Planned Parenthood is More Than Just Abortions

A lot of time, thought and effort went into this post. So please read it.




The most annoying thing will be that before even reading this post some people are going to automatically go into the mind state that the only thing Planned Parenthood does is use tax payer's money to pay for abortions. Please continue reading, because there is a lot more to it.

How fitting, after doing a post about how the teen pregnancy rate has lowered there is now a big issue with what will happen to Planned Parenthood if the Government Shutdown occurs.

On CBS News there was a tagline that said: Defund Abortion Providers.
Really? That is not all Planned Parenthood is.

CBS reports that 75 percent of Planned Parenthood clients are living close to the poverty line. The lack of funding or cutting the program all together could lead to terrible things; people need to NOT just associate Planned Parenthood with abortions:

"Planned Parenthood provides a wide array of medical services including reproductive health care, cancer screenings, and STD testing at more than 800 locations across the country. They are also the country's largest abortion provider."

Yes. It is the country's largest abortion provider and federal government funding abortion is not something that every Pro-Choice person agrees with; so put aside the fact that Planned Parenthood is mostly known for abortions and yes, the funding for Planned Parenthood indeed does go to abortions.

CBS continues to talk about those on the right who are opposed to government funding Planned Parenthood. What it should be saying is that there are a lot of Conservatives who are Pro-Life and think that all Planned Parenthood does is take tax-payer's money and have them pay for abortions. No, that's not it.

The CBS report emphasizes on that:

Republican lawmakers have questioned government funding of Planned Parenthood, saying the government shouldn't be in the business of supporting abortion - even indirectly. Planned Parenting receives government support, though the funds are used for purposes other than abortions.

As the article goes on it continues to talk about abortion:

"For all the controversy, abortion remains a common procedure in the U.S. A long-term decline in the abortion rate stalled between 2005 and 2008, according to the Guttmacher Institute. In 2008, 1.21 million abortions were performed, with about 40 percent of unintended pregnancies now being terminated by abortion.

"Abortion yields 37 percent of all Planned Parenthood revenues by conservative estimates," Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) said in an interview, according to a written statement released by her office. "

This is so redundant.
Could people please realize that there's a lot more than abortions going on.
STD checks, pelvic exams, etc.

Money is brought up once again:

An agency statement says 3 percent of their services are devoted to abortion. They didn't break out the revenue. They also claim to prevent more than half-a-million unintended pregnancies each year by distributing contraceptives. They estimate their efforts prevent 290,000 abortions each year.

Yes this blog post is using the CBS report, because the report from CBS was the most informative out of all the sources reporting on this.

And now we have this:

"Ayotte said he was also worried about a recent "sting" operation by the antiabortion group Live Action, in which men posing as pimps were videotaped interacting with Planned Parenthood workers.

"I'm troubled by what's come out in the videos that have shown that they were essentially looking the other way on sex-trafficking," Ayotte wrote.

Planned Parenthood isn't taking the criticism lying down."

Well, here's what Planned Parenthood has to say. This is the most important piece of this entire post:

"Reasonable people could have agreed on funding the government weeks ago, but a small group of extremists has been allowed to hold the government hostage to their narrow political agenda - one that has no place in the budget process," Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards said in a written statement. "It is truly unacceptable that a small group with an extreme political agenda is forcing a shutdown of the United States government over a dangerous proposal that would bar women from getting the lifesaving health care they need - breast exams, Pap tests, HIV tests and more."


Since this is a blog post and not an article objectivity doesn't need to be an issue; because it is going to be annoying how many skim this post and just think oh well all they do is abortions and take money. Negative, negative, negative.

Go for it, complain it should be a state by state thing and not a federal thing, but guess what? Until states do it themselves the Feds NEED to. If each state was doing this then the Federal Government shut down wouldn't be such a big deal. So many conservatives say they believe things should be "up to the state." Well guess what, the states haven't done it yet, and in regards to the other shut downs I think that it would be better to have the clean water act that the federal government has to contribute and fund rather than having nothing at all. Yes, leave it to the states, but until the states do anything people are getting screwed.

And the people who are screwed might need to go to Planned Parenthood and get that checked out.

--Nikky Raney

Eva Longoria Wardrobe Malfunction, Legs, A Letterman Tradition

Continuing what seems to be a tradition on The Late Show With David Letterman, Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria came on last night showing nothing but full legs, all thighs, and cleavage. Then, she had a wardrobe malfunction.

A button on Longoria's, er, "tuxedo," which David Letterman said was not really a tuxedo, managed to come off; it happened to be strategically located right at her cleavage.

On noticing this, Longoria, on a New York City television promotional tour that saw her on CNN's Piers Morgan talk show that evening, as well (as Morgan's show is produced and presented from New York), grabbed at the tux to help keep it from literally falling off her body!



It's noted that this is a tradition because a number of big-name female actresses have come on the show as guests wearing a really short skirt, or mini-skirt, with pumps. It happens so often, the wardrobe style must be part of Letterman's contractual appearance requirements for hot Hollywood women. Want an example? Presenting Jennifer Aniston:




Wow.

David Letterman knows how to have his stars help him create buzz. Piers Morgan's probably slamming his fists on the glass table of his set, saying "Why didn't we think of that!"

Stay tuned.

Government Shutdown 2011, Donald Trump Obama Birther Talk Bring Out Racists

One thing's quite clear this week: America has not rid itself of racists. That much is obvious in the total universe of comment conversations around both the so-called "Government Shutdown 2011" (which shows how news website concern for Search Engine Optimization has finally impacted what we call things) and Donald Trump's noisemaking about running for President and constant chirping about a dead issue: the birth certificate of Barack Obama.

First, the Government Shutdown 2011 talk and the Trump noise has some commenters referring to Obama as an "Affirmative Action" President, and this popped up on my YouTube pages yesterday. The truth is that President Obama was elected to office, starting as an Illinois State Senator. To say that "affirmative action" had anything to do with that is to demonstrate racism and ignorance, which do go together, by the way.

Here's my video asking Trump to pipe down about being President:



Also, the racists delight in calling the person who points out racism, racist, showing even more stupidity. Racism is the act of putting someone down because of the color of their skin.

 If one thinks or says that someone black got to where ever they are because of "affirmative action" and without knowing a thing about them, that person is claiming the talent of the one they question could have not got them to where they are, and thus, they are putting that person down for being black.

Thus, that person is being racist. Period.

Now, on the matter of Donald Trump's "Obama Birther" blathering, this issue was killed years ago. Plus, it shows how little people even want to think logically about the issue. To be frank, that the vast majority of people issuing these wild claims about Obama's birth place are white should give pause to anyone with half a brain.

If a subject is split along racial lines, then racism is at play, and all the more reason not to take any claim trying to advance the subject seriously.

It's also why Donald Trump's image is now toast, and will become darker toast with every week he continues to push it. If he does this, he looks like a racist. Period. End of story.   If Trump keeps pushing this, advertisers will start to shun any television show he currently produces.  Indeed, his actions could trigger a backlash where companies are encouraged to avoid him.

President Obama has had to present a birth certificate at various points in his life, not just during his run for presidency. He had to do so when applying for schools; I did when I applied to both undergraduate school at Texas Arlington, and grad school at Berkeley. Barack Obama's place of birth would have been, and has been, established a long time ago.

But with this, in the entire 44-president history of The United States, Barack Obama is the only one who has had to present his birth certificate for inspection. No one bothered to check the backgrounds of the other 43 presidents, all of which have been white.

This is a race issue and because, like many African Americans and minorities, Obama's background does not fit the classic path. Those cultural lines were established in an America where, for much of its history, people of color were not even considered by those who were white as being worthy of the same level of treatment.

Fast forward to post war America and slowly it became more integrated, and people with "strange names" started to make their mark on society, and at a time when record-keeping was always a little off. My name is greek and Jewish, for example, and the product of a complex family history that took place in America. Because of this, I get two or three different explanations of where the name "Abraham," my last name, came from.

For blacks, that history is always one painted by slavery and by integration. There's even a book called Black Names In America, where there are three kinds: names given by slave owners, names that slaves adopted when they were free, and names that blacks had who were free from birth.

Abraham is one such name, and while "Obama" was not listed, it certainly should have been.

Americans need to become more informed about the real America - one that includes a rich and complicated history of not just blacks, but Latinos, and Asians, particularly the Japanese during World War II. But in the discussion of Barack Obama and his birth place, there are many like Donald Trump, who make inbread assumptions about people who don't fit within the lines they're used to, and use those assumptions to advance whole statements, constantly expressing their prejudices.

After a while, it seems that the people who claim Obama's not American are so psychotic in their belief, it's morphed into a sickness that can't be cured by anything other than a lobotomy.

Meanwhile, President Obama's just trying to keep the American government going. Let him do that.

CNN Anderson Cooper 360 Reputation Damaged By Dana Loesh Behavior

Anderson Cooper 360, CNN's flagship primetime program in the wake of Larry Ling's retirement, is commonly associated with in-depth focus on Washington and international issues. Commentators are generally well-prepared, and even if you don't agree with their political stripe, at least can agree that the person was knowledgeable.

That was not the cast on Thursday night's show, as the Tea Party Conservative Dana Loesh (pronounced "Lash"), was hopelessly unprepared against her Liberal counterparts CNN regulars Paul Begala and David Gergen in a talk about the possible shutdown of the Federal Government.

Indeed, Loesh was so terrible, she's started an Internet discussion, mostly unfavorable toward her.

But an aside, Dana's a blogger, radio show host, and mother of two, who somehow became a taking ahead for the St. Louis Tea Party Movement, and describes herself as a "jesus-freak" and a former "potty mouth." In detail:

I enjoy Photoshop, photography, and music. I have tattoos and used to have multiple piercings. I am a recovering potty-mouth. My prior language caused kittens and fairies to spontaneously combust. I don't say dirty words anymore UNLESS I'm yelling at my kids. I want my kids to be able to read the things I wrote about them someday without expressing concern that yes, I did kiss them with that mouth.

The problem was that Dana did not have enough detail to match the policy wonk that is Begala. Where he talked about the vote on the Omnibus Budget Bill in December of last year, and how Democrats took massive cuts in spending in an effort to reach an agreement with Republicans. Indeed, on December 17th, 2010, New American reported this:

Yesterday night, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid reluctantly pulled the 1,900 page $1.1 trillion omnibus bill laden with earmarks that would have funded the federal government through September 2011 from the Senate floor. Aware that the bill would face tremendous opposition and delays, Reid instead announced that he would work with Republican leaders on a smaller, short-term budget to avoid what would have become a government shutdown.

That was repeated by Bagala, but to listen to Loesh, it was as if there was no such vote. Dana kept insisting this is an issue of "reducing spending," and seemed to not know about the vote of last December. Where Begala would give examples of how Republicans were being unreasonable, thus giving the intelligent listener some view of how we got to this point on the brink of shutdown, Dana would either smirk or laugh out loud, in a vain attempt to mask the obvious fact that she was ill-prepared for this national television platform.

To have someone like Loesh on because she's a pretty face is sexist. It's an affront to women ,both conservative and liberal, who do follow these issues and can speak calmly and intelligently about them.

Twitter Tweets Not On Dana Loesh Kind

To get a good understanding of how her 'performance' went, examining Twitter Tweets directed at her and at Anderson Cooper gives a good look. Here's an example:

prollyjolly KING PAUL!
.@DLoesch is acting like a CHILD. I hope @ac360 & @andersoncooper, for the sake of their program, choose not to have her on in the future.
4 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply

ToThrive To Thrive
@DLoesch is an awful human being.
1 hour ago Favorite Retweet Reply

@DLoesch You cannot deny the 54B$ to oil subsidy deserves to be cut by changing the subject onAC360. Tea Party is corporate sellout!
1 hour ago Favorite Retweet Reply

Learn to act like a professional @DLoesch Maybe people will actually listen to you.
1 hour ago Favorite Retweet Reply

Kinderman Kinderman
Watched reruns of @dloesch on CNN and then lookin at twitter..I think she looked uninformed on #CNN don't know what u all are talkin about.
1 hour ago Favorite Retweet Reply

And this post seemed to sum up the frustration many had in watching Loesh look painfully unprepared on CNN:

I just saw this Dana loesch on CNN, the woman is completely nuts, she has not clue what she is talking about, She made a statement that AARP is cutting out folks from getting medicare advantage from the medicare program which is an out right lie,, many folks do not take medicare advantage like us because in the opinons of hospitals and doctors they have a problem with those programs like taking too long to pay the bills and such,,
and one must have medicare a and b to be eligible to get any of the other plans under medicare,, the lady is plumb full of misinformation,, she has no clue what she is talking about,,
Today,we have caught the republicans and tea baggers is so many lies it is unbeleiveable, one republica dude today pushing fo natrual gas claims that natural gas is at its lowest ever price, that is a lie,, as well, any one that used any sort of natural gas espeically now knows that, and alot of folks in my area, rural area use propane to heat the orchards last night and might today, knows the prices, the more the tea baggers and republicans talks the more they are caught in nothing but their own lies,
--- An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind Gandhi --

Dana Loesh is supposed to appear on CNN in the morning - Friday morning. Given the short time period between tonight and then, it's hard to see how Loesh will be any better prepared for CNN Morning.

CNN can do better.

Masters Leaderboard: Rory Mcilroy Leads; Tiger Woods Six Back

The 2011 Master's Leaderboard reports that the man once said to be "better than Tiger Woods," in 2009 is in the lead as of this writing. Rory Mcilroy, who hails from Hollywood, Ireland, finished at 7-under par, where Woods, who's feeling reportedly upbeat, is six-shots back at 1-under par.

 If Woods can come back and make a run, and win The 2011 Masters, he would score his fifth green jacket, first since 2005, and first major championship win since 2008.

But right now, Woods "would rather be where Rory (McIlroy) is at," he told reporters today. "But, hey, it's a long way to go. We have a long grind ahead of us. The temperature's supposed to warm up, and I'm sure they will start making the pins a little more difficult as the week goes on."

The good news is Woods feels comfortable with his game, but then so does 21-year-old Mcilroy. He put up a no-bogey 65 today, and no one matched it for a time until Alvaro Quiros finished for the day at 7-under par.

Thomas Bonk On The Scene

Long time Golf Writer Thomas Bonk, now blogger at ThomasBonk.com, and who you can follow on Twitter @ThomasBonk is on the scene working for The Masters. Earlier, Thomas and I talked about The 2011 Masters, and Tiger Woods:



Check out his tweets for updates.

Will Donald Trump Please Shut Up About Being President?

This blogger has long admired Donald Trump. The man who smartly figured out how to use the media to help cultivate and elevate his building developer brand, and New York City in the process, is the picture of a person who has a blueprint for marketing success, and implements it.

Even if he started out with his father's money.

But none of that, the skyscrapers, the wives, the TV show series The Apprentice, the table at 21 Club New York, or his hair, translates into being President Of The United States. Donald Trump does not have the judgement or experience to be a good president, even if he were elected, and would certainly do something to sully the brand that is The President Of The United States.

Trump would do something ridiculous like have the Miss Universe contest on the White House grounds, or use the Oval Office as one of the sets for his show The Apprentice. Trump would be more interested in hoarding wealth in the Mid East for himself than actually improving the quality of life for people in that region. And that's the point: Donald Trump is interested in one person: Donald Trump.

Never did this blogger think that this kind of blog would appear in this space, but Trump's constant blathering about President Obama's birth certificate was the last straw. It's not necessary to address an issue that any reasonable person knows isn't worth talking about, because President Obams is an American Citizen.

But what's worth talking about is the fact that many people, especially those who are black, think Trump's being very racist and that Donald would never think of this had Obama been obviously white (Obama is half white).

African Americans are so used to some silly action designed to prove they don't "belong" in America that actions like Trumps amount to dog-whistle racism. And this guy wants to be president?

Donald Trump needs to do America, and himself, a favor, and shut up about being President. It's not going to happen, and Trump's not the right man for it.

Oh, and an official copy of President Obama's birth certificate has been posted online for three years, and has been looked at by experts again and again, and again. While Trump's adviser Roger Stone listed the "positive" reasons for Trumps' strategy, he forgot to list the one big negative of it: it makes him look like a racist, stupid, idiot.

"Reality Rocks" Shaping Up To Be Huge Event

If someone told you there was one event where you could potentially meet or at least see every known reality TV show star that walked the industrialized Earth, you'd probably think they were crazy. But they're not.

Reality Rocks is that event.

It's set to be held this weekend, and Zennie62.com will be there making video-blogs of the happenings at this first-of-its-kind expo to be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center April 9th and 10th.

Who will be there? The total list is here, but try Mark Cuban, Jenn Hoffman, Geoff from Meteorite Men, Nick Cannon, stars from shows like American Idol, Dancing With The Stars, The Amazing Race, and a lot more.

Even YouTube stars like Lisa Nova will be there. Here's one of her videos where she's "doing" P Diddy:



For more information visit the website at RealityRocks.net.

And stay tuned here!

NFL Fans Remember The Past, Easier Than Thinking About The Future

By David Levy-Fan Experience Reporter-Football Reporters Online.com



With no talk about free agency, contract negotiations, or off season workouts, there is not much football talk going on. All people can do right now is discuss the draft in a few weeks and make their predictions. It reminds me of the book/movie "All Quiet On The Western Front".



Every football fan looks forward to going to the games. Not just to see their favorite team, but to be with friends and family. It is a time to relax, have fun, and have experiences that will turn into memories. I am sure a lot of people are reflecting on some now, hoping there will be a season this year. If not, they will reflect on seasons past and the fun they had. For many Jet s fans, the memories are all we have the past 40 years.



Many of us reflect on previous seasons. Games we attended with our father, brother, mother, sister, grandfather, uncle, or other family members who may not be with us anymore. It did not matter how bad the game was, one would always find something good to remember about the day. Even if it was a bad game, there was something about it that made it a positive experience. Many talk about how much they hated Shea Stadium and Giants Stadium. But they will always mention how much fun those times were in those bad situations.



If you are like me, you recall games you attended with someone who passed away. I always think about my dad when I think about the Jets. Every time I went to a game without him and sat in Section 226 Row 8, Seats 7 and 8 in Giants Stadium, I would think about him. Walking around the new stadium while filming, I would thin about him and wonder what he would think about the new structure built for the financially elite. Sometimes I would talk aloud to him, as if he was walking next to me.



A funny story my dad would always tell me was about the time he was headed to the AFL Championship game between the Jets and Oakland Raiders. He was speeding and was pulled over. He was sitting in a line of a dozen cars that were pulled over, dead last behind them all. He was running late and wanted to be there by kick off. He calls an officer over and explains he knows he was speeding and deserves the ticket. He then explains to the officer why he was speeding and shows him the tickets to the game. The officer tells him to hold on and be patient. Less than five minutes later, the officer returns with the ticket and tells my father to leave. He left before the other cars pulled over did.

He was the type that would have looked at the new stadium in amazement. Amazed at all the technology that was put into it and laugh when I would have to explain the reasons why. He was the type that just liked to watch the game, not much else. He would follow the changes in the game, but laugh and smile at the tech advances that are interwoven into it. He would have been 76 today. Still feels like yesterday. Every time the football season begins I think of all those games we went to. I know some others who feel the same as I do.



While filming in the parking lot at Giants Stadium in 2008, I came across Tommy Wilson. Such a dedicated Jets fan he owned the license plates "JETS" & "12 JETS". I later find out Jets owner Woody Johnson offered to buy the "JETS" plate from him. Always wearing his #12 Joe Namath jersey and always at the games, his personality and presence felt like my father's. I guess that is why his story touches me even more than others I met while filming.



Tommy was honored in 2002 by the NFL and Visa Pro Football Hall for Fans. He wrote the winning essay as to why he should be the fan to represent the Jets in the Hall of Fans. He held 10 season tickets for close to 40 years. His restaurants was named after the lot he tailgated in, Lot 12A. A true "Super" Fan in my book.



There is more I can say about Tommy but do not want to give away his entire story. I went back to get a follow up in September of 2009 and he pushed it to another game. When I emailed him about it in early November of 2009, his wife Mary Lou informed me he passed away in early October. I was deeply saddened to hear the news. He had purchased several PSL's too. Tommy lived and breathed the Jets, helped to pay for the new stadium, is in the Hall of Fans for the Jets, but yet was just another fan to the Jets organization.



I met up with his widow Mary Lou and her son Tommy Jr this past October. Mary Lou thought about giving up the seats after he passed but knew Tommy would not have wanted that. Last year was a hard season but this year was different. Once again, many people who used to tailgate with them at 13A were not there. Some did not get PSL’s, others did not have the right parking permits, while others feel it is not the same without Tommy. For the remainder of tailgating last year, it was very somber without Tommy. He was the nucleus that held that tailgate together. Tommy Jr. got a tattoo to remember his father, even though his father did not like tattoos.



Mary Lou and Tommy Jr. always reflect on their memories about Tommy. It makes them smile and feel good about being a Jet fan. Even with next season uncertain, they still reflect and always will. Tommy was one of those fans that made you feel good when he talked. I guess he holds a place in my heart because he reminded me of my own father. There is a strange connection to fans from a certain era in football. An era where it was about the game, not the politics.



Everyone knows the kind of fans I refer to. The ones where they smile when they talk about past seasons. When memories were about actions on the field, not battles in courts off the field. Older generations of fans seem to have this glow in their eyes. Where you do not mind listening to their stories. The kind where you can sit with a beer and listen for hours if you need a reason to smile.



Right now fans need a reason to smile. They need a reason to believe a season will happen this year. Many look forward to those home games, not just to tailgate, but to create memories with friends and family. 50% of ticket money was already due, PSL payment in several months. Do the Jets think the season will happen? But when a season looks like it may not happen, there is nothing to look forward to.



As it stands, all we can do is think ahead to a season that may or may not happen. We can reflect about the games we have all been to before. Many will talk about the past two seasons as they ended in trips to the AFC Championship game. Looking forward to a season where a Super Bowl could be in the Jets grasp for the first time n over 40 years. But all we can do is sit back and wait.



There may be no season. Then all we can do is reflect on the 2011 season that never was. How we all waited for players and owners to come to an agreement to end a lockout. Where the courts made the decision instead of the NFL. In 1987 at least there were some games played. Who knows what will happen this year. Ahh, the memories

(Eds. Note: I know exactly how David feels. I had the same relationship with my Dad regarding Football. I often wonder if he were still with us what he would think of the internet and what we were doing these days..B.C.)

Matt Lauer And Glenn Beck Leaving Today And Fox News

Two television news icons, one interesting, the other annoying, announced they're leaving this week: Matt Lauer from The Today Show and Glenn Beck from Fox News.

Matt Lauer's news would, if it holds, bring to an end an 20-year relationship going back to January 1992. That tenure saw Lauer's rise from newsreader to the face of The Today Show. It's a position Lauer's managed to hold with relatively little fanfare and not much scandal, other than hard exchanges with Tom Cruise and more recently Kanye West, and rumors - since denied - of a breakup with his wife Annette in 2010.

The question is where will Matt Lauer go? Mr. Lauer was born in 1957, which would put him currently at 54 years of age. One thinks Matt may want to take his life in a very different direction than it's gone over the past 25 years.

But Where?  Glenn Beck's Way?

Certainly not in Glenn Beck's direction, that's for sure. Beck, a hyper-conservative given to wild and hard-to-substantiate claims, and the occasionally crazy rant (to where the blog Gawker's called him an "unhinged crybaby"), has lost a slew of advertisers (like Geico and Proctor & Gamble), so it's no surprise that his daily TV show's coming to an end.

Glenn just plain does stupid things on his show and on Fox. From calling President Obama racist, then taking back the statement, to the consistent use of Nazi and Holocaust imagery, upsetting not just Jewish groups, but anyone who has at least half-a-brain to be aware of what's decent and acceptable to do on television.

Let's hope Matt Lauer doesn't turn Glenn Beck's way. This blogger's sure Lauer won't, but it's a good idea to make sure.

99er NEWS ALERT: HR 589 Meeting on Capitol Hill set for Thursday

99er NEWS ALERT: The long awaited meeting between House Democrats and Republican leadership on HR 589, will finally take place this Thursday.

Even though a recent meeting at the White House with CBC (Congressional Black Caucus) leader Representative Emmanuel Cleaver appeared to have sounded the death knell for HR 589 - seems GOP leadership and HR 589 co-authors will still stage a dog and pony show for appearances sake.

[For more on the meeting between Cleaver and Obama please read:

CBC Leader Cleaver Abandons 99ers / H.R. 589 ]

If recent history shows us anything, it would appear that there has been a long standing unwritten policy for members of Congress (both House and Senate) to merely “APPEAR” to attempt to try and help those suffering in America - when they save the real heroics (and tax payer dollars) to take action aiding overseas countries only.

According to the Washington Independent:

The meeting that House GOP leaders said they would have with the two legislators who are pushing for the establishment of a Tier 5 for unemployment insurance that would give an additional 14 weeks of benefits for the long-term jobless will happen on Thursday.


House GOP leaders will meet Thursday, April 7, in Washington DC with Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Bobby Scott (D-Va.) to discuss proposed legislation to extend unemployment benefits by 14 weeks for the long-term jobless, via Tier 1 of the Federal UI Extensions.

Lee and Scott initially proposed the bill be passed as emergency spending and not subject to pay-go rules. However, Lee sent a letter to GOP leaders last month requesting the meeting to discuss ways to offset the $16 billion cost of the extension in the federal budget in an attempt to get the bill passed by any means necessary.

This blogger did confirm with the staff of both Reps. Scott and Lee that the meeting is indeed set for tomorrow, though neither staff would go on record as expecting a positive outcome for HR 589 to be included in the current budget when passed.

[If you like what I write please donate so I can keep on fighting for the 99ers! Thank You!]

CBC Leader Cleaver Abandons 99ers / H.R. 589

The leader of the Congressional Black Caucus Representative Emmanuel Cleaver appears to have abandoned the 99ers and H.R. 589.

In his article Is helping 99ers "cost prohibitive"? Jason Tabrys (Liberal Examiner for examiner.com) relays a White House conversation that seems to sound the death knell for HR 589 and with that, any hope the 99er Nation may have clung to for help from congress in order to survive. The article reads in part:

Representative Emmanuel Cleaver (D-MO) said that the cost of H.R. 589, the unemployment extension so many millions of 99ers are desperate for is “cost prohibitive”.

The blog provides a detailed description of Rep. Cleavers exchange with President Obama reportedly detailed by Representative Cleaver:

“It was what I expected because my staff had done a lot of research on it. And we found that the cost of that program would be between $14 and 20 billion dollars which is cost prohibitive. So there was no point in the President saying, ‘yeah I support it…’ when I laid it out I said to him, ‘Mr. President, I’m going to raise this, and this is one of our issues because this is one of our issues — it’s an issue among our members…’ I ended it by saying, however, I understand that the cost is enormous. He (President Obama) said (to Rob Nabors sitting on the sofa) ‘Rob how much is it?’ And Rob said, ‘between 14 and 20 billion’ and I said, let’s move on. Because there was no point — that’s not going to happen”

....with Representatives Bobby Scott and Barbara Lee set to meet with the Republican leadership in the coming days doesn’t Representative Cleavers lackluster advocacy for this bill throttle any chance of bi-partisan support or was this just another political game played at the expense of people running out of air?
99ers are exhausted, their energies overdrawn by the battle to merely survive. “Cost prohibitive” is a term that slashes at the soul of someone comprised of breath, blood, and bone who is withering away. Is their existence “cost prohibitive”?

So it is NOT too “cost prohibitive” to BOMB Libya - just too “cost prohibitive” save millions of Americans from hunger & Homelessness. Where are Obama’s Humanitarian principles when it comes to the suffering of Americans?

This President and most every current member of Congress has GOT TO GO! The 99er Nation should be committed to making that so unless they get the help they desperately need to survive. Don't tell me that 7 million people, plus the additional 4 million that will be 99ers by next year (plus all the friends and families they can influence) cannot vote OUT this terrible President and every "Do Nothing House & Senate member" with their skewed priorities! The 99er Nation surely out numbers the Tea Party. We can and we MUST. Then again that will depend in part what other choice we have come Election Day 2012. If the 99er Nation, the Unemployed and the Under Employed would just join together we would have an enormous and undeniable constituency no politician could ignore or defeat. But will we?

Either way, it looks bad for the once “last Hope of the UI exhaustees” (HR 589) and the 99ers - now without any UI Lifeline for well over a year and going hungry and homeless at an alarming rate. Alarming for real humanitarians, that is, but apparently since that suffering is on America’s shores - Washington could care less.

[If you like what I write please donate so I can keep on fighting for the 99ers! Thank You!]

Sergio Aragones - Interview With Mad Magazine's Legend At WonderCon SF

Sergio Aragones is a giant in the comic book World, and indeed, in American Culture, but in an oh, so subversive way. Or, as he puts it, because his work is in print, Sergio gets to lead a "normal" life at home. But when he attends WonderCon and ComicCon, all that changes, and he's "mobbed" with "all this adulation," as he says with his infectious laugh.

Sergio Aragones is, with Al Jaffee, one of MAD Magazine's longest running cartoonists, and is best known for the barbarian named "Groo." More recently Mr.Aragones was signed on as a cartoonist with The Simpsons franchise, and Bart Simpson Comics.

But how did Sergio come to work for MAD Magazine? "I had come to MAD from Mexico, and had a portfolio of magazines, and everyone thought that what I did was a little too crazy for them, so they said 'Go to MAD. Go to MAD,' so I did.

"The reason that MAD is what it is,"Aragones said, "is because, in the beginning, parents thought it was a subsersive magazine. So kids would read it against the will of the parent. The parent would say 'Oh you shouldn't read that,' without knowing why."

Sergio explains that it was something people weren't used to at the time, but because kids loved it so much, MAD grew in popularity. Today, people still read it, he says, because "It hasn't lost the touch." And more because MAD fits the culture of the time, the Zeitgeist. Aragones has to ask his daughter to help him understand who a certain rapper MAD may parody is, for example. He calls MAD a "primer in humor" for young people.

Is The Marriage of Comics and Film A Good Thing?

Is the use of comic books as platforms for movies helping or hurting the comic book industry? While movies like Spider-Man and the various versions of the Batman comics have done well at the box office, some comic book artists grumble about how Hollywood's arrogance has contaminated the industry. Overall Aragones observes that "it's a good thing."

"The only people who get hurt," he says, "is a lot of people don't get the credit they deserve. So the big companies are very oblivious of what should be done. They want their names on it, and they don't care about the creators. It's very good for them economically sometimes, but the big producers, they come to ComicCon, they get a comic book, they make it into a movie, and they don't care. The pay the publishers big money. The publishers keeps it; and the publishers doesn't share it.

While Sergio says that's the only downfall of Hollywood's involvement, he reports that younger artists are more "hip" to the ways of Hollywood. "Before," Sergio says, "we were very stupid. (we say) 'Uhhh...' (Over the excitement of a large check.) They don't let the publisher keep the moneys (from movie deals). So now, it's different.

Aragones says that a common comic book may see a circulation of 100,000, but a movie version of the same work is seen by millions of people. One example of this is the graphic novel called Scott Pilgrim, which had various volumes, including one called Scott Pilgrim Versus The World. It was little known outside a small cult following of devotees, but the production of the movie Scott Pilgrim Versus The World brought the story of Scott Pilgrim's battle to win the heart of a girl with too many evil ex-boyfriends to many, and even though it didn't break even, the movie boosted demand for the book series, and gave it Worldwide visibility.

Did MAD Draw Government Attention?

Did MAD ever go "too far?" So far that it drew the attention of the Federal Government? Aragones says no: "Satire," he says "was one of the things that guarantees that things won't be touched." If an alien came to Earth, Sergio would show the person "anything" because words aren't necessary. "Let him choose."