A silly to serious, slightly left take on today's news headlines and social media trending topics.
Politics and news shaken but not stirred by your personal political bartender, Tammy Todd.
Hey, folks! Check out The Politico Happy Hut Twitter page @politichappyhut or yours truly, Tammy's @2tammytodd Twitter page for live tweets and photos from the Rally to Restore Sanity in Washington D.C. or if you too lazy check out the live tweets to the right of this blog entry.
This little video has become a hit on social media sites like Twitter since it's initial posting by Rebelliouspixels on YouTube. The video has received more than 227,000 views on YouTube.
CNN's Rick Sanchez stirred up controversy on Twitter Monday after he referred to President Obama as 'the cotton picking President.' Tweeters are still discussing the statement today.
Sanchez was eager to apologize once he realized that tweeters were reacting negatively to his statement. "I'm here on Twitter and I read what you write during the commercial breaks. Many of you are pointing out a fault... a faux pas that I just made... I want to apologize for it. Obviously I didn't mean any disrespect," Sanchez explained on air.
Civil rights leaders condemned the rally as an attempt to "hijack" the anniversary of Martin Luther King's iconic "I Have A Dream" speech made exactly 47 years ago from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
Mr Beck claimed it was "pure coincidence" that his rally – also centred on the Lincoln Memorial – just happened to fall on the anniversary of what many consider to be the greatest of all civil rights speeches.
Rev Al Sharpton, the fiery black leader who has engendered his own share of controversy, organised a rival rally a few miles away that culminated in a march to the future site of a King Memorial, within shouting distance of the Beck rally.
There was a heavy police and security presence and as the two rallies ended, on an almost perfect Washington summer's day, there were no reports of clashes despite earlier fears of conflict.
In rebuttal to Sarah Palin's 'Mama Grizzlies' video below, this video by EMILY's List, a national political group dedicated to electing pro-choice progressive women according to Politics Daily was posted on YouTube.
Women dressed in Mama Grizzly costumes take on Sarah Palin's campaign to co-opt what the thesaurus would call female courage, determination, firmness, fortitude, grit, guts, hardihood, heart, intestinal fortitude, mettle, moral fiber, nerve, pluck, resolution, resolve, spunk, stamina, steadfastness, tenacity, toughness , will, willpower and all around Mama Bear goodness. For shame Sarah. Save some grizzliness for the wimpy liberal girls!
Anyhoo, what do you think about all this grizzly madness?
It's a good thing the gulf shrimp aren't tainted -- I'd hate to be forced to eat at the Bubba Gump Slug Company. `Stephen Colbert/Stephenathome Twitter page
(Photo/Wiki: The World Trade Center site 17 days after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Buildings surrounding the site of the collapsed towers are fitted with mesh to prevent further damage and large construction vehicles are being used to clear debris.)
Well, it worked. Since late spring, the right wing has been harping on the Cordoba House project, a proposed Muslim cultural center (not a mosque; a cultural center with some worship space) that would occupy a building two blocks from Ground Zero in downtown Manhattan. Conservatives were certainly hoping the story would grab the public's attention (and hurt liberals), but most national Democrats refrained from addressing the issue for most of the summer.
A few weeks ago, the right's gambit seemed to have failed. The controversy was
You can be about love or hate. There are no other choices. Unless you are a politician. Then you can be about ambivalance, ambiguity, panegyric rhetoric and rigamarole. The rest of us can only be about love or hate.
Quips and tweets of bewilderment took "Fidel Castro" to the top of the Trending Topics list on Twitter. Fidel Castro made an appearance on Cuban current events program "Mesa Redonda," or "Round Table," in which the former Cuban leader discussed the state of affairs between the United States, Iran, and South Korea, as well as the risk of imminent war and nuclear holocaust.
Twitter was less interested with Fidel Castro's political views and more bemused by his reappearance after seemingly fallen off the face of the Earth since his intestinal surgery back in 2006. Not only did Castro return to the political spotlight - for a moment, at least - but he took Twitter's trending topics list by storm for the day too, much to everyone's surprise. Not too shabby for an 83 year-old ex-dictator.
Forty years of marriage is no small feat, which makes Al and Tipper Gore's reported separation both saddening and shocking. While many tweets express sympathy and disappointment, there is no shortage of tweets that make light of the situation, joking about the future of the the internet now that the couple has split.
This joke is inspired by the urban legend that Al Gore "invented" the internet, following a statement he gave in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer back in 1999 that was taken out of context.
For forty years, the marriage of Al and Tipper Gore revealed no signs of trouble: not even a hint of scandal. The abrupt change of heart suggests some trouble between them, but whether this is a recent development or born through years of drifting apart, no one can guess.
The Dalai Lama continues to generate positive responses on Twitter while he uses the platform to circumvent the Chinese government and to spread words of compassion. The Dalai Lama sat down with fellow Twitter user, Ann Curry for his first ever morning show interview. Watch the interview below.
On Friday the Dalai Lama used Twitter to answer questions from Chinese web users who have been shut out of an open discussion on the internet about Tibet by their government. "I personally have no demands -- my main concerns are the problems with Tibetan culture and the religion and environment of the Tibetan people," he said during the Twitter Q&A.
According to the AFP, “Nearly 12,000 people selected the 250 questions by online voting done on a Google Moderator site, which was blocked in China on Thursday.”
Tweets:
- @tinybuddha, "See the positive side, the potential, and make an effort." ~Dalai Lama Read more at Examiner.com
Celebrities like George Lopez, Shakira, and Eva Longoria among many others are tweeting off about the new Arizona immigration laws.
Arizona's harsh new immigration law cracks down hard on illegal immigrants, allowing police to stop and detain any person who looks like an illegal immigrant, and demand that they produce citizen documentation.
This means suspects (or rather, anyone hispanic-looking) must be ready to prove their identity and immigration status at any time. Law critics believe this new law will lead to racial profiling of hispanic and hispanic-looking people.
Citing racism as the catalyst for the law, celebrities are encouraging tweeters to stop the hate. On Twitter and Facebook, celebrities like John Cusack, Soulja Boy, Ricky Martin, Bridget Marquardt and many others have posted or tweeted on the subject.
- @georgelopez, "Arizona looking to become the first state with the " White to work" opps .. Good Luck with that AZ "
- @EvaLongoria, "What is happening? i feel like i am in a time warp! An aspect of the anti-Mexican hysteria that is getting lost:... http://bit.ly/9TmDsA
Sean Penn received an angry 'open letter' from actress Maria Conchita Alonso after he defended Hugo Chavez on the Real Time with Bill Maher show. Penn's statements prompted @tarheeltroll to tweet, "LIBERAL Sean Penn defends SOCIALIST DICTATOR Hugo Chavez. Why do libtards...HATE capitalism?" Penn's interview angered many tweeters.
Maria Conchita's open letter appeared in NewsBusters.com. Tweeters weighed in on Penn's endorsement. @Jenna_Ice tweeted, "Maria Conchita Alonso corrects Sean Penn in the best letter I've ever read in opposition to Hugo Chavez."
The letter starts off with this statement:
Even though I have great respect for your artistic talent, I was appalled by a recent television interview where you vigorously showed support for the regime of Hugo Chavez. Therefore, I've decided to set the record straight for you regarding the Chavez regime, supporting my case based not only on my political ideologies, but on proven facts you choose to ignore. Otherwise, I believe your position would be different.
Spurred on by pop singer Gloria Estefan, thousands of demonstrators protested in Miami in support of Cuban dissidents namely, the Las Damas de Bianco or the Ladies in White.
The ladies, dressed in white, are wives and mothers of dissidents and independent journalists who have been imprisoned in Cuba. The women have irritated the government of Cuba with a number of organized marches.
Vice President Joe Biden is giddy about the passage of the Health Care bill. So much so, he dropped the f-bomb on live television. The Vice President's slip made Twitter's trending topics list. Check out video...
Sarah Palin became a trending topic on Twitter after the New York Times confirmed FOX news would be announcing Sarah Palin's assignment as a contributor to the conservative news channel.
After FOX's Bill Shine, Executive Vice President of Programming, confirmed Palin 'as a contributor across all FOX News platforms,' Twitter users sent out tweets of the news.
Senator Harry Reid apologized for remarks he made in private when President Obama was running for election. Atlantic Wire reported, "...according to a new book, "Game Change," by political reporters Mark Halperin and John Heilemann. The authors recount, "He was wowed by Obama's oratorical gifts and believed that the country was ready to embrace a black presidential candidate, especially one such as Obama -- a 'light-skinned' African American 'with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one,' as he said privately."
Being a young hipster, the word 'Negro' isn't part of my vernacular. I had to ask my a friend over 50 and even he was too hip to remember why the word Negro would be used. Google search sent me to a link on Wikipedia describing a Negro, 'The word Negro was used to refer to a person of Black ancestry prior to the shift in the lexicon of American and worldwide classification of race and ethnicity in the late 1960s.' Oh, so in the olden days the word Negro was used to describe a black man. Huh, it sounded racist to me.
According to Senator Harry Reid, not having a 'Negro dialect' is desirable if you are running for President. Check. I'll remember that the next time I run for office.
I wonder what a 'Negro dialect' sounds like.
Bartleby.com is a online bookstore carrying 'Negro dialect' works of literature. The site states that there are four different types of Negro dialects including the 'dialect spoken by the Creole Negroes of Louisiana'. Bartleby states, "Its musical quality and the extent to which elision and contraction have been carried may be seen in the following love song of the Creole negro Bras-Coupé, one of the characters in Cable’s Grandissimes." Maybe, it's best that President Obama didn't break into love songs where elision is messed with.
The media reaction to Rudy Giuliani’s “no domestic attacks under Bush” super gaffe has been both huge and varied. The former mayor claims he was misunderstood — he meant post-9/11 and on American soil. But here’s a big surprise: that wasn’t enough for Rachel Maddow, who last night attempted to eviscerate Giuliani on her broadcast, relentlessly proving the one-time presidential candidate wrong with history and his own words.
Conservative radio host, Rush Limbaugh was rushed to the Queens Medical Center according to television station KITV. According to reports, Limbaugh was taken to the hospital for severe chest pains. Limbaugh's hospitalization quickly made it's way to Twitter's trending topics section. Tweets of compassion and hatred filled the Twitter stream.
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