More great news from "Pleasant Valley" Obamaville.U.S. economic growth was a bit slower than initially thought in the first quarter as businesses restocked shelves at a moderate pace and government spending declined sharply.

Sunday Funny

Thanks RR.

Quote of the Week

There is another class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs—partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays.

Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs… There is a certain class of race-problem solvers who do not want the patient to get well, because as long as the disease holds out they have not only an easy means of making a living, but also an easy medium through which to make themselves prominent before the public.

-Booker T. Washington

Boy, 14, fatally shot, 12 others wounded across city

Chicago, the new Detroit.

A 14-year-old boy was shot and killed Friday night and 12 others were wounded in shootings that stretched into the early morning hours across the city, Chicago police said.
The boy was shot in the back just before 9 p.m. in the 2600 block of West 37th Place in the Brighton Park neighborhood, police said, citing early reports.

The boy, identified by the Cook County medical examiner's office as Alejandro Jamie, of the 2900 block of West Pershing Road, was pronounced dead before 10 p.m. at Mount Sinai Hospital.

 Btw, where's Al Sharpton?

NPR sees sharp downturn in advertising revenue, leading to talk of cuts

It was inevitable.

NPR’s new chief executive is signaling that there may be some static ahead for the radio and digital news organization. Halfway through its fiscal year — and six months into Gary Knell’s tenure as chief executive —

 Washington-based NPR has seen a sharp downturn in corporate “underwriting,” or         advertising  revenue. The falloff has led to projections of an annual operating deficit and internal  discussions about staff and program cuts.

RFK Jr.’s wife hangs herself

Camelot indeed.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s estranged wife, Mary, who battled her husband’s rumored philandering by turning to alcohol and prescription drugs, hanged herself in a barn on their Westchester estate yesterday, sources told The Post.

The 52-year-old mother of four — the latest victim of a family dynasty cursed with tragedies — may have taken her own life because she was haunted by her broken marriage, her friends lamented.

“She was deeply troubled, abusing alcohol and prescription meds,” a close family friend said. “She had cause. She was used up and tossed away by Bobby. That was awful.”

Obama budget defeated 99-0 in Senate

Ouch!

President Obama's budget suffered a second embarrassing defeat Wednesday, when senators voted 99-0 to reject it. Coupled with the House's rejection in March, 414-0, that means

Mr. Obama's budget has failed to win a single vote in support this year. Republicans forced the vote by offering the president's plan on the Senate floor.

Democrats disputed that it was actually the president's plan, arguing that the slim amendment didn't actually match Mr. Obama's budget document, which ran thousands of pages. But Republicans said they used all of the president's numbers in the proposal, so it faithfully represented his plan.

ABC Reports Zimmerman Got The Crap Kicked Outta Him

Good for ABC.

A medical report compiled by the family physician of Trayvon Martin shooter George Zimmerman and obtained exclusively by ABC News found that Zimmerman was diagnosed with a "closed fracture" of his nose, a pair of black eyes, two lacerations to the back of his head and a minor back injury the day after he fatally shot Martin during an alleged altercation.

FBI may charge George Zimmerman with hate crime

Oh good grief.

SANFORD, Fla. — WFTV has learned charges against George Zimmerman could be getting more serious. State prosecutors said Zimmerman, a neighborhood watchman, profiled and stalked 17-year-old Trayvon Martin before killing him, so the FBI is now looking into charging him with a hate crime.

Zimmerman admitted to killing Martin in February during a confrontation. However, he claims the shooting was in self-defense. He's facing a second-degree murder charge, which carries a maximum possible sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

But if Zimmerman is charged and found guilty of a federal hate crime involving murder, he could face the death penalty.

Breakin my heart...ABC has canceled its freshman series with the controversial title "GCB," which some believed mocked Christians, as it failed to attract enough viewership.

ABC has officially passed on ordering second seasons of four series, including "GCB," which is based on Kim Gatlin's novel Good Christian Bitches and centers on a newly widowed woman who moves back with her family to the upscale Dallas, Texas, neighborhood where she grew up, according to tvline.com.

Sunday Funny

Betty White reveals her presidential preference

If this women ever voted for a Republican in her life I'll eat my hat.

Betty White says she usually keeps her political views private but in this presidential election strongly favors one candidate. As she prepares to visit the Smithsonian Institution and National Zoo next week, White told The Associated Press she "very, very much favors" President Barack Obama in the election. The 90-year-old actress said Friday she is very bi-partisan and has stayed away from politics all of her life. She usually never says who she is for or against because she doesn't want to turn off any of her adoring fans.

GALLUP/USA TODAY POLL: Obama's Gay Marriage Endorsement Is Turning More Voters Away

Hmmmmm.

Have you seen this? Very very creepy.

Jamie Lynn Grumet, the 26-year-old mother featured on the cover of Time magazine breastfeeding her 3-year-old son, has done more this week than become the poster woman for “attachment parenting,” the sometimes laudable movement that advises parents to be physically and emotionally available and responsive to their children. She has shown the limits of such a concept, and the ways in which it can be twisted into a bizarre, contemptible caricature of itself.

Adding Insult To Injury, Goldman Cuts US Q1 GDP To 1.9%

More terrific news from Obamaville.

Wholesale inventories increased by 0.3% (month-over-month), less than the consensus had forecast. The result was also below the rate of wholesale inventory growth assumed by the Commerce Department in its advance estimate of Q1 GDP. As a result, the report implies a possible downward revision to Q1 GDP. Based on available data, we now expect that Q1 GDP will be revised down to +1.9% (annualized) from +2.2% originally report (the wholesale inventory report accounts for one tenth of the expected downward revision). Tomorrow’s trade report could also affect expected revisions to Q1 GDP. We made no changes to our tracking estimate of Q2 GDP (still +2.0%).

Photo of the Day

UN: USA should return stolen land to Indian tribes...

A United Nations investigator probing discrimination against Native Americans has called on the US government to return some of the land stolen from Indian tribes as a step toward combatting continuing and systemic racial discrimination. James Anaya, the UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, said no member of the US Congress would meet him as he investigated the part played by the government in the considerable difficulties faced by Indian tribes.

If they start with United Nations Plaza I might consider it.

Weak Jobs Report

Obamaville continues to disappoint. Stocks slumped

and investors sought the safety of bonds after April’s disappointing jobs report signaled weak economic growth, which will keep the Fed open to more easing.

Gowdy Nails Kathleen Sebelius’

Video HERE.

Counterpoint: Court will rule states within their rights

Keep your fingers crossed. The Obama administration’s challenge to an Arizona immigration law will not hinge on the law’s popularity or wisdom; state legislatures are permitted to enact unpopular and unwise laws. And as Chief Justice John Roberts observed — and the administration’s lawyer agreed — this case is not about civil rights or racial profiling, either. The challenge to Senate Bill 1070 hinges on the narrow question of whether it conflicts with federal immigration law. Since last week’s arguments before the Supreme Court, supporters of the Arizona law are increasingly hopeful that the court will find it does not conflict with federal law and will uphold most if not all of it. S.B. 1070 requires state and local law enforcement officials to verify the immigration status of those legally stopped if there is a “reasonable suspicion” that they are in the country illegally. It also allows arrests without a warrant if authorities have probable cause to believe a noncitizen has committed an offense that subjects him to deportation. Those provisions are entirely consistent with federal law. Federal statutes allow state and local officials to communicate with federal officials to ascertain a person’s immigration status. The federal government is also required to respond to state or local government inquiries about an individual’s immigration status for any lawful purpose. As the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has noted, “Congress passed a series of provisions designed to encourage cooperation between the federal government and the states in the enforcement of federal immigration laws. … This collection of statutory provisions evinces a clear invitation from Congress for state and local agencies to participate in the process of enforcing federal immigration laws.”