Jack & Jill Politics

rikyrah: 1 more:

+ Michelle Obama's First 100 Days Of Style: VOTE For Her Best And Worst Outfits (SLIDESHOW, POLL)

Happy 100th Day, Obamas!

In honor of Michelle Obama's 100th day as first lady, here's a look back at her twelve most news-making ensembles since she entered the White House (we're not counting inauguration day). Then scroll down to vote for what you think are her best and worst choices.

Need more Michelle Obama style? Read the Michelle Obama Style big news page.

SLIDESHOW :>) :>)

There R 2 OUTFIT POLLS. :>)

FIRST LADY IS LOVELY!!! :>) :>)

That is an awesome pic of MY President...love seeing him enjoy~~!!


Just curious...wanna know who has the most senoirty in terms of Specter vs. Leahy?

Who will chair Judiciary if Specter wins as a DEM?

Those 2 have basically switch hitted in terms of who is in office based on senoirty in the Senate...so if both are DEMS and Arlen is elected as a Dem.who has the most the seniority to chair Judiciarcy?

rikyrah: + U.S. President Barack Obama (R) watches Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius (L) being sworn in by Executive Clerk of the White House Tim Saunders in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington April 28, 2009. The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed Kansas Governor Sebelius as health secretary, filling a crucial spot in Obama's cabinet amid growing fears of a possible swine flu pandemic.

+ April 28, 2009: The Day in 100 Seconds VIDEO

ENJOY! - - -FAST!!! :>)

+ Now The Day Is Over :>)

G'night!! :>) God Bless!! :>) Thank U 4 your prayers! :>)

rikyrah: I KNOW. I posted soma these B 4. BUT. . . . . . . . :>)

+ Michelle Obama Honors Sojourner Truth, Wears Striped Skirt (PHOTOS)

No comment. I really like the "BUST- REVEALING" [#6] PIC!! :>) :>)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/3484005...

The President getting some sugar from the First Lady. Lovely, intimate photo of the family.

caribgirl: Hey!! :>)

Awwwwwwwww! :>) :>) Thanks! :>)

From Booker Rising:

For you fashionistas: according to Mrs. O blog, Mrs. Obama is wearing a striped striped shirt dress by Sophie Theallet, an indie French designer based in Brooklyn.

http://www.mrs-o.org/wp-content/...117- 530x390.jpg


Theallet's Spring/Summer Collection show (from which Mrs. Obama's dress originates), her debut show, featured all-black models.

http://www.fashionweekdaily.com/runway/fullstor...

And yes, the dress that Mrs. Obama is wearing (retail: $1,925) apparently already sold out in some sizes. Ol' girl is moving serious product. No wonder these fashion designers are losing their damn minds trying to get her to wear their clothes. Mrs. O is sending a message to y'all though with this fashion choice: put some more black models on the runway if you want her business.
Shay

More!! Sophie Theallet (YouTube) NY Spring 2009 Fashion Show - Part 1

Sophie Theallet NY Spring 2009 Fashion Show - Part 2

Imagine that! Pretty Black Women on a fashion couture run-way.... Novel idea...

Thanks, isonoprize. The women are gorgeous! You gotta love FLOTUS. I'm so proud of her for choosing her own path.

Snob's coming up!

You got to have real serious power to move dresses at that price. SNL had this joke a few weeks back about getting the First Lady to drive a Chrysler to help improve sales. Maybe its not a bad idea LOL :).

Some more fashion designer heads are going to explode over this. Mrs. Obama has done more for up-and-coming fashion designers and ultimately black models than anybody else in such a short space of time.

rikyrah: (retail: $1,925)

Checkin' my wallet: $91, $92, $93, . . . . . .

NOPE!!! :>)

Since I sew - - -Guess I'd betta "get-ta-stitchin'! " :>) :>)

Good for you, GreenLady!

Justice58: Heeeeey! :>) Got ta do what I got ta do!! :>) :>)

Nice!

WOW!!! Sophie Theallet

rikyrah: HAPPY ***TEARS***

+ U.S. President Barack Obama (C) and first lady Michelle Obama (C-L) stands with 2009 National Teacher of the Year Anthony Mullen of Greenwich, CT (C-R) during an event in the Rose Garden at the White House April 28, 2009 in Washington, DC. President Obama presented Anthony Mullen with the 2009 National Teacher award and honored several finalists.

THIS IS JUST 2 - - - - - -LOVELY!! :>)

ENJOY!!! :>)

rikyrah: PICS - - - SEBELIUS SWORN IN: :>) :>)

+ Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius (L) waits to be sworn in with White House executive clerk Tim Sanders (C) and U.S. President Barack Obama (R) in the Oval Office of the White House April 28, 2009 in Washington, DC. Kathleen Sebelius was sworn in as Secretary of Health and Human Services after her confirmation hearing earlier today.


+ Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius (L) is sworn in by White House executive clerk Tim Sanders (C) as U.S. President Barack Obama (R) watches in the Oval Office of the White House April 28, 2009 in Washington, DC. Kathleen Sebelius was sworn in as Secretary of Health and Human Services after her confirmation hearing earlier today.

+ Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius (L) and U.S. President Barack Obama (R) shake hands after she was sworn in in the Oval Office of the White House April 28, 2009 in Washington, DC. Kathleen Sebelius was sworn in as Secretary of Health and Human Services after her confirmation hearing earlier today.

+ U.S. President Barack Obama (R) leans in to kiss newly sworn in Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius (L) as Executive Clerk of the White House Tim Saunders watches in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington April 28, 2009. The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed Kansas Governor Sebelius as health secretary, filling a crucial spot in Obama's cabinet amid growing fears of a possible swine flu pandemic.

CONGRATULATIONS!! :>) :>)

For your enjoyment... Tavis is bloggin' over at Huff Po. I do believe he's got a movie to sell... (Don't shoot the messenger... >>>>Ima sneak out the room now>>>>>>)

Taking a "Stand" on the Black Male Experience

Tavis and his SOUL PATROL

http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/files/u45/scho...

isonprize: LOL!!! :>) Saw this!! :>) ***shakin' my head***

My obligatory American idol post: Tonight was Awesome! I watched the East Coast feed and this has no spoilers.
http://actsoffaithinloveandlife.blogspot.com/20...

Adam slayed them!

rikyrah: LAWD HA'MERCY!!!

WHO TOLD HIM THIS??

Annnnnd, WHEN DID HE LEARN THIS??

+ Buchanan: GOP A "Heavily White Party"

Pat Buchanan acknowledged to MSNBC anchor Tamron Hall on Tuesday that his party is facing a severe "demographic problem" in the years to come -- specifically, the GOP is on its way to becoming an all-white party.

"There's a real demographic problem with the Republican Party," Buchanan said. "It is a heavily white party, quite frankly. And as a share of the electorate, that is diminishing and Hispanics are growing very rapidly, Asians are growing rapidly, and by two-thirds they tend to vote Democratic."

Buchanan told Hall that the party is losing young people as well.

"Young people increasingly are more liberal and more socially moderate, and they move away from the Republican Party," he said. "These things are undeniable, the Republican party ... is in tough shape."

But Buchanan said the party shouldn't be written off just yet, and said Republicans have made impressive comebacks from deep deficits before.

[NOTE: THIS! IS! HI - LA - RI - OUS!!! :>)]

I went though the Goldwater disaster, when we were down to 140 House seats and we were dead forever, and I came with Nixon in '66 and we won 47 House seats and we won 5 out of the next 6 presidential elections. I don't think that's necessarily in the cards, but I think it'd be foolish at this point when Obama is at his peak, really, to write off the Republican party for 2010.

WATCH:

Do ya think that THIS coulda given him a - - -HINT!!?? DUH!!

The media "A Heavily White Party".

Booky: LOL!!! :>)

U ain't neva lied! :>) :>)

HA HAHA!! GreenLady, you could move families from a small state in the X-cel Energy Center.

Pat just woke up this morning and had a revelation that the GOP is White, "quite frankly." Not once did this racist rat mention including anyone other than WHITES.

He's an hallucinating old fart.

spirit: LOL! :>) ONLY IFF they have NO MELANIN!! :>)

Wouldn't want 2 scurr anyone!! :>)

i think its the fact that whenever you turn on the tv all the republican loud mouths are 40 50 60 70 year old white men from the south who live in the northeast. you never see olympia snowe or mell martinez or kay baily hutchinson on tv. nope you see the same old ass white men saying the same shit every damn day for the last 16 years

allamr18: LOL!!! :>) YEP!! :>)

Hey, We saw Piyush Jindal? What about Michael Steele?

Come on, they got some color up in that piece. LOLOLOL Women? What about Sarah Palin?

(I thought Kay Bailey Hutchinson was gonna have a stroke while she was finding something decent to say about Gov. Palin...)

isonprize: LOL!! :>) :>) Nice try!! :>)

rikyrah: Spector is AMONG OTHER "switchers":

+ Party Switches Made By Famous Political Figures (SLIDESHOW)

Senator Arlen Specter's announcement Tuesday that he would switch from the Republican to the Democratic party came as a surprise to many.

But party changes are nothing new in our democracy. Even Arlen Specter began his career as a registered Democrat while running on the Republican ticket for Pennsylvania District Attorney in 1965. Politicians have played musical chairs with party registration since the formation of the U.S. government. One of the biggest switches happened in the early nineteenth century, when United States Federalist Party members joined the United States Democratic-Republican Party. The Democratic-Republican Party clearly doesn't exist any more, and many other re-affiliations occurred after its dissolution.

As you'll see in the slideshow below, many well-known politicians have switched parties while serving in the public arena. And there are some famous public servants, like Hillary Clinton and CIA Director Leon Panetta, who changed their affiliations early in life. (Both Clinton and Panetta were Republicans. Clinton even worked for conservative Barry Goldwater during his 1964 presidential campaign.) Scroll through to learn more:

This article offers some DATA on the permanency of their CHANGE.

We'll SEE about Spector!

Okay,

Does it seem to anyone else, that all this "Good Riddance" stuff from Repub in reference to Spector is a little like overkill. As they say, he "doths protest too much". Sounds to me like GOP really got their feelings hurt, but are trying to cover up there broken hearts with pinpoint naonchalance.

Yep...they yelled "Good riddance! don't need cha!".....but behind closed doors, they're on the couch with some Haagen-Dazs and a bag of Oreos listening to Sade and gettin their cry on......getting dumped is never easy....LOL

lol

BWA HA HAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay,

What the hell is wrong with Michael Steele? I swear the guy has verbal diarrhea.

Steele On Specter's Switch: "I'm Sure His Mama Didn't Raise Him This Way"

lamh32: One time I "axed" "WHYCOME" he could say so much with his "FOOT IN HIS MOUTH!!??"

No logic! :>)

hes 6 types of stupid

I was choking because I was laughing so hard at this....but it was totally worth it!! He pulled the "yo mama didn't raise you this way!" card! BWA HAHAHAHAHAHA!!

So Pitiful!

It left him grasping for words!

its called "I'm on a losing ticket and don't know what to say".

Who does she have pictures of? Who is she blackmailing so that she gets all this airtime? Why would the GOP leadership allow her to be in front of a microphone?

Michele Bachmann Links Swine Flu To Democrats, Gets History Wrong (VIDEO)

Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann, following Rush Limbaugh's cue, suggested on Tuesday that President Obama was to blame for the swine flu crisis. She went even farther than the talk show host, implying that swine flu epidemics are a Democratic phenomenon that dates back to President Carter.

"I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out then under another Democrat president Jimmy Carter. And I'm not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it's an interesting coincidence."
Unfortunately, Bachmann's facts are a little off. As Glenn Thrush notes, Republican President Gerald Ford, not Carter, led the country during the last outbreak of the virus.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/28/michel...

Michelle Bachman is a strain of SWINE FLU and all the Tamilflu in the world won't kill that virus. We'll need to call in the CDC to isolate and contain this bitch.

co-sign

ASF project explores African-American debutante society
By Whitney Maddox • Special to the Advertiser • April 25, 2009

The Alabama Shakespeare Festival is reliving the '60s to explore the generational conflict and familial love experienced by members of the African-American debutante society.

Part of the Southern Writers' Project Festival of Plays, ASF will present the debut reading of author/playwright Pearl Cleage's "The Nacirema Society Requests the Honor of Your Presence at a Celebration of Their First One Hundred Years."

As an accompaniment to the reading, ASF will exhibit about 20 or so enlarged photos of black debutantes through the years. Local debutantes are encouraged to submit pictures.

"We were so excited about Pearl's play coming that we wanted to do something special to go along with it," said Soyia Ellison, a master of fine arts student in the marketing department. "And old photos have a way of telling the story on their own. And for some people, they'll see a part of life they didn't know existed."

Cleage is an Atlanta-based author whose award-winning play, "Flyin' West," received recognition for being the most produced new play in the country in 1994. Her first novel, "What Looks Like Crazy On an Ordinary Day," was an Oprah Book Club selection and spent nine weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.

"This is a play we actually approached Pearl about writing," said ASF's associate director Nancy Rominger. "She is an important voice in American theatre and we are very excited to have the opportunity to bring her latest work to our audiences."

The play unfolds as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. receives the Nobel Peace Prize and Selma prepares to launch a voter registration drive. Two wealthy black Montgomery families, however, are obsessing over the upcoming celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Nacirema Society. Old family secrets, a blackmailer, willful grandchildren and a nosy New York Times reporter threaten their plans for the big party.

"Pearl is an exceptional author and playwright, and we think audiences will agree," Ellison said.

The reading will take place at 3 p.m. May 15, with tea and discussion about life in the early '60s beginning at 2 p.m. Other acclaimed playwrights will also present the first readings of their new works during the May 15-17 Southern Writers' Project festival.

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/200...

pearl cleage... wow wow wow wow wow!!!!!

one of the great ones, hands down.

If I lived in the region, I'd definitely attend this event.

Oh wow...I really want to see this!

Good heavens....I know the President and First Lady must have a huge job on their hands protecting Malia and Sasha on people trying to lay guilt trips on them because of their stature which is not of their doing.

I pray the girls never get wind of this letter from Montel Williams' daughter or others like it.


"Malia and Sasha Obama Urged to Join Veggie Campaign

April 28, 2009 06:08 PM ET | Paul Bedard | Permanent Link | Print
By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

The fight for veggie lunch options in public schools is landing on Capitol Hill, the White House, and Sidwell Friends School, where the Obama girls are students.

Wyntergrace Williams, the 14-year-old daughter of TV's Montel Williams, is coming to Washington to lobby Congress to amend the Child Nutrition Act to add veggie options and is sending a letter to Malia and Sasha Obama asking for their assistance. "We want as much support as we can get on this," says Williams, an eighth grader at Central Middle School in Greenwich, Conn.

In the letter to the Obamas, provided to Whispers, Wyntergrace writes: "My name is Wyntergrace and I'm a big fan of yours. It seems that we have a few things in common. We all love dogs, live on the East Coast, have fantastic moms and maternal grand moms and both of our dads are quite famous. In our household we also eat healthy foods and I am working on a school project to get healthier foods in schools across the country. I would love for you to join my campaign and sign my petition and encourage other students and families to follow our own and respective families' lead."

Williams plans to join two Capitol Hill hearings Thursday and Friday with Neal Barnard of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine to lobby for the change. Williams says she also plans to speak at Sidwell Friends. In a statement, Barnard said, "President Obama's daughters attend a private school that offers healthy vegetarian options that all students should have access to. But most schools only provide meatless meals if Congress pushes them to do so."

The White House had no comment.

Williams told Whispers that she wants to leave a legacy in her school and public schools around the country of promoting veggie lunches. She argues that if schools provided a vegetarian option, more kids would choose it, thus cutting obesity. Also, she notes that some of her friends simply skip lunch because the options are usually fatty and loaded with sugars and salt.

Wyntergrace went veggie, she says, about four years ago. But she has never liked meat, much to her parents' dismay. Even at Thanksgiving, when her parents would urge her to eat traditional turkey, she'd balk, saying that turkeys shouldn't have to die to celebrate Thanksgiving.

In its bid to improve the National School Lunch Program, the physicians committee is also producing a TV commercial featuring Williams.

Here's her letter to the Obama girls:

Wyntergrace Williams
Greenwich , CT

April 29, 2009

Miss Malia and Sasha Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Malia and Sasha,

My name is Wyntergrace and I'm a big fan of yours. It seems that we have a few things in common. We all love dogs, live on the East Coast, have fantastic moms and maternal grand moms and both of our dads are quite famous. In our household we also eat healthy foods and I am working on a school project to get healthier foods in schools across the country. I would love for you to join my campaign and sign my petition and encourage other students and families to follow our own and respective families' lead.

The problem is that many schools do not offer enough healthful choices. This is especially true when it comes to vegetarian meals. A lot of us ask for vegetarian meals out of compassion for animals, like I do, or because of concerns about health or the environment, but all students would benefit from having a variety of healthy options, and other plant-based meals available.

I'm glad that Sidwell Friends already has these healthy options in the cafeteria, and we need to make sure that children at other schools have the same opportunity for good health.

If we work together, we can make sure all students are able to eat healthy school lunches. I've created a petition to get healthy vegetarian lunch options in all schools. Would you please sign my petition at HealthySchoolLunches.org? And please ask your friends to sign, too. Thank you for helping me with my project and I would love to get together with you both sometime!

Love,

Wyntergrace Williams

if you want the pimping to stop everybody needs to leave them alone as in no pictures no comments no acknowledgements period. Otherwise it is never going to end.

i understand your point, but people can write them til their fingers fall off. the girls never have to see, read, think about, much less respond to any of this madness. they have mail handlers for all that. they don't read blogs and i'm sure their television time is managed.

Your use of the word "pimping" is used for what purpose. I truly hope you are not using it to convey anything to do with the Obama First Family?????

Did you use that word to convey your thoughts about all First Families prior to now?????

i had the same reaction when he first used that word in this context. i think i get where he's coming from now though... sorta...

Angelar: Montel - - "PRESCRIPTIONS FILLED ON A BUS THAT TRAVELS ALL OVA THE UNITED STATES" Williams - - - - OUGHTTA B ASHAMED of HIMSELF!!!

How does HE write this "sideways slam" - - - I'm glad that Sidwell Friends already has these healthy options in the cafeteria, and we need to make sure that children at other schools have the same opportunity for good health.

annnnnd , then sign HIS letter - - -

Love,

What a HYPOCRIT!!! Saaaaa-LAP!!

ALWAYS KNEW that HE was a "HATA"!!

WE KNEW!!

GreenLady

Are you strong enough to Saaaaa>>lap? I'll be glad to Saaaaa>>lap until you get your full strength back. :)

Justice58: LOL! :>) I tried it once! :>) That was taxin'!!! :>)

Sooooo, THANX 4 the help!! :>) :>)

i'm pretty sure montel's a republican, conservative or whatever. not that that's an excuse, but helps to understand how he went there.

"prescriptions filled on a bus" LOL!!!

caligirl65: Heeeeey! :>)

Welllllllllll. O.K.

BUT - - -he can JUST 4-EVA HOLD HIS PEACE!! :>)

Like he wouldn't want to "score" an interview with the First Family at any
expense!!!

Thanks GLH!

Angelar: SAY DAT!! :>)

He had NOTHIN' 2 say durin' the whole election process!! NO-THIN'!!

What - -- like Hillary- - - HE FOUND "HIS VOICE!"??? HAH!!

Montel, shame on you for pimping your daughter out to the Office of the POTUS. That is all.

Lord please forgive me for rolling my eyes and mumbling "go sit your azz down somewhere" to Wyntergrace Williams. I was wrong, I know I was...I dont know why this chap's darn letter irritated me to my core. I know she is probably quite sincere and yes our children should be afforded healthier foods in public schools...maybe my irritation was at the obvious ploy to garner attention by dragging the Obama daughters into it...but she is just 14 - so I should direct my ire at Montel. Sorry bout that JC.

I am with you....I just hope Montel didn't encourage her. I guess in my age I am too suspicious about this kind of "sincerity".

Unless Wyntergrace is totally unschooled about pr, I would give her the benefit of the doubt, but with a dad who lives his life in the public....I am too suspicious.

Now you know Montel "encouraged" her to write that letter, that's the most attention he's paid to black females in a long time.

DAMN.

LOL!!!

not to pile on, but i always suspected he was a closeted homosexual. don't know why but he just gives me that vibe of being in the closet.

Town: S-P-E-A-K - - TA-RUTH!! :>)

Annnnnd, I don't believe that his daughter wrote that letter!

The SMARMY/SNARKY/SARCASTIC level was 2 high!!

HE WROTE IT!! IMHO

Town...continuing to speak the truth.

Ouch! Now, that's the truth.

I'm with you....but I dont want to criticize a 14 yr old because...well...she's 14....but her Daddy knows all about the PR game and this is just obvious.

what a difference a day makes......

Specter Now Favored for Re-Election

As a result of Sen. Arlen Specter's decision to run for re-election as a Democrat, CQ Politics is changing its rating of the Pennsylvania U.S. Senate race to "Leans Democratic" from the tossup category, "No Clear Favorite."

Similarly, the Cook Political Report changed its rating to Leans Democratic and the Rothenberg Political Report now rates the race as Clear Advantage for the Incumbent Party."

AND STILL I RISE

Michael Vick is determined to come back and I for one am pulling and praying for him. Today he got a little offer with a minor league football team. I hope the first of many to come. Come on Mike - Rise!!

http://www.jackandjillpolitics.com/2009/04/unve...

CO-SIGN. Vicks got a BUM rap on this dog fighting shit. He's done paid his dues and many other's dues.

GO MIKE, GO!!! I wish you all the best.

I don't know that much about Michael Vick - other than the dog fighting incident(s). I'm not a fan of that kind of shit at all.

However - he did what he was required to do, "paid his dues" - it's over. Time for redemption, so to speak. Leave him alone. Supposedly he's very talented (no football fan either), so he'll go with a minor league ball team - and go wherever it takes him.

It's like once a mistake has been made - regardless of the 'strength' or gravity of the error, there's this need for CONSTANT retribution. It's like you cannot learn from your mistakes and move on. You're required to STAY IN THE SAME FUCKING SPOT, especially if you're in the public "light."

yes. it feels like some wouldn't be satisfied until they saw the man sitting on the curb with a tin can, so they could kick the can out of his hand.

he's served his time. he's a young man who made a mistake. it's over.

I Agreee. I'm not down with dog fighting either, but the time didn't fit the crime.

i want to slap fucking roger goodell's dumbass. He said he has to see some sort of sort of genuine remorse. WTF dude you arent a damn priest or pastor. you didnt ask for remorse for any of the several hundred nfl players who have committed crimes and let back in. Pac man jones, ray lewis, bill romanowski, matt jones etc etc etc. stupid fucker

dang....tell us how you REALLY feel...LOL - but yeah Goodell is a stupid fucker.

Opps I totally missed the thread of this.

This has probably already been posted, but if not.

Michelle Obama Receives Roaring Ovation At Sojourner Statue Dedication
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XApZgqOC3dk

First Lady Michelle Obama: "I hope that Sojourner Truth would be proud to see me, a descendant of slaves, serving as the first lady of the United States of America."

Yes, I'm going to do one. Remember how your parents used to tell you don't bring home any Cats, Dogs and Foxes (C,D,F) on your report card?

Are you gonna share your OpEd?

Yes, I do remember, and I was an A student too!

I'll be happy to share the OpEd. They're no guarantee it will get ink in the paper, but I'm submitting it.

Damn....Dole Foods is gangsta like that, allegedly over bananas?........we might have to rethink some things when we are in the grocery store for real.....


Lawsuit alleges Dole Food Co. bankrolled illegal Colombia private armies that killed thousands

FRANK BAJAK | Associated Press Writer
5:54 PM EDT, April 28, 2009

BOGOTA (AP) — Dole Food Co. made regular payments for at least a decade in a banana-growing region to illegal far-right Colombian militias that killed thousands, according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed Tuesday.

Dole is the second U.S. banana importer after Chiquita Brands International Inc. to be sued in the United States for such alleged behavior.

The plaintiffs are relatives of 51 men allegedly murdered by a militia belonging to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC. The victims were either involved in labor union organizing or were small farmers fighting attempts by Dole to obtain their land and plant bananas, the suit claims.

In a statement, Dole said it "categorically rejects the baseless allegations accusing the company of illegal activity in Colombia."

Westlake Village, California-based Dole allegedly made a total of about $10 million in regular payments from 1997-2007 to local AUC commanders and previously paid smaller far-right militias.

The suit accuses the AUC of "keeping unions out of Dole's banana plantations by murdering effective union leaders and using terror tactics to discourage workers from joining the unions."

A key witness for the plaintiffs is the jailed AUC commander named Jose Gregorio Mangones who demobilized as part of a peace deal with Colombia's government and who has admitted responsibility for more than half the killings cited in the suit, Collingsworth said.

At least three other former senior AUC commanders also have said that foreign banana companies that operated in Colombia, including Dole and Chiquita, made regular payments to their militias.

The four commanders have confessed to ordering several thousand of murders and specifically targeting labor organizers and alleged leftist rebel sympathizers.

Chiquita was ordered to pay a $25 million fine by the U.S. Justice Department after admitting to making regular payments to the AUC, which the State Department designated a foreign terrorist organization in September 2001.

For rest of article:

http://www.dailypress.com/news/nationworld/sns-...

You never heard of the Octopus; United Fruit Company of Nicagura.

Maybe thats why the residents of wingnuttia went bonkers over the book Chavez gave to President Obama.

Check out this post from Booman Tribune (an actual PA voter):

Thoughts on Specter
by BooMan

We Democrats here in Pennsylvania know Arlen Specter's record better than anyone and you'll be hearing endless reiterations of his many sins over the next three years. I don't need to do that now. Suffice to say that most progressives in this state find Specter to be enormously frustrating. We do not dispute that he is what passes these days for a moderate Republican. We know that he has a good record on labor issues and that he is officially pro-choice. I know high level people in the teacher's unions that intended to re-register as Republicans to vote for him in the primary and then re-register as Democrats to vote against him in the general. Specter is not hated or despised by most people, but he isn't liked or respected either.
We were hoping to beat him in the 2010 election, not be asked to support him. I suspect most activists and progressives will simply refuse to work for his reelection and we'll probably get organized in the Netroots to do the best job we can financing an alternative in the primary.

This sets us up to look like the left-wing version of the Club for Growth. We look too ideologically rigid and intolerant to allow for moderates in our party. There is no doubt that this will be the dominant media narrative, especially considering that Specter will have the full support of the DNC, DSCC, Harry Reid, and President Obama. But it's not a fair characterization...

There is more at Booman's Website: http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2009/4/28/18...

As a PA voter, I do agree with Booman, but I also say that for now, RIGHT NOW, IN THIS MOMENT, this is a good thing. Coleman in MN needs to just quit, and somebody needs to approach Olympia Snowe in MN to come on over to the D side also...

Coleman's stuborness is not favored here in Minnesota. 64% polled wants his ASS gone.

http://www.startribune.com/politics/state/43699...

What will it take for his ass to come to grips with reality??

I'm afraid it will come to this:

http://www.septicisle.info/uploaded_images/26_C...

ROFLMAO!!!!!! THis the type of mofo that just got to come to the office and find that his key does NOT work, his stuff is in a box at the security desk and the security guard escorts him out the door.

LOL!! you know it.

We should give the media their report card tomorrow too.

GET OUTTA MY HEAD!!! Booky I'm working on it as I type this.

You gonna do one? We can a compare. I wanted to respond to you the other day, but decided I'd do my own research and present it in my local newspaper OpEd section.

lol