Does Barack Obama owe the City of Detroit a bailout? One city councilwoman seems to think so. Via MyFoxDetroit : The city of Detroit faces a major financial crisis and one member of city council thinks President Barack Obama should step in and help. City Council member JoAnn Watson said Tuesday the citizens support of Obama in last month’s election was enough reason for the president to bailout the struggling the city. “Our people in an overwhelming way supported the re-election of this president and there ought to be a quid pro quo and you ought to exercise leadership on that,” said Watson. “Of course, not just that, but why not?” Nearly 75 percent of Wayne County voters pulled the lever for Obama in November. “After the election of Jimmy Carter, the honorable Coleman Alexander Young, he went to Washington, D.C. He came home with some bacon,” said Watson. “That’s what you do.” Young served as Detroit’s mayor for 20 years and served as vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1977 to 1981. The White House has expressed no plans to bailout the cash-crunched city that some experts say could run out of money by the end of the year. The federal government has bailed out cities in the past, however. In 1975, President Gerald Ford extended more than $2 billion in credit to New York City to help it avoid a financial collapse. What do you think President Obama should do? If he bails out Detroit, where does it end?
Ken Trickey played at Middle Tennessee State and was coaching the Blue Raiders when they beat ORU 115-89. That convinced the Rev. Oral Roberts to pursue Trickey as his program#39;s coach the following year. Trickey also coached at Oklahoma City University. Ken Trickey, a former basketball coach at Iowa State, Oral Roberts and other schools, died Tuesday. He was 79. ORU President Mark Rutland said in a statement announcing Trickey#39;s death that the coach#39;s exciting basketball program help
Smith was charged with DUI and possession of hash — and today, he pled “guilty” to the dr ug possession charge. He pled “no contest” to the DUI charge. Former “Home Improvement” star Taran Noah Smith has just been convicted of DUI and hash possession following his arrest earlier this year, TMZ has learned. TMZ broke the story … Smith was popped in L.A. back in February when cops saw him behind the wheel of a Honda Accord, which was parked in front of a fire hydrant. When they approached the
SMH. Somebody paid him $15K to put that on his face and now he’s gonna go erase it. Via NY Daily News reports : A northern Indiana man who had the Mitt Romney-Paul Ryan campaign logo tattooed onto his face “to make politics fun” says it’s time for it to come off. Eric Hartsburg of Michigan City, Ind., says he plans to have the red-and-blue “R” removed from its prominent place next to his right eye. He says a Republican supporter paid him $15,000 to get the tattoo and keep it until at least the election was over. Weeks after President Barack Obama defeated the former Massachusetts governor in the Nov. 6 election, Hartsburg says “now to me it represents not a losing campaign, but a sore losing campaign.” Hartsburg says he reached out to the Romney campaign about the tattoo, but feels snubbed that no campaign staffer ever contacted him. Does this guy make you feel proud or ashamed to be an American? Facebook
Dr. Phil McGraw is a temperamental, tyrannical, borderline fascist dictator, according to a source on the set of the TV blowhard’s popular counseling show. According to the mole, Dr. Phil explodes with anger when things aren’t done his way, yelling at employees, guests and even long-suffering wife Robin. “He’s like a fascist dictator on a set of quivering female servants,” the insider said. “There seems to be a reason he hires a nearly all female staff… he seeks out the vulnerable type that’s reliant on their paycheck from him so they don’t fight back.” “You can feel the fear on the set.” The insider claims that while Dr. Phil acts like he’s there to help his guests, he actually intimidates them into getting the sound bites he needs for high ratings. Okay, sometimes Dina Lohan just provides them willingly, but usually it comes down to bullying by the so-called good doctor, who knows just what he’s doing. “Guests often seize up once they get in front of Dr. Phil because he’s so intimidating. He’s nothing off camera like he appears on camera,” the source said. “Before he gets to the sound bite he’s looking for there’s no sense of a gentle, sympathetic, professional view … he’ll bully the guest off-camera until he gets what he needs.” Dr. Phil, 62, is labeled by the insider as egomaniacal, confrontational and emotionless. “It’s all about feeding his narcissistic enormous ego. It’s his way and everyone else bows and stays clear,” the source said. “The [staff] thinks he’s an absolute pig!” “There are camera men that used to work for him – who will do any job they can get – that flat out refuse to work with him again because of the way he treats his staff and guests.” The TV shrink and Robin’s marriage has reportedly suffered, as well. “While Dr. Phil is filming an interview or segment, Robin will sometimes just sit in a back corner watching,” the source said. “She has absolutely no say in the way things are run.” “When Dr. Phil flips out or gets aggressive, Robin just sits there with a sad look on her face like she doesn’t agree, but can’t speak up because she’s just as fearful of him!” The dictator has yet to respond to these allegations.
Matt Lauer Fired ! According to a new report, the odds of seeing that headline are increasing by the day. Sources tell Radar Online that new Today Show producer Alexandra Wallace has made it very clear: Lauer will be a goner if program ratings do not improve. “ The Today Show has always been considered a cash cow for the network,” says this insider. “It dominated the morning news ratings for years and brought in millions of dollars in ad revenue. “But if viewers continue preferring Good Morning America over The Today Show that revenue will decrease and cuts will have to be made.” And if this major move is made? “The replacement is likely to be Willie Geist,” adds the source. “He has been wildly popular with viewers and the crew since he was named co-host of the third hour of the show.” Last Wednesday, Today lost to GMA by 1.3 million viewers, the largest gap in 10 years. NBC News President Steve Capus has defended Lauer against blame for the ratings decline, making it interesting to see what happens if it really does continue. What do you think? Should Lauer be fired? Yes No Maybe View Poll »
George H.W. Bush, 88, has been in and out of the hospital recently for complications resulting from bronchitis, Methodist Hospital said in a brief statement. Former President George H.W. Bush was in a Houston hospital Thursday for continuing treatment of a lingering cough. The hospital and Bush#39;s spokesman in Houston, Jim McGrath, described Bush as in stable condition and said they expected the former president to be released by the weekend. He#39;s been under hospital care for nearly a wee
Megyn Kelly of Fox News was freaked out yesterday by a developing story … or just the BREAKING NEWS ALERT graphic splashed on screen by her employer. A segment on the ” fiscal cliff ” was introduced with some brand-spanking-new animation, which was news to Kelly, who was a noticeably startled. Watch: Megyn Kelly Scared of Fox News Graphic After it appeared, the anchor was shown live, with her hands over her mouth, surprised. She then burst into giggles and even discussed it with her next guest. “That was a new alert animation, scared me a little bit,” she said. “Maybe we should be scared, because the clock is ticking down right now to the fiscal cliff.” Segues like that are why they pay you the big bucks, Megyn.
Eric Hartsburg, also known as Romney Face Tattoo Guy for obvious reasons, is now looking into getting his ink removed … also for obvious reasons. Hartsburg was “totally disappointed” by the 2012 presidential election results, having worn his support for Republican challenger Mitt Romney so prominently. The Indiana resident wants his tattoo gone, and not just because Romney lost; his remark about President Barack Obama giving gifts to supporters didn’t go over well. “It stands not only for a losing campaign but for a sore loser,” Hartsburg, an independent wrestler, says of the face tattoo he got at the behest of a winning eBay bid. “There’s no dignity in blaming somebody else for buying votes and paying off people. I can’t get behind that or stay behind that,” he lamented to Politico. “He’s pretty shameful as far as I’m concerned, man.” Hartsburg says that he’s accepted an offer from tattoo removal chain Dr. TATTOFF, after initially turning them down, to remove the double “R” logo for free. No word on whether Dr. TATTOFF’s co-investor in that company was Dr. Hindsight. As for Romney, he attempted to mend fences during lunch at the White House with Obama today, but it looks like at least one supporter is lasering off ties for good.
Andrew Dominik does not look like a guy who could teach this country a lesson. With his floppy hair, fashionable glasses and ever-present cigarette, he resembles the kind of international hipster you’d find brandishing his American Express black card in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District on a Thursday night. But don’t be fooled by appearances. With the help of Brad Pitt and an impressive ensemble of actors that includes James Gandolfini , the exquisite Ben Mendelsohn and a breakthrough performance by Scoot McNairy , Dominik has made a acrid — and memorably violent — cinematic statement about the state of the American Dream that should resonate with anyone whose job has become a kill-or-be-killed battlefield in the wake of the 2008 crash. Although Killing Them Softly is an adaptation of George V. Higgins’ 1974 novel, Cogan’s Trade , Dominik, who wrote and directed the movie, set the picture in the middle of this country’s 2008 economic meltdown and presidential election. (News coverage of both George W. Bush and Barack Obama figures in the background.) Pitt plays Jackie Cogan, a mob enforcer sent to a grim-looking New Orleans to investigate a poker-game heist, but the lowlife characters in this movie could be Wall Street bankers, film producers or overworked bloggers running and gunning to survive one more day in the rat race. There’s nothing like an outsider to point out the chinks in America’s armor, and the New Zealand-born, Australian-bred Dominik bludgeons a number of this country’s sacred cows and concepts, from Thomas Jefferson, who’s dismissed as a hypocritical “wine snob,” to “E Pluribus Unum” to the hopeful (but possibly empty) rhetoric of Barack Obama . “America’s not a country, it’s just a business,” Pitt’s character says at a key moment in the film, and given the actor’s reputation as a righteous liberal dude, it’s a brave performance. I don’t think that even Dominik would admit this, but beneath the noirish storyline, Killing Them Softly echoes the lyrics of the Who’s classic song. “Won’t Get Fooled Again”: “Meet the new boss/Same as the old boss.” In a frank and fairly amusing interview, Dominik, whose credits also include the excellent Chopper and The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford , shared his views on the reelection of President Obama, the “masculine confusion” that is prevalent in Killing Them Softly, his next planned picture, an adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates’ novel about Marilyn Monroe, Blonde, and whether Brad Pitt can remember what it was like to be normal. Movieline: After seeing Killing Them Softly , I’ve got to know if you were rooting for anyone in the presidential election. Dominik: Obama. Yeah. I ask because the message of your movie seems to be that it doesn’t matter who’s running America from the Oval office. Well I think, obviously, that the president’s powers can be fairly limited. But Obama was a better option than the other guy. That seemed to be the rationale of a lot of voters this year. I really believed Obama when he spoke in 2008, but I remember watching his victory speech after this last election and it was the same speech. Exactly the same speech. I felt like he didn’t even believe it anymore. He seemed to be tired of saying the same thing. He even made the same joke about the dog. Your film is distributed by The Weinstein Company, which is co-chaired by Harvey Weinstein , an avid supporter of President Obama. Was there any discomfort with the political aspects of your film? How tight is Harvey really with Obama? He says he’s talked with Obama. I’m sure Harvey feels tighter with Obama than Obama feels with Harvey. You know what I mean? But, yeah, he was uncomfortable about that stuff. And I think Brad was, too. But I don’t know that the movie’s really pointing its finger at Obama, specifically. It’s pointing its finger at the lie with which American was constructed — this idea that we’re all equal. Which clearly nobody believes. It takes an outsider to tell us that. What made you decide to take a 1974 George V. Higgins novel and set it in 2008 at the time of the 2008 economic crash and the presidential election? I guess it was everything going on at once. I found the book, and I needed money. And everyone around me needed money. All they were talking about was the economy. I realized that the movie was the story of an economic crisis, and I started to see parallels between this little story and the bigger story. I’ve always suspected that crime movies are really about capitalism. I didn’t watch The Sopranos and think Tony Soprano was a sociopath. He just looks like a normal guy with normal problems to me. So I felt like maybe here’s an opportunity to make a self-conscious crime film. Fiction is how we organize reality — but what are we trying to organize when we watch crime movies? I guess it’s the reality of existing in a dollar-driven society. You mentioned The Sopranos . At its core, that series was a epic parable about the George W. Bush era, and, in some respects Killing Them Softly felt like an extension or a kindred spirit of that show. Were you inspired at all by the universe that David Chase created? I love The Sopranos . It’s a fucking great, great show. But not directly as far as the movie was concerned. There are actors from the series in the movie, but I guess when you’re looking for goombah-type guys, David Chase found them all. So there’s really no getting away from it.
