Blumenthal of Media Matters refuses to be baited by Breitbart at CPAC

Max Blumenthal, of Media Matters for America, (he's also a contributor to The Nation, The American Prospect, and the Washington Monthly,) has adversaries surrounding him at the CPAC conference -- they're interested in insulting and excoriating him, but not in answers to the questions they pepper him with. Blumemthal stays impeccably calm while despite the unprofessional antics of his detractors. Andrew Breitbart, for one, goes apoplectic.

My favorite moment may be the way Hannah Giles misconstrues the word minstrel for menstrual. My problem is I can't figure out if she's being serious or disingenuous.

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Thomas Hayes is an entrepreneur, journalist, and political analyst who contributes regularly to a host of web sites on topics ranging from economics and politics to culture and community.

Samantha Bell, Joe Stack's daughter, calls Stack a "hero", not for crashing plane

From the "What else do you expect a 38-year-old daughter to say" department, comes the ABC news report that Samantha Bell, Joe Stack's daughter, calls Stack a "hero" but not for crashing his plane into the Austin IRS Building - for taking on the government.



Perhaps someone forgot to tell Samantha Bell that the family of the victim who died, Vernon Hunter, really takes issue with her comment. Samantha Bell appeared on ABC's Good Morning America to say:

"His last actions, the suicide, the catastrophe that caused injuries and death, that was wrong. But if nobody comes out and speaks up on behalf of injustice, then nothing will ever be accomplished. But I do not agree with his last action with what he did. But I do agree about the government."

Then she said Joe Stack was a hero, but ABC News reports she called later to explain that she did not mean what she said, and he was "not a hero". Apparently Samantha Bell had a crisis of conscience, especially as she had to consider that Joe Stack came close to murdering his own wife and 12-year-old daughter.

Stack killed Vietnam vet Vernon Hunter when he crashed his plane into the Austin, Texas IRS Building. Bell says she's mourning his loss.

Still unanswered in all of this is what caused Joe Stack to just snap. It' a question still being tackled at my YouTube video page:



Stay tuned.

Miley Cyrus, Zac Efron, Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart to present at Oscars

If anyone wondered if The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was serious about reversing the Oscars ratings decline of the past decade, today's news should prove AMPAS is: Miley Cyrus, Zac Efron, Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart are to present at the 82nd Academy Awards.

Miley Cyrus

The news - sure to be repeated in teen-oriented publications on Monday - was announced by telecast producers Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic.

It's the first time for Twilight stars Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart; Miley Cyrus, Zac Efron are both appearing on the Oscars for the second time.

For Miley Cyrus, it's more great exposure on the heels of her next film The Last Song with Greg Kinnear.

And Miley Cyrus was featured in the new version of the We Are The World song, this one for Haitian Relief. As was reported in this space on video, the daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus "killed it".



For Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart, becoming an Oscars presenter means both are certified BIG STARS, in case either one of them had any doubts.

Taylor Lautner

But the announcement that Miley Cyrus, Zac Efron, Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart are all presenting at the Academy Awards is also proof of the impact of New Media on The Oscars.

 At a time when the public gains most of its information from online sources, these young stars drive Internet traffic which also translates into TV ratings for those shows that feature them, which then means more Internet traffic to websites that know how to show them.

This news is also why Oscar needs a Twitter account. Miley Cyrus, Zac Efron, Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart are all either active on Twitter or the focus of tweets. Here's one example:

QUE?! RT @JustJared: Miley Cyrus, Zac Efron, Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart will present at the Oscars next month!
Boyinblue - twitter.com - 11 minutes ago

Hopefully AMPAS makes an Oscar Twitter account and soon; the 82nd Academy Awards is in just less than two weeks.

The Obama health care plan - a closer first look

The White House released the Obama health care plan without a "Public Option" and with a specific desire to achieve an "up or down" vote according to White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer who was on the conference call with reporters this Monday morning. The White House gave the major points of change in the Obama health care plan in their presentation:

-It makes insurance more affordable by providing the largest middle class tax cut for health care in history, reducing premium costs for tens of millions of families and small business owners who are priced out of coverage today. This helps over 31 million Americans afford health care who do not get it today – and makes coverage more affordable for many more.
-It sets up a new competitive health insurance market giving tens of millions of Americans the exact same insurance choices that members of Congress will have.
-It brings greater accountability to health care by laying out commonsense rules of the road to keep premiums down and prevent insurance industry abuses and denial of care.
-It will end discrimination against Americans with pre-existing conditions.
-It puts our budget and economy on a more stable path by reducing the deficit by $100 billion over the next ten years – and about $1 trillion over the second decade – by cutting government overspending and reining in waste, fraud and abuse.

According to the Huffington Post, the White House' Pfeiffer says the President looks at this as their "best shot at bridging the differences. We think this makes some strong steps to improving the final product. It is our hope the Republicans will come together around their plan and post that online prior to the meeting so that the American people have a chance to go look at it... and be thoroughly informed heading into this meeting."

"This meeting" is Thursday's bipartisan health care reform summit. Even as the Obama health care plan is seen as a "Democratic effort" the White House says Republicans will have a chance to amend it. One part of the Obama health care plan Republicans reportedly don't seem to like is the plan to control insurance rate increases.

The new legislation, initially proposed by California Senator Diane Feinstein, would give the Health and Human Services Department power to oversee and if necessary eliminate rate increases seen as too high. The "Feinstein Provision", as this blogger calls it, would result in a new organization called The Health Insurance Rate Authority.

Jon Walker over at FireDogLake.com thinks it's not a serious proposal and just "potentially cynical politics"; i disagree. The Health Insurance Rate Authority gets right at the main problem in health care costs - insurance rate increases.

Republicans have not offered an alternative plan, and will cry that the The Health Insurance Rate Authority is just more government control. But as any real economist will tell you, government in a democracy exists to make sure "market forces" are not acting against the welfare of the populace.

 The Health Insurance Rate Authority is something that both Democrats and Republicans who really want to fix health care should get behind. Kudos to Senator Feinstein for developing an alternative that's a worthy replacement of the Public Option.

If you want to read the Obama health care plan, download a copy here: Obama Health Care Plan.

Stay tuned.

American Red Cross $175 million in unallocated Haiti donations - update

On the matter of the American Red Cross and the $175 million in unallocated Haiti donations, this update: there's still no word from the American Red Cross on how the $175 million in donations was handled. Initial attempts to gain an answer have been ignored as of this writing.

Meanwhile, the issue is gaining attention. This blogger was on a Fairfield, Iowa radio broadcast last Friday and more radio talk shows have expressed unsolicited interested in the matter of the American Red Cross and the $175 million in unallocated Haiti donations.

For background, it's simple: the American Red Cross reported it collected $225 million in donations over the first month of the Haiti Relief Effort. But of that, $80 million was spent or earmarked for Haiti. The American Red Cross does not explain what happened to $225 million minus $80 million, or $175 million?

On Friday, I was on KRUU, "The Voice of Fairfield" in Fairfield, Iowa, on James Moore's Planet Erstwild Show to talk about the American Red Cross donation problem. Here's the recording of that radio show: Zennie Abraham on KRUU.

This is the Zennie62 video on the issue:



Stay tuned.

Lindsey Vonn on Tiger Woods and Sex: Julia Mancuso should see this

Lindsey Vonn is now a decorated 2010 Winter Olympic Games Gold Medalist and a sex symbol But when Lindsey Vonn offers her view on Tiger Woods' speech and (no) press conference, and his sex scandale, she says way too much.

In Friday's TIME Online Edition, Lindsey Vonn got off a joke about Tiger Woods in the wake of his speech held that day. Of course, Vonn has a point of view like anyone else, but she forgot that she has more in common with Tiger Woods than she realizes. First, as Woods is considered the "Best Golfer in the World", Lindsey Vonn's called the "Best Woman Skier Ever".

Second, well, this is what TIME's Sean Gregory reported and we'll take it from there:

And like millions of Americans, Vonn can't help poking fun at Woods' staged event. When a member of her Vonn-tourage tells her that Woods gave a few friends hugs after ending his statement, she cracks, "They're like, 'Yeah, you're awesome, you go have that sex.' " The room breaks into a laugh. Then she describes a skit she would want to perform if asked to host Saturday Night Live: picture Vonn at Woods' podium, blue backdrop and all. "There's something you don't know about me," Vonn says in a faux solemn, apologetic voice. "Tiger, you're like my idol, and I too have a sex problem." More laughter. "That would be freaking funny."

That Tiger Woods' blast caused this blogger to think about Lindsey Vonn's new image - that of sex symbol and caused in part by the Sports Illustrated photos she took for the Olympics.

You see two of them here in this blog post. Lindsey Vonn clearly enjoyed what she was doing as a sexy exhibitionist of sorts, so ranting on about Tiger Woods' misfortune - or for that matter implying that she's more wholesome than fellow skier Julia Mancuso (who has no issues with showing skin) - can only cause one to want to look more closer at her.

That's especially true when Vonn says what appears in the TIME account below:

When asked how she will deal with sports celebrity in the post-Woods world, in which the tabloids, websites and televisions cameras can threaten even a pristine reputation, Vonn seems nonplussed. "Well, I'm married — to her ski coach, Thomas Vonn, since 2007 — "so I don't have that problem," she says. "But, um, I guess he's married too." Then she turns serious. "I mean, I guess if you have secrets, you have an issue. I've kind of been open about everything."

First, Lindsey Vonn married her ski coach, which means that before the relationship became a marriage there was the "teacher and student" love connection that certainly had to raise eyebrows. But one has to wonder if Lindsey felt the same level of "entitlement" that Tiger Woods said he felt and that fueled his actions? In other words, she did it because Thomas Vonn was a "skier" and a "teacher" and she filled in every cognitive blank she could think of to justify what others would question.

Moreover, Vonn's father Alan Kidlow reportedly disliked her relationship with then-boyfriend Thomas Vonn, and she hasn't talked to Kidlow in "four years."

According to The Washington Post, Alan Kidlow has watched his daughter skate online and is very proud of Lindsey Vonn. One would think it's the perfect time for both to get together and make up. But Lindsey's not talking about that, and that's why I'm pointing out that for her to make fun of Tiger Woods is just plain wrong. She hasn't been open about everything, just "kind of open" about everything. Yet, she points a finger at Tiger Woods and wants to make fun of his situation? Not good.

Lindsay Vonn has to know that people who live in glass houses don't throw stones. Lindsay's got a big glass house now and it's approaching the size of that of Tiger Woods'; Vonn's got to put the stones away before it's too late.

YouTube video channel Zennie62 reaches 12 million video views

The YouTube video channel Zennie62 has reached 12 million video views and 200,000 channel views as of Saturday, February 20th, and continuing a pattern of rapid growth that started in 2009 and has continued through 2010. Zennie62 on YouTube also has over 4,000 subscribers.

The YouTube video channel Zennie62 consists over 800 videos covering everything from politics to news, sports, tech, and entertainment and celebrity gossip. Zennie62 on YouTube is connected to the blog Zennie62.com, also at Zennie2005.blogspot.com. The Zennie62 blog is the center publication of a network of 100 blogs ran by Zennie62.com, of which this blogger, Zennie Abraham, is the executive producer.

The idea of Zennie62 is to bring "pure form video blogging" to the viewer. It's the simple practice of talking to the audience through a camcorder to tell a story or share a point of view, or as part of an interview with someone else. As video-blogging does not call for an elaborate set or expensive equipment, it can be done anywhere, at any time.

Here's one of Zennie62's most popular videos, this one on Susan Boyle:



And here's another one called "Fight in SF Fillmore":



Some of the videos are used for his national TV show The Blog Report with Zennie62 on CoLoursTV, DISH 9407.

Plans for 2010 include the upcoming NFL Draft Combine and The Academy Awards. Zennie62 has its first designated Associate Video-Blogger and seeks to form a team of video-bloggers in different cities. If you're interested, send an email to zennie@zennie62.com