01 Sep 2010
by in Stieg Larsson Tags: childcare centers, department of social services, florida boulevard, nbsp, parents
By David Spunt – bio | email
BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) – more than 800 childcare centers across Louisiana are pulling the plug on a popular state-offered security service.
What if a stranger tried to pick up your child from daycare? With a scan of your fingerprint, a new machine named TOTS will make sure that never happens.
The Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), formerly known as the Department of Social Services, announced Thursday 837 childcare centers across the state have decided to stop using the state's TOTS program.
The program is an electronic machine that allows a parent to scan their fingerprint when they drop off their kids at daycare. It's used strictly for security and attendance purposes.
Sandra Chenevert co-owns “A Place To Grow” on Florida Boulevard. She, along with thousands of daycares across the state, began using the new TOTS technology this week. The voluntary program was put in place in daycares that accept children whose families get CCAP funding from the state. Parents who get the funding must scan in every day. Parents who don't, simply type in a code.
“I've had a few parents express that it was a little humiliating to use and they were embarrassed because they were scanning and other parents were asking why they didn't have to scan,” Chenevert said.
According to DCFS, if you don't use TOTS, you don't get the funding. So, why drop out of a free program with money attached? Ruth Johnson, secretary of DCFS, said the losers are the daycares who have decided to opt out of the free program.
“One of the main reasons I think people may have dropped out is there has been some fraud and we have seen cases in other states,” she said.
DCFS believes some daycares inflate numbers to get more funding. Johnson said TOTS will eventually stop that kind of fraud.
Click here to view a list of daycare centers canceling the program
Click here for more on TOTS
Copyright 2010 WAFB. All rights reserved.
WAFB Channel 9, Baton Rouge, LA
25 Aug 2010
by in The Kind Diet Tags: cameras, nbsp
Justin Bieber gives fans 24 hours to win movie role at bieberfever.com/movie. Picapp
Visit bieberfever.com/movie for a chance to win a role in Justin Bieber's new movie
Justin Bieber is giving fans 24 hours to win a role in his upcoming movie. Fans can visit bieberfever.com/movie for the chance of a lifetime to share the big screen with the teen singing sensation.
Justin Bieber's movie director Jon M. Chu announced the bieber fever contest via his Twitter account. the tweet was then retweeted by Bieber himself, sending fans into a frenzy.
"ANNOUNCEMENT: be a part of the @justinbieber movie! … U only have 24hrs! be a part of history," the tweet read.
Do you want to be in the Justin Bieber 3D movie? well here is your chance. Fans are being given a limited amount of time to pull off the ultimate Justin Bieber imitation. Bieber fans or "beliebers" as they like to be called will need to dig out their camcorders and cameras for an opportunity to be in Bieber's new movie.
Fans have two ways to win. first, they can upload a video of themselves lip syncing to Justin's song "That Should be Me" while in a unique place in their hometowns.
Second, fans can upload a photograph of themselves surrounded by friends and family. the catch? They have to be decked out head to toe in their best Justin Bieber gear. this can include colored tennis shoes, jeans, dog tag, straight billed hat, rolled sleeves, and shaggy hair.
The contest is only running for one day, so any and all entries must be submitted to bieberfever.com/movie by 5pm est on Wednesday, August 25, 2010.
Meanwhile, Justin Bieber is set to make an appearance at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards. the 16 year old superstar is rumored to be performing during the live telecast.
"I'm about to make my Justin Bieber video. Hollywood here I come! LOL," tweeted one local resident. are you planning to enter the Justin Bieber movie contest? Leave your comments below. Check out bieberfever.com/movie here.
Justin Bieber gives fans 24 hours to win movie role
24 Aug 2010
by in Kathryn Stockett Tags: nbsp, six times
By Alex DiFilippo / MLB.com
DETROIT — Better late than never. Such is the case for Royals third baseman Wilson Betemit. after eight seasons in the big leagues, he finally seems to have found his offensive groove, much to the pleasure of Royals manager Ned Yost.
Betemit went on an absolute tear in the club’s recent nine-game homestand. he hit .412 (14-for-34) with four home runs and nine RBIs on the stand. he was having quality at-bats, too, as he walked six times.
The 28-year-old’s highest average in a season came in 2005, when he hit .305 for the Braves. This season, he’s sporting a .346 average.
“He’s been a talented player ever since he came to the big leagues,” Yost said. “But there’s an aspect to the game, the mental aspect and the preparation and the approach aspect that sometimes takes guys longer to understand and become successful. some guys never get it. That’s where the frustration comes in, when you see a guy with a lot of talent that never understands the mental side and you just see them spinning their wheels. but Wilson is a kid who looks to me that he finally has it figured out.”
Betemit, a switch-hitter, held a .230 career average when batting right-handed coming into the season, but has seen that number soar this year, as he’s currently hitting .348 against lefties.
To Yost, Betemit’s success at the plate this season hasn’t been a surprise. He’s been impressed with Betemit’s work ethic and focused approach at the plate.
“He’s been very consistent and very solid with what he’s done,” Yost said. “He has an understanding of what he wants to do every time he steps up to the plate and sets out to accomplish it. He’s got a gameplan.” Road weary Royals ready for opener
DETROIT — after three extra-inning games in less than 24 hours, it wasn’t surprising that the Royals were feeling a little bit road weary Sunday night when they arrived in Detroit.
Kansas City’s plane landed in Detroit at 9 p.m. on Sunday. Luckily the flight from Kansas City to Detroit wasn’t too long, and the team arrived with plenty of time to catch up on some much needed rest.
“I feel good after getting some rest,” left fielder Alex Gordon said. “Obviously, after the two games and the day game, it was kind of a struggle. but once you get out there between the lines and the game is on the line, adrenaline kicks in. You don’t really feel it till after the game.”
Heading out of town with a walk-off victory to win the series left a good taste in the team’s mouth, too. The club will have a day off from the grind on Thursday after concluding the three-game set in Detroit. From there, the Royals will open another three-game set in Cleveland before returning home on Aug. 30 to square off against the Rangers.
“Getting that last win was great,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “It was a tough series playing against a team that’s in contention and a team that just drubbed us last time we played them in Chicago. To come back and have a great series against them and a hard fought series to take two out of three, we could have won three out of three, but it was a hard, hard fought series. To win two out of three was really good.”
Royals’ bullpen sharp in extras
DETROIT — when playing three extra-inning games in a span of 24 hours, the depth of a club’s bullpen often can make the difference. Luckily, the Royals’ bullpen was up to the challenge against the White Sox in the club’s last series.
in the three games, the bullpen combined to only allow one run in 12 1/3 innings for a 0.73 ERA. The relievers also limited the White Sox bats to a .214 average in the series.
The bullpen wasn’t just good for the Royals this weekend, though. Manager Ned Yost said the bullpen has been one of the biggest bright spots on this year’s team. and with the club competing in the most one-run games in the Majors — sporting a 23-24 record in such affairs — having a reliable bullpen has led to several victories that could have easily gone the other way.
“The bullpen has been one of the highlights for us for awhile,” Yost said. “Our bullpen is doing a really, really good job, as well as our starting pitching. You go back and look at our record and we have a huge number of one-run games. our pitchers are keeping us in those games. our pitching staff has actually been performing really, really well for us.”
Worth noting
Tigers outfielder Johnny Damon was claimed off waivers on Monday by the Red Sox. but with a clause in his contract, he’ll have the option to decline the move. Damon could decline a move to all but eight teams predetermined by a list he submitted before the season. The Royals are one of the teams on the list, Damon told MLB.com Sunday. … with a single in the first inning on Monday, first baseman Billy Butler now has at least one hit in 92 consecutive series, the second longest in franchise history.
Alex DiFilippo is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
<a href="http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100823&content_id=13826224¬ebook_id=13828396&vkey=notebook_hou&fext=.jsp&c_id=kctag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100823″>Betemit continues hot streak at plate
20 Aug 2010
by in Malcolm Gladwell Tags: apache sitgreaves national forest, fugitives, marshal, nbsp
John McCluskey is taken into custody in Arizona after being caught with fiancee at a campsite / AP Source: AP
- Fugitives spotted at campsite
- On the run for three weeks
- Nightmare over, says marshal
AFTER nearly three weeks on the run, an escaped prisoner and his fiancee has been captured at a campsite after a forest ranger spotted them hidding in the trees.
John McCluskey, 45, and Casslyn Welch, 44, who also is McCluskey’s cousin, were arrested at the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in eastern Arizona.
Ms Welch was armed,but dropped her gun when she saw the SWAT team. McCluskey was found in a nearby sleeping bag and taken into custody without incident.
Other firearms were found at the campsite, and authorities said that McCluskely expressed regret at not having killed the ranger who spotted them.
"the nightmare is over, but it is still continuing. There’s a lot more for law enforcement to do,” said US marshal David Gonzales, referring to investigations into crimes the couple may have committed while on the road, including the possible murder of a couple in New Mexico.
"We want to tie them to as many crimes as we can,” Mr Gonzales said. "We want to ensure that the New Mexico murders are looked at carefully, working with those agencies. and if there are any more crimes that were committed while they were out, we want to make sure we tie those to them.’
McCluskey was among three prisoners who escaped July 30 from a privately operated state prison in Kingman, allegedly with the help of Ms Welch.
The Arizona Corrections Department said that Ms Welch helped McCluskey, Tracy Province and Daniel Renwick escape from a private prison by cutting through a security fence.
Renwick was recaptured in Rifle, Colorado, on August 1, and Province was found in Meeteetse, Wyoming, eight days later. the last confirmed sighting of McCluskey and Welch – two of the most wanted fugitives in America and dubbed Bonnie and Clyde by the media - was on August 6 in Billings, Montana.
Renwick and Province were serving time for murder while McCluskey was serving a 15-year prison term for attempted second-degree murder, aggravated assault and discharge of a firearm.
Province, McCluskey and Ms Welch have been linked to the murders of Greg and Linda Haas, a couple whose burned bodies were found in a travel trailer August 4 on a remote ranch near Santa Rosa, New Mexico. They had been traveling to Colorado on an annual camping trip.
Officials said the stolen car found at the campsite had New Mexico license plates.
"That’s the best news we’ve had in 10 days. everybody just broke down and cried for a little bit,” said Sheila Walker, one of the Haases’ best friends. "That was the one thing we wanted to hear.”
The family was grateful that their prayers had been answered and that no one else was hurt during the hunt for the fugitive and his accomplice.
"That was one of our main fears, that they would get desperate and someone else would get hurt,” Ms Walker said. "We are just thrilled they are back behind bars.”
Officer Gonzales said the relatively quiet arrest of the pair was somewhat surprising and the result of smart work by law enforcement at the scene. all along, authorities feared the fugitives were armed and extremely dangerous, and would not surrender without a fight.
"We were convinced this was going to go down into a bloody shootout,” he said. "There was no question about it."
The arrests came hours after officials discussed a report that outlined a series of embarrassing security breakdowns that allowed the escape.
The prison has a badly defective alarm system, a perimeter post was unstaffed, an outside dormitory door had been propped open with a rock and the alarms went off so often that prison personnel often just ignored them, the report said. also, operational practices often led to a gap of 15 minutes or longer during shift changes along the outer fence.
Prison staff told a review team that the dormitory door was left open because of the heavy amount of foot traffic.
That open door allowed the three inmates to reach a 10-foot chain-linked fence that hadn’t been topped with razor wire. They scaled that fence and hid out for a time behind a building in an area that isn’t visible to staff from the yard.
Using the wire cutters, which Welch tossed into the prison yard shortly before the 9 p.m. shift change, the inmates cut a small hole and held the fence back with a dog leash.
'Bonnie and Clyde' fugitives John McCluskey and Casslyn Welch captured
17 Aug 2010
by in Sculpture Tags: law firms, nbsp, opednews, wall street, whistleblower
By Dave Lindorff (about the author) Page 1 of 1 page(s) 
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opednews.com
For OpEdNews: Dave Lindorff – Writer
By Dave Lindorff
Wall Street lobbyists may have successfully managed to emasculate most of the important parts of the financial reform bill just passed by Congress last month, but one part of that 2000-page act, which establishes as bounty for whistleblowers who expose corporate financial wrongdoing to the Securities and Exchange system, managed to slip through unscathed.
If this surprisingly strong measure is supported by strong enabling regulations at the SEC, which has until next April to draw them up and approve them, some legal experts, including at law firms that specialize in representing corporate clients, say it could have a profound effect on the behavior of American companies.
The language being used by some of these attorneys is actually pretty apocalyptic, and entertaining to read.
Here’s a comment by the corporate law firm of Seyfarth Shaw on the new whistleblower provision’s significance:
“Employers need to ensure that, where practicable, whistleblower claims are resolved internally, as employees now have a unique incentive (in the form of a bounty) to report perceived misconduct to third-parties, such as the SEC, even before an employer may adequately address their concerns.
“Thus, employers are compelled to implement sophisticated complaint hotlines and provide multiple avenues through which employees can report perceived misconduct without fear of retaliation. Likewise, employers, including both publicly traded companies and their private subsidiaries and affiliates, need to promulgate appropriate codes of ethics and anti-retaliation policies and train managers to be receptive and responsive to employee complaints. Further, on a broader scale, management should adopt leadership models that foster a culture of integrity and accountability throughout the organization. Management should do so with an eye towards encouraging employees to raise complaints internally rather than to third parties.”
The implication here, of course, is that the present situation is the opposite, which as almost anyone who has worked for a corporation will attest, is exactly correct. more often than not, the norm is that employers do routinely retaliate against employees who try to do the right thing and report corporate malfeasance, even internally, and lower-level managers are unresponsive and prone to retaliation. Furthermore, senior management at many companies does not provide any kind of model of integrity and accountability or encourage employees to raise complaints internally….
For the rest of this article by DAVE LINDORFF in ThisCantBeHappening!, the new independent, collectively-owned, journalist-run online newspaper, please go to: ThisCantBeHappening!
Musta Slipped Through the Cracks: Dodd-Frank ‘Reform’ Act May Force Companies to Clean Up Their Act
17 Aug 2010
by in Delivering Happiness Tags: bbc, finis, milan jovanovic, nbsp, reds
Liverpool FC began their Premier League 2010-11 with a draw with Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal. The absence of Fernando Torres was perhaps screaming through the Liverpool team, who were showing great defensive prowess and lacking good attacks.
However, the goal from David N’Gog is worth praising. but again, is N’Gog the man who can take Liverpool to their deserved finis in the absence of Fernando Torres?
Torres is the main weapon of Liverpool in striking and if the Reds cannot find an alternate striking option, then they can suffer in this season too.
Roy Hodgson plans to invest in one or two more players before the transfer window closes and a forward for the Reds is the need of the hour. Milan Jovanovic and Maxi Rodriguez may always add to the attacking options, but you simply cannot ignore the absence of a scorer and real goal poacher.
The Liverpool Managing Director Christian Purslow told to BBC that he expects Liverpool to land more players this summer as the target for the club and manager Roy Hodgson is significant, they want their entry back to the Champion’s League.
So, Liverpool prepares a £5m bid for the Swedish forward Old Toivonen. Toivonen, playing for PSV Eindhoven, impressed Hodgson in the 3-0 victory against Scotland. Toivonen also bagged in a hat-trick in the opening 3-1 win of PSV against Heerenveen.
The player, at 24, is 6′4” tall and is good in the air with strong goalscoring ability. he finished the Dutch Eredivisie 2009-10 with 13 goals to his name.
He can play as a second striker, an attacking midfielder but primarily plays as a striker in PSV Eindhoven. So, his versatility can add new colors and dimension to the team. and in the end, he can be a very good buy at that price tag.
So, if the deal works out, it can really be a good option to the Reds to add some strength to the team. Liverpool has also been previously linked with players like Bryan Ruiz, the Twente man from the Dutch League who scored 20+ goals last season.
With this signing coming true, Liverpool would complete their 5th signing of the season after Milan Jovanovic, Joe Cole, Daniel Wilson and Christian Poulsen recently.
Whatever happens, somethings make us feel that Liverpool are going to land another player before the window closes. we will wait to see that “One”.
Liverpool Transfers: Roy Hodgson Eyes Ola Toivonen From PSV Eindhoven
16 Aug 2010
by in Sookie Stackhouse Tags: ball bat, nbsp, parents, safety equipment
Spring is well underway, which means its T-Ball season. One of the most common questions that parents and coaches of new players have concerns purchasing equipment for their teams and for their children. we thought it was time to address many of those questions, in order to give you some guidance on how to go about selecting the right equipment for your players.
For those of you who are new coaches and are wondering what kind of equipment you can expect to receive for your team, typically, your league’s equipment manager will contact you and they will give you instructions on where and when to pick up your team’s equipment. you will normally receive an equipment bag with a tee, a box of tee-balls for practices and games,3 to 4 helmets with chin straps, and a tee-ball bat or two. Actual number of items will vary based upon your leagues discretion.
One piece of safety equipment to be aware of is a heart guard. this piece of protective gear, when worn properly, will prevent a player from receiving serious injury if hit with a batted tee-ball in chest around the heart area. if the league requires a heart guard be worn, each parent or coach must abide by this rule. however, eve if the league does not require a heart guard, I would make sure the parents of your players are aware of it so they can decide if they want their children to wear one.
Glove sizes range from a size 8 to 11 in ½ increments depending on the size of your child’s hand. the size is normally indicated on each glove. a good bench mark is to have your child try on the glove and ask them to squeeze it. if they are having trouble closing the glove, it is probably too big. the glove should also adequately cover the lower portion of the palm at the beginning of the wrist. Glove manufacturers have made great improvements over the years in which most gloves do not require a tremendous amount of “breaking in”. ”Breaking in” a glove is opening and closing the glove to remove some of its initial stiffness. there is nothing like the feeling of a broken-in glove. its always good to keep a baseball or tee-ball in the glove at all times when not in use. the beauty of glove leather is it has a memory and by placing a ball in the glove when not in use, the glove pocket will take the shape of the ball.
Most tee-ball leagues will provide one tee-ball bat, so if parents would like to purchase their own bat, I would recommend doing so. Tee-ball bats range in length and weight. To find the right size bat for your child, have your child pick out a bat they like and hold the bat in their power hand (the left hand for right handed batters and the right hand for left handed batters) with the arm and bat fully extended and parallel to the ground. the child should hold this position for 30 seconds and if the arm and bat do not sag and lose their parallel position with the ground, the size is correct for your child. in general, we always have our players err on the lighter side.
Coaches and parents should check their league’s national and local rules to determine if there are any restrictions on bats, as some national and local league rules only allow official tee-ball bats. other leagues have no restrictions, therefore, youth league bats are permissible. Parents should read the verbiage on the bat to determine if the bat is a tee-ball bat or a youth league bat. Youth league bats are a bit longer and heavier than tee-ball bats and these bats are usually intended for older children in tee-ball or in coach pitch levels. Youth league bats are measured by a length to weight difference (e.g., a -14.5 youth league bat can be 28-1/2 inches in length and weighs 14 ounces). Weight and length can vary in each bat.
We tell our parents that batting gloves are optional. we really would not recommend them at this age because we feel the player should just use his or her bare hands to get the feel of the batted ball . the player can experiment with batting gloves when he or she moves up to coach pitch level where the impact of the batted ball and caught ball come more into play.
Rubber-cleated baseball shoes (never metal-spiked baseball shoes) should be used in lieu of sneakers to assist in getting a good firm grip on the field when running, batting, and fielding. we want the children to have confidence when they are running and making plays and a wet field without cleated shoes can lead to slips and falls.
I would also suggest ALL tee-ball players wear a protective cup. there are protective cups for both boys and girls, each a bit dimensionally different. Players should get used to wearing protective cups as they will be required or recommended at the next playing level also. Check your local and national league rules for information on this protective gear.
Some parents buy batting helmets for their children for sanitary reasons (potential sources of hair lice). we recommend a batting helmet that can be adjusted to fit players of different ages and head sizes. Batting helmets for girls usually have a curved-diamond-shaped hole at the back of the helmet for their pony tails. many leagues require helmets to include chin straps. As a child reaches the next two levels of play, coach-pitch and kid-pitch, a wire face guard is available for installation on the helmet model you purchase. Fasteners and plastic/metal anchors are supplied with the wire face guard for easy installation. Some leagues require this wire face guard when you reach these levels. Check your national and local league rules.
Finally we recommend that you purchase a small equipment bag to store and transport your player’s equipment. please be sure to write each player’s name in indelible marker on the player’s glove, bat, helmet, and batting gloves. Equipment Identification makes it easy for players to claim loose equipment after practices and games.
We hope you found this article helpful and we wish you and your children the best T-Ball experience possible!
Coaching T-Ball – Choosing the Right Equipment
15 Aug 2010
by in Books Tags: american president, citizen, founders, nbsp
By J. Edward Tremlett (about the author) Page 1 of 2 page(s) 
opednews.com
For OpEdNews: J. Edward Tremlett – Writer
“We must all recognize and respect the sensitivities surrounding the development of lower Manhattan. The 9/11 attacks were a deeply traumatic event for our country. and the pain and the experience of suffering by those who lost loved ones is just unimaginable. ” but let me be clear as a citizen, and as President, I believe that Muslims have the right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country. and that includes the right to build a place of worship, and a community center, on private property, in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. “This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable. The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country, and that they will not be treated differently by their government, is essential to who we are. The writ of the founders must endure.”I can’t begin to tell you how amazingly gratifying it was to hear those words come from the mouth of an American President. no hesitation, no hedging. no equivocation, no mealy-mouthed meandering. It could have been any number of statements, but it became a simple, but eloquent reminder to those too willing to ignore history, and overlook the pitfalls of unreasoning fear, that we are Americans, in America, and we should be doing things differently than the rest of the world. but at the same time, listening to that speech – a speech that is going to cost him a good deal of support from so-called Middle America, at a time neither he nor the Democrats can afford that loss – I realized that I may have been very wrong about the person who’s been my President for the last year and change. while I maintain that Barack Obama is still fully committed to doing the right things for America, I think I may have overestimated where his priorities lay. I think he might be, rather than the next great Progressive hope, another left of center functionary who needs to be led to the promised land. you see, before Obama took that public stance on the so-called Ground zero Mosque, I maintained (hopeless optimist I) that Obama wasn’t making with the promised or implied progressive promises because he was being far too cautious. I thought that he’d taken the lessons of Bill Clinton’s first four years in office too much to heart, and was avoiding a replay of 1994. Remember 1994? I sure do. After four years of Bush I’s listless and seemingly-impotent little-c conservatism, Bill Clinton came into office swinging both progressive fists, with big talk and bigger plans. His reward for laying those plans out on the table was a near-total repudiation of national health care, the loss of the House to the Republicans, and the subsequent years in which the likes of Newt Gingrich ate out on calling Clinton the “enemy of all normal Americans.” (More on Newt Gingrich’s hypocrisy at the time can be found at this Esquire article, here, lest you want to see the Republicans take the White House in 2012.)That Bill Clinton was able to still be an effective President though clearly not accomplishing everything he’d intended speaks more of his ability to compromise when possible, dodge when not, and slide for home whenever he could, even if his team didn’t have the ball at the moment. The end result was that, in spite of failing to enact a Progressive Presidency, and overseeing the legislation of things that gave many Progressives pause (like NAFTA), Clinton legacy is still championed by many Progressives as something of a golden age. if nothing else, they can point out that a “tax and spend” President gave America a surplus, while his “conservative” successor, Bush II, left us deep in the hole. but it would appear that Obama is not eager for a replay of 1994. The battle for Health Care Reform such as it is was tough enough without adding the deadly words “single payer” into the mix. and even though it was a highly-compromised thing that has clearly not been the panacea that sane America’s been hoping for, it is still seen as a terrible plague upon the land by the Obama’s many detractors. The question is how many of them are crucial swing voters who cast a ballot for Obama in 2008, but will abandon his party at the polls in 2010, leading to another Republican takeover of the House, and possibly the Senate. seen in that light, could be perfectly understandable why I could have thought Obama might not be anywhere as openly Progressive as we’d like him to be. he might have been operating under the belief that, even though he’d thrown us that one, big bone such as it is and done a lot of quiet good, he was still going to play middle of the road enough to make sure his party wasn’t punished too badly in the upcoming elections by either side. Maybe – oh maybe – I hoped, he was of the belief that, once 2010 came and went, and he still held a majority in both Houses, he could pull out the cards he didn’t play in the first two years and make good on that Hope and Change thing. The next referendum wouldn’t be until 2012, and then it’d be on both his party and his Administration, so what would he have to lose? Free ponies for everyone!well, after hearing that speech about the Ground zero Mosque, I have to take a deep breath and admit I was fooled. Obama isn’t being cautious. This is just the way he is, and we are not going to get a lot of Progressive hope and change out of him. he is still a damn sight better than W, or McCain, on a lot of key issues, but on others, we may have been hoping for a change that did not come. who is the President? He’s a smart man whose heart is in the right place, but whose head isn’t where we need it to be. He’s a caretaker who is more interested in making sure the economy-makers are happy than securing us a better future free from some of the big money interests. he will stand up for our rights (usually) but deny us ones that are inconvenient to the powers that be. and while we can count on him to bring home certain slices of partisan bacon, we’re not going to get a lot of our progressive ponies out of the stable in his Administration.
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<a href="http://www.opednews.com/articles/Obama-s-Mosque-Stance-Reve-by-J-Edward-Tremlett-100814-675.htmltag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.opednews.com/articles/Obama-s-Mosque-Stance-Reve-by-J-Edward-Tremlett-100814-675.htmlSun, 15 Aug 2010 05:06:40 GMT 00:00″>Obama’s Mosque Stance Reveals President We Never Had
15 Aug 2010
by in Uncategorized Tags: charlie whitehurst, game, nbsp, touchdown, win 98
Seahawks 20, Titans 18: postgame quotes
Posted at 12:01 am by John Boyle With deadlines being what they are for a game that kicks off at 7 p.m., I wasn’t able to spend a whole lot of time in the locker room talking to players about the game, but here are a few highlights from head coach Pete Carroll and some players. Take what you will from the Seahawks’ 20-18 preseason win, but there were certainly some positives for a team trying to bounce back from a pretty bad two years. Things didn’t start off well, but backup QB Charlie Whitehurst had a solid debut, the defense looked solid after allowing a touchdown on the opening drive of the game, and perhaps most significantly for a team that ranked 26th in the league in sacks last season, we actually saw opposing quarterbacks getting knocked over a few times. PETE CARROLL”There were a lot of good things that happened tonight.” (On the start of the game) “That first drive, we looked shaky. you dream about that first drive, playing great defense, knocking them back, getting off the field. Well that dream didn’t come true tonight. . . but the defense really played very well for the whole night and came back and did a lot of good things.” (On his decision to go for it on fourth down) “I’ve been doing that for a long time.” (On Whitehurst’s debut) “I know people will say that it wasn’t a real game and all of that, but it’s still football and he’s still out there throwing and making the plays, so you get a good comparison with other guys.”(On the injury to Titans RB Stafon Johnson, who played for Carroll at USC before a freak weight-room injury ended his college career) “I was just so sorry to see Stafon get hurt. . . if anybody can get back, he can. He’s an absolute warrior.” WR MIKE WILLIAMS(On his 51-yard touchdown) “That play, really hat’s off to Charlie. he recognized that they brought more guys down, put more guys in the box. . . I was just the end result of it. Really Charlie did a good job of knowing how they were going to blitz us and putting us in position to make a play.” QB MATT HASSELBECK(On Whitehurst’s audible call that led to the 51-yard TD) It’s one thing to sit in a meeting room and know what the audible needs to be, it’s another thing to get the other 10 guys to do it. I thought he showed definite command of the situation and had a great audible, and Mike Williams, we’ve kind of been talking about him since he got here, just how impressive he’s been, and he got a chance to do it in a game, and I think everyone was really happy for him. It’s been a long time for him, and it was just a perfectly executed play. QB CHARLIE WHITEHURSTIt’s nice to go out there and play well, but again it’s the first preseason game. We’ve got three more preseason games, we’ve got a long season. Yeah, you like to go out there and play well every time, and it was nice that it was the first one, but it doesn’t mean all the much. We’ve got a bunch more this season and we’ve got to come every week and execute.
HeraldNet: Seahawks 20, Titans 18: postgame quotes
10 Aug 2010
by in Uncategorized Tags: farewell, flight attendant, hero, luggage, nbsp, overhead bin
JetBlue flight attendant, Steve Slater, who deployed emergency slide, now hero? (video)
NEW YORK — "We are all on the side of the flight attendant," says MSNBC talk show, Morning Joe referring to the incident of the Jet Blue flight attendant who left the plane using the emergency chute.
After a passenger hit Steven Slater, a Jet Blue flight attendant, on the head with his luggage, and then refused to apologize, Steve went on the PA system, cussed out the passenger and with a quick farewell, grabbed two beers from the galley, deployed the emergency slide, slid down it, and went home in his car.
The JetBlue flight attendant has now been arrested but even under arrest Steve Slater had a slight smile on his face.
See slide show here of photos of Steve Slater, JetBlue flight attendant
The talk shows and the internet message boards are saying Slater is a hero. Why should flight attendants have to put up with bad behavior from passengers who think they are above the rules (of staying seated until the flight has come to a complete halt – the passenger in question was pulling out his case from the overhead bin while the plane was still moving).
Some talk shows are saying he could get 7 years in jail for his behavior and his career with JetBlue is over.
Others are saying Steve Slater should not go to jail and the "cabin pressure" was too much for him to endure.
Slater has been arraigned on charges of criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and trespassing. The judge set Slater's bail at $2,500, reports San Francisco's news station KTVU.
What do YOU think? Feel free to comment below on JetBlue flight attendant, Steve Slater, now hero?
See the MSNBC video below for information on Steven Slater, the JetBlue flight attendant
See here for breaking news story on JetBlue flight attendant curses out passenger, leaves plane via emergency slide (photos, video)
San Francisco residents can follow the story on the JetBlue fight attendant and other news stories on KTVU news.
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MSNBC talk on Steven Slater
JetBlue flight attendant, Steve Slater, now hero? (video)
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