http://www.liveleak.com/browse?channel_token=fef_1302953772 Items in channel 'echo4250' Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:19:20 -0400 Liveleak http://edge.liveleak.com/80281E/u/u/ll2/logo.gif http://www.liveleak.com/browse?channel_token=fef_1302953772 Sat, 15 Jun 2013 20:20:53 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=756_1371341703 echo4250 As conservatives rage about the cost of Obama's Africa trip, it is important to remember that George and Laura Bush made a combined 7 trips to Africa all on the taxpayers' dime. We've played this game before , but anytime the nation's first black president spends more than a dollar, the right wing freaks out about Barack Obama "wasting taxpayer dollars." Back in 2011, the right claimed that First Lady Obama's Africa trip would cost taxpayers millions , but even if you use numbers that the White House disagrees with ($424,000), they weren't even close. This time the right has whipped up the fake outrage over a leaked document showing that President Obama's upcoming Africa trip could cost $60-$100 million. What these same people don't tell is that George and Laura Bush loved to go to Africa on the taxpayers' dime...a lot. During Bush's second term alone, Laura Bush made five "goodwill" trips to Africa . President Bush made the trip twice during his presidency. Here is former First Lady Bush at an event the night before their trip in 2008 , "Tomorrow, President Bush and I leave for what will be my fifth trip to Africa since 2001, and his second trip to Africa since 2001. I've seen the determination of the people across Africa - and the compassion of the people of the United States of America." Wow, that's a lot of trips to Africa. In 2007, Laura Bush also took her daughters with her, and they went on a safari. You know, the same kind of outing that President Obama just canceled. Not much was going right for George W. Bush. Even before the economy crashed, his legacy was 9/11, the unpopular Iraq invasion, and Hurricane Katrina. Back in 2003, Bush laid the groundwork for making aid to Africa his legacy. One of the areas where Bush drew praise was that he spent billions of taxpayer dollars on aid to Africa. It's funny how conservatives don't utter a peep about George W. Bush dishing out more than ten times the amount of taxpayer money on aid than Obama will spend on his trip. Why could the country afford to spend billions of dollars during Bush's no growth economy, but they can't afford to spend at least $60 million for the sitting president to travel today? Giving aid to Africa to combat malaria and AIDS is a very noble cause. It literally saves lives, but 5 goodwill visits to Africa aren't cheap. Laura Bush wasn't flying all alone on a commercial flight. Her trips cost the taxpayers a pretty penny. For some odd reason, the GAO (General Accounting Office) records on the cost of the Bush family's Africa travels seem to have vanished. The media has contacted the GAO, but no specific numbers have been provided yet. President Clinton's Africa trip in 1998 cost taxpayers $42.8 million. George W. Bush's two trips five and ten years later were likely more expensive. The Washington Post story didn't say that Obama's trip will cost $100 million, but that the trip could cost $60-100 million, and that the cost was based on similar African trips made in recent years , "Obama's trip could cost the federal government $60 million to $100 million based on the costs of similar African trips in recent years, according to one person familiar with the journey, who was not authorized to speak for attribution." President Obama hasn't made any trips to Africa, except a 22 hour stopover in Ghana in 2009, so it is pretty clear that Secret Service is basing their cost estimate on the cost of the Bush trips. Since George W. Bush made two presidential trips to Africa, it is likely that he spent more money in today's dollars as President Obama will on his trip. The reality is that presidential trips are expensive. It would be fair to be opposed to all of them, but the hypocrisy of only being outraged when certain presidents travel is unacceptable. George W. Bush appears to have had himself quite a little African spending spree, but apparently cost only matters when Barack Obama is the president who is doing the traveling. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=756_1371341703 echo4250 Obama Trip Cost Dwarfed by the Bush Africa Spending Spree Africa,Obama,Bush,trips Sat, 15 Jun 2013 19:30:13 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=acf_1371338820 echo4250 Alice In Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell remembers how a stage war with Van Halen came close to getting out of hand in 1991. AIC were opening for VH and both bands had tried to disrupt each others' sets with a series of pranks. Cantrell - who recently observed he and his band are "pretty light guys" despite the darkness of their music - tells Jim Dunlop: "The Van Halen guys got us like four times in one set. "When we came out on stage, they had taken a bunch of three-foot strips of duct tape and put them all over the stage face-up. Within a couple of seconds we were all dragging around huge wads of duct tape. "They sent out some strippers - not very attractive ones - who stayed out there for a whole song. Then they sent out one of their techs in a Little Bo Peep outfit with some live sheep. "At the very end, we were playing Man In The Box and their crew came out and started dismantling our entire set around us. They left Sean Kinney with a kick and snare, left me with one cab, they just unplugged Mike Starr. "And that was all in one set - I don't think anyone has ever topped that commitment to fucking with the opening act." Still, Alice In Chains got their revenge, says Cantrell: "Van Halen used to do this signature walk across the stage, and at the time they had these skimpy panties that they would sell to the chicks in the audience. "So we took some of these panties and put them on, put on some combat boots, and made ourselves up as strippers. We did that Van Halen signature walk across the stage behind them, and they didn't know it was happening, except for Alex. "There's a great photo of it, taken right as Eddie turns around and realises what's going on, and he's totally losing it. He's one of those guys who never fucks up - hearing him miss a couple notes while getting a laugh out of us was great." http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=acf_1371338820 echo4250 Alice In Chains Stage War With Van Halen Van Halen,Alice in Chains,music Thu, 13 Jun 2013 17:51:58 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=0f5_1371159964 echo4250 There are no words that could adequately explain how the Internet has caused me to lose most of my faith in humanity today. On Tuesday night , 10-year-old singing phenomenon, Sebastien de la Cruz, who was featured on America's Got Talent, sang a stunningly beautiful rendition of the national anthem at the San Antonio Spurs game with a power in his voice well beyond his mere decade of life. And what thanks does he receive for giving such a soulful and moving tribute to our country and our flag? Hate. And more hate. And still, more hate. Twitter exploded with racist rants against the child singer. At ten-years-old, he's already had to deal with the ignorance and stupidity that runs rampant on the Internet. People who run their mouths with racist, sexist, or otherwise discriminatory rants on the Internet are the lowest kind of coward there is - the kind that has to hide behind a computer or a phone to spout their incredible hate. Thanks to the Public Shaming Tumblr page , we have a compilation of the tweets aimed at De la Cruz. This child was the target of such hate as: "This lil Mexican snuck in the country like 4 hours ago now he singing the anthem" -@A2daO "This kid is Mexican why is he singing the national anthem #yournotamerican #gohome" -@Gordon_Bombay24 "Who dat lil #Wetback sangin the national anthem at the #Heat game????" -@Tj_Tha_Dj "Can't believe they had the nerve to have a beaner sing the national anthem of AMERICA #smh" -@bdub597 "Is this the American National Anthem or the Mexican Hat Dance? Get this lil kid out of here." -@A1R_STEVEN "Mexican kid singing the National Anthem now that's pretty fucked up! #AmericaFirst" -@D_nig_ "miami =cute white girl sings national anthem san Antonio= gets alittle Mexican to sing it .. i thought this was america!!!" -@jacked_doc "FUCK THIS MEXICAN SINGING THE NATIONAL ANTHEM THIS IS BULLSHIT" -@KingBilly_SWAG "Bet u that lil beaner hopped the border just to sing the national anthem" -@R_D_M_15 "Who this Mexican jit singin my national anthem at the spurs game" -@bigbenlf4l And of course: "Who let this illegal alien sing our national anthem?" -@MCyrus2 (Of course, all spelling and terrible grammar is in context because someone so ignorant as to post shit like this on the Internet often can't spell or be bothered to learn proper English themselves...) All of this hate for one little kid who just wanted to show love to his hometown team by singing the national anthem. Yeah, his hometown team. De la Cruz was born and is being raised in San Antonio, the son of a Navy sailor. In a television interview, Sebastien responded to the racists, with dignity and poise well beyond his years, saying : "People don't know, they just assume that I'm just Mexican. But I'm not from Mexico, I'm from San Antonio, born and raised; a true Spurs fan." This child is a wonderful example of how to take the haters with grace. I am in awe. Unfortunately, I'm positive that his comments will only lead to people (and I use the term loosely) asking for his birth certificate, as is apparently standard operating procedure when dealing with anyone whose skin color differs from theirs. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=0f5_1371159964 echo4250 Disgusting Show of Racism After 10 Year Old Sings National Anthem nba finals,national anthem,racism Thu, 13 Jun 2013 04:02:21 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=29a_1371110366 echo4250 Saying that the fertilizer plant explosion that leveled much of West, Texas, in April was "not of the severity and magnitude that warrants a major disaster declaration," the Federal Emergency Management Agency will not fund the rebuilding of the town. That leaves West in a tough spot: The FEMA funds would have helped pay for public repairs such as roads, sewer lines, pipes and a school that were destroyed. It does not impact emergency funds FEMA has provided to individual residents. Last month, FEMA estimated the agency and the U.S. Small Business Administration had approved more than $5.6 million in aid and low-interest loans to West residents impacted by the blast.West Mayor Tommy Muska said the rural community of 2,800 people estimated the cost of those repairs at about $57 million, including $40 million to rebuild a school that was destroyed when the West Fertilizer Co. blew up in April. "We don't have the money to go out and borrow the money. We don't have the means to pay that note back," Muska said. "There's got to be some public assistance." While this was a giant explosion, it didn't do the kind of damage we saw from Hurricane Sandy last fall or have since seen from tornadoes, so you can see where it would fall below FEMA's threshold for full-scale involvement. But the size of the disaster aside, the extent of the damage from the explosion was multiplied by Texas' libertarian zoning laws and weak regulations and oversight . Texas laws-laws that Gov. Rick Perry goes around bragging about-made this the disaster that it was. That's not to say the people of West don't deserve help. But the state of Texas does seem like the appropriate source of that help. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=29a_1371110366 echo4250 FEMA Won't Pay to Rebuild Texas Town explosion,texas,osha,fema Thu, 13 Jun 2013 03:47:47 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=508_1371109496 echo4250 BRIDGEPORT, N.J. - NASCAR driver Jason Leffler died after an accident Wednesday night in a heat race at a dirt car event at Bridgeport Speedway. The 37-year-old Leffler, a two-time winner on the NASCAR Nationwide Series who had the nickname "LefTurn" above the driver's side window on his race cars, was pronounced dead shortly after 9 p.m., New Jersey State Police said. "NASCAR extends its thoughts, prayers and deepest sympathies to the family of Jason Leffler who passed away earlier this evening," NASCAR said in a statement. "For more than a decade, Jason was a fierce competitor in our sport and he will be missed." After losing his NASCAR ride, Leffler had been racing dirt car events most of this year, including the 410 Sprint Car race Wednesday that promised a $7,000 prize to the winner at the 0.625-mile, high-banked dirt oval. On Sunday, Leffler finished last at Pocono in his lone NASCAR Sprint Cup start of the year. From Long Beach, Calif., Leffler made 423 starts in NASCAR's three national series, but won just the two Nationwide races and one Truck Series event in a career that began in 1999. He also made three IndyCar Series starts, finishing 17th in the 2000 Indianapolis 500. Leffler's last full NASCAR season was 2011, when he ran the entire Nationwide schedule for Turner Motorsports. He finished sixth in the standings that season and hadn't had a steady NASCAR ride since. Although he never made it at the NASCAR Sprint Cup level, Leffler ran almost the entire 2001 season for Chip Ganassi Racing and ran 19 races in 2005 for Joe Gibbs Racing in the car now driven by Denny Hamlin. Leffler is survived by 5-year-old son Charlie Dean. "Really sad for Jason Leffler and his family," NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski said on Twitter. "Thinking about his little boy." http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=508_1371109496 echo4250 NASCAR Driver Dies After Crash auto racing,nascar, Tue, 11 Jun 2013 13:02:20 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=767_1370969729 echo4250 House Speaker John Boehner today called NSA leaker Edward Snowden a "traitor" who put Americans at risk by releasing classified information to the media. "He's a traitor," the highest ranking Republican in the House of Representatives said in an extensive interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos. "The disclosure of this information puts Americans at risk. It shows our adversaries what our capabilities are. And it's a giant violation of the law." Boehner endorsed President Obama's characterization of two programs, which allow the NSA to gather information about phone calls made in the U.S. as well as information on foreign suspects collected from major internet companies, as critical to the government's ability to fight terrorism. He said that there are "clear safeguards" built into the programs to protect Americans. "The president outlined last week that these were important national security programs to help keep Americans safe, and give us tools to fight the terrorist threat that we face," Boehner said. "The president also outlined that there are appropriate safeguards in place to make sure that there's no snooping, if you will, on Americans here at home." Snowden, a 29-year-old contractor with the National Security Agency, admitted that he was the source of several leaks of top secret NSA documents to the British paper, The Guardian, and the Washington Post. After the Guardian printed its first details of the program in which the government requested and received phone records from Verizon customers, Boehner initially called on Obama to explain to the program to the American people. He now says that he is satisfied with the way the program is being administered. "There is heavy oversight of this program by the House Intelligence Committee on a bipartisan basis and the Senate Intelligence Committee," Boehner said. "And that's why I feel comfortable that we can operate this program and protect the privacy rights of our citizens."... http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=767_1370969729 echo4250 Speaker Boehner Defends NSA Actions NSA,traitor,obama,boehner Wed, 29 May 2013 17:36:45 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=2ea_1369863196 echo4250 In an op-ed published on Wednesday , an Oklahoma Republican sharply criticizes his fellow party members for focusing on enacting unnecessary legislation to limit women's access to abortion and contraception. "What happened to the Republican Party that I joined?" state Rep. Doug Cox (R) wonders, pointing out that the mounting pile of reproductive restrictions represents a government intrusion into women's personal lives. Cox, who is a practicing physician, writes that the GOP-led pushes to eliminate women's health resources don't work in the "real world," as the U.S. continues to face high rates of unintended teen pregnancy . Instead of expanding access to contraception to help address that reality, his fellow Republicans are working to do the opposite - pushing to eliminate Medicaid coverage for Plan B and allow pharmacists to refuse to fill birth control prescriptions for any reason. The state lawmaker doesn't believe those legislative priorities reflect the fundamental issues at the heart of the Republican Party: What happened to the Republican Party that I joined? The party where conservative presidential candidate Barry Goldwater felt women should have the right to control their own destiny? The party where President Ronald Reagan said a poor person showing up in the emergency room deserved needed treatment regardless of ability to pay? What happened to the Republican Party that felt government should not overregulate people until (as we say in Oklahoma) "you have walked a mile in their moccasins"? What happened to the Republican Party that felt that the government has no business being in an exam room, standing between me and my patient? Where did the party go that felt some decisions in a woman's life should be made not by legislators and government, but rather by the women, her conscience, her doctor and her God? This isn't the first time that Cox has spoken out against his party's stance on women's health issues. In February, when Oklahoma was considering additional abortion restrictions that would make it harder for minors to get an abortion without parental consent, Cox testified in opposition to the legislation. "We keep passing stuff like this, they'll be done in back alleys with coat hangers, people," he pointed out . At the same hearing, Cox also explained that, despite Republicans' attempts to construe abortion care as inherently unsafe , abortion doctors don't actually need to be burdened with additional regulations. This year, Cox was the recipient of Planned Parenthood's Barry Goldwater Award , which is presented to "outstanding" public officials in the Republican Party who have demonstrated their support for reproductive health issues. "As a highly regarded member of the Oklahoma State House, Rep. Cox has tirelessly and effectively argued against more than 160 anti-women's health measures," the women's health organization noted. But the other lawmakers in Oklahoma - a state that is already particularly hostile to women's reproductive rights - have certainly kept Cox busy. Earlier this session, one state lawmaker advanced a measure that would allow employers to deny their workers birth control coverage for any reason. Another legislator has repeatedly pushed to outlaw all abortions and some forms of contraception with a "personhood" initiative that would endow embryos with the full rights of U.S. citizens. And just last week, in the wake of two deadly tornadoes that ravaged the state, the Oklahoma Senate voted to defund Planned Parenthood . http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=2ea_1369863196 echo4250 OK. Lawmaker Blasts GOP"War on Women: "What Happened to the Rep. Party That I Joined?" gop,war on women Wed, 29 May 2013 17:30:05 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=180_1369862857 echo4250 Earlier this week, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) announced she had filed the papers to run for President. It's not a frivolous pursuit: She is extremely well liked by the Republican base and is an unusually effective fundraiser, taking in more dollars in the last election cycle she than any of her Congressional colleagues. Still, Bachmann's candidacy is not without potential landmines. Over the last decade, she has taken positions that are dangerous, stemming from her radical ideology . To Bachmann's credit, she is aware of this, lamenting to Glenn Beck, "I have experienced that throughout my political career, being labeled a kook ." ThinkProgress has assembled 10 of the nuttiest things Bachmann has ever said: (1) BACHMANN WARNED 'THE LION KING' WAS GAY PROPAGANDA: At the November 2004 EdWatch National Education Conference, Bachmann said the "normalization" of homosexuality would lead to "desensitization": "Very effective way to do this with a bunch of second graders, is take a picture of 'The Lion King' for instance, and a teacher might say, 'Do you know that the music for this movie was written by a gay man?' The message is: I'm better at what I do, because I'm gay." (2) BACHMANN CLAIMED ABOLISHING THE MINIMUM WAGE WOULD CREATE JOBS: While testifying in front of the Minnesota Senate in 2005, Bachmann said, "Literally, if we took away the minimum wage - if conceivably it was gone - we could potentially virtually wipe out unemployment completely because we would be able to offer jobs at whatever level." This isn't remotely true. Even simply reducing the minimum wage would, as Paul Krugman noted , "at best do nothing for employment; more likely it would actually be contractionary." (3) BACHMANN CLAIMED THAT SCIENTISTS ARE SUPPORTERS OF INTELLIGENT DESIGN: During a 2006 debate, Bachmann said , "There are hundreds and hundreds of scientists, many of them holding Nobel Prizes, who believe in intelligent design." This was, and is, not true. (4) BACHMANN CLAIMED TERRI SCHIAVO WAS 'HEALTHY': Not long after Terri Schiavo died, Bachmann said she would have voted for the Palm Sunday Compromise because Schiavo " was healthy . She had brain damage - there was brain damage, there was no question. But from a health point of view, she was not terminally ill." An autopsy found that Schiavo had suffered irreversible brain damage and her brain, said the medical examiner, was " profoundly atrophied ." (5) BACHMANN LIKENED VISITING IRAQ TO VISITING MALL OF AMERICA: In 2007, Bachmann returned from a junket to Iraq and told her colleagues, " here's a commonality with the Mall of America , in that it's on that proportion. There's marble everywhere. The other thing I remarked about was there is water everywhere." As ThinkProgress documented at the time , the comparison was preposterous. (6) BACHMANN CLAIMED THAT CARBON DIOXIDE IS 'HARMLESS': In 2008, a Stanford scientist revealed "direct links" between increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and "increases in human mortality" - globally, he found that as many as " 20,000 air-pollution-related deaths per year per degree Celsius may be due to this greenhouse gas." The next year, Bachmann, who is not a scientist, said that "carbon dioxide is portrayed as harmful. But there isn't even one study that can be produced that shows that carbon dioxide is a harmful gas." (7) BACHMANN CALLED FOR A CONGRESSIONAL WITCH HUNT: Pivoting off the news of Barack Obama's alleged relationship to former Weather Underground member William Ayers, and his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Bachmann accused the candidate of having " anti-American views ." She then suggested that Congressional liberals - including Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid - ought to be subject to "an expos'e" by the media because of their views. "I think people would love to see like that," she told a stunned Chris Matthews. (8) BACHMANN SUGGESTED GAY SINGER SHOULD REPENT AFTER GETTING CANCER: Bachmann saw Melissa Etheridge's cancer as a teachable moment: "Unfortunately she is now suffering from breast cancer, so keep her in your prayers," she said in November 2004. "This may be an opportunity for her now to be open to some spiritual things , now that she is suffering with that physical disease. She is a lesbian." (9) BACHMANN BOASTED ABOUT BREAKING THE LAW: In advance of the 2010 national Census, Bachmann told The Washington Times that she would break the law by not completing the forms. "I know for my family, the only question we will be answering is how many people are in our home," she said. "We won't be answering any information beyond that, because the Constitution doesn't require any information beyond that." (10) BACHMANN CLAIMED THAT GLENN BECK COULD SOLVE THE DEBT CRISIS:During a February trip to South Carolina, Bachmann told a South Carolina audience, "I think if we give Glenn Beck the numbers , he can solve this ." http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=180_1369862857 echo4250 10 of the Craziest Things Michele Bachmann has Ever Said moron,idiot,derp Wed, 29 May 2013 17:22:57 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=db3_1369862430 echo4250 Facing mounting ethics inquiries and the toughest reelection campaign of her career, Tea Party standard-bearer Michele Bachmann announced this morning that she will not seek another term in the House of Representatives next year. "After a great deal of thought and deliberation, I have decided next year I will not seek a fifth congressional term to represent the wonderful people of the 6th District of Minnesota. After serious consideration, I am confident that this is the right decision," she says in a video posted on her website . The decision had nothing to do with her electoral prospects or ethics issues, she says explicitly, but rather a belief in term limits. Still, it's hard to look at a recent poll that found the congresswoman down 2 points and believe it was irrelevant. It's a long fall for Bachmann, who has irritated the left and galvanized the right better than any politician out there. Just two years ago, she was a viable contender for the Republican presidential nomination, months away from winning the Ames Straw Poll. Before that, she founded the Tea Party Caucus in the House, channeling the grass-roots conservative movement into a potent ground force and ATM for her own ambitions. But in 2012, she barely hung on to her seat, edging out Democratic challenger Jim Graves by fewer than 5,000 votes. This year, Graves was ready to try again , getting into the race early and with higher name ID and more money. And with several different investigations into her presidential campaign, the ethics questions "could be a career ender for Michele Bachmann," a government watchdog told me earlier this month.....GOOD RIDDANCE http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=db3_1369862430 echo4250 Bachmann Won't Seek Re-Election nutcase,crook,thief,flea party,idiot Wed, 29 May 2013 17:18:11 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=6a5_1369861847 echo4250 As the war on the American worker continues,more and more are joining job actions in support of those fighting for higher wages.United we stand...divided we get played...... After three years without a contract, and on one of the busiest weekends of the season, hundreds of concessions workers at the San Francisco Giants' ballpark staged a one-day strike. As baseball fans arrived on Saturday afternoon to watch the Giants take on the Colorado Rockies, strikers asked them not to buy food and drink inside the stadium.Normally Patricia Ramirez would have been inside the ballpark cooking for fans, but on Saturday, she was outside handing them flyers and urging, "No hot dogs, no garlic fries, please don't buy the food." By first pitch at 1pm, her voice was getting hoarse. "I've been chanting quite a bit," she explained. "I think before evening time, I might not have a voice." It is the first time the 65-year-old Ramirez has taken part in a strike, and she said she was "pumped up" by support from the fans. There were high fives for the strikers outside the ballpark. Some fans showed off lunches they'd brought along to avoid buying food inside the stadium. Others who hadn't heard about the strike until they arrived headed off to buy food and drink elsewhere. "I'm totally against the management for not giving more money to the concessions workers," said longtime Giants fan Andy Schoenwetter. "They've gotten so much money in the last few years, and not giving some of it back to the workers is absolutely outrageous." He said he wouldn't be spending any money on food inside the stadium. Negotiations between Unite Here Local 2 and concessions contractor Centerplate broke down over a week ago with both sides accusing the other of foul play. Last week, Centerplate filed a lawsuit against the union, claiming that it had broken labor law. On Saturday, workers accused the company of "stalling." Not every Giants fan was a fan of the strike. One season ticket holder said she didn't "have much empathy for the workers ... they have a pretty good thing going on." She had received an email from the Giants ahead of the game warning that there would be delays. Centerplate spokesperson Sam Singer told In These Times that the strike was "unfortunate" and "possibly illegal." The decision to strike on Memorial Day Weekend, he said, was a "slap in the face of our nation's military. ... Local 2 has insulted the servicemen and servicewomen and veterans." After 97 percent of its more than 750 members voted on May 11 to authorize a strike, the union did not publicly announce the date of the strike until 4a.m. on Saturday. Despite the short notice, Singer said the company had been prepared for the strike and that things were "running quite smoothly" inside the ballpark. But concessions workers who crossed the picket line told a different story. Beer stand workers on one of the concourses said it had been "crazy." One, who didn't want to give her name, said "It's been way busier than normal; we've had people waiting in lines longer than 20 minutes." According to Local 2, almost all of the union members joined the strike, and the company bussed in agency workers from all over the state to cover the empty stations. One non-union worker said that crossing the picket lines had been "kind of scary." Indeed, strikers expressed frustration with those who did decide to work. "How are they going to sleep tonight when they know we're out here fighting for them to get a pay raise and they chickened out?" asked Anthony Wendlberger, a cook. A number of the replacement workers inside AT&T Park were unpaid members of nonprofit organizations, according to Bob Contreras, who was serving food and drink to benefit Day3 Church in San Joaquin. "We all volunteer," he explained while on a break during the seventh inning, "and all the proceeds go to our church, for ministry." It's not unusual for non-profit volunteers to work at AT&T Park for free, in order to raise money for their organizations, but Mike Casey, president of Local 2, says that they're being used to undermine paid workers. "It's a real scam," says Casey. "They make huge savings, they don't pay wages, don't pay healthcare, don't pay pensions, they don't have to do any of the contractual requirements that they have to do for a worker." Standing beneath the stadium's "Wall of Fame," Wendlberger said the average Local 2 worker makes about $11,000 during the six-month-long season. The workers have not received a raise since 2009; Centerplate has offered a $0.25 hourly wage increase for 2013. "That's honestly not much," Wendlberger says. "The cost of living's gone up, gas prices have gone up, foods gone up, everything's gone up for us except pay." Like many workers, Wendlberger, who has two daughters, is also concerned about threats to his healthcare coverage. He says Centerplate is proposing to raise the number of games that employees will have to work in order to be covered, putting health insurance out of reach of most workers, including him. He drives two hours from his home near Sacramento to work at the San Francisco stadium. "I really come to work for the healthcare for my girls," he says. While the workers' dispute is not directly with the Giants, he urged the baseball franchise to "step up to the plate" and put pressure on their contractor to come to an agreement. Casey notes that although Major League Baseball has become a multimillion dollar industry, ballpark workers around the country regularly make close to minimum wage. "They should participate in the wealth that's created-that's what this is all about," he says. On the field, Angel Pag'an won the game for the Giants in spectacular fashion with a walk-off home run in the tenth inning. Outside the park, concessions workers said they are confident that their walk off will bring them a similar victory. "We know we're going to win," said concession manager Zenaida Cruz, indicating the crowd of strikers around her. "We are very strong." http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=6a5_1369861847 echo4250 Giants Fans Pack Their own Lunch to Support Workers' Strike union,wages,heros Wed, 29 May 2013 17:01:41 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=88e_1369861061 echo4250 Ten-year-old Sara McKinney plays a mean trombone. Her skills have landed her in several bands in her school and in a New Jersey state band, where she excels even though she was born without hands. Sara's mother, Debbie McKinney, says her daughter is tenacious. One day when Sara came home from Paul W. Carleton School in Penns Grove, N.J., last year, she was brimming with excitement at the opportunity to take music classes. "She goes, 'I want to play in the band. I want to play the flute,'" McKinney told ABCNews.com in a telephone interview Tuesday evening. McKinney and her daughter's music teacher, Gary Schneider, didn't think the flute was the right instrument for Sara. They took a look at all the school's instruments and how they worked, and decided the trombone would be best. Luckily, Sara agreed. Using prosthetics to play, she went from her school's beginner band to jazz band and advanced band. She had to try out for a spot in the advanced band, her mother said. RELATED: Disabled Surfers Brave the Waves "And ... one guy was really good and she was afraid he'd beat her out so she actually practiced all summer and when it came time for tryouts, she managed to beat him out and became first trombone," McKinney said. Sara, whose hands are missing from above the wrists, uses prosthetics with myoelectric fingers. The prosthetics contain sensors that allow the fingers to move when they detect nerve or muscle activity. Schneider recommended Sara for the South Jersey Band and Orchestra Directors Association's Elementary Honors Band, which is composed of outstanding student musicians from several counties in the state. Schneider told the South Jersey Times newspaper that Sara was "one of the two top" trombone players he'd ever taught. "Sara's just another trombone player, she doesn't have limitations," he said. McKinney says her daughter plays the trombone using just one prosthetic. "She is awesome," McKinney said. "She is one prosthetic on, one prosthetic off. It's the only thing I can get her to use her prosthetics for, except for riding her bicycle. She's great, she writes, she does everything without it." McKinney said Sara hasn't been limited by her physical impairments. She's taken horseback riding and gymnastic lessons, and wants to learn karate, surfing and how to play the guitar, McKinney said. "She taught herself how to do cartwheels," McKinney added, adding that her daughter "swims like a fish" without prosthetics. When McKinney got pregnant with Sara after 16 years of trying, periods of fertility treatments and suffering miscarriages, some doctors told her that her daughter would have a "miserable" life, she said. They told her Sara would be missing her hands and part of her foot, and said she had a heart problem. RELATED: Disabled Artists Group Robbed of Almost $2 Million, Indictment Charges "We actually had somebody tell us to - she said 'I don't recommend you going through with it,'" McKinney recalled. Sara outgrew the heart problem, and she has learned to adapt to not having hands or part of a foot. Indeed, the girl frequently exceeds people's expectations of her, and she doesn't consider herself disabled, her mother said. She can write with pen and paper, is practicing her drawing skills and wants to be an architect. Sara, who has two younger siblings, is encouraging her little sister to take up the trombone so she can help her out, McKinney added. McKinney says there's nothing her daughter can't do. Sara has already told her mother she plans to drive. "Oh, yeah, she already told me she wants a Harley," McKinley said. She and her husband, Richard, each own Harley-Davidson motorcycles. "She goes, 'I want a Harley but ... I figure you're going to freak out so if you get me a trike, it'll be a little bit steadier,'" McKinley said, a reference to a three-wheel motorcycle. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=88e_1369861061 echo4250 Girl Born Without Hands,a Standout Trombone Player music,disabled,nj Mon, 27 May 2013 18:23:39 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=7a6_1369693233 echo4250 A shot at Fox news. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=7a6_1369693233 echo4250 The Simpsons Have it Right fox,joke,tabloid,