Big deal ....the President....

.

I saw Bill Murray at the game. He is gray. Not his hair but him. It's hard to ignore a 500 pound gorilla in a room. That man is either sick, or dying.

For those of you who follow what the first lady is wearing, she's in the now-sold out "Heart me" sweater (http://ow.ly/7FWmo) in orange from J.Crew. She wears a lot of their stuff, much to the marketing department's delight, I'm sure.

She is one of the most "put together" First Ladies we have had since Jackie Kennedy. Everything she wears is amazing (and I am a guy and I notice).

So that leads to the question. If you had a choice to sit in 1 seat, would it have been next to the President or Bill Murray?

Thats all great but I think the money spent on getting the president there and all the security could have been better spent. Our tax dollars at work.

Congress had a hand in the visit, how about jobs and less foreclosures. No wonder crime is so high. Did tax incentives to hire occur, or is it basketball as usual?

I think the People have spoken.....no big deal .....just the one term pres.....

WOW some people don't know what to say out their mouths! When did clothes become age approiate? Or, because it's the forst lady? You guys are so disrespectfully when it comes to the President and his family. What have they done to you all?

Well, I took my kids and a group of their friends to the game, they had a wonderful time! The Obama's came out to support Michelle's brother! One of the closest games from D.C. I suppose you think that a President can't support his family during the Thanksgiving holiday? Pick your battles, let the man and his family spend time with theirs as well over the weekend, jump on his back tomorrow!

J.Crew clothing is only for 19 year olds?? Who knew?

Oh just stop the "hatred" garbaaage!!! Right, left, center---sounds close to an army march. Only thing left out is "front"....and most of what is going on is up front and in our faces. They, them, their.....so anti, anti and so very tiresome and non-problem solving..
Now, back to President Obama vs Newt Gingrich in a true debate on all the issues....all!! You feel the President would be an odds on favorite. I am shocked to realize you may actually feel that way. Wonder how many folks on both sides of the aisle would agree deep down in their psyche??? OMG---I would pay to hear the debate even if Gingrich is not the nominee....just once, oh please, just once?????

Could be cumbersome couldn't it....however, if we have put up with the Clinton antics and he is still around, the Barney Frank antics and he is still around (not sure I have ever heard of Gingrich wanting poor children in poor neighborhoods to be janitors for their schools ...where the heck did that come from?? And so - looks like we have quite a few "brilliant" and lets not leave out the women in congress, et al., who have a rather darkened history -.... might even add Hillary history as well, way, way back. Oh, and lets not forget President Obama's baggage while we are at it.

But, right now can't we just all get along....at least long enough to arrange for a Gingrich vs Obama debate....I am absolutely sure the WORLD will watch it...glued to their TVs. Odds on favorite to be watched no doubt about it whether from the left, right, center, front, up, down and out..... :)

As a Towson Unoversity alumna, I hope that game attendees showed "our" guests their best despite their personal opinions and that they represented TU well :)

Bart, thanks for sharing the Gingrich take on child labor laws. One could look at it in the most negative way....young children scrubbing, cleaning, wiping their sweaty little brows, on hands and knees while other children are out and about playing and enjoying life. I don't really think that is the picture he is presenting, but works well for negative political response. I of course am suggesting that Gingrich is referring to teens ...an opportunity to take some ownership of theirs schools, encouraging and element of pride and the ability to make some decent wages at the same time.

In 1949 (at 9 years old) me and my friend Betty had our own step cleaning business - every Saturday morning in the summer....3 steps per row house 5 cents per house. Our parents did not promote it, but they did not forbid it. And we clearly enjoyed the monetary independence for allowable treats. Getting our hands dirty was never a negative factor. A lesson learned at the age of 9.

I am not promoting scrubbing and cleaning for 9 year olds....simply suggesting that putting a dark cloud on cleaning and being paid for it as a teenager is not the way to look at the bigger picture.

No doubt about it - a kid of 14-15 should be consider a child, because they are children and laws are important to protect them. I suppose each State has laws and there are the Federal laws and then the question is - can a 14-15 year old work at McDonalds so many hours per week and clean up at the end of a shift vs help clean up their school for a specified hourly wage? I suspect that may be the topic at hand not a sweat shop. Jobs to help maintain a school within the community is an honorable job, and should not have a dark cloud put upon it. Fast food restaurants/carry outs are ideal for some teens, but not every teen is happy to work at McDonalds...... Some work at horse farms cleaning stables...now that is necessary for the horses, but not necessarily fun, fun, fun. Hope we don't start an age war to coincide with a class war....yikes!!! Your final sentence is of good shock value, but not necessarily true. I am sure the media will work very hard to give Mr. Gingrich an opportunity to explain in further detail which particular child labor law(s) he is referring to.

Looks to me like the left is grabbing at straws if they are going to make a big deal out of Mr Gingrich's misspeak. It is ridiculous to think that he means that 5 year olds should be mopping up the halls before they leave school every day. Lorna is right, I am sure he means teenagers and there is nothing wrong with a "child" that age doing his share. I worked at 15 and both of my children worked at 15. All three of us WANTED to. My children were brought up just like I was. You don't drive a car until you can buy your own and pay for your own insurance, so if you want to roll you have to work.

Misspeak? It was a prepared speech. He's given this a lot of thought.
And, make no mistake, my kids all had jobs by 15, either at Friendly's or the local Ice Cream Shop. They did landscaping work out of their own truck once they had a license to drive.
They did it because they wanted to.
Newt's plan is very different. Fire all the adult janitors (union), leave one adult "Master Janitor" who oversees a staff of kids. Kids who are forced to work. Sounds like underage slave labor to me.

I am concerned about your last two statements Bart. Where in the world did you get the information regarding "kids who are forced to work. Sounds like underage slave labor to me" Yikes!! That, if true would certainly be a volatile thrust in the wrong direction on Mr. Gingrich's part....but, somehow, I did not get that sense from his brief statement. Your interpretation has gone from hire kids to forced labor...wow!!!

Gingrich is a man who gleefully cheated on and divorced his wife while she was in bed with cancer. His support of child slave labor is not terribly surprising.

Wow!! You folks certainly can take a ball and run with it here, there and everywhere. "cleaning now becomes ...balancing the budgets on the backs of the poor and support of child slave labor".... Can we just stay on track folks?? With regard to spousal cheating, etc...Can we just get real with the two-timing political folks we have had the great pleasure to call our Presidents in times past....how far do you want to go back in time? I am happy to stop at JFK....he was bringing the ladies into the White House via the back door..or some say even the tunnel and then there was Marilyn, another one of the darlings on his list. Not saying it is the greatest thing to have on one's resume when running for President...but please get real and stop pushing the "shock" button one if you are not going to push it on all..

So from your omission of this issue, now I am going to assume you have no problem with guys who cheat on and then divorce their wives while they are in bed with cancer. I guess your dream ticket is Gingrich/Edwards. It's ok for you maybe that candidates fool around, but as a faithful husband myself, I think fidelity is the least we can expect from our leaders, and that goes for both parties, but more so for the GOP, because they are more preachy about trying to tell people how they should be conducting their sex lives.

And do you know how many chemical burns, slips and falls, and other workplace injuries befall school janitors? It's quite a few. So I guess you support kids collecting workers comp.

It's okay Honey Child. Not everyone spends their life glued to Faux News with Rush Limbaugh playing in the background.

President should have included 3 more famous Dems like : Anthony " I cannot be sure that is me" Weiner; Barney " I did't know what all those strange men were doing" Frank; and Jerry " I was just horsing around " Sandusky.

Jerry Sandusky is a Republican.

And his enabler Joe Pa is a bigtime GOP supporter. Has spoken at the RNC and everything.

I forgot what the topic was?

Ha, ha, ha - Sean I adore your sense of humor!!! I agree-- the subject matter has gone awry....far and away from a simple basketball game.

SEAN TULLY = ROBERT ARMSTRONG

Insecure idiot!

As a side note, in case there was any doubt on Newt's views on child labor laws:

"
GOP hopeful Newt Gingrich defended his stance against certain child labor laws during a campaign stop in Iowa Thursday, saying that children born into poverty aren't accustomed to working unless it involves crime."

And it's from Fox, no less:

http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/12/01/newt-poor-children-have-no-habits-working

Perhaps the reference "certain child labor laws" should be more clearly defined. And with regard to "habits" perhaps stats on that particular issue might be helpful. Children living in poverty-no matter the race, creed or national origin, are at a great disadvantage when it comes to "habits.".....not each and every single child perhaps, but probably a healthy majority. And then the question is why? Let us not victimize the children for political reasons and by that I mean lets not jump on the subject to twist, and turn any fact as useful fodder to annihilate a political foe. One thing is for sure, all children (teens 14 and above) need to learn a good work ethic and I suspect many opportunities are overlooked, including cleaning ---be it in McDonalds, Burger King, schools, horse barns, elderly folks in their communities, yards, streams, yada,yada,yada...If it is truly negative go ahead and put a cloud on it, but if it can be positive take a closer look. Of course, we are not even talking about opportunities to volunteer, right??? We are talking working for a wage. And lets not assume the wage will be below minimum and lets focus on children who are citizens. That could work!!!

You just don't get it, Lorna, but it's in your own personal self interest to NOT understand the points raised here. Maintenance is not only mopping floors. Gingrich plans to FIRE the regular maintenance people, forcing the kids in these poor neighborhoods to do the work. Secondly, there's nothing wring with kids working, but VOLUNTARILY. Otherwise, isn't that the definition of slavery?

Holy Crap Bart....where did the term FORCE come into this picture. How did I miss that? All this brings to mind something a friend shared with me recently and I would like to in turn, share with you and others...wish I knew the author's name:
An Obituary printed in the London Times.....Absolutely Brilliant!
"Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years......No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
- Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
- Why the early bird gets the worm;
- Life isn't always fair;
- and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place.

Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition."

It goes on and I will leave this comment to make room for the remainder in the next "comment" block.

Continued as promised honey child:

"Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers;
I Know My Rights
I Want It Now
Someone Else Is To Blame
I'm A Victim
Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone."

and then I was asked to...

If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

Somehow this just seems to have a "fit" for this conversation, but then, I might just possibly be missing something.

No, it doesn't fit, but that's OK. Actually your wonderful quote isn't a quote at all, and ceratinly not from the London Times, as many of these "pearls" have been attributed to George Carlin, Andy Rooney and Bill Cosby. It's just drivel, glommed together and used as folk lore by people who can't come up with their own original ideas.

First point that needs addressing is where does Newt suppose the money to pay these kids to clean schools is going to come from?

I am really surprised the "Government control" conspiracy theorists are popping the fire crackers over Newt's proposal. If janitors are fired and poor kids do the work (presumably for much cheaper, especially considering the GOP is against minimum wage), wouldn't "the government" have an incentive to keep kids poor? It would save them money in the long run.

I am really surprised the "Government control" conspiracy theorists are popping like fire crackers over Newt's proposal. If janitors are fired and poor kids do the work (presumably for much cheaper, especially considering the GOP is against minimum wage), wouldn't "the government" have an incentive to keep kids poor? It would save them money in the long run, right?

Since we are so off track here, I might as well ask what happened to Grover's "pledge" not to raise taxes? Obama signed a tax reduction for the middle class and it expires at the end of the year. The Dems want to extend it but the GOP says no. What's up with that?

just need to be a bit educated on this "middle class" description. What is the current qualification to be considered "middle class?"

Thanks for the enlightenment - I should have asked what is the financial criteria designating one to be of the "middle class" at this particular time in our country's history....sometime I just forget to explain myself in depth.

I know some people that have tons of perceived wealth... but no class at all... where would they rank in this world?

I totally agree....class warfare is my concern and the element of destruction it brings to our country as free Americans. I am certainly not going to attack any folks because they are the so-called rich nor am I going to poor mouth the rest of us. I have never connected with terms like middle class, lower class, upper class... yikes!!! As a retired worker bee, I do however, connect with "working" class at all levels of the economy. I detest political folks who are willing to encourage so-called "class" warfare at the very expense of our great country's health, wealth and well being.

Hi Sean.... Perhaps yours should be first in line on the Sun article. I have been very straightforward about where my thoughts are when it comes to so-called "classes" of population. I am a tried and true member of the "worker bee" group and have no issues with any true "bees" no matter the level of their economic status. In America, for whose who like to banter the term "class" around it touches too much on my memory of first reading about the French Revolution...Yikes!!! But, as long as we continue on the subject...I found an interesting description regarding class and how the term is used in American society....shall I share it with you for what ever benefit you might be able to garner from it?: Some think that the "upper classes" include CEOs, politicians, and people who work in highly specialized careers like doctors." As you can only imagine, I am gingerly drawn to and absolutely love that "politicians" are nestled in the description, honey child? My current "class warfare" concern is with the political folks (professional and otherwise) who diligently focus on separating people into "classes" for the specific purpose of prompting a Machiavellian agenda...one specifically meant to thwart a positive outcome for our wonderful citizens. Divide and conquer as in "class warfare" is despicable and deserves to be thoroughly routed.

Back again...Sorry Sean, as you can see, I am hopelessly hardcore!!! :)

Lorna, You aren't fooling anybody.

Wars are started because someone has something the other wants or needs (land, oil, power, money, natural resources etc.) not to say that is the only reason for war. It is called "class warfare" because the rich have the money and power that the poor and middle class want. The poor have nothing that anyone else wants or needs therefore no "warfare"

Lorna, you make the most sense of all of these responses. Keep it up girl!

Classes of the population are man made...devisive, greed~power driven illusions of perceived ACCOMPLISHMENT....but only in the monetary sense.Hearts, souls and REAL are the things that make people...

How very unperceptive of both you, Tim and you Sean. However, I must congratulate you both with expressing your opinions in a manner that would lead us to believe they might even fact. Good try guys!!!

In addition Sean....how interesting for you to dig at the bottom of the barrel, when all else fails, and try to conjure up the "race" card, you little darling, you!!! :)

That is your opinion...which, on the face of just doesn't make it so, honey child. Can't we just do a clean study on the welfare opportunities in t his country and look across the board to see how, what, where and when and if, in fact, there is too much fraud...and of course, can we just leave the race card out of it. As they use to say in the old detective show on TV, give us the facts and nothing but the facts, so help you God, should be on the table. And then, what???? if I recall correctly, Russia had the equivalent of a welfare state and it ate them up alive. So, lets push for ways to assist people to stand on their own, whenever possible...rather than make it impossible for them to get out from under the "welfare state." Please note the key words WHENEVER POSSIBLE!!

I can't believe that homelessness has ever been a part of anyone's plan. I do believe that the homeless explore the full depths of their soul though... something that can not possibly be accomplished by the perceived, or self proclaimed rich....

How in the world does a simple article about the President attending a basketball game turn into an lambasting of the welfare state America is becoming?

Know what I hate? Idiots on twitter who send out fake Bill Murray sightings,meetings, etc. Bill Murray is not, and never has been at ATP.

Know what else I hate? People who disrespect others by lying to them -- like the Talks, who in August posted a fake (old) interview of Bill Murray, and tried to recycle it. What can't people stop using other people just to get attention? It makes me sick.

Here's the truth about Bill Murray. He almost died after almost drinking himself to death over New Years 2010. He is such a bad alcoholic, that he lost control of severe diabetes and went into diabetic shock. There for a while, they couldn't get his diabetes under control. That's why he wears an insulin pump. He should never be by himself. He's gone into diabetic shock on several occasions....yet refuses to say anything to other people who think he's really cool, and follow his life's pattern believing it'll bring them loads of fun. How's about a future with loads of insulin shots? Bill Murray, please save some lives and stand up!

His choice of friends is rather scary, too. Then again, birds of a feather flock together. They helped Bill lie about what happened to him over New Years, have helped him cover it up, and are helping him continue living this destructive life pattern that will kill him. With friends like that, who needs an enemy? To me, these people sound more like the fabled Siren, than any friend who wants what is best for you. Truth is, psychologically, people gather wagons around causes they love because of what they love for themselves, not because of who or what they love for anybody else's benefit. It's because of people like this, that it doesn't bother me that there really is a such thing as hell.