Jack & Jill Politics

A “Lil Positivity”: Oprah, Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith and Penny Hardway Have All Together Donated $5 Million to Different Charities

Posted by Bossip Staff

Oprah, Will Smith, Jada Pinkett-Smith and Penny Hardway have all made the “The Giving Back 30″ list. This list features the top 30 celebrities who have made the largest donations to charity. Oprah is listed in the top ten, while Will, Jada, and Penny are all in the top 20. For the past two years Oprah has been named the most generous celebrity but this year the spot was taken by Paul Newman.

The Giving Back Fund’s third annual Giving Back 30, a list of celebrities who have made the largest donations to charity according to public records, was released in the November 1st issue of PARADE Magazine.

Readers may have been surprised to learn that Paul Newman replaced Oprah Winfrey as the most generous celebrity of 2008. Oprah had occupied the number one spot by a wide margin for the first two years of the list. Before his death, Newman made a donation of nearly $21 million to his self-named Newman’s Own Foundation. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were second with a $13.5 million donation to the Jolie-Pitt Foundation, which distributed $6.4 million to charity, including a $2 million grant to The Global Health Committee for an Ethiopian clinic project, a $1 million grant to the Make it Right Foundation founded by Pitt, and $500,000 to the Armed Services YMCA USA.

“Our hope is that celebrities will begin to become more comfortable sharing information about their charitable giving — perhaps not disclosing everything they give, but sharing enough to enable them to serve as role-models to their peers and fans,” said Marc Pollick, President and Founder of The Giving Back Fund.

It’s always nice to see celebrities giving back and helping those less unfortunate. This year we had four names on the list, lets see who will step up to the plate so we can keeping adding more of us each and every year.

http://bossip.com/179250/a-lil-positivity-oprah...

rikyrah: I agree. The MORE we TALK - - -the MORE there MAY B some "understandin'!"

I must rest now. :>)

G'night! :>) Now The Day Is Over :>)

rikyrah: MEDIA ALERT:

Cory Booker, Wade Henderson and Michael Eric Dyson to Join Tom Brokaw at National Town Hall

USA Network and Tom Brokaw announced today the first-ever Characters Unite National Town Hall, a ground-breaking high-level discussion on how America’s increasingly diverse and divided population can find common ground on today’s complex social issues. Inspired by USA Network’s community affairs campaign – Characters Unite — this event will bring together a diverse panel of distinguished leaders to generate fresh ideas for actions by individuals, communities and government to overcome social injustices and bridge cultural divides. Tom Brokaw, NBC News Special Correspondent, will moderate the panel at the Newseum in Washington, DC, on December 2.

Confirmed Town Hall participants include:
• Mike Allen, Chief White House Correspondent, Politico
• The Honorable Xavier Becerra, Representative, California
• The Honorable Cory Booker, Mayor, Newark, NJ
• The Honorable Max Cleland, Secretary, American Battle Monuments Commission
• Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, Professor of Sociology, Georgetown University
• Wade Henderson, President and CEO, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
• Jon Bon Jovi, Singer, Songwriter, Philanthropist
• David Mixner, Writer and Civil Rights Activist
• Kathleen Parker, Syndicated Columnist
• Chancellor Michelle Rhee, DC Public Schools
• Dr. Christine Sierra, Professor of Political Science, University of New Mexico

Actor Dulé Hill, co-star of USA Network’s “Psych” will also be a special guest in attendance.

“It’s time to get past the labeling. We’re all different, and we all bring something unique to the table,” said Bonnie Hammer, president, NBCU Cable Entertainment and Universal Cable Productions. “We need our differences to unite us, not drive us apart.”

“People across the country are making tough decisions every day and working to maintain their own unique American character. Too often, instead of coming together to address conflicts, groups demonize each other because of their different beliefs and opinions,” said Tom Brokaw, NBC News Special Correspondent.

During the Characters Unite Town Hall, Brokaw will preview his new documentary, American Character Along Highway 50, produced by Peacock Productions, set to premiere on USA Network on Martin Luther King Day, January 18, 2010. The film follows Brokaw’s journey at a pivotal point in our country’s history as he travels across legendary US Highway 50 discovering how Americans are fairing during these extraordinary times, immersing himself in the lives of ordinary and extraordinary people to reveal uniquely American stories of hardship, survival and hope.

“Tom Brokaw’s upcoming documentary makes him the ideal moderator for this conversation,” said Hammer. “We’re confident that he will steer the Town Hall toward fresh ideas for individual and collective actions aimed at bringing all of us, with the combined strength of our diversity, together.”

In conjunction with the Town Hall, USA Network will announce the results of a new Characters Unite national opinion poll, the United or Divided Survey, which will provide an in-depth profile of American attitudes on prejudice, discrimination and intolerance. The nationally representative poll is being conducted by two of America’s leading public opinion research firms representing both sides of the political aisle — Hart Research Associates (D) and Public Opinion Strategies (R). The survey will examine how Americans view the social trends that are transforming the nation, and will look across generations, race, ethnicity and gender at how change is affecting our country’s social fabric.

In partnership with Charter and Comcast, high schools across the country will have the opportunity to submit questions for the panel and five students will win a trip to Washington, DC, to attend the Town Hall event.

Cisco Webex Solutions will serve as the technology partner for the Characters Unite National Town Hall. The event will be webcast live for free, and viewers may register in advance at www.passtheball.com.

Following the Town Hall, the first Characters Unite Award will be presented to an individual who has made a significant and lasting difference in efforts to fight discrimination, champion civil rights and promote respect. The honoree will be profiled on charactersunite.com and receive a $10,000 grant to support his/her project or nonprofit organization. Nominations for the award are being made by the Characters Unite campaign’s 20 non-governmental partners, which include the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the American Association of People with Disabilities, the National Parent Teacher Association, the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, the National Council of La Raza, GLAAD, National Council of Women’s Organizations, American Federation of Teachers, Anti-Defamation League, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Asian American Justice Center, Children’s Defense Fund, General Board of Church & Society of The United Methodist Church, Human Rights Campaign, Human Rights First, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, National Association of Counties, National Congress of American Indians, National Education Association and Southern Poverty Law Center.

WOW!! There will B a WHOLE lotta TALKIN' goin' on - - - in VERY DIVERSE artistic & philosophical LANGUAGES! :>)

this MIGHT be interesting, GLH. I said 'might'.

rikyrah: It's NOT over-analyzin'!

It's SEE-IN' the TA-RUTH!!

WE HAVE NOT YET OVERCOME!!

I'm Not Crazy

13 Nov 2009 11:00 am
OK, yeah a little bit, but this struck me too:

Call it overanalyzing, but is it a coincidence that Precious' dark-skinned mother is physically and verbally abusive, her dark-skinned father is a drug addict who rapes her, and the main character herself is a dark-skinned 16-year-old mother of two? Meanwhile, the teacher, social worker and nurse who uplift and bring positivity into her life are all light-skinned.

http://ta-nehisicoates.theatlantic.com/archives...

OK, I haven't read the book from what I've heard from people who have, yeah, Precious is color-struck and thinks light skin is better. Evidently in the book, the character that Paula Patton plays is brown skinned with locs and helps Precious re-think the color thing but I guess it would have have been too hard to cast Vanessa L. Williams for that role. I'd like to heard what Lee Daniels has to say about his casting.

rikyrah: While there were "mixed reviews" on the "belt" - - - I'm sayin' - - -

FIrst LADY - - -U JUST B U!! :>)

+Mrs. O Rewears, Remixes Her J.Crew :>)

First Lady Mrs. O is hosting a women's health care event at the White House today, and for the occasion, is rewearing the famed J.Crew ensemble she first debuted on the Tonight Show in October 2008.

The November 2009 rendition of the ensemble includes a cut-out statement belt - definitely a hot item in Mrs. O's wardrobe as of late - and a sleek updo. Though we assume it's a coincidence, we cannot help but observe the remarkable color coordination with the golden yellow curtains in the background.

Click here to read the first lady's remarks from the event (it seems Mrs. O has a cold!). And apologies to those who commented earlier. We somehow deleted our first version of this post!

ENJOY!! :>)

the pics from today - she looks absolutely great.

rikyrah: AB-SO-LUTE-LY!! :>)

rikyrah: U know that I don't know how 2 put these pics 2-gether; sooooo here they R- - -INDIVIDUALLY!! :>) 1 day- - -I'll learn! :>)

+U.S. President Barack Obama smiles as he arrives at a hall to deliver speech in Tokyo, Japan, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009.

[YES! I have my ***OXYGEN MASK*** on!! :>)]

+U.S. President Barack Obama delivers his speech on Asian policy in Tokyo Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009. Obama said in the speech that he welcomes a robust China on the world scene, but he cautioned that all nations must respect human rights, including religious freedoms.

+Residents from the Japanese town of Obama City in Fukui Prefecture wear 'happi' coats and T-shirts emblazoned with 'I Love Obama' as they wait from visiting US President Barack Obama to pass in front of them in Tokyo on November 14, 2009. The people of Obama have rallied hard for the US president since his election campaign, creating a hula dance in his honour and distributing 'I Love Obama' T-shirts. The western Japan town, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) from Tokyo, has turned its accidental world fame into a cottage industry, selling presidential souvenirs and snacks, and enjoying a spike in tourism as a result.

+US President Barack Obama bows after speaking at Suntory Hall in Tokyo on November 14, 2009. Billing himself America's first 'Pacific president', Obama said the United States did not seek to 'contain' China and promised a full US role in charting Asia's future.

[NOTE: HE KNOWS! :>)]

+Residents from the Japanese town of Obama City in Fukui Prefecture wear 'happi' coats and T-shirts emblazoned with 'I Love Obama' as they wait from visiting US President Barack Obama to pass in front of them in Tokyo on November 14, 2009. The people of Obama have rallied hard for the US president since his election campaign, creating a hula dance in his honour and distributing 'I Love Obama' T-shirts. The western Japan town, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) from Tokyo, has turned its accidental world fame into a cottage industry, selling presidential souvenirs and snacks, and enjoying a spike in tourism as a result.

+U.S. President Barack Obama acknowledges the crowd after a speech on U.S. Asian policy at Suntory Hall on November 14, 2009 in Tokyo, Japan. Obama is in Japan for two days prior to attending the 17th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Singapore. :>)

ENJOY!! :>)

love these - thanks.

My PLEASURE!! :>)

rikyrah: FROM- - The White House Blog:

Press Conference in Japan:

The United States and Asia: "Inextricably Linked" VIDEO

"Well, we have come to call each other Barack and Yukio," said Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama of Japan in a joint press conference after the first meetings of President Obama's trip to Asia.

The Prime Minister went on to discuss the almost infinite range of issues on which our two countries are aligned and working together. President Obama also gave full recognition to the importance of the relationship:

We have to understand that the future of the United States and Asia is inextricably linked. The issues that matter most to our people -- issues of economic growth and job creation, non-proliferation, clean energy -- these are all issues that have to be part of a joint agenda. And we had very productive discussions about these issues this evening.

It's true that because of the strength of our economic ties, that was not the first item on our agenda, but we are fortunately going to have the opportunity to spend a lot of time discussing that in Singapore in the coming days. As the world's two leading economies, we have spent a lot of time working together in the G20 to help bring the world back from the brink of financial crisis, and we're going to continue to work to strengthen our efforts so that we can expand job growth in the future. And we will be discussing with our APEC partners how to rebalance our deep economic cooperation with this region to strengthen our recovery.

The Prime Minister and I discussed our cooperation on Afghanistan and Pakistan. And I did thank the people of Japan and the Prime Minister for the powerful commitment of a $5 billion over the next five years to support our shared civilian efforts in Afghanistan, as well as the commitment of a billion dollars to Pakistan.

This underscores Japan's prominent role within a broad international coalition that is advancing the cause of stability and opportunity in Afghanistan and Pakistan. And I shared with the Prime Minister our efforts in refining our approach to make it more successful in the coming year.

We discussed our shared commitment to stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and ultimately seeking a world without them. Since I laid out a comprehensive agenda in Prague to pursue these goals Japan has been an outstanding partner in those efforts. And together we passed a historic resolution in the Security Council last September. We are building a new international consensus to secure loose nuclear materials and strengthen the nonproliferation regime.

And to that end, we discussed both North Korea and the situation in Iran, recognizing that it's absolutely vital that both countries meet their international obligations. If they do, then they can open the door to a better future. If not, we will remain united in implementing U.N. resolutions that are in place and continuing to work in an international context to move towards an agenda of nonproliferation.

Finally, we discussed our partnership on energy issues and climate change. The United States and Japan share a commitment to developing the clean energy of the future and we're focused on combating the threat of climate change. This is an important priority for us; I know it's an important priority for the people of Japan. And we discussed how we can work together to pave the way for a successful outcome in Copenhagen next month.

So I believe that we are off to a very successful start. I'm looking forward to continuing the conversation during dinner, as well as as we both travel to Singapore. And I am confident that we will continue to strengthen the U.S.-Japan alliance so that it serves future generations.

ENJOY!! :>)

Friday, November 13, 2009
Sarah Palin is dumb.
By her own words, Sarah Palin is dumb. Here's the excerpt of pages 255-257 of "Going Rogue: An American Life":

.................................................

She had trouble getting phone numbers? She "snuck" around, relying on friends? Like it's a Nancy Drew caper. And did she not see the downside of allowing right-winger to draw her out? That wasn't fair to McCain. McCain's people locked her down? Did she think carefully about their reasons? Does she think carefully about anything? Why did she agree to be McCain's running mate? She won't take responsibility for her own difficulties.

Apparently, they were afraid you were not ready, and they were right, so why didn't you trust them or at least accept that you owed them control over the presidential campaign? You agreed to take the subordinate position, and you had to know that their reasons for picking you had to do with image and style. If you weren't prepared to do it their way, you should not have accepted the part. At the very least, you should not have been mystified about the way they were treating you. You should have been looking at the campaign strategy from every angle and building your sophistication, not just aching to burst free and expose yourself to the world — which, as you soon learned, did not go well.

It seems that Sarah Palin wasn't able or didn't want to bother to analyze whether she was ready to debut on the big media stage, and she wasn't large-minded enough to think beyond herself to what it would mean for the whole campaign. That is, she was dumb. She was too dumb to handle campaign responsibilities properly, so she was clearly too dumb to step into the role of President of the United States.

Could she build up her political intelligence? Might she have it now or by 2012? If these 2 pages of "Going Rogue" are any evidence, she is displaying her weaknesses all over again, and she is still too dumb to be President. And, most scarily, she doesn't know how dumb she still is.

http://althouse.blogspot.com/2009/11/sarah-pali...

------------------------

BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

palin is having her hey days and making money, just remember she has never gone through a gop primary where her own "party" members are after her for the presidency. my guess is she won't be able to take the heat.....can you imagine how bad romney wants to be president and will spend his own money to reach that goal....palin won't know what hit her when her own party primary candidates attack her. I actually look forward to that blood bath.

angelar: MEGA CO-SIGN!! :>)

Annnnnnnnnnd, I believe that the "GOP wives" & other ladies, R NOT gonna give her another chance 2 "wiggle her "MOOSE TAIL" in front of THEIR men - - - NOT 1 MO' 'GAIN!! :>)

Complete with - - -- - THIS VIDEO :>)

if she thinks that the rest of those sharks are just gonna let her run up in there, and get the nomination with the bull she pulled during the 2008 campaign...she doesn't know those sharks.

the Mittster letting her get away with it?

hell no

rikyrah: MR. PRESIDENT - - -CONTINUING HIS FOREIGN TOUR :>)

+President Barack Obama Speech in Tokyo

He was sooooooo very WELL-RECEIVED!! :>)

LEADERSHIP - - -ABROAD!! :>)

God Bless Mr. PRESIDENT!!

Obama is a real worldly President. Listening to his speech and hearing him talk about visiting Japan as a child reminds me especially given his life in Hawaii and Indonesia of how different he is from any of his predecessors.

HEEEEEY caribgirl! ***BIG HUG*** :>)

MEGA-CO-SIGN!! :>)

U can tell that he FEELS VERY COMFORTABLE in OTHER PLACES. :>)

Annnnnnnd, OTHER PEOPLES feel COMFORTABLE and EXCITED AROUND HIM!! :>) [minus the protestors] :>)

HE MAKES ME SOOOOOO PROUD!! :>)

13 Nov 2009 08:24 pm
Palin Wanted To Sue The Dish

I've heard it before from a source very close to her - a source who also told me that Palin was obsessed with this blog for much of the campaign. But today a Wall Street Journal reporter also came across that story, asked me for comment and is publishing it tomorrow. Apparently, the idea was quashed because it was thought a libel suit wouldn't work (duh) and it would only give me and the Dish more publicity (double duh). Much better to ignore me completely, and to smear me as a loon, and get Palin lapdog Howie Kurtz to do your dirty work, as the campaign wisely did.

But two thoughts: has she ever heard of discovery?

Since the only point of my asking factually verifiable questions about her deeply strange accounts of her fifth pregnancy was to get at the truth of the matter and resolve it for good and all, a libel suit would only have enabled me to really answer the salient questions - questions the McCain itself never asked her and were too mortified to look into after it was too late.

Secondly, it's obvious such a libel suit would have failed. It is not libel to ask a politician to verify a public claim relevant to her campaign that seems weird on inspection, especially when the verification would have been easy. But to Palin, such questions were outrageous!

Palin believes that asking questions of a public figure that she doesn't like is a form of lese-majeste, or insufficient deference. Now imagine what that kind of paranoid attitude would mean if she had ever parachuted into the Oval Office thanks to a temper-tantrum by John McCain.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily...

rikyrah: HEEEEEERE's - - -FIRST LADY!! :>)

+First Lady on Health Care, Aging Women :>) VIDEO

U! JUST! SPEAK!! - - FIRST LADY!! :>)

so, while the President is away, the First Lady isn't sitting on her laurels either...she's holding down the fort.

rikyrah: UH-UHHH!! :>)

She's - - -HOLDIN' IT DOWN!! :>)

rikyrah: Don't know if this was posted:

+Alma Powell, second left, wife of former Secretary of State Colin Powell, is applauded by first lady Michelle Obama, second from right, Dr. Jill Biden, right, and others, as she is given an award during a Veterans Day ceremony, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009, at George Washington University in Washington. :>)

VERY NICE - - -FIRST LADY, DR. JILL, MRS. POWELL! :>)

I loved the picture too, GLH.

rikyrah: THANK U!! :>)

this write up is on point, I was cracking up.

http://se7enmagazine.com/the-issue/41-north-ame...

'Who Doesn't Want to Be Related to Michelle Obama?

Remember when folks would just pretend like all that funny business of compromising sexual/familial situations between white slave owners and black chattel was impolite to discuss ever? That a lot of folks would just walk around, happily ignorant, pretending like they didn’t know nuttin about great-great-great Grand Pappy Archibald’s fondness for spending his evenings trolling the slave quarters for some ass?

Well, this is America, jack! We will drop shame in a hot minute to say, “Hey! I’m related to an Obama too!” Yeah, yeah the slave girl was only 15 when she gave birth to our common ancestor, but that was like NORMAL back in olden days, right? Right? We don’t know for a FACT Michelle Obama’s ancestors were raped by my ancestors! Can’t we just come visit the White House for Thanksgiving and braid each others hair and share memories and shit?

From Inside Edition via Michelle Obama Watch:

With her blonde hair and blue eyes, Debbie Shields looks nothing like First Lady Michelle Obama, but they actually share a common bond — they’re related.

Debbie’s great-great-grandfather is also Michelle Obama’s great-great-great-grandfather.

“You were told that you were Michelle Obama’s fourth cousin. What was your reaction?” asks INSIDE EDITION’s Les Trent.

“I said, ‘Awesome!’ “

“Did you believe it?”

“No, not at first. [I] thought it was a joke,” Shields says.

The man believed to be the family link between Debbie Shields and Michelle Obama was a white slave owner named Charles Marion Shields. He died 93 years ago, in 1916…

“What goes through your head? You, a white woman, when you find out you may possibly be related to the first African American First Lady?” Les Trent asks.

“I think it’s great. I would like to sit down and talk with her and share memories, share photographs, stories,” says Shields.

Priceless. You bring the cookies and I’ll bring the milk!

Danielle Belton is a writer and freelancer whose works have appeared in The Huffington Post, The American Prospect and Essence Online. She is the author of the blog: http://blacksnob.com/"

I can't stop laughing. And that's sad. This is sad. But I can't stop laughing.

Sheilds is an idiot. What the hell they got to talk about? I'm sorry my granddaddy raped your grandma?

I do love the Snob.

Thanks, Angelar, you and GreenlLady find some interesting stuff!

you know, vulcan_girl......... why *not* have that conversation?

it is interesting that a woman can be excited by it, after thinking someone was pulling her leg -- instead of being ashamed by it or wishing it would go away or completely denying it. i guess that only goes for folks who are close to the situation and knew EXACTLY why these relationships/rapes happened (ie strom thurmond and his contemporaries, who actually perpetrated the acts, it wasn't a history lesson to them, or the long ago past, it was life). Ms. Shields -- and her son, who is even further from the madness -- won't have the same discomfort. It's a bad thing and a hopeful thing at the same time. Mostly frustrating, actually. But you can't know what you haven't been taught... that's not Ms. Shields and her son's fault.

I wonder if the rape part will be compartmentalized or acknowledged after the 'PCH Prize Patrol Van' feeling dies down?

I do like the boy's comment about the significance of going from slavery to the white house in 4 generations. That is a long way from a certain southern sheriff calling Dr. King a 'coon' and laughing about it for the television cameras.

i also find it funny, now, how the ancestry.com lady is getting requests from shields all over trying to find out if they're related to Michelle, WANTING to be related to Michelle but the ancestry.com lady can't find the proof........ meaning nobody knows whether Shields is the father of Melvinia's babies, or if it was one of his four sons, or a cousin or an overseer or some other white man who took advantage of a little girl because the law said he could. (Personally, I think it was one of the sons, don't ask me why; wondered what happened to make her stay after slavery initially, then leave years late) But Shields is just there by proximity and name. The buck stops with him, kind of like the Hemings situation.

Speaking of Hemings, did the black descendents of Jefferson's sons and the white descendents of Jefferson's daughters ever come together in peace, or is there still denial and rejection on the parts of the daughters' progeny?

I don't think the Jeffersons have decided to do right by the Hemings clan YET.

From what I've seen, and experienced, and Shields' situation may be different depending on where she lives, but in these types of cases, the black people already know who the white relatives are, and the white relatives know who they are, too. In this case, see John McCain and the descendants of Thomas Jefferson. In some cases the families do associate and claim each other, and there have been books that tell these stories. It's not new, and like you called, it's very PCH Sweepstakes van, so call me cynical.

***blushin'**** Wait-a-minute - - - I CAIN'T do that! :>)

THANK U Vulcan_girl!! :>)

WE TA-RY!! :>)

thanks Vulcan girl, glad you enjoy

this is why I missed the Snob while she was moving. she just makes me crack up on so many levels, and was on point.

NRO Bedwetters

by BooMan
Fri Nov 13th, 2009 at 01:44:54 PM EST
The main reason that supporters of Bush's anti-terror policies are wetting their pajamas is pretty clear from a look at National Review Online:

We are now going to have a trial that never had to happen for defendants who have no defense. And when defendants have no defense for their own actions, there is only one thing for their lawyers to do: put the government on trial in hopes of getting the jury (and the media) spun up over government errors, abuses and incompetence. That is what is going to happen in the trial of KSM et al. It will be a soapbox for al-Qaeda's case against America. Since that will be their "defense," the defendants will demand every bit of information they can get about interrogations, renditions, secret prisons, undercover operations targeting Muslims and mosques, etc., and — depending on what judge catches the case — they are likely to be given a lot of it. The administration will be able to claim that the judge, not the administration, is responsible for the exposure of our defense secrets. And the circus will be played out for all to see — in the middle of the war. It will provide endless fodder for the transnational Left to press its case that actions taken in America's defense are violations of international law that must be addressed by foreign courts. And the intelligence bounty will make our enemies more efficient at killing us.

No doubt the defense attorneys will try to exclude evidence obtained while these defendants were being tortured in black prison sites. But, the DOJ isn't going to rely on any of that evidence. No judge is going to allow a self-defense argument, so our policies are not going to be on trial. The indictments will be based on information obtained legally. The right is afraid that these folks will be convicted and sentenced to death for a crime that can proven without resorting to torture. And, then, what will be left of their justification for despoiling our country's reputation for upholding human rights?

Their continued expression of fear at the prospect of having these terrorists present on American soil is pathetic. They ought to spend the rest of their days huddling in their 1950's-built nuclear bombshelters. The only thing they fear more than terrorist attacks is having to face up to the pointlessness of what has been done with their support.

http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2009/11/13/1...

---

…
Their continued expression of fear at the prospect of having these terrorists present on American soil is pathetic. They ought to spend the rest of their days huddling in their 1950's-built nuclear bombshelters. The only thing they fear more than terrorist attacks is having to face up to the pointlessness of what has been done with their support.

---

That IS beautiful!

Palin's Stupid Book

by BooMan
Fri Nov 13th, 2009 at 06:01:55 PM EST
Sarah Palin's stupid book isn't even on store shelves yet and it is already getting torn apart by the Associated Press as a load of bullcrap. But, what did you expect? The woman doesn't even have a passing acquaintance with the truth, which became obvious when the first thing out of her mouth after being nominated was that she'd said 'no thanks to that Bridge to Nowhere.' That was debunked within eight minutes.

Meet the new candidate...she's a bald-faced liar. And it was just downhill from there. Next we learned she was a moran.

http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2009/11/13/1...

rikyrah: Palin's Stupid Book

VERY APPROPRIATE TITLE!! :>)

STOOPID IS - - -AS STOOPID DOES!! :>)

***shakin' my head**** :>)

Read this non review by The BBC.

---

…
She also says that she only agreed to giving a much-criticised interview with CBS television presenter Katie Couric because she was told the journalist had low self-esteem.
But she describes the tone of the encounter, which dented her reputation, as "badgering", condescending and biased, alleging that her strongest answers were edited out of the broadcast interview.

---

Hong Kong Is New Target of U.S. Crackdown on Taxes (Update1)
By David Voreacos, Carlyn Kolker and Alan Katz

Nov. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong is a new target of U.S. prosecutors pursuing a global campaign against evaders of federal taxes, spurred by data acquired in their crackdown on Swiss banks.

Prosecutors are trying to determine what role financial professionals in Hong Kong play in tax evasion, according to people familiar with the matter. They are examining how much taxable money was moved to the former British colony that returned to China in 1997, whether accounts were based there in name only and what banks were involved, the people said.

The push follows the government’s success in penetrating Swiss bank secrecy and learning from insiders how UBS AG helped Americans evade taxes. UBS, the largest Swiss bank by assets, avoided prosecution by agreeing in February to pay $780 million and disclose account data on 250 clients. In August, it agreed to supply information on another 4,450.

“They must have reason to believe this is a target-rich environment and a very significant amount of tax evasion is going on there,” said Peter Zeidenberg, a former federal prosecutor now at DLA Piper LLP in Washington.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087...

Only 7.2% of Americans who approve of President Obama's job performance are Republicans
by: Chris Bowers
Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 15:00

Americans who self-identify as Republican, and who approve of President Obama's job performance, compose only 3.8% of the American population.

Among the 52.2% of the population that approves of President Obama's job performance, only 7.2% self-identify as Republican.

These numbers come from Pollster.com, which allows readers to examine President Obama's job approval rating by partisan self-identification, and to view the partisan self-identification of the country as a whole.

According to Pollster.com, among all American adults President Obama has a 52.2% approval rating. Further, among all American adults, only 22.8% self-identify as Republican. Finally, among self-identified Republicans, only 16.5% approve of President Obama's performance in office. Simple multiplication of these numbers shows that 3.8% of American adults both approve of President Obama's job performance, and self-identify as Republican. It also shows that President Obama's current coalition of supporters is only 7.2% Republican.

http://www.openleft.com/diary/16020/only-72-of-...

love their style/taste

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/13/dino-e...

"Oh la la! Since the White House released the official Obama family photograph by Annie Leibovitz last month, we've been wondering who was responsible for the first daughters' dresses. And now we have an answer: Parisian boutique Dino e Lucia. Described as "boho chic," practical and original, the brand has offerings for both boys and girls between ages 4 and 14. Prices range from $100 to $350. Guess we know where the Obama girls went shopping while in Paris this summer!"

they all did look so pretty, and though I hadn't wondered what they were wearing, I guess it's to be expected that they'd be hounded for such details.

I kind of wondered about Sasha's dress more than Malias because it looked like it wasn't a mass produced style. Malia's dress didn't look as distinctive as Sasha's. I'm always keeping an eye out for a more unique clothes for my grandnieces. Can't find much of that in Lexington, KY, but I used to when I lived in the Boston, MA area. Oh well, just in good fun.

CYNTHIA TUCKER

Cynthia Tucker
Keeping health care for already-born children

5:00 pm November 13, 2009, by ctucker

“We are eating our seed corn.” — Marian Wright Edelman, Children’s Defense Fund

What a lot of love U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and 239 of his colleagues heaped on pre-babies last week. They so adore one-day-might-be children that they passed an amendment to the House health care bill that deals a harsh blow to reproductive rights. They wanted to make sure that a woman can’t easily purchase private insurance that covers abortions in a proposed insurance exchange, even with her own money.

Given their passion over fetuses, you’d think that those 240 House members would be able to whip up some enthusiasm for actual children — squalling babes-in-arms, squirming toddlers, restless junior high schoolers — who could lose their health insurance under the House version of health care reform. But try as she might, Marian Wright Edelman — head of a Washington-based children’s advocacy group, the Children’s Defense Fund — hasn’t been able to muster much concern over the proposed demise of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

CHIP — which, since 1997, has fueled creation of enormously popular and successful low-cost health insurance programs for kids in all 50 states — is expected to provide health insurance for 14 million children by 2013. The plans cover children whose parents earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but who cannot afford private insurance plans. Under the House health care bill, however, the program would expire in 2013, when the bill’s provisions would set up insurance exchanges.

Working-class parents would be expected to purchase insurance for themselves and their families through the exchanges. But problems abound with that approach. First off, it would interrupt the insurance that many children already have as parents are forced to cope with a different bureaucracy to find new insurance plans. Second, the exchanges might easily be more expensive. Yes, many families would be eligible for subsidies; but there is no guarantee the policies for their children would be as affordable, or as comprehensive, as they are under the CHIP programs.

“Those exchanges are untested,” Edelman pointed out. “Why would you want to make children worse off in health care reform?

Edelman is exasperated at the attention that has been lavished on senior citizens — “My grandchildren are more important than me,” she said — and annoyed by the energy diverted by inconsequential or made-up issues, like the fraudulent death panels. She expected the debate over health care reform to allow children’s advocates to build on the success of CHIP.


http://blogs.ajc.com/cynthia-tucker/2009/11/13/...

Editorial
A Farewell to Lou

Published: November 12, 2009

Lou Dobbs has left CNN, or maybe the other way around. Whichever it is, an old, odd, infuriating-to-many mismatch of sober network and strident host is over. CNN, for now anyway, changes back to something closer to the nonpartisan, straight-up news network it wants you to think of it as, different from its ideologically branded rivals Fox News and MSNBC. The real question is the effect the change will have on Mr. Dobbs.

Mr. Dobbs, once a pinstriped purveyor of financial news, has burrowed deep into the popular culture as a self-styled populist enraged by illegal immigration. When he resigned on the air Wednesday night, he made it clear that that aspect of his public persona is not going away. He listed immigration along with jobs, the middle class and war as among the issues urgently needing his kind of honest, straightforward examination.

“Unfortunately,” he said, “these issues are now defined in the public arena by partisanship and ideology rather than by rigorous, empirical thought and forthright analysis and discussion.”

Mr. Dobbs couldn’t have phrased a more apt criticism of himself. He calls himself Mr. Independent, but he is far closer in style and method to the right-wing ranters who mold the facts to shape the argument on television and on AM radio, where Mr. Dobbs still has a show. Mr. Dobbs’s CNN program has long been a nesting ground for untruths and conspiracy theories: fretting over a nonexistent, immigrant-borne leprosy epidemic; questioning President Obama’s citizenship; issuing dark warnings about the “North American Union,” a supposed plot to strangle United States sovereignty.

It’s hard to pinpoint how much damage these kinds of ideas have done to the national discussion of illegal immigration, but they have been corrosive. Solutions have withered as many politicians parrot the central myth that people desperate to seek new lives in the United States are an affliction to be feared, not an opportunity to be engaged, future Americans who could enrich the country as immigrants always have and will.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/opinion/13fri...

Bought & Sold: Blacks and the Buying of Gotham City in the 2009 Mayoral Election
Posted By The Editors | November 12th, 2009 |

By C. Nicole Mason

The mayoral race in New York City could have been a classic David and Goliath story: Billionaire incumbent spends 100 million only to be defeated by small time politico with few dollars and even fewer big city connections. This unlikely story might have been the case if blacks and Latinos had turned out in larger numbers on Election Day.

Given the dire social and economic condition of blacks in New York City, they did not flock to the polls in numbers that one would have expected. According to recent exit polls, only 23 percent of blacks voted in the Mayoral election. And among blacks who voted, 77 percent voted for Bill Thompson compared to just 22 percent for Michael Bloomberg.

If blacks and Latinos had turned out in larger numbers, it is possible that the results of the election would have turned out differently. For example, in black and Latino districts, Thompson won by a 3 to 1 margin.

In a city where blacks are four times more likely than whites to be out of work in and 25 percent more likely to be without health insurance compared to whites, 16 percent versus 11 percent, the question is why didn’t they turn out to the polls in larger numbers?

http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/11/12/bo...

Goldman To Private Insurers: No Health Care Reform At All Is Best
First Posted: 11-12-09 05:12 PM | Updated: 11-13-09 12:02 AM

A Goldman Sachs analysis of health care legislation has concluded that, as far as the bottom line for insurance companies is concerned, the best thing to do is nothing. A close second would be passing a watered-down version of the Senate Finance Committee's bill.

A study put together by Goldman in mid-October looks at the estimated stock performance of the private insurance industry under four variations of reform legislation. The study focused on the five biggest insurers whose shares are traded on Wall Street: Aetna, UnitedHealth, WellPoint, CIGNA and Humana.

The Senate Finance Committee bill, which Goldman's analysts conclude is the version most likely to survive the legislative process, is described as the "base" scenario. Under that legislation (which did not include a public plan) the earnings per share for the top five insurers would grow an estimated five percent from 2010 through 2019. And yet, the "variance with current valuation" -- essentially, what the value of the stock is on the market -- is projected to drop four percent.

Things are much worse, Goldman estimates, for legislation that resembles what was considered and (to a certain extent) passed by the House of Representatives. This is, the firm deems, the "bear case" scenario -- in which earnings per share for the top five insurers would decline an estimated one percent from 2010 through 2019 and the variance with current valuation is projected to be negative 36 percent.

What the firm sees as the best path forward for the private insurance industry's bottom line is, to be blunt, inaction.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/12/goldma...

Friday, November 13, 2009
MSNBC: 7 out of 10 Americans don't think Sarah Palin is qualified to be President
What the F$#K is wrong with the 3 of 10? She was a small town mayor, then she bankrupted a state with billions of dollars in oil revenues, and to top it off, she quit that job because it got too tough. I don't even think she is qualified to be a mother, let alone any type of position with any kind of authority, decision making ability, or influence over others lives. She is no longer a politician. She is a media figure. I hope she is putting the money she's making in the stock market Obama saved.

http://www.politicalinaction.com/2009/11/msnbc-...

Because it's better to have an ignorant small town mayor hockey mom whose greatest achievement is running the PTA and being governor for a couple of minutes than to have a black man as the president.

Town: "WHYCOME" U always SPEAK TA-RUTH! :>)

Annnnnnnd, IFFFF truth B told - - -SHE thought that 2! :>)

Pfizer Broke the Law by Promoting Drugs for Unapproved Uses
By David Evans

Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Prosecutor Michael Loucks remembers clearly when lawyers for Pfizer Inc., the world’s largest drug company, looked across the table and promised it wouldn’t break the law again.

It was January 2004, and the attorneys were negotiating in a conference room on the ninth floor of the federal courthouse in Boston, where Loucks was head of the health-care fraud unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office. One of Pfizer’s units had been pushing doctors to prescribe an epilepsy drug called Neurontin for uses the Food and Drug Administration had never approved.

In the agreement the lawyers eventually hammered out, the Pfizer unit, Warner-Lambert, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of marketing a drug for unapproved uses.

New York-based Pfizer agreed to pay $430 million in criminal fines and civil penalties, and the company’s lawyers assured Loucks and three other prosecutors that Pfizer and its units would stop promoting drugs for unauthorized purposes.

What Loucks, who’s now acting U.S. attorney in Boston, didn’t know until years later was that Pfizer managers were breaking that pledge not to practice so-called off-label marketing even before the ink was dry on their plea.

On the morning of Sept. 2, 2009, another Pfizer unit, Pharmacia & Upjohn, agreed to plead guilty to the same crime. This time, Pfizer executives had been instructing more than 100 salespeople to promote Bextra, a drug approved only for the relief of arthritis and menstrual discomfort, for treatment of acute pains of all kinds.

Record High Fine

For this new felony, Pfizer paid the largest criminal fine in U.S. history: $1.19 billion. On the same day, it paid $1 billion to settle civil cases involving the off-label promotion of Bextra and three other drugs with the U.S. and 49 states.

“At the very same time Pfizer was in our office negotiating and resolving the allegations of criminal conduct in 2004, Pfizer was itself in its other operations violating those very same laws,” Loucks, 54, says. “They’ve repeatedly marketed drugs for things they knew they couldn’t demonstrate efficacy for. That’s clearly criminal.”

The penalties Pfizer paid this year for promoting Bextra off-label were the latest chapter in the drug’s benighted history. The FDA found Bextra to be so dangerous that Pfizer took it off the market for all uses in 2005.

http://bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid...

White collar crimes like Pfizer's adversely impacts millions:

[T]here's another war that is rarely mentioned in the history books that is killing an estimated 12 million people each year around the world. It is an economic war, and a war of control. This war is being waged by the pharmaceutical industry.

[...]

"[R]esearchers have authored a paper titled “Death by Medicine” that presents compelling evidence that today’s system frequently causes more harm than good ... The most stunning statistic, however, is that the total number of deaths caused by conventional medicine is an astounding 783,936 per year. It is now evident that the American medical system is the leading cause of death and injury in the US. (By contrast, the number of deaths attributable to heart disease in 2001 was 699,697, while the number of deaths attributable to cancer was 553,251)."

---

The information above should cause one to pause and after its fully absorbed the crimes should then generate outrage, but its unlikely because "we", via the media, have all of this pent up rage directed at recently executed John Allen Muhammad and now Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan.

Pfizer and the likes just pay a fine for killing and maiming millions of government serfs (you and me) around the world every year.

FROM MICHELLE OBAMA WATCH:

Hola! Happy Friday, this is your former blog editor, Gina aka “admin,” checking in briefly to engage in a cyber side-eye. I’m not supposed to be blogging BTW, its I’m a participant in National Novel Writing Month :) , but I was provoked!

I am aware that many long-time readers balk anytime I mention the name Nia-Malika Henderson on this blog. I apologize in advance, but I am afraid it is necessary. Nia works for Politico, one of the top ten most valuable “blogs” in America. Her raison d’etre since First Lady Michelle Obama took office is to pen vacuous articles for Politico.com about the FLOTUS, always disguised as some type of hand wringing. These articles always “worry” or “ponder” whether the FLOTUS will single-handedly tank the ENTIRE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION. Politico is also the operation that placed Michelle Obama on a White House “Frenemy list”- although we can’t blame Nia Malika Henderson for that, she didn’t write that one, someone else beat her to the punch. Perhaps she was out sick on that day :)

But this time Nia was out in front on the BIGGEST STORY OF THE WEEK EVER! That most important of stories is that apparently someone thinks its important to constantly ask 500 or so people with free time on their hands to give their opinions of the First Lady of the United States. The latest numbers indicate that 61% of these 500 people with massive amounts of free time on their hands “approve ” of the job that the First Lady of the United States is doing. This is apparently down 10% points form the last time some random pollster decided to conduct an equally irrelevant political poll about the First Lady’s approval rating.

And from this irrelevant poll of irrelevant people, Ms. Henderson took an opportunity to trot out every disgruntled “journalist” and political hack she could find to complain about the First Lady of the United States and imply that the First Lady’s actions over the past 11 months have not been sincere, but merely a Brand re-lunch, like New Coke, or the wretched Google Droid advertisements that make people think their cell pohones are going to annihilate them:

But from her days on the campaign trail to her residency in the White House, Obama’s favorability rating has been in flux, from a low of 48 percent in June 2008 to a peak of 72 percent last March to a slide to 61 percent in a recent Gallup Poll.

That 11-point stumble – some might call it a tumble – seems at odds with the focus of a White House publicity team that is carefully crafting her image and building a decidedly current, wholesome, upbeat brand. Nia Malika Henderson

http://michelleobamawatch.com/2009/11/nia-malik...

.................................................

click on link to see one of the best avatars -EVER.
made me LMAO.

The Obama administration will insist on measures to give legal status to an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants as it pushes early next year for legislation to overhaul the immigration system, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on Friday.

White House to Begin Push on Immigration Overhaul in 2010

Since there is next to nothing that the Obama administration can do about the 12 million illegal immigrants, they might as well declare victory and give them legal status. Problem solved (not)

Yeah, what going to happen to the public servants who volunteered to protect the border or gave up their hard earned money to build a "cow fence" to protect "us"?

Psst. Just between you and me. Don't tell the "Lou Dodds" followers about the precipitous drop in illegal immigrants border crossing numbers as the economy tanked. Or, tell them about the economic collapse in towns across the U.S. where immigration raids were successful when causing immigrants to flee that local merchants relied upon. And, be sure not to mention the factoid about the lost of Social Security and Medicare taxes paid by illegal immigrants they could never collect. Remember, none of this information should enter into the debate.

How could the problem be solved then? From my point of view, it is a multi-pronged solution. Fix the porousness of the border, reform the legal immigration process maybe restricting the number of foreign workers and total number of immigrants per year, and putting the illegal immigrants especially those with American children on a path to legal status.

oh, if you thought the tea baggers were annoying..lawd, an unleashed Lou Dobbs leading the charge....it's gonna get ugly

A chagrined GOP Chairman Michael Steele has told Republican National Committee staff to immediately stop providing RNC employees with insurance for elective abortions - an option that Republicans strongly oppose as Democrats try to pass a health care overhaul bill.

"Money from our loyal donors should not be used for this purpose," Steele said in a statement late Thursday after learning of the abortion coverage from a news report. "I don't know why this policy existed in the past, but it will not exist under my administration. Consider this issue settled."

GOP chairman ends abortion insurance for employees

that they didn't know in the first place is the point. the horse is out of the barn, Michael.

U.S. Army Specialist Alexis Hutchinson, a single mother, is being threatened with a military court-martial if she does not agree to deploy to Afghanistan, despite having been told she would be granted extra time to find someone to care for her 11-month-old son while she is overseas.

Hutchinson, of Oakland, California, is currently being confined at Hunter Army Airfield near Savannah, Georgia, after being arrested. Her son was placed into a county foster care system.

Hutchinson has been threatened with a court martial if she does not agree to deploy to Afghanistan on Sunday, Nov. 15. She has been attempting to find someone to take care of her child, Kamani, while she is deployed overseas, but to no avail.

According to the family care plan of the U.S. Army, Hutchinson was allowed to fly to California and leave her son with her mother, Angelique Hughes of Oakland.

However, after a week of caring for the child, Hughes realised she was unable to care for Kamani along with her other duties of caring for a daughter with special needs, her ailing mother, and an ailing sister.

Army Sends Infant to Protective Services, Mom to Afghanistan

this is bad policy, and makes the Armed Services look less than it should. PROTECTIVE SERVICES - WTF?

The last thing the Armed Sevices needs at this point is bad press like this. Let Hutchinson perform her duties stateside until better arrangements can be made. If there are no other options for child care available, then maybe offer honorable or general discharge.

Two former computer programmers for Bernard Madoff's investment firm were arrested Friday on charges they helped cover up the disgraced money manager's massive fraud for more than 15 years.

Ex-Madoff computer programmers arrested

OK, here's 2. Where are the arrests for the BANKERS that helped him..
and the crooked folks in the SEC that helped hide MADOFF's scam? there is NO WAY that an entire group couldn't have known...come on....

No way they can say they didn't know!
But finding a job after would not be difficult.

“Green jobs” has become the latest buzz-word, with stimulus monies pouring into green job creation programs around the country. There is a window of opportunity to ensure equity, transparency, and accountability in the green economy, as demonstrated by emerging success stories.

Blacks and Latinos experience unemployment rates that are 70 and 50 percent higher, respectively, than the rate for whites. This is the green promise, that those communities most devastated by the recession—women and people of color–can mobilize to ride the green wave.
[...]
Examples of green equity success stories are emerging. In Los Angeles, a local chapter of the Apollo Alliance, convened by the community organization Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE), won the passage of a green retrofit ordinance for municipal buildings that will create high quality jobs for communities of color struggling with the economic crisis. Green for All worked with the city of Portland, Oregon to endorse a community workforce agreement to ensure the participation of local women and people of color in residential retrofit projects. Growing Power in Milwaukee, Wisconsin has influenced public policy to promote urban agriculture and access to fresh produce and healthy food options for residents who are majority people of color.

A look at the existing race and gender demographics comprising the green economy reveals vast race and gender disparities. White men dominate green occupations across all sectors, according to 2008 Census data. Analysis by the Women of Color Policy Network showed that Black and Latinos comprise less than 30 percent of those employed in green industries and occupations. Gender disparities are even starker. Black women are employed in only 1.5 percent of jobs in the energy sector, and it’s even worse for Latino and Asian women, who are employed at 1.0 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.

Successful green jobs programs have been designed to include equity success outcomes to benefit women and people of color. Without data collection on these indicators to establish a baseline and measure progress over time, women and people of color will be left behind. Applied Research Center has developed a toolkit that provides steps to promote and implement policies to guarantee equity and inclusion in the green economy.

Specific measures of equity include, but are not limited to, green jobs that provide at least a living wage and a clear pathway for professional development, elimination of employment barriers to people of color such as those with prior convictions, and qualitative improvements to community and workplace health, safety, and environment.
[...]
If equity factors prominently into the equation, an expanded green economy has tremendous potential to positively transform our communities, sustain the environment and lift the quality of all our lives. But this won’t happen by chance. We must work to ensure that equity -- gender, racial and economic equity -- is central to green principles and practice. Federal government programs are crucial for funding green equity initiatives, but ultimately the power lies in local communities to advance equity in the green economy -- for our communities, and for the planet.

Got Green? Mobilizing Women and People of Color to Seize the Green Promise