99er Media Darling Nicole Sandler to Appear on Jobless Talk this Friday

Progressive Talk Show Host of Radio-or-Not Nicole Sandler will Appear on Jobless Talk this Friday, Feb 4th at noon pacific time.

Host of the Nicole Sandler Show - Mon thru Thursdays 10-noon eastern - on www.radioornot.com , Nicole is a strong advocate for the 99er Nation and founder of the www.helpthe99ers.com website, created last Christmas. She started the website to put “the haves” who want to help (the suffering 99ers) in touch with “the have nots” who really (desperately) need help right now.

Last Thursday, Paladinette appeared on the Radio-or-not show in a brief interview after her video response to President Obama’s SOTU address surfaced on YouTube. A 99ers Response to the State of the Union Address Offered by Paladinette

See the interview at about 42 min into this video.



Video streaming by Ustream

Nicole Sandler, was on Thom Hartman's TV program last week. You can
watch it here; Nicole comes on at 44:42 into the show.



Be sure and bring your questions to Jobless Talk this Friday where Paladinette plans to introduce her toll free caller line!

ConcernedinKY has yet another video masterpiece out on YouTube right now called Yes, Mr. President, we can. A 99ers call to ACTION

AFTER EGYPT segment, please watch, "99'er Message to President Obama" - Please LEAVE YOUR comments under video. Hope to be sent to President Obama -

Please encourage others to post messages for President Obama on this video’s comment stream.

And PLEASE TWEET THESE out daily and often:

@BarackObama Remember your promises of change and hope. Yes the #99ers can. http://bit.ly/h0810F #SOS #yeswecan RT PLZ

@BarackObama Yes we can b4 it'...s too late for more #99ers http://bit.ly/h0810F #SOS #yeswecan RT PLZ

@BarackObama Yes we can. #99ers #SOS RT, Plz. http://bit.ly/h0810F

@BarackObama Yes, Mr. President, we can. A #99ers call to ACTION. http://bit.ly/h0810F #SOS Please RT.

@BarackObama Yes we can, but... http://bit.ly/h0810F #SOS #99ers Please RT.

@WhiteHouse Remember your promises of change and hope. Yes the #99ers can. http://bit.ly/h0810F #SOS #yeswecan RT PLZ

@WhiteHouse @BarackObama Yes we can b4 it's too late for more #99ers http://bit.ly/h0810F #SOS #yeswecan RT PL

@WhiteHouse Yes we can. #99ers #SOS RT, Plz. http://bit.ly/h0810F

@WhiteHouse Yes, Mr. President, we can. A #99ers call to ACTION. http://bit.ly/h0810F #SOS Please RT.

@WhiteHouse Yes we can, but... http://bit.ly/h0810F #SOS #99ers Please RT.

[The donation button below is for Paladinette. If you like what I write please donate so I can keep on fighting for the 99ers! Thank You!]

Super Bowl XLV: Jerry Jones' Suite View of The Game

Jerry's View of Cowboys Stadium, originally uploaded by Caren's Photo Trip.

For all of the 95,000 patrons at Super Bowl XLV, the one with the best view will be Dallas Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones. And why not? Jones built the stadium.

Jerry Jones, for all of his moves and love of the spotlight, is to be commended for being an excellent business person and sales person. The epitome of the Texas entrepreneur, Jones successfully raised $1.8 billion, including a $300 million bond from the City of Arlington, Texas, to construct this behemoth.

Cowboys Stadium is so large, the Empire State Building could fit within it, laid from end to end. The Statue of Liberty could stand at the 50-yard line with room to spare.

Jerry Jones worked hard to make this wonder of the World. He deserves his suite seat at the 50 yard line.

I just wonder if he's going to share it with Al Davis of The Oakland Raiders. That's no throw-away comment. At my first Super Bowl in Atlanta in 2000, the pair shared a suite. I know because I, along with my good friend Beth walked into it.

Super Bowl XLV Media Day: Cowboys Stadium Is Ready

Cowboys Stadium, originally uploaded by Caren's Photo Trip.

Today is Media Day and regardless of what Super Bowl XLV is called, Dallas or Arlington, Cowboys Stadium is ready for it and the game.

Aside from the giant logo, there will be 95,000 seats, making it the second largest Super Bowl with the Rose Bowl at 100,000 hosting the biggest ones. The roof will be closed, making it officially an indoor game.

Approximately, 3,000 credentialed media will come to the stadium for Media Day, and in some cases, they will have a hard time getting there. If they miss the buses, cabs will not be in full supply due to a taxi cab strike timed for Super Bowl Week in Dallas.

Plus, getting to Arlington, a 15 mile cab ride, could cost up to $50; double the standard rate.

Kim Kardashian, Beyonce, Genevieve Morton, and Megan Avalon: Variations Of Sexiest Women

Kim Kardashian, Beyonce, Genevieve Morton and Megan Avalon represent variations of "sexiest women." But what I find a bit troublesome is that people and media stars like former ESPN Personality Dan Patrick, of The Dan Patrick Show (of which I'm a fan), push one kind of beauty: the skinny kind, as represented by Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Models, Genevieve Morton (photo at left) and Brooklyn Decker.

Now, both Genevieve and Brooklyn are very lovely, but today, hotness is in the curves. Like the hips of that excellent business woman Kim Kardashian, who just posed for W Magazine.

Kardashian says that photo shoot, featuring her naked body painted silver up to the neck (at right), is the last nude one she will ever do.

Don't believe it.

Kim's physical combo of curves and just the right amount of muscle (not to mention a booty that just will not quit) is a show-stopper. As long as she can work it for eyeballs and bucks, she's going to show it - nude.

Even if it's years later, Kim's going to want to show everyone that she's still got it at 40. Just wait.

But Kim's excellent proof that curves are in, and that's true for her royal hotness Beyonce. The modern queen of Hip Hop is the dream of every young boy who's aware of sex. As much as Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issue flies off the shelves even in an era largely hostile to print magazines, just put Beyonce on the cover and see what happens.

She's not skinny.

Why do some persist in showing a look most often associated with eating disorders? Especially when we have female bodybuilders like my friend Megan Avalon.

Megan (photo at right) calls herself "Barbie With Muscles," and can just as easily grace Sports Illustrated as Genevieve Morton and Brooklyn Decker can.

Plus, she looks like the female bodybuilder she is, and in an attractive way.

Megan makes it OK to be a strong woman.  She's not using steroids, has a normal female voice that's great for television, and she stops traffic.

If the Dan Patrick's of the World would stop pushing a classic white male view of beauty where skinny chics are pushed on us, they would help advance society in the direction of appreciating the curvy, strong, confident woman.  (Which, I wonder if Dan Patrick fears?)

Plus, if Dan comes around, he can encourage Genevieve Morton and Brooklyn Decker to add some muscle and get arms like Kelly Ripa, Jillian Michaels, and Ms. Avalon. The end result will be to tell young women they don't have to literally starve themselves to death to look great for men.

Achieving that objective would be a major achievement for America.

HTC Thunderbolt 4G Smartphone Features Discussed In Video

It's interesting to read the recent various articles and blog posts on the HTC Thunderbolt's features, because many of them were introduced in my CES 2011 video.

But for some re-introduced news, the much anticipated smartphone is will have a mobile hotspot, simultaneous voice and data transfer, and the rumor is that it will be available for sale at Best Buy on Valentine's Day, February 14th.

But will it out-do the iPhone?

It depends.

If it's released with the mobile hotspot and simultaneous voice and data transfer, it's got a good chance. But some blogs report that it may be released without those features.

Stay tuned.

Person WIth Gun At Oakland Unified School District La Equelita School

I just got a horrifying email. This one:

We have just been notified of reports of a person with a gun at the Oakland Unified School District facility, La Esquelita School @ 1100 3rd Avenue. The OUSD school facilities have been locked down, and the Laney Childcare Center staff are being informed of appropriate precautions. Please steer away from any area adjacent to lower 10th Street and 5th Avenue. The Peralta Community College District new parking lot at East 8th Street and 5th avenue, (with solar panels, next to baseball field) is being used as a staging area for La Esquelita School families to pick-up their children, while the Oakland Police Department has the matter under control.

More later...

The History Channel Airs Silly Bohemian Grove "Visit" By Brad Meltzer

The History Channel did a real disservice to its own moniker by airing Brad Meltzer’s Decoded episode on The Bohemian Club and The Bohemian Grove.

It reminded me of Vanity Fair's Contributing Editor Alex Shoumatoff's ill-fated attempt to "infiltrate" the Grove in 2008 - he got arrested. I've still got his mug shot here!

The Meltzer / The History Channel TV segment was embarrassingly bad and devoid of any real information about the club, except to repeat old and false statements about rituals and sacrifices that are alleged by both left and right wing extremists like Alex Jones.

Without breaking the gentlemanly code of silence at The Bohemian Club, I have been there, I'm a friend, and I'm obviously black (in case you're keeping score) and I can tell you the club is about friendship, jazz, theater, the arts, poetry and current events.

The only "sacrifices" that go on are the state of one’s liver and wasteline from the drink and food that are copiously consumed.  (Seriously.  It's one reason I've cut back on drinking!)

I contacted The Club after seeing The History Channel story and asked if they provided any information about the history of the organization, the annual ‘Cremation of Care” ceremony at the Grove, to Brad Meltzer or The History Channel. The Club said they declined to be interviewed on camera, but gave The History Channel a backgrounder that explains the Club, its ceremonies and its history.

It’s too bad The History Channel and Brad Meltzer didn’t read the materials they were given or looked online at The Monte Rio Show, the annual fundraiser the Bohemian Club puts on the Monte Rio community in which The Grove is located.

That website explains the Club’s background. And if The History Channel and its Decoded crew (which decoded nothing) had read that perhaps they would not have been arrested for trespassing at heavily guarded Grove during their filming of the show.

A little research goes a long way.

Where are the jobs, Mr. Boehner?

Just what are the leaders of the GOP doing with their new-found Congressional majority? We all know they took the symbolic vote to repeal the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (PPACA or sometimes just ACA) complete with a provision explicitly naming their own bill "Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act" without proposing any alternative. We all know the majority of U.S. citizens like the reforms, and the savvy have noticed that the only part being challenged in the courts is, in fact, the mandate inserted to win GOP support in the first place and protect insurance company profits -- and that they managed not just one but two responses to the President's State of the Union.

But what are GOP leaders actually doing?

OK, fair enough, House Speaker John Boehner did take to the airwaves on Sunday, to warn FOX viewers that it, "would be a financial disaster not only for our country, but for the worldwide economy," if the U.S. defaulted on its debt, because, "You can't create jobs if you default on the federal debt." That could happen, according to some estimates, sometime between March and May due to - what? Inaction by Congress. So he's talking to pundits, which isn't exactly doing nothing.

But neither this rhetoric nor talking to pundits is creating one job. Meanwhile, Rick Ungar of Forbes and others argue that the repeal they voted for would actually be a job-killer itself. The ironies seem lost on most who fashion themselves as speaking on behalf of GOP voters.

Here's an excerpt from Ungar's Policy Page at Forbes:

"The primary, most enduring complaint of the opponents of the ACA has been that the law is deathly bad for small business.

Apparently, small businesses, and their employees, do not agree.

The next argument has been that the PPACA is a job killer.

If these small businesses found the new law to be so onerous, why have so many of them voluntarily taken advantage of the benefits provided in the law to give their employees these benefits? They were not mandated to do so. And to the extent that the coming mandate obligations might figure into their thinking, would you not imagine they would wait until 2014 to make a move as the rules do not go into effect until that time?

Of course, there is the nagging banter as to how Obamacare is leading us down the road to socialism.

Let it go, folks."

Rick Ungar,

More Small Businesses Offering Health Care
To Employees Thanks To Obamacare

January 6, 2011

So the pundits are permitting the politicians - particularly those leading the GOP - to play familiar partisan games, posturing for the cameras while criticizing every nuance of the President's stance and efforts, but what's the impact? Wasted time.

What does the country need? What do we want our elected leaders to actually do? Act responsibly, behave like adults, get to work and fix the problems for Main Street like they did for the fat cats on Wall Street who contribute to their campaign coffers - we need jobs.

There are millions of us, millions of hard-working citizens - and voters - out of work watching jobs move overseas and foreclosures ruin our neighborhoods, yet the politicians prefer to pretend that what matters most are symbolic votes, the profit margins and bonuses on Wall Street, and criticizing without proposing solutions, or even alternative initiatives? What's next, Mr. Boehner, holding your breath until your face turns blue?

It's enough to make a grown man cry.

Thomas Hayes is an entrepreneur, former Democratic Campaign Manager, strategist, journalist, and photographer who contributes regularly to a host of web sites on topics ranging from economics and politics to culture and community. You can follow him as @kabiu on twitter.

SAG Awards 2011: The King's Speech Ready For The Academy Awards

The Academy Awards are now weeks closer and more into focus; the SAG Awards 2011 helped to bring all into crystal clear view: The King's Speech, barring a shocking upset from The Social Network, will be The Academy Awards winner for Best Picture.

The movie produced by The Weinstein Company already got Outstanding Cast For A Movie at The Screen Actors Guild Awards tonight, and Tom Hooper, it's director, scored Best Director at the Directors Guild Awards Saturday night.

On top of that, Colin Firth got a well-earned Best Actor award, and now is well on his way to an Oscar win for the same category.

The emergence of The King's Speech over the once favored The Social Network is shocking, but when one considers all of the talk of the movie about Facebook being "not the real story," that may have impacted the movie's SAG and Academy Awards fortunes.

Stay tuned.

Ernest Borgnine, Betty White Stars Of SAG Awards 2011 #SAGAwards

The 2011 Screen Actors Guild Awards is history and while The King's Speech, Modern Family, and Boardwalk Empire took top honors in several categories, the SAG social media buzz is about two octogenarian acting and comedy legends, Ernest Borgnine and Betty White.

Mr. Borgnine, at 94 years young, was on hand to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from his SAG colleagues. What was so neat for this blogger, watching the telecast in Georgia with Mom, was to hear her say "He called United Airlines and I made his reservations for him."

That happened, as she recalled, in 1976, and she remembers that Ernest Borgnine was "so nice." "He thanked me for helping him," she said.

That made watching this legendary actor get his award through a standing ovation, so much fun. Moreover, it brought spiritual meaning to the moment: nice people finish first.

The same is true for Betty White, last year's Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award Winner at 89 years old, who won for Outstanding Female In A Comedy Series and for her work in Hot in Cleveland. Upon setting her eyes on the statue of a naked buffed man, she rubbed it and said "OHHHH..."

That was funny.

(Makes you wonder what some would do if it was a statue of an athletics naked woman with big breasts, but I digress.)

Biden tells Jobless: Hang in there

Last week a totally out of touch Joe Biden told American jobless to "Hang in there" - and included other moronic comments and pearls of wisdom such as: "Don't smoke, eat healthy, do not consume junk foods," he said. "I know that sounds silly, but it's very practical in terms of your own health and well-being, and also on the impact of the cost of maintaining the health care system in the United States."

Well Mr. Vice President I have a reality check for you, since you are seemingly clueless to the plight of real hurting Americans.

• Millions of American UI exhaustees have been hanging on for far too long and have nothing left to hang on to period.
• The term you used is most insensitive "Hang in there" as most are hanging by a thread and many have chosen the noose - as in suicide, sir.
• It is damn difficult to eat healthy when you must rely on insufficient food stamps monthly allotment when the $1 fast food menu will fill up your stomach for less money. WE ARE HUNGRY!

Obama had the opportunity to alleviate the suffering some last December, but chose instead to cater to the wealthy and forgo helping to ease the suffering within the 99er Nation. Then he easily could have given hope to millions living in abject poverty in the USA today (not just the 99ers) but he chose to ignore the 52 million in America living below the poverty line, leaving them out of the SOTU speech - but he sure as hell did not forget to mention the illegal immigrants now did he?

This administration has had it's head in the sand (or up somewhere which prevents clear vision) for too long and your feigned internet explanations on what is happening in America and why are too weak and so lacking in knowledge, understanding or information concerning current events and developments it is just appalling!

I do not wish to appear disrespectful to either the President or the Vice President, but I for one am tired of being disrespected and ignored by the lot of the Washington elitists. You all make me sick. In fact, Joe, I wish you'd take that thumbs up thing and put it where your head has been hiding for so long.

[The donation button below is for Paladinette. If you like what I write please donate so I can keep on fighting for the 99ers! Thank You!]

DGA Nod Means The King's Speech In Line For Oscar Best Picture Win

The King's Speech (where Colin Firth is pictured) will win Best Picture at the 83rd Annual Academy Awards over The Social Network.

Last night, The DGA shocked a number of observers when it gave the director of the movie about overcoming personal handicaps, Tom Hooper, the prize over the favored David Fincher, who's movie made Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg even more famous.   That sealed the deal for the Oscars.  

Here's why.

UPDATE: Here's my video on The Social Network vs. The Kings Speech at The Oscars:



If you're predicting which films the 5,744 voting members of the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts and Science (AMPAS) will pick for the 24 nominating categories in the 83rd Annual Academy Awards, here's a tip: the winner of the Director's Guild of America (DGA) Best Director Award has won the same prize at The Oscars all but six times in history going back to 1948.

Plus, the film of the winner of Oscar Best Director generally wins Oscars Best Picture. On only 21 times in Oscars history has the Best Picture winner not snagged the Best Director Prize, going all the way back to 1927.

Last year, Kathryn Bigelow won DGA Best Director for The Hurt Locker, and went on to get both Best Director and Best Picture for the war movie at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards.

If The Social Network, which to date has won more awards than any other movie, wins Best Director and Best Picture, or at least manages a split here, it will be a rare achievement, but don't bet the ranch.

Now, to make it clear, the Academy voting members already made their choices and turned their ballots in on or before January 19th.  Someone, somewhere in the World knows who won in all of the Oscars categories.

Academy Website Database

If you're interested in Oscars Awards stats, there's no better place to go online than the database at the AMPAS website, here.

Also, Peter Knegt of INDIEwire has put together a great article tracking movie awards to date.

Stay tuned!