Jack & Jill Politics

My lord, the child is nearly as tall as her dad. Gawd, they do grow up fast!

Errant priests’ secret children to sue church.

She refused but the couple have since broken up and the priest refuses to recognise the child.


THIS.

SUE SUE SUE

I second that!

Damn, SNL is doing a parody of larry King.

Shaq Singing Rick James Fire & Desire With A Wig On

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGzlo0P8WgI

Beyonce Drinks A Beer, Hangs With Maria Shriver & Duets At Jay-Z's Coachella Concert (PHOTOS)
So much for the pregnancy rumor!

Beyonce looked adorable in her cut-off shorts and t-shirts as she sipped a beer backstage at husband Jay-Z's Coachella concert and later performed onstage.

During the show, swigging a red bull, she had a front row view next to California's First Lady Maria Shriver and one of her daughters with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Best of all, at the end, she came out and performed "Forever Young With her husband. Video BELOW the photos. Scroll!

Some photos:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/17/beyonc...

Damn,Beyoncé is phat to death. As I saw quoted elsewhere on the internet, "I'd hit it so hard, whoever pulled me out would be crowned the King of England."

Is this Alex for real?

LOL OH MY MY MY MY MY MY MY

My jaws dropped

BWA HA HA HA

********************DEAD*****************

I'm sure Jay-Z would not be standing in line to crown your ass. LMBAO

Lol lol

And I do not want to be forever young. No way.

"You have a such stunningly superficial knowledge of what went on it’s almost embarrassing to listen to you." -Z. Brzezinski

Damn, Mika's pop said that, to whom did he impart this stunning truth? Lemme guess, Joey Scar.

Yep!!

LOL Mr. Z was also addressing a heaping pile of men like Joe Scarborough. Can you say, Dillion Ratigan, Chuck Todd, Ed Henry, Willie Geist, Jake Tapper, and ad-nauseum....

I am stealing that line for sure!

He said it would such aplomb...and you had to listen to the very end to understand just what a huge slap in the face it was...soft spoken and knocked the phuck out..just zinged!

BWA HA HA HA

Let's practice it together.

"You have a such stunningly superficial knowledge of what went on it’s almost embarrassing to listen to you."

Hey Shanti,

Sup? How U B?

Been lurking all night ya'll, but I am so tired ya'll.

I've gotta work tomorrow anyway, so I'm gonna call it an early night. I've got less than 10 days until my trip to India. I still need to brush up on somethings, so don't mind me if I post some random things I've learned while surfing all things India related. And if ya'll find something India related that my come in handy for my trip, let me know.

But I had to leave ya'll with this song which has been on my mind since I got home:

Sam Cooke - Another Saturday Night

great song, and sorta jealous of you about India. please take loads of pictures to share with the rest of us.

Great song, lamh; goodnight.

New Human Ancestor Fossils Found

Scientists think this particular Australopithecus sediba fossil is from a male between 8 and 13 years old. The child's fossils were found in the remnants of a subterranean South African cave system alongside the fossil remains of an adult female in her 30s.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/04...

Great response from Steve Clemons to the AIPAC letter sent by Congress to SOS Clinton.

Israel better shyt or get up off the pot...cause that is where this is headed.

L= letter....R= Clemons response

Excerpts of Clemons reply:

L:
Dear Secretary Clinton:

We are writing to reaffirm our commitment to the unbreakable bond that exists between our country and the State of Israel and to express to you our deep concern over recent tension.

R:

"An "unbreakable bond" is flourish here, and not part of the gravity of this world. All bonds are breakable. All relationships have conditions. It is not helpful for legislators in the U.S. to further a fiction that the relationship between the US and Israel is not sensitive to the negative and positive realities in that relationship. Former Senate Majority Leader and US Ambassador to Mike Mansfield was famous for saying that the US-Japan relationship was the most important relationship in the world, "bar none." Mansfield's edict was also more pomp than real, though there were elements of truth to it -- just as I believe the US-Israel relationship is a vital one of great strategic and domestic political importance to the U.S. But the relationship requires good stewardship on both sides."

snip
L:
Our two countries are partners in the fight against terrorism and share an important strategic relationship. A strong Israel is an asset to the national security of the United States and brings stability to the Middle East.

R:
"The US and Israel are partners -- but not exclusive partners. America's security relationship with Israel is like a New Orleans levy that is still working but year by year eroding. It is important to revision Israel's security in the region in a loose federation of interests with other key Arab states. The US, Europe, the UN, and Russia could be pillars with Israel and other nations of an ASEAN Regional Forum-like approach to Middle East security. But Israel's insistence on a regional massive retaliation, massive superiority of force in the region, is simultaneously helpful and hurtful in moving a new regional security plan forward. Israel will no doubt maintain conventional and nuclear weapons superiority in the region for years -- but it's behavior towards Arabs in the region, and towards Palestinians over which it has responsibilities are helping to generate instability in the region."


snip
L:
As the Vice-President said during his recent visit to Israel: "Progress occurs in the Middle East when everyone knows there is simply no space between the U.S. and Israel when it comes to security, none. No space."

R:
I don't believe that there is ever a "no space" situation between Israel and US interests. Just the name of one person should help reasonable supporters of the US-Israel relationship get by this platitude: Jonathan Pollard.

But as far as servicing the important closeness of that relationship, Israel must get away from a policy course driven by incessant incrementalism and inertia in which it does not heed the importance of helping the US to generate a new equilibrium in the Middle East.

Israel's intransigent positions on numerous fronts often appear as support for a two state process when in fact they are designed to undermine the legitimacy and posture of their negotiating partner on the Palestinian side. The world is witnessing America allow Israel to continue to squeeze the Palestinian people and territory, to consolidate what Israel wants into the Israel security orbit, and to offer only crumbs now and then to Palestine's leadership. While Israel may think that this strategy furthers its own interests; this is undermining the American brand and seriously harming American interests. If these trends continue, there will be not only "no space" between Israel and the US but a giant ravine."


L:
We recognize that, despite the extraordinary closeness between our country and Israel, there will be differences over issues both large and small. Our view is that such differences are best resolved quietly, in trust and confidence, as befits longstanding strategic allies. We hope and expect that, with mutual effort and good faith, the United States and Israel will move beyond this disruption quickly, to the lasting benefit of both nations.

R:

I do too. I want this episode to be behind us -- but to get it behind us, Israel and US political leaders must tailor the strategy each is pursuing to be more convergent with a realistic pathway to a two state solution between Israel and Palestine. Israel is good at articulating what can't be done, what can't be given away, or who can't be at the table -- but it is lousy at articulating a constructive course. Israel pretends that it can't offer concessions outright to get to this goal while at the same time demanding that the US not publicly force it towards those goals. In other words, Israel's posture simultaneously requires that a greater power push it and the Palestinians in the right direction while also rejecting and trying to counter through the Congress Executive Branch pressure. This is a game that needs to end."

L:
We believe, as President Obama said, that "Israel's security is paramount" in our
Middle East policy and that "it is in U.S. national security interests to assure that Israel's security as an independent Jewish state is maintained." In that spirit, we look forward to working with you to achieve the common objectives of the U.S. and Israel, especially regional security and peace.

[Signed Members of the US Senate and US House of Representatives]


R:
I am a believer in Israel and view myself as pro-Israeli while at the same time viewing myself as pro-Arab. Israel's security is one of several paramount issues. One of those paramount issues is American security which is being undermined by this unresolved Middle East-roiling ulcer of Palestinian occupation. Another is the paramount goal of achieving a horizon of hope for Palestinians within and outside of Israel.

As Haim Ramon once told me, if this issue of a Palestinian state is not soon resolved, Israel will either have to forfeit its status as a "democracy" or as a "Jewish state."

That sounds like a paramount issue to me.



Rest of response at this link:
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/04/16...

see, they are fraying the last nerve of a lot of AMERICANS, who have on the tip of their tongues

" what the fuck are we getting out of our allegiance to the 51st state? and how could we better position ourselves if we change said allegiance?"

Thank God we are waking up. Only problem is that AIPAC owns Congress, ergo 75% of Congress signed this friggin letter!

If you ask me it is treasonous for a US Congress person to support a foreign country over the national security interest of the US...just against the constituion they are sworn to uphold.

But they owned and bossed by AIPAC.

THIS RIGHT HERE: "One of those paramount issues is American security which is being undermined by this unresolved Middle East-roiling ulcer of Palestinian occupation."

Israel needs a truck load of Charmin, cause they definitely NEED to get their shit together!

It will be interesting to see what kind of show down there will be without POTUS having the financial leverage to cut off funding. I think POTUS is intent on creating an atmosphere where it is just not going to be acceptable to side with Israel as it will be against our national security interest. Siding with Israel is putting our sons/daughters in danger.

We will only get away from this by creating emotional angst....PBO..gonna figure out how to...cause Netanyhu double crossed him and tried to make him look week with that settlement shyt being announced with VP Biden right there.

Bibi Net is a snake, and PBO will handle him accordingly. Our troops
deserve better than what our congress is willing to be sell them out for.
Time will tell the story of their unholy alliance with Israel.

Third generation of Jews is speaking out against Wiesel and his politics that keeps the ME mired in conflict.


" In the same issue of the IHT (April 16, 2010), there appeared a full page ad ("For Jerusalem") signed by Elie Wiesel, and Roger Cohen's column, "The Clutches of the Dead." Nothing could have illustrated Cohen's point about the slim purchase that the "minority," the Living, have over the "majority," the Dead, better than Wiesel's sentimental claim over all of Jerusalem on behalf of some misty-eyed notion of three thousand years of Jewish belonging.

Neither man lives in Jerusalem, my city, but Cohen articulates that very value for which many of us hoped Wiesel--who won the Nobel Prize, not for literature, but for peace--would be our spokesperson. After representing so eloquently the victims of history's injustices in Nazi and then Soviet Europe, Wiesel would surely, we assumed, turn to the injustices perpetrated by his own people, and cry out against the occupation and dispossession of the Palestinian people. Instead he tells us, with no evidence on the ground, that "Jews, Christians and Muslims are allowed to build their homes anywhere in the city."
I defy Mr. Wiesel to find three Muslim families in all of West Jerusalem. The delicate balance between Jewish and Palestinian neighborhoods in this city has never been realized in city planning and infrastructure. Now it is being flagrantly undermined by acts that will almost certainly push the Palestinians into the hands of the extremists and kill any chance for peace between the two peoples.

Cohen reminds us that Jerusalem's poet, Yehuda Amichai, called his city the "only city in the world where the right to vote is granted even to the dead." As a growing group of Jerusalemites, Jews and Palestinians, stand in protest every Friday afternoon in the parking lot in Sheikh Jerrah across the street from where Jewish settlers have brutally displaced Palestinians based on some doubtful claim to Jewish ownership prior to 1948, we are taking a stand in the name of the Living and Life Itself.

Not only do the settlers here and all over the West Bank undermine the very legitimacy of Israel's existence (if Jews have a right to land owned across the Green Line before the War of Independence, then surely so do those thousands of Palestinians who were displaced from West Jerusalem--including, presumably, the very house from which I write these words), but they consign all of us, sooner rather than later, to join the phalanx of the dead who died because people like Wiesel prefer mythical references to History and Eschatology over the real people who want to live together in peace:

"You see that arch from the Roman period?" asks the putative tour guide in Amichai's poem "Tourists": "It's not important: but next to it, left and down a bit, there sits a man who's bought fruit and vegetables for his family."

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/04/17...
--------------------


"Did you know morality is for sale? No? Well, as far as Elie Wiesel is concerned it is. If the Palestinians had $500,000 THEY might find moral favor in Elie’s eyes as well. You see, since Bernie Madoff blew Wiesel’s foundation assets, I guess he’s found a need to sell his scruples to the highest bidder. Last year that would’ve been John Hagee, before whose Christians United for Israel conference Wiesel pronounced the anti-Semite and homophobe his “dear pastor”:
“For delivering one speech to Hagee’s congregation, Wiesel received a check for $500,000 toward his foundation, according to Marita Styrsky, the wife of Christians United for Israel Eastern Regional Director Victor Styrsky (Christians United is Hagee’s lobbying arm).”...
...And the next time you hear of some good deed performed by the Elie Wiesel Foundation remember it’s probably funded by a man who said that Hitler was half-Jewish and doing the work of the Lord, John Hagee."
ENTIRE POST – http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/20...

______________



Now if only we can get them to get AIPAC to listen.

How rich with irony is it that Wiesel was defrauded by Madoff...particularly, given how Wiesel was using his wealth against the best interest of the USA to further the interest of Israel.


I say...there is a GOD...and we will move forward...the 3rd generation gets it.

AS the writer so eloquently put it they are tired of being the LivingMinority sacrificed for the DeadMajority politics that AIPAC and Wiesel fight for.

Remind me of GeneralGeneral Elders when she said...they have a love affair with the womb, about those right to lifers...and ignore the consequences to the living.

Damn if this Israel Holocaust is not the same darn thing when it is the dead who is revered over the living hell of those who actually reside in Israel.

White supremacists stir up opposition on the Los Angeles City Hall lawn
April 17, 2010 | 2:09 pm

As hundreds of demonstrators surrounded Los Angeles City Hall and shouted "Nazis go home," about 40 white supremacists stood and waved swastika flags at a rally closely monitored by the Los Angeles Police Department.

"We are tired of you clogging up our streets," shouted one white supremacist of the National Socialist Movement. Another group member repeatedly denounced illegal aliens, saying, "If the city supports illegal aliens and criminals, that is treason."

Word of the group's rally, which was held behind a cordon of yellow police tape, attracted a variety of groups staging counter-demonstrations. At least two people were badly beaten in the ramp-up to the rally and one woman collapsed for unknown reasons.


"Why would we choose Los Angeles for a rally?" one of the socialist movement members asked. "Because it's the front line," he said."It is the belly of the beast."

About 50 feet away, police in riot gear separated neo-Nazi protesters from the hundreds of angry counter-protesters.

The latter chanted "Nazis go home," beat drums and thrust middle fingers in the air. Counter-protesters on the south lawn of City Hall drowned out the words of a Nazi protest leader's amplified speech.

They chanted, "Whose streets? Our streets!"

Several fights preceded the appearance of the supremacist group. One involved a man holding a sign with flames and a swastika. The man, who was carrying a bullhorn, was suddenly rushed by a mob of counter- demonstrators and beaten near the corner of Spring and 1st streets.

The man, who appeared to be in his 30s, was punched in the face and kicked for about 20 seconds by protesters, many of them wearing bandannas.

About a dozen police in riot gear rushed from near City Hall, running straight into the center of the mob.

"Police!" members of the mob screamed, running down Spring Street.

Once police broke up the mob, the man with the sign began running south on Spring Street. One man caught up with him and slugged him in the face; he collapsed and his face hit the curb. He was quickly surrounded by a mob again until police caught up and pushed the counter-protesters away with their batons.

The man was then escorted away by police as blood spilled from the back of his head.

His sign, broken into pieces, was left behind on the street. It read: "Christianity = Paganism" and had an arrow pointing to a swastika.

It wasn't clear if the man was a white supremacist.

"Gosh, I think he just didn't have a clear message. I don't even think he was a Nazi," said one man, looking at the broken pieces of the sign.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/04/w...

Damn!

They want an all out war! Stoopid mofos.

these folks are under the delusion that
1. Black folk and other folk of color don't know how to exercise THEIR 2nd Amendment rights.
2. With regards to Black folks - they still are under the delusion that we're ' turn the other' cheek.

that's so LAST-CENTURY.

You now are dealing with 'New Jack' or 'Hip Hop' Niggas, and ain't no cheeks to be turned.

This, this, a million times THIS!

Us coloreds don't do marching anymore. You get violent with us, we take that shit to the streets.

There you go, Axel!

Doobie Brothers - Takin' It To The Streets

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G54lfxiid_w

OOOOOH I just watched this new documentary (in limited release,) called 41st and Central: the Real Story of the Black Panthers Party of Los Angeles.

That particular Black Panthers group was NUTS, I can't lie I left wanting a gun... Especially since these white conservatives are all strapped.

You aren't kidding about dealing w/ 'New Jack or 'Hip Hop' Niggas. They'd betta check themselves before they wreck themselves. Ain't nobody scurred!

Yeah pretty intense. Can't believe they had a rally here...jack*****

Whateva!

Hey, Texas_Girl; where these fools in your neck of the woods?

No they were in downtown L.A. thank goodness
However, those that participated could be anybody walking down the streets anywhere here. Never know

Ha, them dumbasses find it's a LOT different to have their rallies in the 'hood than the trailer parks, LOL. Now, I'd like to see them try that shit in NYC, the Chi, Miami and D.C.

LOL Like I said, these CACs talk shit and carry their second amendment guns,
but don't even bother to think everyone else is packing and drawing on their
same freedoms. That's how entitled and ignorant they are. Ignorance can be
a harmful thing.

And the thing is too, they not just ignorant...they proud of being ignorant.

LaRap, seriously these folks roll up into, say Compton or any other hood, they won't have time to put on their hoods. They will get caps in the their asses for sure. Make no mistake about it.

So if they are proud of their ignorance, they will be dead, proud and ignorant.

LMAO!!! ....you know what they saaaaaaay

There is no change without struggle!!

lol

"Why would we choose Los Angeles for a rally?" one of the socialist movement members asked. "Because it's the front line," he said."It is the belly of the beast."

OMG!! No he did not say this!!

EVITA!!! Where you at girl? I know you said you was gonna head straight to Crenshaw... and folks wanna brawl... EviTA was that you on the megaphone hollering:

"Whose streets? Our streets!"

LOL

I missed it! I never know about protests and stuff... I get too angry. lol

Al Sharpton's National Action Network: An organization like no other
By Dr. Boyce Watkins

8:25 AM on 04/17/2010

arrived in New York for the National Action Network National Convention expecting to see something interesting, but not knowing what interesting would look like. Many of the names that normally appear as email text would suddenly be connected to faces I'd never seen in person. I tend to shy away from the celebrity types, since I enjoy producing my own ideas without the obstructive distraction of incestuous personal connectivity. While I enjoy interacting with others who do what I do, I try my best to tell it like it is. I also looked forward to seeing high action, high energy NAN members up close, which is always both thrilling and challenging. NAN doesn't mess around.

Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network is unlike any other group in America. They don't get together to talk about what will make the world a better place, they actually get out there and do it. They don't sit and clap for you if they think you're unworthy. They stand up and tell you when to sit down and shut up. They are national in scope, with the heart of tough New Yorkers. I find them to be incredibly passionate and progressive.

http://www.thegrio.com/opinion/sharptons-nation...

April 16, 2010

How did Big Finance grow so powerful that its hijinks nearly brought down the global economy – and what hope is there for real reform with Washington politicians on Wall Street's payroll? Bill Moyers talks with authors Simon Johnson and James Kwak, two of the nation's most respected economic experts and authors of the new book 13 BANKERS: THE WALL STREET TAKEOVER AND THE NEXT FINANCIAL MELTDOWN.

Transcript April 16, 2010

BILL MOYERS: Welcome to the JOURNAL. With all due respect, we can only wish those tea party activists who gathered this week were not so single-minded about just who's responsible for their troubles, real and imagined. They're up in arms, so to speak, against big government, especially the Obama administration.

But if they thought this through, they'd be joining forces with other grassroots Americans who will soon be demonstrating in Washington and elsewhere against high finance, taking on Wall Street and the country's biggest banks.

The original Tea Party, remember, wasn't directed just against the British redcoats. Colonial patriots also took aim at the East India Company. That was the joint-stock enterprise originally chartered by the first Queen Elizabeth. Over the years, the government granted them special rights and privileges, which the owners turned into a monopoly over trade, including tea.

It may seem a stretch from tea to credit default swaps, but the principle is the same: when enormous private wealth goes unchecked, regular folks get hurt - badly. That's what happened in 2008 when the monied interests led us up the garden path to the great collapse.

Suppose the Tea Party folk had dropped by those Senate hearings this week looking into the failure of Washington Mutual. That's the bank that went belly up during the meltdown in September 2008. It was the largest such failure in American history.

WaMu, as we were reminded this week, made sub-prime loans that its executives knew were rotten, then packaged them as mortgage securities, and pawned them off on unsuspecting investors.

snip*


Video

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04162010/watc...

More on the Bobby Scott Holiday Inn snafu:

The congressman added that the officers were polite and courteous.

The two officers had checked the motel's register to see if any wanted people were staying there and found three names that were possible matches, Lepley said.

Lepley noted that the city's code states that guest registers at motels "shall be subject to inspection at any and all reasonable times by the chief of police or by any police officer in the performance of such officer's duties."

Lepley said the tactic has been successful in the past for serving outstanding warrants. He said a precinct commander had decided officers should check the Holiday Inn's register because "they had some issues in that neighborhood." Lepley declined to elaborate.
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/local/ar...
so now my guess is that the police went to the Holiday Inn and entered the names of the guests into their police computer and got 3 hits.

Yawn...Next...

The officers were WHITE, polite and courteous. Ummm, and your point is?

What is clear is that they had the bogus warrant name, knew Scott was there, and only needed the room number.

How they knew Scott was there to show up and ask for his room number is what is highly suspicious...not to mention how Scott was like 30 years younger than the Congressman and weighed 100 lbs more than him, as well.

I wonder if he is white as well....wouldn't be surprised.

This story just has ominous tones.

No matter how much folks want to paint this shit as some kind of fluke, we know it was haphazardly planned to intimidate Scott. THE.FUCKING.END.

precisely.

perhaps you should e-mail Mr Scott and ask him what he thinks.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504365_162-20002197...

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that it's going to come down to a question of cutting entitlements or jacking up taxes. Here's the money quote:

The arithmetic is, unfortunately, quite clear. To avoid large and unsustainable budget deficits, the nation will ultimately have to choose among higher taxes, modifications to entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare, less spending on everything else from education to defense, or some combination of the above. These choices are difficult, and it always seems easier to put them off--until the day they cannot be put off any more. But unless we as a nation demonstrate a strong commitment to fiscal responsibility, in the longer run we will have neither financial stability nor healthy economic growth.


Former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker used an address to the New York Historical Society to float the possibility of a value added tax (If there's a need to raise taxes, he said, then we should raise taxes.)

Congressional Budget Office head Doug Elmendorf offered the gloomiest assessment, concluding that the nation's fiscal path is simply "unsustainable."
*****************************************************
sigh - a VAT tax is no fun and games.

Bernake is an idiot. By refusing to examine the tax structure he reinforces the status quo giving you only those choices. for a man whom was recently confronted w/ the end of the capitalist economic system as we know it (for or for worse) and had to think outside the box by his own admission to save it, it tells you how intellectually bankrupt he is.
Any examination of the tax code in America shows how much of the purpose of it is to keep income away from the tax man. So to change it we need to elimnate those statues you keep income away from taxes and lower the rates on the income exposed to taxes for everyone. Most of this income is from multinational corporations based in this country s they will not be happy but contributing to the public good is something they should be doing.

Interesting comments on Roland's NAN live chat here:

http://www.rolandsmartin.com/blog/index.php/201...

I don't see any comments.

The comments were up on the live chat. Apparently they have taken down the live chat now, sorry.

Comcast partners with teabaggers to bring new right-wing broadcast network online
By karoli Saturday Apr 17, 2010 12:00pm

Comcast is fighting its way through a battle to acquire NBC and related assets (including MSNBC) without being deemed a monopoly (which they are, and should be barred from owning NBC). For a preview of how dangerous it is to have one corporation control access to the Internet and cable TV, have a look at their new joint venture: RightNetwork.

Check out the slick ads, the Kelsey Grammer intro, and please have a look at their debut reality series called "Running".

What isn't apparent at first blush becomes apparent while watching the promo. They call it a reality show, but it's really just a big teabagger campaign ad wrapped up in a half-hour broadcast and packaged for the web, mobile and cable broadcast.

They have a slick little "lookbook" you can download (PDF) for an overview of what they're about. Nice piece of marketing literature. They're marketing themselves as the "anywhere, anytime" network for "engaged people".

http://crooksandliars.com/

"Thursday night I saw a political minstrel show..."

Damn.

Damn, is right, however, Blow was spot on with his observations.

Gloria Estefan defends decision to invite Obama for political fundraiser
Saturday, April 17, 2010 17:49 IST

London: Cuban singer Gloria Estefan has said that she took the right decision to invite US president Barack Obama for a fundraiser.
Gloria and her husband Emilio had invited Obama to their Miami beach home in Florida for a political fundraiser to help the Democratic Party, reports The Daily Express.

The Democratic National Committee event at the singer's house made the locals livid as they were supporting the rival party.

Now, the 52-year-old Grammy winner has said that she does not support any party and that she discussed issues relating to the Cuban community with the now president.

"We're still nonpartisan. I am not affiliated. The bottom line is that if the White House calls and says, 'We're coming to Miami', what more of an honour for a Cuban-American immigrant that came here when I was two years old, than to have the president of the United States in my home and to be able to speak to him about some of the things we have been doing?," Estefan said on Larry King Live.

http://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/report_gl...
decision-to-invite-obama-for-political-fundraiser_1372507

http://gawker.com/5518465/obama-kicks-it-with-g...

Third generation Cubans and Jews are not adhering to their grandparents political positions.

Gloria is right on the money...although I found it interesting that she had to claim to be an independent.

Must be hard for a successful Cuban entertainer not to declare themselves politically, given that politics and business reallly don't mix when you have a paying public.

CLASSIC MOVIE ALERT:

Enter the Dragon
TVONE
10 pm EST

Oh, snap!

The Greatest Martial Artist of All Time in the Greatest Martial Arts movie of All Time, baby!

Wasn't this Lee's last film before he died? No doubt it's a classic!

I love Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon too, love it.

Goldman Sachs Said to Have Been Warned of SEC Suit (Update1)
April 16, 2010, 9:53 PM EDT

Adds company’s response to SEC claims in last paragraph.)
By Joshua Gallu and David Scheer

April 17 (Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which fell 13 percent yesterday after U.S. regulators announced fraud accusations, didn’t disclose that it was warned nine months ago that investigators wanted to bring a case, people with direct knowledge of the talks said.

Goldman Sachs responded to the so-called Wells notice from the Securities and Exchange Commission within months and met with the agency officials trying to fend off the civil lawsuit, said the people, who declined to be identified because the talks weren’t public. In March, the New York-based firm said it was cooperating with regulators’ “requests for information.”

“The question is whether a general disclaimer like that is rendered misleading because you left out the specifics,” said Adam Pritchard, a former SEC attorney who teaches law at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. “The prudent, conservative choice is to disclose more,” because omissions can lead to shareholder lawsuits, Pritchard said.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-16/gol...

A Mighty Pale Tea
By CHARLES M. BLOW
Published: April 16, 2010

GRAND PRAIRIE, Tex.

On Thursday, I came here outside Dallas for a Tea Party rally.

At first I thought, “Wow! This is much more diverse than the rallies I’ve seen on television.”

Then I realized that I was looking at stadium workers. I should have figured as much when I approached the gate. The greeter had asked, “Are you working tonight?”

I sat in the front row. But when the emcee asked, “Do we have any infiltrators?” and I almost raised my hand, I realized that sitting there might not be such a good idea.

I had specifically come to this rally because it was supposed to be especially diverse. And, on the stage at least, it was. The speakers included a black doctor who bashed Democrats for crying racism, a Hispanic immigrant who said that she had never received a single government entitlement and a Vietnamese immigrant who said that the Tea Party leader was God. It felt like a bizarre spoof of a 1980s Benetton ad.

The juxtaposition was striking: an abundance of diversity on the stage and a dearth of it in the crowd, with the exception of a few minorities like the young black man who carried a sign that read “Quit calling me a racist.”

They saved the best for last, however: Alfonzo “Zo” Rachel. According to his Web site, Zo, who is black and performs skits as “Zo-bama,” allowed drugs to cost him “his graduation.” Before ripping into the president for unconstitutional behavior, he cautioned, “I don’t have the education that our president has, so if I misinterpret some things in the founding documents I kind of have an excuse.” That was the understatement of the evening.

I found the imagery surreal and a bit sad: the minorities trying desperately to prove that they were “one of the good ones”; the organizers trying desperately to resolve any racial guilt among the crowd. The message was clear: How could we be intolerant if these multicolored faces feel the same way we do?

It was a farce. This Tea Party wanted to project a mainstream image of a group that is anything but. A New York Times/CBS News poll released on Wednesday found that only 1 percent of Tea Party supporters are black and only 1 percent are Hispanic. It’s almost all white.

And even when compared to other whites, their views are extreme and marginal. For instance, white Tea Party supporters are twice as likely as white independents and eight times as likely as white Democrats to believe that Barack Obama was born in another country.

Furthermore, they were more than eight times as likely as white independents and six times as likely as white Democrats to think that the Obama administration favors blacks over whites.

Thursday night I saw a political minstrel show devised for the entertainment of those on the rim of obliviousness and for those engaged in the subterfuge of intolerance. I was not amused.


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/17/opinion/17blo...

You know the staged Benetton crew are getting phat paid to shuck & jive...

This is the game he snuck out and ditched the press right? lol

This is today and is probably why he snuck out last time. No press means no photos.

I don't know. I don't think it is today. I think the date is the day the photos were releashed.

It looks like no secret service too!

When I think about rolling out of bed to take my child to her Sat morning games, the absolute last thing I need is someone taking pictures! Nah'mean?!

I'm with ya, The_A. I'm also wondering if the Bush twins or Chelsea ever got this much attention to get photographs while going to their recitals, etc.

Weren't those Bushiefemales grown women practically or teens when they hit the WH. Unlike Malia and Sasha who are in primary/elementary school? Will Malia even be 12 this 4th of July?

I'ont know. I didn't have an interest in them then or now.

I think Malia will be 12 this year. Gawd, she's stunning...

Malia is growing up and she is developing into a beautiful young lady.

Malia is absolutely gorgeous!

LOL