QUOTE!

"If death meant just leaving the stage long enough to change costume and come back as a new character...Would you slow down? Or speed up?" — Chuck Palahniuk

Saturday, July 16, 2011

The Weekly (C)Wrap-Up - REALLY?!


So I normally write this shit on Friday nights so that it is ready early morning Saturday but I went out Friday night, first time in a long time to go to the 30th Annual Artscape Festival here on Planet Baltimore. Mainly to go see Fantasia to find out for myself if the rumors about her being pregnant AGAIN by the same married dude as before are true. I wish I got a photo but I left my camera at home. My bad! There are a couple of vids on youtube from the concert last night but I didn't run across any good photos and unless you were right up front it was really hard to see. I am sure alot of other folks went to see for themselves as well.

I did catch a couple of glimpses of Fantasia and she looked a little heavy around the belly to me but only time will tell if she is really pregnant. Now Fantasia is a "thick-um" to begin with and there are a couple other scenarios that could account for the recent weight gain, first the whole pregnant thing again. Then she is playing Mahalia Jackson in an upcoming movie and she might be putting on the weight and getting into character. Then of course her love of "Cornbread and Collard Greens" could be the reason but she was a little "thicker" than normal. You can see for yourself in THIS VID from last night. I suggest you turn down/off your sound because the sound of this video is horrible. No offense to the poster but it is what it is! Plus we are just trying to see here. She had on a big blousey thing that kind of reminded me of a toga. I did find a couple of pics online of her and her boyfriend (termed loosely) from June 29th.

http://www.eurweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/fantasia-barbados-3.jpg


According to the website Eurweb she is supposedly 2.5 months pregnant with dudes baby. The pics were taken back in June when she was in Barbados for a concert. By the same token radaronline reports back in February:

American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino is putting a stop to pregnancy rumors, but she does admit to gaining weight, saying it's for a role in a new film she'll be starring in.

"Fantasia is 100% not pregnant. The only thing she's pregnant with is prosperity," the 26-year-old's manager, Brian Dickens, told RadarOnline.com in an exclusive interview. MORE!

The photos are supposedly from June and the reports are from February but the youtube link is from last night and imho she appears she could be pregnant. Only time will tell though! On another note she did sound good. I know a lot of you might be wondering who cares and why am I blogging about it? Well this is Politics, BS (Bullshit/Belief Systems) and The Tinfoil Tirades so file it under BS and keep it moving. Not to mention it goes with the title Really and the picture asking are you really that dumb? But hey like she said last night after belting out the song, "I know y'all done heard a lot of stuff but I am just doing me Baltimore"! Speaking of bs Casey Anthony will be released tomorrow and that is not the bs I am referring too but all this bs about someone hurting her and death threats and shit...From msnbc.com:

The Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla. — Casey Anthony is spending her last day in jail Saturday preparing for an uncertain future after nearly three years behind bars.

Anthony was acquitted of first-degree murder in Caylee's death earlier this month in a sensational trial that was carried extensively on cable television stations. She was found guilty of four counts of lying to police, but with time served and good behaviour credits, she didn't have to serve out her four-year sentence.

Orange County Jail officials planned to release Anthony sometime Sunday under circumstances they refused to disclose. One of her attorneys, Cheney Mason, said Friday that Anthony is scared to leave jail, given numerous threats on her life and the scorn of a large segment of the public that believes she had something to do with the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee.

Mason said he isn't taking any chances: "We are all vigilant and I am armed. MORE!

Let's hope Mr Mason doesn't go from vigilant to vigilante. Everyone needs to leave that trick alone. Stop with the death threats and let it go. If she actually killed that little girl you can best believe God's guy Karma will get her ass or she is gonna do something stupid like OJ did and end up in jail. Like I said last week if ya wanna be mad at anyone be mad at the prosecution cause they didn't meet the burden of proof.

How about 178 educators told to quit or be fired in the aftermath of that Atlanta test cheating scandal. They would have to fire my ass because idk how it is in GA but here in MD you can't get your unemployment if ya quit. From CNN:

Atlanta (CNN) -- The superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools has ordered that 178 educators allegedly involved in a teaching scandal resign or face termination proceedings.

In a letter, Superintendent Erroll B. Davis Jr. gave them the opportunity to resign by Wednesday, said Keith Bromery, director of media relations for the schools.

The letter was sent Thursday to educators listed on a report about the state Criterion-Reference Competency Tests as having confessed to or having been implicated in testing improprieties.

On Monday, at a school board meeting, Davis replaced four area superintendents and a school principal. MORE!

Back in June the same thing happened in Baltimore. From WBALTV.com:

Some staff members at two Baltimore City schools played a role in cheating to help students pass a major state exam, authorities said.

Baltimore City schools CEO Andres Alonso broke the news Thursday morning, saying two of his most prized and once high-performing elementary schools in east Baltimore had been caught cheating on the Maryland School Assessment test."We felt that this kind of behavior by adults was a crime toward our kids," Alonso said.Test answers at Fort Worthington Elementary School were changed and attendance records were altered during the 2009-10 academic year, WBAL-TV 11 News Education Alert reporter Tim Tooten said. Staff members are also accused of giving some students special accommodations in violation of state testing law. MORE!

Over at the Md State Dept of Eds website they are touting that for the 3rd straight year Md schools have received number one rankings in 2011. Maybe cheating is the reason why? I am just asking! I do have to say that although these educators were dishonest I have to put the blame on that No Kid Left Behind legislation that puts a lot of pressure on educators to get kids to pass test's to get tax dollars instead of teaching them to learn.

Speaking of education. Do you guys remember Blossom real name Mayim Bialik? Had her own TV show in the 80's? Well not only did she play a scientist on TV in the '"Big Bang Theory" she is one in real life from CNN:

By Elizabeth Landau, CNN
July 15, 2011 7:24 a.m. EDT
Mayim Bialik plays Amy Farrah Fowler on the CBS hit comedy "The Big Bang Theory."
Mayim Bialik plays Amy Farrah Fowler on the CBS
hit comedy "The Big Bang Theory."

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Mayim Bialik plays Amy Farrah Fowler on "The Big Bang Theory"
  • She's written a book about parenting based on hormones involved in parent-child bonding
  • Bialik holds a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA

(CNN) -- You may remember her as the title character from NBC's "Blossom," or recognize her as brainy Amy Farrah Fowler on the CBS hit comedy "The Big Bang Theory."

Mayim Bialik has made a name for herself in the entertainment business, but she's also had a lesser-known career in a similar field as her "Big Bang Theory" character: neuroscience.

Bialik, 35, who will attend her first San Diego Comic-Con next week, studied neuroscience at the University of California, Los Angeles. She's also written a book about parenting based on the science of hormones involved in parent-child bonding, to be released by Simon & Schuster in 2012. MORE!

Here's one for the not so educated files. Pops really wanted him some hotdogs. I could see if they were some Sonic Dogs. From WBALTV.com:

According to the police report, Webb told police his vehicle’s throttle stuck and he could not slow down as he approached the building. Tests showed no alcohol in his system.

The truck collided with a moped, sending it under a sport-utility vehicle. The pickup crashed through a brick wall into an area with deep fryers, knocking about 100 pounds of hot grease onto an employee who suffered first- and second-degree burns.Business owner Dennis Rupert said Webb got out of his truck after the crash and tried to order some hot dogs. MORE!
Since we are talking about not so educated let's get to the rethugs. I found this particularly (C)Wrap-Up worthy. Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supremes, not Dinah and nem, has a boblehead doll coming out this fall. From CNN:
By Bill Mears, CNN Supreme Court Producer
July 16, 2011 1:50 p.m. EDT
The Justice Clarence Thomas Annotated Bobblehead is the latest in a series that originated eight years ago.
The Justice Clarence Thomas Annotated Bobblehead
is the latest in a series that originated eight years ago.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Seven current or recent justices have been made into dolls
  • Thomas doll will be released this fall in honor of his 20th anniversary on court
  • Justices rack up the airline miles with summer engagements

Washington (CNN) -- The black-robed figure stares straight ahead, stalwart and silent, his head nodding appreciatively. He carries a big stick, which happens to have an American flag attached. And the man proudly stands on a toy truck and a pair of pizza boxes.

Say hello to the Justice Clarence Thomas Annotated Bobblehead, about the closest thing a member of the Supreme Court gets to collectible immortality.

The sought-after doll -- it's OK to call them dolls -- is the latest release in a pantheon of justices past and present honored in cold-cast ceramic. MORE!

Shouldn't he be standing on a Cadillac and "chicken boxes"? Again just asking. For this next piece imma let you make the call. First there is the Bachmans in particular the good Dr. Marcus Bachmann. After denying that their clinic offers "pray away the gay" therapy there comes that pesky videotape thing. From Crooks & Liars:

ABC News presented undercover video Monday that confirms the clinic owned by Michele Bachmann and her husband Dr. Marcus Bachmann does indeed try to "pray away the gay."

The Nation reported last week that Andrew Ramirez's mother took him to the clinic in 2004 at the age of 17 because he said he was gay.

"[One counselor's] path for my therapy would be to read the Bible, pray to God that I would no longer be gay," Ramirez said. "And God would forgive me if I were straight."

Undercover video from the pro-gay group Truth Wins Out provided further evidence that the Bachmann clinic practices gay-to-straight therapy.

John Becker, who visited the clinic with two hidden cameras, was told that he could be completely free of his homosexual urges.

"You're in the midst of a storm, in the midst of a battle," a therapist explained. "I think it's possible to be totally free of them."

"The truth is God, God as designed our eyes to be attracted to the woman's, to the woman's body, to be attracted to, you know, everything. You know, to be attracted to her breasts," he added.

"He seemed to believe genuinely in his heart of hearts that, somehow, my homosexuality could be cured and could be eliminated," Becker told ABC News.

The American Psychological Association has said that there is no evidence that therapy can change sexual orientation.

Here is where you make the call though. After ABC airs that report Jon Stewart of the Daily Show airs this:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Field of Dongs
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full EpisodesPolitical Humor & Satire BlogThe Daily Show on Facebook

Maybe the good Dr. Marcus could use some of his own therapy. Oh wait...Didn't work for Ted Haggard, he is still gay. From Wikipedia:

Ted Arthur Haggard (born June 27, 1956) is an American evangelical pastor. Known as Pastor Ted to the congregation he served, he was the founder and former pastor of the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado; a founder of the Association of Life-Giving Churches; and was leader of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) from 2003 until November 2006.

In November 2006, escort and masseur Mike Jones alleged that Haggard had paid Jones to engage in sex with him for three years and had also purchased and used crystal methamphetamine.[1] A few days later Haggard resigned from all of his leadership positions.

After the scandal was publicized, Haggard entered three weeks of intensive counseling, overseen by four ministers. In February 2007, one of those ministers, Tim Ralph, said that Haggard "is completely heterosexual."[2] Ralph later said he meant that therapy "gave Ted the tools to help to embrace his heterosexual side." On June 1, 2010 Haggard announced that he intended to start a new church in Colorado Springs.[3] In February 2011, Haggard came out as bisexual.[4] MORE!

Now this next one is just scary. Minnesota's Queen of Crazy is actually the front-runner in the GOP bid for president. CNN:
Bachmann posts big numbers, Gingrich big debt


(CNN)-Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann may have announced her bid for the 2012 GOP nomination for president well into the second fundraising quarter, but she still managed to outpace competitors.

Bachmann will report $4.2 million in contributions to the Federal Election Commission for the second quarter, according to a Friday release. Reports for the second quarter were due to be filed Friday.

Almost half the amount to be reported by Bachmann, $2 million dollars, was transferred from her congressional account. The rest was raised in more than 88,000 contributions that averaged $48.00 each. Funds raised for federal campaigns can be transferred from one federal account to another according to FEC guidelines. Funds raised by political action committees, or PACs, cannot be transferred to campaign coffers.

Bachmann, a tea party darling who's recently faced both acclaim and criticism, has $3.6 million in cash to spend on her presidential campaign efforts. MORE!

I cannot wait to see those debates! Now all the rest of the GOP candidates are gonna try to go one crazier than Bachmann! It should be hilarious. Here is a little reminder of just how crazy she is. From Businessinsider.com:

1. On the granite State (NH): "What I love about New Hampshire and what we have in common is our extreme love of liberty...You're the state where the shot heard round the world in Lexington and Concord."

~ March 12, 2011 speech to the Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire.

Note: The 1776 Battles of Lexington and Concord took place in Massachusetts.

Source: RealClearPolitics


2. On President Obama: "We will talk a little bit about what has transpired in the last 18 months and would we count what has transpired into turning our country into a nation of slaves."

~ July 9 2010 Western Conservative Summit in Denver.

Source: The Colorado Independent


3. on Michael Steele: "Michael Steele! You be da man! You be da man!"

~ 2009 Conservative Political Action Conference

Source: The Minnesota Independent


4. On the Census: "I know for my family, the only question that we will be answering is how many people are in our home. We won't be answering any information beyond that, because the Constitution doesn't require any information beyond that."

- Interview with the Washington Times, June 17, 2009.

Note: The Constitution doesn't say that. It's illegal to not fill out the entire Census.

Source: Washington Times, PolitiFact


http://static.businessinsider.com/image/4d5d342b49e2ae2627070000-400-300/on-the-census.jpg

5. More On the Census: "Take this into consideration. If we look at American history, between 1942 and 1947, the data that was collected by the Census Bureau was handed over to the FBI and other organizations at the request of President Roosevelt, and that's how the Japanese were rounded up and put into the internment camps. I'm not saying that that's what the Administration is planning to do..."

~ Interview with Fox News, June 25, 2009

Source: TPM

6. On Government Spending: "During the last 100 days we have seen an orgy. It would make any local smorgasbord embarrassed...The government spent its wad by April 26."

~ Tax Freedom Day Rally, May 2, 2009

Source: Huffington Post


7. On the Swine Flu: "I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out then under another Democrat president, Jimmy Carter. I'm not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it's an interesting coincidence."

~ Interview with Pajamas Media, April 27, 2009.

Note: The 1976 swine flu outbreak occured during Gerald Ford's presidency. Ronald Reagan was president during another, smaller, outbreak in 1988.

Source: Pajamas Media, PolitiFact

8. On global Warming: "The big thing we are working on now is the global warming hoax. It's all voodoo, nonsense, hokum, a hoax."

~ March 15, 2008 speech at the Sherburne County Republican Nominating Convention.

"There isn’t one such study because carbon dioxide is not a harmful gas, it is a harmless gas. Carbon dioxide is natural. It is not harmful. It is part of Earth’s life cycle...And yet we’re being told that we have to reduce this natural substance and reduce the American standard of living to create an arbitrary reduction in something that is naturally occurring in the earth."

- 2009 Earth Day speech on the House floor. .

Source: West Sherburne Tribune, Wonk Room


9. On homosexuality: "Normalization (of gayness) through desensitization. A very effective way to do this with a bunch of second graders is to take a picture of "The Lion King" for instance, and a teacher might say, "Do you know the music for this movie was written by a gay man?" The message is: I'm better at what I do because I'm gay."

~ November 6, 2004 speech at Edwatch National Education Conference.

Source: Huffington Post

Here is a pic of the rest of the field she is running against
http://static8.businessinsider.com/image/4d767e404bd7c84a04040000/republicans-gop-candidates.jpg

They are Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, Mitch Daniels, Haley Barbour, Jon Huntsman, Rick Santorum, Bachmann and not pitured due to being still on the fence Texas Gov. Rick Perry. CNN should make this a reality TV show cause it is going to be hilarious watching them try to out crazy Bachmann.

Getting a little "serious-er" is the GOP as we get closer to the Debt Ceiling Deadline which is Aug. 3rd not because they have come to their senses per se but their big business backers are starting to get a little worried and have been since April. From PERspectives:

Business Leaders Warn GOP on Debt Ceiling Disaster

Nothing focuses the mind, it is said, like the sight of the gallows. So it is for the American business community as the clock ticks down on the looming deadline to raise the U.S. debt ceiling. Over the past few days, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Wall Street executives, the National Association of Manufacturers and a host of the GOP's other big business allies have warned the Republican leadership that the party's grandstanding risks an economic calamity for the United States.

During George W. Bush's tenure in the White House, Republican majorities voted seven times to increase the U.S. debt ceiling. (The current GOP leadership team cast a total of 19 yea votes.) But demanding a vote on a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution and draconian budgets cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security as preconditions for boosting the $14.3 trillion ceiling, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner and Eric Cantor are creating fear, uncertainty and doubt about the full faith and credit of the United States.

But as The Hill reported this morning, the same business backers who bankrolled the GOP's overwhelming victories in November has had enough of the FUD:

The Obama administration will likely have the support of major business groups as it works to round up Republican votes for raising the federal debt ceiling.

Groups such as the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) plan to step up their advocacy for a debt-limit increase as the deadline for congressional action draws closer.

Lobbyists for several major trade associations told The Hill that they have already had discussions with first-term House Republicans about the necessity of lifting the debt ceiling to avoid a default on U.S. debt. MORE!

I am going to end this (C)Wrap-Up with this next piece. Only a real crackhead would say that he doesn't "smoke rocks"! From Crooks & Liars:

The Republican candidate running to unseat a Democratic Wisconsin state Senator in next week's recall election said Thursday that a child abuse investigation against him was "just another false accusation."

But discerning voters might think otherwise, considering his history.

"I read a social services report yesterday that says I smoke crack," David VanderLeest told Wisconsin Public Radio's Joy Cardin. "None of it's true. I don't smoke rocks, and that's the truth." MORE!


Watch the vid:


He doesn't say it once but twice. However that is par for the course with the rethugs! I could go on and on for days but this should give you enough to last you all day Sunday.


Really Yo?!
Menace

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