Video: Bill O’Reilly and the NAACP’s Hilary Shelton discuss TeaPartyTracker.Org

Yvonne Hiller Taken into Custody After Allegedly Fatally Shooting Two Employees at Kraft Foods Philadelphia Plant

Yvonne Hiller was taken into police custody Thursday night after she allegedly shot employees inside a Kraft Foods baking plant in northeast Philadelphia. According to Philly.com, Hiller, who was identified by coworkers, had just been suspended from her job and escorted out. She later returned with a handgun and started shooting killing two and wounding one employee.

Hiller was taken into custody by SWAT after a standoff on the second floor of the plant at 12000 Roosevelt Blvd., police said. About 100 workers were reportedly inside the plant, which was formerly operated by Nabisco, when the shooting started at 8:45 p.m., police said.When police arrived, the woman fired one shot at three officers but they did not return fire. After turning out lights on the second floor, the woman hunkered down in an office

until she was arrested at 9:35 p.m. and gun was recovered. Source

Here you have innocent, hardworking and decent people trying to earn their keep, yet Yvonne Hiller had so little regard for them during her shooting rampage. There is just so much madness occurring on a daily basis across the nation that one has to wonder when it will come to an end. There has been so much gun violence in the news lately with no end in sight.

Posted by Janet Shan

Joyce Hawkins Says Michael Jackson Died For Chris Brown

R&B singer Chris Brown’s mother Joyce Hawkins took to her Twitter to trash the memory of one of the greatest artists of all-time, Michael Jackson, who tragically died last year, by basically claiming her son is the Second Coming of the King Of Pop.

Chris Brown’s Michael Jackson Tribute at 2010 BET Awards (Video)

Joyce (@mombreezy) seriously needs to stop expressing herself in CAPS. It’s childish, shows a poor level of education and lack of respect for others. I digress. She initially tweeted (via ONTD), “Michael Jackson died so that Chris Brown could live!!!!”

This woman is completely delusional if she thinks she can compare Chris to Michael Jackson and certainly desperate for attention. This is not the best way to promote her son. In fact, Joyce angered so many Michael’s fans and music lovers that she was forced to delete the tweet and apologize.

Chris Brown’s Eye Drops Faked Tears At BET Awards

Joyce explained, “This tweet was a spiritual tweet!! No way was this meant to say Chris would take his place. No one could ever do that.” She later added, “I’m sorry I offended anyone. The statement meant Chris would carry on Michael’s legacy. Angels you know what I meant and God know what I meant. I will never stop praising God’s name. This is a beautiful day!! No matter what.”

Joyce must learn to stop using God’s name whenever she screws up because this could be Chris’ career death sentence. What Joyce said was insensitive, cruel and sick. If she really wanted to say Chris would carry on Michael’s legacy, she would have said just that. But, that was not what she said.


By  Rita Pereira

Michael Douglas Says His Cancer Came At A Good Time

According to actor Michael Douglas his diagnosis of throat cancer could not have come at a better time.
The 65 year old is currently in the midst of an 8 week treatment for the disease, which includes chemotherapy and radiation sessions.


Douglas is a huge sports fan and says that his cancer has given him plenty of time to catch up on his favorite sports on television.

“Tennis has never been better, college football just started and it’s been a great weekend of college football - I’ve got a Monday-night game coming up with the Jets, so sports looks really good… So, what’s not to like?” he said at a press conference to promote his new movie.

In the movie, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps in New York he stars alongside Shia LaBeouf and Carey Mulligan.

He recently told People, “I’m just taking it a day at a time and trying to do my homework with the programme and rest. It’s just another chapter, and I’ve had a pretty good run of it. This has been a pretty bad year but topped off with a really good movie,” he said.

Janet Jackson’s Promo Poster For New Tyler Perry Movie “For Colored Girls”

Janet Jackson looks a little scary on the movie poster for Tyler Perry’s “For Colored Girls.” Are you a fan of Tyler Perry movies?  This film hits theaters in November.

James Franco Would Admit if He Were Gay

 By Amy Grindhouse.

 James Franco covers the latest issue of The Advocate, though he’s not wearing jaunty glasses so you’re free to skip this and re-read the Daniel Radcliffe Out magazine post if you’d like. In the issue, excerpts below, the actor talks about why he’s happy to play gay characters where others in Hollywood might shy away, his guest role on General Hospital, and why he would or would not have personal motive to come out as gay and the affect it would have on his career.

• On whether he’d admit if he were gay: “Sure, I’d tell you if I was. I guess the reason I wouldn’t is because I’d be worried that it would hurt my career. I suppose that’s the reason one wouldn’t do that, right? But no, that wouldn’t be something that would deter me. I’m going to do projects that I want to do. Everyone thinks I’m a stoner, and some people think I’m gay because I’ve played these gay roles. That’s what people think, but it’s not true. I don’t smoke pot. I’m not gay…”
• On why he chooses to portray gay characters: “In this history of cinema, there are so many heterosexual love stories. It’s so hammered, so done. It’s just not that interesting to me. It’s more interesting to me to play roles and relationships that haven’t been portrayed as often.”
• On how nothing would have stopped him from doing ‘Howl’: “You want to know what my agents did try to talk me out of? General Hospital. They didn’t think me acting in a soap opera was the greatest idea. But they know that I’ve always wanted to do a movie about the Beats, so no one tried to stop me from playing Allen Ginsberg.”

Concord Man Arrested for Providing Bomb-Making Advice

Complaint Alleges Women’s Health Clinic Was Target

GREENSBORO, NC—John W. Stone, Jr., Acting United States Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina, announced today that Justin Carl Moose, 26, of Concord, North Carolina was arrested on September 7, 2010 on charges of providing information related to the making, use, or manufacture of an explosive, destructive device, or weapon of mass destruction to a person Moose believed was planning to bomb a women’s health clinic in North Carolina.

The Criminal Complaint alleges that Moose utilized a social networking website as a platform to advocate violence against women’s health care clinics—specifically locations where abortions are performed—and the health care professionals employed at these facilities. Furthermore, the Complaint alleges that during the week immediately preceding his arrest, Moose spoke and met with a confidential source and provided detailed information and instruction about various explosives or incendiary methods for the purpose of enabling the source to destroy an abortion clinic in North Carolina.

The Criminal Complaint charges Moose with violating Title 18, United States Code, Section 842(p)(2)(B), Distribution of Information Relating to Explosives, Destructive Devices, and Weapons of Mass Destruction. If convicted, Moose faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000.00 fine.

Moose had an initial appearance in Greensboro on the day of his arrest. He is scheduled for a detention hearing in Greensboro at 2:30 p.m. on September 13, 2010.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

A Criminal Complaint is a probable cause charging document. Every defendant accused of committing a federal crime has a Constitutional right to be indicted by a federal grand jury. The charges are only allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty. Posted by Sergeant Zachary J. Foster

Wikileaks to soon release massive new cache of military documents

Newsweek reports that Wikileaks will soon publish what is believed to be an extremely large cache of war documents, constituting the biggest military leak of all time. The exact number of documents and the nature of their contents have not been revealed, but the material may include what imprisoned Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning is believed to have passed along to WikiLeaks earlier this year. From the Newsweek article:

A London-based journalism nonprofit is working with the WikiLeaks Web site and TV and print media in several countries on programs and stories based on what is described as massive cache of classified U.S. military field reports related to the Iraq War. Iain Overton, editor of The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, tells Declassified that his organization has teamed up with media organizations--including major television networks and one or more American media outlets--in an unspecified number of countries to produce a set of documentaries and stories based on the cache of Iraq War documents in the possession of WikiLeaks. As happened with a similar WikiLeaks collection of tens of thousands of U.S. military field reports on the Afghan war, the unidentified media organizations involved with the London group in the Iraq documents project will all be releasing their stories on the same day, which Overton says would be several weeks from now. He declined to identify any of the media organizations participating in the project.

Through its Twitter account, Wikileaks today issued a "no comment" on reports that the documents were related to Iraq. The last large leak publication by Wikileaks contained material related to the war in Afghanistan. Read the full Newsweek piece here, and Wired News has more.

Bi-partisanship comes back from the dead: "Republican Voinovich of Ohio to back small-business incentives in Senate bill"

WaPo:

Retiring Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) said he plans to help push a package of small-business incentives through the Senate next week, a move that would give President Obama and congressional Democrats a key victory on the economy in the final weeks before the November midterm elections.

In an interview, Voinovich said he could no longer support Republican efforts to delay the measure in hopes of winning the right to offer additional amendments. Most of the proposed GOP amendments "didn't have anything to do with the bill" anyway, Voinovich said, and amounted merely to partisan "messaging."

"We don't have time for messaging," Voinovich said. "We don't have time anymore. This country is really hurting." MORE...

By Howard Martin

Will LA Have Another Riot?

The recent shooting of an illegal alien, a Guatemalan day laborer, who menaced passers-by (mostly women and children) with a knife while drunk, and got shot when he attacked a police officer, has drawn protests and violent skirmishes. The question is, will LA see another riot?


Westlake, which generations ago used to be a nice, gentrified area, is now completely controlled by Central American gangs, mostly MS-13, and is the site of frequent Communist / Black Block agitators. The same folks who gave you the May Day riots a few years ago. The new Police Chief, directed by illegal-alien panderer Antonio Villaraigosa, LA's "Latino Mayor" has offered "community meetings" and dialog (instead of arrests and cracking heads). As a result, LA seems poised for a riot.

The vitriolic response to the shooting has surprised many department and elected officials. With the knife recovered at the scene, eyewitness accounts allegedly supporting the authorities' claim that Jamines advanced aggressively toward the officers, and no racial overtones to the shooting, the incident did not seem to be one that would cause such an eruption of anger.

In an interview Wednesday, Beck blamed the unrest on outside groups that, he said, seized on the killing as an opportunity to foment anger toward the police.

The area's large population of immigrant day laborers, who have struggled to find work during the city's financial collapse and have grown frustrated with the LAPD's aggressive stance against the neighborhood's ubiquitous illegal street vendors, may have been particularly receptive to the calls for upheaval, Beck said.

"It has been a bunch of agitators pushing the envelope and using individuals as their pawns," he said.

At least some of the disorder seemed to have been fueled by such groups. About a dozen people who appeared to be affiliated with the Revolutionary Communist Party handed out literature about the group's beliefs and other cases of officer-involved shootings, and chanted messages over bullhorns about a communist revolution. Among those arrested Tuesday night was Jubilee Shine, 40, of South Los Angeles, who heads a group called the Coalition for Community Control Over the Police.

Hernandez, the officer who shot Jamines, remains ineligible for patrol assignments, police officials said. An officer involved in a shooting is kept off the streets until the chief has received a formal briefing on the incident and the officer is cleared by a department psychologist to return to full duty.

Note: the officer who shot the Guatemalan illegal alien day laborer (who was completely drunk at the time) is himself, Hispanic.

Stupidity abounds:

Carol Sobel, a civil-rights attorney who has clashed with the LAPD over the use of force, echoed several protesters and residents in the area who questioned why Hernandez had not been able to shoot Jamines in the arm or leg.

"I can understand if the person has a gun, that the officer should shoot to kill. But, in this case, with a knife, it seems to me this could be excessive," she said.

Deputy Chief Sandy Jo MacArthur, who oversees training for the LAPD, said officers are put through simulation machines that mimic real-life scenarios in which the decision to use deadly force must be made in seconds.

Officers are not taught to "shoot to kill" or to "shoot to wound," she said, but are trained to aim always at an aggressor's "center mass" — roughly the belly or chest — to stop the person from advancing. If that does not stop the person, officers are trained to aim at the suspect's head, MacArthur said.

What this is about, really, is control. Control of the Westlake area, with the Gang members, day laborers (often the same people), and the Communist/community agitators (again often the same people) wanting to use the incident to push the Police out and seize control. If a riot breaks out, all the better to loot the area completely (and burn the remaining evidence). Above all, it is a statement of dominance. Central American gangs and illegal aliens control the city, not the Police. Certainly not the White Westsiders or those in the Valley.

Reportedly, attempts were made to attack the Rampart Station, and rush inside, the previous night (that of Sep 8-9). It seems likely this stand-off will grow only more intense, until one side breaks. All it will take, is a political call by the Mayor to withdraw from certain areas and streets, and the crowd will gather enough force to create a mob. One that can attack with impunity (on live TV). Once control has been ceded, it will take the National Guard to return it.

LA is a powder keg. The illegals here feel no affection for LA, it is not their home or homeland. It is merely a place to be looted. Eventually, it will be.

What the fall-out from that will be is another issue.

 

Posted by Whiskey 

Wyeth Paid Ghostwriters to Promote Hormone Therapy Drugs

This is really shameful behavior, and (almost) hard to believe. I say “almost” because there was a drug company involved, and we have learned over the past 10-15 years there is apparently nothing they won’t do for a profit. Here are excerpts from a Reuters article about how the drug company Wyeth used ghostwriters to play up the benefits and downplay the harm of hormone replacement therapy in articles published in medical journals.

Dr. Adriane Fugh-Berman of Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington analyzed dozens of ghostwritten reviews and commentaries published in medical journals and journal supplements, many of them using documents from judicial trials.

She said Wyeth, now owned by Pfizer, paid a medical communication company called DesignWrite $25,000 to ghostwrite articles on clinical studies, including four testing low-dose Prempro, the company’s combination estrogen-progestin therapy.

She said the articles were intended to mitigate concerns that hormone replacement therapy raises the risk of breast cancer, and to support the unfounded idea that the drugs offer some protection against heart disease.

Fugh-Berman said DesignWrite was also assigned to write 20 review articles about the drug at $20,000 each. She said the company was expected to promote unauthorized use of the drug to prevent dementia, Parkinson’s disease, vision troubles and even wrinkles.

Use of HRT plummeted in 2002 after the publication of the Women’s Health Initiative study, which found an increased risk of ovarian cancer, breast cancer, strokes and other health problems from hormone therapy.

Sales of U.S. market leader Wyeth’s Prempro have fallen by about 50 percent since 2001 to around $1 billion a year.

“Given the growing evidence that ghostwriting has been used to promote hormone therapy and other highly promoted drugs, the medical profession must take steps to ensure that prescribers renounce participation in ghostwriting, and to ensure that unscrupulous relationships between industry and academia are avoided rather than courted,” Fugh-Berman wrote in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Medicine.

A 2008 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association used court papers to suggest Merck had drafted research studies for its now defunct painkiller Vioxx and then went looking for doctors to add their names to the studies before they were published.

By Bob Kraft

Obama Kabash on Wealthy Tax Credits Secretly Targetting Millionaire Rappers?

Posted by Juan

Will Jay-Z and rich rap friends turn their back on Obama after he puts an end to their Bush Era tax free-for-all?

@barackobama, jayz #irs #taxcredit
For some time now, Jay-Z has taunted his peers over his income with lines like “what you call money, I pay more in taxes.”  And while we recently learned that to actually be a true statement, he might have to call his accountant after Today’s announcement by President Obama. 

While much of the Hip Hop world was very supportive of President Obama’s campaign the truth of the matter is for a wealthy entertainer, especially the caliber of Jay-Z, Lil Wayne or the 900 Karat Birdman Obama and the Democratic policies are probably more counterproductive to those of the rich friendly Bush Administration.  And today, President Obama announced that he will not be extending his predecessors tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans setting the stage for Democrats in midterm elections this Fall.

Obama’s new economic package which he announced during his address proposes an extension of tax cuts for the 98 percent of Americans with incomes below $250,000 for couples and below $200,000 for individuals.  Clearly even the most creative of the Jiggaman’s accountants couldn’t convince the IRS that he is eligible.  Hmmm…maybe it wasn’t a good time for him to buy an island for his wife. 

The President hopes that the announcement will publicilly draw the line in the sand painting Republicans who traditionally vote down all his suggestions as supporting the wealthy instead of working class Americans.  And what is infinately more damning for their image and popularity leading into the elections, voting against ending the Bush Tax Credits in turn would be supporting Hip Hop.  All those mysogonistic rap lyrics, violence and sex.  Who wants that on their resume.

So while in 2008 Hip Hop may have bragged about being an important cog in electing the President by throwing benefit concerts, creating Will.i.am support viral videos and raising awareness, The President may have alienated and important base today by pissing of the very mouth that feeds him.  There goes the end of his name drops in rap songs.

PA City’s Anti-Immigration Law Voided By Federal Appeals Court

Hazleton, Pa.’s 2006 law clamping down on illegal immigrants, which prompted similar moves across the U.S., has been declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the Washington Post reports. The city’s Illegal Immigration Relief Act would penalize landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and employers who hire them. The appellate court upheld a lower court ruling  that cities and towns did not have the power to enact such legislation, ruling that authority over illegal immigration lies solely with the federal government.


It is the latest in a string of court challenges to local measures aimed at illegal immigration. A similar ordinance approved by residents of Fremont, Ne., has been put on hold by the city, which anticipates a court challenge. Key sections of an Arizona law that would allow police officers to check the immigration status of suspects stopped for something else, were held up by a federal judge in July after challenges by the federal government and others. Chief Judge Theodore McKee’s 188-page opinion concluded that the Pennsylvania city’s ordinance was “pre-empted by federal immigration law and unconstitutional.”

Unusual Stuff San Bruno Neighborhood Explodes

by Ron Hogan



San Bruno, California, was once like any other neighborhood on the outskirts of San Francisco.  It was kind of like every other neighborhood anywhere else in the world, until one fateful moment when the earth caught fire.  San Bruno is serviced by natural gas pipelines from Pacific Gas and Electric, and those PG&E lines are what caused a massive gas explosion that damaged 120 homes and injured dozens of people.  Unfortunately, it’s only going to get worse.

“The whole house shook, and I got up…and my living room filled with an orange glow.  And when I went to my front door, I looked out and everything was just flames,” said Judy Serresseque, who evacuated after the blast after her husband.  “The heat was intense, and you could hear it, you could hear the hiss.”

The fire is apparently 50 percent contained at the moment, but given the dry conditions and the fact that natural gas fires are notoriously hard to put out, the blaze could burn for days longer.  Complicating matters are gas pipes near home, a lack of water, and the gusty winds.  Here’s hoping they can get the fires contained before anyone else gets hurt or any other neighborhoods get damaged by flames.

Marvin Sapp Wife Dies

It’s a sad day in the gospel music world.   Pastor Marvin Sap has lost his wife of 15-years to colon cancer.

Malinda Sapp passed away earlier today due to complications from the disease.

Praise Houston first broke the news writing, ““It’s with our deepest sympathy that we inform you that Pastor Marvin Sapp’s wife MaLinda Sapp has passed on today after battling colon cancer.”


MaLinda had been diagnosed with Stage 4 Colon Cancer in 2009.  Following treatment, she was given a clean bill of health before her cancer recurred earlier this year.  Pastor Sapp had been calling for around-the-clock prayer for his wife from his fans in the gospel community.

The couple have three children – Marvin II, Mikaila, and Madisson.

MaLinda’s was a limited licensed psychologist, licensed professional counselor and a college professor.  In addition, she supported her husband’s gospel career by serving as manager for Marvin Sapp and was credited as Executive Producer on many of his audio and video recordings.

Marvin Sapp is best known for chart topping Gospel songs “Never Would Have Made It” and “The Best in Me”.
Our deepest condolences go out to the Sapp family.

A New Direction for Spin By Richard A. Lee

In today’s media environment, most major news stories are accompanied by healthy doses of spin.

This week, BP issued a 193-page report that attempts to shift much of the blame for the world's biggest offshore spill to two other companies. Last month in New Jersey, when the state lost out on $400 million in federal education because of a clerical error on its application for the funds, Governor Christie attempted to turn the table and blame the Obama Administration for acting “like mindless drones” and not contacting state officials for the needed information.

Spin may be more prevalent today, but by no means is it new. Franklin Delano Roosevelt conducted press conferences on a regular schedule so he had the ability to set the agenda for the press and provide reporters with a regular flow of news. In addition, members of his staff often would plant questions with reporters so that they would ask about a topic the President wished to stress.

Other Presidents continued to manage the news, but not as overtly as FDR. In order to keep the news about the Eisenhower Administration positive, the President’s press secretary, James Hagerty, used the White House as his venue for announcing favorable missile tests, but when there were failures, shifted the announcements to military locations. It was a subtle but effective mechanism.

The practice of spin today, however, is much more overt.

For example, in an Oval Office speech to the nation on August 31, President Obama announced that the American combat mission in Iraq has ended. That sounds great, but the 50,000 American troops remaining in Iraq probably would not describe the situation in the same celebratory tones that have been used stateside since the President’s announcement.

Likewise, with many questions still unanswered about the gaffe that cost New Jersey $400 million in federal education monies, Governor Christie declared an end to the controversy last week and told reporters it was time to move on.

Earlier this month, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer took things one step further. When reporters challenged her to provide evidence to support her claim that illegal immigrants had beheaded people in an Arizona desert, she simply ignored the question. The Governor paused and smiled, said “thank you,” and then walked away. (A few days later, she admitted that she had “misspoke” when she made the claim.)

Even New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi is getting in on the act, setting the terms for discussion of rumors that he may leave the Bronx Bombers next season to manage the Chicago Cubs. “I'm going to talk about it for a few minutes today and that's going to be it,” he told the media.

So why are politicians and other public figures acting so boldly today?

Public attitude toward the media has a lot to do with it. According to a 2009 Project for Excellence in Journalism report, the American public believes that the news media are politically biased, that stories are often inaccurate, and that journalists do not care about the people on whom they report. With public opinion of the press so low, it becomes easier to take a shot at the media – and get away with it.

The poor fiscal condition of the industry also is a factor. News organizations no longer have the personnel and the resources to cover stories with the same scrutiny as in the past. Just this week, The Star-Ledger, New Jersey’s largest newspaper, announced plans to cut salaries and offer buyouts to keep the publication in business. This will mark the newspaper’s third round of buyouts since 2008.

Nevertheless, journalists continue to report the news and serve as watchdogs regardless of the financial status of their employer. It was The Star-Ledger that broke the story about the error that cost New Jersey the $400 million in federal funding. And the Associated Press is not buying the claim that the war in Iraq is over. “To begin with, combat in Iraq is not over, and we should not uncritically repeat suggestions that it is, even if they come from senior officials,” AP Standards Editor Tom Kent wrote in a September 2 memo to his colleagues.

In the memo, Kent also addressed claims that the remaining 50,000 American troops are merely serving in advisory and training roles: “Our own reporting on the ground confirms that some of these troops, especially some 4,500 special operations forces, continue to be directly engaged in military operations. These troops are accompanying Iraqi soldiers into battle with militant groups and may well fire and be fired on.”

Back in 1964, when American troops in Vietnam also were being described advisors and trainers, singer/songwriter Phil Ochs wrote a song that made a point very similar to Kent’s memo: “A sniper tried to shoot us down; he must have forgotten, we're only trainees,” he sang in “Talking Vietnam.”

Ochs, who studied journalism at Ohio University, described himself as a singing journalist. He lived in an earlier era, but if were still alive, he might not be that uncomfortable in today’s world of spin. As an outspoken opponent of the Vietnam War, he wrote a song declaring that the war was over.

Perhaps that song, “The War Is Over,” would make a good addition to President Obama’s iPod.

# # #

Richard A. Lee is Communications Director of the Hall Institute of Public Policy – New Jersey.  A former journalist and Deputy Communications Director for the Governor, he also teaches courses in media and government at Rutgers University, where he is completing work on a Ph.D. in media studies.