News, views, editorials and opinions from around the globe. I am a news reporter, writer, photographer.
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Saturday, November 5, 2011
Friday, November 4, 2011
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Friday, October 14, 2011
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Upper Class
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Stock Your Pantry: Accuweather forecasts extreme cold winter for Chicago - Yahoo! News
As best as you can, begin to stock up on food. There will be days you will not be allowed out because of extreme conditions or feel like dealing with the snow. I will heed my own advice!
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
"If You Love Me, Help Me Pass This Bill!"
Monday, September 12, 2011
Study Claims Spongebob Square Pants Causes Learning Problems in Young Children
A recent study claims the cartoon hurts attention span and mental task completion abilities in 4-year olds.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Imadeamesss.com: I remember #9/11
I was up for some reason early today and watched CNN coverage of 9/11. I was moved to remember a very sad point in American History and now, reality.
Friday, September 9, 2011
How will the American Jobs Act be financed?
The president said Thursday during his address to Congress that savings from the July 2011 debt ceiling negotiations will go toward financing the American Jobs Act. Watch the video below.
The American Jobs Act will not add to the deficit. It will be paid for. And here’s how.
"The agreement we passed in July will cut government spending by about $1 trillion over the next 10 years. It also charges this Congress to come up with an additional $1.5 trillion in savings by Christmas. Tonight, I am asking you to increase that amount so that it covers the full cost of the American Jobs Act. And a week from Monday, I’ll be releasing a more ambitious deficit plan -- a plan that will not only cover the cost of this jobs bill, but stabilize our debt in the long run."
"This approach is basically the one I’ve been advocating for months. In addition to the trillion dollars of spending cuts I’ve already signed into law, it’s a balanced plan that would reduce the deficit by making additional spending cuts, by making modest adjustments to health care programs like Medicare and Medicaid and by reforming our tax code in a way that asks the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations to pay their fair share. What’s more, the spending cuts wouldn’t happen so abruptly that they’d be a drag on our economy, or prevent us from helping small businesses and middle-class families get back on their feet right away."
Friday, August 19, 2011
Avoid Publishing and Freelance Writing Scams
make sure to click the left hand thumbs up. they are trying to supres the worker!
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Friday, July 22, 2011
#food The Real Reason Big Macs Are Cheaper Than More Nutritious Alternatives | Food | AlterNet
"In this chapter of that larger tragicomedy, lawmakers whose campaigns are underwritten by agribusinesses have used billions of taxpayer dollars to subsidize those agribusinesses' specific commodities (corn, soybeans, wheat, etc.) that are the key ingredients of unhealthy food. Not surprisingly, the subsidies have manufactured a price inequality that helps junk food undersell nutritious-but-unsubsidized foodstuffs like fruits and vegetables. The end result is that recession-battered consumers are increasingly forced by economic circumstance to "choose" the lower-priced junk food that their taxes support."
Yes, I go in the store to buy an apple and it is more expensive than the bag of chips but I still buy the apple and suffer later when I am hungry again--but that is just how I am.#weneedhealthyfoodsubsidies
*that is why we buy big macs--fewer hunger pains
Koch Brothers, ALEC and Their Corporate Allies Plan to Privatize Government | Truthout
Furthermore, HB 1021 stated that, should a union seek to use any portion of dues independently collected from members for political activity, the union must obtain annual written authorization from each member.
In effect, this bill defunds public-sector unions—like AFSCME, SEIU, the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association—by making the collection of member dues an onerous, costly task. With public-sector unions denatured, they would no longer be able to stand in the way of radical free marketeers who plan to profit from the privatization of public services.
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Thursday, July 21, 2011
We the People Should Pay Closer Attnetion: Say "NO" to Tax Cuts! - Associated Content from Yahoo! - associatedcontent.com
"Paul O'Neill, Treasury Secretary, opposed the 2003 Tax Relief Act on the grounds that they would:
-fail as a growth stimulus
-increase inequality
-worsen the budget outlook considerably
The combined effect of the three tax cuts proved to have a substantial net negative impact on revenues according to the Economic Policy Institute. At least 450 economists took out an ad in the New York Times in February 2003 asserting that the Bush tax plan was not the answer to our sluggish economy."
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Bringing Healthy, Affordable Food to Underserved Communities | The White House
Thank You First Lady, Michelle Obama! I wish that somehow, qualified individuals from the food desert communities could be pulled to start these farmer's markets and fresh food oasis. Long-established black churches can offer recommendations from their trustee boards for youngish people to have stores where they live and raise families above the stores, if necessary or become off-site owners. That way, new wealth could be created in the communities they serve and those dollars can circulate in the community.
Those loans can be SBA/government-backed for a short period until profitability could be established. Local food suppliers, churches and the community would profit. It could even lead to new food suppliers establishing themselves and thus widen the economic chain. Those employers would employ people from the communities they serve. From the establishment of this economic circle, other retailers would enter the communities and those communities would flourish and become more autonomous. Just a thought.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Internet Communications Firm Owners Plead Guilty to Employment Tax Fraud and Failure to Pay Tax
Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, July 15, 2011
Internet Communications Firm Owners Plead Guilty to Employment Tax Fraud and Failure to Pay Tax
WASHINGTON – Frank G. Bivings and Isabelle Blanco of Washington, D.C., husband and wife and co-owners of The Bivings Group Inc., pleaded guilty today to charges stemming from the failure to pay more than $2 million in employment taxes to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The guilty plea took place in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Bivings pleaded guilty to one count of failure to pay over employment taxes. Blanco pleaded guilty to one count of failure to pay a tax. Sentencing for both defendants is scheduled for Oct. 20, 2011.
The Bivings Group was a full-service Internet communications business. In pleading guilty, Bivings and Blanco both admitted that between Jan. 1, 2002, and June 30, 2008, The Bivings Group failed to pay over to the IRS a total of $2,420,927 in employment taxes, which includes withholding and Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) taxes. Of this amount, $1,813,488 represented the money that was withheld from employees for taxes but that was not paid over to the IRS. The department said that, instead of paying these payroll taxes to the IRS, the defendants used the funds to pay themselves substantial salaries and withdrew additional corporate funds for other expenses.
Bivings faces a maximum of five years in prison, and Blanco faces a maximum of one year in prison. The parties agreed, however, that the calculation under the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines for each defendant is 30 to 37 months in prison. Both defendants also agreed to pay $2,420,927 in restitution.
In announcing today’s guilty plea, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General John A. DiCicco, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., of the District of Columbia and Acting Special Agent in Charge Jeannine A. Hammett commended the investigatory work of IRS-Criminal Investigation Special Agent Michael Helgesen. They also praised the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan B. Menzer and Tax Division Trial Attorney Tino Lisella, who investigated and prosecuted the case.
Tax Division
Buy the book! Buy the book Eighteen Months and Short Stories, Real Life today!
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Indi Filmmaker Jason E. (Six-Nine) Barnes seeks backers for "shocking" new film
Filmmaker, producer and Washington, D.C. native, Jason E. Barnes is sizzling hot. His newest film, "Unreported," has a twist: male rape.
The film is in pre-production and Barnes is seeking to raise funds for the project.
When asked, Barnes said he chose the subject matter of the film because it happens more frequently that anyone will admit.
"This film delves into the after effects of the attack and really shows the breakdown that men feel when their manhood is threatened. Thousands of men are raped every year and very few (less than 5%) ever report it because they are fearful of being thought gay, less of a man, weak, etcetera but it still happens. More and more, men are targeted for just that reason," Barnes said.
Pressed further, films like "Deliverance," "Pulp Fiction" and "Brokeback Mountain," come to mind as they involve male rape or sodomy themes and scenes. Barnes insists his film is different.
"(With) Pulp fiction--it was only a small portion of the film. Brokeback Mountain was more of a gay love story."Unreported" is tapping into a topic that people will feel on a visceral level. No one up until now had made a script to explore this area of our lives. People will want to see it and it will get them communicating more," Barnes said. No word on whether or not the R-rated film will contain a male rape scene.
Barnes, who has been living in Los Angeles for a while, said the film tracks the psychological and physical breakdown of lead character, Justin Lake as his life is torn apart by the bad decisions he makes in the aftermath of his brutal attack--in an attempt to hide it.
Barnes said his will be the first feature film that deals realistically with the devastating impact of male rape outside of a prison setting.
--Leslie Jones McCloud
smaller-raises-for-seniors-smartmoney: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance
But critics say the new proposal only makes a bad system worse. The current measurement of inflation is supposed to account for the spending habits of adults of all ages, including only a small proportion of retirees. That doesn't reflect the true inflation seniors face, says Moshe A. Milevsky, a finance professor at York University in Toronto. For example, many older people spend a large share of their budgets on items like health care, whose prices have risen about twice as fast as overall prices, according to a 2010 paper published by the Congressional Research Service.
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Friday, July 15, 2011
Free Trade Doesn't Work - ad
Mastering Time Teleseminar - ad
GreenSmoke - ad
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
United States gubernatorial elections, 2012 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mike Pence is no friend to Northwest Indiana. Do not let him win governorship of this state.
Jim Wallace won't campaign past Indianapolis--Northwest Indiana Republicans. Let this be a note to the wise. Northwest Indiana had better support a man who supports Lake County. Our vote is valuable, we don't have to give it away to just anyone.
AS FOUND ON WIKIPEDIA so grain-of-salt it.
Governor Mitch Daniels will be term-limited in 2012.
Mike Pence, a Republican currently serving his sixth term in the U.S. House of Representatives, has announced his candidacy for his party's nomination. Pence (who has funraised over one million dollars) and whose announcement was anticipated by his resignation of a leading position in the GOP caucus in the House, is regarded as the favorite for election.[14]
Indianapolis businessman and former Hamilton County Councilman Jim Wallace (who has funraised about $500,000 and is probably a friend to Mike Pence) had previously announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination.[15][16] Other potential Republican candidates include former state Attorney General Steve Carter, current Indianapolis Mayor Gregory A. Ballard, conservative activist Eric Miller,[17] Indiana Superintendent of Public Education Tony Bennett, State House Speaker Brian Bosma, State Senate President David Long, and state GOP chairman Murray Clark.
Potential candidates in the Democratic field include Mayor of Hammond Thomas McDermott, Jr.,[18] Lake County Sheriff Roy Dominguez,[19] Rep. Joe Donnelly, former state House Speaker John R. Gregg, and state Senate Minority Leader Vi Simpson. Former U.S. Senator Evan Bayh,[20] Mayor of Evansville Jonathan Weinzapfel, and former Rep. Brad Ellsworth have decided not to run.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Obamawear2012
The shirts are nice, you can wear them anywhere. Click on the link. Most of them are under $20 but it depends on the shirt--it's not me!
Freshman U.S. senator gives Obama debt-limit fits | Reuters
Definition of a Corporate right robber barren. He cares not for the American People but only protects the interests of big business. Big business cannot seem to find a way to hire the American People because they don't care about the American People--they care about huge profits only. Who elected this person to the U.S. Senate? Couldn't have been the American People. That would be like shooting ourselves in the foot.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
It was a low-down , no-good, godawful bailout. But it paid. - The Washington Post
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Saturday, July 9, 2011
Black economic gains reversed in Great Recession - Post-Tribune
Buy the book! Buy the book Eighteen Months and Short Stories, Real Life today!
Friday, July 8, 2011
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Thursday, June 30, 2011
How the Debt Ceiling Issue Will Hit Ordinary Americans in the Wallet - DailyFinance
It is our congressional leaders who are being "dicks." Debt ceiling issues usually get bipartisan support. Call your congressman or woman and tell them to raise the debt ceiling.
"It also matters because all the parts of our economy are intricately intertwined, like a woven basket where each reed relies upon the next for support. Say the government postpones payments to a contractor. That contractor may decide to hold off on that new ad campaign it had planned to launch. Now, people working in the advertising industry, and maybe the newspapers and television channels that rely on advertising dollars, start to feel the pinch, and so those people decide to start saving more and spending less, in case the economy takes a downturn. Because consumers are now spending less money, stores start seeing a decrease in sales, and respond by reducing employees' hours or even engaging in outright layoffs. And it spirals downward from there."
Buy the book! Buy the book Eighteen Months and Short Stories, Real Life today!
Buy the book! Buy the book Eighteen Months and Short Stories, Real Life today!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
If this world were mine: Economic Diversity in the Black Community
Photo courtesy of usslave.blogspot.com |
Where are our advertising agencies? Where are our television and radio stations? We should have them by the 100s of thousands, constantly telling ourselves what ever it is we want to be reminded of or know. Have you ever noticed that we as a country don't share our local news readily? How would the vast majority of us know whether or not we were all experiencing the same thing if network news did not tell us? It would be back to word-of-mouth and telephones just like the olden days.
The lack of these items in our community relates to a deficiency in jobs or rather viable career paths. Plenty of black folks major in these areas in college (if we are allowed and yeah, I said it) but then we have to go a beggin' to other community groups for the work. Those groups are selective amongst themselves between rich and poor. Blacks deserve the same opportunity to make those decisions but we do not get the chance to do so. We have not given ourselves the right to make these places viable work options.
It is for this reason our communications and news is filtered mostly though sets of eyes and minds that do not work like ours do and do not understand what we know. Gatekeepers of another color, creed, race, religion in some instances a whole 'nother agenda. That is why we do not know every little thing our favorite black celebrity is doing. Now, if given the choice of more privacy and freedom or more money, many of the black glitteratti would choose the latter--bet. And there would be more black glitterati--maybe you or another person you know.
It is for this reason, our nation's first black president has to have his message spun in a million different directions. There are no black news or communication agencies that broadcast nationally. None. Not everyone is on the Web. The bulk of our black wealth is not on the Internet. They look on television broadcasts and newspapers for a reflection of self but all they see is criminality--a concept many cannot relate to as they follow the law and God.
So let us decided to do this thing for ourselves because from that point, businesses will erupt and create commerce like a seedling in the springtime. We all have to provide food, clothing and shelter for ourselves so we need black farms, black textile factories and black construction companies. Competition in the economic arena in the form of capitalism leads to flourishing advertising and marketing. And there we have our economically viable black community. All we would have to do is to populate it, educate it, guide and direct it.
The black farm needs workers and heavy equipment so let us, like we do in Farmville, create the means of production to do this. We would need a steel foundry--Gary has plenty but not owned by blacks or Americans for that matter however, I'm sure at the right price we would be in business together. The company that creates heavy earth moving equipment gets steel from them and the black farmer buys the tractor. Everybody works and makes money. The few black banks we have would have to finance our endeavors, so on and so forth.
Of course this is a simplistic, Stone Soup way of looking at a very layered and complicated mission but if we were ever in the position to have to do this, we would be able to do so. There would be a group of like minded individuals who would rise about the rest and become the true black bourgeois, keeping us fed, sheltered and clothed because they would not be able to afford selfishness and greed to lead their decisions because that would lead to death very quickly. And there would be jobs aplenty--so much so that black women would go back to the old days and start having babies earlier in life to keep up with the demand our society would place on itself. Those women would be charged with the duty of being a mom and wife and her husband would be able to support his family legally, ethically and morally.
Editor's Note:
I prefer the Stone Soup analogy to the one of Allumette the original. I grew up reading Grimm Brother's Fairy Tales--the American version of Allumette. (Whatever dudes, the girl starved to death outside of the French bakery but she died hallucinating that she had a cornucopia of delicious baked goods.)
Monday, June 27, 2011
Long coat short skirt: Should you show him your freaky side before marriage? - Chicago African American Relationships | Examiner.com
If you like this article or can do better then write for the examiner.com use this link:Write!