Friday, May 31, 2013

Weekend Humor

THE BIGGEST LIE

Two girls were arguing when the teacher entered the room.

The teacher says, “Why are you arguing?”

One girl answers, “We found a ten dollor bill and decided to give it to whoever tells the biggest lie.”

“You should be ashamed of yourselves,” said the teacher, “When I was your age I didn’t even know what a lie was.”

The girls gave the ten dollars to the teacher.



(Just a joke folks...I got nothing but the utmost love and respect for all who teach our children!   Have a great weekend everybody!)

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Well Thank God!

Guess who is not seeking re-election next year? The Queen of Crazy, Michelle Bachman...The woman who makes Sarah Palin look like a Rhodes Scholar!..and that takes some doing...

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, a conservative firebrand and a favorite of tea party Republicans, said Wednesday she will not run for another term in the U.S. House. Again...I say Hallelujah!!!!

Crazy Michelle (Bachmann), who ran for the Republican presidential nomination last year, announced her decision in a video on her website..

 "My decision was not influenced by any concerns about my being re-elected," she said. She narrowly won a fourth term in 2012 over Democrat Jim Graves, a hotel chain founder who is running again in 2014.

Crazy Michelle  also said, "This decision was not impacted in any way by the recent inquiries into the activities of my former presidential campaign." In January, a former Bachmann aide filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, claiming Bachmann made improper payments to an Iowa state senator who was the state chairman of her 2012 presidential run. The aide, Peter Waldron, also accused Bachmann of other FEC violations.
A vocal opponent of the health care overhaul and  any other policies of President Barack Obama, Michelle Bachmann promised her supporters, "I will continue to work overtime for the next 18 months in Congress defending the same Constitutional Conservative values we have worked so hard on together."

As for her plans beyond Congress, Michelle Bachmann said, "There is no future option or opportunity, be it directly in the political arena or otherwise, that I won't be giving serious consideration if it can help save and protect our great nation."

Oh just go away already!

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

The Ghost That Haunts George Zimmerman



The Trayvon Martin Murder Trial is beginning .......Or Should I say ,George Zimmerman is about to go on trial for murdering Trayvon Martin in a few weeks...Remember him? Remember that case?  So much has happened since that murder last February....and the subsequent hue and cry that followed last March....

We've crowned an NBA Champion...Getting ready to start the push for a new one...We had the Olympics, The re-election of Barack Obama, Hurricane Sandy, the Mass Murder in Aurora at the movie theatre...The Mass Murder in Sandy Hook, a new season of American Idol.....It blows the mind...but I asked you all not to forget....

I asked you not to forget because George Zimmerman and his lawyers have counted on all of these events occurring...They've counted on it and they are hoping that the public forgets and he can quietly walk away with an acquital...but wait....hear it?   The Ghosts...The voice of Trayvon pleading for his life on those damn tapes...Hear it? George Zimmerman hopes that you don't....But he does...He hears it and he wishes it would go away....I'm hoping he has nightmares....

See,
"I'm begging you."came the voice...
Audio expert Alan Reich claims that's what 17-year-old Trayvon Martin can be heard pleading in the background of a 911 call made by a Sanford, Fla., resident on the night young Martin was fatally shot.

Alan Reich also says the audio reveals George Zimmerman, who faces a charge of second-degree murder for killing Martin, talking like an evangelist or a carnival barker and saying, "These shall be," according to the Orlando Sentinel.

George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watchman, claims he acted in self-defense when he shot Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26, 2012. His attorney, Mark O'Mara, has hired his own expert to testify that the screams and cries for help on the tape are actually Zimmerman's. why would he be screaming? He had a gun.

FBI analysts reportedly listened to the tape but were unable to determine  just who was screaming.


Debra Nelson, the judge in this case handed down a series of victories for the prosecution Tuesday — Trayvon Martin's marijuana use, suspension from school and history of fighting are off-limits during opening statements at George Zimmerman's trial, and jurors won't be allowed to visit the scene of Trayvon Martin's death — George Zimmerman's defense is trying to block Alan Reich and other audio experts from testifying.
Wonder Why?

Attorney,Mark O'Mara filed a motion last week saying that  Alan Reich doesn't explain how he came to the conclusions in his four-page report for the prosecution, Bay News 9 reported.

The motion also claims that audio expert Tom Owen's methodology isn't generally accepted by his peers, and that highly technical testimony from two other expert witnesses would only confuse jurors. Mark O'Mara argues that the quality of the recording is too low to be analyzed at all. Really? Is it?? I'm just asking.

Meanwhile,Prosecutors filed their own motion last week requesting that the court prohibit evidence related to a Computerized Voice Stress Analysis test, which State Attorney Bernie de la Rionda calls unreliable and inadmissible.

Judge Debra Nelson has yet to rule on whether she will allow Reich's testimony, according to the Sentinel.
Reich claims another piece of audio, from Zimmerman's initial call to police before the altercation with Martin, reveals Zimmerman telling an operator, "These [expletive], they always get away, but not on me."
Audio from that call launched its own controversy in April 2012 when NBC News and a Miami NBC affiliate edited it to make it sound as though Zimmerman was racially profiling Martin, who was African-American.

On the edited tape, Zimmerman apparently says of the unarmed teenager, "This guy looks like he's up to no good. He looks black." The uncut audio reveals that Zimmerman mentioned Martin's race only when the 911 operator asked, "OK, and this guy, is he black, white or Hispanic?"

Zimmerman's trial is scheduled to begin June 10. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder.

He may be hoping you forget....but that ghost is in his backyard....wherever he lays his head...you have to hear it....Listen....Hear it??? George does....Wonder how he sleeps now of days?

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Memorial Day @ Adventure Aquarium











How did everyone enjoy their Memorial Day Holiday?  My wife and I joined my daughter and son in law and our three grandchildren and My cousin and his wife and their son on a Ferryboat ride from Philadelphia to Camden...

We went to what is now known as Adventure Aquarium....(See Photos Above)

A good time was had by all!

Monday, May 27, 2013

To The Fallen

To the Fallen, Who gave up the most valuable commodity....Their lives! Always in my mind and my Heart...Happy Memorial Day to all who served and are still serving!



Saturday, May 25, 2013

Keith's Music Spotlight



Now this is some grown folks music....So glad Jaheim is back! Enjoy!

Friday, May 24, 2013

Weekend Humor

Harry had a bit of a drinking problem.
Every night, after dinner, he took off for the local watering hole, spent the entire evening there and arrived home, well inebriated, around midnight each night. 
He always had trouble getting his key into the keyhole and getting the door opened. His wife, waiting up for him, would go to the door and let him in. Then she would proceed to yell and scream at him for his constant nights out and his returned drunken state. But Harry continued his nightly routine. 
One day, the wife, distraught by it all, ran into an old boy friend of hers on the subway...She  talked to her ex boyfriend about her husband's behavior.The ex boy friend listened to her and then asked, "Why don't you treat him a little differently when he comes home? Instead of berating him, why don't you give him some loving words and welcome him home with a kiss? He then might change his ways."

The wife thought it was worth trying. That night, Harry took off again after dinner. Around midnight, he arrived home in his usual condition. His wife heard Harry at the door and let him in. This time, instead of berating him as she had always done, she took his arm and led him into the living room. She sat him down in an easy chair, put his feet up on the ottoman and took his shoes off. Then she went behind him and started to cuddle him a little. 
After a while, she said to him, "It's pretty late. I think we had better go upstairs to bed now, don't you?" At that, Harry replied in his inebriated state, "I guess we might as well. I'll get in trouble if I go home anyway!"

HAVE AGREAT WEEKEND AND HOLIDAY EVERYBODY!

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Facebook Fading

You know...I could have predicted this...I am not surprised...As more people my age take to facebook and bring to it all of our uptightness, advertsing and soul less ness..The young people are starting to drift to other forms of social media.

Of the original Blogger family that started out with me...I am one of the few who consistantly blogs...


It's true though that young people have "waning enthusiasm" for Facebook, but they're still using the social network while upping their time spent on other social media sites like Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Tumblr, according to a new study.

The Facebook diss is because of the "increasing adult presence, people sharing excessively and stressful 'drama' " on the site, says the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. But teens "keep using" Facebook because "participation is an important part of overall teenage socializing."

Facebook takes a bit of umbrage at the finding, albeit politely."We are always focused on making Facebook a great experience; and we're gratified that more than 1 billion people, including enormous numbers of young people, are using Facebook to connect and share," a spokesman said in a statement to TODAY. "As we recently announced, 665 million people use Facebook daily, and over 750 million people are now accessing Facebook on mobile devices."
Indeed, 94 percent of teen social media users interviewed by Pew say they have a Facebook profile, and that it's the social media profile they use most often. But teens are starting to "diversify" their social media diet, says Pew in its report,"Teens, Social Media and Privacy."

More teens are starting to gravitate to Twitter; 24 percent of online teens use it, up from 16 percent in 2011, says Pew,but only 7 percent say it's the social media profile they use the most. Another 11 percent have an Instagram account, but only 3 percent says that is the social media profile they use most often. (Instagram was bought by Facebook last year.)

Pew notes that 70 percent of teenagers on Facebook are "friends" with their parents, and 76 percent are "friends" with their siblings. Contrary to what you might think, many of them aren't trying to hide what they share with with family members by blocking information that's posted, the study found.


Only "18 percent say that they limit what certain friends can see on their profile," Pew said. "The vast majority (81 percent) say that all of their friends see the same thing on their profile. This approach also extends to parents; only 5 percent of teen Facebook users say they limit what their parents can see."
Teens are also relatively comfortable with managing their Facebook privacy settings, unlike many adults; 60 percent of teens say they keep their profiles private, and "most report high levels of confidence in their ability to manage their settings," Pew says.

The findings are based on a nationally representative phone survey of 802 teens, ages 12 to 17, done between July and September 2012.

Young Folks who use sites like Twitter and Instagram "reported feeling like they could better express themselves on these platforms, where they felt freed from the social expectations and constraints of Facebook," Pew says.

And they're not the only ones reacting to those "social expectations." Some adults, too, are gussying up photos and life experiences to match what they think followers will want to see or "like." (Like my wife...Don't tell her I said that!)

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

A word (or a few words) about Oklahoma! and Disasters in General

I don't know why God allows something like the Tornado in Oklahoma or Hurricane Sandy
To happen... I suppose we all will just have to trust him in his wisdom!  We can't understand the ways and thoughts of God!

I'm empty right now...I got nothin!

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Oklahoma's Mean Senators


As I write this...the death toll is at 51 in Moore , a suburb of Oklahoma City...I hate to throw politics into this...but several Oklahoma Senators repeatedly blocked efforts for disaster relief funds.

As frantic rescue missions continued Monday in Oklahoma following the catastrophic tornadoes that ripped through the state, it appeared increasingly likely that residents who lost homes and businesses would turn to the federal government for emergency disaster aid. That could put the state's two Republican senators in an awkward position.
Sens. Jim Inhofe and Tom Coburn, both Republicans, are fiscal hawks who have repeatedly voted against funding disaster aid for other parts of the country. They also have opposed increased funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which administers federal disaster relief.
Late last year, Inhofe and Coburn both backed a plan to slash disaster relief to victims of Hurricane Sandy. In a December press release, Coburn complained that the Sandy Relief bill contained "wasteful spending," and identified a series of items he objected to, including "$12.9 billion for future disaster mitigation activities and studies."

Coburn spokesman John Hart on Monday evening confirmed that the senator will seek to ensure that any additional funding for tornado disaster relief be offset by cuts to federal spending elsewhere in the budget. "That's always been his position [to offset disaster aid]," Hart said. "He supported offsets to the bill funding the OKC bombing recovery effort." those offsets were achieved by tapping federal funds that had not yet been appropriated.

In 2011, both senators opposed legislation that would have granted necessary funding for FEMA when the agency was set to run out of money. Sending the funds to FEMA would have been "unconscionable," Coburn said at the time

Coburn spokesman John Hart said Senator Coburn had "never made parochial calculations" about Oklahoma's disproportionate share of disaster funds, "as his voting record and campaign against earmarks demonstrates." Hart added that Coburn, "makes no apologies for voting against disaster aid bills that are often poorly conceived and used to finance priorities that have little to do with disasters."
A representative for Inhofe could not immediately be reached for comment. Inhofe earlier tweeted: "The devastation in Oklahoma is heartbreaking. Please join me and #PrayforOklahoma. Spread the word."
Coburn also put out a message on Twitter, writing, "My thoughts and prayers are with those in Oklahoma affected by the tragic tornado outbreak."

Oklahoma currently ranks third in the nation after Texas and California in terms of total federal disaster and fire declarations, which kickstart the federal emergency relief funding process.

Just last month, President Barack Obama signed a disaster declaration for the state following severe snowstorms.

And despite their voting record on disaster aid for other states, both Coburn and Inhofe appear to sing a different tune when it comes to such funding for Oklahoma.


In January of 2007, Coburn urged federal officials to speed disaster relief aid after the state faced a major ice storm.

A year later, in 2008, Inhofe lauded the fact that emergency relief from the Department of Housing and Urban Development would be given to 24 Oklahoma counties.

 "The impact of severe weather has been truly devastating to many Oklahoma communities across the state. I am pleased that the people whose lives have been affected by disastrous weather are getting much-needed federal assistance," he said at the time.

The cost of the recovery effort for this week's tornadoes is likely to be high. After a spate of tornadoes in the state in 1999, Oklahomans requested and received $67.8 million in federal relief funds.

I wonder what tune these two are singing now!

Monday, May 20, 2013

Scandal

Last week was supposedly a bad  week for President Obama...Three scandals....Three scandals which I wrote about in detail....There was Benghazi, The IRS targeting the Tea Party and oh yeah, the Associated Press scandal....

Three scandals and the President's approval rating didn't dip not one iota.... Then there was the thing with the Marine holding the umbrella over the President's head in the rain...I gotta admit...You right wing, Fox News watching people were really stretching with that!!!! Seriously?? The marine holding the umbrella to shield the President from the rain??? ( I'm appalled that there is a photo of an aide or something holding an umbrella over Sarah Palin's head as she spoke to a crowd once...but...That's just me!)

Again...no outrage, no mass protests in the street and nobody seemed to give a damn!

Okay,  I have to borrow this from fellow Philadelphian and Blogger, the Field Negro...Maybe if Barack has an affair with Olivia Pope and moves her into the White House..... THAT would be the scandal that would grab our attention!!!.... His approval rating still might not drop!!! They don't call him No Drama Obama for nothing.

Other than that happening....Sorry Republicans.....Foiled again!

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Gatsby

I don't know what the critics...(The real movie critics) are going to say about this movie...They may cut it up, savage it.....but me...I have mixed emotions about it.

Yesterday ,My wife and I went to see "The Great Gatsby" in the movies with Leonardo Di Caprio and Tobey McGuire...I vaguely remember reading the book in college for an English class and having a spirited debate /discussion about the themes F.Scott Fitzgerald was trying to convey which basically is...You can remake yourself all you want, but you can't escape your past or who you really are... The movie worked okay for me...The music was kind of off putting...(Jay -Z scored the movie..) Hearing Hip Hop in the 20's felt kind of weird!

But, you know what I say...To each his/her own...I gave it a three out of a possible five.
Yes....This was actually in the movie! Go figure!

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Keith's Music Spotlight

It was a rite of passage , I knew it was spring when the Isley Brothers released a new album... The single would usually drop in late March or early April and the full album would drop the first week of June...And with that..Summer had begun...

This was in the 70's mind you...and here we are in 2013...and although the Isley Brothers no longer exist...The beautiful tenor of Ronnie Isley still exists and just like that, this new single.."Dinner and a Movie" has dropped...

Yes...Now I know that it's truly spring!

Friday, May 17, 2013

Weekend Humor






HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYBODY!

Thursday, May 16, 2013

And The Foolishness Continues (Part 2)

The second controversy brewing now is that the IRS overstepped it's bounds and targeted Tea Party people and conservatives....I personally think this stuff is being made up as a distraction...It wouldn't be the first time but..

Once again, Attorney General Eric Holder is being called to investigate yet another potentially embarrassing scandal for the Obama Administration...A scandal probably produced by Republicans and conservatives to take away from the fact that they still don't have a plan to fix any of our problems and that their only plan is to attack the President...


Internal Revenue Service officials will face criminal investigation for their handling of Tea Party groups, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday.

Eric Holder told a news conference the Justice Department and FBI will look into whether any laws were broken in the singling out of conservative groups for special scrutiny, Which is more than then, Attorney General John Mitchell  was willing to do back in 1972, when it was the Left accusing the government of doing the exact same thing.

Attorney General Holder said a number of "statutes within the IRS code" could form the basis of a criminal violation, The New York Times reported.

Records indicate IRS actions went beyond an Ohio office, and current and former IRS heads knew about the practice a year ago.

IRS officials at the agency's Washington headquarters and at offices in El Monte, Calif., east of Los Angeles and Laguna Niguel in California's southern Orange County sent queries to conservative groups asking about their donors and other facets of their operations, documents obtained by The Washington Post indicate.
The IRS originally said the alleged anti-conservative targeting was limited to its Cincinnati branch.

The Cincinnati IRS employees told conservatives seeking the non-profit status of "social welfare" groups that a Washington task force was overseeing their applications, activists from those groups told the Post.
Lois Lerner, head of the IRS tax-exempt-organizations division, told reporters Friday the "absolutely inappropriate" actions were done by "front-line people" working in Cincinnati to target groups with "Tea Party," "patriot" or "9/12" in their names.

Her office had no immediate comment on the Post report.

The Post and The Wall Street Journal also said the current and former IRS heads were informed a year ago about the conservative group targeting.


The IRS said in a statement Monday acting Commissioner Steven Miller learned from agency staff May 3, 2012, when he was deputy commissioner, some groups' applications for tax-exempt status were improperly selected for extra scrutiny based on their names.

Miller's predecessor and boss at the time, Commissioner Douglas Shulman, appointed by President George W. Bush in 2008, was also informed of the problems in May 2012, aides told the newspapers.
But neither official shared what they learned with Republican lawmakers demanding to know if the IRS was targeting conservative groups, Republicans told the newspapers.

"I wrote to the IRS three times last year after hearing concerns that conservative groups were being targeted," Senate Finance Committee member Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said in a statement Monday.
"In response to the first letter I sent with some of my colleagues, Steven Miller, the current acting IRS commissioner, responded that these groups weren't being targeted," Hatch said.

"Knowing what we know now, the IRS was at best being far from forthcoming, or at worst, being deliberately dishonest with Congress," he added.

Neither Miller, who became IRS commissioner Nov. 10, nor Shulman, who resigned Nov. 9, could immediately be reached for comment.


President Barack Obama, in his first public comments on the controversy, echoed lawmakers' anger.
"If in fact IRS personnel engaged in the kind of practices that have been reported on and were intentionally targeting conservative groups, then that's outrageous and there's no place for it,"

President Obama told reporters at a White House news briefing with British Prime Minister David Cameron.
President Obama, who said he first learned about the alleged abuses Friday, added he would reserve judgment until after an audit by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration is released this week.

"But I've got no patience with it. I will not tolerate it. And we will make sure that we find out exactly what happened on this," he said.

TIGTA's job is to audit, investigate and inspect the IRS to promote the fair administration of the federal tax system, its website says.


It is part of the Treasury but independent of the department and all Treasury offices, it says on its website.
Among the areas TIGTA investigates are alleged fraud and abuse in IRS programs and operations, the website states.

On Capitol Hill, two Senate panels -- the Finance Committee and the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations -- said Monday they would investigate.
"These actions by the IRS are an outrageous abuse of power and a breach of the public's trust," said Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont. "The IRS will now be the ones put under additional scrutiny."

I don't know how all this will play out in the end...but all I will say is what I said yesterday...The more things change, the more they remain the same.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

And The Foolishness Continues... Part 1

You know if President Obama thought he was going to breeze through his second term without the homemade controversies, he should have thought again....I'm old enough to remember when in the early 70's..The Justice Department under Nixon and the nearly dead J.Edgar Hoover was accused of and guilty of spying on left wing and liberal movemants such as The Black Panther Party, The Weather Underground, The Anti war Movemant, the Women's movemant , The Civil Rights movemant and anybody who dared criticize President Nixon and his polices....They had the old enemies list... The Associated Press said then that they were being targeted by the Nixon White house..The more things change...The more things stay the same..

Fast Forward to 2013 and the Tea Party is saying that the Obama Administration is targeting them...Why? They need a good laugh?? Whatever....The Associated Press is claiming that the Obama Justice department is or has been spying on them....

Yesterday Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. fielded questions about the seizure of telephone records from reporters and editors at The Associated Press, which apparently came in connection with an investigation of leaks inside the executive branch.


Attorney General Holder said that the leak in question — the revelation by The A.P. of a foiled terrorist plot by Al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen a year ago — was among the two or three most serious leaks he had seen since the 1970s. “It put the American people at risk,” he said, without elaborating.

Attorney General Eric  Holder said that he had recused himself last year from the leak investigation and therefore had not made the decision to seek sweeping subpoenas for two months of call records for 20 telephone lines used by The A.P. and its journalists. He said he decided to turn over supervision of leak inquiries to his deputy, James M. Cole, “to make sure that this investigation was seen as independent” after F.B.I. agents interviewed him about leaks in June 2012.

Attorney General Eric  Holder said he was confident that his subordinates had sought the subpoenas in accord with Justice Department regulations. Members of Congress and press advocates have expressed concern about the subpoenas, revealed on Monday by The A.P., as a dangerously broad incursion into the ability of the news media to operate without government scrutiny and a violation of press freedom.

Eric Holder declined to say whether he had also recused himself from a separate investigation of unauthorized disclosures to The New York Times about American cyberattacks on Iran’s nuclear program.
The leak about the Yemen plot is being investigated by the United States attorney for the District of Columbia, Ronald C. Machen Jr., and the disclosures about the cyberattacks on Iran are being examined by the United States attorney for Maryland, Rod J. Rosenstein.
The White House deflected questions during its own press briefing Tuesday. The press secretary, Jay Carney, said he could not comment on the Justice Department’s actions amid the continuing investigation.


But wait!  There is more...Tune in tomorrow!

(To Be Continued....)

Monday, May 13, 2013

Like Sheep



This is so true...We follow behind trends like sheep...I thought social media would connect us, make us more aware faster...This was the dream I had when I started this blog...but I see social media has actually exposed how lazy and stupid we are...

We follow anything that's trending like it is gospel...We have gotten so lazy that we don't even research things anymore...Case in point..


The great Lena Horne died three years ago on May 9,2010...Yet somebody on either Twitter or Facebook posted that she just died on Friday...I was amazed at how many of my friends...people who I thought were reasonably intelligent began immediately posting eulogies and condolences and writing -"Awww Lawd, Lena done died..." Like it just happend..

Lena Horne has been dead and is cold in the ground...Yet all weekend there were tributes on Facebook and Twitter...

These rumors have had Bill Cosby, Nelson Mandela and Yul Gibbons all dead...Wait a minute....Yul Gibbons is dead!  But the Cos is very much alive... So is Nelson Mandela.  This is why people will believe things like the so called Benghazi conspiracy that was created by FOX NEWS in colusion with their political arm ,the Republican Party...

I've been saying it since I started this blog...We have got to read more...Investigate more...It is so easy...You don't even have to go to the library...You can,with the touch of a keystroke...Google or Bing anything...Are we THAT lazy that we won't even Google or Bing something???

Don't just take everything you see on Facebook,Twitter,Instagram,Blogger,Tumblr or whatever as gospel...Don't even take what you read in the newspapers or magazine as gospel...Look into things...It's not that hard...Hear an opposing opinion, Read every side of an issue...Not that hard,doesn't take that long and costs you nothing...

Just a keystroke....Just a damn keystroke... Damn!  Sop being like Sheep.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Friday, May 10, 2013

Weekend Humor!



Irony, Thy name is Pat Robertson!


Have a groovy weekend people~!

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Benghazi ,goddamn!

At the beginning of President Obama's second term, the right wing nut fringe kept hollering about a Benghazi cover up....They came up with several theories....None of them based on fact of course of a vast conspiracy by the Obama administration to bamboozle the American people...

It was as if they were saying that this President planned the terrorist attack to aid his socialist muslim friends around the world....I mean it got purely ridiculous...even to the point of the huge debate about when President Obama decided to use the word "Terrorist."
Sooooo this brings us to yesterday...The “whistleblowers” at yesterdays House Oversight Committee hearing on what really happened in Benghazi, Libya last September were supposed to break the dam that would lead to President Obama’s eventual downfall, in the eyes of conservatives. Instead, these witness actually served to debunk several theories that the right-wing has pushed on Benghazi, leaving the hearing a fizzle and complete  bust for the GOP:
1. F-16s could have been sent to Benghazi
Part of the prevailing theory surrounding the events the night of the Benghazi attacks is that the Obama administration did not do enough militarily to respond to the crisis. Gregory Hicks — a Foreign Service Officer and the former Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Libya — claimed during his pre-hearing testimony that fighter jets could have been flown over Benghazi, preventing the second wave of the attack from occurring.
Ranking Member Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) questioned that statement, asking Hicks whether he disagreed with Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Gen Martin Dempsey’s assessment that no air assets were in range the night of the attack. Hicks didn’t disagree, saying he was “speaking from [his] perspective” and what “veteran Libyan revolutionaries” told him, rather than Pentagon assessments.
2. Hillary Clinton signed cables denying additional security to Benghazi
House Republicans came to the conclusion in their interim report on Benghazi that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lied to them about what she knew and when during her testimony this January. This includes her statement that at no time was she aware of requests for additional security at the diplomatic facility in Benghazi prior to the attack.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) used her time to take issue with this claim, asking all three witnesses about standard protocol for cables leaving the State Department. All three agreed with Maloney, that the Secretary of State’s name is placed at the bottom of all outgoing cables and telegrams from Foggy Bottom, whether the Secretary has viewed them or not, shooting down the GOP claim.

3. A Special Forces Team that could have saved lives was told to stand down
One of the most shocking reveals in the lead-up to yesterday's hearing was that a team of Special Forces in Tripoli were told not to deploy to Benghazi during the attack. That decision has led to an uproar on the right, including claims of dereliction of duty towards Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey for not taking actions that could have saved lives.
During questioning, Hicks confirmed that the team was ready to be deployed — not to join the fighting at the CIA annex — but “to secure the airport for the withdrawal of our personnel from Benghazi after the mortar attack.” Hicks also confirmed that it was the second such team to be readied for deployment, with the first having proceeded to Benghazi earlier. Despite the second team not deploying, the staff was all evacuated first to Tripoli, then to Germany, within 18 hours of the attack taking place.

4. The State Department’s Accountability Review Board isn’t legitimate
Republicans have been attacking the State Department’s official in-house review of the shortcomings seen before, during, and after the assault in Benghazi. That criticism prompted House Republicans to write their own report. When asked point blank about the recommendations of the Board, however, the witnesses didn’t cooperate with the GOP narrative. “Absolutely,” Eric Nordstrom, the Regional Security Officer for Libya prior to the assault in Benghazi, answered when asked if he believes implementing the recommendations would improve security. “I had an opportunity to review that along with other two committee reports. I think taken altogether, they’re fairly comprehensive and reasonable.” Hicks, when questioned, said that while he had some issues with the process by which the Board gathered its information, he demurred on criticizing the report itself.


Sooooo....Republicans, Tea Party folks....Right Wing Conspiracy Theorists....What do you have to say about this???

That's alright....I'll Wait!

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

What Happened In That House?



"I barbecue with this dude - we eating ribs and what not. . ." - Charles Ramsey...

Oh well if you was eatin ribs with a dude, he must be solid right?   I kid....I kid...These were the words of the hero neighbor, Charles Ramsey who rescued the three women who vanished ten years ago and were being held captive by his neighbor...

If my mother was alive today...She'd ask..."Why..Why...Why when they interview one of us  is it always the toothless and most ignorant sounding type...?"

Seeing and hearing Charles Ramsey brought memories of my mother back to me and a smile....

That is the only thing that was funny about the horrific events that occurred in a house in Cleveland...


The rescue of three Cleveland women from a house about a decade after they were apparently abducted has authorities and neighbors trying to piece together how they could have gone undetected for so long.
Police said Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight had apparently been held captive in the house since their teens or early 20s.


 They were found just a few miles from where they disappeared. "If you don't believe in miracles, I suggest you think again," DeJesus' aunt, Sandra Ruiz, told reporters on Tuesday.


Authorities arrested three brothers, ages 50 to 54. One of them, former school bus driver Ariel Castro, owned the home where the women were found, situated in a poor, rundown neighborhood dotted with boarded-up houses. No immediate charges were filed.

A 6-year-old girl also was found in the home, and Deputy Police Chief Ed Tomba said the child is believed to be Berry's daughter. He declined to say who the father was.

Authorities would not say how the women were taken captive, whether they were restrained inside the house or if they had been sexually assaulted. Police said they were trying to be delicate in their questioning of the women, given their ordeal.
Agents searched the home Tuesday afternoon, collecting evidence.

''I'M FREE NOW''

It was the screams for help from Amanda Berry, now 27, that alerted a neighbor and led to their release following her frantic 911 call on Monday evening.

"Help me! I'm Amanda Berry. ... I've been kidnapped and I've been missing for 10 years and I'm here. I'm free now," Berry can be heard telling a 911 operator in a recording of the call released by police.


Police arrived to find Amanda Berry along with DeJesus, now 23, who vanished in 2004, and Knight, now 32, who went missing in 2002. They also discovered the child, who would have been conceived and born during Ms.Berry's captivity.

Amanda Berry had last been seen leaving her job at a fast-food restaurant the day before her 17th birthday in April 2003, and DeJesus was last seen walking home from school.

Cleveland authorities and residents grappled with how the young women went unnoticed for so long in a neighborhood where houses sit close together, typically separated only by a driveway.

Children and Family Services authorities went to the house in January 2004 after Castro had left a child on a school bus, Mayor Frank Jackson said at a Tuesday news conference.

They "knocked on the door but were unsuccessful in connection with making any contact with anyone inside that home," he said.

Tomba said that Castro was "interviewed extensively" during that investigation and no criminal intent was found regarding the bus incident.

That visit to the house was more than a year after Knight disappeared and a few months after Berry went missing.

"We have no indication that any of the neighbors, bystanders, witnesses or anyone else has ever called regarding any information, regarding activity that occurred at that house on Seymour Avenue," the mayor said.

Before the disappearances, in March 2000, police said they responded to a call from Ariel Castro reporting a fight in the street, but no arrests were made, Public Safety Director Martin Flask said.

Investigators said Tuesday that they had no record of any tips or calls about criminal activity at the house in the years after the victims vanished, but that they were still checking their files.
However, two neighbors said they were alarmed enough by what they saw at the house to call police on two occasions.

Elsie Cintron, who lives three houses away, said her daughter once saw a naked woman crawling on her hands and knees in the backyard several years ago and called police. "But they didn't take it seriously," she said.

In the words of Ricky Ricardo...."Lucy, you've got a lot of plaining to do."

Another neighbor, Israel Lugo, said he heard pounding on some of the doors of Castro's house, which had plastic bags on the windows, in November 2011. Lugo said officers knocked on the front door, but no one answered. "They walked to side of the house and then left," he said.
"Everyone in the neighborhood did what they had to do," said Lupe Collins, who is close to relatives of the women. "The police didn't do their job."

Ariel Castro was well known in the mainly Puerto Rican neighborhood. He played bass guitar in salsa and merengue bands. He gave children rides on his motorcycle and joined others at a candlelight vigil to remember two of the missing girls, neighbors said.

Neighbors also said they would see Castro sometimes walking a little girl to a neighborhood playground. And Cintron said she once saw a little girl looking out of the attic window of the house.

Four years ago, Cleveland police came under heavy criticism following the discovery of 11 bodies in the home and backyard of a man who was later sentenced to death. The home was in a poor part of town several miles away from where the missing women were rescued this week.
In the wake of public outrage over the killings, a panel formed by the mayor recommended an overhaul of the city's handling of missing-person and sex crime investigations.

It seems as though they still do.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

STUNNER!



Did anybody see this coming? The Bulls , The Short handed Bulls beat the seemingly invincible Miami Heat in game one of their series!

Remember...These same Chicago Bulls ended the Heat's quest for the longest winning streak in NBA history just weeks ago...

I think they know how to beat this team..I think they got their number!!

The banged-up Chicago Bulls weren't supposed to be any match for the well-rested Miami Heat in the conference semifinals. No Derrick Rose. No Luol Deng. No Kirk Hinrich. No chance, right? Well , think again as L-Boogie would say.

Well, suddenly these playoffs  have gotten a whole lot more interesting.
The same undermanned team that ended the Heat's 27-game winning streak in the regular season pulled off an even bigger stunner last night in Miami.

The Bulls scored the game's final 10 points and beat the Heat, 93-86, in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Miami, which had won 41 of its previous 43 games, looked rusty from an eight-day layoff after sweeping the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round. LeBron James, who was honored before the game for winning his fourth MVP award, scored just two first-half points, the fewest of his 120-game postseason career. The game was tied 37-37 at the break.Huh?? WHAT?????


But LeBron and the Heat seemed to take control in the fourth quarter. James scored 15 of his 24 points in the period, including a three-point play that put Miami ahead 76-69.

  Storyyy over, right? No sir!!

Instead of Miami's Big Three, it was Chicago's Little Three of Nate Robinson, Marco Belinelli and Jimmy Butler who came up big down the stretch.

Trailing 86-83 with two minutes left, the Bulls tied it on a Belinelli 3-pointer, went ahead on a Robinson jumper and clinched it with a Robinson scoop and three free throws.

Lebron James missed several shots down the stretch, giving Dan Le Batard (WHO??) a chance to further provoke Heat fans after his Twitter hoax the day before.

I'm still shocked...This wasn't supposed to happen...Or was it?   It's only one game!  Stay tuned!

Monday, May 6, 2013

Broad Street Run

You know after what just transpired in Boston a few weeks ago, I was a little leery about the Broad Street run ,which this city hosts every year...Especially since some dear friends of mine were set to run in it...But as I write this...Hours after the run's end...I am elated to say that there was no incidents reported....Certainly no tragic terrorist attacks and loss of limbs and life such as the tragic events in Boston recently.

Such are the times we live in...Where you have to be thinking in the back of your mind everytime you go out to a movie, a sporting event, a concert or maybe an outdoor bar or Cantina....Is some nut with an agenda planning something?

Despite that...You have to live your life...You can't retreat to the presumed safety of your homes...You have to live your life....You can't let the terrorists and nut fringe win!

There was certainly evidence today that several people were indeed living their lives....(I was there, as was my wife...Just blocks away at the Green Eggs Cafe (see today's Good Foodie post!-Shameless plug for one of my other blogs!)


The 34th annual Broad Street Run, just three weeks after the Boston Marathon bombings, winds to a close not only without violence but with glory and glee. The race, sponsored by Independence Blue Cross, has become more than just a footrace, but a motivation, a milestone, and a celebration.

From North Philadelphia where the 10-mile course began to its finish at the Navy Yard, runners and spectators were obviously happy that the race appears to have gone off without any problems. "That was awesome," said Christy Pegg of Malvern as runners gave the high five to Army Reserve and National Guard at the finish.


 "A different vibe this year." Mayor Michael Nutter and Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey told reporters there were no security issues or problems so far. "So far, so good," Mayor Nutter said at Broad and Walnut Streets, the six-mile point of the race. "No one has done anything they shouldn't do so far." 

Referring to the helicopters flying overhead, Mayor Nutter added, "We need our eyes in the sky.” He confirmed federal agents are helping. "Everyone has really cooperated well." For the runners - an estimated 40,000 in Philadelphia’s signature race - the run took on many meanings. The top runners are from Ethiopia. The male winner, Ayele Feisha, now of New York finished in 47:03; the top female runner, Askale Merachi who lives in Ethiopia, finished in 53:46.

Thousands wore red socks to show their support for Boston.



KEEPING THE FAITH: RANDOM PRAYERS "ON THE DOWNLOAD"










































































"Mommy, can I go to Timmy's blog and play?"



































Click on image to enlarge for reading






Click on image to enlarge for reading



Click on image to enlarge for reading