Scott Brown upsets Glenn Beck, Michelle Malkin, as Senate passes Jobs Bill

Glenn Beck says he's upset with Scott Brown as Senate passes The Jobs Bill. Michelle Malkin has her minions flood his Facebook page with angry comments. And the conservatives are just so angry that Senator Scott Brown's not the Senator Scott Brown they thought they got. This blogger howls!

When Republican U.S. Senator Scott Brown won the Massachusetts special election to fill the Senate seat vacated by the passing of the legendary Democrat, U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy, conservatives cheered and TV pundits and Fox News and CNN hailed it as the beginning of the end of the Democratic majority in Congress. But forgotten in all the hoopla and flowing cocktails after the win was that Scott Brown never called himself a conservative, but said he was an independent.

Now, the independent that is Scott Brown is making himself know, much to the dislike of conservative pundits like Glenn Beck. Glenn Beck, who already attacked Scott Brown for then Senator-elect's comments that the Brown daughter's were "available", now says Senator Brown is a "Progressive Republican" according to The Huffington Post's Jason Linkins.

In the video below, Glenn Beck calls Scott Brown a liar:



And Michelle Malkin, who's "Malconites" at times display issues with sanity, could not observe the passing of The Jobs Bill without her own blast at Scott Brown:

Yes, sigh, Scott Brown. Looks like he hasn’t taken up my suggested D.C. itinerary. But those of us who knew all along what we were getting — a game-changer who vowed to torpedo Demcare, but who was not an ideological conservative — are not surprised. And I pointed out Brown’s moderate record several times on Fox and on this blog during the campaign...

Malkin says the "lefties" said Brown was going to be a radical right winger. Uh, wrongo, Malkin: I didn't say that and I'm a lefty. I said Scott Brown's no Sarah Palin right at the time many were carried away with the comparison.

I was right.

Senator Scott Brown ran on a jobs campaign and he's sticking to it. Brown said to WRKO Radio in Boston that he spent time making sure that it didn't cost a lot of tax dollars and that it actually worked. "People are confused. I challenge anyone to actually read the bill."

What's unfortunate is the myopic view of the people flooding his Facebook page with negative comments like these:

John Tanguay: Spoken like a true politician! Next time we'll just have to seek out the best candidate to get the job done...whether they want the job or not. These empty suits that are stepping up with their own interests in mind, hoping to get a lucrative book deal, need to be shown the door!

Kathy Watters I hang my head !!!!!!!! I had hope
19 minutes ago · Report

Gary Withrow It did not take him long to toe the line...And I actually thought he was the real deal. I pray that it was just a rookie mistake, but I am not holding out any hope. ALL politicians are just puppets representing BIG interest and not the PEOPLE.
19 minutes ago · Report

The new battle cry of the American people that want to take their country back should be: NO POLITICIANS NEED APPLY!!!!
19 minutes ago · Report

When the unemployment problem subsides and the underemployment rate reduces over time, it will be interesting to see what those angry voters have to say.

Stay tuned.

Birth Certificate Issue: "Negroid" removed from Houston documents

This news came to this blogger via a tweet on Twitter during the Robert Pattinson controversy, where the Twilight star and Jenny Lumet, who interviewed him for the upcoming March issue of Details Magazine, used the word Negro in a way that's at best questionable. Mr. Pattinson was reported to have asked "What if we were 'acting' like 'Negroes'?"

According to FOX 26 Television in Houston, Texas, Black Houstonians so don't like the word - y "Negroid" - which brings up negative images which date back to slavery - they worked for two decades to have it removed from their birth certificates. FOX Houston tells of a Kathryn Patterson, who believed making the change to her son'e birth certificate was just a simple matter of a phone call; she was wrong.

Her battle, when it was broadcast, started a lot of calls by other black Houstonians who had the same problem. After FOX 26' intervention, the State of Texas announced they would remove the word "Negroid" from the many birth certificates that had the it on them. Here's the FOX video:



FOX went to Visiting Professor Dr. Michael Tillotson at The University of Houston who specializes in African Studies for his view on the Negroid Birth Certificate controversy. Dr. Tillotson said...

"Unless a person was living in a cave or tomb it would be hard to miss the negative connotations. The word has been out of usage so long. So you have to beg the question 'Why is it being used and why is it allowed to be used?"

That's exactly the point this blogger was making in the case of Robert Pattinson. Negro or Negroid, it doesn't matter, but the World would have been better off if neither had it in their mind to use the word, let alone talk about how "Negroes" act.

YouTube to drop Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) March 13th 2010

In a bit of news this blogger cheers, YouTube reports that it is to drop support for Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) March 13th 2010. According to Computerworld, YouTube put Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) "kill efforts" on the outdated browser and leads an industry-wide effort to do so. Even Microsoft, which created Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) is part of the effort.

(As a note, YouTube will also stop support for 2005's Safari 2.x, 2006's Firefox 2.x and 2009's Chrome 3.x, according to Computerworld.)

The problem with Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) is that it's not designed to handle the rich media content - video, etc. - that comes with today's media. But many users - perhaps yourself - do not upload and use newer browsers like FireFox or Safari or Opera.

This blogger recommends Opera because that browser does not use a lot of your computer's memory - what's called a "memory leak problem." FireFox and Safari have this problem but still handle rich media well.

But dump Internet Explorer 6 (IE6).

Justin Bieber and Lil Wayne to collaborate

According to MTV, Justin Bieber and Lil Wayne will collaborate, but Bieber's said he has to wait until Lil Wayne's released from jail. The possibility of a Jusin Bieber / Lil Wayne team up was pointed to on Bieber's Twitter account here:

WEEZY!! - http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1632363/20100222/lil_wayne.jhtml
2:12 PM Feb 22nd via web
Retweeted by 100+ people

And by Lil Wayne himself mentioned it at a USTREAM live session. Lil Wayne was to have reported for sentencing in February but that was delayed to March 2nd because of a dental work procedure. And on March 30th, Lil Wayne is to report to an Arizona court for sentencing related to a drug and weapons charge.

This blogger still holds the view that just throwing Lil Wayne in the slammer, rather than having him make music that discourages the crimes he's charged with, is a waste of tax payer dollars...



Stay tuned.

Robert Pattinson and "Negroes" - an update

In the Robert Pattinson Interview in the March issue of Details (which is sure to fly off the magazine racks after this week considering the appearance of "vaginas" and "Negroes") this blogger focused on why both the interviewer Jenny Lumet and her subject, the Twilight star that is Robert Pattinson, seemed transfixed on using the word "Negro" and in a way that would cause anyone to ask "what does he mean by saying "What if we were 'acting' like 'Negroes'?"

The objective of writing the blog post wasn't traffic - a better choice is to focus on the relationship obert Pattinson and Kristin Stewart. It was to address their actions that were troubling to this blogger. It's of no concern that a million people may disagree; wrong is wrong.

No one should suffer the indignity of reading an interview with a major star and feel placed on the "outside" of society because that star makes a statement that implies the "other", or "Negroes", are less than the mainstream in society. That is the perspective I took going into this issue. Moreover, it's the same one that prompted Dior Noir's blog post over at BET.

It doesn't matter if it's a group of white girls who participated in a black fraternity and sorority "step" competition and won, only to hear a rain of "boos" from a black audience, or Robert Pattinson and Jenny Lumet's use of the term Negro in the context in Details, the presentation of someone else as "the other" as if that were a bad thing is wrong. It must stop.

Robert Pattinson fans have presented evidence that he does have African American friends, and that's fantastic, but (as a person who's has many friends who occasionally blast a racial epithet) what Pattinson said is still wrong.

Reportedly Robert Pattinson's to appear on The View March 2nd. Considering Whoopi Goldberg's thoughtful candor, that episode will be one to watch.

The CVS Caremark / CVS Pharmacy expired products problem

CVS Caremark Corp is a large national corporation which operated over 7,000 US drugstores under the name CVS Pharmacy. CVS Caremar Corp, or "CVS", or "CVS Pharmacy" for this blog post, has been the focus of lawsuits by state attorney generals in Connecticut and in New York for selling expired products, according to the Boston Globe.

In California, CVS Caremark was the focus of California Attorney General Jerry Brown, who in June of 2009, negotiated a $975,000 settlement of a civil lawsuit with CVS Pharmacy along with an agreement to give $2 coupons to anyone who found expired products on their shelves, and designates a toll-free number to call to report such items.

Now, there's a charge from a reliable source that CVS (formerly Long’s Drug stores in California) as well as Krogers, Ralphs, and other major chain stores are selling ‘diverted’ or grey market products that may counterfeited.

In some cases, the claim is the California consumer is even getting products that can be dangerous.

“Diverters” are companies are selling these stores products that have been diverted from their intended sales point or they may even be selling counterfeit products.

If this turns out to be the case, CVS will again be in violation of the same California laws under the Business and Professions Code 17200 and the Civil Code 1798.81 by misleading customers.

On August 14th of 2009, the Modesto Bee wrote wrote that a number of county district attorneys, including Stanislaus San Joaquin, Sacramento, San Bernardino and Solano counties have joined in the statewide lawsuit against several national retailers who stock beauty supplies alleged to violate California environmental law.

That lawsuit, originally brought by the District Attorney of Stanislaus County, sought penalties of at least $17 million, with amounts to be levied based on each day a prohibited hair product is offered for sale, according to court papers. The case also named Longs Drug Stores, Target, Rite Aid, Walgreens and Ralphs, among other defendants.

That lawsuit named a New Jersey company, Pro Choice Beauty Care Inc, that provides the products to the retail stores — without approval from the brand manufacturers. It is unclear how clear where Pro's Choice Beauty Care Inc. gets its products. It is believed to be a “diverter” of products.

The hair products that were being sold were found to contain elevated levels of smog-forming volatile organic compounds, state environmental authorities said, according to the Modesto Bee.
Stay tuned for more information as this story unfolds both here in the Bay Area and around California. I've made several calls to sources; I expect follow-ups soon.

Tiger Woods reportedly sends apology letter to daughter's school

According to Florida television station WFTV, Tiger Woods has "offered another apology" and this one to the parents of children at the school his 2-year-old daughter attends. Here's what WFTV reported on it's own website:

WFTV reported on its Web site that it has obtained a letter that Woods and his wife, Elin, wrote to parents of children attending the school to apologize for increased media scrutiny around the school.
"We hope that the paparazzi will find something better to do with their time in the near future," the letter said.
Media coverage around Woods and his family has been intense since the Nov. 27 accident outside his home led to revelations that the world's No. 1 golfer had been cheating on his wife. Woods did not make his first public appearance until Friday at the TPC Sawgrass clubhouse in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla..
Woods' wife did not attend his nationally televised appearance, and photographers were seen outside the Premier Academy that day. WFTV says an off-duty sheriff's deputy has been hired to sit outside the school.

WFTV did not explain when the letter was sent or show a copy of it. Moreover, WFTV writes the account as if it was from another television station. It took the Associated Press version of the story about its report, and reposted it on its own website.

Wild.

Stay tuned.