Where's the Outrage?

• Ohio voters rejected issue 2. This overturns a law passed by the Republican legislature which took away collective bargaining.
• Mississippi is arguably the most conservative state in the union. They rejected a law that was going to make a zygote a person. If you can’t pass a law like this in Mississippi, this issue may be dead for another generation.
• Russell Pearce, the architect of Arizona’s immigration law, was voted out of office in a recall election.
• Locally, Buncombe County voted to support  AB Tech, barely.

Tags: Elections, Party Politics by ecthompson md
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I posted this several years ago, but afterthe death of Heavy D, I’m breaking out some of my old posts.

This was Michael Jackson’s last CD or release that was any good.  This was before he spent day after day in court stating, “I didn’t do anything.”  Anyway, nice video.  I’m thinking any time you can get Heavy D, Michael Jackson and Michael Jordan in the same video, that’s a good video.

Michael Jackson - Jam [ 5:41 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Music by ecthompson md
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Artist: Heavy D and the Boyz
Tune: Now that we found love

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(I posted this about a year ago. Will re-post in honor of Heavy D)
Now, this is a nice jam.

Artist: Guy with Heavy D
Tune: Do me right

Tags: Music by ecthompson md
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Heavy D died today. I really liked his stuff.

From Rolling Stone:

Heavy D, the former leader of the hip-hop group Heavy D and the Boyz, has died at the age of 44. The rapper was rushed to a hospital in Los Angeles earlier this afternoon and was pronounced dead at 1 p.m. PT. Police are investigating his death but there are no signs of foul play.

Heavy D, born Dwight Arrington Myers, broke into the music industry with Living Large, his first record with the Boyz, in 1987. He went on to even greater success with the hit “Now That We Found Love” in 1991, and recorded theme songs for the television series In Loving Color and MADtv. In recent years, D recorded a series of reggae fusion albums.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/heavy-d-dead-at-44-20111108#ixzz1dA5DBP4u

This is my favorite Heavy D tune. It was smooth and playful.

Tags: Music by ecthompson md
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We want jobs and we need jobs. The simple question that I have for Democrats and Republicans is how can we quickly hire millions of Americans who need JOBS right now?

Tags: Economy, Party Politics by ecthompson md
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• If you quote Pokémon in your summation speech at a presidential debate does that make you a joke?
• If you put out a tax plan that seems to be based on a computer game (SimCity) does that make you a joke?
• If it seems that you are refusing to learn some of the issues that surround foreign-policy, does that make you a joke?
• If you put out a campaign ad with the main subject is smoking, does that make you a joke?
• When does a candidate become a joke?

Rachel Maddow summarizes Herman Cain’s campaign and asks this question:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Tags: Party Politics, Rachel Maddow Show by ecthompson md
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In 2010, many Tea Party candidates were swept into office. Their mandate was simple – reduce the size and influence of government. Many of those candidates decided to oppose or attack unions. We’ve seen this fight play out in Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio, as well as other states. The fight has been a little bit different in each state, but basically the Tea Party Republicans have all worked to undermine unions in some way. On Tuesday, Ohioans are set to vote on a referendum that would reverse an Ohio state law that ending the right of unions (police, firefighters and teachers unions) to collectively bargain with the government. According to a recent poll, almost 60% of Ohioans are supportive of unions’ right to collective bargaining. We have to remember that polling does not equal voting. We also need to remember that just because Ohio voters have rejected this one issue does not necessarily mean that Ohio voters have rejected the Tea Party agenda. The big question in my mind is now what?

Tags: Civil Rights, Party Politics by ecthompson md
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From the New York Times, here are this week’s win probabilities:

So, everybody was hyping the LSU versus Alabama. The number one ranked team in the country versus number two. The game was a snoozer.

Fred Jackson - Do you have him on your fantasy team?

New York Jets versus Buffalo Bills – Buffalo is doing a lot of things right. I like Buffalo in this game.

Seattle Seahawks versus Dallas Cowboys – I’m still flabbergasted over the extremely poor performance at Dallas put up on Sunday night. Seattle is beginning to play some football that is solid. It is that old cliché – don’t turn the ball over and you will win. The Dallas Cowboys must protect the football. If they don’t they will lose this game and their season. Look for Dallas to try to come up with ways to score early and often and then cruise to victory. The problem with Seattle is that they do not have a viable quarterback, yet.

Cleveland Browns versus Houston Texans – If Matt Schaub can take care of the ball, this game should be easily chalked up in the Houston Texans victory column. By the way, what’s with Peyton Hillis? I completely understand that football is a brutal sport. Players get hurt all the time but he seems to be particularly injury prone. If he cannot spend more time on the field look for Cleveland to let him go in the off-season. It is kind of sad. I think one could easily say that he was the heart and soul of this team. Your heart and soul cannot be on the bench for weeks at a time.

Atlanta Falcons versus Indianapolis Colts – I’m taking Atlanta, all day long. I guess, now would be a great time for me to once again asked the ownership of the Indianapolis Colts to return the season-ticket money to Indianapolis Colts season-ticket holders! Seriously!

Miami Dolphins versus Kansas City Chiefs – I wish there were something that I could say in support of the Miami Dolphins. I wish I could see a way for them to win this game but I can’t. I suspect that the Chiefs will come out and take care of business and win this one easily.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers versus New Orleans Saints – the New Orleans Saints offensive line was simply atrocious last week. There is simply no excuse especially against the St. Louis Rams. I look for the offensive line the play much better this week. Josh Freeman has had an up-and-down season so far. I’m going with the New Orleans Saints, at home.

San Francisco 49ers versus Washington Redskins – After the Redskins performance last week, it’s hard for me to figure out a way for them the win ball games. San Francisco is playing extremely well. Look for Frank Gore to easily run for over hundred yards. Alex Smith seems to have learned how to protect the football. I look for the 49ers to cruise to victory. [Read more →]

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If you are around my age you grew up watching Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali. My father loved the fights. He took me for the big fights. This was back in the day, when you could paid to watch closed circuit fights with 10,000-20,000 of your closest buddies at the big auditorium in your city. If your city didn’t have a big auditorium you were flat out of luck. Ali-Frazier. Those were classic fights. The shorter, compact and powerful Frazier verses the faster, taller Ali. It was beautiful.

That was a long time ago. Joe Frazier reportedly has liver cancer and is not expected to live much longer. He is in hospice. I wish him peace. I pray for him and his family.

One commenter on ESPN’s web site noted: I always thought that it was a shame that the city of Philly has a big statue of fictional Rocky Balboa and not Joe Frazier.

Tags: Sports by ecthompson md
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Hits
Cincinnati Bengals – Did you know that the Cincinnati Bengals are 5-2? Andy Dalton is playing just well enough with a quarterback rating of 82.7. It is their defense that’s keeping them on the field. Cincinnati is ranked fourth in overall defense. They are second in stopping the run.

Philadelphia Eagles – Every time I try to write off Michael Vick and the Philadelphia Eagles, they do something spectacular. Towards the end of last season and now for most of this season, we haven’t seen the pinpoint accuracy that Michael Vick showed in the middle of last season. Well, that pinpoint accuracy came back and dissected the Dallas Cowboys. Andy Reid had a genius game plan. He took advantage of a extremely aggressive DeMarcus Ware and pulled a tight end to block him out of the play as the Eagles successfully ran trap play after trap play.

Pittsburgh Steelers – After the Pittsburgh Steelers were destroyed on opening day by the Baltimore Ravens, everybody, including myself, wrote them off. Well, Mike Tomlin is proving to be a very resilient coach. He’s got the Pittsburgh Steelers playing at a high level. The Steelers play ball control offense and really controlled that game from the opening snap and kept the Patriots defense off-balance. Ben Roethlisberger played extremely well. This was probably his best game of the season.

Misses
Dallas Cowboys – It’s okay to get beaten on national TV. It’s not okay to get spanked by a division rival. The Dallas Cowboys were never in this game. Not for a minute. I watched this game a couple times. The Cowboys could not stop the run and they couldn’t stop the pass. On offense, they made several mistakes early, resulting in penalties and sacks. Once they punted the football to Philadelphia the first time and Philadelphia scored again, the game was over (14-0). Brad Sham and Babe Laufenberg, long-time Dallas Cowboys announcers, stated that the Cowboys needed to forget this game and move on. I don’t think so. I think the Cowboys need to study this game. I know the rest of the league is studying this game and trying to figure out how they can replicate some of the plays. If the Dallas Cowboys defense doesn’t get this fixed, it’s going to be a long season.

Washington Redskins – What happened? As bad as the Dallas Cowboys were beaten, you could probably argue that the Washington Redskins were beaten even worse. Their offense was inept. Their defense was ineffectual. Their defense, as with the Dallas Cowboys, was supposed to be the strength of the team. Fred Jackson, arguably one of the best running backs in the league, ran for 120 yards. It was an embarrassing performance by the Redskins. I’m still confused as to why Mike Shanahan thought that Rex Grossman was the answer. Maybe he looks really, really good in practice.

New Orleans Saints – Just as I’m ready to jump on the New Orleans Saints bandwagon and was beginning to believe that they’re playing good football, they lay an egg. What was that? They made the St. Louis Rams look like a playoff team. St. Louis was beating them on both sides of the football. It was ugly. Drew Breeze had absolutely no time to look over the field. He seemed to be sacked about 100 times (it was only six). The Saints have some issues. They’ve got to get them fixed if they’re going to make a run for the playoffs.

Honorable mentions – I’m still not believing in Tim Tebow. As a quarterback in this league, you have to be able throw the ball accurately… He can’t or hasn’t. BTW, this has nothing to do with believing in him. It has to do with the hard work that it takes to throw the ball accurately. Eli Manning played well but I’m not sure why the Giants had to struggle to get a win over the Miami Dolphins. I don’t know what to think about Joe Flacco. I know that he has to play well in order for the Ravens to win. When you’re looking at Andy Dalton, Tim Tebow and some of these other young quarterbacks, you should compare them to Cam Newton, who is playing some really fantastic football. I’m not sure that San Francisco is as good as some people say their are. Let’s wait a couple weeks before we crown them, but I do tip my hat to anyone who’s played as consistently well as they have. I’m not sure what to make out of the Kansas City Chiefs. I do know that the San Diego Chargers are not playing that well.

Tags: NFL by ecthompson md
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Artist: Jill Scott
Tune: Lovely Day

Tags: Music by ecthompson md
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The great former Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton, Robert Reich, explains why are our economy is not going anywhere.

1. Since 1980 GDP has doubled but wages have been flat. (See graph one and graph two.)

GDP in trillions

Median Income adjusted to 2010 dollars

It took me a couple of hours to figure out how to graph median income. I don’t know why it was so hard. Anyway, here it is. What do you see?

2. Almost all of the gains have gone to the super rich.

3. The power of the wealthy has driven the top marginal tax rate down since 1979.

Top tax rate is 35% but the rich pay far less

4. Our total tax receipts are 14.9% of our GDP. The last time that our receipts were this low was 1943!

5. Consumer spending equals 60% of our GDP. In order to get our economy going we have to get the middle class feeling like they can spend money again.

Tags: Economy, Taxes by ecthompson md
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Over the last 15 years, Republicans have decided that they cannot win at the ballot box. Instead, they’ve decided to defund the Democratic Party. This is a multi-pronged attack on Democrats. One of the efforts to decrease the number of Democrats is to simply make it harder for you and me to register to vote. Look at what’s happening in Florida and other states around the country. Voter ID laws, shortening the length of time for early voting and other tactics are specifically designed to decrease the number of Democrats who go to the polls. Secondly, they’ve decided to attack unions. Unions, for the most part, overwhelmingly vote Democratic. They help organize the Democratic Party. They help get out the vote. So, one way that you can limit the power of unions is by cleverly taking away their power. The power of the union is its ability to bargain for it union members. That is the strength. If you and I go to the boss and say that we deserve better benefits or higher salary, it is easy for the boss to fire us and replace us with somebody else. On the other hand, if a large union goes to management and says the same thing, right now, management needs to bargain with the union in order to avoid a general strike of union workers. Without collective bargaining, unions are dead. If unions die, one of the huge engines of the Democratic Party dies also.

Republicans aren’t stupid. They are hardheaded and ideological and facts almost never penetrate their craniums, but they aren’t stupid.

Watch the video on how Republicans are making it harder to vote all over the country:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Tags: Civil Rights by ecthompson md
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I think everyone knows that sexual harassment should be taken seriously. It is not the end of the world or for your campaign if you are accused of sexual harassment. But, if you are going to let a story drip out little by little, it will kill your campaign. If you tell multiple different stories, you are in big trouble. If you let five days go by without clearing the air, you are sunk. Welcome to the world of Herman Cain. This is what happens when you shoot from the hip and don’t run an organized campaign. This story could have been squashed two days ago. On Monday, Cain could have said nothing all day and met with his team. They could have formulated a message and then that night on Hannity or O’Reilly, he could have sat down and told everything that he knew. He could have told his story in his way. He could have answered every question until there weren’t any more. Then he would have been done. Now, it is too late for that. He and his campaign are in deep, deep nastiness.

Herman Cain has been looking, searching for someone to blame. Conservatives love to blame the media, but that hasn’t worked. As a matter of fact, Politico, who broke the story, asked the Cain campaign for a response days before the story broke. Recently, it has been Perry and Romney that Herman Cain is lashing out at. The problem with Herman Cain is Herman Cain. He has no one to blame for not controlling this story but himself and his campaign.

Another Great column by Charles Blow:

Tags: Elections, Party Politics by ecthompson md
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So, we need jobs. Tomorrow morning we are going to get another awful jobs report. 11 million Americans need jobs and the knuckleheads in the Senate killed a $60 billion jobs bill. Thousands of jobs which we need now have gone up in smoke.

Tags: Economy by ecthompson md
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I’m not a nuclear expert, but off the top of my head I know several countries that have nuclear weapons. Let’s see… there is Israel, France, Britain, Pakistan, India. Oh, Russia and North Korea. That’s it. Oh, damn, I forgot. CHINA. How can someone who is running for president (Herman Cain) not know that China is a nuclear country? Either he is a moron or he thinks that you and I are.

Tags: Foreign Affairs by ecthompson md
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Ronald Reagan supported infrastructure spending. Do you think the GOP cares? I don’t. They only care about defeating Barack Obama. They don’t care about anything else… except lining their own pockets.

Reagan said:

So, what we’re proposing is to add the equivalent of five cents per gallon to the existing Federal highway user fee, the gas tax. That hasn’t been increased for the last 23 years. The cost to the average motorist will be small, but the benefit to our transportation system will be immense. The program will also stimulate 170,000 jobs, not in make-work projects but in real, worthwhile work in the hard-hit construction industries, and an additional 150,000 jobs in related industries. It will improve safety on our highways and will make truck transportation more efficient and productive for years to come.

Tags: Economy, Party Politics by ecthompson md
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It is unclear whether the Citizens United decision will be one of the worst Supreme Court decisions in the last half-century or not. What is clear is we are living the results of that decision. This group, Citizens United, is spending well over $100,000 in Ohio in order to support a law which strips workers’ collective bargaining rights. They want to defeat a referendum which overturns that law.

Corporations are not people. Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico has introduced a joint Senate resolution to overturn the Citizens United decision with a constitutional amendment. I think that this is a longshot at best, but we need to start somewhere. Maybe the Occupy Wall Street movement can latch onto this constitutional amendment and give it an infusion of energy.

Tags: Legal by ecthompson md
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Occupy Oakland

The Occupy Oakland movement decided to stage a general strike today. Many businesses were shut down. We need to support the Occupy movement. This is all about giving American workers a fair shake.

Tags: Business by ecthompson md
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