P Diddy get a police escort from New York to New Jersey... Ballin'!
“The bottom line is, we’re not in the — the Police Department should treat everybody exactly the same, and if you don’t get a police escort, P. Diddy shouldn’t," said Mayor Bloomberg this past Tuesday. Apparently, Internal Affairs is now investigating the personal chaffuer service by New York's finest.
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Judge sides with NJ in kicking Carl Lewis off ballot
Lewis lawyer Bill Tambussi argued that the rule is unconstitutional. Lawyers for New Jersey and members of the state's Republican Party said the rule has been on the books for 167 years and is part of the state Constitution.
Tambussi said he will appeal to the state's 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. A separate challenge has been filed in state appeals court. Lewis, a nine-time Olympic gold medalist, is pursuing a Democratic bid for state Senate. He is a New Jersey native but owns a home in Pacific Palisades, Calif., and a business in Los Angeles.
Republican Secretary of State Kim Guadagno ruled that Lewis didn't meet the residency rule. She ordered Lewis' name stricken from the Democratic primary ballot in the 8th District in south-central New Jersey. Lewis, 49, grew up in Willingboro. He attended college in Texas and later bought and sold at least three homes in California. He testified that he now lives in Medford, a township of about 25,000 residents.
All sides agreed there is urgency to decide the case because ballots for the June primary are supposed to be mailed Friday. Lawyers for the three effected counties said ballots can be delayed for about a week without interfering with the election. Some 220,000 residents live in the traditionally Republican district.
The judge refused to stop the printing and mailing of ballots. Tambussi is seeking a stay as part of his appeal. "All Carl Lewis wants to do is run for office," Tambussi said. "We're going to keep going." Lewis was out of town Thursday and didn't attend the hearing.
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Gas Prices: Is $4 Still the Tipping Point?
Gasoline prices have risen to more than $4 per gallon in many parts of the U.S., and many drivers worry they will continue to rise as the summer driving season gets going after Memorial Day.
Some auto industry watchers consider the $4 level a threshold beyond which consumers begin to significantly change their behavior by driving less or trading in gas-guzzling vehicles. That proved to be true in the summer of 2008 — the last time gas surged this high. Sales of small economy cars and hybrids took off while the market for large SUVs practically halted.
But what about today? The price for a gallon of regular reached $3.99 this week at a station in my town that is known for higher-than-average pricing. The national average is $3.88. Still, I haven’t heard the cries of outrage and contempt to the extent that I did three years ago. An auto analyst suggested people who cared most about fuel economy already had fuel-efficient cars or bought them during the 2008 price spike, so it may take even higher fuel prices to get consumers’ attention this time around.
That could be true, but I think we are close to a point where people will more drastically change their driving habits. After all, at $4 a gallon, filling larger fuel tanks like the 26-gallon tank in a Ford F-150 pickup truck, can cost $100.
That’s a big dent in the one’s budget, especially for people who commute or travel as part of their daily work. Even people driving smaller cars with average-size tanks are noticing that filling up costs $50 or $60 — or more than 30% more than it did a year ago or even last December.
If you have changed your driving patterns or considered doing so because of fuel prices, please leave your comments.
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'Show me your papers' politics could suppress black vote
The 2012 election cycle is now underway. Beyond the Donald Trump-feuled debate over candidate qualifications during the past few weeks, one need look only at the troubling and seemingly coordinated strategy now unfolding around the country that seeks to erect new barriers aimed at locking voters out of the polls. Through mandatory photo id requirements, proof of citizenship bills and tighter burdens on ex-felons seeking to register to vote, a number of states are seeking to turn the clock by making it more difficult to register to vote or cast a ballot on Election Day.
Collectively, many of these efforts disproportionately burden African-American, Latino and other minority voters, as well as the poor and the threat is one that should concern us all. The most restrictive photo id requirements require individuals to present government-issued id such as a current driver's license or passport at the polls. Proof of citizenship requirements lead to the rejection of a voter registration application unless the form is accompanied by a copy of a birth certificate or other document. And, states such as Florida are now seeking to make it even more difficult for ex-felons to restore their voting rights.
Proponents of these restrictive laws allege that they're necessary to curb vote fraud but can proffer no real empirical data to support their claims. The evidence makes plain that vote fraud is a myth and few states can put forth examples of individuals impersonating the dead or undocumented persons casting ballots at the polls. The baseless claims of vote fraud serve only to stir up anxieties and spark unnecessary hysteria.
And, the racially charged and xenophobic atmosphere in which many of these efforts are unfolding is undeniable. In a recent legislative hearing, Kansas State Rep. Connie O'Brien claimed that she could tell that a person was illegally in the country because of their "olive complexion."
In Georgia, during a hearing leading up to the adoption of a restrictive proof of citizenship requirement, State Senator George Hooks, remarked that "we've been invaded by people who were born and raised elsewhere. They don't share our language. They don't share our culture.... They eat foreign food.... They don't share the same manners we share." Both states now have burdensome photo id and proof of citizenship requirements in place.
For more on the story, click on below
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Rick Perry, Texas governor, upset that the President went to Alabama and neglected Texas!
As President Obama meets with Alabama families affected by deadly tornados that swept through the South earlier this week, Texas Gov. Rick Perry is asking: What about us? The Republican, long a critic of the president, once again ripped the Obama administration Thursday. This time, he bashed Obama for not responding to an April 16 request for a declaration of emergency in the Lone Star State, where wildfires have destroyed nearly 2 million acres.
"You have to ask, 'Why are you taking care of Alabama and other states?'" said Perry. Texas officials asked the White House to make the declaration, which would have allocated federal funds to help the state deal with the crisis. "I know our letter didn't get lost in the mail," Perry added.
Two firefighters died in the Texas disaster, and 900 buildings have been destroyed. According to Linda Moon, spokeswoman for the Texas Forest Service, more than $60 million has been spent by the forest service and local departments to respond to the wildfires since Sept 1.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it is reviewing Perry's request. But the governor did not shy away from expressing his frustration. "There is a point in time where you say, 'Hey, what's going on here?,'" Perry said. "They watch TV, they know what's going on here, they can recognize that there is going to be a request for assistance, a request for help."
Meanwhile, tornadoes in the South killed more than 300 people on Wednesday and Thursday. Alabama was the hardest hit, with at least 210 fatalities. Obama declared a state of emergency there, and ordered federal aid. The storms also left 34 people dead in Tennessee, 33 in Mississippi, 15 in Georgia, five in Virginia and one in Arkansas.
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Donald Trump dodged Vietnam War through medical deferment, not high number
Selective service records Donald Trump didn't want anyone to see show he dodged the Vietnam War due to a medical deferment, not a high draft number as he has claimed.
The records indicate Trump was granted a series of student deferments before graduating from college, and then was deemed physically unacceptable for military service after he graduated.
The paperwork, obtained from the National Archives and Records Administration by thesmokinggun.com website, contradict what Trump has publicly said in recent days.
"I actually got lucky because I had a very high draft number. I'll never forget, that was an amazing period of time in my life," the reality TV star and billionaire real estate developer said in a TV interview on Tuesday.
"I was going to the Wharton School of Finance, and I was watching as they did the draft numbers and I got a very, very high number and those numbers never got up to," said The Donald, neglecting to utter the word "deferment."
Trump, who is flirting with a run for the Republican nomination for President, was traveling Thursday night and could not immediately be reach for comment.
The bombshell document was released a day after President Obama accommodated demands from Trump and Tea Party officials for him to release his long-form birth certificate proving he was born in the United States.
Trump, who attended high school at the New York Military Academy in Cornwall-on-Hudson, took credit for forcing Obama to release his full birth certificate showing he was born in Hawaii.
He continues to demand Obama release his academic records, suggesting the President didn't have the smarts to get into Columbia and Harvard.
The Selective Service records were released with a copy of the registration card Trump signed in June 1964, revealing that in addition to weird hair, he has birthmarks on both his heels.
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Obama on Alabama tornadoes: 'I've never seen devastation like this'
"I've never seen devastation like this," Obama said. "We're going to make sure you're not forgotten," he told residents. In a radio interview, Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox said he had originally told federal emergency officials his city was a disaster. By this morning, he said he was ready to upgrade the description.
"I would classify it as a nightmare," he said. The death toll in his city stood at 38, a significant bloc of the 210 deaths reported in the state. The toll across the region stands at about 300, and those numbers are expected to grow as search efforts turn to recovery.
In Rosedale Court, a housing project for low-income residents, dogs trained to sniff for bodies combed through the rubble. One dog, Ryka, gingerly walked over mangled metal, piles of bricks and splintered wood. She passed an overturned baby carriage, a set of bunk beds, and a Valentine's Day basket that still held two milk-chocolate roses.
But if searchers were to find anyone alive in the rubble at this point, "It would be a miracle," Brown said. Resources were stretched thin across the city, Maddox said. In Tuscaloosa alone, about 900 were injured in the storms and thousands were made homeless. But Maddox also said he was heartened by the way the town has come together. "I saw whites, blacks, young, old working together yesterday on a house to save this little girl," he said.
Late Thursday, Obama signed a disaster declaration for the state to provide federal aid to those who seek it. He pledged the full cooperation of the federal government to help the state and the region. "We can't control when or where a terrible storm may strike, but we can control how we respond to it," Obama said on Thursday. "And I want every American who has been affected by this disaster to know that the federal government will do everything we can to help you recover and we will stand with you as you rebuild."
The politics of relief can be touchy, as the Bush administration learned in dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the Obama administration learned in dealing with the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters on Air Force One that Obama "wants to witness for himself the terrible devastation from these storms."
Alabama officials in a news release said the state had 210 confirmed deaths. There were 33 dead in Mississippi, 33 in Tennessee, 15 in Georgia, five in Virginia and one in Kentucky.
The death toll is the greatest from an outbreak of U.S. tornadoes since April 1974, when 315 people were killed by a storm that swept across 13 Southern and Midwestern states, according to the National Weather Service. In Birmingham, where damage also was severe, weather forecasters began the day announcing that sunny skies would prevail over the weekend. Radio and news broadcasts issued appeals for all kinds of basic supplies, and insurance advertisements asked people to begin assessing damage and submitting claims.
On the streets, National Guard troops rolled into neighborhoods where homes had turned into little more than sticks and debris. Tennessee's emergency management agency and the Alabama Emergency Management Agency recommend that persons traveling south from Tennessee into Alabama fill their vehicles with gasoline because power shortages have shuttered some service stations.
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Justin Bieber headed to the Silver Screen
The negotiations come after Bieber's musical performance film Never Say Neverminted money for Paramount by grossing $97 million worldwide. The tone of the project is described as The Color of Money meets The Karate Kid, and the inspiration came when Wahlberg and Levinson saw Bieber dominate the court at February’s NBA All-Star Game, where the singer was also named MVP. Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson will produce the film along with with Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun.
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Lauryn Hill, Fantasia, Wyclef Booked for New Orleans Jazz Fest
“This is one of our broadest years, musically speaking,” said Quint Davis, producer of the festival that will run seven days, over the course of two weekends. “We’ve got important people coming from all ends of the spectrum and for some of them they’re all new to jazz fest.”
Along with fresh faces, Davis said some of the festival’s perennial favorites will return to perform on the 12 stages set up around the track.
“Jimmy Buffett, the Nevilles, Jeff Beck, Irma Thomas, Bon Jovi, these are some of our favorite people and they’ll be back,” Davis said. “Gregg Allman returns, but this year he’ll be a different version of himself. He’s coming with his blues band, a new project of his.”
Last year, musicians from the Dominican Republic, Martinique and Senegal performed at the festival. This year, the spotlight is on Haiti, still recovering from a deadly January earthquake.
In addition to performances by Jean, a Goodwill Ambassador to his homeland, fans can experience Haitian rhythms from parading Rara bands, Konpa big-band dance music, traditional drumming and popular contemporary bands including Tabou Combo, Ram, Boukman Eksperyans and Emeline Michel.
Source: Get the full details here
Gmail Security Tips: 5 Ways To Backup, Secure And Recover Your Account
Once hacked, victims' accounts send out spam e-mails that make it appear that the sender has been mugged. If you try to respond to one of these, your message will go to a dummy address. The spam message are tweaked so that the victim won't get your response if you hit reply all.
Sophos's Graham Cluley told the Guardian, "Our suspicion is that this is a Gawker-related incident. We know that people were using the same password for multiple sites and then others were trying to use the passwords against those accounts." You might remember that Twitter was hit hard by an acai berry spam attack following the breach.
Slate's Farhad Manjoo writes, "A password is the only thing separating your e-mail, banking information, and social networks from a bad guy," and unfortunately, a complex password with letters, numbers and symbols just won't cut it anymore. Adding an additional layer of authentication -- like the key fobs required by many companies for security -- cuts down on the potential harm of a stolen password. It might seem like a lot of work, but a thief who has gained access to your Gmail account also has control over your calendars, Google Docs, Gchat, YouTube account and, of course, years of your personal email.
Read on for five essential tips for protecting and backing up your Gmail account.
Four Reasons to Keep a Work Diary
Question: What does Oprah Winfrey have in common with World War II General George S. Patton? Answer: Being an avid diarist.
Recently, Oprah offered her readers glimpses into her diaries, along with encouragement to keep their own. Many well-known figures throughout history, from John Adams to Andy Warhol, have faithfully kept records of their daily lives. Undoubtedly, some have had an eye toward history in their devotion to journaling. But aside from the shot at immortality, are there any real benefits of keeping a diary?
There are. In particular, there are four reasons for keeping a work diary: (1) focus, (2) patience, (3) planning, and (4) personal growth.
Teresa's former student, Sarah Kauss, recently wrote that the journal she was required to keep in the MBA course Managing for Creativity led to a daily practice that she has found invaluable as she traveled a career path from consultant to entrepreneur. (Sarah's company, S'well, makes and sells unique insulated drinking bottles.) At first, Sarah rebelled at the idea of keeping a journal:
At the time, as a busy MBA student, this seemed uncomfortable and time-consuming. I needed to be working and networking, not taking time to write about perceptions and feelings. Or so I thought. Professor Amabile's assignment introduced me to an entirely new type of journaling that has helped me in both my personal and professional life.
Sarah highlights the first three benefits:
Journaling about work has given me the focus to identify my strengths and the activities that bring me the greatest joy. Surprisingly, the least glamorous tasks of my professional career to date have been some of my career highlights. I have gleaned many lessons about where I can be most engaged and therefore most successful in the workplace. Journaling has also given me patience and sharpened my ability to plan. Although it can seem that I'm making only baby steps of progress — and, yes, sometimes going sideways or even backwards before moving forward — my journal is an independent arbiter (and a silent cheerleader). There will always be more progress to make, but for me it is important to know that I am moving closer to my goals. I am always encouraged to look back and know how far I have come in a year's time, and how major obstacles seem to become minor speed bumps in hindsight. This record gives me great patience and perspective when new challenges come my way. Even now as a very busy entrepreneur, I can't imagine not taking a few moments at the end of each day to record in my journal the progress made and my hopes and plans for the next phases of success.
Research confirms Sarah's belief in the value of reflecting on and writing about daily experiences. Experiments by psychologist James Pennebaker and others have revealed that writing about traumatic or stressful events in one's life results in stronger immune function and physical health, better adjustment to college, a greater sense of well-being, and an ability to find employment more quickly after being laid off. In our own research on how events at work influence people and their performance, we asked over 200 knowledge workers to send us a daily diary report every day throughout a complex project they were doing. Although we reaped some surprising discoveries (reported in our current HBR article and forthcoming book), our research participants also reaped some surprising discoveries — about themselves.
This fourth benefit for diarists, personal growth, is perhaps the most important. Keeping regular work diaries, which took no more than ten minutes a day, gave many of our research participants a new perspective on themselves as professionals and what they needed to improve. As one of them said in reviewing his work diary, "I saw that my comments seemed to reflect a pessimistic tone which, in retrospect, may have been unwarranted. I now try to approach projects with a more optimistic frame of mind." Another said, at the end of our study:
I am sorry this is coming to an end. It forced me to sit back and reflect on the day's happenings. This daily ritual was very helpful in making me more aware of how I should be motivating and interacting with the team. Thanks again for your help in making me a better person.
Seeing the value of journaling, we are now starting to keep our own work diaries. But we know it's really hard to keep at the "daily ritual." We'll report our progress in later posts. For now, we'd love to hear your own experiences with keeping a work diary.
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Star-studded 'Oprah' taping planned in Chicago
Tens of thousands of Oprah Winfrey fans will descend on Chicago in May for what Harpo Productions is calling "Surprise Oprah! A Farewell Spectacular."
Harpo announced Thursday that the star-studded show would tape May 17 at the United Center, just blocks away from Winfrey's studios. The tapings will air on May 23 and 24, before Winfrey's final episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" on May 25.
Winfrey announced in November 2009 that she would end her popular talk show after 25 years. Her producers said the guest lineup would be a secret, but they promise "the biggest names in movies, music and television."
Tickets to the event are free. Fans must request tickets on Winfrey's website, Oprah.com, starting at 10 a.m. CT (1500 GMT) on Friday. Ticket recipients will be randomly selected.
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New York Juvenile Justice Initiative: New Hope For The State's Youth Offenders?
Public and private funds have flooded all manner of experimental education programs, from charter schools to Race to the Top initiatives.
But as America tries to ensure its children have a fighting chance in the 21st century, resources have been slow to come to one sector in particular: school-aged youth charged with criminal offenses.
Particularly in New York, one of three states in the country that charges children as adults by age 16 (rather than 17 or 18, as elsewhere), the issue of juvenile justice reform is particularly pressing. Roughly 400 students aged 15 and younger pass through the city’s juvenile justice programs daily, according to Timothy Lisante, the state's deputy superintendent for alternative, adult and continuing education. He further estimates that every day, 800 16- to 21 year-olds pass through the state’s educational programs at the prison complex on Rikers Island.
According to a 2009 report commissioned by then-Gov. David Paterson’s office, an earlier study by the Department of Justice found that New York’s juvenile justice system was “failing in its mission to nurture and care for young people in state custody.” Among the evidence, the report examined instances of excessive force by state employees, resulting in juveniles suffering concussions, broken bones and knocked-out teeth. This punitive discipline not only didn't serve the juvenile population, but Justice Department investigators concluded it amounted to a violation of constitutional rights. If these issues were not addressed, the Justice Department could sue New York state.
Many question whether the majority of juveniles belong in state correctional programs to begin with. The report reveals that in 2007, 53 percent of the roughly 1,600 young people who entered the state’s juvenile facilities had a misdemeanor as their most serious offense.
And the efficacy of correctional efforts seems dubious at best. Of the youth who left state custody between 1991 and 1995, 75 percent were re-arrested, 62 percent were again convicted and 45 percent were re-incarcerated within three years of their release.
Cam Newton: No time for distractions on NFL draft day
Because on Thursday night, when you're getting booed as you walk across the stage at Radio City Music Hall to greet NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, the media spotlight will have officially reached new heights.
Newton went from an unknown quarterback prospect at Auburn University to Heisman trophy winner and potential No. 1 overall pick in the span of eight months. While he captivated college football fans on the field, Newton's not-so-squeaky-clean past quickly caught up to him.
There was the alleged laptop theft while at the University of Florida.
Then the three instances of cheating that eventually led to his departure from the Gators.
And of course, the allegations that his father, Cecil Newton, was seeking six-figures from colleges in a pay-for-play scheme.
To Newton's credit, the 6-foot-6, 250-pound quarterback seemed to thrive off the controversy that surrounded him as he led the Tigers to a BCS National Championship.
Prior to the start of the 2010 college football season, Newton wasn't on the radar of NFL scouts. Despite a subpar combine in February, Newton shot up the NFL draft boards and is reportedly one of four players that the Carolina Panthers could select with the No. 1 overall pick.
While nobody can question Newton's raw talent, several analysts have openly wondered if he has the toughness and desire to make it in the NFL.
"It's just this gut feeling I have: I don't know how great he wants to be," NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock said on the Dan Patrick Show Monday. "He's got all the tools. Mechanically, he's way beyond where Tim Tebow and Vince Young were as college quarterbacks.... He's got everything on the physical side. "Something tells me that he'll be content to be a multimillionaire who's pretty good."
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Don't Do What You Love
Last year, I finished directing a documentary film called The Work of 1000. Our heroine was Marion Stoddart, a woman who in the 1960s spearheaded a cleanup of the massively polluted Nashua River in Central Massachusetts — one of the most dramatic environmental success stories in American history. Amazingly, however, the river was her second choice for an advocacy project. She had originally wanted to help with the adoption of Korean children, and could have gone down that path, but she decided she'd get "too emotionally involved" to do a good job — and thus became an eco-pioneer instead.
It's common wisdom these days that you should follow your passion. But executives can hurt their careers when they care about something too much. Here are four reasons to think twice before "doing what you love."
You love it — but you're not great at it. Years ago, when I ran the communications department for a presidential campaign, I supervised Scott, a hard-working, smart, insightful employee who loved the glamour and rat-a-tat action of the press officebut was not a great writer. I liked his enthusiasum and could see he wanted to learn but it's hard to succeed in any media job if you don't have a knack for banging out good copy. So I worked hard to instead steer him to policy-research assignments and, after the campaign ended, he turned that into a career. It's hard to judge yourself accurately, so ask your friends and employer what your talents and weaknesses are, and then play to your strengths, even if they don't lead you to what you would currently describe as your "perfect" job.
You're skilled at your passion — but hate the work that surrounds it. Many businesspeople are masters at their craft but drop the ball when it comes to everything else. Angela is a brilliant graphic designer who worked in-house for big companies before striking out on her own. But — although she loved working closely with clients and helping them create just the right branding — she was simply unable to manage her pricing and cash flow. It's possible to learn these skills, but, for many, the process sucks the joy out of their chosen field. (Michael Gerber writes about this extensively in The E-Myth.
You're too emotionally attached. You've already heard about Marion Stoddart. I recently heard Charlaine Harris, author of the wildly popular vampire series that spawned the TV show True Blood, talk about this issue too. The best writers, Harris said, don't fall in love with their characters, or their words. They don't mind being edited; in fact, they're open to any suggestion that makes them better. Writers who get too close to their work and take criticism too personally never improve. Similarly, businesspeople need to look carefully at whether passion for their work is clouding their judgment. When you care deeply about a pet project, for example, it's hard to make a rational decision about whether it should live or die.
No one will pay for it. You can turn a hobby into a job — but only if someone's willing to pony up. Sometimes the market's just too small (luxury vacation planning for couples honeymooning in Belarus). Sometimes the margins are too thin (personal finance author Ramit Sethi derides textbook exchange businesses and t-shirt companies as "stupid frat-boy business ideas"). And sometimes your company simply has other priorities (no matter how many times you offer to spearhead a move into web video, your boss wants you to focus on your actual job).
Doing what you love can inspire great dedication and a sense of meaning — but sometimes, that passion can blind you to feedback (are you the only one who thinks it's a good idea?), make you miserable (who knew launching the initiative would mean managing a dozen new staffers?), or harm your financial prospects.
No one wants a job or a career they hate. But sometimes it might be better to do what you like — not what you love. Do you love your work? What's your recipe for career success?
Source: Hardvard Business Review
Sally Kern: Minorities Earn Less Because They Don't Work As Hard
I spent four years at the University of Oklahoma in the late 80's. Back then, there were laws on the books that stated that Black people could not be outside after dark. Although the law was not enforced, if a law official wanted to arrest me for hanging out after dark, they would have had the law to support them. This is something that I think we all need to pay attention to and we should check our own local legislative sessions to see what they are proposing.
Oklahoma state Rep. Sally Kern, a Republican, made questionable remarks in the wake of a measure seeking to ban affirmative action programs advancing in the state, Tulsa World reports.
According to the local outlet:
Rep. Sally Kern, R-Oklahoma City, said minorities earn less than white people because they don’t work as hard and have less initiative.
“We have a high percentage of blacks in prison, and that’s tragic, but are they in prison just because they are black or because they don’t want to study as hard in school? I’ve taught school, and I saw a lot of people of color who didn’t study hard because they said the government would take care of them.”
In light of the proposed constitutional amendment in question clearing the state House of Representatives on Wednesday evening, the GOP lawmaker also suggested women earn less than their male counterparts because they generally spend more time in the home.
The AP recently reported on the legislation:
The measure [will] put on the 2012 election ballot a provision that the state may not grant preferential treatment to any individual or group on the basis of race, color, sex, ethnicity or national origin. The ban would apply to public employment, education and contracting.
Opponents say the proposal targets a non-existent problem. Several Democrats contend the bill is an attempt to use race to generate fear and draw conservative white voters to the polls.
The Oklahoman reports:
Rep. Emily Virgin, D-Norman, one of the youngest members of the Legislature, said discrimination still occurs against women. She said she and her brother applied for home loans about the same time; her loan took longer to process and she had to make a larger down payment. Story continues below
“I don't want a handout and I don't think any woman does,” she said.
Democratic state Rep. Jeannie McDaniel reportedly conveyed a similar sentiment, saying, “I don't believe women have reached their equal rights in Oklahoma," she said.
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President Obama to tour tornado damage on Friday
This is so sad and the storms are now headed to the DC area. Let's keep those affected in our thoughts.
President Obama will visit Alabama on Friday to tour the damage from a wave of deadly tornadoes, the White House announced Thursday.
Obama will meet with state and local officials and families impacted by the storms, according to senior administration officials.
The visit follows the death of more than 200 people across five southern states. The National Weather Service is describing the storms as the deadliest wave of tornadoes since 1974.
Obama issued an emergency declaration order late Wednesday at the request of Gov. Robert Bentley (R-Ala.) request and was updated by telephone Thursday morning by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate, who is traveling to Alabama to inspect storm damage.
Five southern states — Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and Virginia — are reporting fatalities, with officials reporting at least 141 dead in Alabama and eight in Virginia.
But federal and state leaders said Thursday that the historic level of intense weather activity — and not a lack of preparation — is causing the high death toll.
“It was just the force of the storms. People are very aware in Alabama of tornadoes,” Bentley said Thursday morning in a briefing with reporters.
Tuscaloosa, a city of more than 83,000 and home to the University of Alabama, was one of the hardest-hit areas. At least 15 were killed there and the mayor said the city’s police and other emergency services were devastated.
Regardless, “People were very much aware of what was going on,” Bentley said. “You just cannot move massive amounts of people when it hits a largely populated area like Tuscaloosa. You cannot move thousands of people in five minutes.”
Bentley said he’ll be asking for more federal assistance later Thursday.
FEMA’s image is still suffering in the south following its botched response to Hurricane Katrina and other deadly storms in 2005. Fugate stressed that his agency “is in a support role” and taking cues from state leaders.
Federal assistance would be “for recovery activities,” Fugate said. “That would come from the governor through our regional offices and then to the president.”
Over the last three days, the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said it has issued 32 tornado watches across 18 states; 11 of the watches were classified as “Particularly Dangerous Situation Watches,” a designation reserved for the most severe weather events.
The watches resulted in 450 tornado warnings, with 113 of them issued in Alabama alone. NWS said it received 137 tornado reports around the regions into Wednesday night.
In a statement, NWS said that the threat of a widespread tornado outbreak was highlighted “exceptionally well” in long-range forecasts beginning last weekend.
Warnings for elevated threats of severe weather – including tornadoes, strong winds and large hail – was issued three days in advance by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., according to spokesman Christopher Vaccaro. By 1:10 a.m. Central Standard Time Wednesday, Vaccaro said NWS forecasts were calling for “a very unusual high risk, including a higher probability of significant tornadoes, across parts of northern Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and southern Tennessee.”
NWS regional offices across southern states also issued their first severe weather notices late last week, he said.
The storms come as the federal government is monitoring the first-ever major earthquake drill across 11 midwestern states, including storm-ravaged Alabama and Tennessee. Fugate said the drill will continue as scheduled.
“We do have to be prepared for concurrent natural disasters occurring in this country, earthquakes being one of them,” he said, noting that FEMA is also providing assistance to wildfire relief efforts in Florida, New Mexico and Texas and dealing with the aftermath of severe flooding in other states.
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Robert Gibbs to Donald Trump: Where are the tax returns?
Former White House press secretary and Obama confidante Robert Gibbs is throwing down the gauntlet on Donald Trump.
"Donald Trump said he’d release his tax returns as soon as the president released his birth certificate, so the ball is in his court now and I know everybody is anxious to see his tax returns over the last 10 years," Gibbs told POLITICO.
Trump first floated the trade-off in an interview with ABC earlier this month.
"Maybe I’m going to do the tax returns when Obama does his birth certificate," said the real estate mogul, whose wealth has long been a matter of dispute. "I may tie my tax returns [to the birth certificate]. I’d love to give my tax returns."
At a Wednesday morning news conference in New Hampshire following the president’s release of his birth certificate, Trump repeatedly ignored questions about whether he'd fulfill his pledge, POLITICO’s Maggie Haberman reports.
But now he's being called out by one of the president's closest advisers. What say you, Mr. Trump?
Read more: Politico.com
Whoopi Goldberg, 'The View' Trash 'Racist' Trump (VIDEO)
I am so glad that Whoopi finally took her gloves off. I could not agree with her more. If this is not laced with some hint of 'racism', then I am not sure what else it could be. No other time in history, has the President of the United States had to show his 'papers' to prove his citizenship. Mad props to the ladies of 'The View'.
The women of "The View" reacted to President Obama's release of his long-form birth certificate on Wednesday by heaping scorching criticism on Donald Trump, who has become perhaps the most famous birther in the world, and who claimed credit for Obama's decision to release the certificate.
"The View" was, in fact, one of the many stops on Trump's seemingly never-ending birther tour. His appearance there caused an explosive argument between him and Whoopi Goldberg. Judging by the panel's remarks on Wednesday, tempers have not cooled. The co-hosts started by condemning his recent comments that Obama was not qualified to attend Harvard and Columbia.
"It's very racist," Joy Behar said. "...In other words, he can't fathom that a black man could be that smart. That's what's behind this."
But the angriest host was Whoopi Goldberg.
"I'm getting tired of trying to find reasons not to think of stuff as being racist," she said. "...Being black, when you say, 'you know, this is racist,' 9,000 people say, 'oh, no, you're just playing the race card.' Well, you know what? I'm playing the damn card now." As the audience cheered, Goldberg mimed a dealer handing out cards to people.
"You know how Donald always says, 'People are laughing at us, thinking we don't have it'?" Goldberg continued. "Here's one of the reasons they're laughing at us, Donald. When you show such insane disrespect to the president of your country, people in other countries think that we're idiots. So I'm just pointing that out."
Source Huffington Post - Get the details here
The women of "The View" reacted to President Obama's release of his long-form birth certificate on Wednesday by heaping scorching criticism on Donald Trump, who has become perhaps the most famous birther in the world, and who claimed credit for Obama's decision to release the certificate.
"The View" was, in fact, one of the many stops on Trump's seemingly never-ending birther tour. His appearance there caused an explosive argument between him and Whoopi Goldberg. Judging by the panel's remarks on Wednesday, tempers have not cooled. The co-hosts started by condemning his recent comments that Obama was not qualified to attend Harvard and Columbia.
"It's very racist," Joy Behar said. "...In other words, he can't fathom that a black man could be that smart. That's what's behind this."
But the angriest host was Whoopi Goldberg.
"I'm getting tired of trying to find reasons not to think of stuff as being racist," she said. "...Being black, when you say, 'you know, this is racist,' 9,000 people say, 'oh, no, you're just playing the race card.' Well, you know what? I'm playing the damn card now." As the audience cheered, Goldberg mimed a dealer handing out cards to people.
"You know how Donald always says, 'People are laughing at us, thinking we don't have it'?" Goldberg continued. "Here's one of the reasons they're laughing at us, Donald. When you show such insane disrespect to the president of your country, people in other countries think that we're idiots. So I'm just pointing that out."
Source Huffington Post - Get the details here
Panetta and Petraeus in Line for Top Security Posts
President Obama is expected to reshuffle his national security team this week, naming Leon E. Panetta, the director of central intelligence, as defense secretary and Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American commander in Afghanistan, as director of the C.I.A., administration officials said Wednesday.
The appointments, set in motion by the impending retirement of Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, are the most significant realignment yet in Mr. Obama’s war council. They could have far-reaching implications for the American strategy in Afghanistan, as well as for its troubled relations with Pakistan.
General Petraeus is a leading advocate of the ambitious counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan, which seeks to build up that country’s political and administrative institutions. Mr. Panetta is viewed as favoring a more limited approach, focused on counterterrorism operations. At the C.I.A., he has overseen clandestine drone strikes in Pakistan, which have been a recurring source of tension between the United States and the Pakistani government.
With Mr. Gates expected to step down this summer, the changes in Mr. Obama’s national security team have long been expected. The White House declined to confirm the changes on Wednesday, but officials said Mr. Obama planned to introduce his new lineup on Thursday.
Mr. Panetta’s move to the Pentagon comes at a time when the military’s budget will be on the chopping block. Mr. Obama will rely on Mr. Panetta, a respected Democratic Party player and onetime head of the White House budget office, to find hundreds of billions of dollars that can be cut from the Pentagon budget to meet the president’s pledge to reduce the federal deficit by $4 trillion in the next 12 years.
The military will face more changes at the top. The term of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, who, like Mr. Gates, was appointed by President George W. Bush, expires at the end of September. And Deputy Secretary of State James B. Steinberg has said he would leave to take an academic job, removing one of the key players in Mr. Obama’s efforts to manage China’s rise.
But Mr. Gates’s role looms largest. On important issues he has often allied with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton — who has said that she, too, intends to leave the government when the current presidential term ends — including persuading Mr. Obama to start the military buildup in Afghanistan in 2009. Together they won many other battles, but they split visibly last month over the military intervention in Libya.
As Mr. Gates’s retirement has drawn near, he has become increasingly outspoken — sometimes uncomfortably so for the White House. He warned bluntly of the risks of imposing a no-flight zone over Libya, a warning that has proven prescient in recent weeks as the fighting between rebels and forces loyal to the Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, has bogged down into a civil war.
In Mr. Panetta, Mr. Obama is selecting an already confirmed cabinet official with strong ties to both the White House and Capitol Hill. Those ties will be crucial as Mr. Panetta navigates the budget battles with a Republican-controlled House. Mr. Gates had already presented a budget proposal with $78 billion in reductions over five years, but had warned that further cuts would be harmful at a time when the United States in enmeshed in wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya.
In selecting General Petraeus, who at least initially did not have a strong relationship with the White House, the president is retaining a high-profile military officer who has extensive knowledge of intelligence gathering in both Afghanistan and Iraq in recent years. The general’s reputation is so formidable, several administration officials said, that it would have been difficult to rotate him to another senior military post, like commander of the United States European Command.
The president is also likely soon to nominate the veteran diplomat Ryan C. Crocker as the next United States ambassador to Afghanistan, officials said. That move would, at least for a while, reunite Mr. Crocker, a former ambassador to Baghdad, with General Petraeus, with whom he worked closely in Iraq during the Bush administration. Mr. Crocker served briefly in Kabul in 2002, after the United States reopened its embassy there following the fall of the Taliban.
Mr. Crocker will replace Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, a retired general and onetime commander in Afghanistan who had somewhat rocky relations with the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai. General Eikenberry’s departure completes a turnover of the American diplomatic roster in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and it too comes at a sensitive time, as the Pentagon prepares to withdraw some troops starting in July.
The death last December of Richard C. Holbrooke, the administration’s special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, has left a major void in the top ranks of policymakers, several officials said. His successor, Ambassador Marc Grossman, has maintained a much lower profile than Mr. Holbrooke. While Mrs. Clinton has said that the State Department would take a larger role in the region, officials said she has been preoccupied by the upheaval in the Middle East.
Relations between the United States and Pakistan have deteriorated markedly in recent months, in part because of the case of Raymond Davis, an American contractor for the C.I.A. who was detained and charged with murder after he killed two armed man in Lahore in January. Mr. Davis was later released after tense negotiations between the United States and Pakistan. Relatives of the victims were paid “blood money,” though American officials denied that the money came from the United State government.
The episode particularly strained relations between the C.I.A. and the Pakistani government, officials said. Mending that relationship will now fall to General Petraeus, who got to know top Pakistani officials during his stint in Kabul.
www.nytimes.com
Why Obama shouldn't have had to 'show his papers'
"Show me your papers!"
Major Blackard, then just 19 years old, dug into his trousers in search of his wallet. He padded his jacket, but could not find his billfold.
"Sir, I done left my wallet..." Blackard said. Before he could finish his sentence, the young man was posted against the brick wall, cuffed and taken to the St. Louis city jail. Unable to prove his identity, he would spend the next 21 days in a cramped, musty cell. That's where his older brother Matt found him, beaten and bloodied. Matt returned with Major's employer later that day, wallet and identification card in hand, to post bond.
The year was 1899. Major Blackard was my great, great grandfather.
The real crime, as Pulitzer Prize winning author Doug Blackmon points on in his seminal work Slavery by Any Other Name, was that my grandfather was a colored man in America.
This morning, as White House staffers released copies of the president's long form birth certificate, I couldn't shake the feeling that something very ugly was going on. For the first time in recorded history, a sitting president of the United States found it necessary to produce his original birth certificate for public inspection. Not once, in 235 years, have we ever demanded proof that our president was born on American soil.
In a stunning display of unchecked ego, Donald Trump quickly hosted a news conference, during which he took credit for forcing President Obama's hand. The sometime real estate developer, socialite, author and television personality went on to caution onlookers to let "experts" examine the document. Lest the president continue perpetrating was Trump has called potentially the "biggest fraud in American history."
Click here to view a PDF version of President Obama's long form birth certificate
For weeks, the thrice married, comb-over construction magnate has enthralled news reporters with his apocalyptic ranting. Trump openly questioned whether President Obama belonged in the White House, a boardroom, or even an Ivy League lecture hall.
And we let him.
We used all manner of excuses to justify giving Trump as much oxygen as he could suck up. Rarely, if ever, did we press him to produce a shard of evidence to substantiate his wild claims. We smiled gingerly as he all but called us stupid sycophants who were in cahoots with an illegitimate president. We allowed him to hold court on issues on which he clearly has no knowledge and no credibility, beyond the limo ride briefings he apparently receives from his merry band of "yes men."
Read more at www.thegrio.com
Homeless Woman Faces 20 Years for Enrolling Son in Wrong District
The Connecticut mother who enrolled her 6-year-old son into a Norwalk elementary school instead of a Bridgeport school is now facing larceny charges.
Tanya McDowell, who is set to be arraigned today, is now being charged with larceny and conspiracy to commit larceny for allegedly stealing $15,686 from Norwalk schools. According to the Stamford Advocate, this is the first time Connecticut has prosecuted a parent for sending a child outside of his or her district. If convicted, McDowell faces up to 20 years in prison.
Despite hundreds of complaints and supporters of McDowell, Norwalk officials feel they are doing nothing wrong:
"This is not a poor, picked-upon homeless person," said Norwalk Mayor Richard Moccia on Monday. "This is an ex-con, and somehow the city of Norwalk is made into the ogre in this. She has a checkered past at best ... We're a very compassionate city. She knew how to post bond, she had a car -- why didn't she send her kid to the Bridgeport school? This woman is not a victim, and Norwalk is not an ogre. As far as I'm concerned, let them say what they want."
"Ogre" is an understatement, Moccia. Regardless of where this woman lived, she simply wanted her son to get a decent education. She may have violated county regulations, but to face 20 years for it is preposterous. Norwalk should be embarrassed and ashamed of itself. Whatever message they're trying to send to future offenders has been drowned out by the cruel and unusual punishment they're trying to inflict upon this woman.
www.theroot.com
Haley Barbour hamstrung by Civil Rights blunders
Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour's announcement that he won't seek the presidency was no real surprise. Barbour's candidacy from the start was the longest of long shots. He consistently polled low single digit figures among those that GOP voters said they'd back.
His shoot-from-the-lip defense of the White Citizens Councils, and then tepid back track on that defense, and his feigned cluelessness about the brutality of Southern racism, and the accomplishments of the civil rights struggle, typed him in the minds of millions as a borderline unreconstructed apologist for the Southern way of life, in other words, white bigotry.
Barbour's tenure as George W, Bush's go to money guy as head of the Republican National Committee didn't help matters. This typed him as the very antithesis of what many voters say they're against in a presidential candidate, namely a Beltway, corporate tuned, political wheeler-dealer insider. But even if Barbour did not tote a storage locker of personal and political baggage, his candidacy would still have been just as stillborn. That's because GOP voters have turned ice cold toward most of the crop of would be presidential candidates that have been bandied about.
A Pew Research Center survey in mid-April amply reflected the sheer lack of enthusiasm for the presumed contenders. In fact, Pew found that many voters, including a significant percent of GOP voters, were hard pressed to even name some of the contenders, let alone what they stood for. Worse still, the names that voters and much of the public do know, most notably Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann and Donald Trump, they either dismiss as sideshow distractions or express intensive dislike for.
Barbour fit somewhere in between candidates that were either disliked because of his racial gaffes, if not sentiments, or simply his X factor views on the issues. The GOP candidate that has any chance of toppling a sitting president can't be seen as a partisan ideologue, regional mouthpiece, and an entrenched party functionary. Barbour had all three of those strikes against him. He'll have to have strong appeal to moderate and conservative independents. In recent elections, they are the voters that make or break presidents or presidential candidates. Barbour could never hope to have strong enough appeal to them.
A competitive GOP presidential candidate also cannot be seen as a religious fundamentalist zealot -- so doggedly anti-abortion, gay rights, and pro school prayer to be seen as a hopeless captive of the radical right. This also will cause millions of independents to cringe and back peddle fast from that candidate. Those limitations are fast narrowing the field for the Republicans. Then there's the question of time. It's working hard against the GOP's would be contenders.
Barbour, for instance, would have had to raise millions quickly, build a national organization, spend weeks on the circuit schmoozing with state and local party officials and voters, and get as much face and microphone time as he could before the national media to get the requisite name identification and stir the enthusiasm that a GOP presidential contender will need against the incumbent president. Barbour by his own admission simply didn't "have the fire in the belly" for that kind of Herculean task with the all-important Iowa Caucus only eight months away.
Source: The Grio - Full report here
Women Surpass Men In Advanced Degrees For First Time
The findings released Tuesday come amid record shares of women in the workplace and a steady decline in stay-at-home mothers. Among adults 25 and older, 10.6 million in the U.S. who earned a master's degree or higher were women, compared to 10.5 million men. Women, however, still lag men in subcategories such as business, science and engineering. In terms of finishing college, women surpass men in earning bachelor's degrees, by 1.5 million. Demographers say the educational gains are part of a decades-long trend that is reshaping the workplace and what it means to be a stay-at-home parent.
Source: Huffington Post
Katie Couric leaving CBS Evening News
Katie Couric reveals the worst kept secret in the news business in an interview with People magazine. "I have decided to step down from the CBS Evening News," Couric told People. "I'm really proud of the talented team on the CBS Evening News and the award-winning work we've been able to do in the past five years in addition to the reporting I've done for 60 Minutes and CBS Sunday Morning. In making the decision to move on, I know the Evening News will be in great hands, but I am excited about the future."
Speculation about what’s next for her will continue for a while, we can bet, as her answer to People on the topic was vague. “"I am looking at a format that will allow me to engage in more multi-dimensional storytelling," she tells People, adding that other details, including when and where the show will air, are "still being discussed."
The smart money has been on her launching a syndicated talk show in 2012 with her old producer, the recently-made-available Jeff Zucker. But today’s been buzzing with the less likely, but possibly more fun bet that she’ll go to ABC News.
Source: Politico - Get Details Here
Sony Introduces Its First Tablet Computers
These will be the first tablets to enable the use of PlayStation games, said Mr. Suzuki, who produced one of the glossy black devices from his jacket pocket during a media presentation. The tablets, code-named S1 and S2, will have Wi-Fi and will be compatible with 3G and 4G networks. Sony did not provide the retail prices.
The S1 has a display measuring 9.4 inches and is designed to make it easier to hold for long periods of time, Sony said. The S2 has two 5.5-inch displays in a clamshell design. Mr. Suzuki raised eyebrows in January when he said at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that Sony was aiming for the No. 2 spot in the tablet market within a year even though it had yet to put a product on the market.
“That effectively means they have to beat Samsung, which is a very tough rival,” said Nobuo Kurahashi, an analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities in Tokyo. “Although this is an interesting product, they have already been left behind in televisions, so it’s not going to be easy.” The company, which had been criticized by analysts for failing to come up with a tablet offering after the release of the iPad in April 2010, has emphasized the need to differentiate its tablet from rivals’, even if that takes time.
“Although it’s a latecomer in the market, it has potential, as what you need is just one big uniqueness that can sell to customers — be it design or whatever,” said Lee Sun-tae, an analyst at Meritz Securities in Seoul.
Source: New York Times - Details here
Obama and the Elusive Idea of Race
It's not surprising to get involved in a heated discussion about race when you're strolling through a museum exhibit called "Race: Are We So Different?" And wouldn't you know that President Barack Obama would get caught right in the middle of it.
Not all charges that the president isn't who he says he is come from Donald Trump's "Birther" fantasies or a California GOP official's crude email. A young mother and fan had her own issues with Obama when we talked while strolling through the latest attraction at Discovery Place, Charlotte, N.C.'s hands-on science museum.
"Race: Are We So Different?" -- with its science-based displays showing that human beings are more alike than any other living species, and its assertion that no one gene or set of genes can support the idea of race -- shouldn't be controversial or particularly revelatory. That the exhibit is, in fact, both reveals how invested so many people are in racial differences and in the ranking of one race over another. The show -- which closes May 8 -- has inspired discussions by school and business groups in a city with an African-American mayor whose residents have nonetheless scored low on measures of trust among the races.
The mother, with a young daughter at her side and a son in a stroller, couldn't contain her disappointment -- anger, even -- that the president had marked "black" instead of indicating "biracial" or one in the long list of multiracial alternatives on the 2010 census form. She was white; her husband -- not in attendance that day -- was black. And their children were the reason she was upset at the president of the United States and why it was personal. "He's president. He could have been an example," she insisted.
I tentatively engaged her. Since she and her children had the right to choose, wasn't it hypocritical for her to criticize others for their choices? And since -- as the exhibit around us made clear -- race is an uneven line that has shifted throughout history, depending on political and economic expediency, why does a check mark on a page matter so much?
Suppose, at some later date, one or both of her children checked "black" on that census form. Would she love them any less? I asked her.
Read more at www.theroot.com
Former Destiny's Child Member Arrested
Former Destiny's Child member Farrah Franklin was arrested for disorderly conduct this past weekend in Culver City, CA. According to TMZ, Franklin was arrested around 6:45am on Saturday and alcohol was involved. Farrah spent a few hours in jail as her $100 bail was posted later that day.
Cleveland Woman Drives Car Through Crowd in McDonald’s Parking Lot (Video)
First it was Detroit, now Cleveland is in the news with even worse publicity for the city’s black community. A local community was having a harmless job fair…I say again…JOB FAIR, when a couple black women who came to the fair together ended up in a battle with others attending the job fair. Is it possible that the job situation is so strained there that they thought they would somehow miss their opportunity to be considered for a job? But, how does it escalate to the point where one of the women run over a crowd of people at the fair?
When Cleveland’s local ABC affiliate reported on the incident, the driver, Stacy Matthews, had not yet turned herself in. But yesterday, she surrendered to police at 11am. Check out the report, but be warned it is a little graphic because one of the innocent bystanders videotaped the car plowing into the crowd.
When Cleveland’s local ABC affiliate reported on the incident, the driver, Stacy Matthews, had not yet turned herself in. But yesterday, she surrendered to police at 11am. Check out the report, but be warned it is a little graphic because one of the innocent bystanders videotaped the car plowing into the crowd.
Pat Buchanan get his salad tossed.... I mean gets a salad tossed at him.
“Stop the bigotry!” the demonstrator shouted as he hurled the liquid Thursday night during the program at Western Michigan University. The incident came just two days after another noted conservative, William Kristol, was struck by a pie during an appearance at a college in Indiana.
After he was hit, Buchanan cut short his question-and-answer session with the audience, saying, “Thank you all for coming, but I’m going to have to get my hair washed.”
The demonstrator, identified by authorities as a 24-year-old student at Kalamazoo Valley Community College, was arrested and faces a misdemeanor charge of disturbing the peace. He was released on a $100 cash bond, pending his April 14 arraignment.
“He could have faced a felony assault charge, but Pat Buchanan decided to not press that charge,” university spokesman Matt Kurz said.
Buchanan’s visit had evoked controversy on campus because it fell on the birthday of the late Mexican-American labor leader Cesar Chavez. Buchanan favors tighter controls on immigration.
Source: MSNBC - Get full report here
Rap music inspires Libyan rebels to defeat Gadhafi
Libyan rebel fighter Jaad Jumaa Hashmi cranks up the volume on his pickup truck's stereo when he heads into battle against Moammar Gadhafi's forces. He looks for inspiration from a growing cadre of amateur rappers whose powerful songs have helped define the revolution.
The music captures the anger and frustration young Libyans feel at decades of repressive rule under Gadhafi, driving the 27-year-old Hashmi forward even though the heavy machine gun bolted on the back of his truck -- and other weapons in the rebel arsenal -- are no match for Gadhafi's heavy artillery.
"It captures the youths' quest for freedom and a decent life and gives us motivation," Hashmi said as he sat in his truck on the outskirts of the front line city of Ajdabiya. He was listening to "Youth of the Revolution," which the rap group Music Masters wrote just days after the uprising began in mid-February.
"Moammar, get out, get out, game over! I'm a big, big soldier!" sang 20-year-old Milad Faraway, who started Music Masters with his friend and neighbor, 22-year-old Mohammed Madani, at the end of 2010.
Source: The Grio - Read the full story
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