Tuesday Evening Open Thread

If you have sex with a prostitute against her will, is it considered rape or shoplifting? *packs luggage for trip straight to hell*

Can you cry under water?

How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?

Why do you have to 'put your two cents in'... but it's only a 'penny for your thoughts'? Where's that extra penny going to?

Once you're in heaven, do you get stuck wearing the clothes you were buried in for eternity?

Why does a round pizza come in a square box?

What disease did cured ham actually have?

How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?

Why is it that people say they 'slept like a baby' when babies wake up like every two hours?

If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing? *catches first class flight straight to hell*

Why are you IN a movie, but you're ON TV?

Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?

Why do doctors leave the room while you change? They're going to see you naked anyway.

Why is 'bra' singular and 'panties' plural?

Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would eat?

If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a stupid song about him?

Can a hearse carrying a corpse drive in the carpool lane? ROTFLMAO

If the professor on Gilligan's Island can make a radio out of a coconut, why can't he fix a hole in a boat?

Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours??? They're both dogs!

If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that ACME crap, why didn't he just buy dinner?

If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, what is baby oil made from?

If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

Do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?

^^^Why did you just try singing the two songs above?

Why do they call it an asteroid when it's outside the hemisphere, but call it a hemorrhoid when it's in your butt?

Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him for a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?

If the professor on Gilligan's Island can make a radio out of a coconut, why can't he fix a hole in a boat?

Thank you!!! Between that and the guest stars coming and going off the island every week I could never get past that enough to enjoy the show.

LMBAO!

****DEAD***** carolingirl's back...

Tee-hee!!

THIS is sooooo EPIC:

Plantsmantx - There's no rational discussion possible with you. You have your own drumbeat and way of looking at things and seem to view it all through that lens. Now you want me to name names: I do think Jane Hamsher has particularly acute racism problems. I could name other names too, but that's not my point. Because guess what? Everybody does! (And not just white folk. I'd say you ought to look at your own as well.) As Zizi notes, you don't get to claim to speak for all black folk anymore than I get to claim to speak for all white folk. Neither of us was elected to do that. And I would never use the term "us" in speaking to you the way you try to lecture me. I've been around the block. An asshat like you often shows up to claim to speak for those that did not elect you. To me, whatever your ethnicity, race, creed, sexual orientation, age, gender or planet you come from, its your words that count, not your demographics. Your crap might work on some but I'm inoculated through years of experience.

You're running your own show, with you and only you as its audience, with your own personal axe to grind. And I bore easily with people who talk at me instead of demonstrating a capability to have a conversation rather than a shouting match. Again, I didn't ask for your permission, and obviously don't think I need it, to point out my opinion that there are racial components to the white college educated blogger opposition to the health bill. And it has nothing to do with what words they use or whether they're a stupid as PUMAs in not shielding their gut emotions.

And I'm not doing it for you. I don't even know you. And never had you in mind when I expressed these thoughts. So don't make it about you. It's not.

The flaming continues. Someone else spoke down to Plantmantx. Oh, it was beautiful. It has brought a tear to my left eye.

A tear of joy.

I saw that. Plantsmantx is getting his ass molly wopped!

I was doing my church dance on that one...

We have to repost this tomorrow. It was so epic, it deserves a second helping!!

Poor plantseed is catching hell over at Al's tonight. I don't think he/she/it knows what he/she/it got himself into when he wrote on Al's blog. When you comment on his blog you had better bring it. Or Al will come and get you. Now plantseed has other black commenters taking a chunk out of his behind. I "almost" feel sorry for him. Not

Good news, but let's see what the stepfather does next.
___________________________________________

Brazil top judge orders U.S. boy returned to father

Tue Dec 22, 2009 6:50pm EST

BRASILIA (Reuters) - The Brazilian Supreme Court's top judge ruled on Tuesday that Sean Goldman, the 9-year-old boy at the center of an international custody battle, must be reunited with his father and return to the United States, a press officer at the court told reporters.

American David Goldman has been fighting to bring his son home since 2004 when his then-wife, Sean's mother, brought the boy to her native Brazil and then divorced Goldman. She died last year.

The ruling by Chief Justice Gilmar Mendes is preliminary and needs approval by the full court but it is immediately binding and could therefore allow Goldman to take his son back to the United States.

However, the lawyer for the Brazilian family has said he has prepared an appeal.

"The decision by the president of the Supreme Court re-establishes the decision of the Tribunal of Rio de Janeiro which brought custody of the son to the biological father," said Supreme Court spokesman Renato Parente.

That ruling last week gave the Brazilian family 48 hours to hand over Sean to U.S. authorities but it was blocked shortly afterward by a ruling from another Supreme Court judge.

The Goldman case has reached the highest levels of both governments and threatened to mar Brazil-U.S. relations.

Goldman and the U.S. government say Sean's case is clearly one of international child abduction.

Bianchi's family and her second husband have fought to keep Sean in Brazil, saying he has settled in the country and does not want to go back the United States.

Why are you back here?

Back, sg2? I never left. I have been finishing preps for Fiday, and exploring C.S. Lewis' world of Narnia. And you?

What do you think of the Coleman / Brazil abduction case?

I never left

Oh, cot damn!

What do you think of the Coleman / Brazil abduction case?

Kiss my entire black ass and go take your racist ass where people give a fuck, "Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Sidney"!

Grump much tonight? And what are you talking about, sg2?

What do you think of the Coleman / Brazil abduction case?

Don't play games with me, mofo! WTF do you want here?

My stars, you are lit tonight.

To:

Enlighten and
Engage.

Encourage and
Entertain.

Empower and
Enrich.


And to learn. And you, sg2?

Yankenstein,

STFU!

You seem troubled, sg2.

Go away, Yankenstein!

Oh my god!!! You all have to read this exchange between Al Giordano and JJP's Plantmantx. Al served Plantmantx's ass on a platter. I am convinced that Plantmantx is crazy... seriously. This is epic.


"The bill killers are
Submitted December 22, 2009 - 2:39 pm by Plantsmantx (not verified)

"The bill killers are essentially the 2009 version of the 2008 PUMAs".

I don't think so. The PUMAs pretty clearly distinguished themselves from everybody else, and there certainly was a racial component to their rhetoric. If the "bill killers", as you call them had these feelings, they would have been more than evident during the campaign.

"They of course failed miserably, as the exit polls and hard results demonstrated on election night. Then, as now, both groups deny there is a racial component to their attack. Others of us can spot it a mile away. But there ain’t much use arguing about that because you either see it or you don’t."

You know what? I think there is reason to argue about that, because it's slander. I'm black, I've been black for what is getting to be quite a while now, and I don't see it. In fact, I've been struck by the lack of them using black people as political footballs/fig leaves/pawns in this little dustup. You, on the other hand... As I said in a comment on Jack and Jill Politics, I think you need to leave us out of this, because it absolutely stinks of offensive, insulting paternalism. It's not a matter of "either you see it, or you don't." It's a matter of "Either you're willing to use black people as political pawns for your own ends, or you're not", and it's obvious that you're more than willing. It's disgusting.

* reply


@ Plantsmantx
Submitted December 22, 2009 - 5:45 pm by Al Giordano

Plantsmantx - You write, "you need to leave us out of this." Nope. You don't get to tell me what to say or not (and the same is true vice versa). Amazing how you jump to a (wrong) conclusion about what I meant by the "racial component." I'll tell you what I meant because I said it aloud in a recent posting before this one: When these self-appointed leaders of "the base" or "the progressive movement" think and talk about who that alleged base is made of, they're talking about college educated white folks.

One of the racial components - true regarding their willful not counting of Mexican Americans and African Americans, among others as part of "the base" they refer to - is that not passing this bill will disproportionately harm African Americans (19 percent of which don't have health insurance) and Hispanic Americans (30 percent of whom don't have health insurance). Whereas only 5 percent of college educated whites are in the same boat.

It is their willful blindness to minority sectors in US society that very much does indicate the racial component to their schtick. And I'm entitled to point that out with or without asking your permission first.

Truth is, if I don't point it out, someone else can legitimately call me out on silence in the face of white liberal racism, which, I repeat, is not exclusive to African Americans but is especially pointed these days at the immigrants from the country where I currently reside South of the Border. Damn straight it's my right - and my duty - to speak my mind on it!

* reply


"Truth is, if I don't point
Submitted December 22, 2009 - 6:18 pm by Plantsmantx (not verified)

"Truth is, if I don't point it out, someone else can legitimately call me out on silence in the face of white liberal racism"

Again, whether I agree with everything they say or not (and I don't agree with all of it), what I see is them keeping race out of it- not saying "but the poor black people" in order to achieve their own ends, and I see you doing exactly that. What you're doing it not that far away from racist whites do when they pretend to have some real concern for some black people, solely for the sake of those black people. I think you (or mayby it was BooMan) mentioned something about them taking their stance for "feel-good" reasons. Actually, I think that's what you're doing with the "but what about the poor black people" rhetoric. It's not for us- it's for you.

"It is their willful blindness to minority sectors in US society that very much does indicate the racial component to their schtick."

"Willful blindness to minority sectors", huh? Interesting. As soon as I read that, the President's response to the CBC's call for attention to the especially bad unemployment situation in our particular "minority sector" came to mind. Does that indicate the "racial component" to his schtick?

"Damn straight it's my right - and my duty - to speak my mind on it!"

Well, I don't know if it's your duty, but you definitely have the right to speak your mind on it, just as I have the right to tell you to keep your paternalism away from us, and to say I think you're using black people to smear them as racists...for YOUR ends, not ours. Show me the racism. Theirs, I mean.



* reply

@ Plantsmantx (again)
Submitted December 22, 2009 - 6:35 pm by Al Giordano

Plantsmantx - You disagree with me. I disagree with you. I also disagree with your characterization of what I've written. How you read it is entirely up to your interpretation. I see no point in trying to convince you otherwise. It's like we're having two different arguments that don't even cross each other. If you think I'm being "paternalistic," that's not my problem.

* reply

Ouch!

Go over there and read the comments SG2, it's on the first blog. Plantmantx keeps going and Zizi as well as Al shut this idiot down again! I will repost the whole thing tomorrow morning for the open thread. Al is the shit!

Thank you so much for that! I needed a good laugh.

I was my laughing my ass off too. It's just so fucking fantastic!!

That exchange almost makes you wonder if someone is getting paid and I am not talking about Al.
I had a run in with plantsmantx about this subject and linked some posts on DU to back it up. All he could say was, "How did you respond?"

Black folks there are moles all around us and I almost think they are trying to keep black folks from uprising while they try to damage the President as much as possible before the election.

I had a run in with plantsmantx about this subject and linked some posts on DU to back it up. All he could say was, "How did you respond?"

I saw that. You may be on to something.

FDL pays people to post on DKos, so you never know...

Some moles are checking the tempature in the afrosphere.

When I make a post and back it up with links to support my post and you ask me HOW I RESPONDed? ummmm, It makes me wonder if someone is trying to get talking points together to try to win a debate (argument) later?

Oh yeah, I experienced that with DThomas85. I showed him/her/its ass, by posting some links that proved he was wrong and asked him to prove so. He didn't. Still hasn't to this day. He's from JJP too. Are you noticing a pattern? Bobbleheads are trying to drop the level of discourse at Al's. He don't play.

The sheer fuckery of it all continues. Zizi and myself basically told Plantmantx to STFU. This poster just kept going and Al, bascially dismissed his/her ass again.

Plantsmantx is twisted!

I read that earlier. Plantseed got served. And he/she is too ignant to know what happened. Al is the man. He doesn't suffer fools well.

Ass was served on a platter and kept trying to come back for more.

*Reads tags*

D'aww shucks. I miss you guys too. I'm at home now and you guys are having all the fun. Y'all even got a bad couch??? WTF? I kept getting sent to this chair.

Welcome to all new posters! Some names are familiar and some aren't. Take a look around and check us out. If you like what we've got goin' on, bookmark us and tell your friends about the site.

ETA: It's looking like the hubby will be discharged tomorrow. Yay!!!

That's good news, CG! Whoo hoo! :-)

I am glad he is feeling better!!

Hey CG!

Wee misses you! Be glad when you can get back on a regular!

I have to laugh that the rec list on DKos was all Hamsher before it became all Obama and the public option, and then I come here, and there's a convo about Hamsher here too. LOL, I can't get away from that woman. I'm over her, I wonder what she'll do after the bill passes?

"I wonder what she'll do after the bill passes?"

She'll move on to the war in Afghanistan

I like this article about Arianna hr puff and stuffington. Zsa Zsa certainly has some issues

Arianna hr puff and stuffington

Tee hee. I call her site The HuffPuffBlowYourHouseDownington Post. She acts like she's some big bad "liberal" wolf, but that heifer forgot that PBO's house is made from bricks.

Okay, just spent a couple of hours changing the layout on my hair blog: http://muzikalhairjournal.blogspot.com/ what do you guys think? I'm still trying to figure out how to get the number of comments to show up in the little bubble (any webmasters wanna help a sistah out? LOL).

I thought the other one was a bit too dark.

I know that this is the season of giving and showing love for your fellow man and woman. But PlanetPov did a righteous beatdown of Arianna Huffington:

BEWARE OF GREEKS CAUSING RIFTS IN YOUR POLITICAL PARTY/MOVEMENT …

I’m on a mission. I’m utterly angered and repulsed that so many people on the Left are bamboozled by a phoney shill, who purports to be a Progressive.

People need to learn to think critically and investigate the background and modus operandi of every media talking head who puts forth an idea as fact. If you don’t, you just aren’t thinking. The saddest thing that can happen to a person is for his intellect to stultify.

There’s a particular media person who’s really getting up my tits at the moment. Just like I had George Bush pegged as the ineffectual frat boy that he turned out to be, I’ve had this one pegged for the last 28 years, ever since her rather ignominious departure from the United Kingdom after brazenly trying to appropriate a place amongst the serious British media intelligensia. (Don’t be fooled: the fact that Kirsty Wark – the most dipshitbrained political commentator and ‘pet Scot’ fo the BBC – interviewed her recently only served one purpose – Huffington’s stupidity made the equally vapid Wark look good).

I suppose our fathers and grandfathers, the so-called Greatest Generation, had to deal with Tokyo Rose and Axis Annie. Now we have to deal with the Greek Whoracle. I always thought, being the grandchild of three, that naturalised Americans came to this country to savour freedom. Instead the Whoracle came to enhance her brand and further her own interests, all the while criticising any and all Administrations which got in her way. I suppose Michael Huffington’s loss to Barbara Boxer in the Senate campaign and his subsequent ‘outing’ (and thus ending of the business arrangement that was her marriage) put paid to her ultimate ambition of becoming a First Lady with an ‘intellectual political salon.’

She’s weighing in on everything with no experience or expertise, shouting down people whose knowledge is better, and criticising everything our President does with no basis whatsoever. In her past two television appearances, she’s managed to shout down both Jane Mayer and John Podesta, both of whom have infinitely more experience in matters Afghan than she can ever hope to have. As she’s adamantly demanding President Obama reveal all his strategy behind his escalation of troops in Afghanistan, I’m absolutely gobsmacked at this assertion.

Lady, this is war. And in war, sometimes you have to keep your cards close to your chest – mostly, so assholes like you can hazard second-guessing. You show everyone your hand and your enemy has you by the short and curlies … or maybe that’s what you want? Maybe you’re the obvious spy, the dog in the manger, whose demands are so ridiculously silly that no one would ever think that you’re working for ‘the other side.’

Ah, but who is the other side? Well, we haven’t heard much from the teabaggers and the birthers lately, have we? But we’ve been hearing a lot of the Left’s base who’ve obviously been breathing in the toxic fumes of the Whoracle’s Koolaid. These are so-called rational people – well, I’m rational too; and I never believed the Damascene conversion the first time around when it happened to St Paul, and I’m sure as hell skeptical about someone who promoted Newt Gingrich as the saviour of America in the 1990s, blatantly and openly campaigned for Bill Clinton’s impeachment at the same time, supported John McCain in 2000, hurrah’d George Bush’s surge and voted him in a second time, enabled Ahhnold in his bid for governor after her own laughable ‘campaign’ tanked, and suddenly woke up the morning after the 2004 Election to ‘realise’ she’s a Progressive?

As the Brits would say, ‘Pull the other one. It’s got bleeding bells on.’

Like Rupert Murdoch, she runs with the hares and hunts with the hounds; and at the end of the day, it’s all about herself and her ego. That someone of the calibre of George Stephanopolous keeps giving her the kudos by allowing her to appear on his roundtable and spew her toxic venom and ignorance is a disappointment. Perhaps it’s something to do with the Greek connection. Well, Major Hasan’s a Virginian too, but I’m not about to land on the side of someone who opens fire on and kills 13 people.

Nope, the reason we haven’t heard from out teabagging friends on the Right is because their seemingly more intelligent counterparts on the Left, having drunk the Koolaid-flavoured retsina offered up by the Whoracle, are doing the job of debunking and discrediting President Obama for them.

Perhaps when President Palin ascends the Oval Office throne, there’ll be a place at her side for the Media Whoracle too. Two good ones together, and all enabled by the totally puerile and immature base of the left, throwing a massive hissy fit and not voting for a reasonable, rational, sensitive and intelligent man. We thought we’d done something right, only to be told by a media shill that we haven’t, and she’s telling us what to do about it.

http://planetpov.com/2009/12/14/the-media-whora...

Funny thing is, I never actually took what Arianna had to say seriously.

Neither did I, she is nothing but a contrainian.

"I know that this is the season of giving and showing love for your fellow man and woman. But PlanetPov did a righteous beatdown of Arianna Huffington

RAOTFLMAO Alex2 - you have a way with words my friend. I fell off the couch.. . . okay I'm okay now. lololol now reading your post

Excellent article. My thing is simply this. . . it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the msm and these idiots are blowing smoke up our asses. Especially when there is data out there for every Tom, Dick and Harriet to read and form their own conclusions. I don't get it . . . I really don't. This crap is so obvious and predictable a blind man can see this stuff coming. These folks aren't writing this drivel (i.e. healthcare = the demise of American people) because they give a sh*t about the country. They are writing this stuff because they want to prove that Barack Hussein Obama isn't brilliant, isn't more educated, isn't more intelligent than the last 43 Presidents that ran this country. They really NEED for him to fail. Otherwise. . .If folks truly believes PO is who we think he is, then what does this really say about them? If you get my drift.

So knowing all that, I tune out until the President speaks. When I get his email requesting help or for me to take Action I do. Otherwise all these nutjobs can kiss my grits.

"They are writing this stuff because they want to prove that Barack Hussein Obama isn't brilliant, isn't more educated, isn't more intelligent than the last 43 Presidents that ran this country. If folks believe that, then what does this really say about them?"

Say.that!

Hammer meet nail.

It is what it is Shanti2. They can go on doing what they do cause my eyes are wide open and i'mma do what I have to do. The good thing is I believe my perspective is shared by the majority which is why PO's rating is where it is.

He can't do this by himself and he never claimed that he could. So as long as he is working for the people, I will be working right alongside him.

I haven't watched cable networks in weeks, because WEE know whose their daddy.... PBO has our love and support.

No 'Special Comment' by Keith tonight. Lawrence O'Donnell is sitting in.

VIDEO: http://www.politico.com/largevideobox.html?id=5...

Office of the First Lady

___________________________________________________________

For Immediate Release December 22, 2009


REMARKS BY THE FIRST LADY

AND SASHA AND MALIA OBAMA

AFTER A VISIT

Children's National Medical Center

Washington, D.C.


3:36 P.M. EST


MRS. OBAMA: You guys have any questions? You can have questions for Malia and Sasha, too.


Q How will the holidays be different for you this year?


MRS. OBAMA: How will the holidays -- what do you think? Do you think the holidays will be different?


SASHA: Well, it will be easier to get on the plane -- (laughter) -- than last year. But I don't think anything will be very different.


MRS. OBAMA: Yes, we're doing the same things we usually do. Every year, ever since the kids were born and even before, we go to Hawaii, because that's where the President is from. So we go with a group of friends. So as soon as all the work here is done, we'll go there.

So we've done that ever -- I don't think they've ever spent a Christmas --

MALIA: No, there's that one Christmas.

MRS. OBAMA: There's that one Christmas. Any other questions? Yes, sweetie. Here we have one, right there. You want to -- there's a mic. It'll be fun, talk in the mic, talk loud.

Q What did you get the President for Christmas?

MRS. OBAMA: Oh, I can't tell. They're going to -- (laughter.)

SASHA: They're going to tell.

MRS. OBAMA: They're going to tell.

MALIA: It's something good, though. I hope he'll like it.

MRS. OBAMA: It's good. You know, we got him sports -- I got him sports stuff.

SASHA: We got him --

MRS. OBAMA: Don't say it, just give it a category.

SASHA: I'm not. It's something he likes. (Laughter.)

MRS. OBAMA: Okay. Well, there you go.

Well, what do you want for Christmas?

Q A stuffed dog.

MRS. OBAMA: A stuffed dog. Aww. All right, Santa. All right. Okay. This little -- okay, we have one. And she in the pink had a question.

Yes, sweetie.

Q Merry Christmas, Mrs. Obama.

MRS. OBAMA: Merry Christmas to you, too.

Q How many Christmas trees are in the White House?

MRS. OBAMA: How many Christmas trees are in the White House? How many total are there? There are a lot.

MALIA: Like, okay, well, let's see, one, two, three --

MRS. OBAMA: No, wait. (Laughter.) I think it's 24. I think -- where's my team? (Laughter.) It's like 24 -- or 26 --

SASHA: Twenty-six.

MRS. OBAMA: Twenty-six. See, I knew it was close. Yes, that's a lot of Christmas --

MALIA: Unfortunately, you don't get presents under all of them. (Laughter.)

SASHA: What about the wishing tree?

MRS. OBAMA: Well, there's one -- you want to talk about the wishing tree, one of the trees?

SASHA: One of the trees is called the wishing tree, and it is made out of cardboard. And so you can write down a wish and you roll it up and then you can put it one of the holes and it might come true.

MRS. OBAMA: So that's a new tradition at the White House. So what we want you all to do next year is to come to the White House, because you can see all of them. It's open to anybody who wants to come. (Bo barks.) You, too. (Laughter.)

All right, you promise me that next year you'll come by the White House and see for yourself? Okay.

MR. SNOWDEN: Those were great questions, kids.

MRS. OBAMA: Those were great -- wait, wait, wait. We have one. We're going to get them all in, I know. She had her hand up. Sorry, Mr. Chairman.

Q I was going to ask --

MRS. OBAMA: Just make something up. Do you want to ask Bo a question? Bo, can you answer something?

Q I was going to ask, people were saying we're going to get our pictures. And I was going to ask, are we going to take them with you?

MRS. OBAMA: Take pictures?

Q Or are you just going to give one to us? (Laughter.)

MRS. OBAMA: That's a good question -- Alan. (Laughter.) Were pictures promised?

MR. FITTS: Shake hands with everyone.

MRS. OBAMA: Okay.

Q What's your favorite Christmas song?

MRS. OBAMA: What's my favorite Christmas song? Oh, well, Malia and Sasha have been playing two that are just drilled into my head. "Carol of the Bells" and "Jingle Bells."

SASHA: Oh, Malia -- oh, yes.

MRS. OBAMA: Yes, we've heard that for months.

SASHA: Well, I don't play "Jingle Bells" as much as Malia plays "Carol of the Bells." (Laughter.)

MRS. OBAMA: Those are my favorite.

SASHA: I'm getting bored of that song now. (Laughter.)

MRS. OBAMA: All right. Okay, guys, we're going to come around and shake hands. Thank you guys. Merry Christmas, happy holidays, happy New Year.

That put a smile on my face.

I love that family.

Ya know - I was going to say that too - but I say it all the time, but it's so true. There's so themselves and that's the draw.

LOL! This family is too funny, real, and for real. I love them!

Here's the video of the transcript from Politico. They actually always have great videos of the First Family under the Politico 44 tab that's basically all Obama all the time. You finally hear--at least I finally heard Sasha and Malia's voices. They sound like really sweet, down-to-earth girls.

http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/1209/tw...

What do you do when your kids insist they don't want anything for Christmas?

After all the community service activities we have done over the last 2 months, the kids are adamant that they don't want anything for Christmas. Instead they are asking that we provide gifts to other families who don't have anything. They even wrote letters to Santa saying just that. They have been asking him to send their gifts to other families.

They did ask that we spend more family time and invite a few friends that they know are struggling over for dinner on Christmas Eve and Christmas day but otherwise . . . nothing.

What do you do when your kids insist they don't want anything for Christmas?

Thank the Lord for answering my prayers. LOL. Seriously, Val it sounds like you have some great kids and that you are doing a terrific job in indoctrinating them into socialism, er.. um... heh, parenting.

"you are doing a terrific job in indoctrinating them into socialism, er.. um... heh, parenting."

raotflmao

Your kids are awesome. That is all.

Val,

You've instilled wonderful values into those children. Children live what they've learned! Big Up to you and your husband!

Hi Val, I think you should honor their request. They'll have the complete experience of giving and receiving. It will cultivate in them a philanthropic spirit IMHO.

I certainly will. As soon as Miranda mentioned it I told the kids to make their lists and gave them each a budget.

We go shopping tomorrow on the triplets 9th birthday . :-) I thought for sure the kids lost their minds . . . in lieu of a bells and whistles birthday party they wanted a simple get together with icecream and cake and told their guests to not bring any gifts. Said them showing up was the best gift of all.

Who would have thought . . . I raised a bunch of "socialists". lololol <snark>

This makes my heart smile! :)

Your sharing of your kids golden hearts is so heart opening. They know what
matters most; and it it is all about matters of the heart. This is ruly
touching; you and your hubby are working it and your community will be the
richer for it.

No Val...they did ask for something....and it is wonderful what they asked for.

That's the reason for the season.

you know what . . . you are right. :-)

Thanks Miranda. I was having a wth moment. Couldn't figure out why three 9 year olds and a 5 year old wouldn't have a long list of demands for themselves. :-)

Great point. Well those are certainly wishes we can make come true.

Jane Hamsher explains why she went on Fox News:

I notice there is a diary up on Daily Kos attacking me for going on Fox & Friends. Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t say what I actually said:

In 2000, the Republicans passed Medicare Part D, and it had no negotiation for prescription drug prices. And then in 2006, when the Democrats took over Congress, the first thing they did was say “hey, we’re going to roll that back, we’re going to allow for [negotiation of] prescription drug prices to be passed. But now that they actually have the chance, they’re not doing it. And you’ve got people like Jeff Sessions on the floor of the Senate saying this is criminal, this deal is criminal, but he didn’t vote for it in 2000 or 2006 when he had the chance. So we’re sort of looking at a situation where people on the right, people on the left, are looking at the Senate, and they’re saying “nobody’s there representing us. Nobody’s representing the people.” It’s just a matter of who’s in power and who’s taking PhRMA’s money.

I stand by that message, and I think it’s important for both people on the left and people on the right to hear. There’s a difference between helping to recruit Democratic viewers to Fox that they don’t have, and bringing a message about PhRMA that divides Republican viewers from the party leadership by pointing out the hypocrisy of their talking points.

If there are those who don’t want any criticism of PhRMA out there and have written things in the past that have been consistently in line with PhRMA’s propaganda, I think it’s fair to ask what their obsession is with shutting down the messenger.

I went on Ed Shultz last night, and Fox deliberately today after yesterday’s hubub. It scares the bejesus out of the DC establishment of both parties to think that the left and right might align against the corporate interests that dominate the massive giveaways that keep happening no matter who’s in power.

Good. They should be scared.

In the comment section, Hamsher admits she has been on Fox 3 or 4 times in the last six months.


Maya Angelou said that when someone shows you who they are, believe them. Hamsher has shown herself to be a political whore who will hire herself out to anyone, even Fox News, as long as she gets media exposure.

Why would Jane Hamsher go on Fox News to diss Phrma as if the Fox News people are concerned about Phrma? The question I have for Jane Hamsher and her ilk is "Do you think the health care debate would have gotten this far if PBO hadn't bribed Phrma and all the health care lobbies? The reason why Rahm Emmanuel insisted getting them on board, is b/c he knew the Prez threatening everyone to do things his way wasn't going to get things done. Rahm Emmanuel was there the first time health care was going down and he knew who killed it--and it wasn't just Phrma? The AMA and the hospital lobbies killed it b/c they didn't get their pound of flesh.

I'm proud of PBO for how he's handled this b/c this way, everyone's hand is on the dead body. I have learned so much from this process how legislation works and what you need to do in order to get things done. Every other president has tried and failed and hopefully PBO will get it done. All the fauxgressives are saying PBO should have fought harder for this and for that but I tell you that's what the Republicans wanted. They wanted to make healthcare about PBO and by allowing the Senators to shape the bill, he made it about healthcare instead of him fighting with the Republicans. He's no-drama Obama not I'ma huff and puff and get my way. Yes, he had to bribe senators like Landrieu, Nelson and even Bernie Sanders (who asked for nationwide healthcare centers that charge on a sliding scale), but legislation is messy. I don't see any other way this could have gotten done.

Please keep saying ALL OF THAT!

Shanti, I'm going to keep saying it b/c I'm so frustrated with the fauxgressives b/c they keep on saying: I'm voted for someone to fight for me, not roll over and give Repubs and insurance companies what they want and I want to SCREAM!! That is not what you voted for. PBO wasn't the toughest candidate, the huff-puff-bluster candidate. He's the one that always acted like the adult in the room, the referree, the person who wouldn't let foolishness mess him up. And make no mistake. The Repubs wanted him to fight them so they could make him look non-bi-partisan or like the angry black man and he acted in character by ignoring them and making this about healthcare. As he said during his townhalls: "This not about me. I have healthcare. This is about those that don't."

1) I don't think we need the public option when they are already two gov't healthcare programs that can be expanded and are being expanded and reformed, ie Medicaid. People making under 30K are basically going to get free healthcare through Medicaid and all those community health centers that Bernie Sanders got $10billion for his vote.

2) Health care is hard and everyone is trying to mess it up. By making it about healthcare and not him PBO made sure everyone is focused on that. Do you think PBO arguing with Repubs who aren't going to vote for the bill anyway would have let anyone know about recission, pre-existing conditions? No, it would have been about Obamacare this Obamacare that and b/c PBO let the Senators and Congressmembers do their job, it became about healthcare instead of him.

3) I learned so much by watching C-SPAN and learning how this works (how the Senate is basically designed to slow stuff down especially with all the parliamentary rules) that it prepares me for the other legislative battles to come. If the fauxgressives would learn how Congress works and fight that way instead of moaning and kvetching, they would actually get what they want instead of blaming PBO for not acting like Nino Brown. For all their community organizing experience Booman and the guy at Narconews is saying the same thing--learn how DC works and exploit it for your uses.

4) The mandate, which all the fauxgressives are moaning about, has no teeth. Large companies are going to be penalized for not offering health insurance--8% penalty and loads of people are going to get subsidies to pay for healthcare--in addition to the exchanges. No, it's not perfect, but in a climate like the US, which has been loath to accept gov't intervention in healthcare, what PBO and Congress are close to doing is a miracle.

Jojoraze, I'mma nickname you "The Hammer" b/c you nailed it!!

These fauxgressives can all go vote for the Dennis Kucinich/Cynthia McKinney ticket in 2012...all 50 of them. Git gone....BYE...dont let the doorknob hit ya where the good Lord split ya. These numbnuts think President Obama's base looks like a picture of a sit-in at Berkley when in reality his base looks like the night shift at a 24 hour Wal-mart. These fauxgressives like Hamsher, Kos and the like have no freakin clue about the real base of the Democratic Party...its not them. They are as far removed from the day to day lives of the REAL base of the party as I am from the day to day life of Queen Elizabeth.

KEEP SAYING ALLOFTHAT!

Preach!

I agree on all 4 points, jojoraze. If nothing else comes of this bill I've learned how our government functions. It is truly disfunctional and corrupt, and PBO knew it coming in to this quagmire.

Gotta work with what you're dealt!

PBO knows he cannot afford to take in the negative energies directed at him, and it is a MIGHTY force too.

The fauxgressives could give a flying fuck about REAL health care reform; It is all about idealism for them.

I still say this ranting and raving is about RACE. Who stands to gain most from passage of the heath care reform bill?

Lastly, several WSY members have posted the "School House Rock" videos on basic civics, I guess the fauxgressives aren't interested.....

The fauxgressives is the reason I hardly go to democratic underground anymore. I read a post about the Senate staying to work on the health bill. While I didn't read the post until after the snow storm, people where posting during the storm that that God hated the bill because of the coming storm, and they hoped Congress got snowed it. I said don't they know there are other people in the DC area other than politicians.

I read in one of your later post that the fauxgressives don't care about black people, I guess that explains the snow comment. DC is mostly black people.

I just went to dailykos and they are arguing whether PBO is a unredeemable liar for saying he didn't campaign on the public option. There are literally 3 diaries about this!!! I want to know what planet these people live on!!! and why I can't stop going there every day and raise my blood pressure over these idiotic people. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
This is why Democrats always lose even when they win. They spend so much time shooting each other, they forget about shooting their enemy. It's like a darn circle-jerk over there.

Here's the one good diary on the rec list about what Bernie Sanders got for his vote: Expanded Community health centers that provide preventative care. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/12/22/818060...

You just got to let it: see clip around the 2:28 mark

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlR9DNfqGD4

"I want to know what planet these people live on!!! and why I can't stop going there every day and raise my blood pressure over these idiotic people."

lololol It's just like a booger, you can't help but to pick it.

I'm not as bad as I used to be though. I've limited myself to 10 minutes tops over there so I don't get a coronary. It's like watching a car accident, I can't stop looking

I used to go to those places because I cared what those people thought. I once read the comments at HuffPo, believe it or not, and all the blogs by folks like Dr. Drew Westen.

Now that I know that most of these folks are either irrational or running a game , I don't care what they think. Most of the stuff they write is laughable.

It's the irrationality of it all...as if PBO had screamed louder he would have gotten a public option. W/ 40 Repub obstructionists and 58 Dems who are not lockstep and 2 independents, PBO screaming and huffing and acting like Sherman on his march to the Sea was not going to get this done. Every other healthcare proposal got scuttled b/c the president was fighting the opposition and the congress instead of working with it--flaws and all. Being calm, no-drama Obama gets it done. I don't think the Senate Bill is perfect, but if it's reconciled with the House bill, it darn near will be great and monumental.

EDIT: Even the posters on JJP are saying "Hell, naw" to Mz. Hamsher and the "kill the bill", join the teabaggers crew.

There is one on Balloon Juice as well.

Ballon Juice usually does a decent job with their commentary.

I like Ballon Juice, but Nate Silver at 538 is my boy. His writing is very narrow and very technical, but he always answers those lingering questions I have in my mind.

For example, the fauxgressives and the far right are using the rise in health care stocks to make the point that the bill is a windfall for the insurance companies. Nate takes them on and exposes their bullshit:

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/12/bit-more...

He's a numbers guy; love a man with brain power. There's an art to what he
does. Art is all about structure. Ummmm, is that why I have a thing for
engineers..

The rantings of the bill being a windfall for insurance companies is used to
scare the ignorant public. The insurance companies are paying them to say
this shit to derail the bill. These fuckers don't care about the common
folks, let alone black people who need healthcare more than any other group
in America.

Wonder why we haven't seen Nate Silver on MSNBC in the last two months?

He's not toeing the line, that's why. GE is a business and they are trying to protect their interests by any means neccesary. WEE SEE YOU lily white NBC Universal.

Nate is not buck dancin for'em..

Hamsher and nem don't give a flying fuck about Jack & Jill, or any other blog site with them out of the picture, they won't have their competition for hits. WEESEE them!

I went on Ed Shultz last night, and Fox deliberately today after yesterday’s hubub. It scares the bejesus out of the DC establishment of both parties to think that the left and right might align against the corporate interests that dominate the massive giveaways that keep happening no matter who’s in power.



Bish please!

There is a bit of irony in her comment, Fox the network she is appearing on is a corporation, and even more ironic if she accepted money for her appearance.

I know, right? Somebody has an awfully inflated sense of self importance.

You're right, SG2; Jackass Hamshit and Airyhead Puffington only want to use black folks to tear down our president. GOHWTLABS!

"want to use black folks to tear down our president."
That will NEVAH happen.

Thank you! these MOFOs have been given notice.

What's really effed up is that the buzzards refuse to admit that Hamsher is dead ass wrong. For all of the whining about Obama not doing enough for Black people, they either stay silent or defend this white chick who wants to align with a group of people that hates anyone who isn't white. It's sickening!

Here's another thing that interesting: As much as Hamsher claims she's so anti-corporation and so anti-health insurance companies, weren't the teabaggers being backed by corporations?

I'm getting real sick of these wannabe 60s hippies and their fake ass "anti-corporation" schtick. I'm sick of listening to this bullshit about the administration bailing out wall street and forgetting about main street. Does it occur to these nitwits that between Bank of America, AIG, Citigroup and Wells Fargo - we're talking over a million direct employees?? Last time I checked the employees of the Bank of America and Wells Fargo branches on Ralph David Abernathy in southwest Atlanta were more main street than damn wall street.

Like I said, the Hamshers, Kos', Huffingtons, et.al., and faux Noise, they are the teabaggers insiders, and the Palins, Becks, Huckabees, Limpballs, are the teabagging field soilders.

No difference, really. Similarity is they are all white, except for the shuckin & buckin, skinnin & grinnin, coniving & jivin, hanky head, lawn jockey, house negro, coons who do their bidding.

" the Hamshers, Kos', Huffingtons, et.al., and faux Noise, they are the teabaggers insiders, and the Palins, Becks, Huckabees, Limpballs, are the teabagging field soilders. "

adding one more JJP.

Just calling it like wee see it

Alright now. Gon and tell it!

JJP goes without sayin... oh, you just said it! LOL!

... except for the F-ing shuckin & buckin, skinnin & grinnin, coniving & jivin, hanky head, lawn jockey, house negro, coons who do their bidding!

If you ever been to Democratic Underground, the center of fauxprogressives, Travis Smalley is actually a hero over there. Which is odd since he is tightly tied to corporations.

Stop talking about my girl, fabulous Jill!

I'm out of the loop. What the issue with Jack and Jill Politics?

WOW!!!
Once again I'm glad i found this place.

Hey itgurl, these should get you up to speed:
1. http://http//weeseeyou.com/2009/11/05/weeseeyou...

2.
http://weeseeyou.com/2009/11/08/note-to-jjp-won...

Well damn, I totally missed all of that. LOL.

They were unfortunately invaded by the body snatchers and as a result lost all of their mental faculties. Independent thinking and logic no longer can be found on a consistent basis and fair and balanced reporting/discussion ... you might as well forget about it, it is a thing of the past.

When you have some time, visit the site and randomly select posts over the last two to three months. Be sure to check out the one written about a week ago by Jill comparing the Potus to Tiger Woods and then she was so helpful she took it upon herself to advise the President of the United States that "the only Secret Service-approved places for your little Commander-in-Chief to be, ever:

In your pants
In your hand
In FLOTUS

Anyway. They are already at rock bottom from my perspective. I can only hope that they find a way to pull themselves back up.

That was the last post that I read at jjp. It put the "T" in trifling.

That post was just sickening.... Jill has lost her damn mind.

It was a disgrace!

LMAO! I love you, Alex... You are FANTABULOUS!

Just speaking truth!

For REALZ.....

Jackass Hamshit and Airyhead Puffington only want to use black folks to tear down our president.




Say that! They used black folks to try and tear down our first black president and destroy a community. Wee saw them a mile away and Wee weren't having it. I'm sticking with this president like velcro. SouthernGirl2 AIN'T gon never leave him!

Cause I'm a ho you know I'm a ho
I showed all my teeth on a Fox News show
I'm a ho you know I'm a ho
how do you know cause I told you so

LOL

Will this single be released in time for the holidays?

LMBAO!

Anything goes when it comes to hoes
'Cuz Fox Pimpin' ain't easy!
Fox pimpin' ain't easy!

Fox pimpin' aint easy, but is sho is sleazy!

Fo sho!

lol why you crazy Miranda? lolol

LOL...why beat around the bush with it?? We have uncovered that these same folks running around like they're the protectors of the weak and disadvantaged are straight up whores! The Kardashian sisters are more honorable than these folks!

Giuliani Decides Against a Run for the Senate
By DAVID M. HALBFINGER

Former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani has decided not to run for the Senate seat held by Kirsten E. Gillibrand, Republicans briefed on his decision said Monday evening.

The decision by Mr. Giuliani, 65, leaves Senator Gillibrand — who was appointed to her seat less than a year ago, has never run in a statewide election, and is still unfamiliar to many voters — without a high-profile Republican opponent as she faces election to the seat.

As recently as a week ago, a Quinnipiac University poll showed Mr. Giuliani leading Ms. Gillibrand in a hypothetical matchup, 50 percent to 40 percent.

Mr. Giuliani, whose decision to forgo a race for governor was reported a month ago, plans to endorse Rick Lazio for governor of New York on Tuesday afternoon at a news conference in Manhattan, the Republicans said. Mr. Giuliani’s intentions were reported by The Daily News on its Web site Monday evening.

Many Republican leaders, sensing anger at Albany and incumbent politicians in general, had seen the former mayor as the strongest potential candidate for governor or for Senate in 2010. But party officials had begun agitating for him to declare his intentions as to the Senate race.

Mr. Giuliani has built a successful career as a motivational speaker, and his business interests, including his firm, Giuliani Partners, tend to suffer when he runs for office, those who know him say. The corruption case against his friend and former police commissioner, Bernard B. Kerik, could have made a statewide campaign more complicated. And Mr. Giuliani has strained relations with Edward F. Cox, the new state Republican Party chairman.

His endorsement of Mr. Lazio, a former Long Island congressman, will enhance a sense of momentum that Mr. Lazio has been trying to project as he faces a potential primary rival in Chris Collins, the Erie County executive and a favorite of Mr. Cox.

In 2000, Mr. Lazio deferred to Mr. Giuliani in the race for Senate against Hillary Rodham Clinton, only for Mr. Giuliani to drop out five months before the election to battle prostate cancer. Mr. Lazio re-entered the race but lost.

Republicans Deciding Whether To Stop Filibustering Health Care Bill, Head Home For Christmas

Excerpt:
Since reaching 60 votes, Democrats have argued that the chamber waive the 30 hours of debate between each cloture vote, offering unanimous consent agreements to expedite the Senate schedule. But at least some Republicans are intent on running out the clock and staying until Christmas. “The flight I have is Christmas morning,” Sen. Robert Corker (R-TN) told reporters, “I don’t plan on changing that.” This morning on Washington Journal, Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) also said, “I’m committed to stay here all the way through the final vote.”

Republicans will attend a 1pm caucus lunch today where they’ll decide whether or not to delay the vote until Christmas eve.
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/12/22/christmas-v...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzXKWKaxt3c

I see you Dr. Weston and you're still not relevant!

That fat slob Ed Schultz is on tv now with some clown named Drew Weston ripping my president. Dr Weston, a psychologist, is saying that Obama is not exhibiting leadership. White folks destroy this country, but now they've got all these ideas. Rotten bastards all of them.

Lemme get this straight...a psychology professor from Emory U is now the go-to guy for bashing the President?

He wrote a critique of PBO that appeared on Huffin Puffin. All of the fauxgressives are latching on to it.

I think I'll call it hr puff and stuff. Those over 40 will remember that show.

Hey puffins are one of my favorite birds. . . smile. but i had to laugh "huffin puffin"

Hey Zack, it's spirit_55z aka Shanti2. Welcome to WSY! Look around and check us out; good having you here.

thanks for the warm welcome. i'd wondered where all my favorite people were. . . then someone posted about this blog at jjp and i thought i would check it out. so good to find all of you in good spirit, creating a community together! ho ho ho and great cheer to you.

Spirit that's you?

Look at me being worried about you and you were right here all this time. :-)

Merry Christmas to me!

LOL!

I thought you knew, Val?

no never guessed it. Just today I thought about Spirit hoping she would find WeeSeeYou and she was right here all along. lolol

LOL! Spirit NEVA dies.....

NEVA! and it's a beautiful thing.

Didn't you used to post at jjp. You went to a rally in Minnesota for our prez. Correct me if I'm wrong. If you are her, you have a nice spirit

Yes. Thank you; it takes a nice spirit to know one.

I'm glad you're here. Merry Christmas

Thanks, dannie22; Merry Christmas, back atchoo!

Hey Zack!

Welcome to Wee See You! I haven't seen you in awhile. Good to see and Wee are glad you stopped in. Merry Christmas!

thanks southerngirl2. i just found you all again. your warm welcome was great to wake up to this morning. i like wsy very very much.

A Quiet End for Boys Choir of Harlem
By SHARON OTTERMAN

For more than three decades, they sang Mozart in Latin, Bach in German, and Cole Porter and Stevie Wonder in English, from Alice Tully Hall in New York to Royal Albert Hall in London.

For the audiences that marveled at the Boys Choir of Harlem, it was an additional wonder that the young performers with world-class voices had emerged from some of the most difficult neighborhoods of New York. December was always a busy month, as the choir toured the country’s premier concert halls and appeared on television Christmas specials.

But this year, the boys are nowhere to be found. Last week, Terrance Wright, a 39-year-old choir alumnus, picked up a microphone in front of the altar of Metropolitan Community United Methodist Church in Harlem, the choir’s last home, and delivered news that surprised few people but saddened many.

“Tell the people. Let it be known,” Mr. Wright said, glistening and exhausted after leading a Christmas concert by former singers in the choir. “There is no Boys and Girls Choir of Harlem.”

The choir’s last official performance was in 2007, around the time of the death of its founder, Walter J. Turnbull. But no one ever announced that it was gone. Board members and alumni had hoped to revive it, but they acknowledged last week that they had not had any success.

For a famous organization that politicians had vowed would outlive its founder, it had a quiet end. Many of the choir’s materials, like copies of handwritten scores and its trademark burgundy blazers, now sit in black garbage bags and open boxes in the church’s damp dirt-floor basement, amid overturned tables and sacks of plaster of Paris.

Led by Dr. Turnbull, who started the group in 1968, the choir sang at the White House for nearly every president since Lyndon B. Johnson, and it was awarded the National Medal of Arts by Bill Clinton. But it did not survive long enough to perform for the country’s first black president.

The choir’s demise as a functional organization was a result of many factors, but everyone agrees it was set in motion by a single episode: an accusation by a 14-year-old boy in 2001 that a counselor on the choir’s staff had sexually abused him. The counselor eventually was sentenced to two years in prison.

The accusation and the scandal that followed — Dr. Turnbull did not report the claim to the authorities and allowed the counselor to continue working with children — set off a chain of events that led the city to oust the choir in 2006 from the Choir Academy of Harlem, the school building that had been its home. That, in turn, deepened the choir’s already serious financial problems.

Owing millions in payroll taxes and penalties, and immersed in a lawsuit stemming from the abuse accusations, the board of the Boys Choir gathered in the months after Dr. Turnbull’s death, said Howard Dodson, the leader of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at the New York Public Library. Mr. Dodson was brought onto the board, along with former Mayor David N. Dinkins, in an effort to save the choir.

“There were those who didn’t want to declare its end because they were wishing something would show up to make it real again,” Mr. Dodson said. “That was the hope.”

The meeting, he said, was spent with lawyers, who were negotiating with the I.R.S. about how the liens would be paid. “Trying to revive the choir, unfortunately, was not uppermost in anyone’s agenda at that time,” he said.

At the church, leaders were getting little information from the board. People kept calling — and do to this day — wanting to book the choir at events. Church members stacked the choir’s materials on an unused stage upstairs and then, finally, in the basement.

“When Mr. Turnbull died, everyone said, ‘We are not going to let this die,’ and no one did anything,” said George Reyes, who arranged concerts and concessions for the choir. A few months passed. Then, he said, a decision was made by some of the alumni.

“We finally got together to say, O.K., we are going to continue what Mr. Turnbull started,” Mr. Reyes said.

With that, about 30 former singers in the choir began practicing, this time men and women together, to make up for the lack of soprano and alto male voices. (The Girls Choir of Harlem was founded, also by Dr. Turnbull, in 1988.) Mr. Wright, who joined the choir at 16 and later became Dr. Turnbull’s assistant, took the lead.

With little support except for what they earn at occasional performances, like a recent Christmas show at a Brooks Brothers store, the alumni began singing their old classical, Broadway and gospel arrangements, and adding some R&B and soul.

They made their first international appearance in October, traveling to Shanghai for an international arts festival. Financing came from unlikely sources: the country music duo Brooks & Dunn helped out, and a Texas businessman paid their airfare. “The standard politicians around the city didn’t even return our phone calls,” Mr. Reyes said.

To listen to the alumni choir, which performed its Christmas concert at the Metropolitan Church on Dec. 13, is to realize what, besides the dusty boxes in the basement, the choir has left behind. Tyneshia Hill, 24, sang a haunting, lyrical soprano solo in “Mary Was the Queen of Galilee” that raised gasps from the audience. She works as a school aide in the Bronx and lives with her mother in Co-op City.

But the choir was not just about building musicians. “It was understanding how to balance everything in our lives, about how you become a global citizen,” said Matthew Gadsen, 25, a former singer in the choir who went to Georgetown University on a full scholarship and now works at an investment bank. The hardest thing, he said, “is that I had that opportunity, and now there’s another kid in a public school in Harlem who doesn’t.”

The alumni say they want to revive the original goal of the Boys Choir — the development of boys and girls through music — if not the actual organization, which may be doomed by its debts and the lawsuit. Their mission, they said, took on an additional note of urgency this month, after education officials proposed closing the high school grades of the Choir Academy, which the city had run on its own after 2006, for poor performance.

But starting over, Mr. Wright said, might require first that people know the original choir is dead.

“Though there’s no Boys and Girls Choir of Harlem,” Mr. Wright told the crowd before launching his red-and-black-clad singers into their final gospel song, “there is still life. It just means God has something else planned.”

SMH; I was wondering what the deal was about them. Pedophiles.... just some evil shit, right there.

This is such a crying shame.

double

Terrorist attack feared after '03 Jackson arrest
The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Police concerns that media-hungry terrorists would attack Michael Jackson's trial as a "soft target" led to a request for federal help, according to FBI files kept on the late pop star. The documents also show that the FBI helped facilitate interviews in the Philippines by California authorities investigating Jackson over allegations that he had sexually abused boys.
The FBI monitored Jackson for more than a decade, but the files contain no major revelations about his private life and the bureau apparently never developed any solid evidence against him.

In 2004, the Santa Maria Police Department in California asked for FBI "involvement" after Jackson was arrested for child molestation. Police, according to the FBI, said they believed the court case would be a "soft target" for terrorism because of the "worldwide media coverage" the trial would attract.

The FBI concluded there were no threats, but did note the presence in an early court appearance of "The Nation of Islam, represented by its security unit Fruits of Islam," and of a New Black Panther Party member whose name was left blank in the files. Jackson used Nation of Islam bodyguards during the legal proceedings.

More: http://www.accessatlanta.com/atlanta-music/terr...

The FBI monitored Jackson for more than a decade, but the files contain no major revelations about his private life and the bureau apparently never developed any solid evidence against him.


I hope that witch Diane Diamond reads this!

Isn't this a trip?!?!? So the FBI..THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATIONS...didnt find any evidence of wrongdoing after a damn DECADE of surveillance! WTH?!?!? Diane Diamond needs to be flogged along with a bunch of other folks.

oh...cute how they had to point out the presence of the Nation of Islam security for MJ. LOL

WEE certainly do miss carolinagirl!

Someone else is just gonna have to post:

J-O-B-S Jobs Bitches!! News
Jesus Please Take The Wheel News
Ho, Sit Down News

and my new favorite

Ho Have A Seat/Boo, Bitch Bye News without me until Jan. 2010. Tee hee....

WEE will see what WEE can do! Sepia took the wheel yesterday with some worship dancing. Her tags were slayers... LOL!

Double Co-Sign!

I apologize if this is a duplicate!

Politics'Blue Dog' Democrat To Switch Parties, Become Republican

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/22/rep-pa...

Rep. Parker Griffith, a freshman Blue Dog Democrat from Alabama, will announce Tuesday that he's switching parties to become a Republican.

House Republican leadership had been courting Griffith, who voted against the stimulus package, health care reform, the energy bill, equal pay for women, the 2010 budget resolution and financial regulatory reform. He said at a town hall in August that he would not vote for Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) as Speaker of the House again because of her "divisive and polarizing" image. He also told constituents at the time that only Blue Dog Democrats could prevent the health care bill from moving forward in the House.

GOP leadership is thrilled -- but not all Republicans are feeling the love. RedState founder Erick Erickson is already targeting Griffith:

I think the most important fact in this article is that he is a freshman Congressman, if he can't bother to vote with is party in his first term he might as well leave. This also shows he doesn't have any convictions.

Blue Dog Democrat from Alabama

BWA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA......Whew!!! That was a good one! LMAO

I heard about this on CNN...they only said "Source: Democrat to become Republican" but finding out that this dude was from Alabama made me LOL. Um, if you don't like Nancy Pelosi and voted against all PBO's signature legislation, you already were a Republican--Lieberman voted for the Stimulus, for goodness sake. I mean, Griffith converting is like finding out the Pope is INDEED a Catholic.

He was a republican anyways! Get the fuck out!

SENATORS WHO BLOCKED PUBLIC OPTION NOW PILLORIED BY RIGHT AND LEFT
Republicans Tell Sen. Landrieu: You Sold Your Vote, You're 'No Better Than A Judas Goat'

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/22/landri...


Under fire throughout much of the health care debate from the left, conservative Democratic senators are now getting an even harsher reception from the right.

The angriest accusation: that they sold their votes.

On Tuesday, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) was pilloried during an appearance on C-SPAN Newsmakers for the $300 million in emergency Medicaid funding that she secured for her state in the Senate's legislation. One self-identified Republican caller proclaimed that she had engaged in political prostitution -- trading her vote for the funds. Another called her "nothing but a Judas goat selling out for thirty pieces of silver" who would lose her next election.

"You know," Landrieu chimed in at that point, "being in public office isn't easy because we have to listen to situations like this.

"I'll say it again and I'll continue to say it, I did not vote for this bill because of [the Medicare funding]," she added. "I voted for this bill because it's going to lower costs for Americans, it's going to give the private market the boost and the reform it needs to do a better job for all consumers in our country. It's going to expand the life of Medicare for nine years, it's going to reduce the federal deficit, and it's going to bring efficiencies to a system that is wasteful, abusive and out of control. I know there are some people that don't believe that. Time will tell. And I'll tell that gentleman I've been elected three times to the United States Senate, and I will probably be elected again. Thank you."

Anita is the best! They've been rocking Sade's new cut, "Soldier of Love" on our local radio...it's hot too.

Anita is Fiyah! I received Alicia Keys new CD as a X-mas gift yesterday. I haven't listened to it yet; have you?

Roland Burris: The Night Before Christmas (Republican Obstructionist Remix)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3tWfqpAn2s

He got talent!

He got that Senate seat, did he not? LOL!

Yup!