Samuel Jackson to Play MLK on Broadway

Samuel Jackson has been cast as Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Broadway production of the play "The Mountaintop," a dramatic exploration of the Nobel Prize-winning civil rights leader's final night before being assassinated.

The production, which opened two years ago in London and won the prestigious Olivier Award for Best Play, will open in October in New York. Jackson had long been rumored to star; rumored co-star Halle Berry was unable to join due to her ongoing child custody issues with ex Gabriel Aubry.

King was gunned down on April 4th, 1968, on the porch of his Memphis hotel. The night before, having earlier had his plane delayed by bomb threats, he gave a rousing speech, now known as the "I've Been To The Mountaintop Address."

In the speech, King alluded to the threats on his life, and in the play, he examines his life and decisions as he unknowingly closes in on the last moments of his life.

Read more at The Huffington Post

Video: Kidnapped Italian activist killed in Gaza Al Jazeera

Ex-NY comptroller Hevesi gets 1-4 years in prison

NEW YORK (AP) — Former New York state comptroller Alan Hevesi will have to spend time behind bars for his leading role in an influence-peddling scandal at the state's massive pension fund.

The Democrat was sentenced Friday to 1 to 4 years in prison.

The 71-year-old pleaded guilty in October to a felony corruption charge. He admitted getting free travel and campaign contributions in exchange for helping a financier get to manage a $250 million share of the pension fund's investment dollars.

Hevesi was the highest-ranking state official entangled in a sweeping probe of "pay-to-play" practices at the $141 billion pension fund.

Hevesi resigned in 2006 after pleading guilty to a felony for using state workers to chauffeur his wife. The pension case emerged after he left office.

ALG Supports Garrett Balanced Budget Bill

April 15th, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement in support of the Republican Study Committee 2012 budget proposal that will achieve a balanced budget by 2020:

“Americans for Limited Government supports the Republican Study Committee budget proposal by Representative Scott Garrett as it is the only comprehensive approach to the budget that achieves balance within the next ten years. Our nation can no longer afford for politicians to just mouth the words balanced budget, it is time to get serious, and the Jordan budget proposal puts America back on the path to fiscal sanity.”

Permalink here.

Budgeting Apples and Oranges

By Robert Romano
A battle has broken out between the tea party movement and House Republicans over just what the now-enacted continuing resolution (CR) for fiscal year 2011 will achieve in real savings. Activists have been responding to AP reports that the resolution cutting $38.5 billion would only result in $352 million in actual cuts to outlays in 2011.

How can this be?
The difference is between the not-commonly-understood “budgeting authority” for 2011 versus outlays that will actually occur in 2011.

Here’s the facts: the 2011 CR addresses the non-emergency budgeting authority for 2011. It authorizes $1.049 trillion of spending versus the total $1.364 trillion discretionary portion of the budget that will actually be spent this year. Why the difference?

Because discretionary outlays for 2011 serve as a function of the 2011 non-emergency budgeting authority plus the war supplemental plus budgeting authorities enacted by previous Congresses. All that was on the table with the continuing resolution was the non-emergency portion, and a small portion of mandatory spending.

Get full story here.

The Ryan Plan and Medicare Out-of-Pocket Costs

By Victor Morawski
Would the Ryan Plan’s Medicare reforms actually result in higher out-of-pocket costs to seniors? This charge by its critics overlooks one of its most important cost-controlling features.
While much of the criticism from the Left greeting the newly announced Medicare reforms contained in The Path to Prosperity, the new budget proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan and the GOP, have been mostly empty rhetoric, recent charges by columnist Ezra Klein aimed at the cost savings of the Ryan plan have contained more substance.

Comparing the Ryan plan to ObamaCare, The Affordable Care Act, Klein portrays it as a plan whose “savings are largely an illusion” because it has “just taken the government’s medical-costs problem and pushed it onto families” who will ultimately be paying 70 percent instead of a current 30 percent of their Medicare insurance costs out-of-pocket — the real reason that the deficit goes down under the Ryan plan according to him.

Get full story here.

Did Obama ignite Wyatt’s Torch?

By Rick Manning
Originally published at The Daily Caller.
In the Ayn Rand novel Atlas Shrugged, Ellis Wyatt creates the enduring image of the book when he sets his shale oil field in Colorado on fire rather than turn it over to the federal government. The resulting fire, called Wyatt’s Torch, could not be put out, and stood as the symbol of the producers rejecting their enslavement by the masses including their economic competitors who were more reliant on the government picking winners and losers than on their own ingenuity, drive and excellence.

President Obama laid out a vision for America yesterday that could have been ripped from the pages of Atlas Shrugged. Long on rhetoric, promising magical spending reductions, Obama’s plan can be reduced to one simple principle. If you are successful in America, your money is the government’s to take.
Get permalink here.

Yemen unrest: Rival forces clash in Sanaa

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13062178

Rival Yemeni forces have clashed in the capital Sanaa, killing two soldiers, as protests continued across the country.

Troops loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh clashed with those supporting Gen Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, who has defected to the opposition.

In the southern city of Aden, soldiers opened fire as protesters threw stones and set up roadblocks to stop troops patrolling the streets.

One person was killed and several others wounded, reports say.

Tens of thousands of people are marching in cities across the country, as protesters keep up weeks of pressure aimed at forcing President Saleh out of power after 32 years in office.

———-

so we know have 2 sides officially..so when is the UN going in? and which side will they be on?

401

by seeker401

Palestine: Kidnapping of Italian Activist in Gaza

Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni was kidnapped today in Gaza by a Salafi-Jihadi group, who say they will kill him if Sheikh Abu Al Waleed Al Maqdisi, recently arrested by the Hamas government, is not released.

Vittorio Arrigoni (profile picture from Facebook)

Arrigoni - known as Vik - has been in Gaza for over two years with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). (See this Global Voices post about him.) Gaza blogger Omar Ghraieb writes that Arrigoni's kidnappers are threatening to kill him:

Vittorio Arrigoni, 36, ISM volunteer in Gaza, was kidnapped earlier today in Gaza city. Later, a youtube video surfaced showing Vittorio blindfolded and beaten up.

Salafi Jehadis claimed the responsibility of kidnapping and abducting him asking Hamas government in Gaza to release Abu Al Waleed Al Maqdisi in 30 hours starting from 11 am today 14\4\2011 or else they would kill him.

All journos in Gaza, Vittorio's friends here and his friends everywhere ask Hamas to immediately intervene and release Vittorio who worked hard to help Gaza for a long time.
Please let's all pray for his safe release.

The video Arrigoni's kidnappers released has since been disabled. It showed Arrigoni blindfolded, having been beaten, with text rolling over the screen detailing the demands of his captors.

Written by Ayesha Saldanha

Gay former NBA player slams Kobe Bryant for Gay Slur

John Amaechi, one of the first NBA players to announce he’s gay, has ripped Kobe Bryant for calling a ref a f**king f***ot during a game this week. RADAR ONLINE reports Amaechi, 40, who played against Bryant in the late 1990s wasn’t happy.

“It was incredibly foolish — it made matters worse because it was really a non-apology. “Kobe Bryant who is a culture-setter in today’s society and never really fully addressed the implications of what he actually said. He seemed to be apologizing for the way people would interpret what he said, not the literal meaning of it. He did not accept full responsibility.”

Crystal Mangum: Duke Lacrosse Accuser Under Suspicion For Murder Of Boyfriend

Crystal Mangum picture

“The boyfriend of Crystal Mangum — stabbed April 3 during a domestic altercation — has died, Durham police confirmed this morning.

Durham police watch commander Lt. B. Reitz confirmed the death but did not have any information on additional charges against Mangum, who is currently in the Durham County jail on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury. Her bail is set at $300,000.”
READ MORE