Busy week!
JIM CROW VOTING LAWS
The enactment of voter id laws in key swing states was bad enough regarding disenfranchising traditional democratic voters, then Ohio took it a step further and voted to allow traditional Republican counties extended early voting access and did not extend the same courtesy to traditional Democratic counties. Complete and utter bullsh*t. Well there’s been an update and its a victory of sorts. In large part because of the growing national uproar regarding this blatant racism, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted has ordered that ALL 88 counties follow the same early voting schedule. Good, that’s a start. However instead of allowing all 88 counties access after 5:00pm and on the weekends (which is what the Republican counties were granted), there will be no weekend access and limited after 5:00pm access. Gee thanks for looking out a*shole.
Per usual, Jon Stewart succinctly breaks it all down. Watch both videos – highly insightful:
MITT IS A MESS AND RYAN AIN’T NO PRIZE
Hey Mittens – Soooo you picked a running mate, good for you, now what’s up with those taxes buddy boy?? Or would you prefer to elaborate on how Bain Capital was “started in part with investment money from Salvadoran families who had ties to the nation’s notorious death squads”? OR maybe discuss how Bain Capital squashed attempts to start a union at one of the first companies it acquired because the “hassle” of dealing with labor agreements may have impeded turning the company over for a profit? Water under the bridge you say? Right right, sure sure.
OR let’s talk about your running mate’s budget that you have called “marvelous” – Donna Brazile, CNN contributor, Democratic strategist and all around bad a*s, had this to say:
The Romney-Ryan plan would throw seniors under the bus and undermine their health security by ending Medicare as we know it. It would increase health care costs for seniors, including those on fixed income, by thousands of dollars a year.
The extreme plan proposed by this year’s Republican ticket would bring huge tax breaks to millionaires, paid for by tax hikes on the middle class, and massive cuts to investments that strengthen the middle class — priorities like education, health care, energy and scientific and medical research. Whether you are a college student trying to pay for school, a veteran worried about your health benefits, or a senior worried about retirement security, the Romney-Ryan plan is bad news. It would have devastating real-world effects on people young and old across the country. (CNN)
Believe it. And with specific regard to Paul “I could be one of Mitt’s sons” Ryan, New York Times columnist, Maureen Dowd had this to say:
He’s Scrooge disguised as a Pickwick, an ideologue disguised as a wonk. Not since Ronald Reagan tried to cut the budget by categorizing ketchup and relish as vegetables has the G.O.P. managed to find such an attractive vessel to mask harsh policies with a smiling face.
Like Mitt Romney, Ryan truly believes he made it on his own, so everyone else can, too. He shrugs off the advantage of starting as the white guy from an affluent family, able to breeze into a summer internship for a Wisconsin Republican senator as a college student.
Ryan co-sponsored the Sanctity of Life Act enshrining a fertilized egg with the definition of “personhood” and supported a bill Democrats nicknamed the “Let Women Die Act,” which would have let hospitals that get federal money deny women abortions even in life-threatening circumstances. (NYT)
Swell guy huh?
“HOLLYWOOD” GETS IT WRONG – AGAIN
Sigh. Making it around the internet this week is the casting decision that has Zoe Saldana playing Nina Simone in a biopic about the legendary singer’s life. I like Zoe, really I do. I think I’ve seen just about all of her films – even Colombiana – and I think she is good actress who would benefit immensely from a challenging role however this decision is already causing an uproar and may doom the project before it even starts shooting.
(1) There is protest signage:
(2) A letter from Nina’s daughter:
To read the entire letter, click here.
(3) And a petition: Petitioning Jimmy Iovine & Cynthia Mort – “Jimmy Iovine & Cynthia Mort: Replace Zoe Saldana with an actress who actually looks like Nina Simone.”
I don’t envy Zoe’s position, this would have been an extremely difficult role to turn down and yet… I’m curious – is the plan to darken her skin? Give her a prosthetic nose? A kinky weave? Damn, this actually hurts my soul a little. Sigh.
Moving on…
SPARKLE
Speaking of other Hollywood decisions that annoyed me, I will admit I was more than slightly aggravated when I heard they were re-making this film because (a) the original is a classic and (b) new material does exist regarding “the black experience” and gee wouldn’t it be cool to do some new ish?? ANYway, I finally checked myself and acknowledged that Hollywood re-making classics is nothing new and it is definitely not exclusively to stories about black people so I got over it. Then Whitney passed and I was like I don’t care if its terrible, I’m going to see it. THEN I saw the trailer and I quietly got really excited.
It comes out today – GO SEE IT!
In any event, I really do enjoy seeing us all dressed up and glam on the big screen. 
CHAD OCHOCINCO JOHNSON – YOUR LIFE JUST HUNG UP ON YOU!
Chad Ochocinco (who has gone back to being Chad Johnson) reportedly head-butted his wife of 41 days, Evelyn Lozada of Basketball Wives notoriety fame last Saturday and spent the evening in jail. He posted bail on Sunday and was released. Then Monday came along and…
- VH1 had cancelled his reality show “Ev & Ocho”,
- He found out his wife was filing for divorce,
- It was released that he had been cut by the Miami Dolphins, AND
- He lost an endorsement deal for coconut water.
Boy, I bet he is really hurting over losing that coconut deal. Sucks huh?
WHAT ON EARTH IS A “HONEY BOO BOO??”
This is the question I asked myself when I saw a headline with that phrase in it so I clicked because I’m curious and part of me is wishing that I had not. Sigh.
*(For the record, I deliberately used a more flattering picture because the other ones are not AND because I admit I do feel some kinda way about putting a 6 year old on blast but then again that’s really what her parents and TLC are doing isn’t it??)
Here Comes Honey Boo Boo is a new show on TLC focusing on the antics of a young girl known as “Honey Boo Boo” (real name is Alana) who was previously featured on the horror that is TLC’s other show Toddlers and Tiaras. Great. Specifically,
HERE COMES HONEY BOO BOO, [is] an inside look into Alana’s world where the six-year-old pageant sensation proves that she is more than a beauty queen. When she’s not chasing after crowns, Alana’s with her family in rural Georgia doing what her family does best: four-wheeling through mud pits and picking up road kill for the family cookout.
Each episode follows Alana and her family: stay-at-home mom June, chalk-mining dad Sugar Bear, and sisters 12-year-old Lauryn “Pumpkin”, 15-year-old Jessica “Chubbs”, and 17-year-old pregnant Anna “Chickadee”. From family outings to loud and crazy family get-togethers, HERE COMES HONEY BOO BOO takes us off the pageant stage and into the unapologetically outrageous family life of the Honey Boo Boo clan. (TLC)
OMG! It was worse than I thought. WOW! My bad for subjecting ya’ll to this, I just didn’t want to be the only one. Now excuse me while I go read something dense and academic.
All I can hope is that whatever monies they are receiving from this debacle show will somehow allow this child to get a quality education. Please let this be the case. PLEASE!
And in closing, this is how you deal with arrogant, self-righteous bullies:
SOLEDAD O’BRIEN: “You Can’t Just Repeat It and Make It True Sir”
O’Brien SERVED former New Hampshire governor and George W. Bush Chief of Staff John Sununu, when he got all extra huffy and puffy with her during a discussion of the GOP’s inaccurate analysis of Obama’s Medicare plan and the similarities between Romney and Ryan’s Medicare plan.
As Andy Ostroy (Huffpo) points out this was an excellent example of great journalism in that “she actually did her job” by using actual facts to refute the repeated lies spewing from Sununu. What I think is most telling is that when repeatedly confronted with the truth, Sununu resorts to name calling and anger. Way to lead by example Republicans. Lying (re Obama’s policies), cheating (voter id laws) and bullying (always) are qualities that will make for an excellent administration. Oh wait, we had that with Nixon didn’t we? Remind me, didn’t that end in disgrace? Yeaaaah, that’s what I thought.
#ObamaBiden2012
Applause!!! I can’t see the O’Brien video from my phone but I will most def check it out when I get home.