife of 34 years, by whom he has a daughter, Randi, 26. But his father, James Stanford, 81, confirmed last night that his son has at least four other children by  mistresses known as his ‘outside wives’.

He has been paying more than £150,000 a year to support the children according to court records and other public documents seen by The Mail on Sunday.

Mr Stanford Snr said: ‘I felt bad for Susan, him having all these outside wives and all these kids. I wouldn’t have approved of it but I heard about it after the fact.’

This lifestyle is at odds with the rather grand image Stanford Jnr has created for himself. His knighthood – a Caribbean title which he misleadingly claimed was bestowed upon him by the Queen – prompted him to affect a vaguely British accent.

He bought a moated mansion in Miami, which he called Tyecliffe Castle, and insisted he was more at home at a cricket match than at American baseball games. He sponsored the Sandhurst Cup polo competition, attended by the Prince of Wales.

He even claimed to be related to the founder of the elite Stanford University in California until it denied any relationship and then filed a trademark infringement against him for misusing its good name.

But Stanford’s pretence at old-money grandeur is nothing new. His wedding in Susan’s home town of Teague, Texas, on a hot September evening in 1975 was reported in the local newspaper as if it were a dynastic match, with the bride adorned in ‘Venice lace, lavishly appliqued on white English net’.

Teague, however, turns out to be a dusty rural town on the scorched cattle prairie of Texas and even more insignificant than nearby Mexia, where Stanford was born.

Susan’s father was a train conductor and her parents own a simple bungalow on a street where their nearest neighbour lives in a trailer.

Susan was a dental hygienist and Stanford, whose father inherited an insurance business, ran a chain of health clubs. His mother, Sammie, was a nurse.

Mr Stanford Snr lives to this day in a modest cottage. ‘Allen didn’t take after me with his lifestyle,’ he said. ‘You could compare him more, I suppose, to Sammie. When he was nine, she took off with another man and took Allen and his brother with her. She had three more husbands after me.’

By the time he made his first fortune in Texas real estate in the Eighties, Stanford was already an accomplished womaniser. ‘He met his first outside wife through the business,’ his father said.

The Mail on Sunday has established that the tycoon has a son, Reid Allen Stanford, 17, by a woman who goes by the name of Susan Stanford-Mahan.

She once worked for his health clubs and now, at 53, lives with Reid in a brick mansion on a gated estate in Frisco, a Dallas suburb.

Reached by phone, she said: ‘I am sorry, you have the wrong number.’

Another outside wife, Beki Reeves-Stanford, 54, lives on the smart Florida island of Key Biscayne. According to public records, she had a son, Robert Allen Stanford Jnr, in 1993 whose father is Robert Allen Stanford Snr.

The third outside wife is Louise Sage, from Dartford, Kent, by whom he has two children – Ross, 13, and Allena, 11. He introduced Ms Sage to his father, who said they seemed ‘close’.

The tycoon’s long-suffering wife Susan petitioned for a divorce in November 2007. The proceedings are still going on.”(End of Excerpt)Read the rest here.

As you can see,Sir Allen Stanford lived a life that was full of pretense!He was a fake Brit who loved cricket.Now,all of his bullshit has hit the fan & it’s blowing right back in his face! What a cad!

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Pinky:The Rare Albino Dolphin That Has Been Spotted In Louisiana’s Lake Calcasieu!

This dolphin looks so vividly pink that it’s almost hard to believe that it isn’t a Disney Pixar creation! Only in America will you find the beautiful pink Bottlenose dolphin.What a magical looking creature! Here’s more on this rare albino dolphin from the Telegraph:

“The world’s only pink Bottlenose dolphin which was discovered in an inland lake in Louisiana, USA, has become such an attraction that conservationists have warned tourists to leave it alone.

Charter boat captain Erik Rue, 42, photographed the animal, which is actually an albino, when he began studying it after the mammal first surfaced in Lake Calcasieu, an inland saltwater estuary, north of the Gulf of Mexico in southwestern USA.

Capt Rue originally saw the dolphin, which also has reddish eyes, swimming with a pod of four other dolphins, with one appearing to be its mother which never left its side.

He said: “I just happened to see a little pod of dolphins, and I noticed one that was a little lighter.

“It was absolutely stunningly pink.

“I had never seen anything like it. It’s the same color throughout the whole body and it looks like it just came out of a paint booth.

“The dolphin appears to be healthy and normal other than its coloration, which is quite beautiful and stunningly pink.

“The mammal is entirely pink from tip to tail and has reddish eyes indicating it’s albinism. The skin appears smooth, glossy pink and without flaws.

“I have personally spotted the pink dolphin 40 to 50 times in the time since the original sighting as it has apparently taken up residence with its family in the Calcasieu ship channel.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

The Folks Who Might Be On Nancy Pelosi’s D-Day List!

Nancy Pelosi looks like a shifty character. I’m sure that President Obama has more than one set of eyes on Ms. Pelosi. If he doesn’t,he will regret it.Something about her looks totally untrustworthy.I didn’t believe her when she told Rachel Maddow that she didn’t know that they were going to actually use enhanced interrogation methods.In other words,she denied that she knew that our government allowed people to be tortured.But,you could tell that she wasn’t being truthful. It’s all in her body language.

And she really looked irked by Rachel Maddow’s questions about what she knew.Politico.com has a very interesting article about Nancy Pelosi’s habit of making lists.They claim that she has a “disfavor file” which consists of all of those who have gotten on her bad side.After that interview with Rachel Maddow,I suspect that Nancy Pelosi might be considering adding her to the aforementioned D-day list! Here’s more on that list from Politico.com:

“But she has also moved to strip power from longtime adversaries — and she has a propensity for remembering slights and grievances for years. Hawkish Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), who clashed with Pelosi on Iraq and intelligence policy, assumed she was in line to become chairwoman of the Intelligence Committee when the Democrats seized control of the House in 2006. But Pelosi refused to appoint Harman to even a seat on the committee, and she handed the chairmanship to Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas).

As speaker, she did nothing to stop her ally Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) from ousting Rep. John Dingell as chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee after clashing with the octogenarian Michigan Democrat on energy policy and global warming.The list, Pelosi allies say, is real — even as they warn that overstating her vindictiveness feeds into the right-wing caricatures of Pelosi and perpetuates ethnic and gender stereotypes.

Moreover, they argue that portraying her as payback-obsessed misses a fundamental political point: Despite her commanding majority, Pelosi is painfully aware that powerful speakers, including Republican Joe Cannon, have been toppled for using their power heavy-handedly. “She’s not a vengeful person, per se, and she thinks that people who do bad things eventually get their due without her intervention,” a longtime associate said on condition of anonymity. “But that doesn’t mean she forgets.”

So who’s on Pelosi’s list now?

1. Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.). No Democrat has done quite so much in so short a time to arouse Pelosi’s disdain as the failed-Redskins-quarterback-turned-ambitious-North-Carolina-congressman. The conservative, anti-abortion Shuler would have made the list for voting against both bank bailout bills and the stimulus package, but the way he went about it didn’t help; Shuler told an audience back home that “House leadership and Senate leadership have really failed” on the $787 billion package. The thing that riles Pelosi most, according to several House aides, is that she believes Shuler’s motives are as much political as they are ideological — and that he’s picking a fight with her to position himself for a run against Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) next year. Unless Shuler is planning a long House career, picking a fight with Pelosi may indeed have its advantages: His 2006 opponent, incumbent GOP Rep. Charles Taylor, scored points by portraying Shuler as a Pelosi acolyte. “I don’t know if Shuler is talking without thinking or if he’s just making the calculation that distancing himself from Pelosi is never a bad thing to do,” said a senior House leadership aide.

2. Rush Limbaugh. He’s Pelosi’s sworn enemy — and she views him as beneath contempt and unworthy of her comment. Asked about the right-wing talk-radio king the other day, Pelosi said: “I don’t speak to that. I’m the speaker of the House. I don’t get into the popular culture.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

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David Letterman:He Calls It Like He Sees It! Rush Limbaugh Is A Serious Bonehead!

David Letterman has more street cred than Michael Steele could ever dream of having! He’s not afraid of Rush Limbaugh! The big,tall man of Steele was reduced to a whimpering baby mouse by Limbaugh! Did you hear about Steele’s pathetic apology to Rush Limbaugh? Since when did a belligerent, former drug addict command this much respect? Is this what our society has come to?

Can you believe how many grown men have been reduced to mice by Rush Limbaugh? It’s really astonishing! Here’s more on one man who isn’t bending over for Limbaugh from The Huffington Post:

“David Letterman had CBS News anchor Katie Couric doubled over with laughter when he referred to Rush Limbaugh as a “bonehead” and described his shirt-unbuttoned appearance at the recent CPAC conference as that of an “East European gangster.”

Though Couric didn’t take the bait during her guest appearance on Monday night, she did admit to feeling uncomfortable to hear the words Rush Limbaugh and flesh in the same sentence and joked with Letterman,

“So much for my interview with Rush.”(End of Excerpt)Read the rest here.

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President Obama Has The British Prime Minister Practically Fawning All Over Him! And Some Brits Have Grown Weary Of It!

President Obama has got some great approval ratings.The spotlight is shining bright on him at the moment. And you know what they say! Everyone wants to be in the spotlight. Especially those who are hoping that some of the good will & cheer that surrounds Obama is contagious. Folks like the British Prime minister,Gordon Brown,are vying for every opportunity that they can to be with the most popular guy in the world!With his low approval ratings,Gordon Brown is desperate for any opportunity that he can get to turn the tide around. But, some Brits have remarked that their Prime Minister seems a little too eager to forge a relationship with President Obama.Here’s more from the Telegraph:

“Gordon Brown hasn’t even arrived here in Washington yet and I’m feeling slightly queasy. Of course, Britain should want to be a pre-eminent ally of the United States. But do we need to be quite so crawlingly needy and obvious about it? The way the British government craves approval from President Barack Obama is humiliating, and very probably counter-productive.

If you want an example of how embarrassing the transatlantic wooing has become then check out this Times article by Gordon Brown designed set the tone for his visit to Washington tomorrow. Here are a few lowlights from the article, and a couple of other examples of gratuitous obsequiousness.

1. “Winston Churchill described the joint inheritance of Britain and America as not just a shared history but a shared belief in the great principles of freedom and the rights of man – what Barack Obama has described as the enduring power of our ideals – democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.” (Gordon Brown article)

Where to begin with this? First of all, is it sensible to cite  when Obama has just returned the Churchill bust loaned to President George W. Bush? Second, the implication here is that Churchill talked of “democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope” as being enduring transatlantic principles. In fact, this is a line from Obama’s victory speech on election night and he wasn’t talking about Britain. Does Brown think Obama won’t notice?

2. “And as America stands at its own dawn of hope, I want that hope to be fulfilled through us all coming together to shape the 21st century as the first century of a truly global society.” (Gordon Brown article)

Is it really necessary to describe Obama’s election as representing America’s “own dawn of hope”? Hope was Obama’s campaign slogan (and one suspects that the word getting quoted back at him by people asking for something might be getting a little tiresome) and this platitude-laden sentence reads like it came from “Hello” magazine.

3. “I have visited America many times and have many friends there, and as prime minister I want to do more to strengthen even further our relationship with America.” (Gordon Brown article)

It’s great that Brown has holidayed in Cape Cod but no one in the US really gives a monkeys about that and mentioning it seems a tad, well, desperate.

4. “And there is no international partnership in recent history that has served the world better than the special relationship between Britain and the United States.” (Gordon Brown article)

This before meeting a president who built his campaign on having opposed the Iraq war and has written that the US “can no longer afford to go to the UN prepared for war, armed only with the signatures of Britain and Togo”. Maybe it was still on the laptop from Tony Blair remarks alongside President George W. Bush.

5.”That is why President Obama and I will discuss this week a global new deal, whose impact can stretch from the villages of Africa to reforming the financial institutions of London and New York- and giving security to the hard-working families in every country.” (Gordon Brown article)

Global new deal? Obama’s domestic agenda is in many respects an attempt to secure a 21^st Century New Deal. That’s ambitious enough. For Brown to suggest an Anglo-American-led “global new deal” that can give security to “hard-working families in every country” is so far-fetched as to be meaningless.“(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

The New Ike & Tina:Chris Brown Told Rihanna,”I’m Going To Kill You!”

Are we watching history repeat itself right before our eyes? Because this Chris Brown & Rihanna debacle sounds like the movie,”What’s Love Got To Do With It?” And I’m not the only one making that observation.There are polls asking if you think that Chris Brown & Rihanna are the new Ike & Tina Turner.

Since it’s been revealed that there was prior abuse,I would say that Rihanna & Chris Brown should hold that title.Especially since Rihanna has allegedly gone back to Chris Brown. If so,she can look forward to having the same abusive kind of relationship that Ike & Tina had! Good luck with that,girl! Here’s more on that from the Chicago-Sun-Times:

From all we saw, the two seem clean-cut. More than a few parents probably thought, now these are entertainers we don’t mind the kids’ emulating. They’re both incredibly attractive. Rihanna always is dressed in the hottest fashions, dazzling us with that gorgeous smile of hers. No paparazzi photos of her flashing her private parts or falling down drunk like so many other young female entertainers. It sounds corny but it’s true: Rihanna seems ladylike.

Brown’s a cutie too, and he gives off a good-guy image. It’s not unusual to see him in a tie and preppy attire, rather than the straight-off-Cellblock-Five wardrobe so many other young male singers wear.

And their relationship, at least the part we see in the media, seemed pretty wholesome. I mean, we saw photos of them on a date at an amusement park. How old-fashioned is that?

We like to think that a male who is abusive will look the part. Well, it doesn’t always happen that way. This incident compelled me to pull out my copy of I Closed My Eyes: Revelations of a Battered Woman, Chicago journalist Michele Weldon’s candid book about the domestic violence in her former marriage to what seemed like the perfect guy.

“A man who becomes abusive does not have horns, drool venom, sweat poison or even warn you that he is not what he seems. No, he is most likely the one your girlfriends wish they had married. He is most likely the man in the room they all wish they knew better,” Weldon writes.

Celebrities like to stand in the spotlight when things are going well. This time, for the sake of impressionable teens, we need Rihanna and Brown to come forward. They need to be good role models in this situation as well. We need to hear them talk about what professional counseling they’re undergoing to make sure there’s no future abuse. Brown saying he’s “saddened, reflective,” isn’t gonna cut it.

If teenage girls are willing to get their hair cut like Rihanna and buy the makeup she touts, what other behavior will they consider following? How many young men will think, well, if Chris Brown can do it. . . . Somehow, we’ve got to get the message to our teens that this time, we don’t want them to be like Chris Brown and Rihanna.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

But,what’s really a shame is that Rihanna could really take a stand against domestic violence. On this issue,though,Rihanna’s silence is deafening.Unlike a lot of women worldwide,Rihanna’s case has received a lot of attention & people are on her side.In many countries,the abuser is the one who receives the sympathy,as if the woman caused the abuse! Here’s more on the international fight against gender violence from IPS News:

“A 113-page landmark U.N. study on gender violence says women continue to be victims of sexual harassment, human trafficking and blatant discrimination worldwide.

Violence against women persists in every country in the world as a pervasive violation of human rights and a major impediment to achieving gender equality,” says the first-ever in-depth report on gender violence released Monday by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Such violence is unacceptable “whether perpetrated by the state and its agents or by family members or strangers, in the public or private sphere, in peacetime or in times of conflict.”

The study, which is critical of U.N. member states that have failed to adopt laws criminalising violence against women, was drafted by an advisory committee of 10 high-level internationally recognised experts in the field of gender violence.

At least 102 of the 192 member states have no specific legal provisions on domestic violence, while marital rape is not a prosecutable offence in about 53 countries.

Only 93 states have some legislative provision prohibiting human trafficking. “Where legislation exists, it is often inadequate in its scope and coverage and/or not effectively implemented,” the report notes.

It also points out that many member states do not have sufficient support measures in place for women victims of violence.

“They also lack systematic and reliable data on violence against women that is needed to inform strategies to overcome such violence.” In addition, it says, discriminatory traditions, customs and stereotypes persist that perpetuate discrimination against women, placing them at risk of violence.

One European study quoted in the U.N. report says that of the 1,322 marriages across six villages in Kyrgyzstan, nearly half of the marriages were the result of kidnappings, and that as many as two-thirds were non-consensual.

In Britain, a Forced Marriage Unit established by the government has intervened in 300 cases of forced marriages a year.

And according to official crime statistics in India, 6,822 women were killed in 2002 as a result of violence related to demands for dowry – the payment of cash or goods by the bride’s family to the groom’s family.

The U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) has estimated that 5,000 women are murdered by family members each year worldwide in “honour killings” – crimes against women in the name of safeguarding “honour” within the family or the community.

According to the U.S.-based Alabama Coalition Against Domestic Violence, “40 percent of teenage girls, ages 14 to 17, say they know someone their age who has been hit or beaten by a boyfriend – and one of five college females will experience some form of dating violence.”

Jessica Neuwirth, president of Equality Now, said the new U.N. study is clear and comprehensive, and it notes repeatedly the connection between violence and discrimination against women.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

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I Know Michael Moore Is Happy That Dr. Sanjay Gupta Won’t Be America’s Next Surgeon General!

Dr. Sanjay Gupta has turned down the offer to become the next Surgeon General. Although I thought he would have been great,there are some folks who are far from being impressed by Dr. Gupta. Michael Moore made his qualms with Dr. Gupta known on Larry King,which I discussed in a previous post. But,he wasn’t the only one who had some misgivings about Dr. Gupta. Here’s more from Respectful Insolence:

“As I was sitting in the O.R. lounge yesterday afternoon between cases, the television in the lounge was tuned to CNN. One thing I noted was some rather fawning coverage of President Bush regarding the military that seemed as though it belonged on FOX News rather than CNN. Not long after that, Wolf Blitzer breathlessly reported that CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, had apparently been approached by the Obama Transition Team about becoming the new Surgeon General. I thought to myself, “Hmmm. That’s interesting.” And then I went back to the O.R. to finish up my schedule.

Later on, I just so happened to check my stats, and I noticed a Pharyngulanche. Apparently, P.Z. Myers was incredibly unimpressed by this pick because he seems to view Dr. Gupta as some sort of tool of the capitalist health care system. Oddly enough, he wondered what my opinion was referring to me as “that ol’ conservative.” Of course, these days I’m about as centrist as they come, perhaps slightly right of center, but compared to the predominate groupthink of the ScienceBlogs collective I might as well be a member of the John Birch Society compared to the flaming liberals that surround me. Or at least, so it seems. However, PZ is a the Big Kahuna among ScienceBloggers, and he was nice enough to boost my traffic for a day. So it would be churlish not to weigh in. Besides, everyone else and his grandmother around here appears to be doing the same, and, far be it from me as–gulp–a grand old man of the medical blogosphere (hey, four years is a really long time in terms of blog time)–to deny him or the rest of my readers my stunning insights, for which, no doubt, all wait anxiously with bated breath. (How’s that for a surgical ego?)

Suffice it to say that I, too, am unimpressed, but not for the same reason that PZ is. Indeed, it has little or nothing to do with politics. In this, I’m afraid I’ll be having a rare disagreement with blog buds PalMD, who thinks the appointment is pretty cool, and Abel Pharmboy, who admires Dr. Gupta’s communication skills. It’s pretty unusual for me to disagree with them, but, hey, it sometimes happens.

My reasons for not being too thrilled with Dr. Gupta as the new Surgeon General come down to two areas. First, like Val Jones, I think he lacks gravitas. He’s too young and has no experience as the administrator of a large organization, which is important. Although the Surgeon General is an important position, it is not a policy-making position but rather primarily an administrative position. Dr. Gupta’s academic rank is only Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery, and his other position, Associate Chief of the Neurosurgery Service at Grady Memorial Hospital, isn’t sufficient administrative experience to prepare him to administer the Public Health Service. In brief, the Surgeon General is the chief medical officer for the 6,000 strong Commissioned Corps of the US Public Health Service. It is also an advisory position, being the primary medical science advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Health, who in turn is the principal advisor to the Secretary of Health and Human Services on public health and scientific issues. Depending on what the President wants, the Surgeon General can be simply an administrator with little public role, but an unofficial role of the Surgeon General is to be “America’s chief doctor.”

It is that second role of the Surgeon General that makes me somewhat less than thrilled with the apparent selection of Dr. Gupta. A Surgeon General’s influence with the public and with policy makers derives primarily from his gravitas and his persuasiveness. If the Surgeon General is perceived as a lightweight, legislators and the U.S. public will pay him little mind. One reason that Dr. C. Everett Koop was so influential was because his long history as a pediatric surgeon and his manner led him to be respected throughout the medical community and by policy makers and the movers and shakers in HHS. I just can’t see Dr. Gupta commanding that sort of respect, given his history as a talking head.

However, what concerns me most about Dr. Gupta is his relationship with science-based medicine. Being a medical correspondent is a tough job to have and still stay true to science- and evidence-based medicine. The temptation to “sex a story up” or to do credulous puff pieces about the latest “alternative” medicine in order to drive ratings is strong, and it takes a strong commitment to be able to resist them. In this, Dr. Gupta has made some high profile stumbles. Chris Mooney points out how poorly he performed in the Clonaid fiasco. In actuality, this is something about Dr. Gupta that I had not heard about. I do remember the Raelians and their claim, presented without any evidence, that they had cloned a human being. But I either did not see or hear about Dr. Gupta’s credulous report on the Raelians. It was truly a low point for medical journalism in the last decade, and he was at the center of it. As Mooney points out, he may not have been a willing participant. He may have been inexperienced then. He may not have been confident enough in his position to say no. However, his involvement with that story does not give me confidence in his judgment.

What concerns me even more that that is that, when it comes to one of the most important threats to public health of our time, the antivaccine movement, specifically the movement that claims that vaccines cause autism, Dr. Gupta has shown a maddening tendency to straddle the fence and play both sides in his reporting. His coverage of the Hannah Poling case, in particular, was distressingly credulous, so much so that the crank blog Age of Autism approved of it heartily. Meanwhile, on his own blog, Dr. Gupta was disturbingly sympathetic to the antivaccine viewpoint:

I want to continue the discussion today. Couple of points. First of all, it seems as if parents bring up concerns about vaccines, they are automatically portrayed as anti-vaccine. Why is that? Is it possible to completely believe in the power and benefits of vaccines, but still have legitimate and credible concerns?”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

And here’s more on why Dr. Sanjay Gupta turned down the job from ABC News:

Sanjay Gupta says he is no longer in the running to be the nation’s next surgeon general, CNN reported today, as President Obama brought health care to center stage.

CNN cited his desire to continue working instead as a neurosurgeon and CNN medical analyst. His wife is pregnant with their third child.

It has been two months since ABC News first learned that Obama was paging CNN journalist Dr. Sanjay Gupta to become the nation’s next surgeon general.

Since early January, several people have speculated about what was taking the celebrity doctor so long to answer the call.

And despite some concerns about Gupta’s qualifications, some said the reason the surgeon general selection had not been formally announced since Gupta’s name leaked on Jan. 6 may not have had anything to do with Gupta himself.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

When George Bush Talked About Barbara Bush,The Look Of Love Was All Over His Face!

I know that this isn’t the first time that George H.W. Bush has wept openly.He broke down in tears several years ago during a speech he gave about his two sons.But today,he got extremely emotional when he talked about Barbara Bush’s recovery from open heart surgery.It was quite touching.This is one man who really loves his wife.It’s written all over his face!

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Michael Jackson:People Still Go Wacko Over Jacko!

I wish that Michael Jackson could go back to how he looked in the 1980′s. Because the new pasty M.J. looks like a deformed, Japanese animated character!But,I won’t get into his facial oddities here.You can go here to get the history of his transformation from a black man to a man that is totally devoid of color!His weird addiction to plastic surgery & young boys are two of the main reasons why he’s no longer big in America! Not to mention the fact that his music is just not what it used to be. Here’s more on his comeback from The Rolling Stone:

The plan to bring Jackson to the O2 has reportedly been in the works for two years. AEG Live will coordinate the event. Tickets go on sale next Wednesday, March 13th. Fans can register for the chance to buy tickets on MichaelJacksonLive.com; the ticket sale will be similar to the Led Zeppelin reunion one, where registering results in a unique password that gives the user the chance to buy up to four tickets.

Given the rumored decline of Jackson’s health, British bookmakers — who apparently take bets on everything — are already giving odds that Jackson doesn’t perform at all, or at least doesn’t complete the run of 10 shows. For Jackson, the concerts would be his first performance of any kind since he sang a couple lines of “We Are The World” at the World Music Awards in 2006. There are rumors that the This Is It run may be extended to up to 25 shows if there is enough demand, but that likely won’t be announced until the first 10 sell out. Jackson is likely looking to raise some cash — and the sum will be formidable — with the O2 shows. The singer’s dwindling finances resulted in the foreclosure of Neverland Ranch; some 2,000 items from Jackson’s famed California home will be auctioned starting April 21st.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

And it looks like he’ll have no problem getting people to buy tickets! Michael Jackson may not drive the crowds bezerk here in America,but overseas, the fan’s interest sure has not waned.The website that lets fans register for tickets to his upcoming O2 concert has received 16,000 hits per second! Here’s more from the Telegraph:

“MichaelJacksonLive.com is struggling to cope after being inundated with hundreds of thousands of requests. Dozens of people hoping to register for the “pre-sale” draw have posted comments on the site’s forum complaining that their applications do not appear gone through. Many say that they have not yet received a confirmation email, while others are baffled that they must sign up to Jackson’s official newsletter in order to have a chance of getting early tickets. A spokeswoman for AEG Live, which is promoting the concerts, said that they had been overwhelmed by the level of interest. “The site is receiving 16,000 requests per second, so demand is extremely high, phenomenal is an understatement,” she said. The pop star appeared in person at the arena in Greenwich, southeast London on Thursday afternoon to announce a 10 date summer residency, telling fans that they would be his last dates in the capital. Tickets go on general sale on March 13, but fans can apply for a chance to buy pre-release tickets by registering on MichaelJacksonLive.com or texting “MJ” to 81707. The sheer number of people desperate to see Jackson’s comeback – and farewell – shows appears to be slowing down the application process. One fan wrote on the Michael Jackson forum: “I’ve tried to register like ten times now, but I don’t get any confirming email. Anyone else? What can I be doing wrong?” (End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

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Pamela Anderson:The Goddess Of Breast Augmentation!

Pamela Anderson is good at being an overexposed blonde. Lord knows,that she is an expert at that!All of her movie roles consist of just looking like the best lay ever!That’s her talent right there. So,is it any wonder that she was letting it all hang out at a Paris fashion show? Nope! That’s just who she is. An old lass with no class,Pam is still just tits & ass! Here’s more on her freaky antics from The Daily Mail:

Pamela Anderson has spent thousands on her breasts, so perhaps it was unsurprising that she wanted to share them with the audience of Vivienne Westwood’s fashion show.

The actress suffered the wardrobe malfunction as she joined Westwood to accept the applause of the audience at Paris Fashion Week.

Her surgically enhanced left breast came free of her halterneck black gown, as Pamela smiled and laughed.

When she realised the mistake, she appeared briefly shocked as she pulled her top back on, but didn’t seem too upset.

Earlier Westwood’s unlikely muse had wiggled down the catwalk to a whooping audience in huge safety blankets folded into coats and out-of-control pink tulle. The show culminated with Pamela twirling down the catwalk first in a tutu and then in a skin-tight T-shirt.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

Here’s more on what she’s most famous for from Wellsphere.com:

“Pamela Anderson’s breasts have become a large part of her career. I have been interviewed by numerous media sources regarding the status of her breasts, most recently by Life and Style Weekly. Pam Anderson started out way back when with breasts likely in the C-cup range. While making it big on “Baywatch,” her breasts increased in size along with her career to most likely DD range. In 1999, she had the implants removed and replaced with smaller ones, bringing her closer to a D. These smaller implants were then exchanged for larger ones soon thereafter. She currently appears to retain these larger DD implants, which after viewing several photos are likely in the 500-550 cc range, and possibly larger.

Why did Pamela return to the larger implants after decreasing in size? I have two thoughts on this.
First, Pamela’s image is all about excess. She is the only mainstream Hollywood actress who has a porn star’s body. She has tattoos, large augmented lips, massive breasts, and flowing blond hair. Her image is over the top, and carries through to most parts of her public life. Her boyfriends are “dangerous” rockers such as Tommy Lee and Kid Rock. She even released an erotica novel at a similar time as Jenna Jameson, the porn star who is on the verge of mainstream but never quite gets there, unlike Pam. It is possible that her breasts are essential to her image and career, like Angelina Jolie’s lips, Cindy Crawford’s mole, and Fergie’s hump and bumps.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

Especially In Britain,Big Brother Is Watching You!

How prophetic was English author George Orwell’s book ” 1984″?! It was about too much government control & surveillance.And that’s exactly what’s going on in Great Britain! They have more CCTV cameras than any other country in the world! Here’s more from the Telegraph:

“Britain has become a bureacratic and authoritarian state watched over by a quarter of the world’s CCTV cameras, a study of Labour’s decade in power claims. National debt is running at £175,000 per household, five times more than thought, while each year the Government has passed 3,500 regulations, along with 100,000 pages of rules and explanation.

‘The Rotten State of Britain‘ claims to be the first “deeply researched factual account” of Tony Blair’s and Gordon Brown’s time in office. The author Eammon Butler, a director of the leading think tank the Adam Smith Institute, claimed that his book had been turned down by two publishers because of the “unconventional” nature of the content.

He said: “A new form of centralised government and authoritarian government has been created that is worse than ever in Britain’s recent history.” Among the claims in the book are that Britain has a quarter of the world’s CCTV cameras, the largest of any country and that taxes have risen by 51 per cent since 1997.“(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

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The Conference For Climate Change Deniers Called:”Global Warming: Was It Ever Really a Crisis?”

Remember when folks were debating whether the economy was in a recession or not? It seems like people just like to hear themselves argue.Because I think that it’s obvious that the climate is changing in radical ways. We need to look for solutions.So,I’m wondering what exactly is the point of a conference on the validity of climate change.I think that point is mute! But apparently,global warming is something people want to fight about instead of working together to solve it.Kind of sounds like what we’re doing over the economy right now,doesn’t it? Here’s more on the climate change denial conference from The Guardian:

“It is billed as the largest ever gathering of climate change deniers, a convention that kicked off last night with a title suggesting global warming is a thing of the past, and a guest list that includes a hurricane forecaster, a retired astronaut and a sitting European president.

Entitled Global Warming: Was It Ever Really a Crisis? and featuring some of the most prominent naysayers in the climate change debate, this week’s conference in New York sets out to escalate its confrontation with the scientific establishment, the vast majority of whose members subscribe to the view that humans are the principal cause of climate change.

Conference organisers were celebrating something of a coup in securing as a keynote speaker the Czech president, Václav Klaus, at a time when his country holds the rotating presidency of the EU. Klaus, a Eurosceptic, believes that efforts to protect the world from the impact of climate change are an assault on freedom.

In his remarks last night, Klaus accused European governments of being “alarmist” on the subject of climate change and in thrall to radical environmentalists.”They probably do not want to reveal their true plans and ambitions to stop economic development and return mankind several centuries back,” he said.

He received a standing ovation. But Klaus admitted that his position was a lonely one.”It is evident that the climate change debate has not made any detectable progress,” he said. “It reminds me of the frustration people like me felt in the communist era.”

This week’s gathering by the Heartland Institute, a Chicago thinktank that shares the Czech president’s free-market views, brings together some of the more vocal critics of the scientific consensus, which maintains that rising temperatures are now so dangerous to people’s existence as to warrant urgent action.

Among more than 70 participants listed by the Heartland Institute is Jack Schmitt, a former astronaut, who now teaches engineering physics. William Gray, who is regarded as a leading hurricane forecaster, is also listed, along with Fred Singer, the atmospheric physicist who argues that a melting Arctic would have some positive effects, including the formation of the long-sought north-west passage.

There is also a strong contingent of free marketeers and conservative commentators, including Christopher Booker and Christopher Monckton, both British.Environmentalists argue that climate change denial, although the view of a minority, has damaged efforts to introduce policies to address the changes.Kert Davies, research director for Greenpeace, says the climate change deniers have been adept at adapting their views as the public grows more conscious of the dangers of global warming.

The deniers also have resources. The Centre for Public Integrity said in a report last month that the lobby opposing climate change action gave work to 2,430 Washington lobbyists in 2008. The report estimated that about 15% of Washington’s lobbyists were now working to try to stop Congress from passing a law putting a cap on carbon.

“They are on the fringes – when you look at where the public is on this issue, where governments are on this issue, and where scientific organisations are on this issue,” said Kevin Grandia, the manager of DeSmogBlog, which seeks to counter misinformation on global warming. “The problem is when you take that fringe and add in the public relations ability to amplify that message. They have ingrained their message so well … it can easily be used as a tool to oppose legislation.”

Opinion polls show that about 58% of Americans believe human activity is causing climate change. However, many do not see a need for urgent action. A poll by the Pew Research Centre this year showed that climate change ranked last among topics of public concern to Americans.The Heartland Institute was funded by Exxon Mobil until 2006. It disavows such links for this conference, but lists 55 sponsors, some of which do receive funding from Exxon and rightwing thinktanks.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

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Barbie:Every American Girl’s Dream Doll For 50 Years Now!

Happy Birthday,Barbie! Countless little girls have dreamed of having a Barbie doll for 50 years now. It’s been an American status symbol for girls,like the Cadillac used to be for adults. Since it’s inception, Barbie dolls have now become a worldwide phenomenon!

Not only do they want to possess the doll,some women have tried to get plastic surgery to look just like Barbie. A British woman broke the world plastic surgery record trying to become a real-life Barbie. I don’t think she succeeded,so she needs to get a refund! Talk about a waste of money!

Here’s more on that from Yahoo:

“Talk about “plastic” surgery (cue the sitcom laugh track): A 49-year-old British woman (and self-proclaimed “Real Life Barbie”) Sarah Burge has broken the world record for cosmetic procedures (she’s had more than 100) in an effort to turn herself into a living doll. Her actions trump the previous record-holder, our own stateside “Barbie” Cindy Jackson, who also says her surgery obsession is spurred by her desire to look like the iconic Mattel toy. (FYI Jackson now seems to make a living through sales of her autobiography and microdermabrasion products, among other things) Now, I’m no doctor but…

I would think that this Barbie-copying business could be a sign of body dysmorphic disorder, where your perception of your physical appearance becomes very distorted. Granted, I could be wrong and these surgery fiends–with their good “I wanted to look just like Barbie-and now I do!” line–could just be incredibly PR-savvy. Either way, what really stumps me is why anyone would want to look like a plastic doll at all–she’s a toy, people! Why you’d tinker with yourself (and spend more than $800,000 as Burge has) to look more like what is essentially an inanimate object is beyond me.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

The birth of Barbie is a very interesting story,indeed. She’s based on a female German cartoon character. But an even more intriguing fact is that she may have been “inspired by a sexually-themed gag toy for men.” Here’s more from CNN:

Roll out the pink carpet, grab a feather boa and throw open those Malibu Dream House doors. It’s Barbie’s 50th, and the iconic doll, unveiled today in her latest swimsuit, has plenty to celebrate.

Only this American institution could have inspired Barbara Karleskint, 48, to spend nearly $700 so she and one of her dolls could wear matching red chiffon gowns and capes at an annual collectors gathering.

“Look, we’re not as bad as the Star Trek convention people,” Karleskint, who lives outside of Orlando, Florida, said with a laugh. Collecting Barbies “brings me joy; that’s all I can say. And life’s not worth living unless you have some joy.”

With 8 million active collectors dotting the globe, according to Mattel, Karleskint is hardly alone.

Since Mattel introduced Barbie in 1959, she has become a household name — owned by 90 percent of American girls ages 3 to 10 and sold in 150 countries, said Lauren Dougherty, a Mattel spokeswoman. Barbie attracts 50 million visitors to her Web site each month, she added.

Along the way, she spawned a cosmetics line, apparel stores throughout Asia and an entertainment franchise that has sold more than 65 million DVDs.

Last week, a six-story flagship store opened in Shanghai, China. And a real-life Malibu Dream House, a temporary home tricked out for Barbie’s birthday — including a chandelier made of her hair — is currently on display in California.

Not bad for a doll that, according to author Robin Gerber, was initially inspired by “a sexually-themed gag toy for men.”

The now-legendary doll was conceived by Ruth Handler, a daughter of Polish immigrants, said Gerber, author of the newly published “Barbie and Ruth: The Story of the World’s Most Famous Doll and the Woman Who Created Her.” She and her husband, Elliott, owned Mattel until a scandal involving accusations of cooked books drove them out in 1975, Gerber said.

Handler, who died in 2002, used to watch her own daughter, Barbara, play with paper dolls. Then, on a trip to Europe, Barbara became fascinated with a buxom doll that Gerber said was based on a female German cartoon character, named Lilli, who used sex to get what she wanted.

“My guess is she didn’t know what it was when she bought it,” because at that point, four years after the Lilli doll’s release, it had landed in European toy stores, the author explained.Handler took the doll back to the states and insisted Mattel designers get to work.

“Who would have thought,” Gerber said. Barbie was thought up by a woman and modeled on a cartoon character “who was essentially a prostitute.“

Though the men at Mattel, a company that had never sold dolls before, were skeptical at best, Handler proved to be “a corporate genius,” Gerber said. In the three years after Barbie’s release, Mattel’s worth grew to $200 million, doubling the value earned in the first 20 years of business.

Handler’s daughter, now Barbara Segal, 67, is a bit dumbfounded by all the hype.

“It’s been quite an interesting ride,” she said from her Los Angeles, California, area home. “I can’t believe this doll’s created all of this.”

Barbie’s collector line (not what’s seen on Wal-Mart shelves) is designed for the grown-ups who still relish Barbie. Many say Barbie is an antidote to adult woes, allowing them to recapture their youth and revisit simpler times.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

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The Infight On The Right:Meghan McCain’s “Beef With Ann Coulter”!

I didn’t care for John or Cindy McCain that much before,during,or after the election.I didn’t pay much attention to either one of their daughters,either. Now,one of them has made me take notice.I gotta say that I like how brutally frank & honest Meghan McCain is. She’s not scripted,like most Republican women.How shocking! The GOP needs more people like her if they expect to appeal to a younger generation. She brings a much needed edge to the party. Her style  is a little prim mixed with rocker-girl chic.

Meghan McCain has got some pretty sound advice for the GOP,too! And even though she didn’t say so, I think she knows that Michael Steele & Bobby Jindal are not the future of the party.Neither one of them is even remotely cool & they are about as stale & stoic as Newt Gingrich or Pat Buchanan!They might as well be two old white guys because they bring nothing fresh or new to the party!

Plus,they have no spine. I like Meghan McCain because she seems to state what she really feels. The GOP would be wise to heed some of her advice.What she said about Republicans & Ann Coulter was the realest talk ever! Here’s an excerpt from what she wrote on The Daily Beast:

“It is no secret that being a Republican isn’t the most hip political stance a person can take right now. President Obama has successfully established himself as the hippest politician around. You know you’re big when Katy Perry wears a dress with your face on it to host the MTV Europe Music Awards.

To my fellow Republicans: I’m sorry, I wish I could be more positive about the current “hipness” of our party. But being a Republican is about as edgy as Donny Osmond. Granted, being “hip” is not a reason to join a political party, or a reason to agree with its ideals. But it is a way to get the attention of a generation—or, more specifically, my generation.

To make matters worse, certain individuals continue to perpetuate negative stereotypes about Republicans. Especially Republican women. Who do I feel is the biggest culprit? Ann Coulter. I straight up don’t understand this woman or her popularity. I find her offensive, radical, insulting, and confusing all at the same time. But no matter how much you or I disagree with her, the cult that follows Coulter cannot be denied. She is a New York Times best-selling author and one of the most notable female members of the Republican Party. She was one of the headliners at the recent CPAC conference (but when your competition is a teenager who has a dream about the Republican Party and Stephen Baldwin, it’s not really saying that much).

Coulter could be the poster woman for the most extreme side of the Republican Party. And in some ways I could be the poster woman for the opposite. I consider myself a progressive Republican, but here is what I don’t get about Coulter: Is she for real or not? Are some of her statements just gimmicks to gain publicity for her books or does she actually believe the things she says? Does she really believe all Jewish people should be “perfected” and become Christians?”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

Kelly Clarkson:An American Idol That Pees In The Shower!

Kelly Clarkson says that anyone who says that they don’t pee in the shower is lying.What kind of people does she know? I use the toilet to urinate,thank you very much!All I can say is that you can take the trash out of the trailer. But you can’t take the trailer out of the trash! And Kelly Clarkson sounds just like trailer trash. Now when I look at her,I’m going to think of a golden shower! Thanks for sharing that very disgusting piece of info,Kelly! Here’s more on this gross chick from OK! Magazine:

Here’s an interesting little fact about Kelly Clarkson for all you trivia fans out there: she’s a bit gross.

In a new interview, the American Idol winner admits to both peeing in the shower and checking the tissue to see what color her snot is!

When Blender magazine quizzed Kelly on whether she feels that washing and urinating are best done separately, she told them: “Anybody who says they don’t [pee in the shower] is lying.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

Katie Holmes Upgrades Her Look!

 

 

Katie Holmes has lost some of her youthful exuberance since she married Tom Cruise. She went from a carefree girlish look to resembling a sophisticated society matron! I wasn’t really into her short bob. So,I’m glad that she has added some extensions. With her new addition,she has subtracted years off of her appearance. I hope she grows her hair out for good! It’s a much better look. She’s on fire in that red dress. Hot,hot,hot!!! Here’s more from E!:

“Katie Holmes just showed up at a Japanese premiere of Valkyrie with some shiny new hair. Her bob has been looking a little ragged lately, so seeing these voluminous waves is even more shocking than learning Valkyrie is still happening. (It really is the world press tour that will never, ever end.)

Plus, this new hairstyle comes after seeing pictures of Suri Cruise appearing to be growing out her bangs. Things are really getting crazy over in the Cruise house with the hair!”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

Chris Brown Will No Longer Be The Kid’s Choice At The Nickelodeon Awards!

Thank God! Chris Brown withdrew his name from the Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice awards! This is the only good move that he has made lately.I don’t care why that fight started,there is no rationalization for the end result,which was a badly beaten Rihanna! No matter what Sean “Puffy” Combs thinks, they shouldn’t be together! I don’t care who hit who first! A relationship that got that ugly doesn’t need to be salvaged. It needs to be terminated. So, why did P. Diddy involve himself in their reconciliation?

In this video from Celeb TV,you’ll see P. Diddy try to explain.He said that he doesn’t cast stones at people.He says that he doesn’t judge people. Oh,really? Tell that to the blond chick that he kicked out of his group Danity Kane. P.Diddy told her that she looked slutty. Sounds like a judgment to me!

And since Akon has like 5 wives, I doubt that he has any respect for women.It’s no surprise that these men are supporting Chris Brown.What did boggle my mind is how Nickelodeon was going to justify letting Chris Brown’s KCA nomination stand! People were so outraged that his name wasn’t withdrawn.Here’s more on that from MTV:

“Some parents are outraged that Nickelodeon has not removed controversial Kids’ Choice Awards nominees Chris Brown and Rihanna from the ballot. As of Tuesday, 5,284 parents had signed an online petition asking that they be removed, reports People.com. In a statement to People, the network stands by its decision not to remove Brown, who has been charged with felony assault and making criminal threats, as a nominee for the show set to air on March 28.

“Like all our KCA nominees, Chris Brown was nominated by kids several months ago based on his body of work as a performer,” a Nickelodeon rep said. “And the kids who vote will ultimately decide who wins in the category.” Brown is up for two awards, Favorite Male Singer and Favorite Song for “Kiss Kiss,” the latter of which finds him up against his girlfriend and alleged victim, Rihanna. A spokesperson for the show confirmed that Brown would not be attending the show. “Chris has been hanging out with Rihanna, working on his music and spending time with and speaking with his mother and pastor,” a source told People.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

Since people were so pissed,Chris Brown did what Nickelodeon should have.Here’s more on that from Yahoo:

“There won’t be any awkward Chris Brown moment at the Kids’ Choice Awards — the embattled pop star has withdrawn his name from the ballot. Brown had been nominated for favorite male singer and favorite song for “Kiss Kiss” at the March 28 awards show on Nickelodeon. The nominations came shortly before his arrest for allegedly attacking girlfriend and fellow pop star Rihanna.A petition had been circulated to take his name off the ballot, but Nickelodeon said on Tuesday he would remain on it. But with the backlash against him still strong, on Wednesday, Brown decided to take his name out of consideration.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

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Bristol Palin Takes The Right Out Of Righteousness!

Remember how Sarah Palin tried to differentiate her daughter from every other single mother out there? She said that her unwed pregnant daughter was going to marry the father.Here’s Sarah Palin’s official statement from The L.A. Times:

“Republicans swung into damage control Monday as their scaled-back convention was overtaken by news that the unmarried teenage daughter of vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin was five months pregnant.The revelation introduced a highly personal and unpredictable element into a presidential campaign already steeped in gender politics.

In a statement released hours before the convention opened, Palin and her husband, Todd, did not say when their daughter Bristol, 17, told them of her pregnancy. Bristol intends to marry the father, the statement said — a move that drew widespread praise from religious leaders and convention delegates.

Few expressed surprise that they were planning marriage at their age. “I think she’s pretty responsible by keeping the baby,” said Weston Patrick, 17, whose mother, Judy Patrick, was Palin’s deputy mayor in Wasilla.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

And now the wedding’s off! I wonder if it was ever really on in the first place.I think the whole “engagement” was really damage control.They were always very vague about the actual wedding date.Here’s more on their breakup from the NY Daily News:

The teen romance that prompted a pregnant pause in Sarah Palin’s bid to become U.S. Vice President is reportedly over.

Bristol Palin and fiancé Levi Johnston have broken up after she referred to his family as “white trash,” the hockey-playing  hunk’s sister dished to Star magazine.

Mercede Johnston says the 18-year-old daughter of Alaska’s Republican  governor dumped her brother, Levi, an out-of-work high school drop out.

And she said Bristol Palin, who took her beau to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., has made it tough for him to spend time with his 2-month-old son, Tripp.

“Levi tries to visit Tripp every single day, but Bristol makes it nearly impossible,” Mercede Johnston told Star Magazine.

“She [Bristol] tells him he can’t take the baby to our house because she doesn’t want him around ‘white trash’!” she said.

In December, Levi Johnston’s mother, Sherry, was busted in an undercover drug sting and charged with six felonies involving the pain killer oxycontin.

Calls to the Johnstons and Palins were not returned Wednesday.

“Bristol won’t even allow him to watch the baby for a few hours unless he’s babysitting,” said Mercede Johnston, whose brother was forced to quit his oil field apprenticeship in January after questions were raised about his qualifications.

The sister said Bristol Palin’s demeaning attitude  has been bolstered by Sarah Palin.

“I used to love Sarah,” she said. “But I’ve lost lots of respect for her.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

So much for abstinence & marriage! Bristol Palin has taken the right out of the righteous attitude Republicans try so hard to convey!

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I Absolutely Love Jon Stewart!

You can call him what you want,but you can’t call Jon Stewart dishonest.Unlike these financial “analysts” who only gave the public the truth after we got swept up in this economic tsunami! Why would anyone get mad at Jon Stewart for telling the truth? I’ll take honesty any way that I can get it. Even if it’s coming from a “comedian”!

He probably has just about as much financial “expertise” as Jim Cramer does.You’re supposed to predict the storm before it happens,guys.That’s why you’re the experts! Stop claiming to have the answers if you don’t! And I absolutely love Jon Stewart for voicing a lot of people’s sentiments,including mine.

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Hey,Wanker Bankers Are Everywhere!

Everyone is up in arms about the fact that AIG has rewarded their executives for their failures with fat bonuses.They gave the same reason that the Royal Bank Of Scotland did for this ridiculousness.It was a contractual agreement.

Now,where the hell in that contract did it say that they would give their executives incentives for failure? In a normal world,you get demoted for failure & promoted for success.Nowadays,it seems to be the reverse.And that rings true for most jobs on both Wall Street & Main Street.Rewarding executives for failure have become the norm everywhere & so have wanker bankers!

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Unlike Germany,We Wouldn’t Dare Sell These “Obama Fingers”!

Did you see the new fried chicken finger product that bears President Obama’s surname?A German company claims that they had no clue that naming a fried chicken product after a black president would be offensive to people. You see, they didn’t know that the “Obama Fingers” would be seen as a racial dig!

I have a really,really hard time believing that these folks did not know that this is racist! Here in America,we wouldn’t dare sell these “Obama Fingers”! More on this from The Guardian Uk:

A company in German has just introduced a line of snacks called “Obama Fingers”: frozen chicken fingers with curry dip. To Americans, marketing a fried chicken dish with the name of our first African-American president instantly tingles our sensitivity to racial stereotyping and racist imagery.

According to the archaic stereotype, fried chicken is a preferred food choice of African Americans. But Americans know it’s just that — a stereotype — and that blacks here eat every kind of food whites do and everyone loves fried chicken.

No American company would ever market a product like this for fear of being accused of mocking the nation’s first black president by associating him with an ugly stereotype. The fried chicken association is ugly to me because it brings back foul racial stereotypes from our nation’s past that I won’t repeat in this space.

A representative for Sprehe tells the English online edition of Der Spiegel that the company was unaware of the racial overtones, which are instantly apparent to Americans.

“It was supposed to be a homage to the American lifestyle and the new US president,” Judith Witting, sales manager for the company, told the paper.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

That’s a hell of a way to pay homage to President Obama & the American lifestyle!!

Sen. Grassley On AIG Execs: “Either Resign Or Committ Suicide”!

Sen. Chuck Grassley’s moment of candor has been the topic of conversation today.He said that AIG execs should “either resign or committ suicide“. Huh?!!

We don’t need Grassley’s over-the-top rhetoric to make us feel better.All his comments did was generate a little controversy & attention for Sen. Grassley.His colorful remarks offer no real solutions at all! I could care less about AIG showing the American people “contrition” with words  & Grassley’s pointless statements! It all sounds like hot air to me!

All I want is action!The best way for AIG to show that they are sorry is to voluntarily rescind those bonuses! The American taxpayer does not deserve to get ripped off like this! We don’t need any more rhetoric to drive that point home!

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Britney Spears Has Gone From Being A Pop Star To A Tabloid Star!

Britney Spears has nothing to contribute musically.She can’t sing,play any instruments, or do anything that a musically inclined person is able to do.And though some claim that she can dance,I don’t call gyrating dancing! Sorry,I just don’t!

So,why was she ever considered to be a pop star in the first place?Oh,it’s because she sold a ton of records! But,haven’t we seen her act somewhere before? Hell,she’s not even original! Madonna could at least dance & a lot of her songs are classics!And truth be told,she stole part of her act from Janet Jackson as well!

Name one Britney song that is timeless!Unfortunately,Britney Spears will never be the legend that Madonna or Janet Jackson is. I don’t care how many times she lets her pussy hang out! There’s more to being a star than creating controversies.But,I happen to like the one that Fox News is creating over her new song, “If You Seek Amy“! Here’s more on that from the SFGate:

“Britney Spears taunts the media in her naughty new video “If U Seek Amy,” poking fun at the controversy surrounding the song’s sexually suggestive lyrics.The song has caused a storm of controversy, with family groups urging radio stations to ban the tune, because of its racy, suggestive lyrics. Spears appears to be singing ‘[bleep] me’ in the chorus.Spears debuted the clip online today, and she wasted no time addressing her headline-hitting lyrics, both opening and closing the video with a clip of a news anchor appearing outraged at the song’s sexual undertones.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

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“America’s Top Model” Is Really All The Rage!

‘America’s Next Top Model’ wannabe Bianca Tsolinas.

“America’s Top Model” is all the rage.It literally is! Thousands of women showed up to fulfill their dreams of becoming a model.Instead,they got their worst nightmare when the scene of the “Top Model” auditions became the scene of a huge melee.Some of these female warriors would be better off auditioning for the WWF! Getting into a brawl is very unbecoming behavior for a model!Here’s more on that from the Boston Herald:

“A Jamaica Plain teen’s high-fashion dreams became a living nightmare when she was slammed to the ground in a mad stampede of Gisele-wannabes at the New York auditions for “America’s Next Top Model.”

“I started to get really scared when I fell down and the girl in front of me fell down,” Bianca Tsolias, 18, told the Track . “We had a feeling something bad was going to happen.”

The riot outside the Park Central Hotel on Sunday sent six “Top Model” wannabes to the hospital and three people to jail. What sparked the stampede, said Bianca, was a car that backfired and then started smoking.

“One person yelled, ‘Fire!’ and things got really crazy,” said the Mount St. Joseph’s Academy senior. “Two girls fainted and one had a seizure.”

NYC officials said the producers of the CW reality show failed to notify police that they were holding an open casting call that drew an estimated 10,000 crazed would-be catwalk contestants to the Midtown street – some of whom waited in line up to 16 hours.

Police said they didn’t know what set off the melee that left West 55th Street littered with the would-be models’ shoes and clothing.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

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The Irish PM Brian Cowen On Teleprompters:”Who said these things were idiot-proof?”

President Obama loves to use teleprompters. Leos really are cowardly when it comes to imperfection. We are frightened to death of making a mistake. That’s why he always has a prepared speech in front of him.

President Obama learned that being scripted does not always guarantee  a gaffe free speech. Both Obama & the Irish PM got tripped up when they read the teleprompter. Brian Cowen delivered President Obama’s speech instead of his own.And then, President Obama said part of Brian Cowen’s speech. Sometimes, it’s better to let your words flow naturally.

Here’s more on this funny gaffes from the Times Online:

“Brian Cowen’s critics might say that they’ve heard all of his speeches before. Last night, they would have been right.

As the Irish Taoiseach delivered his St Patrick’s Day speech at a White House dinner party, it emerged that he was accidentally reading off the teleprompter one made by President Obama only minutes earlier.

“We begin by welcoming today a strong friend of the United States,” he began and continued in that vein for about 20 seconds before – realising he was experiencing more than the usual case of déjà vu – he looked back at the US President and said: “That’s your speech!”

Gesturing at the teleprompter, he said: “Why don’t these things work for me? Who said these things were idiot-proof?”

Mr Obama is becoming known as the ‘teleprompter president’ for his excessive use of the prompting screens, which retract when speeches are finished.

Although used for more than half a century, the device was previously employed mainly for set-piece speeches. The current President, however, often uses them for making small introductory statements at the beginning of press conferences.

On this occasion, as a laughing Mr Obama returned to the podium, the script was belatedly switched over to the Taoiseach’s text – leaving Mr Obama inadvertently thanking himself for inviting everyone, to further laughter. “First, I’d like to say thank you to President Obama!” the President said.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

R.I.P. Natasha Richardson: She Moved To America To Forge Her Own Identity!

Natasha Richardson is the absolutely stunning London-bred actress (May 11 ,1963 –  March 18, 2009) who died from the injuries she sustained while learning how to ski. Unfortunately,she had no helmet on.Many believe that the injuries would not have been life-threatening if she just would have took that precaution.And after she was injured,Ms. Richardson didn’t immediately seek medical attention.It’s very tragic.Especially since it looks like it was a preventable tragedy!

What I take away from Ms. Richardson’s unnecessary death is that you should use precaution whenever it is possible.Wear helmets if need be.And please get medical help whether you think you need it or not.I am just so saddened by this news! My prayers are with her family at this time.

Here in America,we had a chance to have a member of a great acting dynasty grace our Broadway stages! What a splendid talent she was! Here’s more on this wonderful thespian from Times Online:

“More than once Natasha Richardson said that she moved to America to escape the “baggage of family” that had always dogged her in her home country. Nearly two decades have passed since she left for New York, but the public fascination with her relatives shows no sign of cooling: the Redgraves are the most extraordinary stage and screen dynasty that there has ever been.

The lineage stretches back at least five generations, through her mother, Vanessa, one of very few actors to win an Oscar, a Golden Globe, an Emmy, a Tony and an Olivier, via her grandfather, Sir Michael, to his father, Roy, who became a star of silent films in Australia and died in poverty, to her great-great-great-grandfather Cornelius Redgrave, a ticket salesman and racketeer in the theatre district around Drury Lane.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

Here’s more on Natasha Richardson’s sweet disposition from Newsweek:

Natasha Richardson may be the nicest actor I ever interviewed. I met her in 1998, just as she was about to open on Broadway in “Cabaret.” She had sung on stage only once before, and she was all too aware that Liza Minnelli owned Sally Bowles just as sure as Liza’s mommy owned “Over the Rainbow.” “If I stop to think about people comparing me to Liza, I get in a terrible state,” she said at the time. “One day in rehearsals someone said, ‘She’s got to be a little more something.’ I became completely frazzled.” I wasn’t sure which was more surprising: that she was nervous, or that she was willing to admit that she was.

We hung out in the back of the chilly theater for a while, then when we got too cold we went up to her closet-sized dressing room, where we plopped on cushy seats and chatted like old friends. “Tasha,” she told me to call her as she made a cup of tea. Of course, that’s what celebrities try to do—ingratiate themselves with a reporter to get a nice story. But Richardson seemed incapable of being fake. She was charming, disarming and almost fragile, smoking cigarettes and sharing stories of her boys, her life and how uncomfortable she got when celebrities visited her in her dressing room after the show.

When she opened in “Cabaret,” she melted New York’s collective hard heart.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

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The Webster Dictionary Has Literally Redefined Marriage!

Did you know that you can now find a definition for gay marriage in a dictionary? Merriam-Webster has redefined marriage. Since it has become a huge part of our modern lexicon,it only makes sense that you can find it in a reference book. They must evolve with the times like everybody else!

David Spade Helps The Troops Out!

David Spade is more than just a funny guy! He’s a true patriot as well! Look at how he collaborated with Operation Helmet to help the troops out! More from US Magazine:

Hats — or helmets, rather — off to David Spade!

The Rules of Engagement star is teaming up with Operation Helmet to provide 3,000 blast- and impact-protecting helmet pads to U.S. combat troops.

Spade donated more than $100,000 to provide the funds necessary for the helmet upgrades being issued to soldiers. According to Dr. Bob Meaders, the founder and president of Operation Helmet, the current military-grade helmet pads caused pain, discomfort and headaches. The new ones, however, drastically cut down the amount of brain injuries from bombs, blast waves and vehicle accidents.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

Broadway Mourns Natasha Richardson!

As a tribute to Natasha Richardson,the lights on Broadway were dimmed! Her untimely & unexpected death has really been felt in both Hollywood & New York. She will be sorely missed! Here’s more from the Telegraph:

“The death of Natasha Richardson drew tributes from across the world of stage and film, as colleagues remembered a “luminous” actress who stepped out of the shadow of her famous family to become an acclaimed talent in her own right.

Broadway theatres dimmed their lights in unison as a mark of respect for the British star whose stunning performance as Sally Bowles in Cabaret wowed the critics and earned her a Tony Award.

“The Broadway community is shocked and deeply saddened by the tragic loss of one of our finest young actresses. Her theatrical lineage is legendary, but her own singular talent shined memorably on any stage she appeared,” said Charlotte St Martin, executive director of The Broadway League.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

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LeAnn Rimes:Her Alleged Affair Sounds Like Something Right Out Of A Country Song!

Is it me or is LeAnn Rimes looking better as time progresses? She certainly has evolved into one hot tamale! And Eddie Cibrian has supposedly taken notice!

LeAnn Rimes might be cheating on her effeminate-looking husband with a totally hot stud! Although she denies it,this is the type of stuff that country singers wail about!Here’s more on the alleged affair from The Mercury News:

“On Wednesday, Rimes’ husband Sheremet Twittered somewhat cryptically “I Love My Wife!!!” Rimes, meanwhile, was even more cryptic in her blog posting: “This is a difficult time for me and my loved ones,” she wrote. “I would like to assure all of you that this is a place for you to hear things directly from me and as you all know, not everything in our lives is always black and white. Have faith.”

In case you’re wondering, that’s not a denial.

But a denial did come from Cibrian Wednesday.

“It is a fabricated story that is using random snapshots as connective tissue to create a scandalous relationship,” Cibrian harrumphed in a statement.

A friend of Rimes told Us Weekly that “there are some feeling” between Rimes and Cibrian, but said the situation is more complicated than that.

“The situation that she’s grappling with right now is not the cause for her marriage troubles,” the friend said. “There have been issues brewing for months prior to meeting Eddie on set.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

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President Obama’s Special Olympics Gaffe

Remember the supposed gaffe that President Obama made concerning Jessica Simpson’s weight? People claimed that he called her fat,but here’s what he really said.

This time,though,the President did say something very insensitive. He joked with Jay Leno about his bowling expertise. He compared his lack of bowling skills to the Special Olympics. Very awkward moment,indeed! Here’s more from the seattlepi:

“That’s right: 60 days into the 44th presidency, we’re back to the s/he said what? debates of the campaign. Only this time, there’s not much to debate. Obama really should have known better than to say what he did when the conversation left AIG and industry and turned to bowling:

MR. OBAMA: I bowled a 129. (Laughter and applause.)

MR. LENO: No, that’s very good. Yes. That’s very good, Mr. President.

MR. OBAMA: It’s like — it was like Special Olympics, or something. (Laughter.)

MR. LENO: No, that’s very good.

To his credit, Obama knew he screwed up and moved quickly to fix it. Before the show had aired, Obama was on the phone with Tim Shriver, the president of The Special Olympics, to apologize.

Guess there’s a reason presidents don’t go on late night.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

I don’t know what made him make such a stupid remark,but I’m glad he apologized for it.

Stephen Colbert Vs. Michael Steele In The Ultimate GOP Rap Battle!It’s A East Hampton-Westchester Thang!

This is why I dig Stephen Colbert. He does a great daily impression of the stiff,dishonest smearmonger named Bill O’Reilly! And he is absolutely hilarious!! In this clip from “The Colbert Show“, Stephen Colbert challenges the empty suit with the missing cool factor,Michael Steele,to a rap battle. And it’s really funny because Colbert is making a point! Conservative views often clash with the liberal viewpoint of most hip-hop artists! Colbert illustrated just how ridiculous Steele’s hip hop declarations are in this skit! Stephen Colbert has more credibility in that music genre than Michael Steele could ever hope too.

I simply love intellectual humor. And Stephen Colbert never disappoints on that front!

Suze Orman Blasts George Bush: “Commander-In-Chief?”

I simply adore & admire Suze Orman. She’s one hot lesbian lioness who gives Ellen a run for her money! What’s great about her is that she cuts to the chase & gets right down to business whenever she gives advice! So,it’s no wonder that she would do the same in an interview.

While so many are acting as if George Bush never existed,Suze Orman is  one “Money Lady” who is pinning the blame for this financial mess right where it belongs! And that would be right on the former president’s shoulders. Here’s more from the queen of finance at WMD Media:

“She is shocked, shocked, that we all spent money we didn’t have. “The United States of America is in the situation it’s in because people were spending, spending, spending,” Orman says during her satellite burst. “It was all smoke and mirrors and now the smoke has cleared and the view in the mirror is a horrific one.”

Her populist rage is just as pronounced off-camera. Sitting in a green room after her TV interviews, she lambasts everyone from Alan Greenspan to Larry Summers to the former president of the United States, who holds an especially dark place in her heart. “Commander in Chief?” she says of George W. Bush, with a mix of disbelief and scorn. “You blew up every single financial vessel we had and if you think you aren’t personally responsible, well, the blame starts at the top. There is no higher top than you, SIR! If I were you, I would feel so absolutely horrific that I would take every penny I had and distribute it to anybody and everybody to help them in whatever way I could. You owe the American people every penny of your fortune and your family’s fortune.”

Even the victims of Bernie Madoff don’t get off scot-free when Orman gets going. “You walked right into that financial concentration camp, my loves,” she says later in a regrettable metaphor, given that the world’s most famous concentration camp survivor, Elie Wiesel, was among Madoff’s bilked investors. “I mean, you didn’t have to give 100 percent of everything to him.”

If people love a personality this shrill, it’s partly because Orman appears to be totally — even disturbingly — authentic. She is a paradox — a paradigm of self-branding wrapped around a heart that actually seems to beat.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

Kim Kardashian’s Airbrushed Picture!

Kim Kardashian is not as perfect as she looks. Like most women in entertainment,her flaws were airbrushed right out of existence in these photographs.Although, I thought that the photos should not have been lightened. She looked like an Armenian goddess with bronzed skin! Since it’s rumored that she has a surgically-enhanced touche, I was kind of surprised to see cellulite. Now, I’m inclined to think that her ass is natural after all. Here’s more on her airbrushed photo from The Hollywood Grind:

“Kim responded with the following statement on her blog:

Hey guys,

So everyone has been putting up these pics from Complex Magazine showing the comparison of the original un-photoshopped photo that mistakenly was put up on complex.com. This blog even went to the trouble to make an animation of the before and after.

Complex later replaced the pic with the photoshopped version, causing all of this drama. But you know what, who cares!

So what: I have a little cellulite. What curvy girl doesn’t!?

How many people do you think are photoshopped? It happens all the time!

At the same time as this Complex shoot, I was gearing up for my fitness DVD and you should see my thighs now!!! Haha!

This all motivates me to stay in the gym because my goal this year has been to get in better shape and tone up! Hard work pays off!

I’m proud of my body and my curves and this picture coming out is probably helpful for everyone to see that just because I am on the cover of a magazine doesn’t mean I’m perfect.

You can check out more behind-the-scenes pics from the shoot right here. And they’re not retouched!

XO,
Kim

If Kim doesn’t care that people know she’s fat, and if she’s so proud to have fat imperfect curves, then why is she hitting the gym so hard, and proclaiming, “you should see my thighs now!!!” Kim would only want us to see her thighs now if she knew they were fat and embarrassing in the photo shoot.”(End of Excerpt) Read the entire post here.

Gloria Allred Is Right About OctoSelf!

I can’t go one day without hearing something about “octoself”, so I rarely write about her on my blog! And if you don’t know why I’m calling Nadya Suleman “octoself “ you must not be paying much attention to the constant barrage of reports about her! This is no “octomom“!

In order to be a mom,you must provide the basic needs for your child.That would be food,shelter,safety,security,&love! From the constant throngs of media that surrounds these premature babies,I don’t see how they could possibly feel safe & secure with this mother! Doesn’t Nadya Suleman know that premature babies are more sensitive to noise than full term babies? How is all of this media coverage good for anyone but Nadya Suleman?She is the only one benefiting from all of this!

And that’s what everyone that has ever been in the proximity of Nadya Suleman is saying. “Angels In Waiting”,Angela Suleman,Dr. Phil,& Gloria Allred have all observed how self-absorbed this woman is! The attention & care that these precious babies need is not the first thing that’s on Nadya’s mind.All she cares about is preserving her place in the media spotlight.There is no “octomom“! That title is too good for Nadya Suleman. “Octoself” is much more fitting!

Here’s what one of the nannies that Nadya Suleman fired has to say,as reported by ABC News:

A nurse who had been helping provide care for some of Nadya Suleman’s octuplets said today that Suleman appeared disinterested in her children.

Linda West-Conforti, the founder of Angels in Waiting, said today on the “Dr. Phil Show” that Suleman did not care about her children, only voluntarily fed them when a film crew was there, and spent too much time away from home.

“This woman does not care for these kids, that’s my honest opinion,” she said.

Earlier this week, Suleman fired Angels in Waiting, a nonprofit group of nurses that helped care for her children, accusing the group of being unprofessional, spying on her and reporting her to child welfare officials.

Suleman’s attorney, Jeff Czech, said today on “Dr. Phil” that Suleman will have her nannies trained by nurses from the Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center, where the octuplets were born on Jan. 26.

Four of the eight infants have been discharged from the hospital, according to Kaiser Permanente, and brought home amid a throng of reporters and onlookers.

“There has not been a step down in care in this household,” Czech said, adding, “Nadya is a very good mother, a very caring mother.”(End of Excerpt) Read the whole story here.

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Think Progress:UPS Announced It Won’t Advertise During Bill O’Reilly’s Show!

Thanks to Think Progress,UPS’s thinking has progressed when it comes to advertising during Bill O’Reilly’s offensive show! After the way he attacked Amanda Terkel for pointing out the truth,I’m glad that someone has shown him the error of his ways! Here’s more from Think Progress:

“In response to our Stop Supporting The O’Reilly Harassment Machine campaign, UPS told us yesterday that it was investigating whether to continue supporting O’Reilly’s show. “We are sensitive to the type of television programming where our messages and presence are associated and continually review choices to affect future decisions,” spokeswoman Susan Rosenberg told us.

Today UPS announced it will stop advertising on O’Reilly’s show. Here is the statement UPS emailed out just moments ago:

Thank you for sending an e-mail expressing concern about UPS advertising during the Bill O’Reilly show on FOX News. We do consider such comments as we review ad placement decisions which involve a variety of news, entertainment and sports programming. At this time, we have no plans to continue advertising during this show.”(End of Excerpt) Go here to read the rest.

ShamDamn! The ShamWow Dude Gets Arrested For Being Crude To A Hooker!

The guy who is the spokesperson for ShamWow has been arrested for hitting a hooker.She allegedly bit his tongue.But,I was surprised that there was no drugs involved in the arrest.Because he looks like he’s on something in those commercials.Here’s more from The Smoking Gun:

Meet Vince Shlomi. He’s probably better known to you as the ShamWow Guy, the ubiquitous television pitchman who has been phenomenally successful peddling absorbent towels and food choppers. Shlomi, 44, was arrested last month on a felony battery charge following a violent confrontation with a prostitute in his South Beach hotel room.

According to an arrest affidavit, Shlomi met Sasha Harris, 26, at a Miami Beach nightclub on February 7 and subsequently retired with her to his $750 room at the lavish Setai hotel. Shlomi told cops he paid Harris about $1000 in cash after she “propositioned him for straight sex.” Shlomi said that when he kissed Harris, she suddenly “bit his tongue and would not let go.” Shlomi then punched Harris several times until she released his tongue.

The affidavit, a copy of which you’ll find here, notes that during the 4 AM fight Harris sustained facial fractures and lacerations all over her face (she is pictured here in mug shots snapped following busts in 2008 and 2005). After freeing his tongue, a bleeding Shlomi ran to the Setai lobby, where security summoned cops.

Harris refused to cooperate with officers, who recovered $930 from her purse. “Both parties had a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emitting from their persons,” police reported. In a brief telephone interview, Harris declined to answer TSG questions about her run-in with Shlomi, though she did say she is considering a lawsuit against the pitchman. Asked if she worked as a hooker, Harris declined comment.”(End of Excerpt)Read the rest here.

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Countess Luann de Lesseps:From A Real Housewife To A Real Divorcee!

One of  “The Real Housewives Of New York” has just learned that she will become a real-life divorcee instead! What’s ironic is that it’s the same lady that bragged about her marriage to fellow cast member Bethenny when she was giving her dating tips! Well,it looks like Countess Luann de Lesseps will have to take her own advice! She was informed by the Count that he is just not that into her anymore! Here’s more from the NY Post:

“THE countess is now count-less.

Friends of “The Real Housewives of New York City” star Countess Luann de Lesseps say the former model has split with Count de Lesseps.

A close pal said, “They decided to separate. She got wind he was seeing somebody and he didn’t answer her when she called. He finally sent her an e-mail saying he was with an Ethiopian woman in Geneva and he was serious with her.”

The revelation came as a shock to the countess, who celebrated her 16th anniversary with her husband on March 16.

“Luann was blindsided. She was just devastated,” the close friend told Page Six. “They have basically lived apart for many years — he lives in Europe and comes and goes as he pleases, but she never thought this would happen.

“It has been very rough for her and the children [Victoria and Noel], but she’s taking the high road and will remain friends with him,” the source added. “She has no intention of making it bitter or becoming angry. She’s just trying to come to terms with [the separation and impending divorce]. She feels this is the ultimate test for her to handle this with dignity and grace.”

Luann — whose book, “Class With the Countess,” comes out next month — has told friends that, no matter what, “I will always be the countess.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

Unlike President Hamid Karzai,Our President Believes That Women Should Be Allowed To Progress!

Some are wondering why the president of Afghanistan would sign a law that basically legalizes marital rape & dramatically reverses any progress that Afghan women have made!Is this the freedom that George Bush claimed that women in Afghanistan have because of him? Here’s more from Common Dreams.org:

It was three years ago that George Bush triumphantly announced: “The mothers and daughters of Afghanistan were captives in their own homes, forbidden from working or going to school – today women are free.”

However, most women still wear the all-encompassing burqa, through fear of attack and social pressure, a third of women in Kabul do not leave the house, forbidden from doing so by the male members of the family, and it is still almost impossible for women to get a divorce.

It might be three years since the Taliban were toppled but age-old traditions and social attitudes are deeply engrained.

But there are a few signs of change. For the first time in the country’s history there is a Ministry for Women’s Affairs, Kabul’s first women-run radio station was launched this week and there is even a women’s fitness club.

Last month saw the opening of Afghanistan’s first job center for women. Business has been slow. Since the fall of the Taliban, only 2-3% of women have returned to work.

“You can rebuild the city but you can’t change attitudes,” says Alischah Paenda, deputy head of a mission for AGEF, a German non-governmental organization (NGO) partly funded by Britain, which is involved in setting up the job center with the Ministry for Women’s Affairs.

“Jobs for women are very limited. Most women are not allowed to leave the house. And if they are allowed out, they can’t work in fields dominated by men as their families don’t want them mixing with the opposite sex.”

As most sectors in Afghanistan are male dominated, it’s a catch-22 situation. “Even if you work for an NGO you’re not considered very pure. It gives you a bad reputation,” Paenda says.

Another obstacle for the job center is finding qualified women – after years of being banned from education, 90% of Afghan women are illiterate. Even today, centuries-old marriage traditions mean that 60% of Afghan girls are forced into marriage before they reach their 16th birthday and few husbands will allow their wives to go to school.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

President Hamid Karzai may be trying to appeal to certain voters since there is an upcoming election.This new Afghan law prohibits women from leaving the house without their husband’s permission.And they can’t refuse sex without having a reasonable excuse,like being on the rag once a month! When I hear about draconian laws like this,it makes me appreciate being an American even more! Here’s the full info from the Telegraph:

“President Hamid Karzai has signed a law the UN says legalises rape in marriage and prevents women from leaving the house without permission. The law, which has not been publicly released, is believed to state women can only seek work, education or doctor’s appointments with their husband’s permission.Only fathers and grandfathers are granted custody of children under the law, according to the United Nations Development Fund for Women.

Opponents of the legislation governing the personal lives of Afghanistan’s Shia minority have said it is “worse than during the Taliban”.Mr Karzai has been accused of electioneering at the expense of women’s rights by signing the law to appeal to crucial Shia swing voters in this year’s presidential poll.While the Afghan constitution guarantees equal rights for women, it also allows the Shia community, thought to represent 10 per cent of the population, the right to settle family law cases according to Shia law.

The Shiite Personal Status Law contains provisions on marriage, divorce, inheritance, rights of movement and bankruptcy.The bill passed both houses of the Afghan parliament, but was so contentious that the United Nations and women’s rights campaigners have so far been unable to see a copy of the approved bill.”(End of Excerpt)Read the full story here.

Here’s how Canada feels about this horrific law,as reported by the AFP:

“Canadian lawmakers said Wednesday they are outraged by Afghan legislation that reportedly restricts the rights of minority Shia women, and want it repealed.

“This is antithetical to our mission in Afghanistan,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper told public broadcaster CBC ahead of G20 talks in London, adding Kabul would face “considerable pressure” to nix it.

The Afghan family law reportedly makes it illegal for a woman to refuse sex with her husband, or to leave home without spousal permission and denies her custody of their children after a divorce.

It has cast a shadow over an international summit on Afghanistan in The Hague, where US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is said to have upbraided Afghan President Hamid Karzai over the law.

“We’re deeply troubled by it,” Harper said in a CBC interview. “And I don’t think we’re by any means alone.”

“Making progress on human rights for women is a significant component of the international engagement in Afghanistan. It’s a significant change we want to see from the bad old days of the Taliban,” he said.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

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Our First Lady Has Swept The British Right Off Of Their Feet! They Are Stark, Raving Mad For Her!

Michelle Obama is the perfect mate for President Obama.They must have really had Cupid on their side because the love between them is so evident.This couple is truly fascinating.Most Americans are happy to have them represent us at the G20.And they’ve made quite a splash across the pond as well.Especially Michelle Obama. Even her supposed “breach of protocol” was received well. Here’s more on that from the Times Online UK:

“When Michelle Obama put her arm round the Queen at Buckingham Palace, some of the more excitable elements of the media – particularly the Americans – suggested she may have been guilty of a breach of protocol.

They missed the real story, however. What was far more interesting was that the Queen put her arm round the First Lady.

It is less than 20 years ago that the Australian Prime Minister was branded “the Lizard of Oz” for committing the supposedly heinous crime of putting his hand on the Queen’s back during an official tour of Australia.

Now the Queen is not just putting up with physical gestures of affection from a woman she has only just met, but is reciprocating with one of her own.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

Our First Lady has really made the British take notice of American royalty! She makes women of every color & age feel both in awe and inspired! An elegant intellectual beauty is such a rarity! That’s why so many people are taken with Michelle Obama. Here’s more from BBC News:

“In the UK on her first visit as First Lady, Michelle Obama seems to be making just as big an impact.

She has attracted as much interest and column inches as her husband on this London trip; creating a buzz with her dazzling outfits, her own schedule of events and her own fanbase.

Outside London trip, as crowds gathered in anticipation of the Obamas’ arrival, Mrs Obama’s star appeal was apparent.

Rebecca Smith, from Leicester, was one of the hundreds of people waiting to catch a glimpse of the First Couple.

“She seems to be a good role model. A strong, intelligent woman. I think she’ll go down very well here. People have warmed to the Obamas. I don’t think you’d see this crowd for many other dignitaries,” she said.

“Michelle Obama has a strong aura about her, a bit like Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis,” she added.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

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The Battle Of The First Ladies!

The media has entered Carla Bruni & Michelle Obama into a contest that they had no intention of being in.In this imagined battle of the First Ladies,one of them must prove superior in both style & substance.Now,it’s hard to beat a former supermodel on style.But,Michelle Obama is winning points on both her fashion choices & her wit! Here’s more on that from the Times Online UK:

“A year ago, there was no doubt who wore the crown. The French President’s newly wedded wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, was the pin-up of the diplomatic circuit. Model, singer, former lover of Eric Clapton and Mick Jagger … she was a woman with whom every leader’s wife positively dreaded having their photo taken. Yet today in Strasbourg, the other half who put glamour back into politics met a First Lady who might just prove a match for her.

Michelle Obama has won both hearts and minds since her husband became the 44th President of the United States in January. Cool, intelligent and beautiful, she has plenty of glamour in her own right as well as being Mr Obama’s rock and equal, a feisty mother-of-two and an American Vogue cover star.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

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Glen Beck Ain’t Playing With A Full Deck!

Wow! I really feel for anyone who takes what Glenn Beck has to say to heart! Not only is he bonkers,but I don’t think he even believes half the gibberish that comes out of his mouth!

It’s unbelievable that anybody looks to clowns like this for any kind of information whatsoever.I wouldn’t ask Glenn Beck’s crazy ass for directions.And I sure as hell would never ever consider following any of his whiny advice.Because Mr. Beck ain’t playing with a full deck! Here’s an excerpt from a funny post from Crooks and Liars about this lunatic:

“It’s the eyes! The eyes!

I’m not sure what Fox News thought it was getting when it hired Glenn Beck away from CNN, but what they’re getting is one serious train wreck of some of the most gobsmackingly weird and embarrassingly maudlin on-air performances in major-network history. Considering that we’re talking about Fox here, that’s saying something.

On Monday for one of his monologue segments Beck had the camera zoom in on his eyes so people could see them, while another camera kept his headshot in view. It was obvious what they were trying to achieve: Look into his eyes and see his earnest sincerity and you know he’s a guy just like you and me and isn’t that swell and make you feel better, and doesn’t he make sense even when he talks complete lunacy?”(End of Excerpt)Read the entire post here.

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America Mourned The Death Of Martin Luther King Jr. On April 4,1968!

There is still much debate as to who actually was behind the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.! So many conspiracy theories abound surrounding his death.Here’s just a few from Teacher Vision:

“Since Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination three decades ago, his murder has become endless fodder for conspiracy theorists. Complete with shadowy film noir atmospherics and sensational charges leveled at the highest circles of power, the King conspiracy theories rival the most crazed accounts of Kennedy’s assassination.

These theories gained renewed momentum when King’s son Dexter met with his father’s convicted assassin in prison in 1997. With the blessings of King’s widow and the other King children, Dexter King shook James Earl Ray’s hand and professed belief in his innocence. A second boost to the legitimacy of the King conspiracy theories came the following year when Attorney General Janet Reno reopened a limited investigation into the assassination in August 1998. And finally, in Dec. 1999, a Memphis jury awarded the King family $100 in a wrongful death suit.

The jury professed that the murder was indeed a conspiracy involving bar owner Lloyd Jowers (see conspiracy theory #4 below) and several “unknown” co-conspirators. Few journalists, scholars, or law enforcement officials familiar with the case have given credence to the new court findings.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

One thing about his death that cannot be disputed is that a whole lot of people mourned his death.The news that Martin Luther King Jr. died was not received well by most Americans.Here’s what Robert F. Kennedy told a mostly black Indianapolis crowd on the night that M.L.K Jr. died,as reported by NPR:

“Kennedy spoke of King’s dedication to “love and to justice between fellow human beings,” adding that “he died in the cause of that effort.”And Kennedy sought to heal the racial wounds that were certain to follow by referring to the death of his own brother, President John F. Kennedy.

“For those of you who are black and are tempted to … be filled with hatred and mistrust of the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I would only say that I can also feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling,” he said. “I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man.”

Many other American cities burned after King was killed. But there was no fire in Indianapolis, which heard the words of Robert Kennedy.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

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The Palin Family Drama!

Levi Johnston is a young punk! Whatever went on between him & Bristol Palin should have stayed behind closed doors.I think that it is absolutely despicable that he would spill the beans on The Tyra Banks Show! What a scoundrel! And I think Sarah Palin would agree wholeheartedly with my assessment of his deplorable actions.Especially since Mr. Johnston told the world that Sarah Palin let Bristol Palin share a room with him!

Here’s more on how she feels from People:

“Levi Johnston is in big trouble at the Sarah Palin household.

After taking about sex on The Tyra Banks Show, Johnston – the 18-year-old father of Bristol Palin’s baby – was hit with a blistering response from Bristol’s family.

“Bristol did not even know Levi was going on the show. We’re disappointed that Levi and his family, in a quest for fame, attention, and fortune, are engaging in flat-out lies, gross exaggeration, and even distortion of their relationship,” says the statement from the Palin family rep, Meghan Stapleton.

“Bristol’s focus will remain on raising Tripp, completing her education, and advocating abstinence,” the statement continues. “It is unfortunate that Levi finds it more appealing to exploit his previous relationship with Bristol than to contribute to the well being of the child.“

The statement ends, saying, “Bristol realizes now that she made a mistake in her relationship and is the one taking responsibility for their actions.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

Bristol Palin should advocate for both abstinence & safe sex!

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I Loved SNL’S Parody Of Angelina Jolie & Madonna’s Adoption Addictions!

I guess some rich women have run out of interesting things to buy.We know that a lot of wealthy women have shopping addictions.Now,I think that a few of them have become addicted to what seems to be the latest Hollywood craze!Angelina Jolie & Madonna are the front runners in the quest to adopt a foreign baby.They have no desire to take an American baby in need & give them a better life.

Why is it that they feel so compelled to adopt babies from faraway lands? I think that SNL’s skit was pretty accurate in their depiction of the way these ladies think. These babies are like exotic creatures to them.Some women are dying to own the latest fashions.And adopting babies is quite trendy right now. I worry that some of these foreign adoptions are being initiated for the wrong reasons,though. And I’m not alone.

In fact,the author of this article from Associated Content believes that it is a cruel joke for celebrities to adopt from foreign countries:

“Celebrities who adopt foreign children assume a few things about themselves. First, it’s a huge ego trip. Adoption is like one big Nietzsche-style charity.

Adopting a child provides these feelings for a celebrity: superiority, willfulness, godliness, and cultural imperialism.”

And even though that adoption was meant to be an act of goodness, the native culture of the adopted child may have been caused serious harm by that act. Adoption of foreign children could be considered a form of international humiliation. Call it crass cultural imperialism. Imagine if a celebrity from another country came to America and adopted one of our children. What would our response be? I imagine people would find it repulsive and strange.

After a foreign child has been adopted, the celebrity can sit back and say “What a benefit I have made to the world!” This attitude contains a self-important subtext. As far as the actual benefits to the “world” that a celebrity has made, most of the time, they have simply acted in a few decent movies or are a musician. “(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

And here’s the very real & serious downside to foreign adoption from Foreign Policy:

“Following a dream: When celebrities adopt children abroad, as Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt did from the Tam Binh orphanage in Vietnam, their story fits the narrative of adoption we all know: There are countless orphans in the world looking for families. Yet many of these children are not orphans at all. The U.S. State Department recently issued this warning about Tu Du Hospital, the facility that feeds into Tam Binh orphanage: “Tu Du Hospital’s policy [is] to document all children as desertion cases regardless of the actual circumstances leading to their being made available for intercountry adoption.”

Home away from home: If they are not orphans, how do so many children end up ready to be adopted abroad? In the worst cases, children are taken from parents or extended families—by force, coercion, or monetary persuasion. Guatemala is the most notorious example; the clandestine orphanage seen here is one of many throughout the country where Guatemalan authorities have found dozens of kidnapped children. The incentive is financial: Because prospective parents pay hefty sums to adopt, a child-capturer’s fee is far higher than a laborer’s average annual income.

From every corner: Guatemala is not alone: Every year, children from Asia, Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Europe head to Western families by way of adoption agencies and private lawyers. In South Africa, more and more children of HIV-positive parents are being signed over to orphanages like this one. In 2007, the country sent more than 100 children abroad, most to Scandinavian countries.

Children of conflict: It’s easy to see why the myth of the adoption trade sells. Many children, like these boys in a Liberian orphanage, come from backgrounds of poverty and conflict. Since the war in Liberia ended several years ago, the country has become a popular adoption spot where orphanages “recruit” children from families for adoption abroad. In response to a growing number of suspicious cases, the Liberian government is now reviewing its adoption policies.”

Help needed: Although orphans certainly do exist in the countries from which foreign adoption is most popular, perhaps the children in the greatest need are in a place where the arms of prospective parents cannot reach.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

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Sam Ronson Finally Dumped Lindsay Lohan!

I kept reading reports before they split that Lindsay Lohan was spending Sam Ronson’s money like it was going out of style. And her girlfriend was getting tired of getting treated like a trick. Here’s more on that from Fametastic:

“Lindsay Lohan is reportedly annoying girlfriend Samantha Ronson with her constant overspending.

The actress has been plagued by money issue rumours for a number of years after a number of her films were less than successful at the box office and producers grew wary of her partying habits.

But a source told the New York Daily News that despite the lack of money coming in, Lindsay is still “spending like crazy”: “She’s living on credit right now. She has no cash.

“The [main] problem is, the money being spent is mostly Sam’s because Lindsay doesn’t really have any of her own at the moment; [Sam]’s really taken on the ‘man’ role in their romance.

“Sam really thinks Lindsay needs to learn how to become a recessionista and manage her money better.”

A second source added: “Lindsay’s money situation has never been great, but it’s only gotten worse over the last month.

“For every dollar she makes, she spends double. Her personal appearance fees are literally the only thing keeping her afloat.

“But here’s the rub: Because of her explosive relationship with Sam, she’s unable to get the type of cash she’s used to. The negative press and constant appearance cancellations are hurting her pocketbook.”(End of Excerpt)Read the rest here.

Lindsay Lohan was also pushing her girl’s buttons by openly flirting with men in her face. Not a good way to get close with your lesbian lover. Especially when some butch chicks experience penis envy. It hurts the woman who takes on the role of a man in a lesbian relationship to feel that she is being rejected for a real one. Here’s more on why Sam Ronson finally dumped Lindsay Lohan from People:

“WAYWARD Lindsay Lohan has been dumped by lesbian lover Sam Ronson after a blistering row, The People can reveal.

Hours later actress Lohan, 22, went into meltdown when DJ Sam, 31, BANNED her ex from a bash at a trendy LA hotel.

A close pal of Lindsay’s revealed:” She decided to try and crash the party and had a huge hissy fit when she wasn’t allowed in.

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” Lindsay was shouting, ‘ But” Lindsay was shouting, ‘But you’ve all known me for so long’ to the staff.

” She was furious and caused a right scene.” DJ Sam, 31, binned the bisexual Mean Girls star after tiring of her partying – and her flirting with men.

The fiery couple, who hooked up last summer, regularly had public spats but still talked about marriage.

And only hours before their split, they both insisted the relationship was going strong.

However, Sam – sister of superproducer Mark – called it a day during the latest bust-up.

Fearing trouble, she then ordered security at the plush Chateau Marmont Hotel to keep Lohan out of the bash, hosted by her fashion designer twin Charlotte.” (End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

America & Japan Are Concerned About North Korea’s Rocket Launch!

North Korea is a freakin’ nuisance to more than just America. Both Japan & South Korea find their neighbor to be very worrisome as well.Although the rocket launch was deemed a military failure,it has helped North Korea politically.Here’s more on what analysts say about North Korea’s rocket launch,as reported by The Associated Press:

“U.S. and South Korean officials said the entire rocket, including whatever payload it carried, ended up in the ocean. South Korea said the second stage splashed down about 1,900 miles (3,100 kilometers) from the launch site.That is double the distance a North Korean rocket managed in 1998 and far better than a 2006 launch of a missile that fizzled 42 seconds after liftoff.

Japan, Guam, the Philippines, Mongolia and parts of China are now within range, but Anchorage, Alaska, is roughly 3,500 miles (6,000 kilometers) from the launch site. Daniel Pinkston, a Seoul-based analyst for the International Crisis Group, said the apparent failure of the rocket’s third stage to separate properly from the second stage raised questions about the reliability of the technology.

“They’re still a long ways off” from being able to successfully target and strike the United States, he said. It also is unclear whether the North has been able to miniaturize its warheads enough to load onto a rocket, he said.But John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and ex-U.S. undersecretary of state in charge of the North Korean nuclear dossier, said the launch was still cause for concern.

“This is far from a failure. Japan is now clearly in range, and unless you’re willing to kiss Japan goodbye, you have to be worried by this test,” he told The Associated Press.

Kim Tae-woo, an analyst at Seoul’s state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, said the launch raises the stakes at the stalled six-nation talks aimed at persuading the North to give up its nuclear weapons program in exchange for aid and other concessions.Pyongyang now can seek more help because it has more to bargain away, Kim said.And, he added, “North Korea is playing a game of trying to manipulate the U.S. by getting it within range, which is the so-called pressure card.

“North Korea, one of the world’s poorest countries, is in desperate need of outside aid. It has reportedly been selling missile parts and technology to whoever has the cash to pay for it.”(End of Excerpt) Read the entire article here.

Here’s a little history of North Korea Missiles from The Wisconsin Project:

1969-70: North Korea obtains FROG-5 and FROG-7A missiles from the Soviet Union.

1976: Egypt sends Soviet Scud-B missiles to North Korea.

1984: North Korea successfully tests its first reverse-engineered Scud-B missile.

1984: An Iranian businessman and a Soviet emigre are indicted in New York for conspiring to smuggle U.S. missile guidance components to North Korea.

1985: Iran agrees to finance the development of North Korean Scud missiles in exchange for Scud-B technology and an option to buy the missiles when they become available.

1987: Iran and North Korea sign a $500 million arms deal that includes the purchase of 90 to 100 Scud-Bs by Tehran.

1987-88: North Korea delivers approximately 100 Scud-B missiles to Iran.

1989: Two Japanese companies reportedly ship spectrum analyzers to North Korea, which can be used to improve missile accuracy.

1990: North Korea successfully tests a Scud-C missile, hitting targets off North Korea’s eastern coast from a base in the Kangwon Province; Iran reportedly tests what U.S. intelligence identifies as a North Korean version of the Scud-C.

1991-92: North Korea delivers an estimated 24 Scud-Cs and 20 mobile launchers to Syria, and ships additional Scuds to Syria through Iran.

1992: Russia reportedly prevents some 60 Russian rocket scientists from going to North Korea.

1992: The U.S. Department of State sanctions entities in North Korea, Iran and Syria for “missile technology proliferation activities.”

1993: North Korea successfully tests the Nodong missile to a range of about 500km.

1995: According to comments by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Iran has received four Scud TELs from North Korea.

1996: The United States and North Korea begin bilateral talks on how to curb North Korea’s missile exports and freeze its missile development.

1996: Taiwanese Customs officials reportedly seize 200 barrels (15 tons) of ammonium perchlorate on a North Korean freighter bound for Pakistan’s SUPARCO (Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission).”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

Is it any wonder that China & Russia does not want North Korea to be sanctioned right now? I think not! Here’s what defectors from North Korea said about sanctions from a 2003 NY Times article:

“Six months after escaping from North Korea, she sat in the office of a human  rights group here, happily wearing a gray wool jacket, with a stylized American flag patch on the left arm and, on the back in large black script: New York Yankees.

The Kim family’s Communist dynasty – founded by Kim Il Sung and
continued by his son, Kim Jong Il – has ruled North Korea for the last half
century by maintaining what may be the world’s tightest monopoly on
information about the outside world. That grip will loosen, defectors say,
when North Koreans learn such basic facts as their rank as Northeast Asia’s  poorest nation. Per capita income in South Korea is 13 times the level in North Korea.

Military pressure, the defectors warned, will have little effect on one of the
most militarized societies in the world. In the mid-1990′s, during a famine,
Ms. Lee recalled, “they had this slogan: `Without the candy bowls, you can still live; but without the bullets, you cannot survive.’ “

But behind the fire-breathing rhetoric, “the North Korean Army is in
shambles,” she added.

“The North Korean military elites are skimming from their budgets, cutting
down the average ration for soldiers,” said Ms. Lee, whose husband served in the military. “The soldiers have become very undisciplined. They steal piglets.”

Economic sanctions, if applied by China, North Korea’s largest trading
partner, might force Kim Jong Il to mothball his nuclear bomb projects, said the defectors, who all escaped through China. But according to a report released last week by South Korea’s National Statistical Office, only 14 percent of North Korea’s limping economy depended on foreign trade in 2000, compared with 69 percent in South Korea.

“When China and Russia stop giving aid, North Korea is bound to halt its
nuclear weapons program,” said Ma Young Ae, 39, a former
counterintelligence agent who now runs a restaurant here with her new South  Korean husband.

“Most of the food in Pyongyang is from China,” she said, referring to North  Korea’s capital. “The best way to stop the nuclear program is to stop the aid.” (End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

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R.I.P Sandra Cantu Of Tracy,CA!

It is with a heavy heart that I type these words.Sandra Cantu was found dead at a dairy farm pond that was located just a couple of miles from her home. After 11 days of trying to find her whereabouts,her body was discovered in a suitcase that had been dumped in the pond.

Over a hundred heartbroken people held a vigil for Sandra Cantu tonight in Tracy.At this moment,the police have not identified any suspects in the death of this beautiful,angelic child. I seriously hope they find the sick, demonic individual who did this. Rest in peace,Sandra Cantu!

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Madame Tussauds Reveals Their Wax Replica Of Michelle Obama!

Did you know that Hillary Clinton & Jackie O were the only two first ladies at Madame Tussauds? That is until Michelle Obama’s overwhelming popularity prompted them to make a wax replica of her. Here’s more on that from CNN:

“The museum’s artists began working on the wax figure in late December, Lloyd said. While Obama did not pose for the artists, they were able to achieve a lifelike representation of the first lady by poring over photographs and video footage of her.

“The hardest thing to capture is the essence,” Lloyd said. “Every time you see Michelle Obama walk into a room, she just kind of takes the oxygen out of the room. She’s so fashionable, she’s a loving mother, loving wife, so we really hope that we capture that essence of a first lady.”

A quick crowd survey seemed to suggest the artists were successful, as most museumgoers thought the likeness was dead-on.

“Exactly like her,” said Felecia Bryant of Tampa, Florida. “I do think it captures her essence… she is a people person. She likes to go around talking to everyone. She’s not too untouchable. She has a heart for people.”

Michelle Obama is one of only three first ladies to be immortalized by the wax museum. Figures of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Hillary Clinton are also on display. The museum decided to make the figure because of the high public interest in Michelle Obama, Lloyd said.

“We had tons of feedback from visitors that told us, OK, you have President Obama. Where is the first lady?” Lloyd said.

Since her husband has taken office, Obama has garnered unprecedented popularity, experiencing a level of interest in her fashion choices usually reserved for supermodels, and even drawing comparisons to royalty.

Many of the onlookers at the museum seemed to appreciate the public’s fascination with the first lady.

“She’s a great role model for young girls. I have two daughters, and I’m pleased that she’s coming across as a strong, powerful woman,” said Sandra Motusesky of Robbinsville, New Jersey. Motusesky brought her three children to the exhibit.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

Rush Limbaugh Is “Anal Poison”!

Rush Limbaugh should be likened to a filthy pig in the slop.He is hideous both on the inside & the out.And he is the polar opposite of his nemesis,President Barack Obama,in every single way.He is so far away from being even remotely human that it’s not even funny.In fact,this man embodies the worst of America. He fits every negative description of an American that you could possibly imagine. You see,Rush Limbaugh is the perfect example of everything that is wrong with our country! He is greedy,obese,obscene,immoral, & downright ignorant!

Rush Limbaugh is worried that Gordon Brown might get “anal poisoning” from liking America’s president too much.Well,I’d like to tell this anarchist named Rush Limbaugh that he is anal poison.That’s why Gov. Paterson could care less about your bitching & moaning about the millionaire’s tax.He’s glad that you are leaving New York because you hate this tax.It’s too bad that the tax didn’t make Rush Limbaugh leave the entire country.

Because with “patriots” like Rush Limbaugh,America will continue to get “anal poisoning”.Denigrating the president no matter if he does good or bad is poisonous to our country.I supported George Bush until it was obvious that he lied about weapons of mass destruction.That’s freakin’ serious!The leader of America lied to Americans  so that he could thrust us into a war with Iraq! That was the time to revolt against the government! But,Rush Limbaugh & his followers were not outraged by that.

Why so much vitriol for a president that has barely been in office for 4 months? Some people just seem to be determined to not support President Obama no matter what he does!Rush Limbaugh ought to be ashamed of himself,but he’s a sociopath that has no soul.Anyone who is out there professing their love for America should have been protesting George Bush.But,we all know that Rush Limbaugh is good friends with the Bush family. So, Rush Limbaugh kept his silence while the country got screwed over.

Rush Limbaugh failed to scrutinize & criticize George Bush. And the damage that Bush did to America should have been pointed out by every individual in the media. Instead,Rush Limbaugh defended George Bush, whether he was right or wrong!How despicable is that!

I have no respect for you or your opinion if you have been silent for the past 8 yrs. & suddenly you have found your voice when Barack Obama became president.Now that everything is screwed up,people want to revolt & speak out.The hypocrisy is amazingly grotesque to me!

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French Anti-Doping Officials Say Lance Armstrong Did Not Follow The Protocol For Drug Testing!

Lance Armstrong has been accused by French officials of not remaining under the watchful eye of the person who administers drug tests.They question the 20 minutes that he spent in the shower while his staff checked the drug tester’s qualifications.

Now,that sounds like a diversionary tactic to me.But,I could be wrong.Lance Armstrong said that he was not sure who this guy really was. So, he had his assistants check the tester out! And you know that French anti-doping officials have been after him for years.

Why would the tester agree to let him take a shower & then say that he violated their testing rules? If that’s the case, the tester should have told him that he had to stay under his observation!Here’s more on this story from Yahoo:

” France’s anti-doping agency accused Lance Armstrong of violating its rules Thursday for not fully cooperating with a drug tester and says it could punish the seven-time Tour de France champion.Armstrong has denied misbehaving during a test of his hair, urine and blood on March 17. No banned substances were found.The agency, known as AFLD, said in a statement that the doctor leading the tests maintains Armstrong “did not respect the obligation to remain under the direct and permanent observation” of the tester.

At question is a 20-minute delay when Armstrong says the tester agreed to let him shower while the American rider’s assistants checked the tester’s credentials.AFLD said cycling’s governing body has given its permission to open disciplinary procedures against Armstrong, but did not say what the punishment could be.AFLD president Pierre Bordry noted that the statement does not say that Armstrong is guilty of an infraction. AFLD is expected to make a decision on whether to proceed with sanctions after its nine-member ruling committee has considered the tester’s report.“(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

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Capt. Richard Phillips Is Still Alive! A French Hostage In A Parallel Situation Was Killed!

There is criticism out there about the way that President Obama is handling this hostage situation.Capt. Richard Phillips is being held for ransom by Somali pirates. They have threatened to kill him if the U.S. attacks.And they will make good on their word.

A French hostage was killed after President Sarkozy ordered French forces to attack.Here’s more from the Guardian:

“A French military operation to free a yacht hijacked by Somali pirates backfired yesterday when one of the hostages was killed, highlighting the perils facing US forces trying to free an American seaman being held captive in a parallel pirate standoff.

Despite the rescue of his four fellow hostages, including his three-year-old son, Florent Lemaçon was shot dead on board the Tanit during the raid by elite French forces. Two pirates also died, and three others were taken prisoner, said the French defence minister, Herve Morin.

Standing by the commando-style tactics, the French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s office confirmed “France’s determination not to give into blackmail, and to defeat the pirates“.However, Morin later said that, in a break with usual French policy, a ransom had been offered to the pirates, who hijacked the Tanit last weekend as it sailed towards Zanzibar. He said Sarkozy had given the order to attack after negotiations had broken down and the pirates threatened to execute the hostages.

“Of course we offered all we could offer … we even offered them a ransom,” said Morin, declining to name the sum proposed. “All these things were permanently and consistently refused.” He said France had also suggested “exchanging” Colin, the child, and his mother, Chloe, for an officer, but that had also been rejected.Military sources last night said it was unclear whether Lemaçon, the owner of the yacht, had been killed accidentally or whether he had been murdered.(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

Thank God that Captain Richard Phillips is still alive. This “no-nonsense soldier” has shown himself to be a brave hero throughout this whole ordeal. He volunteered to be held hostage in order to save his crew & he attempted to escape. Here’s more on the situation that Capt. Phillips has found himself in from the CapeCod Times:

Reuters is reporting that Somali pirates holding American Capt. Richard Phillips hostage on a lifeboat want $2 million for his release, a fellow pirate onshore told the news service today.

The pirate also told Reuters that other pirates were taking a hijacked German ship, with foreign crew on board, to the area of the lifeboat holding the hostage in the Indian Ocean, watched by U.S. warships.

“Knowing that the Americans will not destroy this German ship and its foreign crew, they (the approaching pirates) hope they can meet their friends on the lifeboat,” said the pirate, who has given reliable information in the past but asked for his name not to be used.

“Our friends (on the lifeboat) hope for $2 million ransom as well as their own safety,” he added.

Earlier today, Phillips, who is being held hostage by four Somali pirates, made a desperate escape but was recaptured after they fired shots. Officials said other pirates sought to reinforce their colleagues by sailing hijacked ships, including the German ship, with other captives aboard to the scene of the standoff.

A Somali in contact with a pirate leader said the captors want a ransom and are ready to kill Phillips, if attacked.

The U.S. was bolstering its force by dispatching other warships to the site off the Horn of Africa, where a U.S. destroyer shadowed the drifting lifeboat carrying Phillips, 53, who graduated from Massachusetts Maritime Academy in 1979. He was taken hostage in the pirates’ failed effort to hijack the cargo ship Maersk Alabama on Wednesday.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

I am glad that the U.S. is trying to reach a peaceful resolution. We want to make sure that this hostage comes home safely. America prays for Capt. Richard Phillips to make it out of this ordeal alive. I wish it could have turned out that way for France.

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Sandra Cantu’s Killer May Be A Sunday School Teacher Named Melissa Huckaby!!

MELISSA HUCKABY MUG SHOT

I was shocked to learn that it was a woman that got arrested for being Sandra Cantu’s killer! And that she was a Sunday school teacher. Sweet Jesus,what is the world coming to? Even worse,her 5 yr. old daughter was Sandra Cantu’s playmate.This lady was the last person to see Sandra Cantu alive.Not only that,she owned the suitcase that Sandra was found in.

Here’s more from KRON4:

“Sunday School teacher Melissa Huckaby is now under arrest in connection with the kidnapping and murder of eight-year old Sandra Cantu.Tracy police arrested Huckaby just before midnight Friday night, just hours after going to police for a voluntary round of questioning.

Huckaby is the grand-daughter of Clover Lane Baptist Church Pastor Clifford Lawless. Investigators say she taught Sunday School at the church.Investigators say it appears Cantu was killed shortly after she disappeared from her family’s home. Police say the suitcase in which the little girl’s body was found belonged to Huckabee. The woman had told reporters the luggage was stolen from in front of her home. Police say that does not appear to be true.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

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The Magnificent U.S Navy Seals Rescued Capt. Phillips!

Our military is comprised of so many heroes.In the spotlight right now is the U.S. Navy Seals! First,you have an heroic captain who gave himself over to the Somali pirates in order to spare his crew the nightmare of being held hostage.Then,during his ordeal,the very courageous Capt. Richard Phillips attempted to make his escape.

It was really great to find out that the valiant U.S. Navy Seals rescued the captain.Especially since it happened on Easter Sunday.What a perfect ending! I know that the entire Phillips family feels overjoyed because America does! We are lucky to have laudable folks like Capt. Phillips & his crew serving in the U.S. military. Go Navy Seals!

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The Obsession With America’s First Dog!

Can you believe that this has been one of the top news stories?The country has been obsessing over what kind of dog President Obama will get his daughters.This really falls in the special interest category to me.But,I might be biased because I’m a cat lover.

Anyway,we have found out which lucky animal gets to be America’s first dog! It’s a Portuguese water dog named “Bo”.He’s a cute little thing,but not everyone is happy with President Obama’s choice.Seems like that’s becoming the norm for some folks! Let’s gripe about our new president constantly & do our best to find fault in anything that he does.

This time the Obama complainers are pissed about the fact that “Bo” may not technically be a rescue dog.At least not by their standards. Here’s more on the latest gripe someone has with President Obama from The AP:

“The Obamas repeatedly said they wanted it to be a rescued dog such as one from a shelter. Their search was complicated by daughter Malia’s allergies, which would rule out many of the “mutts” the president has said he would prefer.Enter Bo, a 6-month-old puppy given up by his first owner and matched with the Obamas through his breeders.

Because he was given up by his first owner as a poor fit and is now with his second owners, the Obamas, but never spent time in a shelter or with a rescue group, Bo is a “quasi-rescue dog,” says Wayne Pacelle, chief executive of The Humane Society of the United States.

Here’s where the intrigue comes in:

_ Bo’s breeders happen to have bred Sen. Edward Kennedy’s Portuguese water dogs. The Massachusetts Democrat, an Obama friend and political ally, also acquired a pup from Bo’s litter. Bo’s breeders are fans of Obama and named Bo’s litter the Hope and Change litter.

_ Bo’s first owner lives in Washington

._ Bo was returned to the breeder in early March, fitting the spring timeline the Obamas had given for their dog adoption.

_ Kennedy and his wife Victoria helped line Bo up with the Obamas. Before moving into the White House, the pup spent nearly a month with the Kennedys’ dog trainer in Virginia.In fact, Bo is a gift to the Obamas’ daughters, Malia and Sasha, from the Kennedys, said Katie McCormick Lelyveld, a spokeswoman for Michelle Obama. The puppy officially arrives Tuesday.

“They were starting their search with shelter dogs, but when the Kennedys learned of this dog and offered it as a gift to the girls, they met the dog, it was a perfect fit for their lifestyle and for Malia’s health concerns,” she said, adding that the Obamas are making a donation to the Washington Humane Society.

“Because this gift came before their pound search sort of was completed, they made a gift to some of the places they were looking.”

Still, conspiracy buffs might speculate that Bo was meant for the Obamas all along. Was his adoption engineered to look like a rescue — or at least blur the line to head off criticism that the Obamas had picked a purebred from a breeder? The Humane Society’s Pacelle acknowledged that the Obamas never flat-out promised to get a dog from a pound or rescue group. And the society has kind words for Obama on its Web site:

“Thanks, Mr. President, for giving a second-chance dog a forever home,” it says.

“He’s in a gray area,” Pacelle said of Bo. “But I will say that many animal advocates are disappointed that he (Obama) didn’t go to a shelter or breed rescue group, partly because he set that expectation and because so many activists are focused on trying to reduce the number of animals euthanized at shelters, and there’s no better person to make the case to the American public that you can get a great dog from a shelter than the president.”

The group later removed its congratulatory message and replaced it with: “First Dog Unveiled. Concerns about impact on shelters, demand for breed as Bo makes his debut.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

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Phil Spector Is One Celebrity That Did Not Get Away With Murder!

Phil Spector is the famed & crazed record producer that killed a beautiful actress. He tried to say that she was so depressed that she shot herself right in front of him.But,the jury didn’t buy that explanation for Lana Clarkson’s death.Here’s more on their verdict & what it will mean for Mr. Spector’s future from the NY Times:

“Phil Spector, the rock music impresario behind hits like “Da Doo Ron Ron,” and “You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feeling,” was convicted Monday of murdering a struggling actress at his mansion in 2003 after a night of drinking.Mr. Spector, 68, faces at least 18 years in prison.

The jury, ending a five-month trial, reached its decision after 27 hours of deliberating whether he shot the woman in a fit of anger or, as his lawyers argued, merely witnessed her suicide.

In addition to second-degree murder, the jury found Mr. Spector guilty of illegally discharging a firearm.

This was the second murder trial in the case; the first ended in a hung jury in 2007. Mr. Spector has been out on bail for most of the last six years, but was immediately taken into custody after the verdict on Monday.

Mr. Spector came into court looking frail and sullen. He wore a long blue overcoat, a bright red tie, and a shaggy shoulder-length hairstyle. Gone were his psychedelic glasses and the swagger that carried him through decades at the top of the pop music scene.Mr. Spector whispered only a few words to his lawyers. As a court clerk read the verdict, he leaned forward intently. His face betrayed little emotion throughout the proceeding.

The family of the actress, Lana Clarkson, who was 40, reacted with relief and embraces. They declined to speak to reporters gathered at the Los Angeles Superior Court downtown.

Mr. Spector, who was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, was famous for his Wall of Sound, lush orchestrations heard on an array of hits in the 1960s and 1970s with groups like the Ronettes. He worked with the Beatles, Tina Turner, the Rolling Stones and others but had receded from the public stage and in recent years was known as much for his eccentric behavior — he has been often photographed wearing a large fright wig — as for his talent as a producer.

And according to at least five women who testified in court, Mr. Spector also had a frightening penchant for firearms and drunken discourses — often mixing them.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

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Lindsay Lohan,You Are Such A “Crazy Redhead”!

Did you see that Lindsay Lohan video mock-up of  dating profiles? I know that this is going to go viral for real.Kudos to Lindsay because she comes off as a down-to-earth chick that you would like to get to know.Instead of the “crazy redhead” that she has even labeled herself as.Humor is the best way to get over a bad public break-up.

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A Man Who Was Accused Of Being A Nazi Camp Guard Has Had His Deportation Delayed!!

A retired U.S. auto worker has been accused of being a Nazi camp guard in Poland during WWII.The frail 89-yr. old man is reportedly too ill to stand trial. He was in the process of being deported to Munich when he got a stay by the U.S courts.John Demjanjuk has denied these accusations,but if he is guilty he should pay.No matter how old & sickly he is!Here’s more from The Guardian:

“A federal court delayed the deportation from the US of accused Nazi concentration camp guard John Demjanjuk, just hours after immigration agents took him from his Ohio house and prepared to exile him from the United States.

The 89-year-old former Ford factory worker was to be sent to Munich to stand trial on charges that he was involved in the mass murder of 29,000 Jews as a young guard at the Sobibor concentration camp in what was then Nazi-occupied Poland.

A team of immigration agents this afternoon took Demjanjuk from his Ohio home, where he has lived since moving to the United States in 1952. Television news footage showed Demjanjuk being removed from the house in a wheelchair, surrounded by weeping family members.

But a federal appeals court in Ohio granted a stay of the deportation so judges can hear Demjanjuk’s arguments that he is too ill to travel. It was unclear whether Demjanjuk would remain in custody.”(End of Excerpt)Read the rest here.

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An Exquisite Looking German Pop Star Has Been Arrested In A HIV Scandal!

Right before she was due to perform,Nadja Benaissa was detained by the police for knowingly infecting three men with HIV!Of course,she neglected to mention that she had the disease as well. It just goes to show that HIV exists in some of the most exquisite looking people in the world.Because this woman is undeniably beautiful.And she is also a member of No Angels,which is Germany’s equivalent to the Spice Girls.

Here’s more from news.com.au:

“A GERMAN pop star has been arrested for allegedly having unprotected sex with a number of men without telling them she had the HIV virus.

Nadja Benaissa, who has sold more than five million records with her girl group No Angels, is alleged to have had unprotected sex with three people.

At least one man has since found he has the virus, The Times reports.

Benaissa, 26, a mother of one, became a celebrity overnight when she and four other young women won the first German series of reality TV show Popstars in 2000.

They formed No Angels, who were said to have been modelled on the Spice Girls, and went on to have a string of No 1 hits. “(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

The Tea Party Anti-Tax Protest!

As long as you really just want fairness for the American people,then you should protest the “bailouts” that both parties are responsible for giving.But if your anger is directed solely at President Obama,then I question how fair you are being. I mean,I did not see one George Bush sign at these protests today. Please leave a comment with a link if you can find one sign with George Bush on it! I googled it & I could only come up with Obama signs.If you are really protesting against the bailouts,then where are the Bush signs?!!

So, if you were at a tea party today,let me pose this question to you. Was any of your disgust directed at the Republican party & George Bush?Here’s the reason why it should have been from The Atlantic:

Americans for Prosperity says it mostly wants to call attention to Obama’s economic policies; ostensibly, at least, it does not have broader designs for the conservative movement or the size of its own e-mail list.

“We just think it’s a great opportunity for average Americans to show up and make our voices heard,” spokesman Erik Telford told me.

All three groups acknowledge that the reported energy behind the tea party movement doesn’t have a particularly narrow focus. They’re protesting the stimulus, the budget, the financial bailout (signed by President Bush), and more, they say. They also acknowledge that some will show up not out of economic rage, but out of pure opposition to Obama.

When Fox News’s cameras start rolling on Wednesday, we will finally find out what the movement consists of. The only problem is the Heisenberg effect of Fox’s cameras.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

First & foremost,we know that the bailout madness & spending craze took place under George Bush.And that he left an economic catastrophe for President Obama.So,make sure you place the blame where it really lies.And that would be with both the Republican & Democratic parties.I just wonder why this urge to revolt against the government is happening now.

This is really a protest against President Obama for some of the people attending these “tea parties“.No matter what Fox News claims,this is definitely has a partisan feel to me.Especially when Glenn Beck,Neil Cavuto,& countless others from the Fox network have decided to do more than cover these events.

They have been gleefully promoting the acts that are performing at the protests & giving the whole thing a celebratory feel!Over at the Fox network,they couldn’t wait for “Tea Party Day” to get here! Here’s more on that from Canada.com:

“Rising popularity in the polls for Obama, a strengthening economy, and the unfortunate choice of name for the movement (“tea-bagging” is slang for a sexual act) are considered the prime reasons for the failure of the event, but recent exposure of the groups behind the protests also drove some away.

In the days leading up to the supposedly grassroots event, the New York Times’ Paul Krugman noted, “a key role is being played by FreedomWorks, an organization run by Richard Armey, the former House majority leader, and supported by the usual group of right-wing billionaires. And the parties are, of course, being promoted heavily by Fox News.

“The involvement of a news channel in promoting a partisan event has caused many to give the political tilt of Fox News a second look.In the lead-up to the event, Fox News featured nine segments and 40 promos over just two days, according to the watchdog website Media Matters.

Over a one-week period, 10 in-show promos were given by Fox presenter Sean Hannity, while Neil Cavuto and Glenn Beck delivered five each. Cavuto did seven news segments on the event.All Fox News shows featured commercials advertising the protests during that time, and they were regularly described as “FNC (Fox News Channel) Tax Day Tea Parties” by on-air personalities.

Fox News anchor Cody Willard, reporting from one of the protests, even went so far as to say on the air, “Guys, when are we going to wake up and start fighting the fascism that seems to be permeating this country?”

In yet another tea-bag day controversy, Fox anchor Cavuto was captured on an open microphone discussing the crowd numbers with an on-location producer, estimating the turnout at 5,000 people.But minutes later Cavuto told viewers that “They were expecting 5,000 here, it’s got to be easily double, if not triple that.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

Fox News needs to stop claiming that they are “fair & balanced”. Because that is a damn joke!

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Baseball Players Will Honor Jackie Robinson Today By Wearing His Number!

Jackie Robinson is the handsome black baseball player that broke the color barrier.Not just in sports,but also in general society.In honor of all that he has done to change the social order of America,baseball players across the country will wear the number 42 today.

Here’s more from mlb.com:

“By request of Commissioner Bud Selig, as Major League Baseball celebrates the 62nd anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking its color barrier on Wednesday, all big league players and uniformed personnel have been asked to wear the late Hall of Famer’s famous No. 42 on the field when the 30 teams celebrate the occasion.

The past two years, as the momentum to wear Robinson’s number steamrolled through Major League clubhouses, Selig asked, but the act of wearing it was voluntary. Not so this year.

“April 15, 1947, is a day that resonates with history throughout Major League Baseball,” Selig said. “With all Major League players, coaches and umpires wearing Jackie’s No. 42, we hope to demonstrate the magnitude of his impact on the game of baseball. Major League Baseball will never forget the contributions that Jackie made both on and off the field.”

This year’s main celebration of Robinson putting on a Brooklyn Dodgers uniform in a regular-season game for the first time, thus integrating MLB forever, is being hosted at Citi Field, the new home of the Mets. But there will be ceremonies in all the other 14 ballparks across the nation, with 62 Jackie Robinson Foundation scholars being honored.

The Jackie Robinson Foundation, founded by his widow, Rachel, offers a $10,000 scholarship toward college tuition for highly motivated minority students. And this year, for the first time, a scholar will represent each of the 30 clubs.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

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Hot Cheerleading Coach Gets Fired Because Of Her Racy Extracurricular Activities!

As long as she wasn’t bringing these photos to school & bragging about it,I do not see why she got fired.It just sounds like the mothers who complained about Carlie Christine had a bone to pick with her anyway.And that was probably way before their daughters didn’t make the cheerleading squad.

I just think that it’s total bull! Give this woman her job back. What she does in her own spare time is her damn business!!Here’s more from CBS:

Ron Jones with CBS 13 in Sacramento has the story about a local woman who was fired from her job as a cheerleading coach after she turned up in Playboy magazine.

“The girls are supposed to look up their coaches,” says one concerned parent at Casa Robles High School.

Carlie Christine bared all, all over the internet. Casa Robles High School officials in Orangevale confirm with CBS13 that their girl’s cheerleading coach, Carlie Christine, was the one who posed nude in a playboy centerfold.

Christine is also Playboy’s ‘cyber girl of the week.’

Parents and some students, who did not want to be identified, exposed the coach to school officials after rumors started slowly getting out that she had posed nude.

“I think it’s unacceptable. It’s not fair,” says Jamye Curtis.

What apparently uncovered the coach was when some girls didn’t make the cheerleading squad because they had a few unexcused absences from school. Their parents then made copies of Christine and dropped the pictures on the principal’s desk.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

Marilyn Chambers:R.I.P. Ms. Ivory Snow!

I used to work at an adult bookstore a few years back.Believe it or not,I had to learn a lot about the products we were selling.You had to do more then just stand there & look sexy. So,I gained a lot of knowledge about adult film stars,among other things.Marilyn Chambers was one of those porn actresses.

She looked as pure as Ivory Snow.But,she proved that she was far from it.Ms. Chambers showed the world how much she identified with the wholesome image on the Ivory Snow detergent box by starring in a porn movie.

Although the movie became an adult classic,Marilyn Chambers decision to have two opposing public images sparked a controversy that resulted in boxes of Ivory Snow being yanked from store shelves.

And the public’s image of her as a porn actress left Marilyn Chambers feeling stigmatized until her death on April 14. Here’s more on that from the Chicago Tribune:

“The low-budget “Behind the Green Door” became one of the biggest adult movie hits of the ’70s, having received an unexpected publicity boost shortly after it was released in 1972.

Procter & Gamble, unaware of Chambers’ role in the X-rated film, used one of her photos that had been taken during her New York modeling days on its laundry detergent box — she’s shown cuddling a laughing baby.

“Timing is essential for someone’s career,” Chambers said in a 2007 interview with Rhode Island’s Providence Journal.”That’s what did it for me. The controversy of both those things happening at the same time,” she said.

Procter & Gamble, whose Ivory products were “99 44/100% pure,” quickly pulled the boxes from store shelves.

“The media attention of the whole controversy was insane,” Chambers said in a 2003 interview with the Philadelphia Daily News. “This was the first time attention was being paid to erotic films.”Out of that, she said in a 2004 interview with the Montreal newspaper the Gazette, “came a Marilyn Chambers clause in all modeling contracts, saying that you can never have posed topless or nude or been in any kind of adult film or Playboy or anything like that.”

Chambers followed up “Behind the Green Door” with another hit produced by the Mitchell brothers, “Resurrection of Eve.”And in 1975, Artie Mitchell produced a semi-documentary, “Inside Marilyn Chambers.”

Chambers reportedly longed for mainstream movie stardom, and she starred in director David Cronenberg’s R-rated 1977 horror movie “Rabid.”But by 1980, after appearing in a cabaret act as a singer and dancer and cutting a disco-flavored record, she returned to adult films, including “Insatiable” and the film series “Marilyn Chambers’ Private Fantasies.”

“I would have loved to move on,” she said in a 2004 interview. “I’ve been stigmatized, and it’s something that’s very difficult to get out of.”

Chambers stopped making hard-core movies in the mid-’80s, but returned again in the late ’90s with “Still Insatiable,” Kernes said.

“In between,” he said, “she was doing soft-core late-night cable movies.”

Her last screen appearance was in filmmaker Victor Franko’s low-budget independent movie “Solitaire,” which was filmed in Rhode Island in 2007.In the PG-rated film, which has yet to be released, she plays a Providence police officer in pursuit of a group of teenage petty thieves.

Chambers was born Marilyn Ann Briggs on April 22, 1952, in Providence, R.I., and grew up in Westport, Conn. She became interested in acting as a teenager and began working as a model, appearing in print ads for Clairol shampoo and other products.

After retiring from adult films, Chambers remained a popular draw at memorabilia and autograph shows.Chambers was married and divorced three times, including a marriage to Chuck Traynor, who had previously been married to Lovelace.Chambers had a daughter, McKenna, from her marriage to Tom Taylor.

A complete list of surviving family members was not immediately available.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

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Perez Hilton: He Says That Miss California Is Still A “Dumb Bitch”!

Wow,I wonder why the Miss USA pageant decided to have the very racy Perez Hilton be one of their judges.Maybe they knew that he would create a controversy of some sort.And that’s just what he did.

He asked one of the Miss USA runner-ups a question that he knew would trip her up.Perez Hilton wanted to know what Miss California thinks of gay marriage.She said that in her country marriage should only be an option for a man & woman.And you know Ms. Mr. Hilton wasn’t having any of that! He blasted her on his site & MSNBC! Perez Hilton says that he’s not sorry for calling Miss California “a dumb bitch“! Or for being the reason that she lost to Miss North Carolina.

Here’s more from Us Magazine:

Miss California Carrie Prejean says she believes her anti-same sex marriage stance hurt her chances of winning Sunday’s Miss USA competition.

At the Las Vegas pageant, Prejean, 21, was asked by judge Perez Hilton how she felt about legalizing gay marriage. “In my country, and in my family, I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman,” she replied. She later lost out to Miss North Carolina, Kristen Dalton.

“It did cost me my crown,” Prejean said of her response on Monday’s Billy Bush Show. “I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I said what I feel. I stated an opinion that was true to myself and that’s all I can do.”

“It is a very touchy subject and [Hilton] is a homosexual and I see where he was coming from and I see the audience would’ve wanted me to be more politically correct,” she added. “But I was raised in a way that you can never compromise your beliefs and your opinions for anything.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

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Meghan McCain To “The New Faces Of The Gop”:”You Had Your 8 Yrs, Now Go Away!”Plus,My Thoughts On Torture!!!

Meghan McCain is so honest about what she feels is wrong with the “right” that some conservatives are questioning her political leanings.Is Meghan McCain really a conservative or a secret liberal? Others feel that Meghan McCain is suggesting that the GOP needs to morph into a party that resembles the Democratic party.Here’s a Republican viewpoint from Dayton Daily News:

“Sen. John McCain’s daughter and his presidential campaign manager think they’ve figured out why McCain lost the 2008 election and what Republicans must do to win in the future: They need to be more like Democrats.

Steve Schmidt and Meghan McCain delivered their analyses in separate speeches to the Log Cabin Republicans, whose stated mission “is to work within the Republican Party to advocate equal rights for all Americans, including gays and lesbians.”

Schmidt said he believes that a political party should not take or argue a position on same-sex marriage based on religious grounds. “If you put public policy to a religious test,” he said, “you risk becoming a religious party, and in a free country, a political party cannot remain viable in the long term if it is seen as sectarian.” (End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

And here’s another conservative from U.S. News that can’t find anything “right” about Ms. McCain :

“The political issues on which Meghan McCain urges moderation are some of the very issues that the GOP used successfully to realign the electorate in the 1980s and 1990s and which played a major role in winning the White House for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004.

Ms. McCain, for example, urges acceptance of gay marriage—as now does McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt. But they forget that it was state-based efforts in defense of the traditional definition of marriage that helped Bush beat Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts in 2004. And that there has been no place, at least none that I can find, where the pro-gay marriage position has triumphed when put to a vote of the people.

In fact, it was just a few years ago, after the Vermont legislature voted to approve civil unions, that the GOP took over the state House of Representatives in the electoral backlash. And I expect to see a similar outcome after its approval of gay marriage over a gubernatorial veto earlier this month.

“I think we’re seeing a war brewing in the Republican Party, but it is not between us and Democrats,” Ms. McCain told the Log Cabin Republican Convention. “It is not between us and liberals. It is between the future and the past.”

She’s welcome to try, but I think the real issue is for the party to return to its Reaganite, limited-government roots. And the close to 1 million, by some estimates, people who turned out for last Wednesday’s national tax day tea parties seem to agree. They were quite clear they believe they are being taxed, spent, regulated, and borrowed to death by the federal government.

And so my advice to Ms. McCain, and to those folks who think she might be right, is to focus on issues that unite us, like taxes and spending, not those that divide us, and then try to prove you know how to win an election or two before telling everyone else what their agendas should be.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

Whew! Meghan McCain is really getting under the skin of a whole lot of conservatives.The highly opinionated blonde has already said that “old school republicans are scared shitless“! Whatever it is,they aren’t wasting anytime responding to the change that Meghan McCain says the GOP desperately needs.But,I’m sure that Meghan McCain will only tell her critics to “kiss her fat ass“! Because that’s what she told Laura Ingraham to do when Meghan appeared on The View. Here’s more from the NY Daily News:

“As far as I’m concerned with what’s going on with Laura Ingraham, on my end, it’s over,” McCain told King. “There are nine million women in this country suffering from eating disorders. And I’m not going to be bullied around about my weight and what kind of standards I’m not fitting.”

In the past few weeks since she started her career as a political columnist, McCain has angered conservatives – especially after she blasted pundit Ann Coulter, calling the author, “offensive, radical, insulting, and confusing all at the same time.” Ingraham had poked fun of McCain’s weight on her radio show, then back-peddled on an interview with Fox News a few days later.

Meghan McCain’s “progressive” - code for liberal in the eyes of many fellow Republicans - views on supporting gay marriage have also made her controversial among her party’s base.

“I have taken heat, but in fairness to me, I am a different generation than the people that are giving me heat,” McCain told King. “I’m 24 years old. I’m not in my 40s, I’m not in my 50s and older.”

But perhaps her most controversial view as far as Republicans are concerned is her support for Obama to succeed as president.

“He’s our president and when the election was over and when President Obama won, all negative feelings were gone,” McCain said on the CNN show. “I support the president.” (End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

Meghan McCain is a hell of a good sport for supporting the man who beat her father in the presidential race. But,if she understands the importance of supporting the president of the United States of America,then what the hell is wrong with those “patriots” who have been working to undermine President Obama since he took office?

Give him the same chance that I gave George W. Bush when he allegedly beat Al Gore. Even though there were some serious questions about whether George Bush really won. I supported George Bush because he was my president. We gave him a chance to make mistakes for 8 yrs. And we are continuing to find out just how horrific some of those errors were.

Now,it’s time for those who were in power then,like Dick Cheney,to support the president. And to “go away” like George Bush has. After all the chaos that took place under the Bush administration,I don’t lend much credence to anything that Dick Cheney has to say anyway.

Where was the honesty & transparency at when Bush & Cheney were in charge of serving the American people & doing what was in the country’s best interest? I mean,the law was redefined so that torture could be permitted. For all of those who want to protect American values,this ought to be of great concern to every American.

How much executive power are we willing to give a president? The Bush administration’s actions pale in comparison to all of the arguments that have been made about President Obama.

If you love your country,you should be outraged. But,if it’s all about which party you’ve pledged allegiance to,then you should be feeling defensive.Unfortunately,I’m hearing a whole lot of defense instead of outrage from the right. And that is wrong!

We do not torture in America. And that is what those “harsh interrogation methods” amounted to.You can call it what you want,but it is what it is! This is supposed to be a civilized society,remember?

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Shepard Smith:”We Are America! We Don’t Fucking Torture!”

Leave it to Shepard Smith to state the plain & simple truth on the station that is commonly referred to as “Faux News” by many! But,Fox News was actually fair & balanced the moment that Shepard Smith angrily blurted out the following:

“We are America! We don’t fucking torture!”

Now,that’s the passion that any true American should feel on the subject of torture! Because if that’s not the case,then how can we claim to be the moral authority on anything? I’m glad to see that someone knows what patriotism is all about. Shepard Smith went against all of the apologists over at the Fox network when he spoke honestly about this subject.Instead of repeating the same old tired talking points!

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Before She Wonders About Anybody’s Sanity,Shouldn’t Michelle Bachmann Be Worried About Her Own?!!

Michelle Bachmann has proven time & time again that she is the one who is “stark raving mad“! So,why is she wondering about the sanity of the DHS secretary,Janet Napolitano?Ms. Napolitano has made some incredibly stupid statements.She should have known better than to say that crossing the border illegally is not a crime.Because that just is not so! And she claimed that some 9/11 terrorists came through the Canadian border,which was also untrue.

These verbal mishaps have caused many conservatives to question whether or not Janet Napolitano really knows what the law is along the border! And those supposed concerns have some Republicans calling for her resignation.

What really got their goat,though,is the release of a intelligence report about right-wing extremism.Here’s more from The AP:

“It didn’t take long for Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to shoot herself in the foot or for Republicans to make her a target of their opposition to Obama administration policy.At the heart of the GOP criticism is a recent intelligence analysis from Napolitano’s agency saying veterans returning from Iraq or Afghanistan could be susceptible to right-wing recruiters or commit lone acts of violence.

When conservative bloggers began writing about the report, Napolitano defended the assessment while acknowledging that some of it should have been rewritten. She went on a number of television news shows to apologize and explain her support for and admiration of veterans.

This was not enough for several Republicans who took to the House floor this week to criticize Napolitano, confirmed to her Cabinet position less than 100 days ago.

“Has this homeland security secretary gone absolutely stark raving mad?” said Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. “She needs to come before Congress. She needs to answer a few questions.“

On Thursday, Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, told Fox News that Napolitano must not understand “the disruption that she has caused” in some parts of the country.

“I think the appropriate thing for her to do would be to step down,” he said.

A day earlier, Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, said, “Janet Napolitano should resign or be fired.”

Obama administration aides dismissed the criticism as a “typical Washington game” and “political theater.”

Despite the furor among some Republicans, party leaders did not bring it up in a meeting with President Barack Obama and top White House aides on Thursday. Although House Republican leader John Boehner had indicated earlier it likely would be discussed, his spokesman, Kevin Smith, said the topic was not broached.

White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said the right-wing extremist report originated in the Bush administration and Napolitano was working to keep the nation safe from terrorists.

“She doesn’t have time for these games — and neither does the president,” Shapiro said.

The veterans issue wasn’t the only flap. Earlier this week, Napolitano drew criticism for flubbing an explanation of federal law prohibiting people without proper documents from crossing U.S. borders into the country.In an interview with CNN, Napolitano, whose career has included stints as a U.S. attorney and attorney general and governor of Arizona, said:

“Crossing the border is not a crime per se. It is civil.“

While crossing the border illegally is a crime, most illegal immigrants caught in the United States face only civil penalties and deportation.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

I don’t think that the DHS secretary should be fired for making really dumb statements.Because if that’s the case,Michelle Bachmann should have been fired a long time ago.And there are a lot of people who are working to make that happen.Here’s more from Care2 petition site:

“This is a petition to the citizens of Minnesota and Governor Tim Pawlenty to hold a recall election to remove Rep. Michelle Bachmann from the United States House of Representatives for her unprofessional, hateful, and treasonous remarks towards President Barack Obama, his administration, and for inciting violence against anyone who doesn’t believe in her right wing agenda.

Ms. Bachman has a long history of making disparaging remarks about the President even before he was elected.”(End of Excerpt) To sign the petition go here.

Because if anyone should resign from public office,it is this right-wing fanatical nut named Michelle Bachmann! She is the queen of hypocrisy,deceit,& hatred! Michelle Bachmann is a disgrace to the American people!

And there’s more from citizens for ethics.org:

“Michele Bachmann was one of nine named as 2008′s Most Embarrassing Re-Elected Members of Congress.“

The list incorporates those elected officials who have misused their position through illegal, unethical or just plain outrageous conduct,” says the Washington-based Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/35847

(I first noticed a reference to this story in MPR’s Polinaut.)

“From Rep. Bachmann’s smearing of President-elect Barack Obama to [Florida Republican] Rep. [Vern] Buchanan’s serious FEC violations – these members of Congress stand out for their inability to conduct themselves in a manner that respects the office they hold,” says Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW.

Earlier, Bachmann made Esquire magazine’s list of 10 worst congresspeople.The CREW list includes seven Republicans and two Democrats. The group has drawn criticism from some quarters, including the Norm Coleman campaign, which called it “an attack dog” for the Democratic Party. CREW at the time denied that charge, noting that it recently had asked the Senate ethics panel to investigate mortgage deals that went to two Democratic senators, Chris Dodd and Kent Conrad.

Here’s CREW’s take on Bachmann:“Rep. Michele Bachmann is a first-term member of Congress representing Minnesota’s 6th district. She was re-elected by a margin of 46% to 43% of the vote. Rep. Bachmann gained notoriety for claiming God had told her to run for Congress, and for grabbing President Bush’s shoulder after the 2007 State of the Union and holding him there until he kissed her, as well as calling for investigation into the anti-American views of fellow members of Congress.” (End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

For the most complete coverage on this insane congresswoman,go here.

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Bea Arthur:The Grande Dame Of Comedy Will Always Be America’s “Golden Girl”!

The amazing Bea Arthur has passed.The grande dame of comedy was born on May 16, 1923 in New York City. A witty woman with a very wry,sarcastic sense of humor would be the best way to describe her comedic style.It was her particular brand of wit that made her a hit as “Maude“.And it is also the reason why she will always be one of our favorite “Golden Girls“! Here’s more from The AP:

“Beatrice Arthur, the tall, deep-voiced actress whose razor-sharp delivery of comedy lines made her a TV star in the hit shows “Maude” and “The Golden Girls” and who won a Tony Award for the musical “Mame,” died Saturday. She was 86.Arthur died peacefully at her Los Angeles home with her family at her side, family spokesman Dan Watt said. She had cancer, Watt said, declining to give further details.

“She was a brilliant and witty woman,” said Watt, who was Arthur’s personal assistant for six years. “Bea will always have a special place in my heart.”

Arthur first appeared in the landmark comedy series “All in the Family” as Edith Bunker’s loudly outspoken, liberal cousin, Maude Finley. She proved a perfect foil for blue-collar bigot Archie Bunker (Carroll O’Connor), and their blistering exchanges were so entertaining that producer Norman Lear fashioned Arthur’s own series.

In a 2008 interview with The Associated Press, Arthur said she was lucky to be discovered by TV after a long stage career, recalling with bemusement CBS executives asking about the new “girl.”

“I was already 50 years old. I had done so much off-Broadway, on Broadway, but they said, `Who is that girl? Let’s give her her own series,’” Arthur said.”Maude” scored with television viewers immediately on its CBS debut in September 1972, and Arthur won an Emmy Award for the role in 1977.The comedy flowed from Maude’s efforts to cast off the traditional restraints that women faced, but the series often had a serious base. Her husband Walter (Bill Macy) became an alcoholic, and she underwent an abortion, which drew a torrent of viewer protests.

Maude became a standard bearer for the growing feminist movement in America.The ratings of “Maude” in the early years approached those of its parent, “All in the Family,” but by 1977 the audience started to dwindle. A major format change was planned, but in early 1978 Arthur announced she was quitting the show.

“It’s been absolutely glorious; I’ve loved every minute of it,” she said. “But it’s been six years, and I think it’s time to leave.”"Golden Girls” (1985-1992) was another groundbreaking comedy, finding surprising success in a television market increasingly skewed toward a younger, product-buying audience.The series concerned three retirees — Arthur, Betty White and Rue McClanahan — and the mother of Arthur’s character, Estelle Getty, who lived together in a Miami apartment.

In contrast to the violent “Miami Vice,” the comedy was nicknamed “Miami Nice.”As Dorothy Zbornak, Arthur seemed as caustic and domineering as Maude. She was unconcerned about the similarity of the two roles.

“Look — I’m 5-feet-9, I have a deep voice and I have a way with a line,” she told an interviewer. “What can I do about it? I can’t stay home waiting for something different. I think it’s a total waste of energy worrying about typecasting.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.

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The 1976 Swine Flu Scare Is Probably Why The President Says We Should Not Get “Alarmed”!

The 1976 swine flu outbreak at a army base really caused a great panic in America.That’s probably why President Obama is saying that Americans should be “concerned” instead of “alarmed” by the current international swine flu outbreak.Here’s the latest from CNN:

“The World Health Organization has raised its pandemic alert level in response to the outbreak of swine flu that originated in Mexico, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Monday.The move from level three to level four on the WHO’s six-level threat scale means the world body has determined the virus is capable of significant human-to-human transmission — a major step toward a flu pandemic, said Dr. Keiji Fukuda, the agency’s assistant director-general.A pandemic is not considered “inevitable,” Fukuda said.

But Napolitano said the move “does indicate that we have a serious outbreak of swine flu on our hands.”At least 75 cases have been confirmed worldwide, including 40 cases in the United States and 26 in Mexico, the WHO said.Hundreds more cases are suspected, especially in Mexico, where as many as 149 deaths are thought to have been caused by the virus, the country’s health secretary said.

“Sadly, 149 people have died, of which we are working to confirm if they are linked to the swine flu,” Mexico Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova Villalobos said. “The number of cases, unfortunately, will continue to increase.”

So far, 26 cases have been confirmed by laboratory tests in Mexico and reported to the World Health Organization. Nearly 2,000 people have been hospitalized and 776 remain in hospitals, Cordova said.The U.S. government is urging travelers to avoid nonessential travel to Mexico because of the swine flu outbreak, and it has started distributing antiviral medications from its strategic stockpile in response to the outbreak, Napolitano said.

The confirmed cases in the United States have been mild so far but, “Scientists can’t tell us right now why this is presenting so severely in Mexico City and not as severely up here,” she said.Federal officials confirmed 20 new U.S. cases on Monday.A federal official said they were at the same school in New York in which eight U.S. cases were confirmed earlier. More than 100 students at the school were out with flu-like symptoms last week.

The outbreak is a particular concern because of who it is hitting hard, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday. “We are concerned that in Mexico, most of those who died were young and healthy adults,” he said.

President Obama said Monday that the swine flu outbreak is a “cause for concern and requires a heightened state of alert,” but is not a “cause for alarm.”He added that the federal government is closely monitoring emerging cases and had declared a public health emergency as a “precautionary tool to ensure that we have the resources we need at our disposal to respond quickly and effectively.”(End of Excerpt) Read the full report here.

Here’s more on the 1976 swine flu scare from capitalcentury.com:

The ominous name of the flu alone was enough to touch off civilian fear of an epidemic. And government doctors knew from tests hastily conducted at Dix after Lewis’ death that 500 soldiers had caught swine flu without falling ill.

Any flu able to reach that many people so fast was capable of becoming another worldwide plague, the doctors warned, raising these questions:

Does America mobilize for mass inoculations in time to have everybody ready for the next flu season? Or should the country wait to see if the new virus would, as they often do, get stronger to hit harder in the second year?

Thus was born what would become known to some medical historians as a fiasco and to others as perhaps the finest hour of America’s public health bureaucracy.

Only young Lewis died from the swine flu itself in 1976. But as the critics are quick to point out, hundreds of Americans were killed or seriously injured by the inoculation the government gave them to stave off the virus.

According to his sister-in-law, John Kent of President Avenue in Lawrence went to his grave in 1997 believing the shot from the government had killed his first wife, Mary, long before her time.

Among other critics are Arthur M. Silverstein, whose book, “Pure Politics and Impure Science,” suggests President Gerald Ford’s desire to win the office on his own, as well as the influence of America’s big drug manufacturers, figured into the decision to immunize all 220 million Americans.

Still, even the partisan who first branded Ford’s program a fiasco, says now that it happened because America’s public health establishment identified what easily could have been a new plague and mobilized to beat it amazingly well.

To understand the fear of the time you have to know something about the plague American soldiers seemed to bring home with them after fighting in Europe during World War I.

The Great Plague, as it came to be called, rivaled the horrid Black Death of medieval times in its ability to strike suddenly and take lives swiftly. In addition to the half million in America, it killed 20 million people around the world.

It got its name because it was a brand of flu usually found in domestic pigs and wild swine. It was long thought to have come, like so many flus, out of the Chinese farm country, where people and domestic pigs live closely together.

Recent research has shown, however, that the post-WWI flu was brought to Europe by American troops who had been based in the South before they went to war. Medical detectives, still working on the case in the 1990s, determined that a small group of our soldiers took swine flu to Europe and that it spread to the world from there.

How the swine flu got to Fort Dix in 1976 still hasn’t been tracked down. At the time, Dix military doctors knew only that a killer flu had made it to the base and that they were lucky more men hadn’t died or been sickened seriously.

Weeks after Lewis died, doctors from the Centers for Disease Control and other federal public health officials were meeting in Washington, trying to decide if they should recommend the government start a costly program of mass inoculations.

One doc later told the authors of “The Epidemic that Never Was” that he and others in on the meetings realized there was “nothing in this for the CDC except trouble,” especially because a decision had to be made fast to get the immunizations manufactured by the fall.

“…The obvious thing to do was immunize everybody,” the doctor said. “But if we tried to do that … we might have to interrupt a hell of a lot of work on other diseases.”

The doctors knew they faced complaints if the epidemic broke out and vaccines weren’t ready, as well as criticism if they spent millions inoculating people for a plague that didn’t happen.

“As for ‘another 1918,’ 1 didn’t expect that,” the doctor continued in the book. “But who could be sure? It would wreck us. Yet, if there weren’t a pandemic, we’d be charged with wasting public money, crying wolf and causing all the inconvenience for nothing … It was a no-win situation.” (End of Excerpt) Read the full article here.

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There Was A Runaway Bull Caught On Camera In An Irish Supermarket!

America has had its share of crazy animal mishaps.Remember the three deer that ran amok at the Beer Arena in Greensburg, Pennsylvania last month?But,the raging bull caught on camera running through the aisles of Cummins’ SuperValu in Ireland really takes the cake! I got a much needed chuckle out of that one!

Apparently,the bull had escaped from a nearby cattle market.But,his owner was not far behind & he was the one who captured the escapee! No one was hurt & the store owner got a good laugh out of it too! He says the store takes pride in their fresh meat.

“It’s unbelievable, you know. It’s not everyday a shop has beef as fresh as that,”says the owner,John Cummins.

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