Tag Archives: united-states

Landon Donovan Says ‘Finality’ Is Hardest Part Of Losing World Cup

USA soccer star talks about the importance of volunteering at New York conference. By Kyle Anderson, with reporting by Akshay Bhansali Landon Donovan Photo: MTV News If Tuesday night’s forum for the National Conference on Volunteering and Service had happened a month ago, undoubtedly the biggest audience response would have gone to former first daughter Barbara Bush or Ben Nemtin from MTV’s “The Buried Life.” But then Landon Donovan’s 2010 FIFA World Cup heroics happened and captivated a suddenly soccer-loving American public, which meant that he scored the biggest and most prolonged cheers from the crowd of students and young people gathered in the spirit of spreading the word about giving back. Donovan talked about the importance of public service, something he said he got from his parents. “I come from a background with teachers everywhere, and my mom taught special ed for 29 years, so if there’s a definition of giving and service to a community, I think being a special-ed teacher is way up there,” he told MTV News after speaking to the group. The soccer star doesn’t just talk the talk, either. He has been active in a number of different charities and service organizations that he has managed to help through his participation on the U.S. national soccer squad. Most recently, the Los Angeles Galaxy player has been working with a group to try to stamp out malaria in Africa. “The people from United Against Malaria approached me and asked me if I wanted to be a part of their campaign, and for me it was perfect,” Donovan said. “No better way to get awareness than a World Cup. Everybody was watching — the first World Cup in Africa. Ten dollars buys a net that literally saves a family’s lives. The biggest thing is getting awareness out there. Not just awareness in other countries but also awareness in Africa — letting people know it’s as simple as going out and buying a net to help save yourself.” Donovan also shared his musical obsessions (he digs hip-hop but tends to listen to more laid-back stuff like the Fray before games) and talked about how he dealt with the United States’ elimination from the tournament at the hands of Ghana in the round of 16 last Saturday. “We’ve all lost plenty of games in our lives, but when you lose in a World Cup, it’s different and it’s more disappointing,” he explained. “The finality of it all is the hard part. You realize that everything you’ve put in for so long is gone and you have to wait another four years. That’s the part that’s most difficult to take.”

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Landon Donovan Says ‘Finality’ Is Hardest Part Of Losing World Cup

Apologize to BP: Yeah, You Know What You Did… (Video)

Image credit: Apologize to BP “I’m sorry BP for not giving you your props for the 8 other oil rigs you operate that are hardly leaking at all.” – OWills “Dear BP, I’m sorry that my hometown, Pensacola, got in the way of your oil spill. I mean, what’s 450 years of history and beach culture, compared to your vital need to dig up liquified dinosaur…” – Violetta Shekinah Politicians aren’t the only ones apologizing to BP these days. Yeah,

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Apologize to BP: Yeah, You Know What You Did… (Video)

Larry King Explains Decision to End CNN Show — Says It Wasn’t Pressure from the Media

First it was long-time anchor Lou Dobbs, who retired last fall from CNN . Now another fixture of the network will soon be playing another role in the cable news universe. On CNN’s June 29 “Larry King Live,” host Larry King, who had never been terribly friendly with conservative guests , announced his decision he would be giving up his show this fall. “Before I start the show tonight, I want to share some personal news with you,” King said. “Twenty-five years ago, I sat across this table from New York Gov. Mario Cuomo for the first broadcast ever of ‘Larry King Live.’ And now, decades later, I talked to the guys here at CNN and I told them I’d like to end ‘Larry King Live,’ the nightly show that — this fall and CNN has graciously accepted to agree to, giving me more time for my wife and I to get to the kids’ little league games.” King explained he would still contribute CNN and would stay on board until a replacement is found to fill the 9 p.m. ET slot on the network. “I still be a part of the CNN family, be hosting several Larry King specials on major national and international subjects and we’ll be here until a replacement is found, will be here into the fall,” he continued. “Tomorrow night, in fact, Elizabeth Edwards will be our special guest. I’m incredibly proud that we with recently made the ‘Guinness Book of World Records’ for having the longest-running show with the same host in the same time slot on the same network. With that chapter closing, I’m looking forward to the future, what my next chapter will bring. But for now, for here, it’s time to hang up the nightly suspenders. Until then, we’ve got more shows to do and who knows what the future’s going to bring.” King’s guest for this special announcement was no other than liberal bomb-thrower Bill Maher and he said to him it was a decision that involved spending more time with his family. “Well, this was tough, Bill. I mean, it was — it was time. I was ready to do it. CNN folks agreed to it. We sat down. We’re going to do specials and more time with the family,” King said. “And I want to expand. I want to do other things that I haven’t been able to do.” Maher compared the CNN host to Mickey Mantle because of his longevity and told King he thought he was retiring too soon: MAHER: I am — I am reminded of what my father, who was a broadcaster said the day Mickey Mantle retired, say isn’t so, he began the broadcast. KING: You put me in that class? MAHER: Mickey Mantle? You are the Mickey Mantle of broadcasters. Mickey Mantle played 18 seasons. You played more than that. So, I know some people out there will say it is maybe inappropriate to say too soon for a man who is in his 70s, but it is too soon. But Maher raised the possibility that other media may have caused King to decide the time was right to hang it up, which King denied. Maher specifically named The New York Times, which has speculated on the departure on King over the past few years : MAHER: I hope you’re — I hope you’re doing this of your own volition and not because of what the media says. KING: It has nothing to do with it. There was no pressure from CNN. I don’t pay attention to that, I love what I do. But it was time, Bill. It was time. It was just time. I will tell you — MAHER: As long as it is coming from, and not dictated by The New York Times or anybody else. KING: Not at all. MAHER: OK. Over past two years, King has struggled in the ratings behind his cable competition, Fox News Channel’s “Hannity” and MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show.”

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Larry King Explains Decision to End CNN Show — Says It Wasn’t Pressure from the Media

NYT’s Herbert: Obama and Democrats Wasted Once In a Lifetime Opportunity

Add New York Times columnist Bob Herbert to the growing list of liberal media members realizing that Barack Obama’s campaign slogan “Hope and Change” was nothing but a great sales pitch. “Mr. Obama and the Democrats have wasted the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity handed to them in the 2008 election,” wrote Herbert Tuesday. “They did not focus on jobs, jobs, jobs as their primary mission.”  No, they sure didn’t. Instead, they worked on a stimulus package that has done nothing but add to the debt, a healthcare bill that WILL do nothing but add to the debt, and a cap and trade bill that if ever passed will cost jobs in virtually every industry. As Herbert continued, he surprisingly noted how disappointed Americans are in the failure of this administration to do what the country needed most: Mr. Obama had campaigned on the mantra of change, and that would have been the kind of change that working people could have gotten behind. But it never happened. Job creation was the trump card in the hand held by Mr. Obama and the Democrats, but they never played it. And now we’re paying a fearful price. The Obama administration feels it should get a great deal of credit for its economic stimulus efforts, its health care initiative, its financial reform legislation, its vastly increased aid to education and so forth. And maybe if we were grading papers, there would be a fair number of decent marks to be handed out. By nearly 2 to 1, respondents to the most recent New York Times/CBS News poll believed the United States is on the wrong track…Fifty-four percent of respondents believed he does not have a clear plan for creating jobs. Only 45 percent approved of his overall handling of the economy, compared with 48 percent who disapproved.  It’s not too late for the president to turn things around, but there is no indication that he has any plan or strategy for doing it. Truth be told, he never did. “Hope and Change” wasn’t a plan for anything. It was a dream spun by a very well-spoken, charismatic man that liberal media members like Herbert fell in love with and married on Election Day 2008. Conservatives across the fruited plain tried to convince folks before the wedding that they were being sold a magic elixir by an astonishingly unqualified person that had never created a job for another human being in his entire life and didn’t have the slightest idea how. But love is blind, so much so that Herbert and his ilk assisted this man in selling the dream to others. Now that the fantasy has turned into a nightmare, we can only hope that folks like Herbert who are beginning to realize they were taken will be more concerned for their nation and their fellow citizens than the Party they support. After all, the Democrats have controlled Congress for three and half years, and the White House for seventeen months. Is the country better off today than it was in January 2007? Or January 2009? Are we any closer to a path that leads us to both answers being “Yes?” If not, and folks like Herbert are starting to realize it albeit it kicking and screaming, then maybe they should consider a divorce. This shouldn’t be tough for liberals – they do it all the time. 

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NYT’s Herbert: Obama and Democrats Wasted Once In a Lifetime Opportunity

New Documentary Film Exposes Pat Tillman Cover-Up

A new documentary set to hit the big screen this summer lifts the lid on the cover-up behind the death of Pat Tillman, the pro-football star who gave up a lucrative career to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq before preparing to return to the U.S. as an anti-war icon, at which point he was killed in a so-called friendly fire incident that more closely resembled a deliberate assassination. Whether or not the documentary delves into the question of whether Tillman’s death was a targeted act of murder remains to be seen, but the evidence strongly indicates that Tillman was deliberately assassinated in order to prevent him from becoming an anti-war icon and derailing public support in the United States for the ongoing occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. Tillman sacrificed the good life and a multi-million dollar football career in the belief that he was defending his country from outside enemies, and soon after 9/11 turned down a contract offer of $3.6 million over three years from the Cardinals to enlist in the U.S. Army. It was during Tillman’s second deployment to Afghanistan, after previously serving in Iraq, that he was killed by what the U.S. military initially claimed was a Taliban ambush. It later emerged that the ambush story had been concocted by the Pentagon in an attempt to exploit Tillman’s death for pro-war propaganda. Subsequent investigations claimed that Tillman was killed as a result of a friendly fire accident. However, in July 2007, the results of an Army medical report found that Tillman had been shot three times in the head with an M16 from a mere 10 yards away, clearly suggesting that the incident was a targeted assassination. “Army medical examiners were suspicious about the close proximity of the three bullet holes in Pat Tillman’s forehead and tried without success to get authorities to investigate whether the former NFL player’s death amounted to a crime,” reported the Associated Press. The motive for the murder would undoubtedly have been Tillman’s plans to return to the U.S. and a vocal critic of the Afghanistan and Iraq invasions. The evidence points directly to it and the motivation is clear – Tillman abandoned a lucrative career in pro-football immediately after 9/11 because he felt a rampaging patriotic urge to defend his country, and became a poster child for the war on terror as a result. But when he discovered that the invasion of Iraq was based on a mountain of lies and deceit and had nothing to do with defending America, he became infuriated and was ready to return home to become an anti-war hero. In September 2005, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that a friend of Tillman had set up a meeting with author and prominent war critic Noam Chomsky, which was scheduled to take place after Tillman’s return from Afghanistan. Chomsky confirmed that the meeting was arranged. As far back as March 2003, immediately after the invasion of Iraq, Tillman famously told his comrade Spc. Russell Baer, “You know, this war is so fucking illegal,” and urged his entire platoon to vote against Bush in the 2004 election. During a July 2007 appearance on Keith Olbermann’s MSNBC show, four star General Wesley Clark stated that “the orders came from the very top” to cover-up the nature of Tillman’s death as he was a political symbol and his opposition to the war in Iraq would have rallied the population around supporting immediate withdrawal. Watch the trailer for The Tillman Story, which is due for cinema release in August. Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet.com Tuesday, June 29, 2010 General Stanley McChrystal is definitely implicated in the cover up. He was fired for comments in a Rolling Stone magazine last week, instead of being investigated 6 years ago for his part in the Tillman cover-up. added by: rodstradamus

Obama Backs Away from Intergalactic Domination

The story at the bottom link is from Wired, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates Statement follows: “Today, I'm pleased to welcome the release of the President's National Space Policy. I fully support the vision it lays out. This policy clearly articulates the right space policies and priorities for our nation, and is also a pledge that the United States will maintain the leadership and capabilities in space imperative for our national security. “Our continued presence in space is vital to our national security. Space-based capabilities are critical to our military's ability to navigate accurately, strike precisely, and gather battle space awareness efficiently. However, changes in the space environment over the last decade challenge our operations. Today, space is increasingly contested as our systems face threats of disruption and attack, increasingly competitive as more states, private firms, and others develop space-based capabilities, and increasingly congested with orbital debris. “Together with other departments and agencies, the Department of Defense will take a number of steps to support the new National Space Policy, and will work with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to develop a strategy document to address specific national security requirements for outer space. We will look to leverage growing international and commercial expertise to enhance U.S. capabilities and reduce vulnerabilities. “Finally, we will pursue activities consistent with the inherent right of self-defense, deepen cooperation with allies and friends, and work with all nations toward the responsible and peaceful shared presence in space.” The White House statement, the fact sheet and the text of the National Space Policy are available online at http://www.defense.gov/spr/ under “Related U.S. Govt Publications.” http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/06/obama-backs-away-from-intergalactic-domi… added by: Incredulous

BP Offers $70 Million in Cash to Gas Station Owners

Photo via Green BP has announced plans to send cash to suffering gas stations in the US — which is pretty revealing. It’s evidence that the numerous boycotts against BP that have been orchestrated across the nation are indeed having a very distinct, very significant impact. Those boycotts and the bad PR have had a serious and immediate financial impact, and will validate such action in the eyes of many activists. But BP plans to push back…. Read the full story on TreeHugger

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BP Offers $70 Million in Cash to Gas Station Owners

Today on Planet 100: Planet BP Scam (Video)

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Today on Planet 100: Planet BP Scam (Video)

Kudlow, Forbes Debunk Krugman’s ‘Third Depression’ Call

It’s hard to imagine an economist being provocative, but Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize winner, has managed to do so. In his June 28 New York Times op-ed , Krugman argued that since governments around the world aren’t willing to double-down on Keynesian policies meant to stimulate the global economy, the United States and the rest of the world are facing a third depression. But on CNBC’s June 28 “The Kudlow Report,” host Larry Kudlow asked if Krugman’s premise were true, how come none of the measures being applied, which Krugman advocates more of, have failed to have any effect on the current economy. “Steve Forbes, I want to focus this, coming out of G-20,” Kudlow said. “Paul Krugman’s remarkable op-ed today in The New York Times – he says, we are already in the early stages of a depression. He calls it the third depression in U.S. history. He says that it’s primarily a failure of policy. But, Steve, the so-called spending cuts or tax increases or deficit reduction hasn’t happened yet. In the last two years, we’ve had gargantuan spending and ultra-easy money which is what Professor Krugman has been advocating the whole time. And he still thinks we’re in a depression. So I need to ask you, maybe his policies are what threaten the depression.” Forbes magazine CEO Steve Forbes argued the pro-growth approach was the proper means – a stronger dollar and low tax rates.  “Well, it’s like the old physicians who continue to bleed the patient and wonder why the patient isn’t getting better and then bleeds the patient even more,” Forbes explained. “What we should be doing, yes, we should be cutting back spending because it takes money from productive citizens. But as you know, Larry, two other things have to be done, reducing tax rates or at least not increasing tax rates and stabilizing the dollar. So people can trust it again. Sound money, low tax rates, that’s the cure.” However, Dean Baker, a liberal economist and the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. argued the U.S. dollar was strong enough, because as investors flee from other currencies , they are seeking safety in the U.S. dollar and treasuries. But against gold, as Forbes pointed out, the U.S. dollar has taken a dive . “Well, Steve must have not been following things very closely because people have a lot of faith in the dollar,” Baker said. “That’s why it’s been rising so much.” “Not against gold, which is the best barometer of the dollar,” Forbes fired back. Nonetheless, Baker continued to make Krugman’s case – that this was analogous to a forest fire with only a few buckets of water to put it out, which aren’t working meaning there was a need for more so-called medicine from the government. “That’s fine, every other currency in the world,” Baker said. “Interest rates are at near-record lows, so that’s not keeping people from investing. Low tax rates – well, tax rates were higher back in the 90s when the economy was growing at a record pace. So none of that really fits. Krugman’s on the mark here. And the point here is that it’s sort of like if we had a big forest fire and we got a few buckets and you go ‘hey that didn’t put it out.’ Well, water’s not going to work. I mean we lost over a trillion dollars a year in annual demand. We tried to replace it with the stimulus that it came to from the federal sector about $300 billion a year, you subtract out the cuts at the state and local level, that’s $150 billion a year. Where I come from $150 billion isn’t going to make a loss of a trillion. That’s simple arithmetic.”

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Kudlow, Forbes Debunk Krugman’s ‘Third Depression’ Call

Puma Teams Up with Biomega To Make Bikes. Again

Photo: The Pico by Puma Bike “PUMA Bikes redefine and reinvigorate the city ride with a bit of radicalism and a whole lot of practicality. They fold, they carry, they cruise. They’re everything and more, packed tight in a sweet, colorful ride.” Well, that’s how the marketing types for Puma and Biomega see it anyhow. What we see is another entrant in the human powered, urban mobility market and that has to be a positive move. If it gets people out their oil fuel cars, then we can turn a blind eye to a little extra robust PR. And when it comes down to it, a couple of models do conveniently fold, while some can be o… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Puma Teams Up with Biomega To Make Bikes. Again