Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Monday, January 7, 2013
What I've Learned
2.My Mother told me early in life that "Everybody is not going to like you and if they do, then you're doing something wrong."
3.In Negotiations the most important thing you can do is to show the other guy why your idea is in their best interests.
4.Everytime I see my grandchildren...I realize what true love really is.
5.I stopped keeping New Years resolutions because after awhile it was non-sense...within the first thirty days,I had failed to keep most of em.
6. I don't know why, but when I was a little boy I told my Grandfather two things...One was that I was going to travel around the world and two was that I was going to be known by a lot of people...I must have been speaking prophecy because by the time I was 35 ,I had done both!
7.Never settle for less than you deserve.....You'll always get it, if you do.
8.My Grandmother always said -"Lay down with dogs, wake up with fleas.." True on so many levels still!
9.What Happens, Happens when you least expect it!
10.It's always nice to be nice.
Peace!
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Keith's Music Spotlight
Keith Sweat is a much needed addition to their late night spot of 12:00 midnight to 5:00 am...Prior to his arrival , you just got a block of non-stop music being streamed in...That's cool for some, but I'm old school,I like to hear a human voice when I'm listening to the radio.
I'm Old School....I remember old school late night jocks like "Sundown"who would play the longest cut from an Issac Hayes album while he more than likely was getting high or asleep...and who was totally irreverent, yet great for radio....He couldn't exist in the hyper-sensitive sanitized world of today...
Anyway..not to go off the subject too much....If you get a chance...Check out Keith Sweat's "Sweatshop" He plays the jams and he gives cool relationship advice to the ladies...It's a good listen...
I leave you with the title cut of his current release..."Til The Morning."
Friday, January 4, 2013
Weekend Humor
In Loving Memory of My Aunt, Jeanne E. Faust (1927-2000)
who encouraged my silliness by giving me a huge book of corny jokes one Christmas....(I still have it...One of my favorite gifts from a most beloved auntie!)
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Shameless
This Republican Congress still manages to surprise me at times....
Look at the illustration above....That says it all.. In other times, regardless WHO was President, there would have been unanimous bi-partisan agreement to send aid to the victims of an "Act of God" or natural disaster such as Hurricane Sandy...
But noooooooooooooooooo, not this Congress...Not this Republican dominated congress..This is unbelievable..More and More I'm beginning to think that these guys are just against all Americans...Forget the "War on Women"...They seem to be waging a war on ALL AMERICANS....
The House GOP came under a blistering bipartisan assault Wednesday for punting on Sandy relief, with Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie complaining he couldn’t even get Speaker John Boehner to return his calls.
Fallout from the surprise vote pullback on a $60 billion aid package mounted by the hour with cries of outrage and calls for revenge.
By late afternoon, it seemed like the onslaught was having an effect. The House scheduled a Friday vote on $9 billion in flood insurance funds, to be followed by a Jan. 15 vote on another $51 billion in assistance.
It was unclear if the larger allocation would pass – or if the belated vote would mollify the New York and New Jersey politicians who unleashed unusually personal attacks against Boehner and other House Republicans.
Earlier, New York Rep. Pete King said his Republican colleagues had exposed a bias against the blue states of the Northeast and that anyone from the area who donates money to them “should have his head examined.”“They can’t count on any vote from me now,” he said on MSNBC.
Chris Christie, who has been touted as a possible White House contender, put the blame for the delay squarely on Boehner and marveled that he called the Ohioan four times before he would take his call.
“Shame on you, Congress,” he said, adding that he has received no explanation for the “disappointing and disgusting” decision.
The $60 billion request for assistance for to victims of Superstorm Sandy has been passed by the Senate, and House supporters were pushing for a Tuesday night vote.
Instead, King said, Boehner “just walked off” the floor and had an aide break the news that there would be no vote. The House adjourned on Wednesday without considering the measure; lawmakers are back Thursday for an hour before they gavel in the 113th Congress.
While some Republicans have criticized the aid package for funds not directly linked to Sandy, Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said the speaker is “committed to getting this bill passed this month.”
That promise didn’t quiet the understandable fury. “Totally obscene,” said Tom Jordan, a former firefighter whose house in Rockaway, Queens, was flooded by the storm that killed 120 people and damaged almost 400,000 homes.
“They’re quibbling about $60 billion? That’s nothing as far as the federal budget goes. They should come down here and see what the beach looks like. They want to wait? We need repairs before the next hurricane season.”
Rep. Michael Grimm, a Republican who represents parts of Staten Island and Brooklyn, called the delay “a personal betrayal.” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand dared Speaker John Boehner to visit Staten Island, then added that she doubts “he has the dignity nor the guts to do it.”
“They’re a bunch of idiots,” Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro, a Conservative, said of House Republicans. “There’s no other logical reason they’d be doing this.”
In a joint statement, Christie and New York’s Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, accused the house of a “dereliction of duty.”
“When American citizens are in need we come to their aid,” they said. “That tradition was abandoned in the House last night.” But it was King who really let his Republican colleagues have it.
“The fact is that the dismissive attitude that was shown last night toward New York, New Jersey and Connecticut typifies, I believe, a strain in the Republican Party,” he said on the House floor.
“I can’t imagine that type of indifference, that cavalier attitude being shown to any other part of the country,” he added.
“We cannot believe this cruel knife in the back was delivered to our region… This is not the United States of America! This should not be the Republican Party. This should not be the Republican leadership.”
Although he said he is not thinking of switching parties, King suggested New Yorkers should hit House Republicans who don’t support the bill where it hurts – in the campaign coffer.
“These people have no problem finding New York when it comes to raising money. They only have a problem when it comes to allocating,” he fumed.
And these are Republicans saying this....About This Republican Congress!!! Go Figure Huh?
"If this is not delivered and very quickly…anyone from New York or New Jersey who contributes one penny to congressional Republicans after this should have their head examined,” King added on MSNBC.
Speaker John Boehner is supposed to meet with Republican members of the New York and New Jersey delegations today to reassure them that the relief bill will be passed.
But King expressed skepticism about a quick vote, noting a majority of House Republicans don’t support the bill and Washington will be soon be preoccupied with the inauguration and the State of the Union.
President Obama called on the House to bring the bill to a vote immediately and “pass it without delay for our fellow Americans.”
It’s unclear what impact the vote delay with have. The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency testified this month that it had enough funding to “respond to the immediate needs.”
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-California) defended Boehner’s move, blaming the Senate for padding the relief package with non-essential funding.
“The Senate didn’t do their job. They sent us a bunch of pork, and then left town,” he said on “Fox and Friends.” Consider the source of that last comment and ignore.
This Republican Congress still manages to surprise me at times....In other times, regardless WHO was President, there would have been unanimous bi-partisan agreement to send aid to the victims of an "Act of God" or natural disaster such as Hurricane Sandy...but nooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Last Minute Reprieve
Just before the new year came in...I heard that the nation got a late Christmas gift.....We didn't go over that darn fiscal cliff they were talking about....But was it really a gift?
The United States narrowly avoided going over the fiscal cliff early on New Year’s Day after a last-minute bipartisan agreement cleared the way for a middle-of-the-night vote in the Senate.
This interim deal would raise income taxes on single earners with annual incomes above $400,000 and married couples with incomes above $450,000. It would also block spending cuts for two months, extend unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless, prevent a 27 percent cut in fees for doctors who treat Medicare patients and prevent a spike in milk prices.
It now moves to the House, where Republicans were scheduled to meet at 1 p.m. yesterday.. Republican leader Eric Cantor of Virginia told Reuters that it remained to be decided whether the House would vote on the plan. Always the kid who spoils the party...When is his term up?
This high-stakes drama was resolved after days of back and forth between Vice President Joe Biden, negotiating for Democrats, and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who finally came to an agreement late Monday. He's another one who I wonder ,when is his term up? I've nicknamed him-"Dr. No."
The measure was then brought to the Senate floor where it passed by an overwhelming majority of 89-8. Senators who voted against the legislation included Republicans Marco Rubio of Fla., Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Democrat Richard Shelby of Ala.
President Obama acknowledged the difficulties the parties had coming to an agreement and pushed the House to quickly approve the bill in a statement released just after the vote.
“While neither Democrats nor Republicans got everything they wanted, this agreement is the right thing to do for our country and the House should pass it without delay,” the statement said. “This agreement will also grow the economy and shrink our deficits in a balanced way -- by investing in our middle class, and by asking the wealthy to pay a little more.”
You can breathe a little sigh of relief for now....but just for now...The squabbling and back biting is far from being over....I mean, it wouldn't be present day Washington if it was...
Despite the relief in Washington, D.C. over this first step, House Speaker John Boehner and other Republican congressional leaders refused to endorse the agreement.
Are you surprised?
“The House will honor its commitment to consider the Senate agreement if it is passed,” Boehner and the other leaders said in a statement on Monday. “Decisions about whether the House will seek to accept or promptly amend the measure will not be made until House members -- and the American people -- have been able to review the legislation.”
In addition to the battle the legislation faces in the House, there are several other difficult issues that political leaders will be forced to revisit over the coming weeks and months, including cuts to defense and other domestic programs, and the debt ceiling, the subject of a mammoth congressional brouhaha last year.
The imposed delay would allow the White House and lawmakers time to regroup before plunging very quickly into a new round of budget brinkmanship, certain to revolve around Republican calls to rein in the cost of Medicare and other government benefit programs.
The Devil of course is in the details...The measure is the first significant bipartisan tax increase since 1990, when former President George H.W. Bush violated his "read my lips" promise on taxes. It would raise an additional $620 billion over the coming decade when compared with revenues after tax cuts passed in 2001 and 2003, during the Bush administration. But because those policies expired at midnight Monday, the measure is officially scored as a whopping $3.9 trillion tax cut over the next decade.
The sweeping Senate vote exceeded expectations — tea party conservatives like Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., backed the measure — and would appear to grease enactment of the measure despite lingering questions in the House, where conservative forces sank a recent bid by Boehner to permit tax rates on incomes exceeding $1 million to go back to Clinton-era levels.
Under the Senate deal, taxes would remain steady for the middle class but rise at incomes over $400,000 for individuals and $450,000 for couples — levels higher than Obama had campaigned for in his successful drive for a second term in office. Some liberal Democrats were disappointed that the White House did not stick to a harder line, while other Democrats sided with Republicans to force the White House to partially retreat on increases in taxes on multi-million-dollar estates. (Wonder what lobbyists has them in their pockets?)
Stay tuned...This has really just begun and it looks to get nastier as it goes on...Only your wallet will be able to tell the difference!
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Monday, December 31, 2012
What I've Learned (Best of)
2.Writing itself is not hard..but having a good idea that someone else may find interesting is the hard part.
3.The difference between success and failure is that success got up off the ground one more time.
4.Children are remarkably honest souls....until we teach them not to be.
5.Charm is deceptive, Beauty is fleeting.
6.The things I write are not for the intelligenstia...I write for the guy( or girl) standing on the street corner, who doesn't normally read, but is happy that somebody was thoughtful enough to write something short and sweet for them that they can get next to.
7. If You never doubt your beliefs ,then obviously you are wrong a lot.
8.You have to find your own joy in this life!
9.I always do the best I can...Anything else is someone else's problem.
10.Want what you need as opposed to wanting what you want.
11.Sometimes the only blessings you need to count is your heartbeat!
12. .At Every stage of life you think you have it all figured out...but if the truth be told...You never really know.
Sunday, December 30, 2012
R.I.P. Fontella Bass
Many people have forgotten her name....but if you're a certain age and was around in the summer of 1965, you couldn't forget the bass line of her most famous hit..."Rescue Me." Soul Singer ,Fontella Bass has died..
She was 72. I was so busy celebrating with my family over the holidays that I had forgotten about her.
I guess you can tell that I've kind of been on vacay, because I haven't been posting on Escapades and Good Foodie at all and I've been micro-blogging on this blog....but I had to stop and remember a soul legend..
Fontella Bass died Wednesday night at a St. Louis hospice of complications from a heart attack suffered three weeks ago, her daughter, Neuka Mitchell, said. Bass had also suffered a series of strokes over the past seven years.
"She was an outgoing person," Mitchell said of her mother. "She had a very big personality. Any room she entered she just lit the room up, whether she was on stage or just going out to eat."
Bass was born into a family with deep musical roots. Her mother was gospel singer Martha Bass, one of the Clara Ward Singers. Her younger brother, David Peaston, had a string of R&B hits in the 1980s and 1990s. Peaston died in February at age 54.
Fontella began performing at a young age, singing in her church's choir at age 6. She was surrounded by music, often traveling on national tours with her mother and her gospel group.
Her interest turned from gospel to R&B when she was a teenager and she began her professional career at the Showboat Club in north St. Louis at age 17. She eventually auditioned for Chess Records and landed a recording contract, first as a duet artist. Her duet with Bobby McClure, "Don't Mess Up a Good Thing," reached No. 5 on the R&B charts and No. 33 on the Billboard Top 100 in 1965.
She co-wrote and later that year recorded "Rescue Me," reaching No. 1 on the R&B charts and No. 4 on the Billboard pop singles chart. Bass's powerful voice bore a striking resemblance to that of Aretha Franklin, who is often misidentified as the singer of that chart-topping hit.
Fontella had a few other modest hits but by her own accounts developed a reputation as a troublemaker because she demanded more artistic control, and more money for her songs. She haggled over royalty rights to "Rescue Me" for years before reaching a settlement in the late 1980s, Mitchell said. She sued American Express over the use of "Rescue Me" in a commercial, settling for an undisclosed amount in 1993.
"Rescue Me" has been covered by many top artists, including Linda Ronstadt, Cher, Melissa Manchester and Pat Benatar.Queen of soul , Aretha Franklin eventually sang a form of it too – as "Deliver Me" in a Pizza Hut TV ad in 1991.
Fontella Bass was inducted into the St. Louis Hall of Fame in 2000.
Funeral arrangements for Ms.Bass were incomplete. She is survived by four children. Bowie died in 1999.
Saturday, December 29, 2012
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KEEPING THE FAITH: RANDOM PRAYERS "ON THE DOWNLOAD"
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