Jack & Jill Politics

Wow, I agree, our press is absolutely absurd! The President has enough to worry about (as do we), without focusing on non-issues like how many cigs he smokes, etc. I am watching, I believe he is level headed and will represent us well, whatever tack he takes!

fast weight loss diet

Oh. No. She. Didn't.

http://mediamatters.org/blog/200906230012

In a June 23 post on her blog, conservative pundit Debbie Schlussel wrote that Michelle Obama is "the new pimp for Obamacare. And it has echoes--very, very scary echoes!--of Hillarycare. It's like deja vu with a bigger booty. Well, since we're comparing with Mrs. Clinton, maybe even that's the same, too."

AFTERNOON OPEN THREAD IS UP!!

Kenya PM Eyes Military Intervention in Somalia
Announcement 'Soon' as Somali President Declares State of Emergency
At a joint press conference with his Somali counterpart, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga suggested that the nation was in the process of deciding on whether or not to intervene militarily in an attempt to prop up the floundering Somali government. Odinga said an announcement was expected “soon.”


Kenyan Prime Minister OdingaOn Saturday Somalia’s Parliament passed a resolution calling for international forces to invade the nation immediately to defend it from the growing insurgency. The resolution in particular called for Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti to invade within 24 hours.

A self-declared body that was founding in Kenya, Somalia’s government has largest existed at the privilege of foreign powers willing to back up its claims to legitimacy. Its rule was largely made official by a US-backed Ethiopian invasion, and its control has waned since the force left.

Somalia’s President today declared a state of emergency in the nation, as the African Union backed the call for foreign intervention. AU troops are already in the nation, but their effectiveness has been limited.
http://news.antiwar.com/2009/06/22/kenya-pm-eye...

In light of the happenings in the other threads today (heh) - this is so...well...

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2009/black.in.ameri...

Completely off topic and shallow, but someone needs to point out that PBO is looking damn good in that blue suit.

Ain't shallow to me. PBO does look damn good. :)

I see both of you are trying to go to the bad chair today. LOL.

*whispering*

Don't tell GreenLady! :)

Now on PBS had one of their 'co-wrokers' in Iran since March (I believe). He had left a comment on their website in relation to Iran Friday, and 'NOW' was worried. Just got a text message and they've heard from him & he is OK.

http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/525/iran-coup.html

Neda's death was extremely painful to watch on TV.
Last night I saw a number of Basiji militia men standing in the Vali Asr square. Tehran looks scary these days.
Can't wait till I return to US.

Babak in Tehran on June 23, 2009

Uh oh, Obama called on a blogger. Cue MSM head explosions. . . now.

The President is speaking now. I've been watching, and am now listening - but he has decidedly said the words "condemn" and "appalled" thus far. I'll have to watch it later.

Can you see McCain up there? Well fuck - by now, we'd have ships in the Persian Gulf threatening something. And Bush - ....

The President will be having a press conference at 12:30 pm EST.

We know he will "represent"!!

I was just about to post this. I hope the dumb-stream media doesn't spend the whole thing asking him about whether he's stopped smoking or not and his response to the GOIP (grand old idiot party) saying he's not doing enough re: Iran.

Did I call it, or did I call it?

LMAO!! You most definitely called it. Gah!!!!!!! That lady is so stupid. Of all the questions to ask, with everything that's going on, she wants to ask him how may ciggies he smokes a day. That had me rolling my eyes so hard they fell out of the sockets and rolled on the floor.

(sigh)......you just can't fix stupid......the American press is pathetic.

lol

I guess there has been some fall out with the Latinos and Others with the Republican party. I surely didn't see this coming ...

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009...

even with how they are treating Sotomayor, you didn't see it coming?

I forgot to include my sarcasm alert!

Iran bans election protest footballersAli Karimi, Mehdi Mahdavikia and two others are 'retired' after sporting green wristbands in World Cup qualifier in
Robert Tait guardian.co.uk,
Tuesday 23 June 2009 15.41 BST

Their gesture attracted worldwide comment and drew the attention of football fans to Iran's political turmoil. Now the country's authorities have taken revenge by imposing life bans on players who sported green wristbands in a recent World Cup match in protest against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election.

According to the pro-government newspaper Iran, four players – Ali Karimi, 31, Mehdi Mahdavikia, 32, Hosein Ka'abi, 24 and Vahid Hashemian, 32 – have been "retired" from the sport after their gesture in last Wednesday's match against South Korea in Seoul.

They were among six players who took to the field wearing wristbands in the colour of the defeated opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, which has been adopted by demonstrators who believe the 12 June election was stolen.

Most of the players obeyed instructions to remove the armwear at half-time, but Mahdavikia wore his green captain's armband for the entire match. The four are also said to have been banned from giving media interviews.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/23/ira...

From Transgriot blog
10 Busted Myths About The Canadian Healthcare System

1. Canada’s health care system is “socialized medicine.”
False. In socialized medical systems, the doctors work directly for the state. In Canada (and many other countries with universal care), doctors run their own private practices, just like they do in the US. The only difference is that every doctor deals with one insurer, instead of 150. And that insurer is the provincial government, which is accountable to the legislature and the voters if the quality of coverage is allowed to slide

Read on.

http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2009/06/10-buste...

Now - here's someone who needs to spend some time in the hottest parts of hell or the brightest parts of heaven. I can't make up my mind

What a fucking degenerate.

- QUOTATION OF THE DAY - "I like what I do. I don't deny it."- ROSALIO RETA, in a videotaped confession to committing murders for a drugcartel.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/23/us/23killers....

Panel Sets Guidelines For Fighting Prison Rape
By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Nearly six years after President George W. Bush signed legislation to reduce prison rape, a blue-ribbon commission is calling on corrections officers to identify vulnerable inmates, offer better medical care and allow stricter monitoring of their facilities.

The National Prison Rape Elimination Commission, in a study to be released today, affirms that more than 7.3 million people in prisons, jails and halfway houses across the nation have "fundamental rights to safety, dignity and justice."

The number of rapes committed by detention staff members and other inmates remains a subject of intense scrutiny. A 2007 survey of state and federal prisoners estimated that 60,500 inmates had been abused the previous year. But experts say that the stigma of sexual assault often leads to underreporting of incidents and denial by many of the victims.

Too often, the report says, sexual abuse of prisoners is viewed as a source of jokes rather than a problem with destructive implications for public health, crime rates and successful reentry of prisoners into the community.

"If you have a zero-tolerance policy on prison rape and it is known from the highest ranks that this will not be tolerated and there will be consequences for it, that goes a long way in sending a message," said U.S District Judge Reggie B. Walton, the commission chairman. "Just because people have committed crimes and are in prison, that doesn't mean that part of their punishment is being sexually abused while in detention."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ar...

More inmates claim abuse by staff than other prisoners.

Speaking of abuse by the system, a Chicago man spent 12 years in prison after being wrongly convicted:

http://www.thegrio.com/2009/06/man-awarded-21-m...

Now THIS is funny - these "our kind of people" folk really tickle me.

No One's Elite Enough For "Our Kind of People"
Many blacks from Oak Bluffs are elated that the Only One–in–Chief may be joining them. “People are going to lose their minds!” Tonya Lewis Lee says. At the same time, there’s also a bit of wariness among the wealthiest ones, an uncertainty whether Obama will affirm them. “Obama is more a man of the people,” says a Vineyarder who’s part of black high society. “He doesn’t seem to identify with affluent black people. His wife definitely doesn’t; she is basically a ghetto girl. That’s what she says—I’m just being sociological. She grew up in the same place Jennifer Hudson did. She hasn’t reached out to the social community of Washington, and people are waiting to see what they’ll do about that.”
http://blacksnob.com/snob_blog/2009/6/22/no-one...

This is now a Front Page topic. please discuss it in there.

LOL! We see you Haters; we SEE YOU.

The First Lady and POTUS aren't going to affirm folks who talk bullshit like these sorry ass negros.

I've been to Oak Bluffs several times. They've got lovely biking trails, great sailing, and great eaterys. I hope these "Our kind of people" just happen to be hanging out like the rest of the tourist....... LMBAO!!!

Tell it Snob: "Remove the stick from your ass, and your mind will follow."

Hmmm.

I am sickened by this comment about Mrs. Obama being referred to as a "ghetto girl."

First of all, she is not a 'girl' - she is a woman - a woman of character, content, nobility and an intellect that reaches a depth that none of the people represented in this article can probably ever hope to achieve in their lifetime.
She is a woman from a 'humble', working class background, brought up with dignity and the highest values that ought to be emulated in all families - rich or poor - in American society.

I am black, one of the 'darker ones' that you mentioned in the article. I also am of very humble background from the “islands’ or Caribbean. I grew up among old money, aristocratic whites, attended the best schools and received my Masters Degree in continental Europe.

Mrs. Obama displays more 'old money blue blood' characteristics by her graciousness and inclusiveness than any of those SNOBS - those of 'sine nobilitate' or 'without nobility'- crawling around on that 'island of exclusivity' can seem to display on any given day.

http://my.nymag.com/WinterPark/comments/

Sine nobilitate - almost choked on my oatmeal.

A map of HIV in the USofA at Minority Quality Forum:

http://www.maphiv.org/

very interesting.

Uncle Clarence Proves Why He's So Dangerous to Blacks (but he's not the only one)

http://actsoffaithinloveandlife.blogspot.com/20...

Beware the Black face in a high place!! LOL
Great blog...so true.

Thanks!

hey djchefron, can you please post the link for your music mix again. i lost the link and love your music and really want to listen as i work on both the summer program for youth in Boston and my dissertation today.

btw, you said you were "from muscogee." are you from the town or from the native nation in oklahoma? i ask because one of my friends is from the muscogee nation in alabama (descendants of some of the native people there who escaped removal). she is working on developing historical archives for the muscogee who stayed in southern alabama and has recorded and transcribed many oral histories from the elders there.

Here is the link
http://djmix.net/djchefron/mixes/Transitionspt1
I was born and raised in Chicago.Moved to Muskogee Ok because I didnt want to raised my kids in Chicago plus they have an excellent program for Autism which helps my son.

Thanks!

Love House Music

Maybe you should have check out North Carolina because that state is the fore-runner for Autism. The program comes out of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the satelite programs are know as TEACCH. I, like a fool left NC because my son is now adult and I have been having a heck of a time finding things for him in Virginia.

Thanks for the link djchefron! I'm always looking for new music, and I can't even think of the last time I heard some good mixes. As an old and gray club kid I'm excited about this.

By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 23, 2009

For Chuck Todd, getting calls from Rahm Emanuel is a staple of covering the White House. But they dwell as much on what the NBC correspondent knows as what he can get the president's top aide to divulge.

For New York Times columnist David Brooks, it's an Emanuel invitation for a White House chat at which President Obama happens to drop by.
For Washington Post reporter Michael Shear, it's three calls to his car in a matter of minutes as he shushes his kids on the way to a Virginia restaurant.
"A conversation with Rahm can be as little as 30 seconds," says CNN commentator Paul Begala, who worked with Emanuel in the Clinton White House. "He calls, drops a few F-bombs, makes his point and hangs up."

Perhaps no White House chief of staff in modern history has worked the media as aggressively and relentlessly as Emanuel. Drawing on his long-standing relationships with journalists, Emanuel serves up on-the-record quotes, background spin and the sort of capital gossip that lubricates relationships. The former Chicago congressman also seeks their take on events and floats possible administration tactics.

And Emanuel is brusquely efficient. "It's a no-nonsense relationship," Todd says. "He's always trying to extract as much information as he's trying to give."
"He thinks like a journalist," says Obama senior adviser David Axelrod, who marvels at his colleague making multiple calls and wolfing down lunch at the same time.

As chief of staff to the elder President Bush, James Baker was also masterful at working his media contacts, but usually from behind a curtain of anonymity. Many other predecessors, such as Andy Card, Mack McLarty and John Sununu, were less accessible to journalists.

There is more.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ar...

Wanted: Freedom from religion
The theocratic repression in Iran is a reminder that there can be no freedom without secular government
Read More
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/06/23...

Wow! Talk about fast work!
http://www.eurweb.com/story/eur54165.cfm

NBC News is reporting that Ed McMahon passed away at the age of 86

sorry to hear that. I loved Ed McMahon

The War Against the 'War on Drugs'
As California goes, so goes the nation.
If that old adage still holds true, then the nation may soon see a gradual backpedaling from the criminal justice policies that have led to wholesale incarceration in recent decades. For the most populous state in the union is on the verge of insolvency--partly because it didn't set aside a rainy-day fund during the boom years; partly because its voters recently rejected a series of initiatives that would have allowed a combination of tax increases, spending cuts and borrowing to help stabilize the state's finances during the downturn; partly because it has spent the past quarter-century funneling tens of billions of dollars into an out-of-control correctional system. Now, as California's politicians contemplate emergency cuts to deal with a $24 billion hole in the state budget, old certainties are crumbling.
Read More
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090706/abramsky

The fact that CA - like many states spend nearly 5 times their budget on PRISON THAN SCHOOLS tells you where the priorities lie. Now of course the Gov wants to get rid of the Cal Grant which rewards excellence in education by providing grants to college students. If they don't make some changes fast you will see a prominent state go down a path it will not be able to recover from.

Where's Jada?

http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news...

Good Morning. Your Tuesday cut.Enjoy
Stevie Wonder - Another Star
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9KKBvWTdMQ

Jazz Fest was beautiful. I even took in one of the Oldie R&B acts(Sun) the Intruders whom came out in salmon colored suits. They handed out roses to the Ladies.
The rain put a damper on things Sat as I sat through Eric Mintel(piano) Quartet , minus their alto sax player; Charlie Ellerbee(guitarist) called his group matrix 12 38, which was a funk band that over laid Sun Ra type riffs on the funk; the Mingus Big Band, a super group of local musicians playing only Mingus, this worked out really well as they used the long pieces letting the soloists have 10 min solos, one of the highlights and Sat closed w/ Dr Trudy Pitts and Mr C, a husband and wife team(piano and drums) whom are long time Philadelphia residents w/ standing gigs all over town, their son also sang Freddy the Freeloader, if you get a chance you have to see them live in a lounge.
Sun was much drier. I opened w/ Ella Gahnt and mainstay singer in Philadelphia Next was Henry Grimes and Rashied Ali. They are very much into free and atonal jazz on Bass and violin and drums respectively. They had a following but it was the kind of show where they just come on and play. You leave either going WTF was that or in love because it just isn't accessible.
Odean Pope was next. Funk followers may remember him in a 70's group Catalyst, he know is a professor of music at Temple. He followed the Intruders whom evidently had too many mikes going for the system; they kept blowing out. This left Pope w/ only a drummer as the bass player had a gig w/ another group by the time he came on and someone else either had the same problem or didn't show. Pope kicked it out w/ just him and the drummer. He did his own compostions I'm pretty sure.
The end for me was Monette Sudler. She is another local, a fave and plays kick ass guitar. She was going to be really big but at sometime in the 90's she just disappeared off the stage.
Looking forward to the Coltrane festival later this summer. It is held at the Awbury Arboreteum. This jewel is in the middle of a working class neighborhood. The stages are set up around the duck pond. The fun thing is to take the regional rail line there. When you get off the train you are looking at the pond which is a huge dichotomy to the line which used to serve industrial Philadelphia. I'll keep you posted.

thanks for the report.

Way COOL, RobM. Thanks for sharing. What a delight!

Thank you for the post.