The provocative drag star was sent home from Vienna's Love Ball (an AIDS charity) after she got off the plane and told reporters how glad she was to arrive in Vienna, where Hitler was born. Even though Hitler was born in another austrian town, I applaud Sharon's spunk. I spoke to her for about an hour today and she said "Why book someone who is named after the way straight people catch AIDS if you can't take a little edginess?" Not an exact quote but close. Let a demented provocateur whore be one and don't book her if you don't know what she truly is. She never hid it.
DAILY KOS:
Please join Daily Kos and the Campaign for America’s Future by signing our petition to the 28 Senate Democrats who last week voted to cut food stamps—demanding they put low-income families ahead of corporate welfare. Click here to sign.
On May 21, the U.S. Senate blocked an amendment to reinstate $4.1 billion for food stamps.
But we can’t just blame GOP obstructionism. Twenty-eight Democratic senators joined all voting Republicans in putting corporate welfare for a handful of crop insurance companies ahead of low-income families struggling to make ends meet, by voting down this amendment.
As House Republicans push even more draconian cuts to food stamps, now is the time to take a stand. Please join Daily Kos and the Campaign for America’s Future by signing our petition to the 28 Senate Democrats, demanding they put low-income families ahead of corporate welfare.
SIGN: DAILYKOS
I DON'T IMAGINE THAT PROTESTS ARE IN MANY PEOPLE'S HOLIDAY WEEKEND PLANS. BUT MARCHING AGAINST MONSANTO IS WHAT I PLAN TO DO TOMORROW IN UNION SQUARE AT 1PM. IF 1/5 OF ALL THE PEOPLE WHO "LIKED" POSTS ABOUT HOW MONSANTO IS SEIZING CONTROL OF OUR FOOD SUPPLY IN UNETHICAL AND POSSIBLY UNHEALTHY WAYS WERE TO MARCH, THE TURNOUT WOULD BE IMMENSE. MONSANTO WILL CONTINUE TO ACT WITH THE APPROVAL OF OUR GOVERNMENT UNLESS WE HIT THE STREET AND VOICE OUR DISAPPROVAL. THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION APPOINTED MICHAEL TAYLOR, A FORMER MONSANTO BIG WIG, TO A TOP POSITION IN THE FDA, WHICH IS SUPPOSED TO GUARD THE SAFETY OF OUR FOOD. AND IT'S AN ABSOLUTE JOKE THAT WHILE HER HUSBAND'S GOT THE FOX TO WATCH THE HENHOUSE, MICHELLE OBAMA HAS THE NERVE TO ADVOCATE A HEALTHIER EATING PLATFORM. THAT'S HOW DEEP THE CORRUPTION RUNS. TIME TO SPEAK OUT AGAINST THIS SHAM. YOU CAN USE THE LINK BELOW TO FIND THE PROTEST NEAREST YOU.
Whether you like it or not, chances are Monsanto contaminated the food you ate today with chemicals and unlabeled GMOs. Monsanto controls much of the world's food supply at the expense of food democracy worldwide. This site is dedicated to empowering citizens of the world to take action against Monsanto & it's enablers like the FDA, USDA, EPA, GMA, BIO, and the processed food companies that use Monsanto's products.
We urge you to help organize and attend the closest March Against Monsanto taking place on Saturday, May 25, 2013!
MORE: MONSANTO
The former Fugees singer and terrific vocalist has a new anti-gay song out to go with her IRS problems. So talented but seems very troubled. Her solo hit, Doo Wop (That Thing), was so catchy that people missed how preachy it was against men, "hair weaves like Europeans", etc. But she's definitely a major talent!
""Neurotic Society" proclaims again that Babylon is falling -- thanks in part to tricksters like "girl men," "drag queens," and the lies of "social transvestism." Whether or not Hill is merely using these comments as examples of the smokescreens and sleight-of-hands that pervade this "Neurotic Society" is unclear. Beyond intention, these sorts of statements suggest that society is in a shambles because it's been taking too many cues from the LGBTQ community, acting like "girl men," "drag queens" and "transvestites." Is her beef with oppressive society or is her issue with people who don't abide by a traditional family structure?"
MORE: THEROOT
See what happens when you expose people to actual music with verses, choruses and ...GULP...even real instruments played by master musicians!??!? Hope is restored and congrats to Nile Rodgers. When you got it like that, it never goes away!
DAFT PUNK'S GET LUCKY BECOMES BIGGEST SELLING ALBUM OF 2013
MORE: OFFICIALCHARTS
GIORGIO MORODER'S 1ST DJ SET AT AGE 73 IN BROOKLYN
JOEMYGOD: "Three-time Oscar winner and three-time Grammy winner Giorgio Moroder, 73, the man whom many would credit as inventing* electronic dance music, played his first-ever DJ set last night at Brooklyn's Deep Space club."
LISTEN: JOEMYGODBLOGSPOT
BEHIND THE CANDELABRA (LIBERACE MOVIE) ON HBO SOUNDS GREAT!
Who wants to DVR Liberace and invite me over to see it? Ain't got HBO and work Sunday night anyway!
"Probably not, given Liberace's vampiric reliance on younger men as a kind of elixir. ('I've always had an eye for new and refreshing talent,' he says, in one of [writer Richard] LaGravenese's most memorable exchanges, to which [Matt Damon's] Scott's priceless snapback is: 'No, you've always had an eye for new and refreshing dick.') But as the hard-won tenderness of the film's final moments suggest, homosexuals also have the right to end their relationships as ceremoniously as they begin."
GUARDIAN
A lot of news coverage focusing on how well Obama handled his heckler, Code Pink's Medea Benjamin. However, he did nothing to answer one of her key objections: "The drones are making us less safe." If you use drones to the point where children in some areas we regularly attack are afraid of the sky, you breed generations of terrorists who will come back for years to sting us on US soil, from the WTC to the Boston bombings and on and on. When you make so many people miserable and scared for so long, and they are people who quite rightly perceive that the West is out to attack their religion, you create not only generations of terrorists but very righteous and extreme ones.
MORE: GAWKER.COM
Monsanto will block GMO labeling unless we block Monsanto!
On Wednesday, May 15, the U.S. House Ag Committee passed the King Amendment, a measure some say could take away states' rights to label genetically modified organisms (GMOs).1
Help our friends at the Organic Consumers Association stop this outrage!
If passed by the Senate, the King Amendment would take away states' rights to "pass laws governing the production or manufacture of any agricultural product, including food and animals raised for food, that is involved in interstate commerce."
The amendment was proposed by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), largely in response to a California law stating that by 2015, California will allow only eggs to be sold from hens housed in cages specified by California. But policy analysts emphasize that the measure, broadly and ambiguously written, might be used to prohibit or preempt any state GMO labeling or food safety law.
Will the King Amendment survive the Senate? No one can be sure, say analysts. However few believe that Monsanto will give up. We can expect that more amendments and riders will be introduced into the Farm Bill -- even if the King Amendment fails -- over the next month in an attempt to stop the wave of state GMO labeling laws and initiatives moving forward in states like Washington, Vermont, Maine, Connecticut and others. That’s why we’re calling on consumers to ask their Congress members to reject any rider or amendment that would preempt states' rights to label GMOs.
TAKE ACTION: Ask your Congress member to reject the King Amendment and any other rider or amendment to the Farm Bill that would take away states' rights to label GMOs!
http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50865/p/salsa/web/tellafriend/public/?tell_a_friend_KEY=9003
He is a fighter. And I like his politics. But politics are so sick--don't you think that his wife was coached to look at him devotedly at the end to show that she forgave the texting? If it works, it works, but I'd rather not see through it.
FOR THOSE WHO THINK OBAMA IS MUCH DIFFERENT FROM GEORGE BUSH AND DESERVES HIS NOBEL PEACE PRIZE, CHECK THIS OUT.
Remember when the whole country began to realize that Bush's mission wasn't ever accomplished in Iraq? (Unless his mission was to destroy that country and fritter away billions which now "must" be recouped by cutting benefits like Social Security.) And we began to ask ourselves if we should have invaded them in the first place? By the time most of us caught on to the fact that we definitely should not have, both CNN and the NY Times apologized publicly to the American people for not asking harder questions of the Bush administration in the lead-up to the Iraq war. Please remember that the NY Times is considered the nation's top liberal media bastion--yet it doesn't ask tough questions of a even Republican president?
Shockingly, this email from moveon.org indicates that the Times is actually pushing the president towards attacking Syria based on what looks like trumped up evidence. First we claimed that the government used chemical weapons on rebels. Now we think the rebels who we're trying to help used it? If in doubt, attack! Sounds like another misguided mission and war propaganda to me. Too bad even lefty institutions like the NY Times are pushing it. NY TIMES: On May 5, the Times claimed that President Obama's "credibility" was "at stake" due to his failure to respond to "evidence that chemical weapons have been used in Syria." And if the "liberal" Times is goading us to war, imagine Fox New's battle cry. Americans are sick of war. Obama saying he'd draw down troops is a big reason we voted him back in. And we don't want combat in Syria, Benghazi, North Korea or anywhere else except a war to combat out crumbling infrastructure which would...GULP...create jobs. Whew! Good thing our government doesn't want something silly like that, right?
MOVEON.ORG: "The run-up to the Iraq war showed that the New York Times has tremendous power to establish "truth" in the United States—and that when the Times wields that power irresponsibly, the results can be catastrophic.
Last week, the media watchdog Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting documented a lack of skepticism in New York Times reporting of allegations of Syrian government use of chemical weapons. [1] Times reporting suggested that the U.S. government had strong evidence that Syria had used chemical weapons. But, as FAIR documented, the U.S. government was not nearly as certain as claimed by the Times' initial reports. At the same time that the Times was uncritically reporting these claims, other media were appropriately skeptical. The stakes were high, because it was widely claimed that if the U.S. knew that the Syrian government used chemical weapons, that fact alone would compel direct U.S. military involvement in Syria's civil war, even though polls show most Americans oppose direct U.S. military involvement.
Urge Margaret Sullivan, the New York Times Public Editor, to examine whether the Times showed appropriate skepticism in its reporting of Western government claims about the Syrian government's alleged use of chemical weapons.
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/syria-nyt
On April 18, the Times reported [2] that, according to unnamed diplomats, the UK and France had sent letters to the UN about "credible evidence" Syria had used chemical weapons. On April 23, the Times reported [3] that Israel had "evidence that the Syrian government repeatedly used chemical weapons last month." In its print edition April 25, the Times reported [4] that the White House "shares the suspicions of several of its allies that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons." That same day, with headline "White House Says Syria Has Used Chemical Arms," the Times then reported [5]:
The White House, in a letter to congressional leaders, said the nation's intelligence agencies assessed ''with varying degrees of confidence'' that the government of President Bashar al-Assad had used the chemical agent sarin on a small scale.
The article cited Sen. Dianne Feinstein as saying "agencies actually expressed more certainty about the use of these weapons than the White House indicated in its letter."
On April 26, a Times report [6] warned against delaying action to be sure that the claims that Syriahad used chemical weapons were true:
If the president waits for courtroom levels of proof, what has been a few dozen deaths from chemical weapons--in a war that has claimed more than 70,000 lives--could multiply.
In subsequent reporting, the Times referred to allegations that Syria had used chemical weapons in ways that suggested that strong evidence existed to back up U.S. government claims. On April 27, the Times referred to [7] "growing evidence that Syrian officials have used chemical weapons"; on April 28, the Times referred [8] to "revelations last week that the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, is believed to have used chemical weapons against his own people."
On May 5, the Times claimed [9] that President Obama's "credibility" was "at stake" due to his failure to respond to "evidence that chemical weapons have been used in Syria."
But the next day, the BBC reported that [10] Carla Del Ponte, a senior investigator on a UN team investigating human rights abuses in the Syrian civil war, claimed that the UN had collected evidence that chemical weapons had been used in Syria by the rebels, not by the government, and the official story that allegations of the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government were known fact began to unravel.
Outside the New York Times, FAIR noted, skepticism about the evidence pointing to Syrian use of chemical began much earlier. On April 26, Jonathan Landay of McClatchy reported that [11] a source characterized U.S. intelligence on alleged chemical weapons use as "tiny little data points" that were of "low to moderate" confidence. On May 6, McClatchy noted that: [12]
no concrete proof has emerged, and some headline-grabbing claims have been discredited or contested. Officials worldwide now admit that no allegations rise to the level of certainty.... Existing evidence casts more doubt on claims of chemical weapons use than it does to help build a case that one or both sides of the conflict have employed them.
Examining this documented trail of credulous New York Times reporting of government claims that could serve as a justification for war should be a top priority for the Times Public Editor. Urge Ms. Sullivan to investigate.
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/syria-nyt
"Propaganda is very powerful. Recently, the Obama Administration has spun a web of lies that is prolific: about Benghazi, about the IRS conservative-enemies list, and on DOJ's spying on the Free Press. Can the Administration legally propagandize citizens? YES, our leaders CAN legally lie to us.
Although there used to be a law against the US Govt spewing its propaganda on Americans. However, the law changed one day when Congress turned against us and supported Government tyranny.
"Representative Govt of, by, and for the people" - No more! 2 May 2012, Congress Authorizes US Propaganda at Home - Progressives worked up over new "brainwashing" law. Buzzfeed reporter and Rolling Stone contributor Michael Hastings broke the story: Congress was quietly planning to lift a 64-year-old law preventing the US government from using propaganda on its own citizenry. Before the House passed its defense budget bill, a bipartisan group of congressmen tacked on an amendment to "essentially neutralize" a set of time-tested guidelines "that had been passed to protect U.S. audiences from our own government's misinformation campaigns."
The actual text of the Amendment, authored by Reps. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) and Adam Smith (D-Wash.), modifies the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948. That bill was the first to establish a post-World War II "public diplomacy" role overseas for the State Department and US media organs— Voice of America and Radio Free Europe—but the law also barred those agencies from disseminating their "good news" to audiences at home in the United States. The amendment from Thornberry and Smith "updates" Smith-Mundt by lifting the propaganda ban on US residents.
In America, the "rule of law" under US Constitution is being constantly usurped by the "rule of men", a liars club of Corporate-Government Fascists.
There is hope though for our Country - if we speak up, and speak out repeatedly against the lying propagandists. The power of truth can undermine tyrants. "The most dangerous man, to any government, is the man who is able to think things out for himself without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane and intolerable, and so, if he is romantic, he tries to change it. And even if he is not romantic personally he is apt to spread discontent among those who are." ~ H.L. Mencken
COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM PASSES...WELL, ALMOST
Republicans AND democrats throw gays under the bus to pass immigration. Which is why I laugh at gays who see Hillary as their great hope. Democrats are almost as rotten and unprincipled as republicans. It's time to give up on both parties.
SF's former democratic mayor Gavin Newsom in The Guardian: "It is outrageous. Once again the gay community is reminded of where it stands with the political leadership, both Democrats and Republican. Their rights have been traded away for the sake of a political deal in Washington DC. The Senate Judiciary Committee, after five days of deliberations, passed out the "Gang of 8" comprehensive immigration reform bill on Tuesday, but without protections for same-sex couples. That means a partner of the same sex could be denied a visa to come to the US.
The rights of the gay community are being dealt away once again for political expediency. This issue is not about policy or principle for congressional Republicans, it is about homophobia and bigotry. There is no moral courage for Republicans in this debate, there is only tactical positioning.
Would we allow Congress to treat women this way? No.
Would we allow Congress to treat African Americans or Latinos this way? No.
Why is it acceptable for Washington politicians to treat gay and lesbian couples this way?
Congress cannot continue to treat the gay community as second-class citizens."
MORE: GUARDIAN
Two of my fave ladies of the theatre, Lypsinka Von Rasputina and Jackie Hoffman, will perform a staged reading of Once Upon A Mattress on June 17th!
MORE: PLAYBILL
Obama's former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel supports the closing of 54 public schools, leaving 30,000 children goofed. I think we all agree that education is the key to the US regaining it's competitive edge as other nations pass us by. So who do you think is behind SCHOOL CLOSURES? Who benefits from this? Not the middle class or poor. Most of our politicians support support the 1%--at least Romney admitted that he did. We're actually dreaming that Obama still might do something for us. Time to wake up from that nightmare.
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Thousands of demonstrators rallied in downtown Chicago on Wednesday to protest the city's plan to close 54 public schools, primarily in Hispanic and African-American neighborhoods. The closings, which the school board plans to vote on in May, would be the biggest one-time shutdown ever by a U.S. city.
MORE: YAHOO
FROM REBUILD THE DREAM: Does America really love Wall Street bankers NINE TIMES more than we love our struggling students?
If you are a Wall Street banker who needs a little cash, the federal government will loan you money through the "discount window" with virtually no interest -- as little as 0.75%.
But if you are a young person trying to get an education... the rate on federal Stafford student loans is set to double! Unless something is done, it will go from 3.4% to 6.8% on July 1.
That is right: We would be charging America's youth nine times more than we ask from the mega-profitable banks that caused that crisis in the first place.
Senator Elizabeth Warren has introduced the Bank on Students Loan Fairness Act, which would give students the same deal that banks get. We need to get behind this in a big way.
Sign: Tell your senators to co-sponsor Senator Warren's bill.
If you can believe it, this story is actually WORSE than it appears. The federal government this year made $51 billion in profit off the student loan program. That is about as much as the four biggest Wall Street banks earned all together!
The average student graduates with $26,000 in student debt, and 10% are $50,000 in debt or more. Americans hold more than $1 trillion in student debt. Tuition costs are skyrocketing. Youth unemployment is the problem no one will talk about.
On top of it all, last year's one-year extension of the low 3.4% rate for federal Stafford loans is set to expire on July 1st. The ONLY reason that extension passed at all is because people like you made it an issue in Washington, D.C. You wrote more than 300,000 letters and made tens of thousands of calls, and you saved student millions of dollars.
We should be proud -- and ready to fight for fairness again. And this time, we should fight for bolder, more long-term solutions.
Senator Warren's bill is the best idea I have heard in a long time. (I just hope it can be extended for more than one year!)
We are fighting for real change and backing champions like Elizabeth Warren. Are you ready to sign on?
If we can afford to loan cheap money to banks, we can afford to invest in education.
TELL YOUR SENATOR: SUPPORT SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN'S BANK ON STUDENTS LOAN FAIRNESS ACT
Support Senator Warren's Bank on Student Loans Fairness Act which provides a one-year fix to the impending doubling of students rate hike by setting the student loan interest rates at the same level the Federal Reserve offers to big banks at a rate of 0.75%., keeping college education affordable for the 99%.
Of course, we've all heard about the Abercrombie and Fitch scandal which is perceived to be slighting plus sized women. Full disclosure: I actually have a small personal connection to that company. For the record, Abercrombie and Fitch's CEO Michael Jeffries must not hate all fat people: he's hired me for the past 8 years to spin at his mansion for their staff party and I've been overweight every one of those 8 years. The first year, they put me in an airport hotel and I don't drive. With no shopping within walking distance. So when I opened my suitcase to find that I'd forgotten to pack eye shadow, hairspray and a bra, I was totally goofed. (Without a bra, a drag queens' boobs won't stay on.) And the nearby 7/11 didn't sell any of these items. So I used a hideous junkie-looking red blush-as-eye shadow look with a homemade boob tube bra fashioned from chopping off the top band of my panty hose to hold my falsies in place. With a messy wig and a flip-flop paired with sequins to accommodate my broken toe, this was how I showed up for my first gig for this image-conscious clothing company. No one flinched and Michael greeted me warmly as he's done every year. He isn't the monster that he's being made out to be. I've been treated by everyone in his employ so respectfully, even paying my full fee one year when they had to cancel the party. (This is unheard of in my business.) They also send me the most heavenly chocolates I've ever eaten every Christmas. They're so delicious that I normally gobble the whole box myself. Wait! Maybe that's their trick to make sure that I never disgrace them by wearing their clothes!
But seriously, the level of outcry against A & F surprises me a little.
The company announced that they wouldn't make sizes over 10 for women. I'm not sure that the backlash will outweigh the publicity snowstorm that has, in effect, branded them as desirable to a certain set. The set they claim they want. Many girls may now covet these smaller sizes as a way to say "I'm a hot, thin chick who can get into A &F." Is this a traditional way for a company to get press or brand themselves? No, but if that's what's bugging you then ask how no talent it girls like Anna Nicole Smith, Kim Kardashian, and Paris Hilton have come to dominate the last decade: sex tapes! Celebs, PETA and many businesses use shock tactics as a marketing tool. It's been the new normal for a while now. Isn't the outrage merely playing into the hands of A & F's very successful ploy?
Think about it: A & F has now branded themselves as a company for cool, thin people to an increasingly obese nation. But that's always been a part of their brand: exclusive, worn impossibly beautiful, young models, stores decked out with antique skiing gear to suggest to the manor born, old money and the quality that goes with it kinda vibe. I mean, their stores have scantily clad doormen and with loud dance music playing as in night clubs. In keeping with that night club parallel, should it surprise anyone that clubs are picky with their clientele? Hello! Remember Studio 54? And if you think about it, A & F's clothes are quite simple and casual yet a bit more expensive than average. How do they do it? By convincing people think that it's worth that extra dollar to be part of the exclusive club which wears their garments. Their marketing is actually quite genius.
Exclusivity has always been a part of fashion. Until the last decade, high fashion designers didn't make larger sizes until the economic crash coupled with the obesity epidemic forced them to loosen their waistlines in order to break even. And exclusivity drives higher prices. It's the old law of supply and demand. Tell someone they can't have something and they'll want it and they'll pay more to get it. Just like when you pick up a kid's toy and play with it--the brat may have ignored that toy for hours but when you start enjoying it, they squawk over it and suddenly have to have it. Don't deny that this works. (I've conducted extensive research on my niece and nephew who are now scarred for life so that I could bring you these exclusive findings.) So what has A & F done is no different from airlines which let 1st class ticket holders board first, event producers which sell limited VIP tickets which enable a select few to meet and greet a performer, or night clubs which give seating preference to patrons who shell out $500 for a bottle of booze which would cost $50 in a liquor store. Do these businesses care about the feelings of coach passengers, the fans in the cheap seats or those who can't afford pricey bottle service? You'd be naive to think so. Fashion itself is snooty. By wearing a designer outfit, the goal of many is to say "I paid more for this clearly labelled label so that all the rest of you can see me in it and wish you could afford it, too. Except that they don't even make it in your size, darling!" This is how the business works, folks! Haute couture is only for the rich and we now know that A & F is only for women who are trim.
And if you really want to go there, is there any image-based company which sends the message that fat people are cool? Do you see many overweight people on movies or tv--in commercials, sitcoms, dramas or as newscasters? Don't blame Jeffries for a fat phobia which existed long before his statements. But suddenly, thanks to these statements made in 2006, he's bullying women. And so it's fair game to say for those who he bullied to bully him right back. Many people are saying he's unattractive despite obvious plastic surgery. Oh, so it's ok for you to bash someone's appearance when your feelings have been hurt by their commentary on your appearance.
If women larger than a size 10 want positive, affirming messages, don't look towards clothing companies which market themselves as "aspirational." Women need to develop their own sense of worth and ignore marketing. If you value yourself the way you are, then Abercrombie has lost you as customer because of their dismissive policies. You and only you can decide that you're cool or not regardless of your size, and then Michael Jeffries has no power here. If you've been hurt by this CEO's frankness, then you've clearly bought into the social conditioning that tells that a woman's worth is reduced if she isn't petite. Look at how retailers of clothes for larger women dance around the language describing their wares: plus-sized, full-figured, ample, etc. Can you imagine a successful clothing line with obese in it's name?
NEWSFLASH: most large retailers won't be sending any affirming messages to women with bigger butts, women with ethnic features, women with wrinkles, women whose teeth aren't artificially whitened, women whose hair isn't straight and blonde, or women who may risk body odor from stress sweat, which one current deodorant ad actually claims can smell worse. Fashion marketing is based on an ideal which no one can actually achieve--that's why we shell out extra cash for luxury brands. I grew up with many thin black kids who would buy larger sized jeans than they needed so their moms could take up the waists to accommodate their bigger butts. When Brooke Shields was modeling for Gloria Vanderbilt, the designer made a statement similar to Jeffries' claiming that she didn't make jeans for black behinds--and there was little outrage. You can't force a company to cater to you--you have to find clothes that fit in a store which sells them. If women above a size 10 want to wear Abercrombie and Fitch so desperately, then lose weight. Don't go ballistic because their CEO has simply spelled out a larger truth about fashion marketing which you don't want to hear. Here's another truth: if you're looking for an XXL, you may well be fat. I can wear up a 2XL or a 3XL and I don't go blaming the designers.
How far do you want to take this outrage? Even when I was thinner I couldn't fit into most women's clothing, and certainly not into designer label's offerings. Does that make these companies trans- or drag-phobic? If we're going to boycott every garment manufacturer that sends negative, undemocratic messages then I'm very glad that the weather's warming up--there's going to be a lot of naked people running around. And if women are so concerned about feel-good messages, who in the hell is watching the hideous harpies of The Real Housewives series? I don't think it's men. Not straight ones, anyway. See y'all at Lane Bryant! Oh--I mean right after I hit the gym, that is. (My gym has such delicious food!)
Obama's tragic pic for Dpt Of Justice Eric Holder needs to step down. Hastings says Attorney General Eric Holder should be held accountable. “This is just embarrassing,” Hastings says. “When you have to go up and say, ‘Oh, I don’t know anything about anything’ repeatedly, you should be out of a job.”
I beg you to watch this--it's about the meaningless, pointless budget discussion that proves that there's no need to cut social services to balance the budget. Our government (including Obama, most democrats and all republicans) refuse to tax the wealthy and cut corporations' tax loopholes and in so doing, ignore the obvious solution.
"The fact is, this spending vs. taxes debate is largely meaningless. Watch our explainer video to learn about corporate tax breaks, the U.S. Government's secret subsidy program that some in Congress want to gut vital programs -- like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security -- to keep in place for their wealthy donors." Then, take action: AFSCME
There goes the West Side! I guess it doesn't even matter if you're rich any more. Spectra will begin piping fracked gas this year. Despite their terrible track record, the pipeline only has to be inspected once every 7 years. In a densely populated area? PITIFUL?
MORE: PIX11
OBAMA PUTTING GAS AND OIL PROFITS BEFORE OUR SAFETY: PLEASE SIGN!
The Obama administration just released its first major fracking policy--the Bureau of Land Management’s proposed rules for fracking on 600 million acres of public land. And it’s even worse than we feared.1
In a major concession to the fracking industry and its lobbying efforts, the proposed rules are even weaker than previous drafts of the rules.2 3 And they do nothing to close Dick Cheney’s infamous “Halliburton loophole,” which exempts fracking from key parts of the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Clean Water Act.4
Of course, it’s become clear that there is simply no safe way to frack. So even worse than the specific concessions made to industry in the draft regulations is the assumption that fracking should be allowed to continue on federal lands despite overwhelming evidence that it endangers our air, water and climate.
The BLM is accepting public comments on its proposed fracking rules for 30 days. We need to let the administration know that these rules are totally inadequate. The administration needs to ban fracking on public lands – not cave to the industry and endanger our health and safety.
Submit a public comment telling the Bureau of Land Management: Ban fracking on federal lands. Click here to submit a public comment.
An area of federal land larger than the entire state of Florida is currently under lease for oil and gas extraction, so this is one of the most important fracking policy decisions the Obama administration will make.5
Unfortuanately, every indication is that the White House is still putting the interests of oil and gas companies before the health and safety of American communities. The proposed regulations let the industry keep secret the toxic chemicals it injects underground by designating them as "trade secrets" without oversight from the BLM. The rules allow the industry to store contaminated waste in massive open pits, which can release dangerous air emissions and leak toxins into groundwater. And the rules do nothing to prevent the industry from fracking wells right next to homes and schools.
And of course, the harm fracking does to local communities is compounded by its significant contribution to the climate crisis.6 As the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere passes 400 parts per million--well beyond what many scientists say is safe--the Obama administration should be working to keep its promise to confront climate change, not encouraging the extraction of vast new reserves of dirty oil and gas.
MORE: CREDOACTION
NOT IN TEXAS!
McKINNEY, Texas — A Texas judge has invoked a “morality clause” in a lesbian mother’s divorce from her husband, requiring that the woman’s current partner of three years vacate their home “in the interest and welfare” of the divorced couple’s children.
LGBTQNATION
THE POPE IS RIGHT WHERE "DEMOCRAT" OBAMA AND EVERYONE ELSE IN OUR GOVERNMENT IS WRONG! Considering the lack of leadership in all but a handful of US elected officials, I am now forced to view this man as a visionary!
Francis, the former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, said the world was going through not just an economic crisis but a crisis of values.
"This is happening today. If investments in banks fall, it is a tragedy and people say 'what are we going to do?' but if people die of hunger, have nothing to eat or suffer from poor health, that's nothing. This is our crisis today.
MORE: HUFFPO
Representative Michele Bachmann is the Tea Party’s queen of crazy. So what kind of a signal does it send that she's on the House Intelligence Committee where she has access to sensitive national security information?
Bachmann has actually said that gay marriage is the biggest problem facing the nation, financial reform efforts equate with Mussolini-style fascism, and that President Obama is "anti-American" and "turning our country into a nation of slaves.”
One of Bachmann’s most irresponsible actions was to launch an anti-Muslim witch hunt and suggest, à la Joe McCarthy, that the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated the American government.
Her loose association with the facts and her willingness to believe in all sorts of completely baseless conspiracy theories makes her one of the last people in Congress who should be entrusted with our nation’s secrets.
Please join with Daily Kos and CREDO by petitioning Speaker Boehner to remove Rep. Michele Bachmann from the House Intelligence Committee.
SIGN; DAILYKOS
A sample of the manure foam that caused an explosion that lifted a hog barn two feet off the ground and blew a man 20 feet away from where he had been standing (see video below)
MOTHERJONES
TAKE AWAY OBAMA'S NOBEL PEACE PRIZE! Man, were those republicans who thought that Obama's middle name Hussein would make him sympathetic to muslims ever wrong. This monster will kill anyone without mercy. And without end. Senator Angus King, one of the few with a conscience called the attempt to reauthorize the 2001 AUMF "astoundingly disturbing" and said that "You guys have essentially rewritten the Constitution today." But we don't like our elected officials to have a conscience. That's why the great hope of the democratic party is the unprincipled Hillary Clinton, who disgraced herself by voting to go to war with our non-emeny Iraq.
GUARDIAN: "This is the new normal. Statistics provided by Special Operations Command indicate that special forces groups were operating in 92 different countries in March 2013. The AUMF premise, no matter how it gets tweaked, is enabling a system of eternal warfare, a reality that is not only financially untenable for a nation in deep debt, but also ethically indefensible."
In other words, our "leaders" want to keep the senseless killing going even though we can't afford it anymore. And now gays have won the the right to help out the world's largest terrorist organization when they enlist. Just starting my memorial day celebration early this morning! Maybe that's why both parties in our government refuse to focus on job creation--if jobs are super scarce, enlisting to fight enemies who we don't even perceive a threat from (like Iraq) seems like a good reason to die or be maimed. At least we'll get a couple paychecks before we bite the dust. And you won't be dying for any cause other to enrich the defense industry, who Obama is paying back for getting him into office.
GUARDIAN: "It is time for members of Congress who truly care about rule of law, oversight and the financial security of this country to speak up." But they won't speak up. They'll be sheep like Hillary, ready to sacrifice military men and women to non-enemies to enrich her campaign donors. There's one smart thing about this plan, however: if we continue attacks against people around the world whether with drones or boots on the ground, we're that guaranteeing generations of terrorists will continue to retaliate on American soil. Then we can act all shocked as we did after 9/11 and the Boston bombings and ask "Why do they hate us?" OUR GOAL OF PERPETUAL WAR IS WHY. I'm not saying there aren't any crazy terrorists out there who will attack us for no reason, but we really want the attacks to stop, stop giving them reasons to. The US is the world's largest terrorist organization. The fact that the Pentagon is angling to reauthorize the AUMF and that only a handful of senators is standing up to it is proof.
MORE: GUARDIAN
23% of Americans polled think Benghazi was the worst scandal in US history. 39% of that 29% don't even know where Benghazi is. Anyone want to guess what percentage of those are racist morons who watch Fox "News"? Please, idiots. The scandal is that we still have no job. No need to make them up.
At ArtHamptons Saturday, July 13, 2013 4-8 PM The Ark Project, 60 Millstone Road Water Mill, NY
FEATURING DJ LADY BUNNY
An afternoon of dancing and fun - including lots of fun for the little ones - with over hundreds of supporters and friends of the Pride Agenda!
MORE INFO/TIX: PRIDEAGENDA
HUFFPO: "Public opinion on the topic of climate change is notoriously fickle, changing -- quite literally sometimes -- with the weather. The latest bit of evidence on this: Yale's April 2013 climate change survey, which found, among other things, that Americans' conviction that global warming is happening had dropped by seven points, to 63 percent, over the preceding six months. The decline, the authors surmised, was most likely due to "the cold winter of 2012-13 and an unusually cold March just before the survey was conducted."
A far smaller percentage -- 49 percent -- understood that human activities are contributing to the problem.
People and surveys being what they are, these numbers tend to jump around a bit from year to year. At the same time, 49 percent is nearly half the country, so it wouldn't be excessively cheerful (would it?) to note that half of the American public is more or less in harmony with basic science -- at least as it relates to climate change. Given that roughly the same number of Americans flatly reject evolution, the climate numbers represent a comparative bounty of enlightenment."
MORE: HUFFPO
I didn't take it!
A recent report from watchdog group Nonprofit Investor concerns Locks of Love, a group that makes hairpieces for children who have hair loss stemming from medical issues. $6,000,000 worth of hair is missing!
MORE: MSN
HUFFPO: Cream rinse!
Jared Weston Walter, 26, is accused of masturbating and ejaculating on heads of TriMet bus passengers in Portland, Oregon, The Oregonian reported.
He was previously jailed for cutting off the hair of fellow bus passengers and applying super glue to their scalps. Cuckoo! But not unattractive.
MORE: HUFFPO
“I have recently been getting a lot of hate online…people have been gossiping about me. They are basically just calling me a faggot, or gay or fag.
Just because I make videos doesn’t mean I’m gay. Seriously, I think you need to get the perception of the word gay… the “actual definition before throwing these words around like you know how to use them in a sentence.
Even my “friends” want to gossip about whether I am gay or not. And honest thing is I don’t really know—do you guys even know how old I am? I am twelve years old and you’re calling me gay?"
NEW APP CLEVERLY CALLED BUYCOTT ALLOWS YOU TO SCAN YOUR SHOPPING CART TO ENSURE THAT NOT A DIME GOES TO THE EVIL KOCH BROTHERS' EMPIRE.
I am not too tech savvy and am not even smart enough to work my own smart phone. But here's an app I'll gladly buy and learn how to use. TO take down the Koch brothers before they take down this country!
"In her keynote speech at last year’s annual Netroots Nation gathering, Darcy Burner pitched a seemingly simple idea to the thousands of bloggers and web developers in the audience. The former Microsoft MSFT +1.51% programmer and congressional candidate proposed a smartphone app allowing shoppers to swipe barcodes to check whether conservative billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch were behind a product on the shelves.
Burner figured the average supermarket shopper had no idea that buying Brawny paper towels, Angel Soft toilet paper or Dixie cups meant contributing cash to Koch Industries through its subsidiary Georgia-Pacific. Similarly, purchasing a pair of yoga pants containing Lycra or a Stainmaster carpet meant indirectly handing the Kochs your money (Koch Industries bought Invista, the world’s largest fiber and textiles company, in 2004 from DuPont)."
MORE: FORBES
\My block was heavily barricaded yesterday because Obama was visiting the home of entertainment mogul Harvey Weinstein for one of two fund-raisers. Wait...what's he fundraising for? He can't run again. And I wonder why he only stopped by the homes of wealthy people who can pay tens of thousands to socialize with him and discuss how to make their already easy lives easier? I'm sure there are tons of seniors in the NYC area who would love to discuss Obama's proposed cuts to Social Security. I guess they can't afford to get their message to him. Sounds democratic to me! Or maybe Obama is considering a career as an actor--he makes a great liar!
TOM WHEELER IS OBAMA'S LATEST SLAP IN THE FACE TO THE US
Obama claimed that he wants to reduce the influence of lobbyists in DC. So why is he giving the top position at the FCC to a lobbyist from the wireless and cable industries? Because he is as corrupt as the people he's appointing. Care2com: "Obama seems particularly keen to give government positions to his top fundraisers, and you have a lot of rich people making critical decisions about the welfare of the middle and lower classes." It's time to give up on Obama, republicans and democrats who continue this system of corruption. The facts are are out there and deeply distressing. If waiting for Hillary is your great hope then you'll be disappointed to learn that anyone endorsed by democrats as we currently know them will be more of the same rife corruption. I could never vote for anyone Obama or the democrat party endorsed if this institutionalized corruption which places consumer/health/security/justice/food and drug/communications watchdog agencies in the hands of former employees of those same industries. That makes about as much sense as placing a constitutional lawyer in the White House to shred the civil liberties in the constitution. Oh wait! That's what Obama was and is doing. The level of corruption is so great that it almost feels that the White House is openly mocking the people with these sham appointments. Openly mocking hard-hit Americans with shysters appointed to protect their interests: is that what Obama meant by wanting more transparency in his government? If so, he's been hugely successful with that.
NY TIMES: "The question is whether his (Wheeler's) long career representing the interests of telecommunications companies would make it hard for him to be an independent and fair regulator when consumers have few choices and pay high prices for cellphone, cable TV and broadband services.
He was also a big “bundler” for Mr. Obama in the 2008 and 2012 campaigns, which means that he raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from relatives, friends and business associates. Political campaigns disclose their donors, but they are not required to disclose which of them were recruited by bundlers like Mr. Wheeler. Given his background, it is almost certain that he raised money from people whose companies he would regulate, creating potential conflicts of interest."
It's another fox watching the henhouse scenario which proves Obama's utter disregard for citizen in favor of big business. Look at some of his other rotten appointees:
Jack Lew as Secretary of the Treasury: a former Citigroup big-wig who has money in the Cayman Islands to avoid paying taxes. He told Bernie Sanders that he did not believe that deregulation caused the financial crisis of 2007-8.
John Brennan for head of CIA: widely know as the torture guy!
Michael Taylor as Deputy Commission of the FDA: a former Monsanto big-wig. No conflict of interest there.
Eric Holder, Dpt. Of Justice just fudged his dpt's own rules by spying on AP reporters. Not to mention setting the tone for the failure of the Obama administration's moral compass by taking office and saying that impeachment of Cheney and Bush for war crimes was "off the table."
Kathleen Sebelius of the Health and Human Services Dpt: shocked liberals recently by making morning after pills harder to get. NYC Judge Korman wasn't having it : "On Friday, he denied the request by government lawyers to suspend his ruling while they appeal. In the process, he lashed out again at Ms. Sebelius in unusually harsh terms, questioning her credibility and integrity. “If a stay is granted, it will allow the bad-faith, politically motivated decision of Secretary Sebelius, who lacks any medical or scientific expertise, to prevail — thus justifiably undermining the public’s confidence in the drug approval process,” Judge Korman wrote." Lacks ANY MEDICAL OR SCIENTIFIC EXPERTISE? The what ass put her in the Health And Human Services dpt? Obama.
Mary Jo White: "The most recent example is this year’s appointment of Mary Jo White to the head of the SEC. In this role, White will be tasked with regulating the banks and keeping them in line. However, the problem is her preparation for this role. For the previous ten years, White has served as a defense attorney for Wall Street banks. Having made a fortune from these big businesses, we are now being expected to trust that she’s prepared to turn on her former allies and hold them responsible for the same crimes she helped them mitigate in the past.
The administration has already faced accusations of going notoriously soft on the banks and so the solution was to appoint more of the same?"
Jeffrey Immelt: "Facing a flailing economy and lofty unemployment, Obama created the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness to find solutions for one of the nation’s largest problems. Good idea, except that in 2011, Obama named Jeffrey Immelt, the CEO of General Electric, to head this council. As CEO, Immelt had accepted government bailouts and still sent many jobs overseas, while using most of the money to pay out top execs rather than lower employees.
It seems pretty ludicrous to put a man who exported jobs in his own company in charge of stimulating job growth domestically. Many considered the move to be Obama extending an olive branch to big business rather than an attempt to help the average American. Indeed, Immelt’s suggestions were to cut taxes on business to aid in job recovery: a policy that would line his own pockets, not most others’."
Gene Sperling: "When Obama named Gene Sperling the chair of his National Economic Council, there was concern that the man was too entrenched with big corporations to be impartial. Sperling was able to argue that he worked only part-time for Wall Street firms like Goldman Sachs. Still, this consulting working netted him over $1 million annually.
Interestingly, Wall Street and other parties involved merely laughed off the criticism. Their argument was that Sperling had only been paid $1 million, which was hardly a high enough amount to taint him. Perhaps the fact that that they consider that amount chump change is a large part of the problem."
Lawrence Summers: "Sperling isn’t Obama’s only chief of the National Economic Council with strong Wall Street connections. Having made millions as a director at D.E. Shaw and a handful of other top banks, Lawrence Summers was a peculiar choice if Obama was hoping for substantial change. A long-time advocate for bank deregulation, he has a history of looking out for the interests of corporations rather than the majority of American citizens."
William Daley: "Similar murmurs were heard when Obama named William Daley, a bigwig at JP Morgan his chief of staff, arguably one of most powerful positions in all of U.S. government. With nearly 8 million dollars invested in banking industry stocks, it would seemingly be impossible for his holdings not to cloud his decisions. Considering that – for better or worse (hint: worse) – the financial institutions are tied up in just about every aspect of government, Daley could hardly be considered impartial.
This list is by no means exhaustive. Other articles have done a good job compiling the surprising number of Wall Street-made millionaires who take turns on Obama’s staff, many of whom are given million-dollar farewell bonuses from their companies days before teaming with Obama as a likely gesture of “don’t forget us when you’re in power.” Combine that with the fact that Obama seems particularly keen to give government positions to his top fundraisers, and you have a lot of rich people making critical decisions about the welfare of the middle and lower classes.
While it makes sense that the President would choose to surround himself with individuals with a proven track record of success, surely there are other ways to define “success” besides making millions of dollars as a Wall Street executive. If that is a main criteria for obtaining an important position in government, we cannot reasonably expect anything but a corporatocracy to emerge."
MORE: 5 Obama Appointees With Wall Street Ties CARE2COM
MORE: Tom Wheeler: An Industry Man For The FCC NYTIMES
FROM THE BILL DEBLASIO BENEFIT LAST NIGHT AT THE CUTTING ROOM
Flotilla Debarge in the NY Times! I had to leave the benefit early but I heard she was hilarious.
At a Racy Fund-Raiser for de Blasio, the Target Is Quinn
"An ample-bodied drag queen (stage name: Flotilla DeBarge) declared that “just because it’s gay doesn’t mean it thinks our way.”
MORE: NYTIMES
POWER TO THE PEOPLE HAS BECOME POWER TO THE CORPORATIONS
...AND OBAMA IS LEADING THE WAY.
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday pledged to pursue a broad trade agreement between the U.S. and European Union, amid growing domestic unrest with the Obama administration's plans to include new political powers for corporations in the deal.
MORE: HUFFPO
Romney said this plainly with his 47% comment at that Palm Beach fundraiser which was secretly videotaped. Obama, with his proposed cuts to social security, veteran's benefits and lord-knows-what-else while ignoring low corporate tax rates and their insane loopholes, doesn't say it: he acts on the words that lost Romney the election. He's a Trojan horse! How much longer is it going to take for you to realize that Obama and democrats are a failure? Neither party represents the people. The system is broken. Sorry all you Hillary-loving gays! But changing one of the players in a broken system isn't going to help when the whole system is skewed towards the wealthy who buy our politicians. You can't even run for office without being bought and sold by interests who want to keep us dumb and poor.
BUN-BUN joins Ellen, Suze Orman, Jake Shears, Larry Kramer, Christine Quinn, Wanda Sykes and so many more in this new HBO special, The Gay List by Timothy Greenfield-Saunders. Begins airing 6/27. (I know that it may be news to many of you that I am gay, but I came out as a dyke on this show.)
RUBIO ANGRILY DEMANDS RESIGNATION OF SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T HAVE THE JOB!
GOP dunce Mrco Rubio is calling for the resignation of a gov't official who doesn't even exist! For a moment, Rubio was considered a republican golden boy who might fool latinos back over to voting for their party if he ran for president/VP. What a loser! How does this make his constituents feel about his competence to run their affairs? Oh well, they voted for him. Sorry for people with sense in FLA. But this is what happens when our representatives are more concerned with towing the party line by raising a ruckus over nothing in an attempt to tow the party line rather then represent their constituents.
MORE: MADDOWBLOG
I rarely watch Sunday news. So sorry that I tuned into MSNBC today to watch their lead story: BENGHAZI BACKLASH! The lead story? Really? Let me ask how many of you are concerned or even that knowledgeable about what happened in Benghazi for there to even be a backlash against? It's sad that the supposed "liberal" news of MSNBC devotes it's top story to go on the defensive against ridiculous GOP attempts to tie Hillary Clinton to incompetency ahead of her presidential run in a few years. Republicans: IS THAT ALL YA GOT? Can't we wait to evaluate her competency when she's actually announced that she's running?
Here's the gagger: NOTHING in the news, liberal or otherwise, is focusing on what the US plainly needs now and isn't getting: MORE JOBS. Our news is "informing" us on everything from Benghazi to Jodi Arias's verdict to a conflict in Syria to abducted women in Cleveland to abortion to Dennis Rodman's self-appointed ambassadorship to North Korea. But no one on the news is discussing the real issues. We don't have jobs. The economy has tanked. The rich are getting richer and the middle class is becoming the working poor. We're listening to wrong people talking about the wrong topics. If you think that an intricate understanding of Benghazi or Jodi Arias (or Joey Arias, who I've never understood) is going to get this struggling nation back on it's feet then your ignorance is part of the problem. Our "news" and our politicians may have ADD which causes them to forget the very real problems at hand which are ruining lives in this country, but if WE THE PEOPLE are losing sight of what those actual problems are, how the hell will we ever begin to solve them?
This lady founded Mother's Day and then later fought to have it abolished. After she felt the holiday had been over-commercialized. This is after she was served a "Mother's Day Salad" in Pennsylvania. I wonder what the fuck was in that salad?
MENTALFLOSS
