May 23, 2013

Monday Open Thread: The Iron Elite – African Americans in Motorcycling History

April 2, 2012 by 122 Comments

Good Morning Obots!

This week’s theme is all about those bikers. Do we have any riders here? I have friends that ride HARD. I knew there were a lot of people into bikes and they “ride out” as soon as spring hits, but who knew about the rich history of African-americans in Harley Davidson history? The company has chronicled all of the stories and dedicated an exhibit to the evolution of black bikers.

Today we learn about Benny Hardy, the man that built the choppers for the cult classic ‘Easy Rider”!

Benjamin Franklin Hardy Jr. – he is the late great motorcycle legend that is becoming respectfully known as a great motorcycle dealer, all knowing mechanic and superior bike builder. Even more famous for his two great creations that are world known… “The Easy Rider” movie motorcycles: Captain America and Billy.

King Benny, through his work had always been know as the go-to person for everyone black or white to ask about motorcycles.  When Cliff Vaughs, another legendary rider and filmmaker, came to Brother Ben with film star and writer Dennis Hopper to make motorcycle history…  that is what he did. Harley Davidson wouldn’t give Dennis motorcycles so Dennis and Cliff purchased old bikes which were the canvas for King Benny’s masterpieces… The Captain America and Billy Bike.

His work and sales took place in Los Angeles, in a building at 1168 E. Florence Ave. near the corner of S. Central Blvd. when it was an industrial site for Good Year tires and other industries that were beginning.

 

Recently at the California African-American Museum the exhibit “Black Chrome” has showcased the work, contributions and lifestyle of African-Americans in the motorcycle culture and Benny was honored with a standing ovation when his daughter showed… Kevin, the Grandson of this legend, has explained his love and honor not only for Benny as a person, but as an innovator of the motorcycle.

(all information from The Chopperagent, The Onyx Rider and harleydavidson.com)

Filed Under: African Americans, Lifestyle, Open Thread Tagged With: , , , , ,
  • ch555x

    Wow, I didn’t know that about the Easy Rider bikes…:/

    • GreenLadyHere

      GOOD MONDAY MORNTIN’ ch555x. ***BIG HUG*** :>)

      – - – - – —I was NOT aware of the —EASY RIDER bikes, either. :>) We gon learn so much – –this week. :>)

      Good 2 C U. :>) —-

    • Miranda

      Who’d a thunk it??

  • GreenLadyHere
  • rikyrah

    Good Morning, Everyone :)

  • rikyrah

    totally clueless about Black bikers…looking forward to this series

  • rikyrah

    April 01, 2012
    ‘A pretence of equity’
    There are now three ways to learn to distrust the law. Either haplessly involve yourself in some minor legal proceeding — as a forever sorry few of us have — which instantly reveals the law’s and its practicing lawyers’ abject disregard for justice sought, found, and executed; or read Charles Dickens — as many of us have — who recognized in the practice of law society’s greatest impediment to social honor, integrity, and progress; or track today’s U.S. Supreme Court — as most of us have — in its thoughtless actions.

    It may be that the Post’s Steven Perlstein at some time engaged in Method A, though he doesn’t say; however this morning he does plunder the vast wisdom of Methods B and C:


    If the law is an ass, as Mr. Bumble declares in “Oliver Twist,” then constitutional law must surely be the entire wagon train….

    [The Obamacare case] was to be a “teaching moment” for the country, an opportunity to see the best and the brightest engage in a reasoned debate on the limits of federal power. Instead, what we got too often was political posturing, Jesuitical hair-splitting and absurd hypotheticals.

    For an even more jaundiced view and thus deeper understanding of SCOTUS I would add, from Dickens’ Bleak House, his description of England’s High Court of Chancery as one that labored in “tripping one another up on slippery precedents, groping knee-deep in technicalities” and “making a pretence of equity with serious faces” — not so foreign or historical, no? I would add as well the final cynicism that there’s little to no reason to anticipate, as Perlstein does, that our High Court “is likely to articulate a modest new limit on Congress’s power to regulate interstate commerce that would allow health reform to proceed in some fashion” or “duck the commerce clause altogether and simply uphold the individual mandate as a legitimate exercise of Congress’s taxing power.”

    Were it not for Bush v. Gore, there’d be virtually no reason to suspect an always political Supreme Court as, further, a Court ideologically corrupted beyond hope. But suffer we did the cutting indignity of that tragic decision, which only emboldened the Court to proceed from tragedy to farce, in Citizens United. Now it is axiomatic that past behavior is the best predictor of future performance, ergo, one’s best guess must be that in the pending case the Court will proceed from tragedy and farce to final insult.

    How then will the nation proceed when its last institutional outpost of (once) presumed impartiality renders itself — again — but a brazenly open kangaroo Court of banana-republic decadence? I haven’t a clue. So for now I’ll seek refuge in what is likely Mr. Perlstein’s profoundly delusional world, which is able to house a Supreme Court of some dignity.

    http://pmcarpenter.blogs.com/p_m_carpenters_commentary/2012/04/a-pretence-of-equity.html

  • rikyrah

    Monday Morning Open Thread: “Pink Slime Economics”
    By Anne Laurie April 2nd, 2012

    Professor Krugman reminds us not to get so distracted by the SCOTUS anti-ACA antics that we forget to keep a sharp eye on zombie-eyed granny-starver[*] Paul Ryan:

    … The Ryan budget is a fraud; Mr. Ryan talks loudly about the evils of debt and deficits, but his plan would actually make the deficit bigger even as it inflicted huge pain in the name of deficit reduction. But is his budget really the most fraudulent in American history? Yes, it is.

    To be sure, we’ve had irresponsible and/or deceptive budgets in the past. Ronald Reagan’s budgets relied on voodoo, on the claim that cutting taxes on the rich would somehow lead to an explosion of economic growth. George W. Bush’s budget officials liked to play bait and switch, low-balling the cost of tax cuts by pretending that they were only temporary, then demanding that they be made permanent. But has any major political figure ever premised his entire fiscal platform not just on totally implausible spending projections but on claims that he has a secret plan to raise trillions of dollars in revenue, a plan that he refuses to share with the public?

    What’s going on here? The answer, presumably, is that this is what happens when extremists gain complete control of a party’s discourse: all the rules get thrown out the window. Indeed, the hard right’s grip on the G.O.P. is now so strong that the party is sticking with Mr. Ryan even though it’s paying a significant political price for his assault on Medicare.

    Now, the House Republican budget isn’t about to become law as long as President Obama is sitting in the White House. But it has been endorsed by Mr. Romney. And even if Mr. Obama is reelected, the fraudulence of this budget has important implications for future political negotiations…

    [W]hat we learn from the latest Republican budget is that the whole pursuit of a Grand Bargain was a waste of time and political capital. For a lasting budget deal can only work if both parties can be counted on to be both responsible and honest — and House Republicans have just demonstrated, as clearly as anyone could wish, that they are neither.

    http://www.balloon-juice.com/2012/04/02/monday-morning-open-thread-pink-slime-economics/

  • rikyrah

    Women boost Obama in swing states
    By Steve Benen – Mon Apr 2, 2012 8:35 AM EDT.

    Campaigning in Wisconsin yesterday, Mitt Romney seemed well aware of the recent polling trend. “We have work to do,” the Republican said, “to make sure we take our message to the women of America.”

    The available evidence, however, suggests American women have already heard that message, and they’re not especially impressed.

    A new USA Today/Gallup poll shows President Obama leading Romney among registered voters, 49% to 45%, and while that margin is clearly narrow, it’s also the president’s largest lead in the 2012 race thus far. Arguably more interesting, however, is Obama’s edge in the nation’s 12 most competitive swing states, and the gender gap fueling the president’s advantage.


    President Obama has opened the first significant lead of the 2012 campaign in the nation’s dozen top battleground states, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, boosted by a huge shift of women to his side.

    In the fifth Swing States survey taken since last fall, Obama leads Republican front-runner Mitt Romney 51%-42% among registered voters just a month after the president had trailed him by two percentage points.

    Here’s a chart I put together, showing the Obama-vs-Romney matchup in these swing states (Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginiam and Wisconsin), going back over the last several months.

    Note, however, that the boost in the president’s standing isn’t just a natural evolution, caused by an improving economy. As USA Today’s article explained, “The biggest change came among women under 50.” Consider this stunning shift: since mid-February, Obama’s lead over Romney among women under the age of 50 has gone from 5 points to 30 points, which has helped turn the president’s modest deficit against Romney into a healthy lead.

    Overall, Romney leads Obama among all men by one point, while Obama leads Romney among all women by 18 points. As a point of reference, in the 2008 election, Obama beat McCain among women by 12 points.

    I won’t pretend to be a master political strategist, but I’ll go out on a limb here and argue that trying to restrict contraception access, mandating medically-unnecessary ultrasounds, vowing to get rid of Planned Parenthood, and enabling Rush Limbaugh may not have been the smartest election-year strategy for the GOP.
    .

    http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/02/10980698-women-boost-obama-in-swing-states

  • Miranda

    Why Don’t Black People Protest ‘Black On Black Violence’?
    By Ta-Nehisi Coates
    Apr 2 2012, 8:50 AM ET4

    Juan Williams offers a meme that we are seeing repeated in response to the widespread protests around Trayvon Martin:

    But what about all the other young black murder victims? Nationally, nearly half of all murder victims are black. And the overwhelming majority of those black people are killed by other black people. Where is the march for them?

    This is an interesting question. It’s also one that Juan Williams, who’s been writing about race for almost three decades, should be able to answer. Moreover, Williams is an award-winning journalist. Should he not know the answer, it would suit him to do his job and find out.

    No matter.

    more here
    http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/04/why-dont-black-people-protest-black-on-black-violence/255329/

  • rikyrah

    Setting the stage for a ‘Buffett Rule’ showdown
    By Steve Benen – Mon Apr 2, 2012 8:00 AM EDT.Eight months ago, Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, wrote an op-ed for the New York Times headlined, “Stop Coddling the Super-Rich,” a group that included, of course, the author of the piece. The column turned out to be one of the most important op-eds of the year — it gave rise to the proposed “Buffett Rule.”

    The point is pretty straightforward, and at first blush, a simple matter of fairness: proponents of Buffett Rule want to correct a flaw in the existing tax system: thanks to various loopholes and giveaways, very wealthy Americans can end up paying a much lower tax rate than working families. It’s a problem President Reagan described as “crazy” during his second term.

    A quarter-century later, Reagan’s party no longer agrees, and Republicans have opposed any and all efforts to correct the tax imbalance. Democrats, meanwhile, aren’t letting this go.

    In his weekly address, delivered over the weekend, President Obama helped set the stage for the coming fight.

    For those who can’t watch clips online, Obama explained that Buffett “is paying a lower rate than his secretary.”

    When it comes to Congress approving the Buffett Rule, Democrats have low expectations. But given the electoral context, they’re nevertheless eager to get every member on record.

    And that’s going to happen, at least in the Senate, fairly soon.

    ——————————————————————————–

    The Hill reported that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has already begun the procedural steps to line up the vote in the chamber two weeks from today.

    Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will file for cloture Thursday and set a vote on the so-called Buffett Rule, which would raise taxes on those making more than $1 million annually.

    A Senate leadership aide told The Hill that Reid plans to vote on the rule on April 16.

    In case this isn’t obvious, the fight has sweeping implications. For the Senate, Democrats are eager to put Republicans, especially vulnerable GOP incumbents like Scott Brown and Dean Heller, on the spot, testing their willingness to fight for tax loopholes that benefit millionaires and billionaires.

    But there’s also the presidential race, in which the likely Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, is extremely wealthy thanks to a successful career as a vulture capitalist. Romney takes full advantage of the existing loopholes, allowing him to pay a 13.9% rate on the millions he receives every year from the firm at which he no longer works.

    The question for congressional Republicans, then, is whether they support tax fairness or whether they want to keep allowing Mitt Romney to pay a much lower tax rate than America’s middle class.
    .

    http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/02/10980218-setting-the-stage-for-a-buffett-rule-showdown

  • rikyrah

    Mar 30
    Ryan and Romney: A Marriage of Our Insane Times
    By Charles P. Pierce at 3:49PM

    You have to give it to him: It’s been a good week for Congressman Paul Ryan, the zombie-eyed granny-starver from Wisconsin. Now, if we were still sane in our politics, the zombie-eyed granny-starver would have been laughed out of his own party when his previous efforts at zombie-eyed granny-starving caused the entire nation to blanch as one, and cost the Republicans a congressional seat in upstate New York that they’d held approximately since DeWitt Clinton bought the farm. If we were still sane in our politics, sensible Republicans would have gone to Ryan at that point and told him, You know, dude, maybe for you not so much this budget stuff any more. If we want to hang an albatross around our necks, we’ll go out and shoot one ourselves. If we were still sane in our politics, the national media no longer would’ve gone to the zombie-eyed granny-starver as a wise man on our economic difficulties because, every time the man produces a budget, the Congressional Budget Office has to hand out Thorazine just so its analysts can get through the day.

    Nevertheless, and god knoweth how, Ryan remains such a sufficient force in our politics that his endorsement of the Romneybot 2.0 on Friday is considered to be a big deal, even though — and, Lord knows, we realize we are repeating ourselves here — if the Romneybot had endorsed anything like zombie-eyed granny-starving early in his career, he wouldn’t have received 11 votes in Massachusetts and we might never have heard of him again….

    “At the end of the day, whether a candidate has a gaffe on Tuesday or Thursday is not going to decide the campaign,” Mr. Ryan said. “Voters are looking for someone who will show them a contrasting vision to the one that Obama has given us.”

    (This, of course, ignores the obvious truth that Romney has given us several contrasting visions to the ones Romney had previously given us.)

    This, in fact, should be a gaffe in and of itself. In an election in which every pundit in the universe is going to tell him that he has to “tack to the center” to win in November, Romney once again demonstrates that he’s still headed off at 40 knots toward the misty isles of Wingnutesia. He’s married himself to the economic extremist’s economic extremist, a guy who is playing a pivotal role in the Great Republican Renege on last year’s budget deal, a guy whose “budget” the house passed this week, and who had the audacity just yesterday to unlimber the finely honed sense of military affairs that he developed in Janesville, Wisconsin and intimate that the generals are lying about their state of readiness. This, of course, as part of the overall effort by the Republicans to disarm the “trigger” that mandates cuts in defense spending, something that should have surprised precisely nobody. And, yes, everything they say about The Deficit — boogedy-boogedy! — is a lie, why do you ask? Paul Ryan is calling the generals liars and insisting that they take more money. Were we still sane in our politics, this would be seen as the arrantly nutty idea that it truly is.

    (Here, by the way, is the zombie-eyed granny-starver’s flack, trying to shine up the flag pin on the zombie-eyed granny-starver’s lapel: Asked for clarification, Conor Sweeney, a spokesman for Ryan, said the congressman “believes the integrity of our generals and admirals is unimpeachable. They serve our country with distinction and unparalleled honor. Unfortunately, there is an inconsistency between the strategic goals and the budgetary targets that our generals and admirals have been given by the White House.” Translation: Suck-up, suck-up, bullshit, the president’s fault.)

    There was a time in his life, and I’m old enough to remember it, when Willard Romney wouldn’t have given 15 minutes consideration to this kind of supply-side fever-dreaming. The “Ryan budget” shoves the country’s wealth upwards, decimates the social safety net, relies on a new form of mathematics that seems to have been developed by Bighorn sheep, and doesn’t do any more toward reducing the deficit than it does toward re-aligning the teams in the American Football Conference. The Romney who produced the Massachusetts health-care reform — Thanks, Mitt! — wouldn’t recognize the Romney that is such a fan these days of zombie-eyed granny-starving. Paul Ryan’s career as a “budget guru” is as much a miracle of media smoke-and-mirrors as was Newt Gingrich’s long career as a Man Of Ideas, both of them pure products of a culture of media timidity that is unable to confront the fact that one of our two major political parties has gone barking mad. That is the party that is about to nominate Willard Romney. A man is known by the company he keeps.

    Read more: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/paul-ryan-endorses-romney-7723446#ixzz1qtA9yXbo

    • http://www.facebook.com/erica.branchbutler Erica Raven Branch-Butler

      This gets serious “likes” from me, just on account of the author’s referral to Ryan as a “the zombie-eyed granny-starver from Wisconsin”.

  • rikyrah

    Posted at 09:01 AM ET, 04/02/2012
    TheWashingtonPost

    The Morning Plum: Will female voters reelect Obama?
    By Greg Sargent

    The political scientists tell us to ignore head-to-head polling at this stage, because it’s far too early for it to have any predictive meaning. That said, a new USA Today/Gallup poll finding that Obama has opened up a huge lead over Mitt Romney among women is noteworthy, because it foreshadows what will be a major subplot in Campaign 2012.

    The poll finds that Obama has opened up a significant lead over Romney, 51-42, among registered voters in a dozen swing states — a lead that’s fueled by female voters. Obama leads among women by 18 points — more than offsetting Romney’s small edge among men. The biggest shift has come among women under 50: Obama now leads Romney among them by two to one.

    Is the GOP’s sharp right turn back on to culture war turf the explanation? In recent months, we’ve seen battles over the Blunt amendment; over Planned Parenthood; and over Rush Limbaugh’s “slut” comments. And we’ve also seen a GOP primary that has forced the expected GOP nominee to embrace cultural positions that could alienate women and other swing constituencies.

    Steve Kornacki notes an interesting parallel to Bill Clinton’s reelection, which also turned heavily on the female vote:

    This may be a case of history repeating itself. The last Democratic president to stand for reelection, Bill Clinton in 1996, owed his reelection to a massive and decisive gender gap. His campaign against Bob Dole is generally remembered as a sleepy, suspense-less affair, one that Clinton led wire-to-wire and ended up winning by a healthy eight-point margin. And yet, among men, Clinton actually lost to Dole by a point, 44 to 43 percent. It was women, who sided with Clinton by 16 points, who accounted for his lopsided victory….

    …as with Obama, his presidency provoked relentless, culturally-fueled conservative opposition that had particular resonance with white male voters, especially in the South and rural areas….
    Meanwhile, though, Clinton increased his share of the women’s vote by ten points. There was no obviously gender- based issue like contraception to account for this, but it seemed that women reacted with particular hostility to the GOP Congress that was elected in ’94 and to the face of that

    Clinton also drew a hard line against GOP efforts to cut Medicare, which is also a major issue this year, thanks to the Paul Ryan budget.

    I continue to believe Romney will be granted the presumption of moderation once he becomes the nominee, partly because no one really believes he’s seriously committed to cultural issues, and partly because the “radical” or “extreme” label is ascribed to politicians based on cultural issues and tone, and not based on their economic worldview, one area where Romney does hold sincere and heartfelt views that are genuinely radical. And Romney will certainly have a chance to reintroduce himself to core swing constituencies — women included — once he’s the nominee.

    But Dems will work hard to remind women of Romney’s positions during the primaries, and this will be a key battlefield, given the expected importance of independent and suburban women to the outcome.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/the-morning-plum-will-female-voters-reelect-obama/2012/04/02/gIQACCRjqS_blog.html

  • rikyrah

    Mitt Romney’s women problem
    Posted by Chris Cillizza and Aaron Blake
    at 06:30 AM ET, 04/02/2012
    TheWashingtonPost

    The protracted GOP presidential primary process has badly damaged former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney as he begins to turn his attention to the fall general election fight against President Obama, according to a new poll conducted in 12 swing states by Gallup and USA Today .

    In the 12 states — Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin — included in the Gallup/USA Today survey, Obama leads Romney 51 percent to 42 percent.

    While that lead is eye-opening in its own right — most people believe that the race between Obama and Romney will be very close — it’s all the more remarkable given that, just a month ago, Romney held a two-point edge in these same 12 states.

    And even a cursory look inside the numbers explains why Obama has reclaimed the lead; it’s women. In mid-February, Obama took less than half of the vote from women under 50 years old. Now he wins more than 60 percent of them. (Obama is ahead of Romney among all women by 18 points.)

    “Romney certainly didn’t create the gender gap, but the heir apparent will inherit what is no doubt a challenge,” acknowledged Tracey Schmitt, a former spokeswoman at the Republican National Committee. “The general election will provide the campaign an opportunity to address the divide.”

    That rapid consolidation of women behind Obama seems directly attributable to the focus in the Republican presidential primary on contraception and other reproductive rights issues during the past six weeks or so.

    The candidates’ emphasis on social issues has led many within the party’s strategist class to throw up their hands in frustration — insisting that the candidates should be spending all of their time talking about the economy.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/mitt-romneys-women-problem/2012/04/01/gIQAE17mpS_blog.html

  • GreenLadyHere

    POU FAM – - – -’CASE – — WE GET SUPPORT FROM – - -MR. PRESIDENT – — WHILE the GOP WAR ON WOMEN –RAGES!! – - -

    – - — -POLL: Women Voters Abandon GOP In Key Battleground States – — -

    – — – -President Obama has emerged with an impressive lead in swing states around the country — thanks to women voters abandoning the GOP in droves, according to a new USA Today/Gallup poll showing President Obama leading among women voters in the top dozen battleground states by a whopping 18 points — greater than the 12-point gender gap he won with in 2008.

    One month ago, the same poll showed Mitt Romney leading the president by 2 percentage points; but Sunday, the newest poll gave Obama a 9-point lead, 51 percent to 42 percent. The change, the poll indicates, comes from women:

    “The biggest change came among women under 50. In mid-February, just under half of those voters supported Obama. Now more than six in 10 do while Romney’s support among them has dropped by 14 points, to 30%. The president leads him 2-1 in this group.”

    Both Democrats and Republicans point to the battles over contraception coverage as a reason for the shift. Republican strategist Sara Taylor Fagen, a former political adviser to President George W. Bush, told USA Today that “The focus on contraception has not been a good one for us … and Republicans have unfairly taken on water on this issue.”

    – -Obama campaign manager Jim Messina likewise pointed to the GOP’s hang-up on social issues. Most notably, Romney endorsed the Blunt Amendment, which would have allowed employers to deny coverage of contraception, among other services, on moral or religious grounds. A poll commissioned earlier this month by EMILY’s List, the PAC dedicated to electing pro-choice, Democratic women, found that 48 percent of voters — including 53 percent among Independents and 40 percent among Republicans — would be less likely to vote for a candidate who supported the amendment.
    THERE IS MORE.

    – - –THANK U –MR. PRESIDENT!! :>) — – -

  • Miranda

    For the sake of those who may be reading the posts via their phones..try and keep the links to 3 paragraphs or less. Thanks for your cooperation!

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_WMASPEAW55IV4QJGMDNXZL6R6Y udonthave2likeme

      Thank you Miranda… Recently lost my laptop and limited to using my phone until I am blessed with a replacement.

  • rikyrah

    Why Don’t Black People Protest ‘Black On Black Violence’?
    By Ta-Nehisi Coates
    Apr 2 2012, 8:50 AM ET 26

    Juan Williams offers a meme that we are seeing repeated in response to the widespread protests around Trayvon Martin:

    But what about all the other young black murder victims? Nationally, nearly half of all murder victims are black. And the overwhelming majority of those black people are killed by other black people. Where is the march for them?

    This is an interesting question. It’s also one that Juan Williams, who’s been writing about race for almost three decades, should be able to answer. Moreover, Williams is an award-winning journalist. Should he not know the answer, it would suit him to do his job and find out.

    No matter.

    This is Chicago in 2010:

    This is New York last September:

    HARLEM — New York public leaders, community organizations and residents gathered Sunday to celebrate the 42nd annual African American Day Parade in Harlem. One focal point of the march was to attenuate the looming violence in neighboring and citywide communities.

    The march took place on Adam Clayton Powell Blvd., extending from 111th St. to 135th St., summoning New York dignitaries such as Rev. Al Sharpton, U.S. Congressman Charles Rangel, New York Police Department Commissioner Kelly Raymond, city council members Robert Jackson, Inez Dickens, and assemblyman Keith Wright. The NAACP, the National Action Network, and other organizations joined leaders in celebrating the achievements of the African American community, and reflect on its culture in the 21st century America…

    The stream of consciousness regarding violence in the community permeated the street. A banner from State Senator Bill Perkins read, “Drop The Guns! Stop The Violence”–which evoked passionate responses from onlookers.

    This is Newark in 2009:
    This is Pittsburgh last September:


    [The] Stop the Violence rally was a peaceful, entertaining and uplifting event that felt like a family reunion. The message of stopping the violence was loud and clear throughout the whole day and the Thomas family wants everyone to take that message home every day, not just for one day out of the year.

    This was the 10th annual rally Loaf and Cynthia Thomas have sponsored and hosted every September 11 in response to the attack on America and the senseless acts of violence that occur in the Hill District and other “hoods” in the city of Pittsburgh and throughout the country.

    This is Saginaw, Michigan in 2010:

    A year after his death, the memory of 9-year-old Devin Elliott and other victims of violence in Saginaw continues to motivate residents to take back their streets, the Rev. Larry D. Camel says.

    “We’re not going to tolerate kids getting killed in our streets any longer,” said Camel, co-founder of faith-based anti-violence community organization Parishioners on Patrol. Camel said he hopes at least 500 people participate in a second Stop the Violence March at 10 a.m. Saturday in Saginaw.

    Last fall, Parishioners on Patrol organized a Stop the Violence rally and march that attracted 150 people, a response to 22 shootings in Saginaw resulting in three deaths.

    This is Brooklyn, yesterday:


    Hundreds of protestors marched through Fort Greene on Palm Sunday to protest three shootings in the Ingersoll and Whitman Houses that resulted in two deaths last month. “It needs to stop,” said Linda Simpson, resident of the nearby Farragut Houses, and one of the marchers.

    Residents of the housing developments blame drugs and disconnected youth for a body count in the 88th Precinct that’s already equal to the number of murders reported in all of 2011. “It’s black-on-black crime,” said Monique Richardson, who grew up in the Farragut Houses. “It’s been a downfall for the past 15 years. Now, you have to be in doors by 5 p.m. [to be safe].”

    That’s just a sample.

    I came up in the era of Self-Destruction. I wrote a book largely about violence in black communities. The majority of my public experiences today are about addressing violence in black communities. I can not tell you how scared black parents are for their kids, and whatever modest success of my book experienced, most of it hinged on the great worry that black mothers feel for their sons.

    There is a kind of sincere black person who really would like to see even more outrage about violence in black communities. I don’t think outrage will do it at this point, but I respect the sincere feeling.

    And then there are pundits who write more than they read, and talk more than they listen, and prefer an easy creationism to a google search.

    http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/04/why-dont-black-people-protest-black-on-black-violence/255329/

  • GreenLadyHere

    POU FAM – - – -PRAYING 4 the MCDADE FAMILY on so many levels – —

    – - -Kendrec McDade’s family says $10,000 burial was unexpected expense – - –

    – —Pasadena, Calif. – Caree Harper, the attorney for the family of the 19-year-old Citrus college student Kendrec McDade who was who was recently shot and killed by two white Pasadena police officers, says that besides dealing with the grief of the losing their son, they must now raise $10,000 by Sat., April 7th to bury their son, with half of that amount being due by Wed., April 4th.

    – — -SKIP – —

    Kendrec McDade, also known as the Trayvon Martin of the Los Angeles, was fatally shot by Pasadena police on March 24th, after a man called 911 to report he had been robbed by a pair of gunmen. The two officers who arrived on the scene believed that McDade was reaching for a gun and opened fire killing him. No weapon was found on McDade.

    - -However, while questions and accusations fly about the death of McDade, his can’t move forward until they bury their son. In addition to their rising legal fees as they move forward in the pursuit of justice, McDade’s death is unexpected expense that requires them to ask for public help.

    A memorial fund has been started at Chase Bank in the name of Kendrec McDade to help pay for the young student’s burial.

    Chase Bank
    Kenneth McDade and Anya Slaughter
    Kendrec McDade Memorial Fund
    Account No. 452408953
    Routing No. 322271627>
    THERE IS MORE.

    – - – –BLESS THEM. – — -RIHEP —KENDREC — -

  • GreenLadyHere

    GOOD MONDAY MORNTIN’ Miranda. ***BIG HUG*** :>)

    – –THANK U sooo MUCH 4 this –series. :>)

    I remember how excited I was 2 C BLACk BIKE RYDERS in a – –BLACK HISTORY MONTH OARADE! :>)

    Soo lookin’ 4-ward 2 THIS SERIES. :>)

    Have a good day. :>)

  • rikyrah

    ‘Trayvon-Like Dudes’
    By Ta-Nehisi Coates
    Apr 1 2012, 10:48 PM ET 123

    The Times reconstructs the events that led up to Trayvon Martin. In the course of doing so it interviews Frank Taaffe, who’s defended George Zimmerman actions in the past:


    Adding to the uncertainty and flux was the sense among some residents that this secured community was no longer so secure. There had been burglaries; at least seven in 2011, according to police reports. Strangers had started showing up, said Frank Taaffe, 55, a marketing specialist, originally from the Bronx, who works out of his home in the Retreat. He made it clear that he was not talking about just any strangers.

    “There were Trayvon-like dudes with their pants down,” Mr. Taaffe said.

    As the father of a black boy, this is chilling. Frank Taaffe has no real way of knowing how Trayvon Martin wore his pants. I doubt that he much cares.

    What amazes is the casualness of the racism, a casualness which does not see black boys as boys at all–but an indistinguishable super-predators in waiting. “Trayvon-like dudes.”

    This is my last post on this subject, until I hear something definitive. Watching people drag somebody’s dead child through the mud is too much for me.

    http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/04/trayvon-like-dudes/255326/

    • GN

      I wanted to hurl at the NYT attempt to present a sympathetic picture of Zimmerman. Why the heck do I want to hear about a childmurderer as a literal choir boy? The media gets too easily distracted by false equivalence. Zimmerman belongs behind bars, even rehabilitated if possible after a long sentence, but he is not an object of sympathy or fascination to me. A stone cold killer!

  • Miranda

    BRAVO to these young men…and shame to DPS for suspending them when they should be more concerned with the issues raised. I hope someone steps in and has these suspensions erased from their records. Simply disgraceful that they had to do this to bring attention to their education.

    Douglass Academy walkout earns suspensions for about 50 high schoolers

    About 50 high school students at Frederick Douglass Academy in Detroit were suspended Thursday after walking out of classes to protest a host of issues at the all-boys school.

    The concerns included a lack of consistent teachers and the removal of the principal.

    The boys, dressed in school blazers, neckties and hoodies, chanted, “We want education!” as they marched outside the school.

    more here
    http://www.freep.com/article/20120330/NEWS01/203300409/Douglass-Academy-walkout-earns-suspensions-for-about-50-high-schoolers

  • GreenLadyHere

    Miranda —Seem as Iff the RE-THUGS –OWN – –the — ENTHUSIASM GAP – LOL – –

    – –Primary Turnout Could Signal Trouble for G.O.P. – —

    – —-After presidential primaries or caucuses in 28 states, voters are sending a potentially troubling message to the Republican Party: We aren’t necessarily as excited about the campaign as you think.

    By some important measures, voting analysts say, turnout is down in the Republican nominating contests compared with 2008, defying the widespread assumption that Republicans would line up in huge numbers for a chance to evict President Obama from the White House.
    THERE IS MORE.

    – –LOL – - -THEY just ain’t INTO – –EACH OTHER!! LOL. – - -

  • http://winthemarket.com/the-spontaneous-healing-plan/ woody45

    You’ve done it again!! Another great series to look forward to.

    • GN

      Agreed; every one of these series has been fantastic.

  • http://pragmaticobotsunite.blogspot.com/ Sepia

    And here we go…

    George Zimmerman: Enhanced Video Shows Injury

    New version of surveillance video may support neighborhood-watch shooter’s story http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/george-zimmerman-enhanced-video-shows-injury-trayvon-martin-16053206

    But why wasn’t the entire video enhanced, particularly the part where Zimmerman is inside the police station?

    • aleth

      What injury? Injury that left him inches before death??

      See the problem here is.. all these facts should be litigated in the Court room not on ABC. He should be arrested and tried by the jury of his peers.

      After seeing how involved his father was in his questioning and coverup. It is clear the DA was initimated period.

      • Admiral_Komack

        “I broke a nail…but no one would help me!”

    • Miranda

      They need to quit.

      • http://pragmaticobotsunite.blogspot.com/ Sepia

        I’m thinking this is the reason behind this “enhanced” video: http://i42.tinypic.com/16joqkh.jpg

        • GN

          It’s crazy that ABC would use an outfit like Daily Caller as a source in the first place. How seriously evil are these people to manufacture an “enhanced” picture of an injury which was never there? There is no freaking way that the paramedics would have let Zimmerman walk away with a serious head trauma. Common sense is just lacking.

          • Miranda

            Wait a minute….back up….*throws the flag*…are you telling me this enhanced tape by ABC originated from The Daily Caller?

          • GN

            It appears so, and the daily caller is claiming full credit: http://dailycaller.com/2012/04/02/abc-news-exclusive-abc-news-was-wrong-about-george-zimmermans-injuries/

            Sepia’s pic shows the interaction between DC and the ABC reporter on this topic.

          • Miranda

            ROFLMAO…this “enhanced” video was proclaimed by the Daily Caller last week and got discredited by damn near everybody – and ABC is claiming THAT?!?! Really?? I thought they had some video experts to come in and do it…and you’re telling me they are using tape from The Daily Caller???

            This is so sad. Peter Jennings would weep at the thought of what has become of that network. They are using bullshit from The Daily Caller, lord have mercy.

          • GN

            I know; it’s a disgrace.

          • http://pragmaticobotsunite.blogspot.com/ Sepia

            The enhanced tape didn’t come from The Daily Caller; ABC said they enhanced it themselves. What I’m saying is I think ABC second guessing themselves and deciding to enhance the tape is the result of the ABC reporter’s twitter convo with The Daily Caller reporter. Basically, Daily Caller bullied them into doing this enhancement bs.

          • GN

            Oh, thanks for the correction.

    • GN

      Grasping at straws.

  • http://pragmaticobotsunite.blogspot.com/ Sepia

    Geraldo apologizes to Trayvon Martin’s parents

    By MJ LEE | 4/2/12 7:31 AM EDT

    Geraldo Rivera, who drew a storm of criticism for arguing on the air that Trayvon Martin was shot and killed because he was wearing a hoodie, apologized to the teen’s parents on Sunday, saying, “I never intended to hurt your feelings.”

    “A week ago, I ranted against hoodies like the one worn by Trayvon on the evening he was shot dead by George Zimmerman because in Zimmerman’s words, ‘Trayvon looked like he was up to no good.’ I said then that Trayvon’s hoodie killed him as surely as George Zimmerman did,” Rivera told Martin’s parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, on his Fox News show “Geraldo At Large.”

    Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0412/74727.html#ixzz1qtM4j3Q9

    • GN

      He definitely owed them an apology; those remarks were despicable. Their son was nothing but in the wrong place, wrong time, and got into the sights of a homicidal maniac. I’m convinced of that.

    • GreenLadyHere

      GOOD MONDAY MORNTIN’ Sepia— –***BIG HUG**—

      – – -That was a good move- – -in light of the FACT that

      - –☻HE wears hoodies[WHA'?? Does he have the - -- -"PROTECTION of the COMPLEXION??] – - –annnd

      - –☻His SON- — PUT HIM on “BLAST annnd FRONT STREET”.- — – -STR8 – — -CALLED! HIM! OUT!!

      - –He needsta- — -THINK HARD -B4 he SPEAKS on such a SENSITIVE MATTER.

      - –’member:- – TEA annd SKITTLES- — -v- —9mm GUN!!

      RIHEP- – T.M.

      Good 2 C U- – -Sepia. :>)

  • GreenLadyHere

    Miranda- — We RECENTLY spoke of Mr. Jackie Robinson. :>)

    - —- Dodgers to enhance bond with Jackie Robinson’s legacy—

    - –The first words Magic Johnson spoke in an interview Wednesday had nothing to do with the price his group paid to buy the Dodgers, or how he would make the team better.

    “Jackie Robinson,” Johnson said.

    Johnson talked about how honored and humbled he was — not only to become one of the first African Americans to own a share of a Major League Baseball team, but to do so with the team with which Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier. (Los Angeles Times)

    Click here for more…
    THERE IS MORE.

    - —-VERY GOOD NEWS. – - -WELL DESERVED!!- – -THANK U – -”-Magic.”

  • GreenLadyHere

    Miranda- —- –SPEAK- – –MR. PRESIDENT! :>)- –

    - – –President Obama: Women Are Not An Interest Group- – -

    – –Earlier this week, President Obama released a special message to Planned Parenthood and women. It didn’t get a lot of attention in the mainstream at all, but it’s important nevertheless. I confess to being so preoccupied with the Supreme Court arguments I let it get away from me.

    Here’s the transcript:

    For you, and for most Americans, protecting women’s health is a mission that stands above politics. And yet, over the past year, you’ve had to stand up to politicians who want to deny millions of women the care they rely on, and inject themselves into decisions that are best made between a woman and her doctor.

    Let’s be clear here: Women are not an interest group.

    They’re mothers, and daughters, and sisters, and wives. They’re half of this country. They’re perfectly capable of making their own choices about their health.

    So we’re grateful that, through it all, you never forgot who you’re fighting for: The woman with a new lease on life because a mammogram caught her cancer in time; the woman who can sleep easier at night because of a cervical cancer screening; the woman who is able to choose when to start a family, because she could afford contraception.- —
    THERE IS MORE.

    - –BEARS REPEATING:- – –They’re half of this country. They’re perfectly capable of making their own choices about their health.- –:>)

    - --ULTIMATE- — -R-E-S-P-E-C-T- – FROM MR. PRESIDENT. THANK U. :>)-

  • GreenLadyHere

    Miranda- — –FIRST LOOK at “SPARKLE” Trailer- –RIHEP- -DEAR LADY♥- -

    - – - –First Look: Whitney Houston in Trailer for ‘Sparkle’- -

    - – It’s finally here – a trailer for the upcoming film “Sparkle,” featuring the final on screen appearance of Whitney Houston.

    The singer, who died at age 48 in February, was looking forward to the film doubling as a comeback for her as both actress and singer. Now, the mantle will fall on her co-star, “American Idol” winner Jordin Sparks, who plays the film’s title character.

    The “Today” show aired the trailer this morning ahead of its Aug. 17 premiere. It shows how Sparkle and her sisters try to make a go of it as an all-girl singing group, following in their mother’s (Houston’s) musical footsteps.

    Watch below:
    THERE IS MORE.

    - – –MISSING U- – - -***tears***

    - – –CONGRATULATIONS- –Ms. Jordin Sparks. :>)- – -

  • Bri

    One thing that annoys me about American and Americans is that everyone of all colors are talking about and have been discussing gay marriage(gay rights), 99% vs. 1%(classism), war on women(sexism), war on older people(ageism), but when it comes to RACISM, everyone wants to make excuses for it, and acts like it doesn’t need to be discussed on a national level. i just don’t get why Americans famous and not, run from discussing racism, which has a huge impact on over 40% of this country.

    • caribbeanobserver

      I have always been fascinated how everyone one rushes in to defend gay slurs, gays,etc, anything else, but the well and keeping it alive racism that is out there. It is denied via talk of ‘playing the race card’ ‘it’s not like that’, ‘I would hate to think that this is what’s happening’ , any defense mechanism other than facing the truth that racism is indeed what is in play. Ah yes the hidden feelings are being released, t coming to the surface by the bigots. Yes, racism is well and alive in good ole America…but only the ‘of colour’ ( I refuse to say minorities as this always suggests inferior to me) people who live it,feel it and know it, have to somehow not be allowed to vocalise it.

      • GreenLadyHere

        HEEY caribbeanobserver. ***BIG HUG*** :>)

        - — -GOOD POINT!!- – — -THIS- —>It is denied via talk of ‘playing the race card’ . .

        SPEAK TRUTH.

        FREQUENTLY- – -IIFF eva- – hear about PLAYIN’ the – -”gay”- – –”class”- — “gender”—-”age”- –”height”- —*weight”- –etc. CARD.

        Somehow, the CONVERSATIONS about THESE characteristics don’t RISE 2 the LEVEL that – - RACE does!!- — BUT THERE IS a REASON!!(s)

        LYNCHIN’ NEVA HAPPENED 2- – — -those OTHER —isms!!!

        - – I’ll 4-go the PICS. :>)- —-

        Good 2 C U. :>)

    • GreenLadyHere

      HEEY Bri. ***BIG HUG*** :>)

      - —–**fist bump***- — :>)

      - – - -Some how RACISM BRINGS the GUILTY- – — an EXTRA MEASURE of — –GUILT annnd —-SHAME!!!- —

      ‘CAUSE THEY REFUSE 2- – –LET IT GO!!- – - -

      – – 4 SOME – - THEY would LOSE the POWER annnd- -the- – -”I’m

      BETTER THAN U- -STATUS” – -[SUPERIORITY]- – — that they enjoy-

      VICARIOUSLY annd in REALITY!!- —

      - —THEN WHAT would THEY TEACH THEIR chil’ren???- –

      Good 2 C U.- -Bri. :>) [I may come back 2 this. :>)]

  • Miranda

    Campaign Donor Advertising Rule Invalidated by U.S. Judge

    The U.S. Federal Election Commission overstepped its authority by allowing groups that give money for election advertising to withhold the names of their donors from the public, a federal judge ruled.

    U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jacksonin Washington yesterday threw out FEC regulations adopted in 2007 that let organizations and nonprofit groups keep secret the names of donors who pay for pre-election ads. She said the regulations clashed with requirements of the 2002 campaign finance law known as McCain-Feingold that groups report their ad spending to the commission.

    “When the agency determined in this instance that the statute should be revised in light of legal developments, it undertook a legislative, policy making function that was beyond the scope of its authority,” Jackson said in her 31-page ruling.

    more here
    http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-31/campaign-donor-advertising-rule-thrown-out-by-u-s-judge-1-.html

  • GreenLadyHere

    Miranda- —- – — COMEDIC TRUTH!!- – - — 4 SURE!!!- – —

    - – - — -Obamacare vs Idontcare- -

    - — —BETTER NEWS:- – -In other news, the parents of Trayvon Martin are requesting a federal investigation of state attorney Norm Wolfinger under suspicion that he interfered with the investigation conducted by local detectives.

    - – -HAH!!- – - ERRTYBODY- -GON- – - -DOWN!!-

    - — – - —JUSTICE WILL PREVAIL!!— -

  • http://pragmaticobotsunite.blogspot.com/ Sepia

    Is this a joke? Please tell me Ann Romney didn’t say this!

    Emily Friedman ‏ @EmilyABC

    Ann Romney asked about Romney being “too stiff”: “I guess we better unzip him and let the real Mitt Romney out because he is not!”

    *blink*

    • rikyrah

      double blink

    • GN

      ::blank stare::

    • GreenLadyHere

      Sepia- – — -WORDS FAIL!! - -LOL.–
      -[@Alma98 :>)]- -

    • Miranda

      This is just too easy for my talents……..anybody wanna take this one?

    • PBomb

      **SIGH**

    • aleth

      Oh I can’t wait for the excuses to pile up— Imagine it was the first lady..

      Just watch the excuses…

      a. she was being funny
      b. Joke
      c. she is really amazing

      Michelle Obama — the answer would be …. just imagine … with Huffing aand Posting, CNN, FOX, DAILY KOs front paging it .

    • MsKitty

      That is taking my mind to places that it does not want to go.

    • Ebogan63

      I got nuthin, Maybe Admiral would want to take this one.

    • Admiral_Komack

      Maybe Willard should put something in her mouth.

      • Ebogan63

        Knew I could depend on you, Admiral!

      • Daltex82

        **DEAD**

    • Daltex82

      The jokes write themselves!

      This is the woman that is the “closer” that Democrats are suppose to fear! ~~insert chuckle and eye roll here~~

      Now, excuse me why I go and try to erase Mitt and stiff from my brain.

    • trose1

      that is nasty

  • http://pragmaticobotsunite.blogspot.com/ Sepia

    Nasty Newt!

    Lindsey Boerma ‏ @Lindsey_CBSNJ

    Gingrich asks Maryland voters to put on their Facebook pages, “Newt = $2.50 gas.” Says “That helps get people aroused!”

    • MsKitty

      It’s hard out there for a wannabe, especially since his Las Vegas sugar daddy cut him off. In that sense I guess Newt now knows how his first 2 wives felt.

    • Daltex82

      Ewwww! Newt and aroused in the same sentence! Runs from office, I feel my lunch coming up!

  • GreenLadyHere

    Miranda- – — ***SIGH***– — The HATAS R tryin’ HARD 2 DISCREDIT- –MR. PRESIDENT.- — -HAH!!- – – -

    - – —Major Donor To President Obama Accused Of Fraud- —

    - — -A contributor to president Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign has been accused of defrauding a businessman and impersonating a bank official, fueling criticisms of Obama’s major donors and potentially forcing the president’s re-election campaign to return even more contributions.

    - –Abake Assongba, listed on Obama’s campaign website as a volunteer fundraiser, contributed $50,000 to the Obama re-election campaign along with her husband. Today she is fending off civil charges that she stole $650,000 in order to build a multimillion-dollar home in Florida

    – – - -SKIP- —

    Her lawyer told the Washington Post that the allegations against her are incorrect.

    “More than 1.3 million Americans have donated to the campaign, and we constantly review those contributions for any issues, Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said in a statement reported by the Post. “Some issues are easy to identify, others more difficult, but once an issue has been raised, we address it promptly, as we will do in this case.”
    THERE IS MORE.

    - – –WONDER ioff – —the NAME- — -CAUGHT THEIR ATTENTION???- –

    - – - –GUESS THEY 4-GET– – —

    - – - – -NO WEAPON FORMED AGAINST HIM SHALL PROSPER. IT WON’T WORK!!!- – -

  • rikyrah

    Okay, Now You’re Just Making This Up, Politico
    By Zandar April 2nd, 2012

    Yeah, I call shenanigans on this Politico article this morning:


    Ann Romney is the Romney Democrats fear most

    No, seriously. When the hell did Ann Romney even become a factor in this race, let alone become a source of “fear” for the Obama campaign and Democrats in general?

    Ann Romney’s unexpected rock star status has the political arena buzzing about how her husband’s campaign will leverage her popularity in an election in which Michelle Obama — one of the most admired first ladies in history — will have an outsized and substantive portfolio.

    Indeed, this 62-year-old grandmother’s contribution to Mitt Romney’s campaign could amount to the most relevant role a wife has ever played in a presidential effort — softening the edges of a flawed and awkward candidate who struggles to connect with voters.

    Alright, look. Ann Romney would burst into flames like an exposed block of lithium in a bathtub of water if she ever made physical contact with any human being who made less than six figures last year. She has been completely irrelevant in this campaign, period…other than maybe the fact she has multiple Cadillacs and that she doesn’t consider herself wealthy. I mean it’s not like the bar of “more likeable than Mitt Romney” is some Everest-class feat of unfathomable difficulty. It means you can keep yourself from saying obnoxious things about how rich you are less than 50% of the time you open your damn mouth. This does not make you a “rock star”, it makes you roughly 99 out of 100 Americans. The only reason she’s the Romney with all the charisma is that she’s kept her mouth shut so far, so she’s at roughly zero instead of Mitt’s negative billion.

    And now she’s a “rock star” who is even more important and more “relevant” to the Romney campaign than Hillary was to candidate Bill or Michelle was to candidate Barack Obama? Man, you guys are just absolutely pulling things out of your ass now over there. And no, the date on the article is April 2, not April 1, which is what I originally thought when I read this.

    Naah, this is just egregious ass-kissing on the part of Roger Simon’s folks. This is wholesale fan fiction to try to cover up the fact that Romney is augering into the ground like Don Draper’s liver. Ann Romney certainly hasn’t been an asset the other times Mitt has run for President, now has she?

    Jesus, Politico, at least pretend like you guys aren’t trying to create a horse-race out of bullshit.

    http://www.balloon-juice.com/2012/04/02/okay-now-youre-just-making-this-up-politico/

    • MsKitty

      That rumbling sound you hear is nonstop, loud, rollicking, side splitting, let-me-get-my-inhaler gales of laughter coming from the East Wing of the White House.

    • Admiral_Komack

      “Ann Romney is the Romney Democrats fear most”

      Why?
      Because Politico probably has a poll out there that says Ann Romney, by 65% vs. 35% will send her kids to bed without any supper?

    • GreenLadyHere

      HEEY rikyrah. ***BIG HUG** :>)

      - —-My reaction- – –

      THANKS 4 da- – — CALL OUT!!– — – :>)- –

      Politicos- – RIGHT LEAN- – — is CLEARLY SHOWING!!!- – - -geesh!!!

      Annnd- – the “ROCK STAR” – – -IMAGERY – - – - -the SAME treatment given 2 ANOTHER- -DOUBLE LOSER!!- -”Mutha Moose”- – -

      – — -THIS- —V– —

      - ——THAT- -

      —————-PUH-LEEZE!!!- —

      [Sorry 4 the DUP.]——Have a good day. :>)

  • rikyrah

    Biden: ‘This is not your father’s Republican Party’
    By Steve Benen – Mon Apr 2, 2012 11:31 AM EDT

    .For much of the American mainstream, there’s a general understanding of the two major political parties: voters choose between a center-right Republican Party and a center-left Democratic Party. This dynamic has been pretty consistent for many decades, and voters broadly know what to expect from both sides.

    One of the broader goals for Democrats is to persuade the mainstream that, in 2012, the dynamic has changed. There’s a Republican Party on the ballot, but it’s not the same Republican Party that Americans have come to know and understand.

    President Obama recently told supporters, “In 2008, I was running against a general election candidate who believed in banning torture, believed in doing something about climate change…. Somebody, who, frankly, could never get a nomination in the Republican Party this time out.”

    Vice President Biden sounded a similar note yesterday: “This is not your father’s Republican Party. This is a different party than I’m used to…. It really is different.”

    With this in mind, E.J. Dionne Jr. argued persuasively today, “A brief look at history suggests how far to the right both the Republican Party and contemporary conservatism have moved.”

    http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/02/10983184-biden-this-is-not-your-fathers-republican-party

  • GreenLadyHere

    Miranda- – –GO WISCONSIN!!- — – - -

    - – - -Shock Poll: Majority would recall Wis. Gov. Walker- –

    - – –A new Rasmussen poll finds that Republican Wisconsin Scott Walker is in trouble of being recalled June 5, with a majority, 52 percent, saying they will vote him out less than two years after he took office and immediately went to work to cut the power of public service unions.

    The poll revealed a remarkable shift from February when 54 percent of Wisconsin voters said they would vote against the recall. In today’s poll, just 47 percent said they would vote against recalling the governor. Details will be released at 1 p.m.

    - – -Worse for Walker: 53 percent disapprove of his job as governor with a whopping 46 percent saying they “strongly disapprove” of Walker. Majorities of both men and women now support his recall. Rasmussen found that his support among Republicans and conservatives remains strong.

    The recall, set for June 5, followed the governor’s effort to limit collective bargaining rights for some public union members.

    - — – -HAH! – — -U GOTTA- – - -GIT- – —GON!!- – -

  • rikyrah

    Team Romney pushes its luck with hot-mic story
    By Steve Benen – Mon Apr 2, 2012 11:00 AM EDT

    .Mitt Romney and his campaign team seemed to be having such a good time with President Obama’s hot-mic comments to Russian President Dmitri Medvedev. It apparently didn’t occur to them that they could take this a little too far.

    Late Friday, Romney spokesperson Andrea Saul, responding to calls for the former governor’s still-hidden tax returns, pushed her luck in a written statement:


    “Obama should release the notes and transcripts of all his meetings with world leaders so the American people can be satisfied that he’s not promising to sell out the country’s interests after the election is over.”

    This really wasn’t a smart thing to say.

    Almost immediately after the Romney campaign’s press statement, the DNC distributed a statement from Dr. Colin H. Kahl, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East, who explained that he’s been involved in many sensitive meetings with our allies around the world, and was in a position to say that the Romney campaign’s comment “shows a remarkable naivete about foreign policy.”


    “For example, does Governor Romney think we should release all the notes and transcripts of the President’s conversations with our allies, such as the Israelis and Europeans, tipping our hand to Tehran about every last element of our strategy to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon?

    “Our friends around the world need to trust that they can speak with the President of the United States in confidence, and that these conversations will not be politicized during an election. Such a dramatic and unprecedented step would undermine the ability of the United States to successfully conduct foreign policy at a time when our nation faces numerous challenges abroad, and suggesting it is just a reckless attempt to score cheap political points. It is yet another indication that Mitt Romney is not ready to be Commander-in-Chief.”

    If the Democrats’ goal is to make Romney look like an unprepared rookie, not ready for the big kids’ table when it comes to foreign policy, the Romney campaign calling for the release of private transcripts makes the Dems’ job easier. There are plenty of reasons to question Romney on international affairs — he seems painfully out of his depth on the subject — and self-inflicted wounds won’t help.
    .

    http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/02/10982679-team-romney-pushes-its-luck-with-hot-mic-story

  • rikyrah

    Posted at 11:12 AM ET, 04/02/2012
    TheWashingtonPost
    The GOP’s `repeal and replace’ fraud
    By Jonathan Bernstein

    Almost fifteen months ago, the new Republican majority in the House passed a go-nowhere repeal of the health law and promised to begin work on a replacement, which would entail holding “hearings in Washington and around the country” to draft a Republican version of health care reform. This hasn’t happened.

    Several months ago, a key GOP subcommittee chair pledged that Republicans would be rolling out their replacement ideas over the next few months in preparation for the introduction of a bill later this spring. This hasn’t happened, either.

    Which raises a question: Will Republicans really have the chutzpah to run on “repeal and replace” for a second consecutive Congressional election cycle after doing absolutely nothing about the “replace” part for two years?

    The most recent promise of a “replace” plan was made back in January by Rep. Joe Pitts, chair of the Health Subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee, back in January. Since then? His subcommittee has held a hearing on generic drugs, one on traumatic brain injury, and even one on the “Current State of Cosmetics.” I’m sure those were all important. But replacing the health law? No, somehow that seems to have slipped off the agenda again.

    The truth is that “replace” has always been a fraud, cooked up presumably because a flat-out repeal of health care reform polls much worse than replacing it with some unspecified legislation which would presumably contain all of the popular items in the health lawwithout any of the costs. Since such a bill is impossible, however, the timeline for when the bill will be developed keeps slipping into the unspecified future.

    Sometimes Republicans admit that they really have no intention of passing a serious bill to replace the health law if they get the votes need to repeal it or if the Supreme Court tosses it out, as Mitch McConnell did last week. But for the most part, “replace” is still their official policy.

    As Greg has been noting, if the Supreme Court really does toss out health care reform in June, this is no longer going to be just a symbolic question; Republicans would get their way on the repeal of Obama’s signature domestic reform. If that happens, maybe everybody will then realize that the vow to “replace” health reform has always been a fraud.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/the-gops-repeal-and-replace-fraud/2012/04/02/gIQAFjevqS_blog.html

    • Daltex82

      Which raises a question: Will Republicans really have the chutzpah to run on “repeal and replace” for a second consecutive Congressional election cycle after doing absolutely nothing about the “replace” part for two years?

      Sure they will, these folks have no shortage of chutzpah. They will float some lie about the President and having to thwart some evil that he and his administration were planning, but will declare “we will have a plan in place soon after the elections”! and folks will pull out a fork and eat that crap whole. Hopefully they will get a swift kick out of office from voters who know better.

  • rikyrah

    The Power Of None/Other
    President Obama could lose both the Catholic and Protestant vote to the Republican nominee and still win re-election, thanks to the “None/Other vote.” A definition:

    “Nones” are people without a religious affiliation (this does not mean they are an atheist or agnostic… they may even consider themselves to be religious or spiritual—just not connected to any religious group). “Others” are a survey research catch-all category of people who have non-Christian religious affiliations.

    Their voting power:

    Twenty years ago the combined None/Other vote amounted to less than 10 percent of the population and the voting electorate. Today, the None/Other population percentage has risen to 22 percent (… and is expected to continue to grow in the future).

    http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/04/the-power-of-noneother.html

  • rikyrah

    ‘Sparkle’ Trailer: Whitney Houston’s Final Film Premieres Trailer On ‘Today’ Show (VIDEO)

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/02/sparkle-trailer-whitney-houston-final-film_n_1396634.html

  • Worldwatcher7

    I’m not into motorcycles, but this is a fascinating piece of Black history.

  • Miranda

    But let the emoprogs tell it, Its PBO that’s taking away all their civil rights. Dumb azzes.

    Justices Approve Strip-Searches for Any Offense
    By ADAM LIPTAK
    Published: April 2, 2012

    WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday ruled by a 5-to-4 vote that officials may strip-search people arrested for any offense, however minor, before admitting them to jails even if the officials have no reason to suspect the presence of contraband.
    Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, joined by the court’s conservative wing, wrote that courts are in no position to second-guess the judgments of correctional officials who must consider not only the possibility of smuggled weapons and drugs but also public health and information about gang affiliations.
    About 13 million people are admitted each year to the nation’s jails, Justice Kennedy wrote.
    Under Monday’s ruling, he wrote, “every detainee who will be admitted to the general population may be required to undergo a close visual inspection while undressed.”

    more here
    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/03/us/justices-approve-strip-searches-for-any-offense.html?_r=1

    • Admiral_Komack

      “Justices Approve Strip-Searches for Any Offense”

      -unless you’re George Zimmerman…then you don’t get charged or arrested.

    • aleth

      VOMITS!!!

      When the Judiciary becomes more and more political — something is wrong. Wow — more profiling coming down the pipeline

      • trose1

        YES!

    • Miranda

      This is Albert Florence with his attorney – anyone surprised?
      http://media.nj.com/ledgerupdates_impact/photo/10783687-large.jpg

    • http://pragmaticobotsunite.blogspot.com/ Sepia

      Don’t worry. The EmoProgs/EmoNegroes/PLs will find someway to blame PBO for this.

  • GN

    He is just so hateful: “Limbaugh warns attention around Trayvon shooting ‘is doing more harm to the black community than anything else right now.’ “

    • MsKitty

      Dear Rush,

      You concern is duly noted.

      Sincerely,
      MsKitty

  • Aquagranny911

    Great series! One of my neighbors has an old motorcycle from the 1940′s with a side car that he has lovingly restored. When he takes it out, his dog rides in the side car wearing a little helmet & goggles. It is too cute!

  • GreenLadyHere

    Miranda- — -Eeeeeewwwwwww- – - — ***shudder***- – -LOL- – -

    - — -Will Romney Appear Shirtless Now?- — -

    - – –You may have seen that Barack Obama has opened up a big lead in swing states, according to a new USA Today/Gallup poll, primarily because more than 60% of women under 50 now support Obama in those states. Among all women in those states, Obama is leading by 18 points.

    BuzzFeed is pointing out that, according to exit polls, Romney lost his 1994 Senate race to Ted Kennedy because he lost women’s votes. Watch the news clip:

    You can draw different conclusions from this. The easy conclusion is that Romney regularly has problems attracting female voters.

    - Another possible conclusion, though, is that his image among women gets hurt by boorish high-profile members of his own party. That year, the boor was Newt Gingrich. (Republicans did extremely well in elections in 1994, but as the clip also notes, Bill Clinton was more popular in Massachusetts at that moment than in any other state.) This year, it’s … well, pretty much everyone in the GOP. I’m not sure Romney has a strong enough personality to be judged on his own merits; he’s judged, instead, as a reflection of others in his GOP cohort, because he seems like such an empty suit.
    THERE IS MORE.

    PLUS- – — –THAT IMAGERY- – -would cause women – – -2 FLEE!! LOL

  • rikyrah

    Found this comments over at Coates:

    Between Two Worlds 4 hours ago

    You know how you say we shouldn’t post just because the button allows us?

    This isn’t that kind of post.

    It’s just my feelings and observations.

    Black Americans are invisible to most white Americans. Invisible as people, invisible as free moral agents, invisible as participants in the economy, invisible as worth paying attention to, as if their objections to being slighted and sidelined for being black are trifles.

    I saw this not as a sociologist or anthropologist. I’ll admit my data source is just me and what I’ve seen and experienced and done. So color me biased, perhaps.

    Here’s what I can say:
    Over the course of the last month, not one of my white friends who is close to me has expressed anything about Travyon and this situation, about any of what Ta-Nehisi speaks of here, about the degradation of black Americans in general.

    A few of my extremely leftist white friends/acquaintances on FB have posted something, but there hasn’t been any “me toos” by anyone else.

    This has not come up in church, school, work, bus, evening’s entertainment, coffee, what-have-you, with my white friends.

    It’s ignored, except now the first assertions are being made in fighting back – posts about Z, about Spike Lee, about Sharpton. Nothing from my white friends – some with teens of their own – on the awful horror of seeing your son dead from a gun, and society and law enforcement doing nothing to protect you or hear you.

    My (few) friends of color? This. It took a while to dance past the surface of everyday observations, but this is something my friends talk about. A lot.

    Not just about the horror of seeing a son dead and undefended by the overseers of safety. The feeling of being invisible, of having “black concerns,” that this is a “black issue.”

    It is not. It is an issue where a young man was shot dead by a grown man, and no one who should have spoke up for the dead man. Martin was invisible before because he was just living his life; but then he was killed, and he stayed invisible because he was denied justice and the equal protection of the law.

    That’s something any human, anyone in America who thinks we are a society of laws with a guarantee of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness should be speaking up about.

    A man like Martin should be safe to live his life unmolested and unassailed. He shouldn’t just get shot with no outcry.

  • GreenLadyHere

    Miranda- – –OOOPS!!- – — -A dup. – – -DELETE! :>)-
    - – - –Okay, Now You’re Just Making This Up, Politico- – –

  • rikyrah

    The Women Of March
    Gallup’s latest shows Obama way up in the most important states:

    One gender is fueling the rebound:

    The biggest change came among women under 50. In mid-February, just under half of those voters supported Obama. Now more than six in 10 do while Romney’s support among them has dropped by 14 points, to 30%. The president leads him 2-1 in this group.

    That’s a huge margin, making Ann Romney that much more important a figure, as Lois Romano notes. James Joyner is shocked:

    Weeks of bizarre talk about contraception and vaginal ultrasounds has surprisingly alienated women from the Republican Party.

    Jamelle Bouie bets that social issues will dog Romney:

    Indeed, for as much as Romney wants to focus on the economy and leave social issues by the wayside, it’s not clear whether that’s possible for his campaign. Conservative voters distrust the former Massachusetts governor just enough so that he might have to show his loyalty with declarations on abortion, contraception, and other areas of women’s health. Already, he has pledged to take federal funding away from Planned Parenthood, and I expect him to repeat the promise during the general election.

    Ed Kilgore defends the poll against critics:

    Republican blogger Christian Heinze does offer a counter-argument against the poll’s bottom line, suggesting that the inclusion of WI, NM and MI as “swing states” skews it because Obama is almost certain to easily carry all three. I’m certainly interested to learn a Republican is willing to concede WI so early. But in any event, Heinze’s objection doesn’t explain the vast and increasing gender gap, or the likelihood the GOP has now dangerously raised expectations for a major cultural counter-revolution among its Christian Right-Tea Party base, while alarming a lot of women that they may well mean it.

    http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/04/reality-check.html

  • rikyrah

    Ryan didn’t ‘misspeak’
    By Steve Benen – Mon Apr 2, 2012 9:32 AM EDT.

    Everyone misspeaks from time to time, especially in public affairs. Someone might accidentally say Iraq, when they meant Iran. Someone meant to say 47, but they said 57. They’re just verbal slipups, and they’re hardly worth getting excited about.

    But in politics, it’s worth appreciating the difference between actually misspeaking and getting caught saying something controversial.

    On Thursday, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), chairman of the House Budget Committee, insisted that he, not America’s military leadership, should be trusted when it comes to Pentagon spending levels. Ryan went on to say that he believes Pentagon leaders may be deliberately misleading Congress about spending cuts that they’ve requested, but which Ryan does not want to make. A day later, Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was not at all pleased with the congressman’s public comments.

    On ABC yesterday, Ryan seemed eager to walk his comments back, telling George Stephanopoulos, “I totally misspoke.”

    “My issue is, I think that the president’s budget on the Pentagon is a budget-driven strategy, not a strategy-driven budget. He announced the number of the cuts he wanted for the Pentagon, and then he began the strategy review to conform to that number…. We think there are savings to be gotten [in the Pentagon budget], but I think the president’s hollowing it out.”

    I don’t mean to sound picky, but this isn’t an example of Ryan having “misspoke” when he rejected the Defense Department’s budget request; this is more an example of Ryan repeating the exact same criticism using slightly different language.

    Our pal James Carter posted the original comments Ryan made on Thursday at a National Journal forum.

    Notice anything? What Ryan said on Thursday is practically identical to what he said on Sunday, even though he’s now arguing he “totally misspoke.”

    http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/02/10981496-ryan-didnt-misspeak

  • http://pragmaticobotsunite.blogspot.com/ Sepia

    Rep. Rangel to face primary challenge in NYC district now with Hispanic majority
    By Josh Lederman – 04/02/12 01:56 PM ET

    Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) picked up a primary challenge Monday from New York state Sen. Adriano Espaillat (D), frustrating Rangel’s reelection prospects in a district that has become overwhelmingly Hispanic.

    Espaillat, a Dominican-American and rising Democratic figure, has served in the state Senate since 2010. He said he was mounting a congressional campaign because he believed voters are looking for bold, new leadership.

    “I have been honored to represent Northern Manhattan and the Bronx in the state legislature, where we’ve successfully fought for progressive solutions to New York’s challenges, and I am ready to bring the same energy and passion that has defined my career in the state legislature to Congress,” Espaillat said.

    MORE: http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/house-races/219537-rangel-to-face-primary-challenge-in-majority-hispanic-district?utm_campaign=hillballotbox&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

    Rangel should’ve been grooming someone to take over his spot. But greed and ego got in the way.

  • rikyrah

    ‘Ownership Society’ becomes ‘Opportunity Society’
    By Steve Benen – Mon Apr 2, 2012 12:47 PM EDT.

    When George W. Bush and his team were gearing up for the 2004 election, they came up with a theme to help summarize the administration’s governing philosophy. It was called the “Ownership Society.”

    The message never really resonated with the public, but the Republican team was pretty invested in it, at least for a while. In one 2004 ad, Bush argued, “I understand if you own something, you have a vital stake in the future of America.”

    This was intended to create a foundation for a privatization agenda: instead of relying on Social Security and public schools, for example, you’d get a private account and vouchers in an “Ownership Society.” Bush could, the argument went, shrink the government by having Americans take “ownership” of public services.

    At least, that was the idea. In 2005, Americans got a good look at what the “Ownership Society” would mean for Social Security, were repulsed, and the theme/message quietly faded away.

    Romney presented his new stump speech in Wisconsin.
    It was interesting, then, to hear Mitt Romney roll out yet another new stump speech in Wisconsin, where he picked up where Bush circa 2005 left off.

    “[President Obama] has spent the last four years laying the foundation for a new Government-Centered Society. I will spend the next four years rebuilding the foundation of our Opportunity Society, led by free people and free enterprises.”

    As this relates to Obama, the charge is pretty silly. A “Government-Centered Society”? Seriously? It’s hard to imagine even Romney believes this.

    But this talk of an “Opportunity Society” is well worth paying attention to.

    ——————————————————————————–

    What’s the difference between Bush’s “Ownership Society” and Romney’s “Opportunity Society”? Apparently, about nine letters.

    http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/02/10984256-ownership-society-becomes-opportunity-society

  • http://pragmaticobotsunite.blogspot.com/ Sepia

    IRONY: A Ron Paul supporter asking Mittens a question about racial discrimination.

    The questioner, Bret Hatch, 28, a local supporter of Rep. Ron Paul’s, read from typed notes as he asked Romney whether he agreed with a verse from Moses 7:8 in the Book of Mormon. As he began citing the verse, Romney interrupted: “I’m sorry, we’re just not going to have a discussion about religion in my view. But if you have a question, I’ll be happy to answer your question.”

    Hatch asked his question. “If you become president,” he asked, “do you believe it’s a sin for a white man to marry and procreate with a black?”

    “No,” Romney said. “Next question.”

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/post/romney-confronted-over-mormon-doctrines/2012/04/02/gIQAYsaErS_blog.html?tid=sm_twitter_washingtonpost

    • Miranda

      I guess Mittens told ole Ron that Rand would NOT be his VP choice.

      • trose1

        LMBAO

  • rikyrah

    Posted at 02:29 PM ET, 04/02/2012

    TheWashingtonPost

    Romney’s big pivot: Yes, the economy is improving, but…
    By Greg Sargent

    Over the weekend, Mitt Romney attacked President Obama’s stewardship of the economy with a handful of claims I hadn’t heard before:


    “We know that under Barack Obama, 800,000 jobs have been lost,” said Romney, a candidate in the Wisconsin presidential primary on Tuesday. “We know that under Barack Obama, 2.3 million homes have been foreclosed upon. We know that under this president, chronic unemployment is the worst it’s been in American history.”

    Chronic unemployment is the worst it’s been in American history? Worse than during the Great Depression?

    I asked Romney spokesperson Andrea Saul for substantiation. She pointed to a recent Congressional Budget Office report that said this:

    Compounding the problem of high unemployment, the share of unemployed people looking for work for more than six months — referred to as the long-term unemployed — topped 40 percent in December 2009 for the first time since 1948, when such data began to be collected; it has remained above that level ever since.”

    …………………..

    Of course, it doesn’t greatly help Obama’s case that you have to reach all the way back to the Depression for chronic unemployment numbers that are worse than the ones we’ve seen on Obama’s watch. And no doubt the Romney campaign doesn’t mind getting into an argument over whether chronic unemployment during Obama’s term is the worst in American history or merely the worst since the Depression. But that doesn’t change the fact that this claim is unsubstantiated at best and false at worst. And all this becomes less meaningful when you recall that Obama inherited the worst crisis since the 1930s, which Romney wants you to forget.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/romneys-big-pivot-yes-the-economy-is-improving-but/2012/04/02/gIQARPjFrS_blog.html

    • Kennymack1971

      President Obama is going to smoke Willard come time for the debates.

  • http://pragmaticobotsunite.blogspot.com/ Sepia

    UN: Ancient treasures of Timbuktu under threat in Mali unrest
    By Alastair Jamieson, msnbc.com

    Cultural treasures in the ancient city of Timbuktu are under threat from the armed conflict that has gripped Mali following last month’s coup, the United Nations warned on Monday.

    Irina Bokova, director-general of the Paris-based United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said in a blog posting that the recent takeover of the city by Tuareg rebels could damage the management and conservation of the three mosques and 16 mausoleums there, as well as well as the Tomb of Askia in another Mali city, Gao.

    She called on all sides in the political unrest to “protect these heritage treasures, to which the international community and UNESCO attach great importance,” adding that they are designated World Heritage Sites.

    MORE: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/02/10984639-un-ancient-treasures-of-timbuktu-under-threat-in-mali-unrest?ocid=twitter

  • GN

    Prayers to the families of the victims:

    Five people hurt in shooting at Oikos University in Oakland, California

    OAKLAND, Calif. – Police say they’re responding to reports of five people hurt in a shooting at a Christian medical school in east Oakland.

    The shooting happened Monday morning at Oikos University. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the shooting occurred at around 10:40 a.m. PST.

    The Oakland Tribune reports that wounded people were taken out of the building and more gurneys were brought in. Officers surrounded the building immediately after the shooting.

    Police are now looking for the gunman who is described as a Korean man in his 40s, the Chronicle reports.

    According to its website, the Oikos University offers courses in religious studies, music, nursing and Asian medicine.

    http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57408207-504083/five-people-hurt-in-shooting-at-oikos-university-in-oakland-california/

  • Miranda

    Y’all going to hell.

    Pastor Brings Stripper Pole to Church

    An Ohio pastor is putting a stripper pole on the pulpit to aid his sermons on sex.

    Pastor Mike Scruggs, of Light of Word Ministries in White Oak, said preaching with a neon pink pole and a bed on stage is his way of keeping his worship services “relevant” and “straightforward.”

    “We don’t sugarcoat anything,” he told WLWT-TV in Cincinnati. Past church discussions have covered drugs, relationships and other topics that his parishioners “are dealing with on a day-to-day basis,” he said.

    more here
    http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/weird/Pastor-Stripper-Pole-Church-Bed-Sex-145757255.html

    • http://pragmaticobotsunite.blogspot.com/ Sepia

      Someone should bring a portable black light to church and scan the pole and bed sheets.

    • rikyrah

      I shake my head at this

    • Daltex82

      He forgot the fuzzy pink handcuffs!

    • Admiral_Komack

      How do you know you are worshipping at Light of Word Ministries?

      1) No laying on of hands (“Hey, don’t get grabby, buddy!”).

      2) they don’t have a collection plate, but they DO have a collection G-string.

  • http://pragmaticobotsunite.blogspot.com/ Sepia

    DOJ Civil Rights Division Investigating Planned Parenthood Bombing

    The Criminal Section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division has opened an investigation into the bombing of a Wisconsin Planned Parenthood facility, a DOJ spokeswoman tells TPM.

    DOJ’s Civil Rights Division investigates allegated violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which makes it illegal to damage or destroy the property of a facility because it provides abortion services.

    http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/doj-civil-rights-division-investigating-planned-parenthood-bombing

    • Miranda

      Good. Put these mofos in prison. Sick bastards.

    • Ebogan63

      FFS, emptyrhetoric is so fucking stupid. For once, I wish these ‘political junkies’ would LEARN WHAT THE GOTDAYUM LAW SAYS, and not substitute their obvious lack of knowledge and critical thinking with hyperbolic bullshit. Bombing? Hate Crime? Civil Rights? HELLO? Domestic terrorism is a federal matter handled by the FBI, which, if I am not mistaken, is part of the DOJ.

      Connect the fucking dots.

  • Miranda

    Afternoon thread is up!

  • GreenLadyHere

    Miranda- —–I GET IT.- – — – - -We NOT- —POST-RACIAL.- – - – ***sigh***- -

    - — -Years after Obama’s election, same racial fault lines persist- – —

    - —- If there was ever even a sliver of hope Barack Obama’s election might edge the United States toward an era of post-racial reconciliation, it died with Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26 in suburban Orlando.

    In the five weeks since Martin was shot by “neighbourhood watch volunteer” George Zimmerman in a gated community called The Retreat, the national debate over what happened — and why — has all-too-predictably degenerated into a shouting match over race. Everyone is yelling, no one is listening.

    The victim: An unarmed 17-year-old black teenager wearing a hoodie, en route to his father’s girlfriend’s apartment carrying a package of Skittles and a bottle of ice tea.

    The shooter: A 28-year-old white Hispanic who thought Martin was “up to no good,” ignored the advice of a police operator, and struck out in pursuit.

    The result: A physical confrontation, and a single shot to the chest that killed Martin. (Ottawa Citizen)

    Click here for more…

    I appreciate the thesis of this article; BUT I would add that the NON-STOP RACISM that MR. PRESIDENT annnd his FAMILY have had 2 ENDURE—

    CONTINUE 2 EVIDENCE that- – - — we NOT GON REACH that – - -NIRVANA.- – –

    SOME- – -PEOPLE AIN’T EVEN TRYNTA!! – — -***shakin’ my head***

  • GreenLadyHere

    Miranda- —– WHA’??- – - -THEY BLEW THROUGH that – - -$500,000.??-

    – –Ray Charles’ Children Sued by Singer’s Estate-

    - —-Seven of Ray Charles’ children have been sued by members of the late singer’s charity foundation, reports CNN.

    Executives behind The Ray Charles Foundation claim they were named the sole benefactors, with Charles setting up a $500,000 trust for each of his kids in exchange for a guarantee that they “relinquished and waived any further claims to their father’s estate.”

    However, Charles’ adult children have recently claimed ownership over their dad’s musical catalogue and now the foundation has launched a legal battle against the star’s heirs in a bid to win back the rights.

    - – — SKIP- —

    Foundation chiefs are asking for $500,000 in damages from each of Charles’ four daughters and three sons

    - —– GREED DOTH CORRUPT!- — -***shakin’ my head***- –

  • GreenLadyHere

    Miranda- —AHA!- – — – - NOT QUALIFIED??????- – - – –

    - – — -Trayvon Martin case: Did Sanford police chief Bill Lee lack the experience to lead?- —

    - — -When Sanford set out to find a new police chief last spring, one candidate stood out. He had stellar credentials: 24 years of law enforcement experience including ten years of command experience, as a retired deputy chief supervising a large police force of 1,100 sworn officers and 60 civilian employees in Prince George’s County, Maryland; a Master’s degree from Johns Hopkins, a record of steep crime reduction during his tenure, and a media-ready style, according to the professional search firm hired to vet the ten candidates who applied for the job and to choose five finalists.

    He was also African-American, which might have helped heal a rift between police and the city’s black community that stretched back 100 years. He was almost too good to be true. And he didn’t take the job.

    - -Neither Michael Blow, the dream candidate, nor Sonja White, a deputy police chief from Orlando, who was also African-American, and a graduate of the FBI National Academy at Quantico, Virginia, would be Sanford’s new chief, though several people privy to the selection process said their qualifications and those of a third candidate, Robert Musco, who was already serving as a police chief in the small city of Glen Cove Springs, were, in the words of one source, “head and shoulders” above the eventual chief, Bill Lee Jr.

    - — –SKIP- — – -

    - — -[REMINDER:- --- --Lee -- called "Billy Lee" according local people of all races who spoke about him, was associate dean of the Center for Public Safety at Seminole State College at the time he and nine others submitted applications for the chief's position. (George Zimmerman, the man who shot Trayvon Martin February 26th, was a student there at the time, though there is no evidence the two ever met.)]

    - – - -THIS is SUCH SWEET INFORMATION!!- – –HAH!- —

    - – — -Something about- – - –PREJUDICIAL 2 the case- —HAH!

  • http://www.facebook.com/BIGSWOLE1 DavidBig Swole Rose

    Hello Motorcycle community! My name is David “Big Swole” Rose, and I’m currently the face of the Harley Davidson Iron Elite patch/campaign. The Iron Elite Campaign focuses on highlighting the African American Harley rider. I’m very proud to be a part of such a prestigious campaign. I have attached my YouTube video, providing some insight into who I am and my love for my Harley! Ride free!

    Instagram: BIGSWOLE1982