Bob Dylan’s been singing that song a long time….
He’s 70 years old today….
Let’s hope he keeps going and the times keep changing…
Here he is singing another one of his songs:
Maria Shriver’s People Leaked Arnold Baby Story
Good for her!
Hell hath no fury…..
From TMZ:
TMZ has new information from sources connected to Maria. We’re told when Maria found out that Arnold was the father of Mildred Patty Baena’s son, she was “hysterical” and wanted to hold a news conference blowing the lid off the scandal.
We’re told Maria’s friends talked her off a ledge and a plan was eventually hatched to leak the details to the L.A. Times and TMZ.
And we have new information about when Maria found out about the baby. Now we’re told Maria learned about Arnold’s love child in late April or very early May.
The timeline further supports the story TMZ broke earlier — that Maria was miserable in her marriage and wanted out for a long time. As we first reported, Maria was looking at pricey L.A. condos back in January with a Beverly Hillls realtor.
Maria has told friends for nearly two years she wanted a divorce but never pulled the trigger. Maria, we’re told, is now ready to end the marriage.
As for Arnold, our sources say he’s upset Maria was talking to her friends about the scandal. Arnold and his people know the story leaked through Maria’s camp
via Maria Shriver’s People Leaked Arnold Baby Story | TMZ.com.
Filed under Politics
Elizabeth Warren Called Liar At CFPB Hearing By Republicans Who Botched Facts On Agency
This is an interesting article that shows several things:
- The total breakdown in civility in Congress
- How Republicans don’t know their facts
- How Republicans distorted the truth
- What a classy lady Elizabeth Warren is
- How NC GOP Rep Patrick McHenry is a total dick
The subcommittee chairman, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), began the proceedings by suggesting Warren had lied to the committee in a previous hearing that had questioned the CFPB’s role in offering advice to state attorneys general negotiating a settlement with abusive mortgage servicers.
At the time, Warren said she was proud her agency had been able to help, at the request of the Treasury Secretary. But McHenry brought up the memo again, suggesting it showed that she hid a larger role in the negotiations from Congress.
“This is our job, and we’re trying to do our job, to be helpful to other agencies, and to help those agencies to hold those who break the law accountable,” Warren said, repeating that she was proud of the work.
The exchange prompted Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) to say he was sorry.
“I apologize to the witness for the rude and disrespectful behavior of the chair,” Yarmuth told Warren. “The questioning of your veracity when there is documented evidence that you are being totally truthful indicates to me that this hearing is all about impugning you because people are afraid of you.”
But perhaps the ugliest moment in the contentions sessions came at the end, when Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, pointed out that based on the emails his staff had gotten, McHenry was keeping Warren later than an agreed 2:15 p.m. ending time.
The session had been moved repeatedly, with the timing changing as late as Tuesday morning.
But McHenry insisted there had been no agreement, even though he, the subcommittee members and Warren all arrived there an hour early.
“I’m not trying to cause you problems, Ms. Warren,” McHenry said.
“You are causing problems,” Warren answered. “We had an agreement for a later hearing. Your staff asked us to move around so that we had to change everything on my schedule to try to accommodate your time…”
“We agreed that I would be out of here at 2:15 because there are other things now scheduled at 2:30,” she said.
“That was a request, ” McHenry snapped.
“Congressmen, you told us one thing,” Warren responded
“I did not tell you anything,” he shot back, before adding to audible gasps in the hearing room: “You’re making this up, Ms. Warren. This is not the case.”
A shocked Cummings intervened, saying: “You just accused the lady of lying. I think you need to clear this up with your staff.”
Cummings noted the time changes in the hearing, and a CFPB source later confirmed to Huffington Post that there had been a specific agreement.
via Elizabeth Warren Called Liar At CFPB Hearing By Republicans Who Botched Facts On Agency (VIDEO).
Conservative Talk Ratings Slide
Hopefully people are finally getting tired of these evil clowns….
Or their elderly audience is passing on…
From Political Wire:
“Right-wing talk radio may have worn out its welcome, at least for now,” reports Crain’s New York Business.
A new Arbitron report shows Rush Limbaugh’s ratings down 33% from a year ago and Sean Hannitty down 28% over the same time period. Meanwhile, more centrist personalities — Don Imus in the morning and John Batchelor at night — were both up from a year earlier.
Filed under Journalism, Media
NC governor will let Time Warner cable-backed bill restricting municipal broadband become law
Bev Perdue continues to be a most disappointing Democratic Governor here in North Carolina…
She’s will “neither sign nor veto” this horrible Time Warner Protection Bill …
Another bought and paid for politician?
I really hope she doesn’t run again and gets out of the way for a new Democratic choice.
She won’t though….
She will hand the Office of the Governor over to the GOP instead.
Thanks to my friend Gary for initially posting this on FaceBook…
We’ve repeatedly hammered Time Warner Cable (and its big-cable cronies) for crying to the North Carolina legislature about municipal broadband. TWC claims it can’t compete with taxpayer-backed ISPs such as Wilson, NC’s Greenlight — and that it shouldn’t have to. In fact, Greenlight and four other municipal providers came about specifically because corporate players refused to provide inexpensive, fast broadband. And now that local governments have proven they can provide it, the cable companies have cried foul, pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into select political pockets all the while. That’s the drama so far, and now a bill restricting municipal broadband — mandating that providers pay taxes similar to private companies, for example — has landed on the desk of Governor Bev Perdue. She won’t veto the bill, meaning it will soon become a law; for whatever it’s worth (read: not much), she also refuses to sign it. The reason? Here it is from the horse’s mouth:
“I will neither sign nor veto this bill. Instead, I call on the General Assembly to revisit this issue and adopt rules that not only promote fairness but also allow for the greatest number of high quality and affordable broadband options for consumers.”
The legislation strikes a blow against public ISPs in a country that ranks ninth in the world for broadband adoption and download speeds. And that, apparently, is what “fair competition” looks like in the US.
via NC governor will let cable-backed bill restricting municipal broadband become law — Engadget.
Filed under Internet, North Carolina
Remember When? Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise was- for one brief, shining moment- cool.
This was before Scientology…
Before becoming overly self-conscious and self-absorbed made him a joke…
Before he jumped on Oprah’s couch…
Before Katie Holmes…
Before he became a jerk…
This is how I like to remember him…
Filed under Entertainment, Movies
NC Faith Leaders Stand Up for LGBT Equality — Equality North Carolina
I’m always pleased to find evidence that all Religious leaders aren’t like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson…
I really have to be reminded of that sometimes as those guys, and similar opportunists and zealots, really created a negative image or organized religion for so many of us….
I’m also particularly pleased to see the diversity in this group…
We’ve come a long ways from Jesse Helms….
Thanks to my friend Kirk for originally sending this to me…
As anti-LGBT forces once again used religious reasons to justify their support of a ban on marriage equality on the outside, inside Rep. Brandon, and the statewide coalition of religious leadership standing beside him, took on these claims directly, citing the religious and historical context for opposing anti-LGBT legislation like the constitutional amendment current circulating the North Carolina legislature.
“The Bible has been used in this nation to support slavery, segregation, laws against interracial marriage, and to deny women’s rights,” Brandon said, adding that he’s a Christian himself. “Jesus was a compassionate person. And Jesus would not be having a rally outside right now.”
During the hour-long press conference, five faith leaders, flanked by other people of faith and state legislators, publicly spoke to the specific harms of Senate Bill 106/House Bill 777:
“This extreme legislation will only cause needless pain and suffering,” Rev. Anthony Spearman is pastor of Clinton Tabernacle AME Zion Church in Hickory said of the proposed amendment. “It sends a message to major employers that North Carolina does not welcome a diverse workplace,” Spearman said. “It tells young people who are gay they’re second class citizens, unworthy of basic dignity and equal treatment…It is not fair and it is certainly not just.”
“Martin Luther King Jr. said the moral arc of the universe bends toward justice,” said Rev. Stephen Shoemaker from Charlotte’s Myers Park Baptist. “We’re here to say today it also bends toward inclusiveness.”
“Don’t let those selling fear on the cheap, buy your hearts,” said Rev. Dr. Amy Laura Hall, ordained elder, United Methodist Church in Durham. “I appeal to you, dear children of God, charged with leading us in North Carolina, please do not block the true recognition of gay and lesbian families in North Carolina as what they are…families, with all the vulnerability, need and intimate trust that go with the word ‘kin.'”
“We oppose the use of sacred texts and religious traditions to deny legal equality to gay and lesbian couples,” said Ari Margoils, assistant rabbi at Temple Beth Or in Raleigh.
“This, I would like to suggest, is our moment,” said Bishop Tonyia Rawls of Unity Fellowship Church in Charlotte. “We will in this moment in time acknowledge what type of a state we really are.”
During the press conference, it was announced that clergy and congregation members from all denominations could sign on with a statewide faith coalition, joining more than 300 faith leaders who have already publicly opposed this type of discriminatory legislation.
via NC Faith Leaders Stand Up for LGBT Equality — Equality North Carolina.
Filed under Gay, North Carolina, Religion
Even Fox News Chief Roger Ailes Thinks Sarah Palin Is ‘Stupid’: New York Magazine
But they still push her out there and give her a platform to share her stupidity….
From Michael Calderone in New York Magazine:
Fox News still dominates the cable news ratings, but chairman Roger Ailes wants something more: to help elect the next president.
That’s the takeaway from Gabriel Sherman’s New York magazine cover story hitting newsstands Monday. Sherman, who’s currently writing a book on Fox News for Random House, looks at how Ailes — who built up a stable of possible presidential contenders after the 2008 election, including Sarah Palin — isn’t so pleased with their chances at beating President Barack Obama in 2012.
Ailes doesn’t speak on the record in the article, but several Republicans close to the Fox News chief describe his concerns going into an election year.
“He thinks things are going in a bad direction,” another Republican close to Ailes told [Sherman]. “Roger is worried about the future of the country. He thinks the election of Obama is a disaster. He thinks Palin is an idiot. He thinks she’s stupid. He helped boost her up. People like Sarah Palin haven’t elevated the conservative movement.”
Ailes, a television titan, has schooled past presidential candidates on how to handle the media. Before helping Rupert Murdoch launch Fox News in 1996, Ailes worked as a strategist for Republican presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush (whom he still talks to regularly).
via Fox News Chief Roger Ailes Thinks Sarah Palin Is ‘Stupid’: New York Magazine.
Newt Gingrich: Dancing Queen
From the Truth is Stranger than Fiction File via Celeste Katz in the New York Daily News:
The Republican firebrand is such a fan of the sugary Swedish songsters that his cell phone ringtone is the group’s hit “Dancing Queen.” Gingrich also thinks “Mamma Mia,” a movie starring Meryl Streep that features the tune, is “amazing.”
“It’s just fun,” he said. “When they do ‘Dancing Queen’ in the movie, I just think it’s a great sequence. I love that sequence — the energy, the excitement.”
Gingrich’s secret passion for ABBA was revealed when his cell phone suddenly rang during a campaign stop in Iowa, where he has been trying to launch a presidential campaign.
“Dancing Queen,” Gingrich sheepishly admitted, is his ringtone.
“My wife warned me this would happen,” he said, referring to third wife, Calista.
Gingrich said Calista’s ringtone is another ABBA tune, but he declined to divulge which one saying he wanted to add “a little mystique.”
“I’ll let you guess,” he said, grinning, “I’m not telling.”
via Newt Gingrich Hearts His ABBA Ringtone | New York Daily News.
Filed under Politics
Ocracokers still face threat, in Senate, of new ferry tolls
Since we just returned from Ocracoke, I’m posting this News and Observer Article in full in hopes some folks might call their legislators and speak out AGAINST charging a toll on the Hatteras-Ocracoke Ferry Route.
Remember, there is no way to reach Ocracoke Island except by ferry and their economy is totally dependent on tourism. Day Trippers, who take the free ferry, are a big part of their income. Not to mention the cost to the locals when they have to leave the Island.
As this article points out, this is really only an extension of the road system in North Carolina…
BY BRUCE SICELOFF – STAFF WRITER
The ferry toll fight is not over for Ocracokers.
Senate Republicans are expected next week to propose that the state collect tolls on all four ferry routes that now are free – including the Hatteras-Ocracoke and Currituck-Knotts Island ferries – and to increase toll rates on three other ferries. The changes would be written into the Senate’s version of the budget.
“The tolls have been fairly low, and they’re just trying to get them up closer to what would be reflective of the current cost of service,” said Sen. Neal Hunt, a Raleigh Republican who co-chairs the Senate Budget Committee. “Not trying to cover the entire cost, but just a little bit more of it.”
The Republican-led House agreed a few weeks ago in its budget proposal to keep the Knotts Island and Hatteras-Ocracoke ferries toll-free. Ferries provide the only link between the two islands and the North Carolina mainland. Ocracokers protested that it would be unfair to make residents and visitors start paying.
Republicans in both chambers want the state Department of Transportation to increase toll collections by several million dollars a year. The House budget proposed to have ferry riders pay an additional $7.5 million a year, part of a push for $160 million in higher tuition, tolls and other user fees.
Hunt said some Senate leaders believe travelers should be charged on every ferry route. He said the Ocracoke and Knotts Island issue probably will not be decided until House and Senate negotiators meet to resolve their differences on the budget.
“That might become a conference item,” Hunt said.
The 40-minute Hatteras-Ocracoke ride is the state’s busiest and most expensive ferry route, carrying 339,000 vehicles a year at a cost to taxpayers of $9.4 million. The Knotts Island ferry serves 25,000 vehicles each year.
Tolls on three routes cover only 7 percent of the cost for all seven ferries. The highway fund, drawn mostly from gas tax collections, pays the rest.
Rep. Tim Spear, a Creswell Democrat, supported the House budget after GOP leaders accepted his amendment to keep the Hatteras route toll-free. Since other North Carolinians can drive to and from their communities without paying for each trip, he said, tourists and residents need a free route to Ocracoke.
“Anything that might discourage tourists from visiting the island, like a toll on the ferry, would be crippling to them,” Spear said Friday. “We don’t have a bridge there. The ferry is just an extension of the highway system.”
Spear said it will take more than the ferry issue to determine his final vote on the budget. He said he also is concerned about sharp proposed cuts to education spending. School buses are among the regular users of the DOT ferry from Knotts Island to Currituck. When the ferry across Currituck Sound isn’t running, drivers travel to the North Carolina mainland on a circuitous trip that starts on Virginia roads.
Rep. Bill Owens, an Elizabeth City Democrat who pushed the exemption for the Knotts Island ferry, said state spending on the ferries – $42 million this year – is about what it would cost to build six miles of highway in the mountains.
“We pave and maintain other people’s highways,” Owens said. “We should maintain the ferries to allow residents to get to their schools and courthouses.”
Ocracoke residents have flooded legislators with phone calls, emails and Twitter and Facebook messages seeking to keep their ferry toll-free.
Rudy Austin, a boat captain and Ocracoke civic leader, said the Republicans who took charge of the legislature this year don’t understand how Ocracoke depends on ferry service.
“I realize that you’ve got a bunch of people up there that’s just been voted in,” Austin said. “And they’re running around like crazy, throwing different ideas around. If they knew our situation and knew how fragile our little economy is, I think they would think differently.”
via Ocracokers still face threat, in Senate, of new ferry tolls – Traffic – NewsObserver.com.
Filed under Politics
Lost in the 21st Century 