I think most people probably know by now what happened with Kanye West at MTV’s video music awards.  Well, if you don’t: Taylor Swift won an award that Beyonce was also nominated for.  During her acceptance speech, West went up on the stage, took the mic and said Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time…blah, blah, blah.  Swift was obviously shook up and they had to go to a break.

Since this “incident”, West has reportedly reflected on his actions and said something about needing some time off.  Whatever!  This is coming from someone with a track of arrogance and attention grabbing.  I guess it isn’t enough to sell millions of records and make millions of dollars – West has to be the center of attention plus have his opinion override those who decide who wins awards. 

BHO SPEAKS

Following thiss, some of ABC’s employees overheard a conversation between the president and CNBC’s John Harwood and didn’t realize it was considered off the record.  Well, off the record Obama called West a jackass for his actions – something few, if any, would disagree with.  Although they are competitors, CNBC and ABC share a fiber optic line to save money, and this enabled some ABC employees to listen in on the interview as it was being taped for later use (Bauder, 2009). 

Here is how the conversation went:

“I thought that was really inappropriate,” Obama says. “What are you butting in (for)? … The young lady seems like a perfectly nice person. She’s getting her award. What’s he doing up there?”

A questioner chimes in, “Why would he do it?”

“He’s a jackass,” Obama replies, which is met with laughter from several people.

The president seems to quickly realize he may have gone too far, and jovially appeals to those assembled that the remark be kept private. “Come on guys,” he says. “Cut the president some slack. I’ve got a lot of other stuff on my plate.”

Good on you (ABC and CNBC) for saving money.  A huge foul for listening in and using it.  And how do you think this whole thing got out?

Some ABC employees used big, bad, Twitter – and the rest is history.  Why is twitter always involved in these kinds of scandals?  We have gone from a society that could safely leave our front doors open (unlocked) to a society that needs to lock our lips 24/7.  It doesn’t matter who you are or where you are at, someone has the capability to instantly blast your actions and/or words to the entire world.  Isn’t it normal for something that has the possibility to break new ground and force change to be used innappropriately at times.  [shrug] Oh well.

One thing I like about this situation is the fact that Obama is starting to add some ruff edges to his charismatic personality.  We are at war with other countries, at war with our economy and in many ways at war with one another.  I don’t want a president that is too nice.  That is one thing I can say about Bush, it didn’t matter if it was to protect the family business or find some imaginary weapons of mass destruction – he didn’t mind getting grimey and sending some people to kick some….Then again, he had some Texas crude caught in his throat when the “refugees” needed him in New Orleans.

BMW’s media buying agency sent an email to stations requesting information on ad rates, but specifically stated “No combos or urban formats” should be included. In other words, BMW issued a ‘Non Urban Dictate (NUD)’ to the radio stations.

Not clear on what a NUD is? Well, it basically means that a company is not interested in the Black consumer. [A NUD label means that a company does not want their marketing and advertising materials placed in media that claim an urban audience as their main target.] Sometimes, there are legitimate reasons for companies not using urban radio. It may be that Blacks don’t index high in certain categories or that a company’s strategy is to market to the Black consumer down the road after they have established a strong position in their primary target. But, typically, a NUD means that a company is not interested in the Black consumer.

The National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters has weighed in on the controversy surrounding BMW’s NUD. The trade organization has requested a meeting with the chairman and CEO of BMW, Jim O’Donnell, to discuss the implications of an email from a media buying agency for the carmaker requesting information on ad rates, excluding those targeting urban areas, from radio stations in the Boston, Houston, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. markets. In addition, the good Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, has sent a letter to BMW expressing concern over the NUD.

Now, when I read this, I was taken aback simply because I like BMWs and I am seriously contemplating purchasing one of their vehicles. But now with this…..I don’t know! I mean, if BMW doesn’t care to market to Black consumers — me being one of them —- then I should rethink my plan to purchase from them, right?

7DayBuzz readers, what do you think about this NUD? Is it fair? Should business be forced to market to every ethnicity or should they be able to pick and choose who they want to buy their product?

The debate (or shall I say campaign) for, and against President Obama’s healthcare reform has caused angst amongst both sides of the spectrum. On one hand, you have the Democrats who, for the most part, are for the overhaul of our country’s healthcare system. On the other hand, you have the Republicans who are against the overhaul because they say it’ll cost too much money. Well, who’s right (and wrong)? To help you come to some sort of decision, I’ve listed seven myths about the healthcare reform (taken from factcheck.org):

Myth #1: Government Will Decide What Care I Get (a.k.a. they won’t give grandma a hip replacement)

This untrue claim has its roots in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the stimulus bill), which called for the creation of a Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research. The council is charged with supporting and coordinating research that the government has been funding for years into which treatments work best, and in some cases, are most cost-effective. Supporters of this type of research say it can provide valuable information to doctors, improving care and also lowering cost.

Betsy McCaughey, a former Republican lieutenant governor of New York (and now a professing Democrat), wrote in an opinion piece that the government would actually tell doctors what procedures they could and couldn’t perform. The claim took off from there, popping up in chain e-mails and Republican press conferences. It’s not true.

Myth #2: The Bill Is Paid For

At least, it isn’t paid for yet.

President Obama has repeatedly said that a health care overhaul “will be paid for” and that he won’t sign a bill that isn’t deficit-neutral. But neither the House bill nor the Senate HELP Committee bill meets that criteria. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation, the House bill as introduced would add a net $239 billion over 10 years to the deficit, while the HELP Committee bill racks up more, $597 billion over 10 years.

Myth #3: Private Insurance Will Be Illegal

In July, Investor’s Business Daily published an editorial in which it claimed that H.R. 3200 would make private insurance illegal. But IBD was mistaken. It was citing the part of the bill that ensures people with individually purchased coverage don’t have to give up that coverage unless they want to.

Under the House bill, people who want to buy new individual, nongroup coverage will have to purchase it through a new health insurance exchange. They can still buy private insurance – the exchange, in fact, would offer a range of private plans, in addition to a new federal health insurance option. However, those who were already buying their own insurance before the bill went into effect – about 14 million Americans – will have their plans grandfathered in. The part of the bill IBD cites doesn’t forbid insurers from issuing new plans. It says that new individual plans will not be considered grandfathered, and will have to be purchased through the exchange.

Myth #4: The House Bill Requires Suicide Counseling

This claim is nonsense. In an appearance on former Sen. Fred Thompson’s radio show, McCaughey also enthusiastically pushed the bogus claim that the House bill will require seniors to have regular counseling sessions on how to end their lives:

“McCaughey, July 16: The Congress would make it mandatory … that every five years, people in Medicare have a required counseling session that will tell them how to end their life sooner, how to decline nutrition, how to decline being hydrated, how to go into hospice care … all to do what’s in society’s best interest … and cut your life short.”

This is a misrepresentation. What the bill actually provides for is voluntary Medicare-funded end-of-life counseling. In other words, if seniors choose to make advance decisions about the type of care and treatments they wish to receive at the end of their lives, Medicare will pay for them to sit down with their doctor and discuss their preferences. There is no requirement to attend regular sessions, and there is absolutely no provision encouraging euthanasia.

Myth #5: Families Will Save $2,500

Proponents speak constantly of holding down rising medical costs. As recently as May 13, the president said legislation plus some voluntary measures by the private sector “could save families $2,500 in the coming years – $2,500 per family,” echoing a claim he made countless times on the campaign trail last year.

Don’t start spending that $2,500 just yet.

For one thing, Obama isn’t actually promising to reduce health care spending below current levels, only to cut the rate of growth in spending. And even that is proving to be far tougher to accomplish than Obama led voters to believe. We’ve already mentioned that the Congressional Budget Office says “savings” in Medicare spending resulting from the House bill would fall short of what is needed to pay for two-thirds of its cost, which is Obama’s goal. And those savings come only in what the government pays, not in what families pay.

Myth #6: Medicare Benefits Will Be Slashed

The claim that Obama and Congress are cutting seniors’ Medicare benefits to pay for the health care overhaul is outright false, though that doesn’t keep it from being repeated ad infinitum.

The truth is that the pending House bill extracts $500 billion from projected Medicare spending over 10 years, as scored by the Congressional Budget Office, by doing such things as trimming projected increases in the program’s payments for medical services, not including physicians. Increases in other areas, such as payments to doctors, bring the net savings down to less than half that amount. But none of the predicted savings – or cuts, depending on one’s perspective – come from reducing current or future benefits for seniors.

Myth #7: Illegal Immigrants Will Be Covered

One Republican congressman issued a press release claiming that “5,600,000 Illegal Aliens May Be Covered Under Obamacare,” and we’ve been peppered with queries about similar claims. They’re not true. In fact, the House bill (the only bill to be formally introduced in its entirety) specifically says that no federal money would be spent on giving illegal immigrants health coverage:

“H.R. 3200: Sec 246 — NO FEDERAL PAYMENT FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS
Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States.”

Also, under current law, those in the country illegally don’t qualify for federal health programs.

Okay, so I’m a reader of Huffington Post, which is a website dedicated to politics. Sometimes they do so-called expose’s of the goings on in Washington and elsewhere. Well, today, they did a post about the White House making a deal with the pharmaceutical lobbyists although in public, President Obama has been saying otherwise. Who do we believe?

Here’s the memo/proposal that’s the crux of this expose:

The pharmaceutical companies agreed to:

Commitment of up to $80 billion, but not more than $80 billion.
1. Agree to increase of Medicaid rebate from 15.1 – 23.1% ($34 billion)

2. Agree to get FOBs done (but no agreement on details — express disagreement on data exclusivity which both sides say does not affect the score of the legislation.) ($9 billion)

3. Sell drugs to patients in the donut hole at 50% discount ($25 billion)
This totals $68 billion

4. Companies will be assessed a tax or fee that will score at $12 billion. There was no agreement as to how or on what this tax/fee will be based.

Total: $80 billion

In exchange for these items, the White House agreed to:

1. Oppose importation

2. Oppose rebates in Medicare Part D

3. Oppose repeal of non-interference

4. Oppose opening Medicare Part B

“Non-interference” is the industry term for the status quo, in which government-driven price negotiations are barred. In other words, the government is “interfering” in the market if it negotiates lower prices. The ban on negotiating was led through Congress in 2003 by then-Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.), who is now the head of PhRMA.

The rebates reference is to Medicare overpayments Big Pharma managed to wrangle from the Republican Congress that Democrats are trying to recoup. The House bill would require Big Pharma to return some of that money. The rebate proposal would save $63 billion over ten years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The White House, given the chance, declined to tell the Wall Street Journal for a July 17th article that it supported the effort to pursue the rebates.

The Medicare Part B item refers to “infusion drugs,” which can be administered at home. If they fall under Part B, Big Pharma gets paid more than under Part D. The agreement would leave infusion drugs in Part B.

In the section on Big Pharma’s concessions, “FOBs” refers to follow-on biological drugs. Democrats have pushed to make it easier to allow generic drug makers to produce cheaper versions of such drugs, an effort Big Pharma has resisted. The Senate health committee bill gives drug makers 12 years of market exclusivity, five more than the White House proposed

Again, both sides are denying this ever happened. Obama supporters are saying this is just a proposal. The antt-Obamaites are saying, “I told you so….”

So, what do you think 7DayBuzz readers? Did Obama sell out? What’s really going on?

Police allow man to wait for President Obama with unconcealed handgun!

Check out the link above, watch and be amazed!

The POTUS was going to New Hampshire for a town hall meeting and there was a protester with a gun out in the open!  It doesn’t matter if carrying a gun in the open is normally legal.  It doesn’t matter that the man was on private property.  What matters is the fact that this was allowed, shortly in advance of the President of the United States making an appearance.

ARE     YOU    SERIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is all I have to say right now; that is all I can think of.

How would you like to help provide a new computer to a graduating high school student who’s next venture is college? You can do this by making a donation to We Embrace, Inc.

We Embrace is a non-profit organization that embraces education and rewards high school students who decide to further their education. We Embrace has been in operation since 2004 and since their inception, have awarded a total six computers (desktops and laptops).

The founders of this organization use their own money to fund this organization, that’s why there is a small number of recipients. This organization would love to be able to expand their giving, but that takes help from people who like to give.

This organization would benefit greatly from a small grant; unfortunately, the founders do not know how to write grants nor do they have the funds to hire someone to write a grant for them. If you know of someone who can write a grant, for free, or at a very charitable price, please let us know and I’ll pass on the information.

Here is the website, www.weembrace.com. Check it out and let us know what you think. The website is very dated. To solve this dilemma, the founders are also looking for someone to update the website — again for free, or at a very reasonable price.

Hey 7DayBuzz readers. It’s that time of week ….. WordPlay Wednesday! Are you ready to be creative with your comments? Remember, use no more than five words to convey your sentiment about the topics listed below.

Okay, here we go…..

1) Former President Bill Clinton Comes to the Rescue!

2) Cash for Clunker Extended One More Month

3) Paula Abdul Not Returning to American Idol!

4) Cheating Man Genitals are Super Glued!

5) The GOP is Accused of Inciting Angy, Right-Wing Mobs!

“When will this ever end? When will people stop trying to make it seem like it’s “scary” that Barack Obama is now president? Look at the picture to your left and honestly tell me this isn’t meant to instill fear. This is soooooooooooo below-the-belt! Unsurprisingly, FoxNews.com has it on their site. Whatever………………

Get over it you anti-Obamaites! He’s your president for the next four years. Attempts at slandering him, by any means necessary, is really juvenile. As far as the posters go, as of today, it is not known who is producing and distributing these idiotic posters.   This is so lame!

You have to admit, this statement coming from the President about a law enforcement department in the Unites States is, well serious. If you haven’t heard the story, Harvard Professor Henry Gates was arrested for disorderly conduct at his home because a neighbor thought he was breaking into, what turned out to be, his home. When the officer arrived to investigate, he asked for ID from Prefessor Gates, who provided the requested documents. It seems the Professor and the cop exchanged words, which resulted in the professor being arrested.

Now, according to Professor Gates, it was racial. He is not upset that a neighbor called to report, what she thought was a “suspicious Black man” trying to break into a home. The issue is once he showed his ID to the officer to prove he lived at the residence, the officer should’ve basically said it was an honest mistake and left it at that. Unfortunately, the incident escalated.

The Cambridge Police have dropped the charges. Although Professor Gates is happy that the charges have been dropped, he also wants the arresting officer, Sgt. James Crowley, to publicly apologize. Sgt. Crowley refuses to apologize as he feels he did not do anything wrong. Sgt. Crowley said he is not a racist, that he feels bad about the fallout, but no apology will be forthcoming.

In President Obama’s prime time conference this evening, a reporter asked him about race relations as it pertains to Professor Gates arrest. President Obama said he was biased because he personally knows Professor Gates. President Obama says that although he is standing proof that race relations in the U.S. have progressed immensely, race is still an issue in America. President Obama informed racial profiling is still a problem here in America and what happened to Professor Gates is an indicator of that.

Now, do you think that because President Obama called the Cambridge Police stupid, that NOW Sgt. James Crowley will be offering an apology? Hmmmmmm, I don’t know about you, but I see an apology on the horizon.

On Wednesday, July 16, 2009, Pat Buchanan appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC to discuss whether or not Sonya Sotomayor is qualified to be a Supreme Court Judge. Of course, being a staunch Republican, Buchanan is against Sotomayor because he feels she is an affirmative action appointment and well, affirmative action is evil!

When asked to define affirmative action, Buchanan states, “Affirmative action is to increase diversity by discriminating against White males….” He also said, “this has been a country built, basically, by White folks …..”

Now, if you ask most Black people, they will tell you that this is a bunch of crap! Why? Because, slaves were the laborers who built this country, not White people! In regards to affirmative action, if Pat Buchanan sees it as being evil, Black, Hispanic and Asian people (most, not all) see it as a necessary evil. Why? Because it is the only method in place to help level the playing field when it comes to getting certain jobs (e.g. a Supreme Court Judge) or getting into certain schools (e.g. Yale, Harvard).

Now, I’m sure those who are against affirmative action agree with Pat Buchanan and that’s fine. But, if affirmative action is not used, how else would people, of other races, be given an opportunity to hold certain positions or attend certain schools, that White people, like Pat Buchanan, feel Whites are entitled to?

I will say, I agree with Pat when he says people should be judged on their own merit and get a job on their own credentials. I mean, if everyone in the Unite States of America thought this way AND acted this way, there would be no need for programs like affirmative action. BUT, we know (or those of us who are willing to admit it) that the U.S. does not, consistently, work that way. Hence, the need for a method of providing equal opportunity — the evil affirmative action.

In case you haven’t seen the video that I referenced in this post, here it is: