In the news…

1.  Former Democratic congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper, a Catholic from Erie, Pennsylvania, cast a crucial vote in favor of Obamacare in 2010. She lost her seat that November in part because of her controversial support of Obamacare. But Dahlkemper said recently that she would have never voted for the health care bill had she known that the Department of Health and Human Services would require all private insurers, including Catholic charities and hospitals, to provide free coverage of contraception, sterilization procedures, and the “week-after” pill “ella” that can induce early abortions.

2.  Girls as young as 13 have been fitted with contraceptive implants at school without their parents knowing in Great Britain.  The procedure was carried out as part of a government initiative to drive down teenage pregnancies.  As many as nine secondary schools in the city are thought to have been involved. Isn’t liberalism great.

3.  A jury convicted former Pennsylvania House Democratic leader Bill DeWeese on Monday of theft, conspiracy, and other charges.  Bonusgate, as the case has been known, stemmed from reports that Pennsylvania House Democrats were being paid with taxpayers money to do political campaign work. Prosecutors accused DeWeese of directing and forcing his staffers to do much of that work. A total of 25 defendants were tried for Bonusgate-related offenses. Six legislators and staffers, including DeWeese, have been convicted; two were acquitted; 15 pleaded guilty; and one saw charges dropped.  One remaining defendant, former Democratic State Rep. Steve Stetler, will be tried later this year. He has served as the state’s revenue secretary.

In the news…

-  Another wasted half billion dollars to payoff Obama friends and Democrat billionaires. Over the last year, the Obama administration has aggressively pushed a $433-million plan to buy an experimental smallpox drug, despite uncertainty over whether it is needed or will work.  Senior officials have taken unusual steps to secure the contract for New York-based Siga Technologies Inc., whose controlling shareholder is billionaire Ronald O. Perelman, one of the world’s richest men and a longtime Democratic Party donor.  Let’s ask, how many teacher and police jobs could have been saved with $433 million.

-  More news on the Occupy Movement front- drug dealing in New York, rapes in Oakland and Seattle, suicide in Vermont, dead in Salt Lake, and murder in Oakland. Three cars were set on fire and anti-Semitic and racist graffiti was spray painted in Brooklyn early Friday morning, the day after the anniversary of Hitler’s systematic attack on Jews known as Kristallnacht. Meanwhile, Rapper and Music Producer, Jay Z, who has complained about the top 1% (Jay Z is estimated to be worth $500 million) will produce a line of Occupy Wall Street T-shirts. He has declined to reveal whether he will donate the profits to the Occupy Movement.

-  Newt Gingrich has tied for second place in the latest polling revealed yesterday.  Statistically, Newt is in a three-way tie with Mitt Romney and Herman Cain for the Republican Presidential nomination.

-  You can burn the American Flag in the United States, but you can’t wear it to school. A federal court has ruled that school administrators had the right to order California high school students to remove displays of the American flag from their clothing on Cinco De Mayo. California District Judge James Ware ruled that administrators’ actions to censor the students did not violate the so-called Tinker standard, which protects students’ freedom of speech.

Courtesy:  John Paulus

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In the news today…

It’s the Obama Justice Department led by the incompetent Attorney General Eric Holder in the news again today.  If the stories about $16 muffins and the scandal surrounding Fast & Furious weren’t enough now we have the story of Darryl Foster, a supervisor for the Civil Rights Division, who misused taxpayer funds to “facilitate a physical relationship with a woman in Florida.”Expenses for trips were paid for by taxpayers even on days he was not working and the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that Mr. Foster began extending his work travel to Miami to meet with the unidentified woman.  On another occasion, Mr. Foster flew a male friend from the U.S. Virgin Islands to Las Vegas to meet “largely for recreational purposes.” He said taxpayers also picked up that tab, including airfare, hotel costs and rental car.  Email correspondence between Mr. Foster and the unidentified male said such things as, “Make sure you leave me some golf time!!” and “Thought we were going to the Grand Canyon on Saturday??”  How much do the rich have to contribute?

This should be welcomed news to those rich liberals who feel like they don’t pay enough in taxes.  Republicans have an answer to President Barack Obama’s “Buffett Rule” that would mandate a tax increase for wealthy Americans. Nine House Republicans, led by Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, introduced their own “Buffett Rule Act” Wednesday that would make it easier for rich taxpayers to give as much of their wealth to Uncle Sam as they want, The Hill reports.  The bill would have the IRS put a new line on individual tax forms to allow wealthy taxpayers to pony up more than they owe so that they can help reduce the government’s debt burden.

There’s more bad news for Obama out today.  The RealClearPolitics average approval poll for Obama shows the widest gap yet.  Just 42.5% approve of Obama’s job performance while a ful 51.5% disapprove.  In an ABC Poll released today, more trust the Republicans than Obama when it comes to handling the economy.

I’ll be in Atlanta’s Centennial Park tonight with Sean Hannity to celebrate his 15 year anniversary with Fox News.  The live show will be airing at 9:00 EST directly across from the CNN headquarters.  Look to my Flickr for some pictures.

Courtesy:  John Paulus

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A self-proclaimed tea party activist confronted President Obama at a town hall meeting Monday, and the media immediately scrambled to find out who he is. But Ryan Rhodes, who lambasted Obama in Decorah, Iowa over allegations that Vice President Joe Biden has called activists “terrorists,” isn’t hiding from the limelight. On Tuesday, Rhodes appeared on Rush Limbaugh’s radio program.

Rhodes explained some the details of the confrontation and what inspired him to act as he did, and Limbaugh asked Rhodes about what sort of personal computer he used. When he told Limbaugh he had an “old” Acer computer, the talk radio host offered him an iPad and a MacBook, even after Rhodes revealed that he already had an iPad.

“I’m going to send you another one,” Limbaugh said. “I’m going to send you one of only 25 EIB–Rush Limbaugh signature iPads, and I’m also going to send you a 13-inch MacBook Air.”

Rhodes wanted to assure listeners that he wasn’t a “plant” sent to disrupt Obama’s Midwest bus tour.

“I also want to mention I’m one of the uninsured — that I believe I’ve decided to take care of myself, you know?” Rhodes said.

“When some of those things happen, you don’t look to the government because that’s when you stop looking to your own individual self and looking to God. And so I just want say that a lot of these thing they may paint as, you know, ‘a billionaire funded this.’ That’s not — I went there, I requested tickets the tickets on my own. I want to make sure that people know that this was my question. It wasn’t given to me by somebody else.”

A rapper could face criminal charges after a tweet from his account incited a telephone flash mob that overwhelmed the emergency phone system at one of busiest stations of the Los Angeles County sheriff’s department, the agency said Saturday.

The sheriff’s department alleges The Game tweeted the Compton station’s phone number Friday and told his 580,000 followers to call the number if they wanted an internship.

Phones at the southeast Los Angeles County station started ringing at 5:23 p.m. Friday, and the lines were jammed by hundreds of calls for more than two hours, prompting authorities to bring in additional help. Many callers hung up as soon as someone answered, while others asked deputies about a music internship.

During that time people with legitimate issues that included a missing person, spousal abuse and two robberies were also trying to call in, department spokesman Steve Whitmore said.

Sheriff’s Capt. Mike Parker said that when authorities finally figured out what had happened, he sent two tweets to the rapper asking him to take down the number. Instead, Parker said, The Game posted that his account had been hacked and also tweeted that it was an accident.

“Yall can track a tweet down but cant solve murders!” the tweet said. “Dat was an accident but maybe now yall can actually do yall job !!!!”

A call and email to The Game’s publicist, Greg Miller at Big Hassle Media, was not immediately returned.

The rapper finally took down the number around 11 p.m. Friday after a third request from Parker, who took particular issue with the accusation that deputies are not doing their job.

“Under the LA county sheriffs we’ve reduce homicides in Compton by over 50 percent in recent years and crime is down in Compton, but it’s particularly helpful when the public can contact us,” Parker said Saturday in a phone interview with The Associated Press. “This incident was the social media equivalent of going into a crowded movie theater and shouting ‘Fire!’”

Investigators will document what happened, how many calls flooded the station, the rapper’s tweets and other information, and will turn it over to the district attorney’s office next week, Parker said. The rapper could face charges of maliciously disrupting or impeding communications over a public safety radio frequency, obstruction of justice or other charges related to delaying a peace officer from doing their job.

“Public safety was absolutely compromised,” Parker said. “We were delayed in responding to calls.”

The Game is a California-based rapper whose real name is Charles Louboutin, the sheriff’s office said in a release.

His 2005 debut album, “The Documentary,” entered the charts at the top and sold 586,000 units in the first week, according to his website. The rapper, who grew up in Compton, has collaborated with famed rappers including Dr. Dre, Kanye West and 50 Cent.

Courtesy: AP

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There may be an overtly political reason that moviegoers will be seeing the story of the Osama bin Laden raid just before they vote for president. Sony Pictures, the company distributing next year’s film, hosted a fundraiser for Barack Obama on their studio’s premises in California last April. So far, Sony is the only major studio to hold a political fundraiser this cycle. According to Deadline Hollywood, Sony will release the bin Laden movie, directed by Academy Award-winning director Kathryn Bigelow, on October 12, 2012–less than a month before the presidential election.

“The eyebrow does go up when you see the release date,” says Douglas Urbanski, a Hollywood producer and conservative radio talk show host. Urbanski said he believes Bigelow’s movie will be straightforward and apolitical, much like her 2009 war film The Hurt Locker (which won the Academy Award for Best Picture). But Sony’s decision to release the bin Laden movie just weeks before the election, he says, is most likely “very, very deliberate.”

Urbanski was a producer for The Contender, a 2000 political thriller with a plot that sympathized with a sex scandal-plagued Democrat and demonized a conservative Republican member of Congress. The movie was released on October 13, 2000. “It was without a doubt a deliberate attempt to influence the election,” says Urbanski.

Sony Pictures could not immediately be reached for comment.

Courtesy: The Weekly Standard

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Kanye West says he feels like people look at him like Hitler.

The 34-year-old rapper known for his outbursts was the headline act at the Big Chill music festival Saturday night, where he ranted in the middle of his set about being misunderstood and under-appreciated.

“I walk through the hotel and I walk down the street, and people look at me like I’m (expletive) insane, like I’m Hitler,” he said. “One day the light will shine through and one day people will understand everything I ever did.”

West received light boos from the crowd as a result.

The performer also defended the music video for his song “Monster,” which features cannibalism and girls hanging from their necks.

“Who saw the video before it got banned, before they took it down and before women’s groups starting saying that a person that lost the most important woman in his life is now against women in some way?” asked West, referring to the 2007 death of his mother Donda West.

West, who started his set roughly 30-minutes late, apologized to the crowd for his tardiness, saying he needed to make sure his performance was great.

“Michael Jordan changed so much in basketball, he took his power to make a difference. It’s so much (expletive) going on in music right now and somebody has to make a (expletive) difference,” he said.

The multiplatinum-seller is known for his outspokenness, most notably his diss toward Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, where he grabbed the microphone from her as she accepted the award for best female video and said Beyonce should have won it. In 2005 he said “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” during a Hurricane Katrina telethon.

At the music festival, West talked about some of his awards show drama, saying some of his sponsorships were canceled as a result.

But West closed his show on a positive note by paying tribute to Amy Winehouse.

West, who said he met the late singer a few years ago during Paris fashion week, played snippets of Winehouse’s “Tears Dry On Their Own” and “Back to Black.“ He said it was ”beautiful“ to meet the performer and that she was ”amazing.”

Then, in Kanye fashion, he began to rant.

“Thank you for protecting your artists that are still here,” he said to the crowd. “This is for McQueen, for Amy, for Michael and for all the media, can you lighten up on all your artists that are still here?” he asked, receiving a roaring cheer from the crowd and leaving the stage with his 3-man band and 20-something backup dancers.

Courtesy:  The Blaze

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It’s a sad day for the smart and sassy suburban women on Wisteria Lane and the worldwide audience of approximately 120 million who watch them. We’ve just learned that ABC will announce on Sunday at the Television Critics Association’s press tour that this 2011-2012 season will be the last for long-running Desperate Housewives. Key castmembers are starting to be told, and we hear that Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross, and Eva Longoria are shocked and saddened since the ABC Studios series created by Marc Cherry was expected to continue until 2013 after the longtime showrunner had said that he wanted the show to go for 9 seasons. ABC also contracted with the show’s four stars for the next season after lengthy salary negotiations with the quartet this past season.

In addition to signing them for this coming season, ABC also got options on them for Season 9. But when this season’s premiere episode is broadcast on Sunday, September 25th, it will be the first for the series without Cherry at the helm. He stepped down at the end of last season as executive producer/showrunner and is expected to be a consultant on Season 8 while focusing on development of other series. Cherry also was slapped by former castmate Nicolette Sheridan with an embarrassing lawsuit over a purported slap which is still winding its way through the Los Angeles courts. Her claims of battery, wrongful termination, and unlawful retaliation will be argued in front of a jury. Since the provocative and profitable dramedy’s premiere on October 3, 2004, the show has been a hit with viewers and critics alike: a solid Nielsen performer as well as a multiple Emmy and Screen Actors Guild award winner. The series premiere drew 21.6 million viewers and the show’s first season finale attracted over 30 million viewers. Since 2006 and continuing into 2010, it was the most-watched comedy series internationally, with an average viewership of 51.6 million viewers across 68 territories. Moreover, it was the third-highest revenue earning show for 2010, with $2.74 million per half hour.

Courtesy: Deadline.com

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Well, it looks like the plot will thicken even more during the third season of Fantasia Barrino’s hit VH1 reality series, “Fantasia For Real.” After Season 2 detailed the “American Idol” winner’s breakup from her then-married boyfriend, Antwaun Cook, and the subsequent fallout (her emotional breakdown and attempted suicide), this weekend Fantasia announced onstage at a charity concert that she is pregnant–and while she didn’t say who the baby’s father is, it very well may be Antwaun, with whom she was recently spotted vacationing while sporting a sizable baby bump.

“You are the first that I share this news with,” Fantasia announced during a July 31 benefit show at the opening of the Riverview Apartments in Jacksonville, Florida, as she placed her hand on her belly. “And I share this with you because I can relate to you. For a while I walked around thinking, ‘What will they say? What will they think about me?’ But now I tell you, I don’t live my life for folk. So I tell you, this child that I carry, God has given me this child, and I don’t have to hide it from none of y’all!”

Interestingly, last year during Antwaun’s divorce proceedings with his now-ex-wife in a North Carolina court, Fantasia shockingly confessed that she had gotten pregnant by Antwaun and had had an abortion around the time of her infamous suicide attempt. This makes her new pregnancy announcement even more of a surprise. (Fantasia has a 10-year-old daughter, Zion, from a previous relationship.)

I’m happy that Fantasia seems happy, and I hope things work out for her now, after what has been an extremely difficult period in her life. I cannot help but scratch/shake my head over some of Fanny’s dubious life decisions, but I wish her–and Antwaun, or whoever the father is–the best of luck. She may need it.

Courtesy: Yahoo Music

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Most young adults would be content celebrating their 21^st birthday with a trip to Las Vegas, but rap superstar Soulja Boy had a grander idea.

For his 21^st birthday Thursday, the Atlanta rapper bought himself a $35 million dollar private jet, a rep from his management team reportedly told TMZ.

But apparently, the G5 jet needed some “Pretty Boy Swag” upgrades. According to reports, Soulja will be spending an additional $20 million dollars to add flat screen TVs, 4 liquor bars, a dozen Italian leather seats, Brazilian hardwood cabinets, and travertine tiled flooring.

The restroom will be remolded and enlarged, and the aircraft will get a new custom paint job featuring his logo.

A spokesperson for Soulja Boy had not responded to our request to confirm the jet purchase by press time.

On Friday, the “Crank That” rapper, will host a birthday extravaganza in Miami believed to cost $300,000. Sean Kingston, Bow Wow, and Dwight Howard are expected to attend. The event will be streamed live from SouljaBoyBirthdayBash.com at 11 p.m. eastern.

In April, Soulja Boy told Hip Hop Media Training that he was planning to team up with MTV for a Las Vegas-based bash. “MTV [is going to] be doing my birthday party. It’s going to be in Vegas. I’m going to be in Vegas,” Soulja Boy said. “MTV is going to be doing it just like I did my swag eighteenth party. I don’t know. It’s going to be my first time being 21. So I’m just gonna do me.”

Courtesy: Yahoo Music

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