Friday, November 22, 2013

JFK: Thank You!

File:John F Kennedy Official Portrait.jpg
America mourns 50 yeara of the tragic shooting of the 36th President of The United States.

I wasn't born around the time John F. Kennedy was the President of The United States, but from what I've heard from many, he was probably one the best modern day presidents, ever!

A young vibrant clean smiling guy with a beautiful wife and two adorable children.

November 22, 1963 would be the day the world lost a leader.

When he was in Dallas, Texas, Kennedy was shot in the head by a sniper rifle and was pronounced dead at the hospital.

It lead to the nation's first ever breaking news event. It also thrust his Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson into the forefront as the next in line.

During the 1960s in the South, the United States was going through the segregation of race.

The Civil Rights Movement was at its peak when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his March On Washington (I Have A Dream) speech to a crowd of thousands.
File:Photograph of Meeting with Leaders of the March on Washington August 28, 1963 - NARA - 194276.jpg
Dr. King, John Lewis and John F. Kennedy. Lewis would later become a U.S. Congressman.
That April, Dr. King got an opportunity to meet Kennedy.

I want to say that Kennedy was the best progressive leader.

Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas. Lee Harvey Oswald was accused of the crime and arrested that evening, but Jack Ruby shot and killed him two days later, before a trial could take place.

The FBI and the Warren Commission officially concluded that Oswald was the lone assassin. However, the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) concluded that those investigations were flawed and that Kennedy was probably assassinated as the result of a conspiracy.
President Barack Obama along with former president Bill Clinton at the Kennedy memorial. Also former First Lady/Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and First Lady Michelle Obama.
Since the 1960s, information concerning Kennedy's private life has come to light. Details of Kennedy's health problems with which he struggled have become better known, especially since the 1990s. Although initially kept secret from the general public, reports of Kennedy's philandering have garnered much press. Kennedy ranks highly in public opinion ratings of U.S. presidents.

Events during his presidency included the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Space Race—by initiating Project Apollo (which would culminate in the moon landing), the building of the Berlin Wall, the African-American Civil Rights Movement, and early stages of the Vietnam War. Therein, Kennedy increased the number of military advisers, special operation forces, and helicopters in an effort to curb the spread of communism in South East Asia.

The Kennedy administration adopted the policy of the Strategic Hamlet Program which was implemented by the South Vietnamese government. It involved certain forced relocation, village internment, and segregation of rural South Vietnamese from northern and southern communist insurgents.

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Right Wing Media and White Supremacists Turned on George Zimmerman and Craig Cobb

Right Wing Media and White Supremacists Turned on George Zimmerman and Craig Cobb.



  

Those guys thought white supremacists/racists/right-wingconservatives would accept them.  Heck to the naw!



Karma to both men who thought they could get away with murder.  Mr. Zimmerman is finally getting his comeuppance from the right-wing media.  It's all because he beat up White America's precious icon, the all-American Blonde.  Mr. Cobb has fallen from white supremacists' "good graces" once they found out that he's part Black and had a criminal record. 

Here are the links to the latest Zimmerman and Cobb sagas:


http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2013/11/right-wing-media-turns-george-zimmerman/

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/11/21/white-supremacist-target-racism/

http://rt.com/usa/craig-cobb-white-supremacist-113/

Dems See One Thing In Common With The Stallmigos!

Senator Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY) along with Stallmigos Rand Paul (R-KY), Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ted Cruz (R-TX).

Senator Kristen Gillibrand (D-New York) is taking on a very serious issue.

She along with two of the Stillmigos are finding common ground to this issue. This bill will stop the rise in military sexual assault.

Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) and Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) practically have no legislative accomplishments whatsoever but managed to get top booking on news programs. Yet for all their hoopla and dragon smoke, they've won nothing but scorn among their critics.

They've been praised by the conservative agitators as the "in your face" tactics they've brought to President Barack Obama. They've managed to stall nominees, filibuster over trivial issues and rally a base of ignorance towards his

For this one moment, the Stallmigos found some common ground with the Democrats.

Military Sexual Trauma (MST) is a term used by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) to refer to rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment that occurs during military service. While sexual assault within the military is monitored by the Department of Defense (DoD) Sexual Assault and Prevention Response Office (SAPRO), MST is more broadly defined and is monitored within the DVA by the Military Sexual Trauma Support Team.

Senators Gillibrand and Susan Collins (R-Maine) were amongst the sponsoring congress members and Senator Al Franken (D-Minnesota) and others reportedly joined as cosponsors.

Co-sponsor Representative Kyrsten Sinema (D-Arizona), who once worked as a rape crisis counselor, said, "It is clear that something is not working.

As of 2013 in cases where sexual assault is alleged extremely intrusive and aggressive cross examination of the victim is permitted during Article 32 hearings, a practice which has been cited by critics of the military's handling of sexual assault.

The addition of the two conservative senators broadens the political and ideological range of the Senate coalition fighting an uphill battle to shift the responsibility for trying sexual assault cases from commanders to military prosecutors.

"So this is not a Democratic idea. It is not a Republican idea," Gillibrand said at a Capitol Hill news conference. "It is a good idea that meets the needs of the victims, creates transparency and accountability, and creates the needed objectivity that this issue deserves."

Gillibrand plans to offer the restructuring as an amendment to the defense authorization bill on the Senate floor, either later this month or in the fall. The Senate Armed Services Committee rejected the legislation in a 17-9 vote last month.

Her measure, which has 33 co-sponsors, would shift the authority commanders now have to military prosecutors to decide how to try rape, sexual assault, murder and a list of other serious crimes.

"I see no reason why conservatives shouldn't support this," Paul said. "Justice is very important for me, both for the accused and the victim."

He said he signed on after Gillibrand agreed to make changes in the measure by leaving some offenses she had included in her measure in the commanders' control. "These were disobeying orders and some other things," he said.

Cruz, who voted for Gillibrand's amendment in committee, said he was persuaded by two points. Sexual assault victims don't report the attacks because they are afraid to come forward, he said. Also, reporting of those crimes rose in Great Britain, Israel and Germany after those countries instituted policies similar to Gillibrand's measure.
Military rape happens and most women (and sometimes men) fear retaliation if they report the incident to their supervisors.
The measure is opposed by all top-ranking military officials along with Senator Carl Levin (D-Michigan), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Levin said earlier Tuesday that the defense authorization bill already includes major changes to address military sexual assault, including referring cases to the top of the chain of command and providing victims with special counsel.

The Invisible War is a 2012 documentary film written and directed by Kirby Dick and produced by Amy Ziering and Tanner King Barklow about sexual assault in the United States military. It premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, where it received the U.S. Documentary Audience Award. The film was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 85th Academy Awards.

The Invisible War features interviews with veterans from multiple branches of the United States Armed Forces who recount the events surrounding their assaults. Their stories show many common themes, such as the lack of recourse to an impartial justice system, reprisals against survivors instead of against perpetrators, the absence of adequate emotional and physical care for survivors, the unhindered advancement of perpetrators' careers, and the forced expulsion of survivors from service.

Interspersed with these first person testimonies are interviews with advocates, journalists, mental health professionals, active duty and retired generals, Department of Defense officials, and members of the military justice system. The film also includes footage, often shot by the veterans themselves, which documents their lives and continuing struggles in the aftermath of their assaults.

In the film's most prominent narrative, Coast Guard veteran Seaman Kori Cioca struggles to earn benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs to pay for the many medical difficulties that have resulted from her rape. With the help of attorney Susan L. Burke, Cioca, along with other survivors featured in the film, brings a civil suit against the Department of Defense alleging a failure to adequately address sexual assault within the military.

Other past incidents of sexual abuse recounted in the film include the 1991 Navy Tailhook scandal, the 1996 Army Aberdeen scandal, and the 2003 Air Force Academy scandal. The Invisible War uses these examples to argue that the military has consistently made empty promises to address its high rate of sexual assault.

These stories culminate with an examination of the previously unreported culture of sexual harassment and sexual assault at the prestigious Marine Barracks Washington.

The survivors and advocates featured in the film call for changes to the way the military handles sexual assault, such as shifting prosecution away from unit commanders, who often are either friends with assailants or are assailants themselves.

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Joseph Paul Franklin Gets The Gas Chamber!

White supremacist who caused a nationwide killing spree was put down.

"Former" White extremist was a brutal serial killer. He could not stand watching Black men date White women. He would roam up and down the East Coast looking for chances to "cleanse the world" of people he considered inferior, especially "THE BLACKS AND THE JEWS".

Originally known as James Clayton Vaughn in Mobile, Alabama, Joseph Paul Franklin was born to a poor family. He suffered severe physical abuse as a child.

As early as high school, he was a picked on boy. He was taunted by the classmates and was shunned by girls. So in order to get back at his enemies, he would turn up as a Neo-Nazi.

Larry Flynt survived shooting by Joseph Paul Franklin.
He had an interested first in radical Christianity, then Nazism, and later held memberships in both the National Socialist White People's Party and the Ku Klux Klan.

Being spurn by White women really drove him to hate Black men. He thought that Black men were taking away the White women. So he's reading his hate pamphlet think about a master plan. I'll shoot as many as they come and thus the serial killing begins. In a span of three years, he killed numerous individuals. Most of them were Black men.

In his mind, he believed that Black men and White women together as bestiality. See Romeo Rose for more information.


He also targeted Larry Flynt, the founder of Hustler Magazine. He is paralyzed from the waist down due to injuries sustained in a 1978 assassination attempt.

Flynt was sort-of forgiving to the nutjob and plead to the Missouri state governor Jay Nixon that the fool should rot away in the iron college. Nixon said "Hell no, he's got to go!"

Last chance pleas came form his trial lawyers.

The U.S. Supreme Court vacated two stays of execution Wednesday morning for convicted murderer Joseph Paul Franklin, clearing the way for Missouri to put him to death.

A 63-year-old death row inmate who targeted blacks and Jews was granted a stay of execution Tuesday evening, just hours away from his scheduled death via lethal injection.
Nutjob white supremacist looks like Don Imus.
The St. Louis Press-Dispatch reported that Franklin’s request was granted by U.S. District Judge Nanette K. Laughrey, thus allowing for the resolution of a lawsuit filed by him and 20 other inmates against the state Department of Corrections for changing the formula used in the injection.

Franklin was executed in Missouri at 8:50 AM (EST). His execution was the first lethal injection in Missouri to use pentobarbital alone instead of the conventional three drug cocktail.

Franklin was scheduled to be executed at 12:01 AM for shooting and killing 42-year-old Gerald Gordon outside a St. Louis synagogue in 1977. Franklin was convicted of seven other murders and is blamed for committing 20 killings between 1977 and 1980.

The U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling about 5 a.m., and Franklin was put to death a short time later.

“I think it was a terrible thing to do and a terrible crime to commit against some people at a house of worship,” Franklin told local news in an interview filmed last week. “I've got no excuse for it. All I can say is, I was mentally ill. It was just a really bad thing to do to somebody.”

Basically he said he has no regrets. No amount of sorry could replace the lives he taken away because of his hatred of interracial couples.

Sexist Photoshop Of Dem Candidate Got Republicans In Trouble!

The Republicans photoshop a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate to the body of the Obama Girl.

Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican minority leader from Kentucky is pulling his bag of dirty tricks again. Now that actress Ashley Judd isn't running, the Republican leader set his sights on the potential Democratic challenger, Alison Grimes (also known as Alison Lundergan Grimes).

The National Republican Senatorial Committee ran an offensive tweet of Grimes. They photoshopped Grimes face to Amber Lee Ettinger's body, the actress best known as the Obama Girl.

Democrats are looking for a suitable candidate who may be winnable in a Red State such as Kentucky.


Grimes, age 35 is the current Secretary of State in Kentucky. She is a pro-coal, pro-gun, and pro-choice Democrat. Grimes was born in Maysville, Kentucky. She is the daughter of Charlotte (née Case) and Jerry Lundergan, a former Kentucky Democratic chairman and state representative. Grimes was the third of five children, all girls.

As a child, Grimes knocked on doors on behalf of her father's political campaigns, and also drove voters to the polls on election day. Grimes grew up wanting to be a doctor, but changed majors in college after passing out while watching carpal tunnel surgery.

She is the strongest candidate the Democrats got so far. They hope that Republican infighting and the government shutdown could impact the race.

Republicans are going to use Obamacare and the good ol' dog whistle to win.

Now you know Obama Girl is the White woman who on Barely Political showing her melons around Barack Obama, then candidate for president. Her impact had attracted more younger voters to the president.

But her image is tarnished by Republicans. Because of her image being used in the videos, it's harder for Ettinger to get an acting gig without being "that Obama Girl!"


White voters from the South, are very pessimistic of the president. They attack the president mostly because of his race. They have no care for his policies or achievements. They just want him to just go away.

Republicans seek that type of vote. That's why they want to keep the heat on Obamacare. They believe that the pessimistic White voters will revolt against the president.

It's clear that President Barack Obama is not going to be involve in the race. It's going to be quite hard for him to win over constituents in the state. They may rally Bill Clinton to help campaign in the state.
Pretty smart. Alison Grimes is the Democrats most strongest contender against embattled Republican senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
Democrats in the state of Kentucky usually vote Republican in a general election.

Kentucky, West Virginia, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Wyoming, Idaho and Utah are notable states.

No matter what the president does in these states, he can't win over constituents.

This incident may help boost her campaign funding. The NRSC was forced to apologize Tuesday after a junior staffer sent out a link to a image of Kentucky Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes’ face photo-shopped onto a scantily-clad woman’s body. “Is Alison Grimes The New ‘Obama Girl’?” the now-deleted tweet asked the account’s 55,000 followers:



A spokesperson for the NRSC said it was a “mistake” to post the link on the organization’s Twitter account. “We agree, it’s extremely offensive. It was a mistake made by a junior staffer and disciplinary action has been taken,” she said in a statement. "We took corrective action as soon as it was brought to our attention and have taken steps to ensure it will never happen again."

Yeah right!

Grimes for her part released a press statement in regards to the offensive posting:

“The NRSC should stand for Notoriously Repeating Sexist Comments – they cannot relate or connect with the women of Kentucky or our country. The incredibly inappropriate comments from Senator McConnell’s team mark a developing pattern and demonstrate just how out of touch McConnell is with the women of Kentucky. As I have said, I am proud to wear a dress, and as Kentucky’s more than two million women know, it is not what is in the dress that matters. It is what is in the head and I will stack my head up against Senator McConnell’s any day.

You know I might chip a couple of dollars into her campaign.

Okay, here's the rundown of the U.S. Senate race in Kentucky.
Asshole Mitch McConnell, Republican senator from Kentucky.
The race is LEAN REPUBLICAN. It's going to be a tough race for Democrats to beat a well established campaigner. McConnell is well funded and battle ready. He'll fight dirty to win.

In hypothetical: say if Mitch McConnell wins this primary against the Tea Party challenger! He'll have really have to fight for his political future.

But if McConnell loses the primary, Republicans will win the senate seat. If Tea Party challenger Matt Bevin wins the primary, the Republican will hold on to the U.S. Senate seat.


__________________________

The Sexiest "White Man" Alive For People Magazine!

adam levine
Maroon 5 frontman and reality star Adam Levine makes the cover of People Magazine's Most Sexiest Man. But you notice that men of color haven't been nominated since 1996.

I hate pop culture. I hate tabloids. I hate People Magazine. 

I hate hearing about celebrities getting married. 

I hate hearing about actresses or women in the news getting pregnant. 

I hate hearing about actors going from lover to lover. 

I hate hearing about actresses showing off their new hairstyles.

I hate hearing about celebrities who make their "coming out" parties a tabloid event. 

I hate hearing about celebrities and their personal drug problems.

I hate hearing about celebrities making their love lives the public's business. 

I don't care about this stuff.

When I picked up a People Magazine, I usually check out the magazine for some of the attention grabbing stories. Usually I pick it up when it talks about a hot teacher or an attractive actress who caught my eye.

But one thing I've often ignored was the Sexiest Man covers. I didn't care for them. I am not interested in these magazine covers of flaunting men. But as they continue to release another year of the most Sexiest Man, I happen to see more White men and not men of color on the front page.

Today, I will address this! Look at this list from Wikipedia:
YearChoiceAgeNotes
February 4, 1985Mel Gibson  29First person chosen and then an Australian citizen.
January 27, 1986Mark Harmon[16]  34
March 30, 1987Harry Hamlin  35
September 12, 1988John F. Kennedy, Jr.  27Longest gap between selections: 18 months. Only non-actor to win. First member to have since died (1999). Youngest winner.
December 16, 1989Sean Connery  59Oldest person to win the title. First winner to have portrayed James Bond. First Scottish winner.
July 23, 1990Tom Cruise  28
July 22, 1991Patrick Swayze  38Second member to have since died (2009).
March 16, 1992Nick Nolte  51
October 19, 1993Richard Gere
Cindy Crawford
  44
  27
People took a one-year hiatus from Sexiest Man and instead awarded Sexiest Couple.
January 30, 1995Brad Pitt  31First of two awards.
July 29, 1996Denzel Washington  41First African American winner.
November 17, 1997George Clooney  36First of two awards.
November 16, 1998Harrison Ford  56
November 15, 1999Richard Gere  50First two-time winner.
November 13, 2000Brad Pitt  36First two-time solo winner.
November 26, 2001Pierce Brosnan  48Second winner to have portrayed James Bond. First Irish winner.
December 2, 2002Ben Affleck  30
December 1, 2003Johnny Depp  40First of two awards.
November 29, 2004Jude Law  31First English winner
November 28, 2005Matthew McConaughey  36
November 27, 2006George Clooney  45Second win.
November 26, 2007Matt Damon  37
November 25, 2008Hugh Jackman  40Second Australian winner.
November 18, 2009Johnny Depp  46Second win.
November 17, 2010Ryan Reynolds  34First Canadian winner.
November 16, 2011Bradley Cooper[17]  36
November 14, 2012Channing Tatum[18]  32
November 19, 2013Adam Levine[19]  34
The only person of color to be nominated for the Sexiest Man in People was Denzel Washington in 1996.

That's over 17 years ago.

No, I don't disqualify Adam Levine for his cover. He's a very talented singer, producer and reality star.

But the point of the matter is simple: Why hasn't People Magazine put a man of color as The Sexiest Man?

Is there's something I'm missing here?

This was covered by The Daily Beast just last year.

Tricia Romano wrote that People Magazine for the last five years ignored people of color for the Sexiest Man Alive cover. There has been an African-American president (who, if he were a Hollywood hunk, should surely have topped the list), it seems preposterous that no other men of color have been picked as the winner. In 2008, square-jawed Aussie, Hugh Jackman took the top honor. In 2009, Johnny Depp and his rotting teeth were selected for a second time. Last year, nobody’s favorite, Bradley Cooper, walked away (shirtless) with the crown. And the year before, perhaps in anticipation of the release of Green Lantern (which bombed), Ryan Reynolds was bestowed this dubious honor. Call it the Sexiest Milquetoast Man Alive.

Where are the Blair Underwoods, the Taye Diggses, the Morris Chestnuts? The Terrence Howards, the Jesse Williamses, the Idris Elbas?

Well, they are inside, scattered throughout like chocolate sprinkles on a vanilla ice cream cone. And if you believe People magazine’s official line, it is what’s inside that counts.

A representative for the magazine wrote, in part, via email: “People Magazine is sensitive to representing people of color in its pages; our Sexiest Man Alive issue is no exception. Every section in this year’s issue includes a diverse group of men.”

How diverse? In recent years, men like LL Cool J, Eddie Cibrian, Usher, Drake, Vin Diesel, John Cho, and Mario Lopez have been featured.

Brett R. Johnson, associate editor of the website The Root wasn't surprised by the magazine’s stance. “That response is expected,” he wrote via email. “They can’t come out and say black men don’t sell magazine covers.”

Though there are some sports celebrities, like David Beckham, most of the picks skew toward Hollywood. There are very few music celebrities—and then, those picks tend toward teen dreams like Justin Bieber or the Jonas Brothers. If the magazine featured more men from sports and music—they might have had a choice of a few more men of color big enough to push cover stand sales. Kanye West, Kobe Bryant, or Michael Jordan during their primes would have been fine cover stars.

A rep for People explained: "The cover subject is chosen solely on the following criteria: Is he hot at the moment? Is he sexy? Is his career on fire this year?"

Or to put it more clearly: there are no men of color to put on the cover because there are no leading men of color, save Washington and Will Smith.

“They’re pretty much the only black men who Hollywood deems worthy of being able to carry a big-budget movie as its lead,” said Johnson. “Other top black actors such as Samuel L. Jackson, Morgan Freeman, and Laurence Fishburne do consistently great work but they’re rarely regarded as get-the-girl-type leading men—or perhaps more likely they just don’t fit People’s definition of sexy.”

Here's the list of People's Most Beautiful:


I see that at least Halle Berry, Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce were covered in People's Most Beautiful Woman issues. I'm just wondering if Kerry Washington is going to be on there?

What's your opinion on the matter?

Beyonce appears on Sony Music Group.

Adam Levine appears on A&M Octone Records/Interscope Records.

Tea Party Republican Trey Radel Got Busted For Coke!

Looks like he's going to need a drug test for his government benefits.

Tea Party freshman congressman was just on That Guy Who Helped Obama Win's right wing carnival two weeks ago. I wonder if That Guy Who Helped Obama Win going to talk about all those "corrupt" lawmakers?

I mean he's been on this rant about President Barack Obama's "you can keep it" meme for two months now.

How is it that he'll speak ill of Eliot Spitzer, Anthony Weiner, Bill Clinton, Jim McGreevy and that Toronto mayor Rob Ford and never those Republicans?

With the exception of Ford, the ones That Guy complains about is usually Democrats.

Never the talk about Dick Cheney firing a gun in the face of his friend. No talk about Mark Foley sexting boys. No talk about Senator David Vitter (R-Louisiana) and the Hoe Tell. No talk about John Ensign. No talk about Mark Souder running game on a church lady. No talk about any Republicans who managed to shame themselves in public.

All you hear is Democrats this, Obama that!

I doubt he'll be mentioning one word about this guy.

After all he's a "Democrat" according to the folks over at Loserville.

Yeah, I can vouch for that one, I've heard this Republican asshole on the radio ranting about how it's President Barack Obama's fault for the government shutdown. It seems like the politico is a product of his own creation.

Congressman Trey Radel, the guy who sought to investigate the Obamacare website fiasco was arrested for cocaine possession. Yeah, it's like those who throw stones at glass houses again.

Radel, a Republican, has worked as a television reporter, anchor, conservative radio host, and businessman. His district is located in southwest Florida and includes Fort Myers, Naples and Cape Coral.

Elected in November 2012, Radel, won the blessings of Republicans who sought opportunities to undermine the president's agenda.

District of Columbia court records show charges against Congressman Henry "Trey" Radel were filed Tuesday.

The 37-year-old Radel, a Republican, was elected in 2012. Telephone and e-mail messages left with Radel's spokeswoman, Amanda Nunez, were not immediately returned Tuesday afternoon.

Radel is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday morning.

Charging documents from the U.S. attorney's office state Radel possessed "unlawfully, knowingly and intentionally ... a quantity of cocaine."

Yeah, Melanie Sloan of the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) will put his dumb ass in the forefront of her rotten lawmakers section.

I promise you this, if Radel not seek another term, Republicans may still have a chance to hold on to the congressional seat.

Oh, I forgot he's a huge fan of hip-hop music! I'm guessing he's listening to Rick Ross on his iPod.

He penned an article for Buzzfeed, saying: Unlike most young, white teenagers growing up in the suburbs of Cincinnati, Ohio, my favorite musicians were hip hop artists, including rappers such as Eric B., Big Daddy Kane and Chuck D of Public Enemy.

As a young man listening to hip hop in the late 80s and early 90s, I was exposed to what was happening outside of my world of finely manicured lawns in the ‘burbs. Before I bought my first Public Enemy cassette tape (kids, you can Google “cassette tape”), exotic food was Taco Bell and my exposure to different cultures came through the television. Now, I have backpacked, worked or lived in almost 50 countries and speak three languages. I owe part of that passion, love of people and different cultures directly to hip hop.

It was 1989. I walked off my school bus with my little brother. I set foot onto one of those finely manicured lawns. A cassette tape was on the curb, the top half cut off and unwound. Being a music lover, I took out my number two pencil and wound it up. We got home, and I played the tape. The opening line was “You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge.” It was NWA, the hardcore, gangsta rappers that rapped about life in Compton in graphic, graphic detail.

Of course, as a young, rebellious kid, I felt a thrill listening to this music. Immediately, the hip-hop artists did what artists have been doing for centuries – they opened my eyes up to a whole new world. NWA was doing what blues, folk and rock stars have been doing for generations- they were describing hardship and pain. They described their experience as young, black men coming of age during the crack epidemic, gang wars and violence in every direction. Where else could a sheltered suburban kid hear or learn about these issues in such a graphic way? Not the local library.

My love of hip hop never ceased and included the aforementioned Chuck D of Public Enemy. Chuck said it best, “our freedom of speech is freedom or death.” This is a message we can all get behind, Republican or Democrat. I find a conservative message in “Fight the Power” because I believe when government expands it becomes a political tool meant to oppress. We see it when Chuck D addresses oppression and the Civil Rights movement or references the Black Panthers. We see it when NWA, or even old-school artists like Paris, address harassment from law enforcement. Targeting and oppression is happening today, from the IRS going after political groups to the government spying on journalists and everyday American citizens.

Liberty does not grow with government; they stand in contrast to one another. We have to vigilantly protect it, so we can continue to live in a free society. Music is and has always been another way to shed light where there is injustice. I am a Hip Hop Conservative, and that is not an oxymoron. It is the future of many others in my generation of 40 and below.

My goal as a Member of Congress is to connect and communicate the conservative message to people, cutting across cultural, generational and ethnic lines. My love for music has helped me do this, and as much as we may disagree philosophically, Public Enemy and NWA have helped me do this. Music has always been a way to bridge people together, whether its sharing a head nod to hip hop or having a jam session with a few Fenders.

Well you probably got the vote of many rappers in the dope game.

Wonder if Gucci Mane is out of the iron college yet?

Maybe we might bust House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) if Radel can rat out other members snorting up the coke!

Republicans are like cocaine. It's 90% White and 10% everything else.

Conservatives Spin Hypothetical Bullsh*t!



The ABC News/Washington Post poll shows that if the election was a do over, perennial loser Mitt Romney would have been the 45th President of the United States.

Again, conservatives are gleeful that the president's poll numbers are dropping. They created this narrative of the "WOULD OF", "COULD OF", "SHOULD OF", "WISH IT COULD HAVE BEEN" scenarios.

Damn, how much time is wasted on hypothetical questions?

Do you realize that Congress has job approval of 10%?

Do you understand that even if the election was a do over, the Republicans would still lose because they couldn't win Black, Hispanic, Asian, women and young voters. Yeah, they win the White working class, the well off, and pro-business crowds, but that's not enough to win an electoral college.
These guys been around when Bush was in office. They never mentioned filibustering nominees and stalling treaties.
If President Barack Obama lost the popular vote (which is most likely what the ABC News/Washington Post poll is akin to), he would still win the electoral college. Republicans have long wanted to abolish the electoral college since Obama won the first election. They've tried to do it during the 2012 election by eliminating early voting and voter restrictions in urban areas.

That stuff right there is a reason for the high turnout among the president's supporters.

And to think about it, George W. Bush won the electoral college but lost the popular vote in 2000 when he ran against Al Gore.

Another thing, how many of these assholes in the junk food media compared the rollout of the Healthcare Marketplace to the horrible tragedy of Hurricane Katrina?

No one ever died going on to a website.
These guys been around during Bush's term. Yet they never mentioned impeachment over scandals caused by the Bush administration.
Hurricane Katrina killed thousands of Americans. It displaced millions of Americans. It was the most costly disaster in history only second to Hurricane Sandy. Former President Bush had suffered because of his late reaction and lackluster planning to handle the crisis. It was similar to the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Even The Daily Show's Jon Stewart criticized how far the junk food media went to making this seem like this is the end of President Barack Obama.
Republicans were elected to do nothing. That's what I think!
See in 2001, people rallied around Bush during that tragedy. In 2005, Democrats were seething over John Kerry's lost. So they've managed to pull every scandal out of their ass to take back the majority.

If it wasn't for Dick Cheney shooting a man in the face, the outing of Valarie Plame, a CIA spy, the firing of U.S. Attorneys by Alberto Gonzalez, the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and of course Hurricane Katrina, Bush may have survived a decent legacy.

Even before Obama won the first presidential election, the economy was in a nosedive after Enron, Bear Sterns, Lehman Brothers, GM, Chrysler and Goldman Sachs collapsed.

We've pulled out of a recession. But still we're not experiencing a boom. Obama policies created over 5 million jobs but it still doesn't feel like things are moving fast enough.

But the impatience of White voters and the onslaught of misinformation from his critics led to Republicans winning state governorships and the House of Representatives in 2010.
The Stallmigos. No accomplishments as lawmakers but yet the media love them.
With this victory, Republicans told the people they'll focus on jobs. They have not provided one bipartisan bill that focused on jobs. They've spent the majority of their time trying to repeal the healthcare law.

They've pulled out their ass, Benghazi, Fast & Furious, the IRS snooping, the NSA wiretapping, and the reaction to Trayvon Martin as their Obama based scandals.

They have nothing but constant hate towards Obama.
The Republicans have tried to tarnish the president's legacy the moment he got in. Now with the troubles of the American Care Act, the Republicans are gleefully hoping that the public will ignore their role in the government shutdown.

Right now, it's a toss up for the midterms.

Republicans have an opportunity to win three Senate seats.

The Democrats have an opportunity to claim 10 political swing districts..

That's my prediction on the matter.

For one thing, President Obama doesn't really pay much attention to the polls. Yeah polls really do matter to his staff and the spineless Democrats who fear losing their perks.

The recent booing at the college basketball game is proof that Obama's suffering in the polls.

Yeah, it's part of the job being the President of the United States.

He can take it.

Now seriously, you believe that President Barack Obama is a "lame duck"?

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Carmela Bertagna- John Singer Sargent's Model and Muse

John Singer Sargent's muse, Carmela Bertagna. She's very beautiful and an extraordinary model in her own right.




Here's an essay on the girl dancer and model Carmela Bertagna

Carmela Bertagna, a Spanish-Parisian model who modelled for painter John Singer Sargent. Very little is known about her life, except that she lived with her mother and brother. Her father is unknown. She and her family had to work in order to make ends meet for themselves. She is of Spanish descent and modelled with various artists, including John Singer Sargent. Her Mediterranean Latin looks fascinated Sargent, who was captivated by magnificent Rosina Ferrara of Capri a year earlier.

Carmela Bertagna posed as a young girl begging for alms for John Singer Sargent's painting, "A Parisian Beggar Girl", where she sported unkempt hair semi covered with a veil and wore a stark white gown trimmed in black. She leaned against a very stark white wall, a prop which Sargent used in his later pictures, most notably, "Fumee d"Amberigis," a famous picture in which Sargent placed a magnificently dressed Arab woman against a stark white wall. Carmela also posed for the self-titled picture in which she was dressed in her native peasant costume accentuated with a long, pink, furry-like shawl. Her stare according to some people is like that of a predator, namely a wolf. Bizet contemptuously described Carmen as having eyes like that of a wolf. I'm disturbed about the description. The description implicates that certain groups of women have "animal-like" personalities. It goes back to the ancient stereotyping of women as wicked temptresses who led men astray. The stereotype of a Spanish temptress was the theme of George Bizet's Carmen, a play that shocked conservative middle class audiences when it first performed in 1875. Carmela sports a red ribbon in her hair, which was typical of most Mediterranean women of the late 19th century.

Famous R&B singer Faith Evans have a vague resemblance to Carmela. She is also of Mediterranean ancestry in her multi ethnic makeup and is very ethnic in appearance. Faith's father, Richard Swain, is of Italian Ancestry. Her mother is African American. So is the opera singer Julia Migenes. As a matter of fact, she resembles her in some of her pictures on the internet. Ms. Migenes is of Greek, Irish-Puerto Rican descent and was known for her starring role in the 1984 opera movie, Carmen. She played the title character. Carmela Bertagna wouldn't look out of place in Bizet's Carmen: She's similar the Carmen character: Sultry, seductive, and independent.

In the 19th century ultra-conservative Catholic Spanish society, Gypsies, Middle Easterners, Jews, and poor people are regarded as menaces to the respectable, law- abiding people. It is the same in the 21st Century with us Americans, particularly conservatives and most liberals(a.k.a. SWPL) stereotype and demean certain groups of people to be outsiders: unpopular racial minorities such as blacks, immigrant groups such as Latinos, the underclass and poor of all races and ethnicity, prisoners(The U.S. has the largest prison industrial complex of all the industrial nations), gays, feminists(think Rush Limbaugh's contempt for them), and so on. With welfare reform initiated by Clinton back in 1997, we are seeing plenty poor/working class women, especially Women of Color, struggling to put food and other necessities for their families as well as working at low quality jobs in the future decades. Also, Proposition 187 initiated by Pete Wilson as well as the Personal Responsibility Act of 1996 tend to punish immigrants of color as well as poor and working class Americans by telling them that they cannot use taxpayers' funds to help ease their way into the mainstream, that means not using public assistance nor attending public schools like other people. We Americans stereotype Black, Latina, and Native American women as "baby mamas", "welfare queens", and "loose women."  It was the same in France back in the late 19th Century when the French agonized over the Arrivals of Italian and Spanish migrants as well as Roma(formerly known as "Gypsies").

The Carmela picture tells us about the demographics of French society in the late 19th Century. When you look at the picture, remember her as an innocent young girl caught up in circumstances beyond her control, not to condemn her as an outcast or a "tramp."

Family Feud Contestant: Zombies Are BLAAACK!


They ask 100 people about a description of zombies. Name something that best describes zombies.

Contestant Christie: [They're] Black!

The pause. The look from the opponents, a Black family. The look from Steve Harvey.

The nonchalant response that "I don't know, they're probably White zombies too!"

This is a taping of Family Feud. The oft canny remarks from the young White woman stunned Harvey and the Black family. It caused a bit of an uproar on the internet.

Broderick Steven "Steve" Harvey (born January 17, 1957) is an American actor, comedian, entertainer, television/radio personality and author. He hosts The Steve Harvey Morning Show, Steve Harvey, and Family Feud. He is the author of Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, which was published in March 2009, and the book Straight Talk, No Chaser: How to Find and Keep a Man.

The deer in the headlights moment.
He was born in West Virginia, grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. He resides in Atlanta where he tapes Family Feud. He also is the host of the Steve Harvey Morning Show on most syndicated radio stations.

He also has a daytime program called Steve Harvey. It's taped in Chicago and Atlanta on occasions.

Harvey starred in the WB sitcom The Steve Harvey Show, and he was featured in The Original Kings of Comedy. He also hosts the Steve Harvey Project, on an extended cable channel.

So what's you opinion on the matter?

Innocent fun or just stupidity?

You be the judge!

Missing Ohio Woman Is The Body In The Woods!


Something is eerily in my bones and my heart about this missing woman who left her job at a local strip club.

Could this woman be the body that was found on Monday in a Dayton, Ohio park?

The local junk food media reports that a body was found in Art Van Atta Park. Workers were clearing brush found a badly decomposed body near the road. They called the law.

There's a woman from Preble County who was declared missing last month. This is the first thing that comes to mind. Aria Spradling, a 20-year-old woman from Eaton about 30 miles from Dayton. She was leaving her job at the Harem Gentleman's Club the night she went missing. The young mother was struggling to make money and pay off debts (from criminal acts). She takes a job over at the strip club to make easy money.

Her mother pleads to the community to help find her daughter. She last saw Aria on September 28 when she took her daughter to work at The Harem Gentlemen’s Club on Dixie Drive. Aria’s infant daughter Maleigha was with them.

“I had dropped her off, and she hugged me, and I hugged her, and she kissed me and she goes, 'I'll see you in a couple days, mama.' And I said, 'Okay.' She kissed Maleigha. Maleigha was sleeping,” Melissa said. “I drove off, and a few days later, she didn't call.  And she always calls to check on her baby. She would never not call us. I told her dad, my husband Dale, 'I know in my heart something is wrong, because this is not her.'”

Melissa Spradling said her daughter worked only occasionally at The Harem. When Aria left work that night, she left with a strange man, according to what some of her coworkers told Melissa.

“I've talked to a few of the coworkers of hers, and a few of them have said she did leave with a strange guy, but they don't know anything else,” she said.

Since then, her phone has been off, making it impossible for police to track the phone.

The Register-Herald photo/Michael Zimmerman
Aria Spradling's mother sat down with local media outlets on Wednesday, Nov. 6 to get information to the publc about her daughter's disappearance.
 Melissa Spradling is hoping her daughter is found. Aria Spradling is a mother of a child.
The Montgomery County death checker is planning on looking into missing persons and dental records to determine who the victim was.

The case is unusual, because Melissa said her daughter has never left and failed to call and check on Maleigha. Aria spent a little time in jail before her probation, and even then, she called to check in with her family.

“The reason her being gone now strikes us now as odd is because (Melissa) said even when she was in jail, she'd call every day to check on the baby,” DePew said. “For her not to stay in touch with mom and check on her daughter is incredibly unusual.”

Melissa said the last contact with Aria was a phone call after that night.

“She called her sister Ashley, and she said, 'Ashley, I'm in trouble. Please help me.' That's all she said.”

Around the same time, there was an incident in the same area in which passers-by reported a woman being put into a car by multiple men. There were clothes found at the scene, and the EPD is awaiting DNA tests to determine if the clothes belonged to Aria.



“I think it could be her,” Melissa said. “I just know something bad has happened to her.”

She also said Aria had usually stayed with friends in Dayton while working, but she stayed somewhere else on this particular trip.

“She usually stayed with her friends, but her friends tell me that she stayed with this new guy friend that we don't know. We don't know nothing about him,” Melissa said.

DePew said there have been several leads in the case, and his department has interviewed numerous people.

“Right now, we're to the point where we want to get her information out in front of the community, in front of the public, hoping that maybe there's someone out there who has seen her or has some information who would be able to help us find Aria,” DePew said. ”With the time frame she's been gone, obviously we consider that to be urgent circumstances. The sooner we can find her, the better.”

Melissa said she had heard from Aria on the night prior, and Aria said she made a considerable amount of money, which was then stolen from her. She said she was working the next night, the last night she was seen, to make up for the money.
Aria was last seen leaving her job at an adult club.
Melissa had a message for her daughter and anyone who might have her in their custody: “To whoever has my daughter, Aria Spradling, my boo bear, please let her go,” Melissa said. “Take her to a hospital or a police station, wherever you have her. Aria, honey, I love you with all my heart. And your baby girl is fine, and we're just waiting for you to come home. I love you.”

Aria is 5-foot-6, 130 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. She has several tattoos, including a large flower/skull pattern on her upper right arm, the name “Maleigha” on her left forearm, the name “Timothy” on her upper thigh, the word “Family” on one of her calves, and the words “Life/Death” on her other calf.

Many people have traveled through the North Dixie Drive area. It's in the unincorporated community of Northridge.

North Dixie Drive is the adult play place. There's at least five strip clubs on that road.

Some witnesses said that the woman was leaving with a stranger of Middle Eastern descendant. The law interviewed the person and he denies that he was with the woman.

It's kind of strange though. Usually a strip club has a lot of security cameras and visual guards watching each performer on their way out when they get off work. What happened?

Did someone sleep on the job?

Did someone actually see her get into a car with a stranger?

Is this a cover up?

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