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2 Views
15:50:26 05/03/12
Fashion is my alphabet, says Dello Russo for H&M
[LESS INFO] 2 VIEWS | ADDED 15:50:26 05/03/12
ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)
Japanese Vogue Fashion Director Anna Dello Russo, known for her outlandish and eccentric sense of style, is set to design a range of accessories for Swedish retailer H%M.
Russo, dubbed "the Lady Gaga of fashion" for her maximalist fashion choices, is often seen being chased by photographers at global fashion weeks every season.
"An idol of the blogosphere whose flamboyant outfits are endlessly documented by style photographer sand broadcasted globally through the web...Unabashedly glamorous, precious and playful, the range is an expression of Dello Russo's taste for ornamentation," H%M said about her in a press release.
The collection will feature jewellery, sunglasses, shoes, bags and a trolley.
"I am excited by this collaboration: this is the first time H%M involves a Fashion Director in a special project. This is the sign of an important evolution in fashion, and I am both thrilled and humbled to be the one chosen to lead it. I wanted to create precious accessories that are impossible to find. As a stylist I know accessorization is essential: It is the personal touch to any outfit. With these pieces everybody can have fun, turning an ordinary day into a fantastic fashion day", Russo said in a press release.
Russo took cameras inside her colourful apartment, where she collects jewellery like many people collect art or furniture.
"When H%M called me, they asked me to do something and I said I preferred to do accessories because accessories for me is the focus in my life," she told H%M's camera crew. "As you see in my house, I collect them. Everything precious, everything sparkly. When I was a kid I was always like that in the window," showing what she looked like as she peered through shop windows as a child.
"Fashion is my real language. I can tell much more interesting things through clothes than words. This is my real language. This is my alphabet," she added.
Russo is the latest guest collaborator with the high street retailer, following in the footsteps of Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney, Matthew Williamson, Jimmy Choo, Lanvin, and Versace.
The collection will be available in H%M's global stores and online from October 4.
Author: reuters
Tags: Swedish fashion says for alphabet retailer accessories Fashion director Dello
Posted: 03 May 2012
Rating: 0.0
Votes: 0
2 Views
18:56:37 04/18/12
Reform School Vs. The Guild - "I'm the One That's Cool"
[LESS INFO] 2 VIEWS | ADDED 18:56:37 04/18/12
This week the girls watch the music video by The Guild called "I'm the One That's Cool".
Felicia Day and some of her fellow cast members from The Guild have produced several music videos now, including "Do You Want To Date My Avatar," "Game On" and the latest, "I'm The One That's Cool."
In case you're unfamiliar, The Guild is an original web series that Day created, wrote and stars in, loosely based on her own life as a gaming enthusiast. It has won numerous awards for Best Series, Best Actress, Best Ensemble Cast, etc.
"I'm The One That's Cool" depicts the band members being tormented during high school, and their revenge (being the cool kids) today.
Day is about as cool as you can get - valedictorian of her senior class, an accomplished violinist who was accepted to Julliard, a double major (math and music performance) at U.T. Austin. She first rose to prominence as Violet on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
The Reform School girls found the song catchy, but the video not so cool.
>
Girl singer...I like that.
She looks like Donna from That 70s Show...
But, like, uglier...
This is catchy, I guess.
I like it!
Who's that fat girl?
I like the song.
This is something, like you'd think if Avril Lavigne made a mix-tape before she got famous.
I don't know how I feel about it.
I'm bored. Can this be over now?
So, her 8th grade crush pushed her in the pool. That's so mean.
So, they were just playing Rock Band?
Average...C...Sorry.
0 Views
13:05:39 04/17/12
Zac Efron bulks up for new role
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 13:05:39 04/17/12
Zac Efron's left his skinny High School Musical days behind and bulked up for new movie The Lucky One.
As popular as ever Efron's fans screamed as he posed for photographers at a screening in LA.
He plays a Marine in the new drama - a role he had to gain 17 pounds (7.7 kg) of muscle to play:
SOUNDBITE: Zac Efron, actor, saying (English):
"It was a challenge, it was great. It was something I always wondered if I could do. I always wondered if I would be able to physically transform like that and this was my first shot at it. And I pulled it off, I think, in the end."
Yep. All together phwoar.
Not only has this movie got a super buff Mr. Efron in it, it's a love story too.
After fighting in Iraq Zac's character Logan returns to search for a beautiful woman he's never met.
SOUNDBITE: Zac Efron, actor, saying (English):
"It follows a Marine, a guy who's lived a hard life and he's trying to integrate back into the real world, into society. I can only imagine how trivial everything seems after you've been at war. Love could be out of the cards for both of these people, but they fight through and eventually fall in love."
Taylor Schilling is the lucky actress who gets to get up close and personal with him.
Already hard not to be jealous, she said their love scenes were easy to shoot:
SOUNDBITE: Taylor Schilling, actress, saying (English):
"It was surprisingly not awkward. We were actually at that point so comfortable with each other and he's such a gentleman, he's so gracious. He was a true leading man. He really took care of me. I felt very safe."
See them in action soon, The Lucky One opens in the US this week, and in the UK at the start of May.
Sarah Mills, Reuters
Author: reuters
Tags: and bulks bulking said for Lucky fans role new Eftron
Posted: 17 April 2012
Rating: 0.0
Votes: 0
0 Views
08:38:03 04/16/12
StRaNGe Beautiful LIFE - Episode 5: Mad dogs and Englishmen
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 08:38:03 04/16/12
Injury's suck theres no way of glossing over it making it sound better than it is, but you try to, you kid yourself you even start to believe it ''oh its ok it wont take too long'' you tell yourself over and over again. You start to fill your days with other stuff and you get on with it. But when your constantly striving for some kind of optimum wave riding experience to put a grin on your dial and it controls your every thought day in day out and then WHAM its gone, injury's really do suck.
Its inevitable I guess at some point your gonna kook it and things are gonna go pair shaped real quick, one minute you think your gods gift to surfing and then the next minute WA PA your rolling around in the white water wondering if your leg is still attached.
This episode of StRaNGe Beautiful Life was filmed in two parts the first part was filmed just before I tried to be all Bruce ''look no hands'' Irons and got a lip to the head immediately confirming that I'm no Bruce Irons and yes I do feel pain especially when tearing the Medial Collateral Ligament and Meniscus in my nobly knee.
Fast forward four tediously long couch ridden months where I got to know a rehabilitation elastic band really well and I'm back good as new, well I'm notably chubbier and pretty dam clumsy on a surfboard but I cant help thinking that time out of the water has given me perspective and a certain outlook that I'm sure was there before but I feel different, its just when you cant do something you love for ages when you finally get to do it again you fall in love with it all over again.
If I've taken anything positive from this injury its that we should all take a step backwards sometimes to appreciate things even more.
Hope you enjoy this episode and its gets your froth on to go surfing.
cheers
Stoker
Special thanks to Lee Evans for shooting a few Newquay based timelapses for us and also Holly Reed for helping out with some land filming, Mucho Gracias
4 Views
03:18:51 04/06/12
Opening Day 2012
[LESS INFO] 4 VIEWS | ADDED 03:18:51 04/06/12
Welcome to RideThePine.com
Someone recently asked me to describe what I do on this show. I see myself as the mommy bird and you are all my baby birds and I take everything in the sports world, chew it up for you and then feed you from my mouth to yours.
Not literally, that is just gross!
Show of hands, how many people knew that the baseball season started last night?
I DID because Baseball is LIFE and the rest is just details. No Fear!
I bet you were watching it because you’re a big fan of the St Louis Cardinals or Miami Marlins , right? That’s a lie.
You were watching for the same reason that I was watching. Hoping that one of the bikini-clad girls in the Marlins Park pool, called Clevelander , would lose their top .
Congrats to the University of Kentucky who won their 8th National Championship. Maybe Coach Cal wont have to vacate this Final Four, it would be the first time.
They say that the true character of a person is how they act after defeat.
You know what would be less embarrassing for Pau Gasol ? If Blake Griffin just pooped on the floor of his living room. At least the whole world wouldn't see it. This episode is brought to you by 4inkjets.
Use 4inkjets Coupon Code - RIDE - to get 10% off your order. 4inkjets has quality printer ink at an affordable price. Don’t overpay for ink!
For more on Ride The Pine, check out these sites.
2 Views
03:18:51 04/06/12
Opening Day 2012
[LESS INFO] 2 VIEWS | ADDED 03:18:51 04/06/12
Welcome to RideThePine.com
Someone recently asked me to describe what I do on this show. I see myself as the mommy bird and you are all my baby birds and I take everything in the sports world, chew it up for you and then feed you from my mouth to yours.
Not literally, that is just gross!
Show of hands, how many people knew that the baseball season started last night?
I DID because Baseball is LIFE and the rest is just details. No Fear!
I bet you were watching it because you’re a big fan of the St Louis Cardinals or Miami Marlins , right? That’s a lie.
You were watching for the same reason that I was watching. Hoping that one of the bikini-clad girls in the Marlins Park pool, called Clevelander , would lose their top .
Congrats to the University of Kentucky who won their 8th National Championship. Maybe Coach Cal wont have to vacate this Final Four, it would be the first time.
They say that the true character of a person is how they act after defeat.
You know what would be less embarrassing for Pau Gasol ? If Blake Griffin just pooped on the floor of his living room. At least the whole world wouldn't see it. This episode is brought to you by 4inkjets.
Use 4inkjets Coupon Code - RIDE - to get 10% off your order. 4inkjets has quality printer ink at an affordable price. Don’t overpay for ink!
For more on Ride The Pine, check out these sites.
21 Views
17:52:18 03/02/12
Brad Goreski Admits Cocaine Addiction
[LESS INFO] 21 VIEWS | ADDED 17:52:18 03/02/12
Brad Goreski Admits Cocaine Addiction
The celebrity stylist reveals his dark secrets in his new book Born to be Brad: My Life and Style So Far, including experimenting with drugs in high school, his addiction to cocaine and entering AA. Plus, he dishes on Rachel Zoe and their split! BRAD GORESKI HAS AN IMPECCABLE SENSE OF STYLE...BUT BEHIND THE DARK FRAMED GLASSES AND BOWTIE...LIE SOME DEEP, DARK SECRETS. ON BRAVO'S "IT'S A BRAD, BRAD WORLD"%mdashTHE STYLIST IS PERKY AND ALWAYS WITH A SMILE ON HIS FACE, BUT THAT WASN'T ALWAYS THE CASE--HE REVEALS HIS INNER DEMONS IN THE NEW BOOK, "BORN TO BE BRAD: MY LIFE AND STYLE". BRAD ADMITS TO EXPERIMENTING WITH BOOZE, POT AND ECSTACY IN HIGH SCHOOL--BUT IT WAS COCAINE THAT ALMOST TOOK HIM DOWN AT THE AGE OF 23. IN EXCERPTS OF THE BOOK RELEASED BY US WEEKLY, BRAD WRITES, "I was in our bathroom, staring in the mirror, and I didn't recognize myself. Finally I felt the weight of the situation. I told myself, 'You can carry on like this, and the drugs will be your life.' I wasn't doing anything with my life except wasting it." LUCKILY, HE GOT THE HELP HE NEEDED IN AA. BRAD SAYS, "It was May 3, 2001. I was determined to stay sober. This was day one: the first day of the rest of my life." BRAD ALSO DISHES ON RACHEL ZOE AND OPENS UP ABOUT WHAT FINALLY CAUSED HIM TO PART WAYS ON HIS STYLE MENTOR. IF YOU WANT TO HEAR MORE ON THAT STORY AND MUCH MORE-- BRAD'S BOOK "BORN TO BE BRAD: MY LIFE AND STYLE" COMES OUT MARCH 6TH. From: CelebTV Views: 387 5 ratings Time: 01:34 More in Entertainment
0 Views
12:30:24 02/17/12
Gary Carter Dead at 57 and TCU Football Players Arrested
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 12:30:24 02/17/12
I'm Lynn Lumpkin CRWENewswire Sports Commentator. This is the Sports Corner. 11-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glove winner, and Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter died yesterday at 57. Carter, whose single for the New York Mets in the 1986 World Series touched off one of the most improbable rallies in baseball, was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor last May just two weeks after finishing his second season as coach at Palm Beach Atlantic University. Carter's daughter Kimmy Bloemers wrote on the family website, "I am deeply saddened to tell you all that my precious dad went to be with Jesus today at 4:10 p.m. This is the most difficult thing I have ever had to write in my entire life but I wanted you all to know." also, at Texas Christian University on Wednesday, authorities arrested 17 students as part of a six-month drug sting. This situation is an especially embarrassing blow to the school because it included four members of the high-profile football team. According to police, players sold marijuana during the season and as recently as last week to undercover officers. In a prepared statement, coach Gary Patterson said, "There are days people want to be a head football coach, but today is not one of those days. As I heard the news this morning, I was first shocked, then hurt and now I'm mad." Thank you for joining me and stay with us for all your sports updates. I'm Lynn Lumpkin CRWENewswire Sports Commentator. ********************************* The Views and Opinions expressed by the author are his or her opinions only and do not necessarily reflect those of this Web-Site or its agents, affiliates, officers, directors, staff, or contractors. The author at the time of this article did not own any shares or receive any consideration financial or otherwise from any company or person mentioned or referred to in the article.
13 Views
16:13:43 02/13/12
Lebron James for Massengill + Verizon Sexting Plan - NTN #107
[LESS INFO] 13 VIEWS | ADDED 16:13:43 02/13/12
Nearly The News #107
MY OLD KENTUCKY PHONE… OR IS IT BONE?
Verizon announced this week the highly successful launch of its family sexting plan throughout Kentucky. As reported on Derfmagazine.com, the rate of sign-ups among brothers, sisters, cousins, nieces, nephews, aunts, and uncles has eclipsed any previous wireless promotion.
Verizon credits the marketing victory to a sound understanding of local culture. "Our team tailored a wireless product perfectly suited for the high rate of inbreeding in this specific region of the country,’ said a Verizon official. “We did our homework and developed a product valued by Kentucky families, and the people who love them."
http://www.derfmagazine.com/news/business/548.html
A PIRATE LIFE FOR ME… NOT!
A new Somali pirate recruit says his first few days at sea haven’t lived up to their billing, and he’s blaming Hollywood. “Everyone in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies was so nice looking, and it’s just not true,” said the 19 year old who declined to give his name. “And the women, they’re all riddled with disease. Sure, they’re skinny like Keira Knightly, but it’s not the same. And what with the NAVY Seals all over the place? No fair. If my village still existed, I’d go home.”
And finally…
MASSENGILL AND LEBRON: TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE
Cap News is reporting that NBA star Lebron James has signed an exclusive contract with GlaxoSmithKline to endorse the Massengill line of feminine hygiene products.
"Lebron James needs to endorse what's right for Lebron James - whatever is going to give Lebron James the chance to make the most money," James recently announced. "I am going to bring my considerable talents to the Massengill line. Just like I am the best at the game of basketball, they are the best at doing whatever douches do. And I would know. I'm Lebron James.”
He certainly is.
http://www.crystalair.com/story.php?id=201007005
1 Views
00:00:42 01/03/12
Last-Place Bachmann: 'I Intend To Be America's Iron Lady'
[LESS INFO] 1 VIEWS | ADDED 00:00:42 01/03/12
video platform video management video solutions video player
Michelle Bachmann's appearance yesterday on This Week with Jake Tapper was one of her more cringe-inducing performances. Not because she isn't someone incapable of delivering lines and staying on message, but because the content of her message is so obviously boilerplate campaignspeak from someone who's so clearly sliding too far down, too fast to win. Instead, she's promising a "miracle:" >
TAPPER: My next guest sounds just as confident, but her path forward is a lot more murky. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann joins me from Des Moines.
Congresswoman, thanks for joining us, and happy new year.
BACHMANN: Happy new year to you. Great to be on with you this morning, Jake.
TAPPER: So the last time you and I spoke, you had just won the Iowa straw poll. The Des Moines Register poll had you tied for first place with Mitt Romney with 22 percent of the vote. Now that same poll has you with 7 percent of the vote. What happened to your campaign?
BACHMANN: Well, we've had a very good campaign. And I think what's happened is, a lot of candidates have come in, and Iowa voters and national voters have taken a look at all of the other candidates. But we have done I think what no other candidate has done, and that is, after the last debate, we've gone across all of Iowa, all 99 counties, and we've actually done heavy, heavy retail politics where we've gone into cafes and into living rooms of Iowans, and we've made a very strong connection with a lot of people.
And if you look at the polls, it's upwards of 40 percent to 50 percent of Iowans haven't made their decision yet. And I think the polls, what they're reflecting will be very different from what we're seeing on Tuesday night, because people make their decision, quite honestly, in the caucus room. Iowa is very different. People gather in living rooms. They gather in elementary schools and churches, and they make their decision on the spot with their neighbors. And we have done, like I said, what no other candidate has done the last two weeks. We've put over -- almost 7,000 miles on our bus, and we've literally gone from town to town to town meeting with people directly. And we saw thousands of people switch their vote just in the last couple of weeks, so we think there's going to be a very profound shift that people see on Tuesday night.
TAPPER: Well, one of the -- one of the dilemmas that you've had is that a lot of the voters that you are competing for, conservative voters, Christian evangelicals in some cases, are also being wooed by Rick Santorum and Rick Perry. And Santorum has momentum right now. He is at third place in the Des Moines Register poll. And if you look at the last two days, he's in second place. He has strong social conservative credentials. He's fluent in foreign affairs. He won statewide twice in a key swing state, Pennsylvania. So why should voters go for you and not him?
BACHMANN: Well, because I'm the strongest core conservative in this race. There is no comparison with all of the other candidates and my credentials. No other candidate has current national security experience in the race. I sit on the House Intelligence Committee. I am daily involved with the issue of national security. No other candidate is.
And as what we -- what we are seeing happening with Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon, that will be a formidable issue immediately with the next commander-in-chief. I'm ready. No other candidate is currently ready in that issue.
Gee, Michelle, I know it makes me feel better that you'll lie about Iran "obtaining" a nuke. It shows you'll say anything at all to win - always a great quality in a president. >
Also, I'm the only federal tax litigation attorney in this race. When it comes to dealing with the number-one issue that's on voters' minds, which is out-of-control spending, I have that credential in spades over any other candidate, because no other candidate was leading on this issue in the halls of Congress or in Washington or nationally. I'm the one that called for saying "no" to letting Barack Obama increase the national credit card limit.
Psst, Michelle honey? Try not to say things like that around sane people. It doesn't help. >
And when it comes to social issues, there's no one who can -- who can compare with my record. I'm a mother of five, a foster mother to 23 children that we've raised, and also I have an unassailable record on life, on marriage, on religious liberty. So when it comes to values and issues, there is no one who comes close to where I am on those issues.
But I think even more so, I'm the one that's been proven and tested in the fires of Washington, and that's why I think you saw people vote for me in the Iowa straw poll, but also it's what we have done on the ground. No other candidate has done more retail campaigning on the ground.
TAPPER: But...
BACHMANN: And I think we'll bear the fruit of that on Tuesday night.
TAPPER: But with all due respect, Congresswoman, this is the same pitch you've been making all summer and all fall and -- and up until today, and you're in last place, according to the polls. And -- and somebody that has similar credentials to you and a similar appeal to you, Rick Santorum, is showing huge momentum. Why you over him?
BACHMANN: Well, again, I think the polls take a few days to catch up. And -- and we have made that incredible deposit of going in every single county. We've drawn 300 people at a stop, 250 people at a stop, and I think a lot of that isn't yet reflected in the polls. And the main thing will be on Tuesday night.
We're looking forward. We're not looking in the rear-view mirror. And what we're seeing going forward, especially with the tremendous outpouring of young people that are coming out to work on our phone banks and to go lit dropping and door-to-door is nothing short of amazing. We're -- we're number-one in the category of enthusiasm. If you look at all of the candidates, which candidate has the most enthusiasm among their supporters, I'm that candidate. I'm number-one with the 18- to 29-year-old voters, which are highly motivated, and they're doing all of the work.
So I think that if you look at my past races, and polling data showed me actually losing and 8 points behind in previous races that I've had when I've run for Congress, and yet I -- I win by 8 and 13 points. So polls don't -- are -- sometimes belie the truth on the ground, and that's what we see. This isn't just about polling. This is about what we're seeing in reality, and I think Tuesday night people are going to see a miracle.
TAPPER: In the last week, your campaign has gotten involved in a big kerfuffle about one of your top supporters, your chairman in Iowa defecting and going to the Ron Paul campaign. I don't want to get into the weeds on that debate. There was a back-and-forth about whether or not he was paid off. He denied that you accused him of doing that. But this is not the first time you've made a charge like this. You've also said this about other supporters with Newt Gingrich in Georgia, with Rick Santorum.
Don't you risk -- making these charges, doesn't that risk voters seeing you as making a final gasp of desperation?
BACHMANN: Oh, for Heaven's sake. Of course not. What this shows is the tremendous momentum that we have out of the last debate. From person after person, they said that I won the last debate in Sioux City, Iowa. And the reason why is because, when Ron Paul made his very dangerous statements, which is he was just fine with Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon, or with Newt Gingrich taking $1.6 million from Freddie Mac and he was unable to defend that, I -- I took it to them.
And what people saw during the last debate is that I have the ability, of all of the candidates on the stage, I have the best ability to take it to Barack Obama in the debate and hold him accountable. We had tremendous momentum coming out of the last debate, and we saw it in county after county in our 99-county tour, where people were just appalled by Ron Paul's position. They thought it was dangerous.
That's why we saw literally thousands of people switching their decision on the spot, and that's what you saw, was this crush of momentum. And so we saw some different actions coming out of the Ron Paul campaign. And I think that people will be very surprised at the results on Tuesday night, because I think people will see a lot of defections away from Ron Paul because they see -- especially with the aggressive nature of the actions on the part of Iran in the Straits of Hormuz, people are seeing how important it is that we have a commander-in-chief who is conversant, prepared, knowledgeable, and has good judgment on foreign affairs. And of all of the candidates in the race, I'm best suited for that -- that portion of being commander-in- chief.
TAPPER: Congresswoman, we only have a little bit of time left, so last question. In the interests of candor and being based in reality, positing that you feel that you're going to have a very good night on Tuesday and that all the polls are wrong and you're going to do well, but assuming that the polls are right, isn't that, practically speaking, the end of your campaign if you come in last on Tuesday?
BACHMANN: Well, we've bought tickets to head off to South Carolina. And we are looking forward to the debates. January is a very full month. We're here for the -- for the long -- for the long race. This is a 50-state race. And we intend to participate not only in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida, but to go all the way, because I intend to be the Republican nominee and defeat Barack Obama in 2012, because America needs a candidate that will be in the legacy of a Ronald Reagan and of a Margaret Thatcher. That's what I intend to do, is to be America's iron lady.
TAPPER: All right. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, good luck on Tuesday. And hope you have a wonderful 2012.
BACHMANN: Thank you. Same to you and your listeners.
0 Views
00:00:42 01/03/12
Last-Place Bachmann: 'I Intend To Be America's Iron Lady'
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 00:00:42 01/03/12
video platform video management video solutions video player
Michelle Bachmann's appearance yesterday on This Week with Jake Tapper was one of her more cringe-inducing performances. Not because she isn't someone incapable of delivering lines and staying on message, but because the content of her message is so obviously boilerplate campaignspeak from someone who's so clearly sliding too far down, too fast to win. Instead, she's promising a "miracle:" >
TAPPER: My next guest sounds just as confident, but her path forward is a lot more murky. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann joins me from Des Moines.
Congresswoman, thanks for joining us, and happy new year.
BACHMANN: Happy new year to you. Great to be on with you this morning, Jake.
TAPPER: So the last time you and I spoke, you had just won the Iowa straw poll. The Des Moines Register poll had you tied for first place with Mitt Romney with 22 percent of the vote. Now that same poll has you with 7 percent of the vote. What happened to your campaign?
BACHMANN: Well, we've had a very good campaign. And I think what's happened is, a lot of candidates have come in, and Iowa voters and national voters have taken a look at all of the other candidates. But we have done I think what no other candidate has done, and that is, after the last debate, we've gone across all of Iowa, all 99 counties, and we've actually done heavy, heavy retail politics where we've gone into cafes and into living rooms of Iowans, and we've made a very strong connection with a lot of people.
And if you look at the polls, it's upwards of 40 percent to 50 percent of Iowans haven't made their decision yet. And I think the polls, what they're reflecting will be very different from what we're seeing on Tuesday night, because people make their decision, quite honestly, in the caucus room. Iowa is very different. People gather in living rooms. They gather in elementary schools and churches, and they make their decision on the spot with their neighbors. And we have done, like I said, what no other candidate has done the last two weeks. We've put over -- almost 7,000 miles on our bus, and we've literally gone from town to town to town meeting with people directly. And we saw thousands of people switch their vote just in the last couple of weeks, so we think there's going to be a very profound shift that people see on Tuesday night.
TAPPER: Well, one of the -- one of the dilemmas that you've had is that a lot of the voters that you are competing for, conservative voters, Christian evangelicals in some cases, are also being wooed by Rick Santorum and Rick Perry. And Santorum has momentum right now. He is at third place in the Des Moines Register poll. And if you look at the last two days, he's in second place. He has strong social conservative credentials. He's fluent in foreign affairs. He won statewide twice in a key swing state, Pennsylvania. So why should voters go for you and not him?
BACHMANN: Well, because I'm the strongest core conservative in this race. There is no comparison with all of the other candidates and my credentials. No other candidate has current national security experience in the race. I sit on the House Intelligence Committee. I am daily involved with the issue of national security. No other candidate is.
And as what we -- what we are seeing happening with Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon, that will be a formidable issue immediately with the next commander-in-chief. I'm ready. No other candidate is currently ready in that issue.
Gee, Michelle, I know it makes me feel better that you'll lie about Iran "obtaining" a nuke. It shows you'll say anything at all to win - always a great quality in a president. >
Also, I'm the only federal tax litigation attorney in this race. When it comes to dealing with the number-one issue that's on voters' minds, which is out-of-control spending, I have that credential in spades over any other candidate, because no other candidate was leading on this issue in the halls of Congress or in Washington or nationally. I'm the one that called for saying "no" to letting Barack Obama increase the national credit card limit.
Psst, Michelle honey? Try not to say things like that around sane people. It doesn't help. >
And when it comes to social issues, there's no one who can -- who can compare with my record. I'm a mother of five, a foster mother to 23 children that we've raised, and also I have an unassailable record on life, on marriage, on religious liberty. So when it comes to values and issues, there is no one who comes close to where I am on those issues.
But I think even more so, I'm the one that's been proven and tested in the fires of Washington, and that's why I think you saw people vote for me in the Iowa straw poll, but also it's what we have done on the ground. No other candidate has done more retail campaigning on the ground.
TAPPER: But...
BACHMANN: And I think we'll bear the fruit of that on Tuesday night.
TAPPER: But with all due respect, Congresswoman, this is the same pitch you've been making all summer and all fall and -- and up until today, and you're in last place, according to the polls. And -- and somebody that has similar credentials to you and a similar appeal to you, Rick Santorum, is showing huge momentum. Why you over him?
BACHMANN: Well, again, I think the polls take a few days to catch up. And -- and we have made that incredible deposit of going in every single county. We've drawn 300 people at a stop, 250 people at a stop, and I think a lot of that isn't yet reflected in the polls. And the main thing will be on Tuesday night.
We're looking forward. We're not looking in the rear-view mirror. And what we're seeing going forward, especially with the tremendous outpouring of young people that are coming out to work on our phone banks and to go lit dropping and door-to-door is nothing short of amazing. We're -- we're number-one in the category of enthusiasm. If you look at all of the candidates, which candidate has the most enthusiasm among their supporters, I'm that candidate. I'm number-one with the 18- to 29-year-old voters, which are highly motivated, and they're doing all of the work.
So I think that if you look at my past races, and polling data showed me actually losing and 8 points behind in previous races that I've had when I've run for Congress, and yet I -- I win by 8 and 13 points. So polls don't -- are -- sometimes belie the truth on the ground, and that's what we see. This isn't just about polling. This is about what we're seeing in reality, and I think Tuesday night people are going to see a miracle.
TAPPER: In the last week, your campaign has gotten involved in a big kerfuffle about one of your top supporters, your chairman in Iowa defecting and going to the Ron Paul campaign. I don't want to get into the weeds on that debate. There was a back-and-forth about whether or not he was paid off. He denied that you accused him of doing that. But this is not the first time you've made a charge like this. You've also said this about other supporters with Newt Gingrich in Georgia, with Rick Santorum.
Don't you risk -- making these charges, doesn't that risk voters seeing you as making a final gasp of desperation?
BACHMANN: Oh, for Heaven's sake. Of course not. What this shows is the tremendous momentum that we have out of the last debate. From person after person, they said that I won the last debate in Sioux City, Iowa. And the reason why is because, when Ron Paul made his very dangerous statements, which is he was just fine with Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon, or with Newt Gingrich taking $1.6 million from Freddie Mac and he was unable to defend that, I -- I took it to them.
And what people saw during the last debate is that I have the ability, of all of the candidates on the stage, I have the best ability to take it to Barack Obama in the debate and hold him accountable. We had tremendous momentum coming out of the last debate, and we saw it in county after county in our 99-county tour, where people were just appalled by Ron Paul's position. They thought it was dangerous.
That's why we saw literally thousands of people switching their decision on the spot, and that's what you saw, was this crush of momentum. And so we saw some different actions coming out of the Ron Paul campaign. And I think that people will be very surprised at the results on Tuesday night, because I think people will see a lot of defections away from Ron Paul because they see -- especially with the aggressive nature of the actions on the part of Iran in the Straits of Hormuz, people are seeing how important it is that we have a commander-in-chief who is conversant, prepared, knowledgeable, and has good judgment on foreign affairs. And of all of the candidates in the race, I'm best suited for that -- that portion of being commander-in- chief.
TAPPER: Congresswoman, we only have a little bit of time left, so last question. In the interests of candor and being based in reality, positing that you feel that you're going to have a very good night on Tuesday and that all the polls are wrong and you're going to do well, but assuming that the polls are right, isn't that, practically speaking, the end of your campaign if you come in last on Tuesday?
BACHMANN: Well, we've bought tickets to head off to South Carolina. And we are looking forward to the debates. January is a very full month. We're here for the -- for the long -- for the long race. This is a 50-state race. And we intend to participate not only in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida, but to go all the way, because I intend to be the Republican nominee and defeat Barack Obama in 2012, because America needs a candidate that will be in the legacy of a Ronald Reagan and of a Margaret Thatcher. That's what I intend to do, is to be America's iron lady.
TAPPER: All right. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, good luck on Tuesday. And hope you have a wonderful 2012.
BACHMANN: Thank you. Same to you and your listeners.
9 Views
17:00:55 12/21/11
Gingrich Just the Latest Republican to Threaten Judges
[LESS INFO] 9 VIEWS | ADDED 17:00:55 12/21/11
"Judicial activism" is in the eye of the beholder. Threatening judges is not. That explains why even Michael Mukasey and Alberto Gonzales , former Bush Attorneys General and ardent defenders of detainee torture and illicit domestic surveillance, denounced Newt Gingrich's assault on the federal bench as "dangerous, ridiculous, totally irresponsible, outrageous, off-the-wall and would reduce the entire judicial system to a spectacle." Sadly, Gingrich has plenty of company among conservatives threatening judges. As the dangerous rhetoric of John Cornyn, Tom Delay and a host of other Republican officeholders and propagandists shows, judicial intimidation is now standard fare for many of the leading lights of the GOP.
On Face the Nation Sunday, Gingrich the fading frontrunner told CBS News host Bob Schieffer he wouldn't hesitate to send the Capitol police or U.S. marshals to round up judges with whom he disagreed and force them to respond to subpoenas. As McClatchy reported Saturday: >
In order to restore balance between Congress, the White House, and the courts, Gingrich recommended ignoring rulings, impeaching judges, subpoenaing justices to have them explain their rulings and, as a last resort, abolishing the courts altogether... >
"I was frankly just fed up with elitist judges imposing secularism on the country and fundamentally changing the American Constitution," Gingrich told reporters, adding that "it was clear to me that you have a judicial psychology run amok, and there has to be some method of bringing balance back to the three branches."
During the height of the Terri Schiavo controversy in 2005, some Republican leaders darkly suggested what one of those methods might be.
Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), himself a former Texas Supreme Court Justice, has been at the forefront of GOP advocacy of violence towards members of the bench whose rulings part ways with conservative orthodoxy. Back in 2005, Cornyn was one of the GOP standard bearers in the conservative fight against so-called "judicial activism" in the wake of the Republicans' disastrous intervention in the Terri Schiavo affair . On April 4th, Cornyn took to the Senate floor to issue a not-too-thinly veiled threat to judges opposing his reactionary agenda. Just days after the murders of judge in Atlanta and another's family members in Chicago, Cornyn offered his endorsement of judicial intimidation: >
"I don't know if there is a cause-and-effect connection, but we have seen some recent episodes of courthouse violence in this country...And I wonder whether there may be some connection between the perception in some quarters, on some occasions, where judges are making political decisions yet are unaccountable to the public, that it builds up and builds up and builds up to the point where some people engage in, engage in violence."
Facing criticism for his remarks seemingly endorsing right-wing retribution against judges, Cornyn held his ground . "I didn't make the link," he said on Fox News Sunday, adding with a note of sarcasm: >
"It was taken out of context. I regret it was taken out of context and misinterpreted."
As it turns out, Cornyn was merely echoing the words of the soon-to-be indicted House Majority Leader Tom Delay. On March 31st, Delay issued a statement regarding the consistent rulings in favor of Michael Schiavo by all federal and state court judges involved: >
"The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior, but not today."
The impact of tacit conservative endorsement of violence against judges cannot be dismissed. After all, it extends to members of the Supreme Court of the United States. In March 2006, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg revealed that she and Justice Sandra Day O'Connor were the targets of death threats . On February 28th, 2005, the marshal of the Court informed O'Connor and Ginsburg of an Internet posting citing their references to international law in Court decisions (a frequent whipping boy of the right) as requiring their assassination: >
"This is a huge threat to our Republic and Constitutional freedom...If you are what you say you are, and NOT armchair patriots, then those two justices will not live another week."
Neither O'Connor nor Ginsburg are shy about making the connection between Republican rhetoric of judicial intimidation and the upswing in threats and actual violence against judges. Ginsburg noted that they "fuel the irrational fringe" O'Connor blamed Cornyn and his fellow travelers for "creating a culture" in which violence towards judges is merely another political tactic: >
"It gets worse. It doesn't help when a high-profile senator suggests a 'cause-and-effect connection' [between controversial rulings and subsequent acts of violence.]"
When anthrax spores were mailed to the Supreme Court in 2001, Americans could be forgiven for speculating on the ideological persuasion of the culprit. Aided by best-selling conservative author and media personality Ann Coulter , who joked in January 2006, "We need somebody to put rat poisoning in Justice Stevens' creme brulee," the right-wing endorsement of retribution against judges increasingly permeates the culture.
Just ask Judge Reggie Walton. A federal judge on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Walton was picked by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to serve on the FISA court which must approve government requests for domestic electronic surveillance. But when Dick Cheney's chief-of-staff Scooter Libby was convicted in his court in 2007, Judge Walton received death threats : >
"I received a number of angry, harassing mean-spirited phone calls and letters. Some of those were wishing bad things on me and my family."
One of those seemingly wishing bad things on judges is Montana Republican Congressman Denny Rehberg . Just weeks after the Tucson slaughter that claimed the life of circuit judge John Roll , Rehberg responded to a recent ruling by declaring he wanted to " put some of these judicial activists on the Endangered Species list ": >
"Environmental obstructionists found a federal judge in Missoula that was willing to ignore the scientific evidence as well as the expert opinions of on-the-ground wildlife managers here in Montana. And he ruled last August that the grey wolf had to remain on the Endangered Species List.! >
When I first heard his decision, like many of you I wanted to take action immediately. I asked: how can we put some of these judicial activists on the Endangered Species List? I am still working on that!"
As are, in myriad other ways, many of his GOP allies. By proposing to abolish the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals , Newt Gingrich was hardly the first Republican to call for simply ending jurisdiction for the federal courts across a broad swath of issues. Even after the calamitous intervention in the Schiavo imbroglio, conservative stalwarts continued to turn to "court-stripping" as a favorite tactic. As the Eagle Forum's Phyllis Schlafly put it in 2006, "The American people are waiting for this year's Congress to pass legislation defining the jurisdiction of the federal courts so that supremacist judges will not be able to ban the Pledge of Allegiance, the Ten Commandments, the Boy Scouts, or the traditional definition of marriage as the union of a man and a woman." On terror detainees, the EPA's regulation of greenhouse gases and so much more, Republicans want eliminate the prospect of future rulings with which they might disagree.
In 2008, former Supreme Court Justice and Reagan appointee Sandra Day O'Connor wrote, "What worries me is the manner in which politically motivated interest groups are attempting to interfere with justice." As O'Connor explained the next year to Jon Stewart of The Daily Show , that threat prompted her to launch a new online civics education project: >
"Well, what I became aware of increasingly in those last years was all the criticism of judges across America. We heard a lot in Congress and in state legislature. We heard a lot about "activist judges," didn't we? "Secular, godless humanists trying to tell us all what to do." I mean, that was what we were hearing. And I just didn't see it that way, and I thought perhaps a lot of Americans had stopped understanding about the three branches of government."
Americans, that is, like Newt Gingrich and many of his friends in the Republican Party.
(This piece also appears at Perrspectives .)
3 Views
15:00:23 12/07/11
AFL-CIO Launches 'Share Your Story' To Document Unemployment Crisis
[LESS INFO] 3 VIEWS | ADDED 15:00:23 12/07/11
The AFL-CIO launched a new website on Tuesday designed to capture the stories of the unemployed in their own words. The website, Share Your Story allows site visitors to upload their stories and pictures to the site, providing a human face to the issue of unemployment, which politicians talk a lot about, but don't seem nearly as interested in doing something about.
Many of the stories on the site are like those of Pat from San Jose: >
I was a Communications worker for just under 20 years. After I was "surplused" in 1995 I went to work at a non-union job in the same industry which later became Worldcom followed by positions in two other companies. After the dot com bust in 2001, finding a full time job was hopeless. Apparently the rules had changed and I did not have the education to continue doing the work I had done for 25 years. The past 10 1/2 years have held sporadic, temporary and part time positions, most in retail which paid very little and I have now been unemployed for about a year. This track record, along with the fact that I am now 61 years old doesn't offer much for a resume. My thought is to apply for Social Security (a real oxymoron) if the powers that be will allow it. My retirement fund has all but vanished in the wake of what has happened. I don't know what plan the 1% has for us--maybe they expect that we will simply vanish the way our money did on Wall Street.
Janet from Texas questions the whole system: >
I have two masters degree and am all but dissertation for a doctrate in social work. I worked, consistently for the first 30 years of my adulthood and am now unemployed. I am living with friends because I cannot get unemployment. I cannot get unemployment because I quit my last job. I quit my last job because they were not paying me. I am suffering, in chronic pain, because I have no health care coverage. I am substitute teaching to try to cover my expenses so if a permanent job comes through, I will still have a car to get there. My question to you, as I stand in front of a classroom of young people: I am supposed to tell them to get a high school degree and go on to college because...............why?
She is far from alone in being a hard-working person who played by the rules and was still left out in the cold by the system. Even more heartbreaking are stories like that of Marge from Illinois: >
I am writing to say what a profound negative impact joblessness has on a family. My son in law is in the building trades industry. Due to lack of activity he has been laid off for the last two years almost as much as he has worked. This has placed much stress on their young family and marriage. In fact the stress has gotten to the point where my son in law is back to drinking heavily which has led to their separation. I might add that they have two young sons. One is six weeks old. So I have a very strong opinion that we need to do what it takes to extend unemployment benefits. What will families do if they have absolutely NO income? And more than that we need to get the economy back on track. What is wrong with Congress that they are more concerned about seeing someone fail or getting their way than to look out for the good of the people who elected them? I am still hopeful that those members of Congress who have real values will stand firm and do what's right!
AFL-CIO's release urges everyone to participate: >
You need to check out this website, right now.
It’s a powerful reminder of the real faces behind America’s sobering unemployment statistics. It has real pictures and stories from job-hunters and impacted people from all walks of life—from your state and from every state.
I hope you’ll take a minute to look at these powerful stories, share them and add your own.
If Congress fails to act by Dec. 31, extended unemployment insurance will expire for millions.
We never forget these are real people who face the prospect of going hungry and getting thrown out of their homes soon after the holidays if Congress fails to act. Many of us have been there before—or have friends and family who have.
Even though obstructionists in Congress are willing to ignore our joblessness crisis, we refuse to let these stories get brushed under the rug.
Click here to see and share the stories and faces behind America’s joblessness crisis.
Then, share our website on Facebook and Twitter and forward this message to all your friends.
These stories and pictures won’t just live on a website. We’ll share them with the media, hand-deliver them to Congress during our massive day of action on Dec. 8 and promote them widely on the Internet.
If callous members of Congress think they can sit back and allow unemployment aid to expire while they play political games, they’re wrong. With your help we’re going to force them to see this crisis head-on—with real faces of real people who are jobless and struggling in this brutal economy.
See these stories, share them and add your voice.
In Solidarity,
Manny Herrmann
Online Mobilization Coordinator, AFL-CIO
P.S. It’s not just people who are unemployed right now who have stories to tell. Millions of others do, too.
Maybe you’ve been jobless in the past and relied on unemployment benefits to get through. Or you’ve seen firsthand how much unemployment hurts your community and America—and how much unemployment aid helps. Or maybe you can write a brief statement of support for the jobless or urge Congress to act—even in just one to two sentences.
Together, we’re creating a visual display of the impact of unemployment that will be too powerful to ignore. See and share stories and statements in your state and across America. Then, add your own.
26 Views
16:04:05 12/01/11
StRaNGe Beautiful LIFE - Episode 3: Summer lovin
[LESS INFO] 26 VIEWS | ADDED 16:04:05 12/01/11
Summer Lovin
I travel for the best part of the year looking for waves to ride, trying to keep that burning flame of surf addiction alight.
The last surf trip i went on was to Indonesia where i was woken in the middle of the night by my first earthquake, it was merely a tremor mind and the bed that i was laying on hardly moved, but i felt it and i was awake in the middle of the night in a strange dark place, my brain was telling me to raise the alarm save the world but i was rigid with fear and all i could do was lay there and think of what i should be doing.
Eventually i came to my senses and walked down to the waters edge to see if the sea was still there, it was but that didn't help me go back to sleep.
Traveling the world and surfing is such an eye opener for me, I learn so much from watching other people live from day to day, people, culture, waves and long days in the sun and then just like that I'm home again.
Home for me doesn't change and i love that, its what i know so well, its where i grew up, its where my best mates live and its where i know every nook and cranny of the Cornish coast like it was the back of my hand. Home will always be there but for now there is a whole world to see.
Summer time, we saw this little two day chart and got cracking, swells don't last for long at this time of the year, the waves didn't get that big but it was sunny and fun and that for me is a great summer's day at home. Welcome to episode 3 Summer Lovin.
Follow us at : facebook.com/strangebeautifullife.tv
Music by
itunes.apple.com/us/album/daylight-club-mix/id425653057?i=425653085
itunes.apple.com/au/album/time-to-wander/id398946927?i=398946928
15 Views
21:00:01 11/14/11
Confirmed Serial Adulterer Passes Alleged Serial Harasser in GOP Race
[LESS INFO] 15 VIEWS | ADDED 21:00:01 11/14/11
Here in a nutshell is the state of play in the 2012 Republican presidential sweepstakes: alleged serial sexual harasser Herman Cain is being surpassed by confirmed serial adulterer Newt Gingrich . With Mitt Romney stalled and Cain hemorrhaging support from women voters, polls last week from CBS and Marist showed the former House Speaker had surged into a virtual three-way tie at the top. By Monday, new surveys from CNN and PPP showed Newt vaulting past the fading pizza maker. Nevertheless, that development should be a discomforting prospect for a Republican Party which lost the women's vote by 13 points in 2008. As his public statements and personal life show, the thrice-married Gingrich is hardly a champion for American women.
That starts with Newt Gingrich's belief that marriage is an institution between one man and three women in rapid succession.
In 1980, Newt was separated from his first wife and former high school geometry teacher , Jackie Battley. As she lay incoherent in her hospital bed following surgery for a reoccurrence of uterine cancer, Gingrich paid her a visit to announce he wanted a divorce. As Lee Howell , a Gingrich friend and associate at whose wedding Newt was best man, described it: >
"Newt came up there with his yellow legal pad, and he had a list of things on how the divorce was going to be handled. He wanted her to sign it. She was still recovering from surgery, still sort of out of it, and he comes in with a yellow sheet of paper, handwritten, and wants her to sign it. >
Newt can handle political problems, but when it comes to personal problems, he's a disaster. He handled the divorce like he did any other political decision: You've got to be tough in this business, you've got to be hard. Once you make the decision you've got to act on it. Cut your losses and move on."
He moved on to wife number two, Marianne Ginther . But Marianne fared little better, getting dumped for Congressional staffer Callista Bisek after a six year affair even as Newt was leading the inquisition of Bill Clinton. As Vanity Fair summed it up last year: >
According to Salon, Gingrich and the former Hill staffer (23 years his junior, mind you) would frequently dine in the Supreme Court cafeteria--an unsuspectingly sordid detail. (In 1995, Vanity Fair referred to Bisek as Gingrich's "frequent breakfast companion.") Gingrich stepped down from Congress in 1998 following an ethics scandal, among other things. The two were married two years later.
Gingrich, who swapped his Baptist faith for Catholicism just in time to attack President Obama's 2009 address at Notre Dame University, later explained that his rapid fire infidelities were the actually product of his own patriotism: >
"There's no question at times of my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked far too hard and things happened in my life that were not appropriate. And what I can tell you is that when I did things that were wrong, I wasn't trapped in situation ethics, I was doing things that were wrong, and yet, I was doing them."
Of course, the things Newt Gingrich was saying to American women weren't any better.
As the New York Times recounted 16 years ago, Newt suggested menstruation should keep women out of essential roles in the American military: >
"If combat means living in a ditch, females have biological problems staying in a ditch for 30 days because they get infections, and they don't have upper-body strength. I mean, some do, but they're relatively rare. On the other hand, men are basically little piglets -- you drop them in the ditch, they roll around in it, doesn't matter, you know."
And for Gingrich, the biggest "infection" of them all - liberalism - caused a young mother to murder her children.
Back in 1994, after dumping his cancer-stricken first wife but before marrying his mistress following the adulterous affair that ended his second marriage, Newt pointed the finger at Democrats for the Susan Smith affair.
It was Smith who drew Americans' initial sympathy - and subsequent scorn - for her invention of a black bogeyman to conceal her heinous crime.
On October 24th, 1994, as the New York Times recalled, Smith killed her young sons, killings for which she was eventually sentenced to life in prison: >
That night, investigators say, Mrs. Smith pulled her car to the edge of a deep lake, stepped out, put the gearshift in drive and let it roll down the boat ramp into the black water. Her two little boys, buckled snugly in their safety seats, died under the lake... >
..."I believed her, right up to the end," said Juliaette Kerhulas, of Mrs. Smith's story that a young black man had ordered her out of her burgundy 1990 Mazda on the night of Oct. 25, then driven away with 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander in the back seat.
Ms. Kerhulas wasn't the only one who believed in her. None other than future House Speaker Newt Gingrich rushed to the defense of Smith, whose step-father ironically happened to be a prominent Republican fundraiser and member of the Christian Coalition. Even after her confession, Gingrich insisted the Smith murders showed the decay of American society under Democratic Party rule : >
Enter Newt Gingrich, who rushed into action on election eve with another reliable generic culprit: society. He said the double murder "vividly reminds every American how sick the society is getting and how much we need to change things," expediently adding that "the only way you get change is to vote Republican."
As Frank Rich recounted in August 1995: >
Asked later by Tom Brokaw to elaborate, the Speaker-to-be cited "a direct nexus between the general acceptance of violence" and "the pattern that the counterculture and Lyndon Johnson's Great Society began in the late 60's."
Of course, the 1960's also happened to be the time when the women's movement rose to prominence. The victories it achieved for women's political equality, economic independence and reproductive rights transformed American society and helped move the nation closer to a "more perfect union."
Apparently, those epochal changes escaped Herman Cain's notice. And while Cain's is being punished in the polls for it, he is being replaced atop the GOP field by Newt Gingrich . While that may be a good thing for Tiffany's bottom line , it's a sad development for American women.
9 Views
21:00:01 11/14/11
Confirmed Serial Adulterer Passes Alleged Serial Harasser in GOP Race
[LESS INFO] 9 VIEWS | ADDED 21:00:01 11/14/11
Here in a nutshell is the state of play in the 2012 Republican presidential sweepstakes: alleged serial sexual harasser Herman Cain is being surpassed by confirmed serial adulterer Newt Gingrich . With Mitt Romney stalled and Cain hemorrhaging support from women voters, polls last week from CBS and Marist showed the former House Speaker had surged into a virtual three-way tie at the top. By Monday, new surveys from CNN and PPP showed Newt vaulting past the fading pizza maker. Nevertheless, that development should be a discomforting prospect for a Republican Party which lost the women's vote by 13 points in 2008. As his public statements and personal life show, the thrice-married Gingrich is hardly a champion for American women.
That starts with Newt Gingrich's belief that marriage is an institution between one man and three women in rapid succession.
In 1980, Newt was separated from his first wife and former high school geometry teacher , Jackie Battley. As she lay incoherent in her hospital bed following surgery for a reoccurrence of uterine cancer, Gingrich paid her a visit to announce he wanted a divorce. As Lee Howell , a Gingrich friend and associate at whose wedding Newt was best man, described it: >
"Newt came up there with his yellow legal pad, and he had a list of things on how the divorce was going to be handled. He wanted her to sign it. She was still recovering from surgery, still sort of out of it, and he comes in with a yellow sheet of paper, handwritten, and wants her to sign it. >
Newt can handle political problems, but when it comes to personal problems, he's a disaster. He handled the divorce like he did any other political decision: You've got to be tough in this business, you've got to be hard. Once you make the decision you've got to act on it. Cut your losses and move on."
He moved on to wife number two, Marianne Ginther . But Marianne fared little better, getting dumped for Congressional staffer Callista Bisek after a six year affair even as Newt was leading the inquisition of Bill Clinton. As Vanity Fair summed it up last year: >
According to Salon, Gingrich and the former Hill staffer (23 years his junior, mind you) would frequently dine in the Supreme Court cafeteria--an unsuspectingly sordid detail. (In 1995, Vanity Fair referred to Bisek as Gingrich's "frequent breakfast companion.") Gingrich stepped down from Congress in 1998 following an ethics scandal, among other things. The two were married two years later.
Gingrich, who swapped his Baptist faith for Catholicism just in time to attack President Obama's 2009 address at Notre Dame University, later explained that his rapid fire infidelities were the actually product of his own patriotism: >
"There's no question at times of my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked far too hard and things happened in my life that were not appropriate. And what I can tell you is that when I did things that were wrong, I wasn't trapped in situation ethics, I was doing things that were wrong, and yet, I was doing them."
Of course, the things Newt Gingrich was saying to American women weren't any better.
As the New York Times recounted 16 years ago, Newt suggested menstruation should keep women out of essential roles in the American military: >
"If combat means living in a ditch, females have biological problems staying in a ditch for 30 days because they get infections, and they don't have upper-body strength. I mean, some do, but they're relatively rare. On the other hand, men are basically little piglets -- you drop them in the ditch, they roll around in it, doesn't matter, you know."
And for Gingrich, the biggest "infection" of them all - liberalism - caused a young mother to murder her children.
Back in 1994, after dumping his cancer-stricken first wife but before marrying his mistress following the adulterous affair that ended his second marriage, Newt pointed the finger at Democrats for the Susan Smith affair.
It was Smith who drew Americans' initial sympathy - and subsequent scorn - for her invention of a black bogeyman to conceal her heinous crime.
On October 24th, 1994, as the New York Times recalled, Smith killed her young sons, killings for which she was eventually sentenced to life in prison: >
That night, investigators say, Mrs. Smith pulled her car to the edge of a deep lake, stepped out, put the gearshift in drive and let it roll down the boat ramp into the black water. Her two little boys, buckled snugly in their safety seats, died under the lake... >
..."I believed her, right up to the end," said Juliaette Kerhulas, of Mrs. Smith's story that a young black man had ordered her out of her burgundy 1990 Mazda on the night of Oct. 25, then driven away with 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander in the back seat.
Ms. Kerhulas wasn't the only one who believed in her. None other than future House Speaker Newt Gingrich rushed to the defense of Smith, whose step-father ironically happened to be a prominent Republican fundraiser and member of the Christian Coalition. Even after her confession, Gingrich insisted the Smith murders showed the decay of American society under Democratic Party rule : >
Enter Newt Gingrich, who rushed into action on election eve with another reliable generic culprit: society. He said the double murder "vividly reminds every American how sick the society is getting and how much we need to change things," expediently adding that "the only way you get change is to vote Republican."
As Frank Rich recounted in August 1995: >
Asked later by Tom Brokaw to elaborate, the Speaker-to-be cited "a direct nexus between the general acceptance of violence" and "the pattern that the counterculture and Lyndon Johnson's Great Society began in the late 60's."
Of course, the 1960's also happened to be the time when the women's movement rose to prominence. The victories it achieved for women's political equality, economic independence and reproductive rights transformed American society and helped move the nation closer to a "more perfect union."
Apparently, those epochal changes escaped Herman Cain's notice. And while Cain's is being punished in the polls for it, he is being replaced atop the GOP field by Newt Gingrich . While that may be a good thing for Tiffany's bottom line , it's a sad development for American women.
