Jack & Jill Politics

It's absolutely amazing to sit and watch white men who have sat on the supreme court for years and made decisions that were many anti people of color while they took care of their own. Now they want to make this supreme court nominee look like a racist. It's disgusting. And then the affirmative action crap. All their lives they have used affirmitive action. They made certain that every white male who wanted to work had a job before any person of color. I worked with a man who had been a meter reader for 30 years and couldn't even read his own utility bill; while there were men of color who couldn't even get a job. makes me wanna holler throw up both my hands.

They are threatened by change with minorities coming forth and more importantly the prospects of more women coming to the court. Bush in the 21st century was still appointing white men and they thought it perfectly normal and par for the course. They don't see any reason why white men can't continue to make laws for this country forever. What is wrong with that? It's worked perfectly fine all these years? Why change?

Sometimes I think they are hitting back more at President Obama thru all the people he seclects. I do feel that they, especially the men, have been totally upset every since President Obama was elected. They really didn't believe that the people who said they would vote for him really would. I have not felt the country so full of hatred since the civil rights uprising. They have run this country so long that they think it their right to own it and continue without interference from anyone. It's like they have lose all sense of decency, if they ever had any.

I admit my weaknesses... I have always loved Martha's Vineyard and feeling it that I won't be there when the First Family is next month.

Print this story With the summer getaway season in full swing, the White House is busy arranging the president's first vacation since taking office. The destination - officially, at least - is classified. Yet it is hardly a secret to the people on Martha's Vineyard, several business owners and others said, where reservations have been made and preparations are under way for the Obama family's August arrival.


- The New York Times

Dear President and Mrs. Obama:

Let us be the first to bid you welcome to this beautiful and historic commonwealth. We may be prejudiced, but we think our little southeastern corner of Massachusetts has a great deal to offer anyone seeking fun and relaxation after six months in a job that we understand is even more stressful than three years at Harvard Law School.

Yes, we know that both of you have spent time in our state before, (including trips to the Vineyard to visit Harvard Law professor Charles Ogletree at Oak Bluffs, where there has been a thriving African American summer colony for decades) but you may find this part of the state a bit different from Cambridge. For one thing, you may run into an actual Republican from time to time. Yes, even in Massachusetts they do exist. And the southeastern part of the state would seem to be, perhaps not so much their natural habitat as a sort of preserve where they can roam free and occasionally win re-election - something they evidently can't do in the wild.

On the whole, of course, you will find the natives friendly, and by friendly, we mean Democrats. And by very friendly we mean the merchants of Circuit Avenue, who are looking forward to your visit with visions of dollar signs dancing in their heads. They know that when you bring Sasha and Malia around for ice cream, you are going to be accompanied by swarms of Secret Service agents and journalists, some of whom, at least, may be in the mood for something a little stronger than two scoops of butter pecan.

Finally, while you are in the neighborhood, so to speak, we invite you to make a couple of day trips "off island" as they say, to some of the other attractions this part of New England has to offer. There's historic New Bedford, with its whaling heritage; Fall River and the battleship U.S.S. Massachusetts; and, while you're at it, have the girls ever seen a real white lion? Just a suggestion.

Once again, welcome, and enjoy your visit"

Tomorrow is a big-ass day for Judge Sonia Sotomayor, and I'm heading in early to bed to get an early start at work.

Going to listen some music - starting here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZisdsbA6lQQ ==> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9H73qxeXWUs

I'm right with you...

A Call to Jihad From Somalia, Answered in the U.S.
By ANDREA ELLIOTT
Published: July 11, 2009

MINNEAPOLIS — The Carlson School of Management rises from the asphalt like a monument to capitalist ambition. Stock prices race across an electronic ticker near a sleek entrance and the atrium soars skyward, as if lifting the aspirations of its students. The school’s plucky motto is “Nowhere but here.”
For a group of students who often met at the school, on the University of Minnesota campus, those words seemed especially fitting. They had fled Somalia as small boys, escaping a catastrophic civil war. They came of age as refugees in Minneapolis, embracing basketball and the prom, hip-hop and the Mall of America. By the time they reached college, their dreams seemed within grasp: one planned to become a doctor; another, an entrepreneur.
But last year, in a study room on the first floor of Carlson, the men turned their energies to a different enterprise.
“Why are we sitting around in America, doing nothing for our people?” one of the men, Mohamoud Hassan, a skinny 23-year-old engineering major, pressed his friends.
In November, Mr. Hassan and two other students dropped out of college and left for Somalia, the homeland they barely knew. Word soon spread that they had joined the Shabaab, a militant Islamist group aligned with Al Qaeda that is fighting to overthrow the fragile Somali.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/us/12somalis....

that was deep..pretty deep...thanks.

How the Mighty Have Fallen
The rich really aren't like you and me--: They're historically recession-proof. But this time they've been hit hard—and we may all be the poorer for it.
For many wealth Americans, the world has turned upside down
By Robert J. Samuelson | NEWSWEEK
Published Jul 11, 2009
From the magazine issue dated Jul 20, 2009

Just who is "rich" in America is a matter of considerable disagreement. No one disputes that Bill Gates (No. 1 on last year's Forbes 400 list with a net worth of $57 billion) and Warren Buffett (No. 2 at $50 billion) are wealthy or, indeed, that everyone on the Forbes list qualifies (the poorest had a net worth of $1.3 billion). But as you move from billions in net worth to the mere hundreds or many tens of millions, and then to annual incomes of the mere hundreds of thousands, the arguing begins.

In April, The Wall Street Journal ran an article sympathetically portraying families with incomes around $250,000, the level that President Obama has targeted for tax increases. By most measures, these families rank in the top 2 percent to 4 percent of the income spectrum. But many—possibly most—see themselves as "upper middle class" and not "rich," the paper reported.

"I'm not after sympathy," said the wife of a surgeon who makes about $260,000. "What I want is a reality check on what rich means. I can pay my mortgage and can buy some clothes. I'm not going without, but I'm not living a life of luxury." The mayor of San Jose scoffed at $250,000. That's what a two-engineer couple might make, he said. It put them in "the upper working class" and wasn't enough to "buy a home in Silicon Valley."

The article triggered an outpouring of e-mails—many applauding that someone had finally described their harried plight; others sarcastically wondering what planet the whiners lived on. But so much angst among the affluent—however defined—attests to something else: the present recession, unlike any other since World War II, has deeply shaken the nation's economic elite.

With secure jobs and ample incomes, the rich and the near rich are supposed to be insulated from economic slumps. Well, not this time. Many feel fearful, threatened, and impoverished. In a recent Unity Marketing survey of consumers with incomes exceeding $250,000, 60 percent said their financial situation had deteriorated; 39 percent said bonuses or commissions had been cut; 29 percent said their regular income had been reduced; 8 percent said they'd lost their jobs; and 4 percent said their hours had been reduced. Even with a partial stock-market rebound, many of America's most affluent feel vulnerable to layoffs and lost income, just like other Americans. "This has been an equal-opportunity recession," argues Pam Danziger of Unity Marketing.

Collateral damage is widespread. Sales at luxury chains have fallen sharply; same-store revenues for Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus dropped about 25 percent in recent quarters. Many country clubs are struggling to hold members. In New York's Hamptons, unsold homes reached a 34-month supply early this year at the prevailing sales pace; buyers had hibernated. Economist Susan Sterne, a specialist in consumer spending, calls it "the demise of luxury... the people who buy $3,000 Gucci handbags. You see it in the luxury-car market and housing."

Some causes are obvious. With the recession's epicenter on Wall Street, layoffs and bonus reductions among highly paid investment bankers, traders, and money managers have thinned the ranks of the rich. The plunge in share prices has especially hurt the wealthy, because they disproportionately own stocks.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/206160?from=rss

I know ya'll done seen, Palin Willing to Campaign for Democrats

LMAO, I think not. I wish Cynthia McKinney would ask Sarah for help...that shyt would be a movie.

ICK, Palin isn't capable of proof reading a milk carton.

If a woman of color with 5 children were to enter the political arena with the same references that Sarah Palin had, this country would laugh her out of the race. It is just unbelievable that so many people in this country can see that woman as a leader of anything. It's embarrassing to know that so many people would want to see someone who can't even hold a coherent conversation, who reads nothing and thinks that Africa is a Country would be celebrated and adored as a leader of the United States of America. Our citizens have falled to an all time low.

SHE IS THE LEADER OF THE GOP PARTY...FOR NOW...MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT...MCCAIN BASICALLY GAVE HER THAT MONIKER TODAY...FRANK RICH IS RIGHT...SHE BROKE THE PARTY AND NOW SHE OWNS IT.

YOU CAN SAY WHAT YOU WANT ABOUT PALIN AND MILK CARTONS, BUT, THIS WOMAN HAS POWER AND JOHN MCCAIN JUST ACKNOWLEDGED IT.

Webb, You gon' stop playing with me. YOU PLAY TOO MUCH!!

AP: GOP Unites Against Second Stimulus

Well duh___, these muthaphuckers were against the FIRST Stimulus. WHy is it news that they would be against a SECOND one which nobody has even asked for yet?

The Party of NO knows where they can GO...Str8 to H.

Agree, but the President needs to win the public relations war. I hope he has his surrogates ready and willing to fight.

Anyone see this..... the swim club invited the Creative Steps back after a meeting with members.

A suburban Philadelphia swim club has invited children from a largely minority day-care center to come back after a June reversal that fueled allegations of racism against the club, a spokeswoman said Sunday.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/12/pennsylvania.p...

After meeting with members the club decided that it's now ok for the lil darkies to come and change the "complexion" of the pool.

Is that what their lawyers are advising the swim club to invite the kids back after they've been called out for damaging those kids self esteem, their dignity.

Parents to club: Thanks, but no fucking thanks!!!!!

To return to that shithole would be like getting bitten by a dog, and then asking if you can go back and pet the bitch that bit ya!

They are who we KNOW they are.

The last thing they should do is accept.

I commented earlier..

they had their chance...just wonder what is driving their change of mind...is it the legal costs they know they are facing...?

Yeah - I just saw that when I scrolled down.

Listen, when you are on site and reacting with people at the moment, you know exactly what the situation is. I know in my gut these people have a lawyer telling them to get on the bandwagon of "how soon can we cover our ass to minimize legal costs scenario and they will say and do anything no matter what."

As a person of color, no one could pay me enough money to swim in that freaking pool let alone allow anyone I am related to.

moved to invited back post

Anybody else seen this Destiny's Child knock off from Matt Knowles.

BTW, they are one of the opening acts for Beyonce.

Richgirl - He Ain't Wit Me Now (Tho)

watch Beyonce be the star of this group
even though she's not even in the group LOL

Does anyone else think that Lifetime has some of the best orginal programming on both network and basic cable tv, between their movies and tv shows.

Well they've created another one called Drop Dead Diva. I just watched the premiere ep, and I loved the show. They just don't have shows like this on regular staions, or shows like "The Closer", or "Monk" or "Psyche"

I love Army Wives, and the tvmovies they had with the Lacy Smithsonian character.

Yes, lamh32; I have enjoyed a few Lifetime shows.

I missed Drop Dead Diva, but plan to catch it later. I

love the concept of this show.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-07-...

this is not good news for the president and Arne Duncan

"Chicago schools report contradicts Obama and Duncan

Enough Already With the Bipartisanship!
If Obama wants to get anything done, he needs to start breaking some GOP heads. This is not the time to be making nice.
By: Jack White | Posted: July 13, 2008 at 6:42 AM

Obama, Forget About Bipartisanship, Time to Bust Some GOP Heads
If Obama wants to get anything done, he needs to start breaking some GOP heads. This is not the time to be making nice.
jack.white
If Obama wants to get anything done, he needs to start breaking some GOP heads. This is not the time to be making nice.

If Obama wants to get anything done, he needs to start breaking some GOP heads. This is not the time to be making nice.
07/13/2008 06:42
I hate to say this, but unless President Barack Obama toughens up pretty soon, his presidency could be in trouble. It’s too early to be sure, but the warning signs are beginning to accumulate. If unemployment, now at 9.5 percent, keeps rising, Democrats could lose House and Senate seats in the midterm elections next year, and, though Obama is likely to remain personally popular, support for his policies could collapse.


That is why it is so urgent for the president to abandon his instinctual tendency toward conciliation and compromise, to throw bipartisanship to the winds and take advantage of the opportunity opened up by Al Franken’s long-delayed arrival in the Senate as the 60th Democratic vote. Franken’s victory means that Obama’s party now has the super-majority required to ram through the president’s legislative agenda over weak Republican opposition.

Moreover, as the antics of Sarah Palin, John Ensign and Mark Sanford illustrate, the GOP is currently leaderless and imploding. Now is the time for Obama and the Democrats to strike—to enact sweeping health care reform, programs to address global warming and, most important of all, a second round of economic stimulus to put millions of unemployed people back to work, even if it drives up the deficit to even more gargantuan levels.


As Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman wrote recently in the New York Times, “We have the Obama stimulus plan, which aims to create 3 ½ million jobs by late next year. That’s much better than nothing, but it’s not remotely enough.” Or, as a headline in the Washington Post proclaimed, “Rising Joblessness Blunts President’s Plan for Recovery.”


The trouble with Obama is that he doesn’t like to be seen doing the dirty work of domestic politics. He’d rather be delivering high-minded speeches about reducing the size of American and Russian nuclear arsenals than steamrolling the Republicans.


Some of his aloofness, of course, is tactical. As Obama’s chief economic adviser, Larry Summers, points out, the stimulus package passed earlier this year is designed to be more effective next year than this year—which might turn things around and get the economy going again just in time for the 2010 elections. But that’s quite a gamble.


And even if things work out the way they hope, I think Obama’s problem—which I complained about during the primary season last year—is deeper than that. I think Obama wants to be seen as a nice guy who reaches out to his enemies and wins them over rather than kicking their tails. He’s willing to roll up his sleeves, but he doesn’t want to get his hands bloody.


In most circumstances, that’s a desirable trait for a politician. But there are times when a baseball bat, not a palm leaf, is required.


With the U.S. mired in its deepest economic slump since the Great Depression, this is one of those times.

Jack White is a regular contributor to The Root.

http://www.theroot.com/views/enough-already-bip...

"If Obama wants to get anything done, he needs to start breaking some GOP heads."

Here's a lil helper for him: http://www.groomsmensgifts.us/weddingattendantg...

that would be using the Al Capone method from "The Untouchables" wouldn't it LOL

That's what I'm saying.

JULY 13, 2009 Slump Spreads to Health Care as Michigan Loses Auto Jobs Article

By KATE LINEBAUGH
TROY, Mich. -- The sputtering Michigan economy is dragging down the state's once-strong health-care system, offering a preview of how a lingering recession could corrode Americans' hospitals, savings and health.


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124743926415729...

get ready for that 24 hr plane ride to India or Thailand for your health care.

This may be a duplication or possible media alert...David Shuster is supposedly going to report on the freepers attacks on Malia Obama. Watch MSNBC tomorrow to check it out.

And before I get attacked by others again tonight I will explain.... I have always been a great supporter of the Obamas and love their children and think this family is the best thing to happen to our country in my lifetime. If I don't always agree with the president 100% of the time, it doesn't matter, I'm not a lemming or a robot, I campaigned and contributed money and am prepared to do so again.

Angelar

"MSNBC's David Shuster on Saturday told his fans at Twitter that he intends to report on some ugly comments made about President Obama's daughter Malia at the conservative website Free Republic last week.

http://clayaiken411.blogspot.com/2009/07/obama-...

Angelar,
we know that. things sometimes get heated around here. and, you know that too

hey, thanks for that...update on Malia Obama and David Shuster/MSNBC from the Daily Kos. I really hope David does his good work on this story...if anyone needs to be "seen" by jjpers or anyone else, it is the freepers and republicans who support their sickness.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/7/11/752493/...

Maxwell performs “Pretty Wings on CBS Early Morning Show


http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5149520n

that man can perform anything he want's on me:)

*Hiding My Eyes* :)

don't cover your eyes
im just talking about his singing LOL

:)

LOL! Maxwell's a living Doll.

Yes he is
i can't wait until he's in concert

Be still my heart!!

http://www.examiner.com/x-854-Italian-Living-Ex...

Love it, the First Family huge hit in Italy....

Also, the Obama Watch continues for vacationing on Martha's Vineyard..

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/us_politics/vi...

Premier Silvio Berlusconi said "I have always collaborated with all the American administrations from Clinton, to Bush (with whom I still have ties of personal friendship). I must recognize that the new American administration did not make one mistake in international politics (at this meeting) so I must compliment President Obama."

In other words "Boy, you did good". He did call Obama "tanned" last year after he won.

Silvio knows how popular our president is in Italy and sounds like Berlusconi knows how to read the public.....I have yet to see one world leader who isn't very anxious to be seen as on "friendly" terms with President Obama, so unlike their obvious distaste for Bush.

but no one trips all over themselves to be near him like the French president. It is just so funny. I think that PM Brown has stopped trying to out do the French President by getting next to Obama on every photo. I watch how rather grim the Russian PM was while in Russia with that other ole sour puss, but when he got to Italy with President Obama he was all smiles and laughter. I thought he was going to start singing "Free at last".

One of the reasons the bankrupcty code needed to be changed so that first mortgages could be written down to reflect the value of the home. The purpose was to keep the homeowner in the home. The goal being to keep the home occupied and not contribute to blight.
The situation for many foreclosed homeowners has become foreclosure by the financial institution but the institution doesn't take possession. They leave ownership in the mortgage holders hands despite foreclosure. the situation becoms the responsbility of the municipality. W/ no money the home and the municipality lose.
http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2009/07/lende...

BREAKING: Valley Swim Club Caves...Invites Kids Back.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/12/pennsylvania.p...

I personally hope they tell them where they can stick their invite.

My child wouldn't go back there.

how could those kids be comfortable
knowing the swim club only caved because of bad publicity?

so all of a sudden they aren't nasty bastards anymore?
wow change has really come to America

LOL! "wow change has really come to America."

Yes, the swim club is faced with the threat of possibly giving up some CHANGE for their shameful racist behavior towards a group of lil black kids.

it's really a shame you have to threaten a lawsuit
and bad mouth people in public
for them to figure out they were wrong

is it that hard to be decent?

They're shame. Now errybody know how they mistreated little kids.

As a person of color who has been told that I wasn't wanted.....screw them...they had their chance to do the right thing and they chose not to. No one wants to be where they aren't welcome.

I'll say it. FUCK Valley Swim Club. That ship sailed when the kids were told they changed the "COMPLEXION" of the pool.

I would NEVER allow my child to return to any facility that treated them with such disrespectful and racist behavior. NEVER.

Let them kick rocks! Pay The Piper!

So I'm thinking about planning a trip to Hawaii for my b-day this year. I haven't decided if I want to book a cruise, or if I want to fly. Also, I need to decide which Island I want to visit.

Here's the details, I hope to stay for at least 4 nights 5 days, and up to 7 days if I can swing it.

I'll probably be going alone, so I would like to restrict the trip to the more touristy areas.

Mcnallys Smith School of Music, fresh off a summer
wokshop, will offer the country’s first accredited hip-hop diploma program.

Hip-Hop with honors
By HAYLEY TSUKAYAMA, Star Tribune Richard Sennott, Star Tribune Richard Sennott, Star Tribune
Jul 10, 2009

T oki Wright is in the recording studio while Zach Bagaason runs back the first 30 seconds of Wright's song, "State of Emergency." Bagaason's brother and music partner, Brandon, is in another corner of the room giving his two cents, while Sean McPherson of Heiruspecs stands in the doorway.
They're surrounded by 22 high-school students. Some are taking copious notes, while others are just trying really hard to be cool about being in the same room with some of the biggest names in Twin Cities hip-hop -- their instructors.
Or, to put it another way, it's a typical day of school at the McNally Smith College of Music summer hip-hop workshop.

http://m.startribune.com/topic/3975-Lifestyle/a...

Sanford a member?
Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUdg1TS-leE

maybe not officially, but duh......?

Got this from the Union fro Concerned Scientists.

Monsanto loses again: GE alfalfa banned nationwide
A federal court has upheld a ban on the planting of Monsanto's genetically engineered (GE) alfalfa in the United States. The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reaffirmed its previous ruling that the alfalfa, which is engineered to tolerate the herbicide Roundup, could contaminate conventional and organic alfalfa and thus cause "irreversible harm" to the farmers whose livelihoods depend on these crops and to the environment.

The story from Reuters, and the decision (PDF alert)

thanks for this.

Palin might be over in the press and here but this is an interesting observation by a black Republican operative. He has a radio show as well. Call sign in the article. hat tip Pam's House Blend
http://pamshouseblend.com/diary/11953/gop-consu...

JULY 9, 2009 Stimulus to Aid State Budget Gaps

By LOUISE RADNOFSKY
WASHINGTON -- States plan to use about half of some $8.8 billion in unencumbered stimulus money they will receive to plug budget deficits, underscoring the financial difficulties many are facing.

Unlike most of the money being handed out under the administration's economic-stimulus plan, these funds come with few requirements for how they can be spent. They are part of a larger fund of $53.6 billion in aid being disbursed by the Department of Education to state governments, almost all of which must be used for schools and colleges.

Some states indicated they would use part of their money to finance projects ranging from juvenile detention facilities to film-industry incentives to preservation of American Indian languages, according to a survey of the plans filed by the states with the Department of Education. The survey was done by the Council of State Governments, a nonpartisan network of state leaders.

With June's jobless rate at 9.5%, some lawmakers are questioning how effective the $787 billion stimulus package passed early this year has been.

At least 39 states have responded to declining tax revenue and drained budget reserves by making spending cuts, according to a study by the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Some economists at the think tank say such cuts could reduce economic activity and worsen the recession, but that the stimulus money has prevented the cuts from being "much deeper."

Chris Whatley, the Washington director for the Council of State Governments, said that when states use the funding to plug budget holes, "that's squarely in line with the statute," and that they see it as directly tied to saving jobs.

Congressional Republicans have criticized the use of funds to balance state budgets, saying that just allows states to postpone making hard decisions in years to come.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124708982200614...

Congressional republicans can kiss my ass. Yes states are using the funds because of SHORT FALLS! Not just because they can! Hell, the hard decisions will still be made, but in ADVANCE so all avenues can be thought out to make sure the best decisions are being made. Gawd I cant stand these micky-ficks. A lot of the shortfalls were not expected....DUH! Hence the word "shortfall". The trickle down from the Wall Street crooks is long, far and wide - a lot of these municipalities had no idea they were gonna be THIS short on their budgets. These rethugs can go straight to hell.

The GOP can KISS my Blue Black ass.

LoL, I wouldn't say that too loud Spirit. Those nasty Republi-Freaks might might be ringing your doorbell later tonight.

Oh please let one of them mofos come to my front door uninvited

I'll be waiting for them. GOOD LUCK!

http://www.germes-online.com/direct/dbimage/500...

ROFLAMO!

Knock knock.

:)

(love the chainsaw)

D,

LOL

Go straight to the "bad chair"!

I thought I had a permanent "bad chair" that I was required to post from.

LOL.

You were "bad" but funny!

LMAO @ You!

LOL! Who's there? D. D who? D days are short and so is your
visit........

I'm just here to talk to you about Bob.

Seeing you've got weapons drawn, I'll just move on.

Congressional Repubs have already called their even more ignorant cuzes in state legislatures to use stimulus transp. $ for rural and redneck road projects rather the traffic abatement and mass transit/people moving construction, infrastructure, etc. needed in the close in burbs and cities.