May 23, 2013

Wednesday Open Thread: Black Muslims vs. The Sit-Ins

April 11, 2012 by 124 Comments

On Aug. 19,1958 Clara Luper and thirteen members of the Oklahoma City NAACP Youth Council stage sit-in at whites-only lunch counter at the Katz Drug Store in downtown Oklahoma City (Photo: OU.edu/ The Oklahoma Publishing Company, copyright 1958)

HAPPY HUMPDAY P.O.U.!

We continue our look at the Black Muslims vs. The Sit-Ins discussion featuring Malcolm X, James Baldwin and Leverne McCummins.

In this segment, Malcolm X mentions “the stoning of Rockwell” in Boston. He’s referring to an incident where George Lincoln Rockwell, the founder of the American Nazi Party, was stoned by survivors of German Nazi concentration camps as he tried to picket a movie theater showing the movie “Exodus”. You can read more about that incident here.

PART IV:

Filed Under: African Americans, History, Open Thread, Politics Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
  • dannie22

    good morning

    • crazycanuck

      Morning Dannie22, Good Morning POU

      • GreenLadyHere

        Good WEDNESDAY MORNTIN’ crazycanuck. ***BIG HUG*** :>)

        – - — – -Have Good Day. :>) –

    • GreenLadyHere

      GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNTIN’ dannie22. ***BIG HUG*** :>)

      – - –Bonne journee – - -mon amie. :>) – –

    • rikyrah

      Good Morning, Everyone :)

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

    U.S. and Vietnam Replace China for Soft Goods Manufacturing

    Importers who sell to major American retailers report that they have or have plans to move a portion of their manufacturing outside of China due to increased costs of raw materials and logistics, as well as the difficulties China-based factories face in obtaining financing.

    According to Capital Business Credit’s (CBC) Global Retail Manufacturers and Importers Survey, 50 percent of U.S.-based importers have moved some of their manufacturing outside of China and a third (34.2 percent) are considering moving manufacturing outside of the continent.

    -snip-

    When asked which countries manufacturing is being moved to, Vietnam was most popular at 33.3 percent and the U.S. was also cited as a top choice at 27.8 percent. Other countries that are popular manufacturing destinations include Pakistan (22.2 percent) and Bangladesh (16.7 percent).

    MORE: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/11/idUS118004+11-Apr-2012+PRN20120411

  • rikyrah

    Don’t Let the Door Hit You…Santorum

    by BooMan
    Tue Apr 10th, 2012 at 05:56:17 PM EST
    The sad thing about the news that Rick Santorum is ending his campaign is that there really isn’t anything to write about it. I mean, who cares? No one ever took him seriously. Even when he (kind of) won Iowa, no one gave a crap. About the only thrill Santorum gave us were a few brief moments when it looked like he might humiliate Romney in his birth state of Michigan. And that didn’t pan out. The thing about Santorum is that he isn’t funny. He’s not even unintentionally funny. I mean Herman Cain was funny. Newt Gingrich is a laugh-riot (student janitors and moon colonies, anyone?). Ron Paul can actually crack a few good jokes. Michele Bachmann is a joke. And what can we say about Rick Perry that isn’t funny?

    Santorum is just a grim tight-ass with a dark and delusional worldview. He doesn’t restrict himself to the usual Republican practice of punching down and sucking up (which, incidentally, is one definition of unfunny). Santorum punches in all directions, like a man beset by venomous gnats. He could be the least optimistic man America has produced. He’s like a hate-filled pustule that tries to pass itself off as concerned about the children.

    more here
    http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2012/4/10/175617/788

  • GreenLadyHere

    POU FAM – - – —The EXIT of “z-man’s” lawyers – -might have EXPOSED an ETHICS VIOLATION – –

    – - -EXPERTS: Public Relations Offensive By George Zimmerman’s Lawyers May Violate Legal Ethics Rules – –

    – - – - -Over the last several days George Zimmerman’s attorneys, Hal Uhrig and Craig Sonner, have launched an aggressive public relations offensive on behalf of their client. They’ve appeared extensively on local and national media, frequently detailing their version of the events of February 26 as “fact.”

    For example, on April 4, Hal Uhrig said the following on CNN:

    The reason that Trayvon Martin is dead is not because he was black or because he wore a hoodie or because he was walking in the rain. It’s because that 6’3″ young man made a terrible decision and a bad judgment, when he decided to smack somebody in the face and break their nose, jump on them and smack their head into the ground. And in doing that, put him in reasonable fear for his safety.

    – - -THIS – —>Such statements, which have not been established by medical records or other evidence, may be in conflict with the Florida Rules of Professional Conduct. Rule 4-3.6(a) states:

    Prejudicial Extrajudicial Statements Prohibited. A lawyer shall not make an extrajudicial statement that a reasonable person would expect to be disseminated by means of public communication if the lawyer knows or reasonably should know that it will have a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing an adjudicative proceeding due to its creation of an imminent and substantial detrimental effect on that proceeding.

    – - – - -SKIP – - -

    Many of Brussard’s concerns were shared by Anita Allen, a law professor who teaches legal ethics at the University of Pennsylvania. Allen noted that when information because less factual and more speculative, advocates have an ethical obligation to “keep their mouths shut” to avoid prejudicing a future legal proceeding.
    THERE IS MORE.

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

    Another racist bites the dust…

    Regarding Robert Weissberg
    By Rich Lowry
    April 10, 2012 9:19 P.M.

    Unbeknowst to us, occasional Phi Beta Cons contributor Robert Weissberg (whose book was published a few years ago by Transaction) participated in an American Renaissance conference where he delivered a noxious talk about the future of white nationalism. He will no longer be posting here. Thanks to those who brought it to our attention.

    http://www.nationalreview.com/phi-beta-cons/295729/regarding-robert-weissberg-rich-lowry

    • Miranda

      Oh the National Review isn’t comfortable being the haven for racist intellects anymore?

      • rikyrah

        not when they’re so OBVIOUS, Miranda.

        be practicing in dogwhistles galore, and you are still welcome at the National Review

    • PBomb

      I find this all hilarious and hypocritical when the National Review was started by a racist, William Buckley. None of these writers cared about how noxious Buckley was about the church bombings or civil rights in general when he started the NR. So why be so ashamed of the seeds that have been sown now?

  • rikyrah

    Chart of the Day
    Posted on 04/10/2012 at 6:40 pm by JM Ashby

    Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS PAC launched a massive ad buy today that claims former President George Bush, not President Obama, deserves credit for the current state of domestic energy production.

    I have serious doubts that dredging up Bush is a good idea, even if your motive is to smear the president, but the larger problem with this accusation is that it simply isn’t true.

    There are a number of ways you could criticize the president over the current domestic energy boom, all of which will almost assuredly come from voices on the Left, but attributing the current success of the market to the policies of George Bush is nonsensical. And I’m not convinced doing so won’t harm the GOP.

    The 30 percent of the population who still believe Bush was a great president isn’t going to vote for President Obama anyway, and using Bush as an avenue of attack may just turn off a few undecideds.

    http://bobcesca.com/blog-archives/2012/04/chart-of-the-day-35.html

  • rikyrah

    Tuesday, April 10, 2012
    Go Big Red (And Screw You Blue)
    Posted by Zandar

    Oh, Nebraska, the state of my birth. How far will the GOP go in Huskers territory to prevent President Obama from splitting one of five electoral votes off like he did in 2008? Changing the rules back to winner-take-all failed. Changing Voter ID laws failed.

    So, we’re down to plan C. Why do you have to go there?


    But it is recent changes implemented by Douglas County Election Commissioner Dave Phipps, an appointee of Republican Gov. Dave Heineman, that are really raising eyebrows.

    Last month, Phipps’ plans to close 150 polling places_ more than half of the previous 357 _ in and around Omaha surfaced. That led to complaints that the state’s poorest voters with limited access to transportation would be, at best, discouraged from voting and, at worst, unable to get to a polling place.

    Within days, Phipps confirmed that his office had knowingly sent out polling place cards to nearly 2,000 north Omaha voters _ a precinct of mostly low-income Democratic voters _ with the wrong polling place information on them.

    Phipps defended his actions, saying that the county’s voter information cards were already being printed when he honored a request from the area’s Democratic representatives to reopen a closed polling place.

    “Trying to find 1,745 cards out of 315,000 cards, when they’re not printed precinct by precinct, was almost certain to fail,” Phipps said. “It’s like finding a needle in a haystack.”
    more here
    http://zandarvts.blogspot.com/2012/04/go-big-red-and-screw-you-blue.html

  • GreenLadyHere

    POU FAM – - –OH – –PUH-LEEZE – - —FROM – -”HE WHO BOUNCES CHECKS” – -LOL – —

    — -Newt Gingrich welcomes Rick Santorum backers – —

    – - – — Newt Gingrich pledged to stay in the race for the Republican presidential nod, even as Rick Santorum suspended his campaign on Tuesday.

    “I am committed to staying in this race all the way to Tampa so that the conservative movement has a real choice,” Gingrich said in a statement released after Santorum’s announcement in Gettysburg, Pa.

    Gingrich, whose campaign is carrying roughly $4.5 million in debt, immediately began trying to use Santorum’s exit as a fundraising vehicle, adding a banner to the front of his website declaring him the “last conservative standing.”

    – —“I humbly ask Senator Santorum’s supporters to visit Newt.org to review my conservative record and join us as we bring these values to Tampa,” Gingrich said in his statement. “We know well that only a conservative can protect life, defend the Constitution, restore jobs and growth and return to a balanced budget.”

    But in recent weeks, Gingrich was forced to dramatically scale back his campaign operations and slash much of his staff after winning just two primaries since the GOP race began — his former home state of Georgia and neighboring South Carolina.
    THERE IS MORE.

    – - –QUIT! – - — -QUIT! – — -QUIT! — – -LOL

  • rikyrah

    GOP struggles with ‘Buffett Rule’
    By Steve Benen – Wed Apr 11, 2012 8:31 AM EDT.
    White House photo

    Warren Buffett and President Obama in the Oval Office.
    President Obama spoke in Florida yesterday, helping make the case for the “Buffett Rule,” which is set for a Senate vote next week. As Obama put it, for those “bringing in a million bucks or more a year … you should pay the same percentage of your income in taxes as middle-class families do. You shouldn’t get special tax breaks. You shouldn’t be able to get special loopholes.”

    Republicans, not surprisingly, disagree, but they’re having trouble coming up with a coherent explanation as to why they disagree. It’s a simple question — why should some millionaires pay a lower tax rate than the middle class — that the right can’t find a simple answer for.

    Some Republicans have said, for example, that the Buffett Rule would bring in “only” about $47 billion, which isn’t that much given the size of the budget. There’s some truth to that, but given the GOP crusade against Planned Parenthood and NPR funding — in the name of “fiscal responsibility” — it’s hardly persuasive.

    This week, as Noam Scheiber noted, Karl Rove’s attack operation, American Crossroads, have rolled out a separate argument.


    A data point in support of the misdirection hypothesis: Rove et al have launched a Facebook petition in response to Obama’s latest Buffett-Rule push, calling on Obama and Warren Buffett to “put their money where their mouths are” and pay more in taxes voluntarily. According to Mike Allen, Crossroads is launching an ad campaign to amplify that message. Suffice it to say, these do not strike me as people overly concerned by Obama’s populist rhetoric, or worried about a campaign that would be fought along those lines.

    Greg Sargent’s reaction was the right one: “Really, it continues to amaze that people in positions of real influence could venture something this idiotic with no evident sense of embarrassment.”

    Well said. The Crossroads pitch is a familiar one, but its ubiquity doesn’t improve its inanity.

    more here
    http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/11/11139214-gop-struggles-with-buffett-rule?lite

  • rikyrah

    Posted at 08:50 AM ET, 04/11/2012 TheWashingtonPost The Morning Plum: Romney wants to pivot. Will anyone let him?
    By Greg Sargent

    Now that Mitt Romney is the unofficial GOP nominee, his campaign is busily preparing to reintroduce him to the swing constituencies he alienated during the GOP nomination process. The question is this: Will anyone let him make this pivot?

    In an interesting twist, conservative Republicans and Democrats alike share an interest in holding Romney to the positions he took during the primary. Both sides agree on one point: They want Campaign 2012 to shape up as a grand ideological struggle between two starkly different visions for the nation’s future. Conservatives don’t want to merely deny Obama a second term by any means necessary, and particularly not with any calculated, craven move to the “center.” They want to see Obama decisively dispatched in an ideological death match that reaffirms the superiority and dominance of their worldview.

    Democrats, meanwhile, also want the contest to be framed along similarly grandiose ideological lines. They believe swing voters ultimately will choose Obama’s values, priorities and vision if Romney can be kept in the ideological prison he built during the primary.

    Romney’s team is already signaling the pivot. An anonymous Romney adviser makes it plain in an interview with Dan Balz:


    “Voters will now look at Mitt differently and through a different prism. We can use this new beginning as an opportunity to reintroduce the campaign and the candidate.”

    Sure, Romney will have a chance to reintroduce himself to swing consistuencies on more favorable terms as the nominee. But the anger on the right over the Etch-A-Sketch moment confirmed that conservatives fully expect Romney to try to ditch the positions he had to take in the primary. Whether it’s on immigration, abortion and women’s health, or the Paul Ryan budget and its vision of the role of government and the proper distribution of wealth and the tax burden, conservatives will be watching closely for any deviations from previously proclaimed positions and principles. And so will Dems.

    One outstanding question: Whether reporters and commentators will hold Romney accountable for those positions, or whether they will merely be written off as stuff Romney just had to say to get through the primary but didn’t really mean — you know, as just part of the game.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/the-morning-plum-romney-wants-to-pivot-will-anyone-let-him/2012/04/11/gIQAJMcHAT_blog.html

  • rikyrah

    Posted at 04:39 PM ET, 04/10/2012
    TheWashingtonPost
    Repeal or no repeal, health care still plays well for Obama
    By Jonathan Bernstein

    Here’s another finding from today’s Washington Post/ABC poll that might surprise people. On health care, people pick Barack Obama over Mitt Romney “to do a better job” on health care by a ten point spread. Yup, health care. That’s more than Obama’s seven-point edge in the horse race question, and makes health care the third-best issue for the president out of ten areas tested, behind only foreign affairs and women’s issues.

    How can that be, if Obama’s health care reform law is so unpopular?

    One thing this result suggests (and as always, I wouldn’t lean too hard on one result in one poll) is that perhaps the polling that shows the various individual provisions of the Affordable Care Act are popular might be more significant than the polling that shows the law as a whole is unpopular. That is, voters might support a candidate who tries to eliminate lifetime caps and denying coverage for preexisting conditions, along with closing the donut hole for Medicare and allowing young adults to stay on their parents’ insurance, even if they don’t like “Obamacare.”

    On the other hand, some context is in order here. During the 2008 campaign, Obama typically held a 20 to 30 point lead over John McCain on health care — for example, a Post/ABC poll in October 2008 gave Obama a 59 to 30 lead. That was probably due in part to Obama’s overall strong lead at the time, but it’s possible to interpret a 10 point lead as a narrowing of the gap.

    more here
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/repeal-or-no-repeal-health-care-still-plays-well-for-obama/2012/04/10/gIQADvip8S_blog.html

  • GreenLadyHere

    – - -GOOD WEDNESDAY POU FAM -Sepia. CONTINUIN’ 2 VIGOROUSLY SUPPORT MR. PRESIDENT! :>) HE’s FIGHTIN’ HARD 4 the “BUFFET RULE”. – - –

    – - –Annnnd ——YOUR ENERGY DRANK. :>) -ENJOY. :>)

    Sepia –ANOTHER GR8 —CHAPTER in this SERIES. –:>)

    -THIS concept is – “thought-provoking” –”WYTS have ever been encouraged 2 B -”NON-VIOLENT.” – -OTOH: —WHEN were THEY oppressed?? -
    THIS is good series. :>) -THANK U. :>)

    —POU FAM –Have a BLESSED DAY. :>)

  • GreenLadyHere

    Sepia – —-POU FAM – -VOTER SUPPRESSION/Anti-Voter WATCH – -

    — – Justice Dept.: S.C. voter ID law violates Voting Rights Act – - – -

    – - – - —South Carolina’s voter ID law violates the Voting Rights Act and discriminates against minorities despite the state’s assertions to the contrary, the Obama administration says in new court papers.

    The U.S. Justice Department’s comments came in a 12-page document filed Monday with a District of Columbia court in response to South Carolina’s Feb. 7 voter ID lawsuit.

    Justice lawyers urged the judges to reject the state’s request for a declaratory judgment, which is a speedy decision by judges without a trial.

    The administration rejects South Carolina’s claim that the voter ID law “will not have the effect of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race, color or membership in a language minority group,” Justice Department lawyers wrote in their legal brief. South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson’s office provided a copy of the brief Tuesday.

    Because of a history of minority-voter discrimination, South Carolina must get approval from the Justice Department or federal courts before changing election laws. All or some counties in 15 other states require such prior approval.

    Last May, Gov. Nikki Haley signed R54, a bill that requires voters to show one of five government-issued IDs, such as driver’s licenses or passports, before casting ballots.

    In December, the Justice Department refused to approve the change, saying that South Carolina failed to prove that R54 complied with the 1965 Voter Rights Act, didn’t justify the need for the statute and failed to prove widespread voter impersonation, which tougher ID laws are meant to prevent.
    THERE IS MORE.

  • Miranda

    Allen West: I’ve ‘Heard’ That 80 House Democrats Are Communist Party Members |

    Flamboyant Tea Party Rep. Allen West (R-FL) said at town hall meeting last night that “he’s heard” of up to 80 Democratic congressmen who are members of the Communist Party. The entire House Democratic Caucus is 190 members, so West is claiming that almost half are card-carrying Communists. Not surprisingly, he would not name names. (HT: Jenn Bendery)
    http://thinkprogress.org/special/2012/04/11/462205/allen-west-80-communists/

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

      Flamboyant Tea Party Rep. Allen West (R-FL)

      SHADE!

      • Miranda

        ROFLMAO

    • dannie22

      what a nut

    • rikyrah

      I’ve ‘ heard’ that Congressman West is an utter fool.

    • Town

      I’ve heard that the high top fade went out of style around 1990, but I’ve also heard today’s teenagers are trying to bring it back again.

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

        _______________________________

      • ch555x

        D@mn my receding hairline…>_<

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

        Ouch!

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

    Here we go again…

    Lenders Again Dealing Credit to Risky Clients
    By JESSICA SILVER-GREENBERG and TARA SIEGEL BERNARD

    Excerpt:

    But as financial institutions recover from the losses on loans made to troubled borrowers, some of the largest lenders to the less than creditworthy, including Capital One and GM Financial, are trying to woo them back, while HSBC and JPMorgan Chase are among those tiptoeing again into subprime lending.

    Credit card lenders gave out 1.1 million new cards to borrowers with damaged credit in December, up 12.3 percent from the same month a year earlier, according to Equifax’s credit trends report released in March. These borrowers accounted for 23 percent of new auto loans in the fourth quarter of 2011, up from 17 percent in the same period of 2009, Experian, a credit scoring firm, said.

    -snip-

    The banks, for their part, are looking to make up the billions in fee income wiped out by regulations enacted after the financial crisis by focusing on two parts of their business — the high and the low ends — industry consultants say. Subprime borrowers typically pay high interest rates, up to 29 percent, and often rack up fees for late payments.

    MORE: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/11/business/lenders-returning-to-the-lucrative-subprime-market.html?_r=2&pagewanted=print

  • GreenLadyHere

    Sepia —[Apologies ifff a dup] –WE NOT POST-RACIAL!! – —- –KKK – –STILL —Active! – - —-

    - —-Idaho’s only African-American legislator receives letter from KKK – —

    – - – - -Idaho’s only African-American legislator is drawing national attention for something she received in the mail. Boise Rep. Cherie Buckner-Webb says she received a letter last week from the KKK.

    Buckner-Webb posted the letter on her Facebook page. She says it was hand-addressed to her home in Boise. The letter asks her to join the KKK and to declare that she is white and not of racially mixed descent. It also asks her to declare that she does not date non-whites or have non-white dependents.

    Buckner-Webb responded on her Facebook page saying, “something a little unsettling.”

    The Knights Party website says the organization is based in Harrison, Arkansas. It says America’s White Future Begins Here. The organization says their number one goal is to stop white genocide. Their application says the organization is legal and law-abiding and that members would never be asked to commit and unlawful act.
    THERE IS MORE.

    THIS is DISGUSTING!! – —

  • rikyrah

    ‘Bipartisan consensus’ doesn’t mean what Ryan thinks it means
    By Steve Benen – Wed Apr 11, 2012 9:19 AM EDT.

    House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) seems quite fond of the phrase “bipartisan consensus.” It’s ironic, under the circumstances, but even putting that aside, to paraphrase Inigo Montoya, Ryan keeps using those words, but I do not think they mean what he thinks they mean.

    Here’s Ryan yesterday talking about his plan to end Medicare’s guaranteed benefit: “I believe there is a bipartisan consensus emerging on going this direction.”

    Last week, he told the New York Times there’s “a bipartisan consensus on most elements of what needs to be done” on the debt. A few days prior, Ryan told Fox News, “There’s a bipartisan consensus on tax reform.” A few days before that, Ryan told ABC “there is an emerging Democrat-Republican bipartisan consensus” on closing tax loopholes. A day before that, he told CNN his Medicare reforms “reflect the emerging bipartisan consensus.”

    In March, Ryan told CBS there’s “a bipartisan consensus” to get rid of tax shelters. In February, he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “a bipartisan consensus” exists on tax policy.

    You get the idea.

    I’m sure it’s the kind of language that makes unwitting media figures swoon — “Paul Ryan can’t be a radical; he keeps talking about his love for bipartisan consensus!” — but let’s unwrap this a bit, because I think it’s important to understand how wrong the Ayn Rand acolyte really is.

    ——————————————————————————–

    First, when Ryan’s far-right budget plan reached the House floor, it garnered exactly zero Democratic votes, and generated opposition from 10 House Republicans. This isn’t an agenda that enjoys “bipartisan consensus”; it’s the exact opposite.

    Second, there’s ample polling data to suggest there is a “bipartisan consensus” among Americans on all kinds of compelling ideas: tax fairness for the wealthy, increased investments in domestic infrastructure, health care reforms that protect those with pre-existing conditions, keeping Medicare and Social Security intact, etc. Paul Ryan opposes all of these measures, regardless of their overwhelming support from the electorate.

    Third, there’s arguably a legitimate “bipartisan consensus” on some of these issues in a broad sense — both sides agree that Medicare faces serious fiscal challenges and tax reform is doable with the elimination of various loopholes and tax expenditures — but Ryan’s hard-line privatization agenda enjoys almost no Democratic support, and tax reform is impossible so long as Ryan touts closing loopholes without actually going to the trouble of saying which ones he’d scrap.

    And finally, “bipartisan consensus” just isn’t what it used to be. It wasn’t too long ago that Democrats and Republicans agreed on a health care mandate, the basic structure of an immigration reform package, a cap-and-trade plan, contraception access, Planned Parenthood funding, routine increases to the debt ceiling, reducing nuclear stockpiles, and reducing the deficit through a combination of spending cuts and modest tax increases. That consensus disappeared with the radicalization of the Republican Party.

    I’m delighted Paul Ryan seems interested in ideas with bipartisan support. I’d be even happier if he meant it.

    http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/11/11139923-bipartisan-consensus-doesnt-mean-what-ryan-thinks-it-means?lite

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

      Number one this Ayn Rand nitwit couldn’t even get one Blue Dog Democrat to vote for it.

      Number two Mitch McConnell is shaking in his boots hoping that Harry Reid does not bring this abomination to the Senate floor.

      Ryan is a loon. Mittens was going to lose anyway but by signing on with this pinhead he’s going to get crushed.

  • Miranda

    NARAL, NOW and the rest of the feminist orgs should be ashamed if they are not reaching out to support this woman.

    Idaho Woman Arrested For Abortion Is Uneasy Case For Both Sides

    POCATELLO, Idaho – An Idaho woman arrested for inducing her own abortion is taking her case to federal court. Jennie Linn McCormack was charged last year under an obscure Idaho law for ending her pregnancy with RU-486. She joins an increasing number of women who get the so-called abortion pill off the internet.

    McCormack’s attorney says he’s willing to take the challenge all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Meanwhile, neither pro-choice nor pro-life groups are paying attention to the case.

    more here
    http://news.opb.org/article/idaho_woman_arrested_for_abortion_is_uneasy_case_for_both_sides/

    • nellcote

      “You pass laws first that say only physicians can perform abortions. Then you pass laws that make it impossible for those physicians to provide abortions. And then women take the steps they need to take as they do all around the world, as they did before Roe,” Paltrow says. “And you create a perfect setup for making literally millions of women subject to arrest for having illegal self abortions.”
      ===

      THIS!

  • Miranda

    Elderly Woman Admonishes Rep. Steve King For Planned Parenthood Attacks: ‘I Find It Very Offensive’

    excerpt:
    The constituent, Shirley Grant, assailed King for wanting to defund Planned Parenthood and make it harder for women to get health care and “take charge of their destiny.” Said Grant, “I find it very offensive that men think they can tell women what to do with their own life.”

    GRANT: When women want pro-choice and want to take charge of their destiny, you and your cohorts want to take funding away from Planned Parenthood. My daughter says, “throw out the word ‘birth control,’ Mom. Planned Parenthood isn’t that.” She says it’s for hormone replacement and that means you use those pills for many, many, many different areas of women’s lives. I find it very offensive that men think they can tell women what to do with their own life.
    http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/04/06/458514/steve-king-planned-parenthood/

  • rikyrah

    Rubber, glue, and the ‘war on women’
    By Steve Benen – Wed Apr 11, 2012 10:13 AM EDT.

    A few weeks ago, just as the Republicans’ “war on women” was capturing national attention, the Republican National Committee decided to argue President Obama was the one who was actually waging a “war on women.” It was silly; it was impossible to take seriously; and the RNC dropped the line pretty quickly.

    That is, until yesterday, when Mitt Romney and his campaign team picked this up and ran with it — or at least tried to.

    Mitt Romney, who was all-but-crowned the Republican Party’s nominee on Tuesday after Rick Santorum suspended his campaign, sought to reframe the battle for female voters by accusing the Obama administration of waging “the real war on women” through its failure to jump-start the economy.

    “During the Obama years, women have suffered,” Romney told a crowd in this town just outside Philadelphia. “This president did not cause the recession; he just made it worse and made it longer. And it’s been harder for the recovery to occur. And, as a result, women have suffered.” [...]

    Romney said that 92.3 percent of the jobs lost during Obama’s years as president were women’s jobs

    It wasn’t just the candidate — Romney surrogates also began pushing this line yesterday, suggesting this is a coordinated offensive.

    There are a few interesting angles to this new tack. The first is that Romney and his team are using wildly misleading figures. Romney obviously isn’t running a truth-oriented campaign, but for those who take details seriously, it’s worth noting that the data the presumptive Republican nominee is using isn’t accurate.

    The second has to do with causality and intentions.

    ——————————————————————————–

    Is Romney saying the Obama administration is trying to force American women into unemployment on purpose? Because that would be a “war on women.” In contrast, the Republican Party agenda recently has been deliberate, featuring efforts to cut off Planned Parenthood; impose state-mandated, medically-unnecessary ultrasounds; force physicians to lie to patients about abortion and breast cancer; etc.

    Blaming job losses on Obama is tough, but no one can seriously argue the president tried to make unemployment worse. In contrast, the GOP agenda to attack women’s health is not an accident.

    And finally, the campaign’s strategy is familiar, but misguided. In recent weeks, Romney has gone to almost comical lengths to identify his faults and project them onto President Obama. Romney wants to end Medicare, so accused Obama of wanting to end Medicare. Romney is trying to keep his proposals secret until after the election, so accused Obama of wanting to keep his proposals secret until after the election. Romney has two post-grad degrees from Harvard, so he accused Obama of spending too much time at Harvard. Romney is an out-of-touch elitist, so he accused Obama of being an out-of-touch elitist.

    Rachel calls this Romney’s “I’m rubber, you’re glue” tactic.

    But this new tack is especially odd since it moves the argument to Democratic turf. Dems are eager to talk about the “war on women,” and Romney is inadvertently making their job easier, in part by endorsing a far-right agenda, and in part by validating the underlying rhetorical frame.

    Should the 2012 race come down to which candidate is more committed to protecting women’s interests? Is that really what Romney wants?
    .

    http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/11/11140876-rubber-glue-and-the-war-on-women

  • Miranda

    And Mitt has said the whole country would be better off if it was run like Mississippi.

    Mississippi teen pregnancy rate highest in U.S.: CDC

    (Reuters) – Mississippi has the highest teen birthrate in the nation while New Hampshire has the lowest, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday, following up on a report that found the incidence of pregnancy among U.S. teens was falling.

    Mississippi reported 55 births per 1,000 teens aged 15 to 19 in 2010, more than 60 percent above the U.S. average, according to state data released on Tuesday. New Hampshire’s rate was less half the national average at 15.7 births for the same age group.

    more here
    http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/10/us-usa-health-teen-pregnancy-idUSBRE83904P20120410

  • Miranda

    Romney Camp Refuses To Say Whether He Supports Gender Equality Law |

    Asked today on a conference call if Mitt Romney supports the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act — a landmark law passed in 2009 that empowers women to seek restitution for pay discrimination — the presumed GOP nominee’s campaign officials told reporters, “We’ll get back to you on that.” The law, the first signed by President Obama after he took office, was killed by Republicans in 2008 and is named after a woman who discovered she was being paid less than her male counterparts for doing the exact same work.

    http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/04/11/462358/romney-lilly-ledbetter/

  • Miranda

    Apparently Mansfield Frazier who writes for The Daily Beast is an idiot. Is he on twitter? He needs to be lit up for being this foolish.

    Scoop: White Kids Work For Obama
    http://motherjones.com/mojo/2012/04/scoop-white-kids-work-obama

  • GreenLadyHere

    Sepia- — ***shakin my head***- —

    - – - –Trayvon Martin support gets teacher fired: School cites ‘distraction’

    - – - -After supporting a Trayvon Martin fundraiser, a Michigan teacher was fired by school officials. The superintendent says her efforts were a “distraction” to academics. The middle school teacher is “confused,” and is petitioning for a reinstatement.

    Former teacher Brooke Harris of Pontiac Academy for Excellence was terminated last month for her actions in a planned march by students of the institution.

    – – - -SKIP- – -

    [HER SIDE]- – –Surprisingly, when the Michigan teacher gave her support for a Trayvon Martin fundraiser, she was promptly fired.

    “I’m really confused why I got fired. I don’t think I did anything wrong. I didn’t tell the kids, `Let’s go and do it anyway.’ I was actually, literally, in the process of talking to my kids about what we could do instead when (Cassell) requested the meeting with me and told me that I needed to let it go.” ~ Teacher fired after supporting Trayvon Martin march.
    THERE IS MORE.

    - – - –FIRED.??- – -Something else is goin’ on!!- –

    • Town

      I betcha nothing would have happened if she supported a Tea Party rally.

      • GreenLadyHere

        Town!- – -Town! Town. ***BIG HUG*** :>)

        - –U sooo RIGHT. LOL.

        She could have ORGANIZED it in the PRINCIPAL’s OFFICE- – -without- – -CONSEQUENCES!!- — geesh!!

        The STOOPID- – -RACISM- – -BURNS!!- –

        I hope that she gets some– -HELP!!

        Good 2 C U Town!! :>)- — –

    • Aquagranny911

      It’s Michigan. They just wanted one more excuse to fire a teacher.

  • GreenLadyHere

    Sepia- – –GO- – -GET ‘EM- — -AG HOLDER:- —:>)- —

    - — Eric Holder vows thorough review in Trayvon Martin case- –

    - —–Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday that the Justice Department will take appropriate action in the killing of Trayvon Martin if it finds evidence that a federal criminal civil rights crime has been committed.

    The attorney general made the comments in an appearance before a civil rights organization founded by the Rev. Al Sharpton.

    Holder said the department will conduct a thorough and independent review of the evidence in the Martin matter. One of the department’s top priorities, said Holder, is preventing and combating youth violence and victimization.

    The Justice Department launched an investigation of the Martin killing three weeks ago.

    “I know that many of you are greatly — and rightly — concerned about the recent shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, a young man whose future has been lost to the ages,” Holder told the 14th annual convention of the National Action Network.

    “If we find evidence of a potential federal criminal civil rights crime, we will take appropriate action,” said the attorney general. “I also can make you another promise: that at every level of today’s Justice Department — preventing and combating youth violence and victimization is, and will continue to be, a top priority.”

    The attorney general says that Justice Department officials including Tom Perez, the assistant attorney general for the civil rights division, and U.S. Attorney Robert O’Neill from Florida have traveled to Sanford to meet with the Martin family, members of the community and local authorities.
    THERE IS MORE.

    - – - – -RIHEP – –T.M.- – -JUSTICE- – -WILL PREVAIL- -

  • rikyrah

    April 11, 2012 8:45 AM

    Snapshot of Romney’s Problem

    By Ed Kilgore

    Team Romney is walking tall today’s after Rick Santorum’s withdrawal from the presidenetial race. But a new Public Policy Polling survey of Colorado, high on everyone’s “battleground state” list, shows the problem Romney faces going forward in dealing with intraparty and general election challenges.


    Colorado was one of several swing and even traditionally red states that President Obama flipped in 2008—and if his re-election bid were decided today, there would be no looking back. He would actually defeat likely Republican nominee Mitt Romney by an even larger margin than he did John McCain four years ago. McCain lost by nine points in the Centennial State, and Romney trails by 13 in PPP’s latest poll.

    Obama’s 53-40 lead over Romney here is up 11 points from only a two-point edge when PPP last polled the state only four months ago.

    The story in Colorado is the same as everywhere: the president has seen his popularity rise in the last few months, while the dragging GOP primary contest has sunk their candidates’ personal numbers. Romney’s favorability rating is still the best of the Republicans’ except Paul’s, but he sits at 31% favorable and 60% unfavorable, down from 35-53 in the previous poll. Meanwhile, 50% approve and 47% disapprove of Obama’s job performance, up eight points on the margin from early December (45-50).

    Looking at the crosstabs makes it clear Romney can’t just spend the next few months tending to the tender feelings of party conservatives who supported one of his rivals (Rick Santorum beat him in the CO caucuses in February). Romney’s approval/disapproval ratio among self-identified “very conservative” voters is 45/35, which shows significant room for likely improvement as the general election gets nearer. But his 31/61 ratio among self-identified moderates is a bigger problem that won’t just solve itself. Meanwhile, any efforts to deal with the former group of voters could make it harder to appeal to the other.

    Similarly, PPP shows Romney with a mediocre 56/36 favorable/unfavorable ratio among Republicans. That will improve. But he’s at 25/65 among independents, which is, in a word, disastrous.

    Mitt’s got his work cut out for him. And he’s not the sort of guy who’s going to make up ground on the sheer force of his personality.

    http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2012_04/snapshot_of_romneys_problem036609.php

  • rikyrah

    Political AnimalBlog
    April 11, 2012 11:45 AM

    Pinning Mitt to the Right-Wing Mat
    By Ed Kilgore

    One of the key strategic decisions facing the Obama campaign now that Mitt Romney has completely nailed down the GOP nomination is whether to go after him as too conservative for the country, or as a slippery flip-flopper who might do anything. The former is a tried-and-true tactic that exploits the unusual ideological militancy afflicting the GOP this year and takes advantage of Romney’s many efforts to placate “true conservatives.” The latter approach has the advantage of reinforcing conservative doubts about Romney—which are still fresh in everyone’s memory, of course—and also casting doubt on Mitt’s character, like the GOP’s “flip-flop” campaign against John Kerry in 2004.

    The first sign from Team Obama squarely takes the “he’s too conservative” tack:

    From the Obama campaign, CNN reports:

    “Expect us to keep holding Romney accountable for the positions he committed to during the primary. There will be no Etch A Sketch opportunities this year,” Obama campaign press secretary Ben LaBolt said.

    This is, of course, just a web video, and distribution of it can be targeted to people most likely to be offended by Romney’s pander-fest to the Right (including potential Obama-Biden donors). It by no means precludes different attack lines later, including the flip-flop charge. But it’s an interesting sign of the Obama campaign’s current thinking.

    http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2012_04/pinning_mitt_to_the_rightwing036612.php

  • Miranda

    ROFLMAO

    Romney Campaign Silence on Lilly Ledbetter Act
    http://democratsforprogress.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=14936

    • rikyrah

      because the MOMENT Willard opens his mouth about that…they’re gonna hang Scott Walker on him…

      like I said before, just because his ass beat the amateurs, clowns and grifters of the GOP Clown Car.

      means nothing….

      he’s going up against TRUE PROFESSIONALS

      and NOBODY IS PLAYING WITH HIM at the Prudential Building in Chicago.

      • MsKitty

        I’ve been saying for months that PBO is North Carolina and Mittens is East Podunk State. Expect the score to be run up in the triple digits.

        On the downside the folks at Obama HQ will actually have to do some work now. Playing scrabble on the innanets all day is over.

    • Admiral_Komack

      I saw the clip on MSNBC.

      The silence speaks volumes.

  • Miranda

    Yeah right! You “closed that account”…sure…so why you now paying with a post office money order? LMAO – and Utah betta make him pay that bounced check fee too!

    Gingrich to send Utah new check after first bounces
    http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2012/04/newt-gingrich-bounced-check-utah-primary-/1?csp=34news

    • GN

      Cue Rikyrah: G-R-I-F-T-E-R

      • rikyrah

        nothing else to be said

        • Admiral_Komack

          Tiffany’s:

          Curse you, Utah!

  • Miranda

    Wendy’s has dropped its sponsorship of ALEC!

    • nellcote

      I’m probably being naive but I have the feeling that *some* of these companies have wanted to dump ALEC but got caught up in peer pressure to continue. Similar to the stream of companies leaving Limbaugh. It speaks well to the power of the internet that consumers finally have a voice in those decisions.

      • Miranda

        I was actually thinking the same thing.

      • GreenLadyHere

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

        ———- -. . .peer pressure...- — -annnnd some SHAME!!- –A winnin’- – - combination!! :>)

        The INNANET- – - RULES!! – -

        -CAN U HEAR US NOW!!??- –:>)

        Good 2 C U –nellcote :>)

  • aleth

    How many of your think Chris Christie would be the VP for Romney?

    They need a game change.. either than or some female senate GOP member

    • Miranda

      I’m not sure any female GOP senator would risk having to defend the GOP on reproductive rights and women’s healthcare issues.

      Christie wouldn’t pass a physical unless they found some obscure retired doctor who doesn’t need any patients anymore.

    • nellcote

      It would be awesome to have months of Rmoney being asked if he agrees with Christie’s stupid pronouncements.

    • Daltex82

      At first I thought it would be a woman, but unless they are somewhere building her in a basement I haven’t a clue who that woman could be.

      He might go with Christie, I’m sure there are a lot of folks that think he would do a whale of a job, but I’m still leaning towards McConnell from Virgina. I really would like for him to choose Piyush Jindal just for the pure comedy of watching Rethuglican heads explode.

      • Town

        Romney wouldn’t have a woman as VP. Maybe a secretary pouring his coffee, but not as his understudy.

        All Hispanics and Indians can sit down too.

        • Admiral_Komack

          My money’s on FatMan.

      • crazycanuck

        lol, I see what you did there.

  • GreenLadyHere

    Sepia- —- -Isn’t it INTERESTING that they have HIRED annnd KEPT THESE RACISTS- – –ALL this TIME!!- — –

    - —National Review Fires Another Racist Writer- –

    - – –Following the uproar over John Derbyshire’s racist rant that led to his firing last week, National Review ended its relationship with another racist writer today. Robert Weissberg, who was a contributing writer to the magazine for years, was fired for his ties to the white nationalist group American Renaissance.

    “Unbeknowst to us, occasional Phi Beta Cons contributor Robert Weissberg (whose book was published a few years ago by Transaction) participated in an American Renaissance conference where he delivered a noxious talk about the future of white nationalism,” National Review editor Rich Lowry said in a post today. Though National Review may not have known, Weissberg’s involvement with the group is clearly stated on his Wikipedia page. And the fact that National Review’s vetting process is so weak that they routinely published two openly racist authors for years raises serious questions about who else they may be publishing and what ideas those writers may share.

    Also a retired professor of political science, Weissberg once called for a “politically viable alternative to white nationalism” at American Renaissance conferences, at which Weissberg has an attendee and been a speaker. He has received extensive praise from the group. A cached copy of the group’s website from shortly after one conference reveals that Weissberg played to the group’s racist tendencies during his speech:

    – — –_SKIP- -

    - -Weissberg’s attendance at the conference was not a one-off occurrence. He’s talked before about “the stupid black” (WARNING: link contains offensive language) in relationship with the Jewish community, and talked about the “shortage” of white males on college campuses.
    THERE IS MORE!!

    ALL! THIS!! TIME!!- —-RACIST!!- — -Wonder how MANY MORE- – -R on STAFF!! ???- – -THEY KNOW!! geesh!!

  • GN

    h/t Joy Reid:

    Attorney Crump re Trayvon’s parents: “no one can be hurting more than them, and if they can carry themselves in a dignified manner we all can.”

    Amen.

    • Miranda

      Amen indeed.

    • GreenLadyHere

      GN- – - – -annnd AMEN! :>)

  • GN

    Breaking:

    George Zimmerman to be charged in Trayvon Martin shooting, official says

    Florida special prosecutor Angela Corey plans to announce as early as Wednesday afternoon that she is charging neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in the shooting of Trayvon Martin, according to a law enforcement official close to the investigation.

    It was not immediately clear what charge Zimmerman will face.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/george-zimmerman-to-be-charged-in-trayvon-martin-shooting-law-enforcement-official-says/2012/04/11/gIQAHJ5oAT_story.html?tid=sm_twitter_washingtonpost

    • crazycanuck

      Hope this is true

      “It was not immediately clear what charge Zimmerman will face.”

      Uh how bout MURDER

      • rikyrah

        as crazy as this sounds, murder might too high a charge.

        manslaughter is probably going to be the charge.

        • GN

          I’d find murder appropriate, but I suspect that with the investigation being what it was (designed to confirm Zimmerman’s ridiculous story rather than uncover the truth), evidence may only support a manslaughter charge.

          • rikyrah

            not just this, but the NON-investigation in the crucial hours right after the murder by the police DESTROYED the opportunity to get the evidence that could have substantiated a murder charge.

          • GN

            Exactly.

          • Aquagranny911

            Yes!!!

        • nellcote

          Apparently she needs to have a grand jury if she wants to charge murder. So that’s out.

          • GN

            I think that applies to first degree murder only.

          • Aquagranny911

            Yes &no, 1st degree murder usually involves proving premeditation which in this case could be very difficult to prove. Plus they would have had to use the grand jury where deliberations are secret & the jury might have easily returned a “no bill.”

            She could still charge 2nd degree murder which is what I hope she will go for & not just manslaughter or negligent homicide.

      • GN

        Four weeks ago, this man was walking away scott-free, gun permit intact even. It shouldn’t have taken all this to make sure that he didn’t get away with it, but I can’t pretend: I’m relieved that there are going to be charges. Trayvon’s parents deserve at least that much. RIP.

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

      Just saw on Twitter that they’re gonna make the announcement at 6pm EST.

      • GN

        This is the difference that a bunch of kids on twitter can make. They made the difference for Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin.

    • Aquagranny911

      Finally! I hope the charge is murder 2nd degree & not just negligent homicide.

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

    Petition asks justice for teen girl slain in Chadbourn

    By Deuce Niven
    Correspondent

    An online petition seeking “Justice for Jasmine” will be presented to prosecutors later this month, the girl’s godmother said Tuesday.

    Jasmine Danielle Thar, 16, was shot dead outside the Chadbourn home of a relative in December.

    Treka McMillian, 42, also was injured by the single bullet from a neighbor’s high-powered rifle that critically injured her niece, Jahmesha McMillian, and killed Thar of Charlotte.

    “I’m just trying to bring light to the situation for justice,” Treka McMillian said from her office at Western Carolina University, where she is an assistant women’s basketball coach.

    James Anthony Blackwell, 23, who lived just across East Third Avenue from Jahmesha McMillian, was quickly taken into custody by Chadbourn police, and released later the same day.

    Blackwell told investigators he was cleaning a high-powered rifle when it discharged, Chadbourn Police Chief Steven Shaw said in December.

    Blackwell has not been charged with a crime, and no decision has been made relating to charges in the case, District Attorney Jon David said Tuesday.

    MORE: http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2012/04/11/1170342?sac=fo.local

  • Miranda

    Nice – this would make for a cool segment on Real Sports

    Bubba Watson wants to golf with Michael Vick

    Bubba Watson is currently on top of the golf world after clinching the prestigious green jacket Sunday at the Masters. It was a victory that Watson earned by making some remarkable shots all over Augusta — none more than his shot from the pine needles on the second playoff hole. Like the rest of us, Eagles quarterback Michael Vick marveled at how the lefty was able to pull off some of his shots having never had a swing coach:
    Wow!! Bubba Watson won the Masters with no swing coach. That’s just confirmation that you can do anything you put your mind to. — Mike Vick (@MikeVick) April 9, 2012

    Watson was able to take time out of his busy schedule of thanking literally every person who congratulated him on Twitter to respond to Vick:
    Hey @MikeVick when we going to play some golf??? #lefties — bubba watson (@bubbawatson) April 9, 2012

    more here
    http://network.yardbarker.com/golf/article_external/bubba_watson_wants_to_golf_with_michael_vick/10524305

  • Miranda

    Read this…and weep..because that’s all you can do.

    When “stand your ground” fails

    John McNeil killed a white man who assaulted him in his home. But, unlike George Zimmerman, he’s serving life

    As the shooting death of Trayvon Martin and the failure of authorities to arrest his killer, George Zimmerman, continues to grab headlines, many conservatives and guns rights advocates insist that race has nothing to do with it. Some have also rallied to the defense of Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law, the self-defense legislation under which Zimmerman was able to avoid arrest. Yet not all Stand Your Ground claims are so successful. Not too far from Sanford, Florida, a black man named John McNeil is serving a life sentence for shooting Brian Epp, a white man who trespassed and attacked him at his home in Georgia, another Stand Your Ground state.

    more here
    http://www.salon.com/2012/04/11/when_stand_your_ground_fails/singleton/

    • rikyrah

      I don’t know one Black person who actually thinks STAND YOUR GROUND applies to them.

      we’ve been saying this for forever and a day.

      wouldn’t have mattered if Trayvon was White, and a newly minted member of a violent, White Supremacist group..

      if Zimmerman were BLACK – stand your ground wouldn’t haver EVER been brought up.

      • GN

        Stand Your Ground does NOT protect Zimmerman’s conduct. Bill Lee and that first State Attorney were 100% wrong from the get-go. I’m just hoping that phone records have been subpoenaed so that we can see the extent of Zimmerman’s father’s involvement in this.

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

      The Stand Your Ground Law is for white folks who kills Black people in self-defense.

      The Sit Yo’ Ass In A Jail Cell is for Black folks who kill white people in self-defense.

      • Daltex82

        If I could I would like this a thousand times.

    • edp4bho

      Hey POU. Long time no comment…LOL. I just sent that link to Rev Al’s National Action Network. F’in shame. I’m still thoroughly pained at what that state did to Troy Davis. Oh, Miranda, you are in Georgia, right? It just occurred to me. Seems Rev Al needs to make a stink about this travesty of in-justice. Thanks.

  • rikyrah

    Posted at 01:00 PM ET, 04/11/2012
    TheWashingtonPost
    The war over the `war on women’
    By Greg Sargent

    With Romney’s campaign now arguing that Dems are the ones who are hurting women, thanks to Obama’s bad economic policies, Democrats pounced today on the news that Romney advisers were unable to say on a conference call with reporters whether he supports the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

    According to audio of the call circluated by Dems, a Romney adviser, after being questioned about the law, said: “We’ll get back to you on that.”

    Subsequently, Romney spokesperson Andrea Saul clarified: “He supports pay equity and is not looking to change current law.”

    The question now is whether a President Romney would veto or refuse to sign any effort by a GOP-controlled Congress to repeal the Lily Ledbetter Act. I’ve asked for further clarification and will update if I hear back.

    A few points on this. First, this isn’t the first time the broader issue has come up. As you’ll recall, neither CBS News nor the Hill were able to get the Romney campaign to say whether he supports Scott Walker’s repeal of Wisconsin’s equal pay law. And as Sam Stein notes today, if the Romney campaign is going to attack Obama for failing women economically, it should have had a ready answer at hand about Lily Ledbetter, given that this is one of Obama’s oft-trumpted achievements.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/the-war-over-the-war-on-women/2012/04/11/gIQAbf4iAT_blog.html

  • Miranda

    Well Roger Ailes told the whole wide world that Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity were NOT part of their news lineup, but are opinion hosts – not journalists. So no cover for ole Klannity to hide behind and not disclose his conversation with Zimmerman. Can’t you just see him shrieking that he’s a journalist and shouldn’t have to tell the conversation?

    • GN

      He can be subpoenaed: (a) crime occurred; (b) he has info which can’t be obtained from a non-journalist source. I can’t see a valid basis for reporter’s privilege with respect to his phone call with Zimmerman.

      • rikyrah

        KKKlanity can’t say that he was acting as a lawyer – his ass hasn’t even finished college.

    • Daltex82

      This is what happens when you start believing your own hype.

      I hope he is subpoenaed and I hope he chooses not to talk, so that they can hold him in contempt and stick his ass in jail.

    • nellcote

      from the comments at Coates’s joint:

      My guess is that Hannity drops a dime on Zimm’s location, then tries to collect the reward money from the New Black Panthers. Hey, ten thousand bucks is ten thousand bucks!

  • GN

    We’re talking on twitter: I have to say that Charles Blow, with the Trayvon coverage, has become a bona fide, serious journalist in my eyes. His coverage was both extraordinary in its proper focus on detailing the life of the child who was killed (rather than launching apologia for his killer), and his coverage was instrumental to this case. Terrorist fist bumps to him (and also to a HuffPo/BlackVoices reporter, Trymaine Lee–awful website, I can’t stand Arianna, but his stories were on point and excellent).

    • Miranda

      And Joy-Ann Reid……she has been fantastic.

      • GN

        Yes, she’s been amazing. And I can’t thank PBO enough for sticking his neck out there for Trayvon. He didn’t have to do that, and I’m sure there were people who advised him not to. But he saw this poor murdered kid getting slandered as “looks like a criminal” and he stepped up. Really grateful for that.

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

        Also, Keith Boykin. He’s been on a pitbull on this case.

        • GN

          Jonathan Capehart has been great too; not to mention Lawrence O’Donnell who fished out the lies when the rest of the media was happily carrying water for Zimmerman’s mendacious press surrogates.

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

            Thank you, Tamron!

          • Miranda

            You aint’ right! LMAO

          • Daltex82

            LOL!

          • rikyrah

            And Rev. Al has done a yoeman’s job.

      • rikyrah

        Joy Ann has kicked butt.

        of all her reports, the one where she visually traced Trayvon and Zimmerman’s path blew so many holes in Zimmerman’s story. to SEE IT really helped.

      • Worldwatcher7

        I wanna see a round of Pulitzers for all of them.

  • rikyrah

    April 11, 2012 12:58 PM

    Time, Once Again, To Explode Myth of Jewish Trend to GOP

    By Ed Kilgore

    At about this time in nearly every presidential cycle, you start hearing that Jews are going to leave the Democratic column in significant numbers either because a Democratic administration is insufficiently supportive of Israel or a Republican administration is all warm and cozy with Israeli leaders. Yes, there have been a couple of fairly recent presidential elections where the Jewish vote moved significantly: the 1980 cycle, when Jewish unhappiness (on both domestic and international issues) with Jimmy Carter held him to an extraordinarily low 45% of the Jewish vote (still more than Ronald Reagan, but with major defections to third-party candidate John Anderson), and the 1992 cycle, when Jewish unhappiness (on both domestic and internation issues) with George H.W. Bush held the incumbent to a mere 11% of that vote. By and large, though, the Jewish vote has been reasonably stable, with Democrats typically winning two-thirds to three-fourths of it.

    And that’s how it looks in 2012, notes the distinguished Israeli journalist Gershom Gorenberg at TAP, drawing from a new survey by the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute. PRRI shows 62% of Jewish voters expressing support for President Obama’s re-election as opposed to 30% preferring a “generic” Republican. Generic GOPers have typically done better than actual candidates in polls this cycle, of course, and in addition, PRRI notes this split in sentiment is very similar to what it found at this point in the last cycle, where Obama ultimately won 78% of the Jewish vote.

    Aside from the questionable nature of the quadrennial predictions of major Jewish defections to the GOP, related mythmaking involves the belief that American Jews are closely attuned to Israeli attitudes towards U.S. politics, or for that matter, vote primarily on Middle Eastern issues. That’s far from the truth, notes Gorenberg:

    http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2012_04/time_once_again_to_explode_myt036619.php

  • rikyrah

    Amazon Ready To Lower E-Book Prices In Wake of Publisher Settlement

    Amazon on Wednesday said it was ready to lower e-book prices, following a settlement between the Justice Department and three e-book publishing companies named in an antitrust lawsuit alongside Apple.

    “This is a big win for Kindle owners, and we look forward to being allowed to lower prices on more Kindle books,” an Amazon spokesperson, referring to a settlement the Justice Department reached with Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster.

    The Justice Department said it was still pursuing its lawsuit against Apple, and two of its e-book publishing partners, Macmillan and Penguin, over alleged price-fixing of e-books. Apple and its five publisher partners agreed to sell e-books under an “agency model,” or set minimum price of $12.99 for popular new releases, while Amazon previously pursued a “wholesale model,” in which it bought books at different prices from publishers then discounted them to consumers at $9.99-or-less.

    Eventually, though, according to the lawsuit, Amazon was forced into adopting the higher prices in order to keep books of the five publishers available in its Kindle e-bookstore.

    http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/04/amazon-ready-to-lower-e-book-prices-in-wake-of-publisher-settlement.php?ref=fpnewsfeed

  • rikyrah

    Romney Camp Can’t Explain How Obama’s ‘War On Women’ Works

    Mitt Romney has tried to turn Democrats’ claim of a “war on women” by the GOP against them this week, accusing President Obama of waging his own “war on women.” Slower job growth for female workers, Romney insists, is evidence of Obama’s war.

    “His polices have been really a war on women,” Romney told FOX News Wednesday. “Over 92 percent of the jobs lost under this president were lost by women,” a statistic his campaign has cited frequently this week.

    But no one from his campaign, including economic and policy advisers, could offer a clear explanation of this disparity Romney has trumpeted on a press call Wednesday.

    Economists overwhelmingly attribute the statistic to the nature of the recession Obama inherited. And, regardless of its cause, Romney’s advisers wouldn’t say whether Romney would do anything to address it.

    The campaign also did not have an immediate answer to whether Romney supported the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the first piece of legislation signed by President Obama, which makes it easier for women to file pay-discrimination lawsuits. After the Obama campaign put out a statement from Ledbetter herself saying she was “shocked and disappointed” by the ambiguity, a spokeswoman told TPM in an e-mail that Romney “supports pay equity and is not looking to change current law.”

    The campaign faced a number of questions in its press call as to just how Obama’s supposed “War on Women” worked, none of which produced a direct answer. Asked by TPM on the call to explain how another president taking office in January 2009 might have affected the gender gap in job growth, Romney adviser Lanhee Chen only said that the pattern was unusual compared with other recessions and that he believed a president like Romney would have gotten different results.

    http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/04/romney-camp-cant-explain-how-obamas-war-on-women-works.php?ref=fpblg

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

    Someone on Twitter said that Special Prosecutor Angela Corey is Black. Can anyone confirm this? She does look “a little dusky” and her edges are suspect, but I wasn’t sure.

    • Miranda

      I don’t think so, not based on the pics I’ve seen of her. My brother who lived in Florida for years before moving to GA last summer was not happy with her being appointed the special prosecutor based on her history. From what I’ve read, I’m not either, but I think the publicity of this case forces her to work on behalf of justice as opposed to other ambitions.

    • Daltex82

      ….and her edges are suspect

      LOL!

  • GreenLadyHere

    Sepia- – - -Woo! Hoo!- – - -REV. AL- – -GOES 2 WASHINGTON!!- –

    – - – - -National Action Network Heads to the Capitol- – –

    - — – -Rev. Al Sharpton and National Action Network will convene in Washington, DC for NAN’s annual national convention from April 11-14 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center featuring a who’s who in politics, civil rights, education, business, the church, Corporate America and much more. The four day event honors the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and will consist of a series of plenary sessions, panels and special events. Featured Plenary speakers and special guests include: the Attorney General of the U.S. Eric Holder, Harvard University Professor Dr. Charles Ogletree, U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan, David Gregory (NBC’s Meet the Press Moderator), U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson and more.

    - – - -Each year NAN hosts the national convention to bring together influential leaders in civil rights, government, business, and media and within the church to focus on the issues most important in civil rights that year including voting rights, education, jobs, healthcare, youth violence and social justice.

    - – — THIS- – —->The convention will close with a televised symposium taking place at Howard University entitled: “Measuring the Movement: Black Leadership’s 12-Month Action Plan” featuring Black leaders of constituencies across the country. For the third year, leaders will assess where we are and what they and their respective organizations will pledge to do over a 12-month time-frame to further critical issues impacting people of color including, but not limited to, education reform, unemployment, health care and more. The collective will discuss the real problems and how we will not only hold the President and Administration of the United States accountable, but how we will hold ourselves accountable and tangibly measure our movement over a 12-month period to enact change.
    THERE IS MORE.

    THANK U REV. AL.- —-4 your EXEMPLARY annnd your CONTINUING LEADERSHIP- -in the – — “STRUGGLE”. :>)

    U R a- – -MODEL LEADER- — in sooo MANY ARENAS!! BLESS U. :>)

  • Miranda

    Afternoon thread is up!

  • GreenLadyHere

    — JUST GOT IN. HEARING: – - -CHARGES WILL B BROUGHT AGAINST that MURDERER – “z-man”!!! – –

    WAITIN’ – - –