Kevin Dayhoff - Soundtrack Division of Old Silent Movies - www.kevindayhoff.net - Runner, writer, artist, fire and police chaplain. The mindless ramblings of a runner, journalist, and artist: National and International politics. For community see www.kevindayhoff.org. For art, writing and travel see www.kevindayhoff.com
Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Md Troopers Assoc #20 & Westminster Md Fire Dept Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
A lawsuit challenging the legality of a $31 million deal that moved the Baltimore Orioles' spring training home from Ft. Lauderdale to Sarasota is now in the hands of a Florida Circuit Court judge.
Based on what the judge decides, the challenge could be overruled or renovations on the Orioles' spring training stadium could be halted.
“Citizens for Sunshine” and “Citizens for Responsible Government”filed a lawsuit last year alleging Sarasota’s county commissioners violated the state’s Sunshine Laws when they discussed the details of the 30-year deal privately in both emails and phone conversations.
It’s generally considered a no-no for reporters, especially political reporters, to actively work in support of political candidates, including making donations or even putting a sign in a yard or a bumper sticker on their cars.
Hot town, summer in the city! As the mercury rises so does tension and desperation. Hungry for a story, the New York Times dispatched a reporter to fry an egg on the sidewalk. Fun, right? No! Blogs are crying foul.
[...]
It's like the annoying uncle who micromanages a trip to the beach or draws up a careful itinerary that gets handed out as you bounder through the gates of the Magic Kingdom. Of course the Times would bring a stupid frying pan to its whimsical and embarrassingly dated funperiment. Otherwise egg might get on the sidewalk and they'd get in trouble! Oh New York Times, why even try anymore. Just roll over and die, because you are old and never fun anymore.
PLEASE NOTE: I divided my uploads between multiple channels, Bookmark this link in your browser for instant access to an index with links to all of John1948's oldies classics. LINK:http://tinyurl.com/Channel-Index
Right on the tails of the Beau Brummels and the Byrds, the Lovin' Spoonful were among the first American groups to challenge the domination of the British Invasion bands in the mid-'60s. Between mid-1965 and the end of 1967, the group was astonishingly successful, issuing one classic hit single after another, including "Do You Believe in Magic?," "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice," "Daydream," "Summer in the City," "Rain on the Roof," "Nashville Cats," and "Six O'Clock."
Like most of the folk-rockers, the Lovin' Spoonful were more pop and rock than folk, which didn't detract from their music at all. Much more than the Byrds, and even more than the Mamas & the Papas, the Spoonful exhibited a brand of unabashedly melodic, cheery, and good-time music, though their best single, "Summer in the City," was uncharacteristically riff-driven and hard-driving. More influenced by blues and jug bands than other folk-rock acts, their albums were spotty and their covers at times downright weak. As glorious as their singles were, they lacked the depth and innovation of the Byrds, their chief competitors for the crown of best folk-rock band, and their legacy hasn't been canonized with nearly as much reverence as their West Coast counterparts.
Leader and principal songwriter John Sebastian was a young veteran of the Greenwich Village folk scene when he formed the band in 1965 with Zal Yanovsky, who'd already played primitive folk-rock of a sort with future members of the Mamas & the Papas in the Mugwumps. Sebastian already had some recording experience under his belt, playing harmonica (his father was a virtuoso classical harmonica player) on sessions by folkies like Tom Rush and Fred Neil. The Spoonful were rounded out by Steve Boone on bass and Joe Butler on drums. After some tentative interest from Phil Spector (who considered producing them), they ended up signing with Kama Sutra. Sebastian's autoharp (which would also decorate several subsequent tracks) helped propel "Do You Believe in Magic?" into the Top Ten in late 1965.
The Lovin' Spoonful were torn asunder by a drug bust in 1967. Boone and Yanovsky were arrested in California for marijuana possession, and evidently got out of trouble by turning in their source. This didn't sit well with the burgeoning counterculture, which called for a boycott of Spoonful product, although the effect on their sales may have been overestimated; most of the people who bought Spoonful records were average teenage Americans, not hippies. Yanovsky left the band in mid-1967, to be replaced by Jerry Yester, former producer of the Association.
The band had a few more mild hits, but couldn't survive the loss of John Sebastian, who effectively closed the chapter by leaving in 1968, although the group straggled on briefly under the helm of Butler. Sebastian went on to moderate success as a singer/songwriter in the 1970s. Live at the Hotel Seville, the first new Lovin' Spoonful album in three decades, was released in 1999. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
President Obama appears set on a collision course with the conservative-leaning Supreme Court over the constitutionality of his administration's transformative legislative agenda, legal scholars say.
Partisan battles over the Supreme Court nomination of Elena Kagan, combined with the administration's proposals to change established policy dramatically in fields ranging from healthcare to financial regulation to energy and immigration, make it likely that Obama and the court's conservative majority increasingly will be at loggerheads, these experts say.
"I was struck by the coordinated attacks on the Supreme Court by liberals on the Judiciary Committee," Tom Fitton, president of the conservative Judicial Watch organization, tells Newsmax. "I cannot recall any similar, sustained attacks on the high court in all my years in Washington. It is likely discomforting to all the Supreme Court justices. Obama and his liberal allies are trying to politicize the Supreme Court in a way not seen since FDR's attempt to pack it with extra appointees."
One thing appears certain: Supreme Court Justice John Roberts isn't likely to back down to Obama. Roberts reportedly still is angry over President Obama's decision to use the State of the Union address to scold the justices for their Citizens United v. FEC ruling, which rejected limitations on corporate and nonprofit electioneering.
When Obama said during the State of the Union address that the ruling would "open the floodgates" to donations by foreign companies and other special interests to influence U.S. elections, Justice Samuel Alito mouthed the words "Not true."
Politifact, the independent fact-checking organization, agreed with Alito. It rated the president's statement "barely true," calling it an exaggeration. In their majority opinion, the justices specifically stated that their decision would not overturn the longstanding prohibition in 2 U.S.C. 441e(b)(3) against any foreign-based organization "directly or indirectly" spending money to influence the outcome of any U.S. election.
The president's decision to use his bully pulpit to frame the ruling's political impact incorrectly may have caused lasting damage to his relationship with the judiciary. The Los Angeles Times reported on Tuesday that "Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. is still angered by what he saw as a highly partisan insult to the independent judiciary."
"This case must be made right as quickly as possible and with no room for further doubts about the integrity of Justice Department voter intimidation prosecutions."
"An Examiner inquiry found multiple FCIC employees who either are or appear to be former employees of many of the very Wall Street firms at the heart of the collapse, including Goldman Sachs, Bear Stearns and JP Morgan."
"If unemployment benefits last 99 weeks, and they are even mildly attractive next to a $10-per-hour job, then no rational actor would pick lettuce for less."
BAGHDAD -- The military said Tuesday that it has charged an Army intelligence analyst in connection with the leak of a controversial video and the downloading and transfer of classified State Department cables, in a case that is likely to further deter would-be whistleblowers.
