Chris Christie & Cory Booker Teach Congress How Effective Bi-Partisan Really Works! "We Got This!" (Videos)

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Are Gov. Chris Christie a Republican, & Mayor Cory Booker a Democrat, too close for comfort in the Political world?

NO! A thousand times NO!

How can Booker & Christie Effectively Help the Citizens of New Jersey by Bickering & Fighting all of the time like little Children?

America needs more Politicians like them who are willing to Work together for the common Good of the People who elected them into Public Office.

Politics is supposed to be about THE PEOPLE who Elected them into Public Office.

NOT the Politicians & Their Personal Interests!

CONGRESS PLEASE TAKE A HINT!

I Most Certainly Do NOT Agree With All Of Gov. Chris Christie's GOP Political Ideologies Or Policies, But I Do Respect The Man For Having Guts To Do What He Said He Was Going To Do When He Was On The Campaign Trail.

I Respect Mayor Cory Booker For Taking His 5 College Degrees, Moving Into The Hoods Of New Jersey & Sincerely Reaching Back To Help Uplift And Improve The Quality Of Life Of Low Income, Forgotten Citizens.

The Key Word Is SINCERELY!

Cory Booker Has Been Especially Instrumental In Helping To Educate Low Income BLACK & Latino Newark Residents On Becoming Entrepreneurs, So They Can Launch Small Businesses & Become Self-Sufficient Contributors To American Society.

The American Community Is ONLY As Strong As Its Weakest Link.

If Politicians Just Focus On Always Helping The Wealthy, Then How Will Citizens Who Reside In Poor Urban & Rural Communities Ever Experience Upward Mobility Or Improve The Quality Of Their Lives?

Especially BLACK & Latino Citizens??

Regardless Of How Brilliant Someone's Idea Or Invention Is, Without OPPORTUNITY & EXPOSURE That Idea Or Invention Will NEVER Receive Recognition Or Sell.

So Cory Booker Is Providing The Citizens Of Newark, NJ With Equal Education, Small Business Opportunities & the Exposure They Need To Achieve Upward Mobility Versus Just Waiting On Welfare Checks, Food Stamps, Unemployment Checks, etc.,

"Give A Man A Fish & He Will Only Eat For Just One Day."

"Teach A Man To Fish & He Will Be Able To Eat For A Lifetime."

Now If Cory Booker Will Please, Please Do More Help To Lower Newark's Overall Crime Rate & Help Reduce Newark's Overall Gang Activity, He Will Have Done A FINE JOB At Rehabilitating A Forgotten City Previously Over Flowing With Corruption & Crime.

Thus I Applaud Both Booker & Christie For Being Man Enough To Momentarily Lay Down Their Ideologies For The Good Of ALL New Jersey's Citizens.

Of Course There Is Still Much To Be Accomplished, But At Least Booker & Christie Are Doing More Than Just TALKING!

Most 21st Century Politicians (BLACK & White) Talk A Good Game But Do NOTHING To Back Up Their Talk.

So what's my take on the Booker/ Christie Political Relationship?

Kudos to EFFECTIVE, SINCERE BI-PARTISANSHIP!!

Keep doing what you do to Help Improve the Quality of Life for the Citizens of Newark and the entire State of New Jersey.

Cory Booker doesn't need to go to Washington, DC, Congress or the White House to be an EFFECTIVE Leader or Politician.

New Jersey needs Booker More than Congress ever will.

GOD BLESS BOTH CORY BOOKER & CHRIS CHRISTIE

Cory Booker for New Jersey Governor in 2014 or 2018!!!!

FOR THE PEOPLE; BY THE PEOPLE!



Are Chris Christie and Cory Booker too close for comfort?

They are the political 'odd couple.' New Jersey's Republican Governor Chris Christie and Newark's Democratic Mayor Cory Booker released a web video this week parodying Seinfeld, poking fun at each other's unique reputations.

Christie pokes fun at the persistent rumors that he will be Mitt Romney's pick for vice president. The video also mocks Booker's superhero status, after he literally saved a neighbor from a burning building, and his history of shoveling the streets of Newark himself.

Setting aside the lighthearted nature of the video for a moment, it is interesting to see these two elected officials from different sides of the political spectrum together and seeming to get along. It's certainly not a common occurrence these days.

But it also could be evidence that, in their own way, both of these two politicians are using their political savvy to work together in this way to direct their future endeavors.

It is no secret that Governor Christie wants to be president of the United States.

Part of the reason he didn't run this year is because President Obama is going to be very difficult to beat as an incumbent.

The power of incumbency is real and Christie knew it; he seems to have passed on running this year in order to try with much better odds in 2016. Christie is up for re-election to the state house in 2013, so any consideration of a veep slot with Romney would take into account the probability of losing to Obama this year.

Certainly, the calculation at this point is run for re-election in 2013 and then a White House run in 2016.

Mayor Cory Booker's unorthodox alliance with Christie is likely based on a number of different factors.

First off, as the mayor of New Jersey's largest city, it's possible that an amicable working relationship with the governor of the state is good for business and good for his constituents. Certainly, Christie's budget cuts to public education hurt the city of Newark particularly hard.

Booker's chummy relationship with Christie isn't just about doing work for the people of Newark, it's also likely a strategic move based on his own personal ambition.

Booker's last office will certainly not be as the mayor of Newark. His bright future could be as a Senator and a bipartisan track record in a mixed bag state like New Jersey certainly enhances his credentials.

That said, the future is somewhat unclear for Booker because Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) says he's not retiring in 2014. That means that there will not be an open seat for Booker to fill in the Senate and with Christie running for re-election in 2013 only a direct challenge to his ally for a shot at the governor's mansion.

Recently, Booker has actually hinted at running for a third term as mayor until 2018 which would mean all routes to higher office would be clear.

Both men benefit from appearing to get along. With the partisan gridlock in Congress, two elected officials from different parties that do disagree on certain issues, but can still laugh it up and get along, is certainly symbolic of a different tone in politics. Christie says the video parody is "emblematic of his approach to governing."

Booker's spokesman was singing the same bipartisan tone and said of the video, "It's refreshing to see two political figures reach across the aisle and put politics aside to show that bipartisanship is possible when elected officials make it a priority."

The two politicians certainly know that appearing to be reasonable and willing to see past the partisan squabbles and budget battles garners support. Certainly neither Christie nor Booker is naïve or unaware of how a lighthearted video can boost approval ratings. But while both men are concerned about appearances, the people of New Jersey are likely hoping it wasn't all for show.


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Sources: AP, MSNBC, NBC, The Grio, Youtube, Google Maps

Mike Epps: "Cribz" Video (WARNING: LANGUAGE!)

Comedian Mike Epps' Parody Of MTV's "Cribs" Show Is Funny As It Relates To Entertainment, However Its NO Laughing Matter That Too Many BLACK Men Are Currently Incarcerated In U.S. Jails & Prisons.

Instead Of Laughing Or Ignoring This Serious Problem Why Don't Congressional & State Lawmakers Do Something Constructive About It?

I'm Just Saying.


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Sources: Hip Hop Wired, MTV, Youtube, Google Maps

Hitler's Foreclosure Meltdown Parody (Video)

Sources: MSNBC, Youtube

Elin Nordegren Woods: Sports Stepford Wife...Forced Into The Spotlight

(Parody) Interview TV: Elin Woods







Just who is Elin Nordegren Woods, anyway?



As Tiger Wreck Watch 2009 lurches into its fourth day with little new information, fans and media are combing over every element of this case like symbologists in a Dan Brown thriller. There's brick wall after brick wall in this story, but one of the largest and most well-fortified is this: just who is Elin Nordegren Woods, anyway?

If you were to design the perfect wife for a privacy-hungry superstar like Tiger Woods, she'd look a whole lot like Elin -- low-key, accustomed to celebrity, and, from all appearances on the golf course, totally devoted to her husband's career.

Which is what makes the current questions about her recent behavior -- why did she smash a window in Tiger's Escalade? Is she responsible for his injuries? Why did she change her story to police? -- so challenging. We'd like to think the best of her, but we simply don't know much about her.

As the Daily Beast notes today in a story entitled "The Mysterious Mrs. Woods," there's only been one major story written about Elin Nordegren Woods -- a 2004 Sports Illustrated profile -- and even that story centered on how little anyone outside of her inner circle knows about her.

The facts:

She grew up in Stockholm, and while she did some modeling in her teens, the idea that she was a "Swedish supermodel" is one of those urban legends that grows in the retelling. "She wasn't a high-profile model," as the Beast quotes a source from a New York modeling agency, and, to be fair, she didn't seem to be particularly interested in modeling as a career.

But she was around the world of golf long before she met Woods, serving as the Nanny to golfer Jesper Parnevik. She met Tiger at the 2001 British Open, and it wasn't exactly a romantic introduction for the ages.

According to SI, Tiger was so nervous about asking her out that he had a friend do it for him. Initially, she declined. But Woods persisted, she relented, and they married in a lavish $1.5 million ceremony in Barbados. That wedding was the stuff of tabloid heaven, with Hootie and the Blowfish as the house band and Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley in attendance.

Being married to the world's richest athlete apparently has done little to change Elin's public persona. We don't see her doing reality shows, we don't see her on the covers of magazines every month, and aside from releasing some photos, she doesn't parade around her children – two-year-old Sam and nine-month-old Charlie – seeking publicity. It's refreshing, really, to see someone in the limelight who's so apparently unconcerned with the fame-hungry world of modern celebrity.

And this brings up the question of obligation. Is Elin Woods obligated to share anything about herself with the world just because of the man she married? Of course not. Their private life is just that: private. Anything that goes on behind closed doors is their business, and theirs alone ... as long as no crimes have been committed. Without speculating on the Woods case, any time there is a reasonable suspicion of domestic violence, it does indeed become a public matter.

What's definitive is that some of the events of recent days haven't been behind closed doors, they've taken place on public streets. And because Tiger Woods is a worldwide celebrity, anything he does in public, from hitting a golf ball to hitting a fire hydrant, draws worldwide notice. Combine the events of Friday morning with the allegations published last Wednesday that Woods had been pursuing an affair with another woman, and you've got a case that police simply cannot ignore.

In the world of celebrity culture, curiosity fills in the gaps in a vacuum of information. Was it the wisest idea for Elin Woods to share absolutely nothing about herself for all these years? Perhaps, perhaps not; that's a decision everyone watching this case has to make for themselves.

What's certain is that the Woods camp would love a mulligan on many elements of this case, and the image that's been created -- or, more accurately, not created -- of Elin up until Nov. 27 may very well be at the top of that list.






The Mysterious Mrs. Tiger Woods


Even more perplexing than Tiger Woods’ strange behavior early Friday morning is that of his elegant and discreet wife, Elin Nordegren. Jacob Bernstein on the couple’s once seemingly perfect relationship.

If the news of Tiger Woods’ alleged marital spat early Friday morning was surprising, it wasn’t just because the man involved in the car crash is perhaps the best behaved athlete the Western world has ever seen.

Since she turned up on his arm in early 2002, Woods’ wife, Elin Nordegren, has been not just a cipher but a consummate match for her husband—classy and elusive, and from a smart, well-to-do Swedish family.

From the start of their relationship, she’s shown as little interest in publicizing her high-profile relationship as her husband, despite tabloid interest that’s followed her over the course of their eight-year relationship.

As Sports Illustrated noted when it profiled her in 2004, the year she married Woods: “Even in the insular world of the PGA Tour, [Nordegren] is a shadowy figure, talked about by everyone but close to very few.” One golf-world source told the magazine at the time, “She’s become like Greta Garbo. When she started dating Tiger, it was like there was an unwritten agreement she wouldn’t say anything to anyone. She’s still nice, but when you talk to her, you don’t get anything out of her.”

Amazingly, in this tabloid age, that article is practically the only substantial piece of journalism to appear about her for half a decade.

That might be why one golf-industry acquaintance describes her as such a good match for her husband, at least until last week. And it’s part of why this person and others are so confounded by reports that Nordegren may have “gone ghetto” on Woods after allegedly hearing that he was having an affair. Leaving the house in the middle of the night, Woods crashed his car into a tree, sustaining minor injuries. Over the course of the weekend, more details emerged, but little was clear, even after the golf star put out a statement Sunday taking the blame for what happened and insisting that his wife tried to help him.

If this was true, why had a neighbor, and not his wife, called the police? What was she doing with that golf club that smashed the back window of the car? Was she trying to free him from the vehicle? How on earth did this happen?

“You could point to a thousand candidates for a professional athlete to choose from for a wife and she was maybe No. 1,” one golf-industry acquaintance tells The Daily Beast.

The person goes on to describe Nordegren as “lovely and intelligent,” an “omnipresent” attendee at her husband’s matches—at least until the birth of the couple’s first child, in 2007—who was always there but “never stepped into the spotlight or did anything wacky.”

Nordegren didn’t even complain publicly when she suffered complications during that pregnancy. She wound up giving birth in the hospital on her own via Caesarean section, while Woods remained on the golf course competing in the U.S. Open.

Says the source: “I can only speak from their public appearances and very few private ones, but they seemed not to have any kind of conflict. What we think happened probably did, but there was no evidence of it. This wasn’t like Dennis Rodman, who lived out his hostile relationships in the press.”

So who is Nordegren, 29, and what is her story?

She spent her first years in a small town 50 miles north of Stockholm, where she was the older, by 10 minutes, of identical twins. Her father, Thomas, is a successful journalist who has served as the Washington bureau chief for Swedish Broadcasting media. Her mother, Barbro Holmberg, is a prominent figure in Swedish Democratic circles who became the country’s migration and asylum minister. Thomas and Barbro split when Elin and her sister Josefine were 6 years old, though it didn’t have any apparent effect on their daughters, both of whom seemed, until this week at least, to be those rare people around celebrities without any discernible serotonin deficiencies.

Although Nordegren modeled briefly in her teens, and has been referred to repeatedly in press clippings as a “former model,” she didn’t exactly make a career of it. “She wasn’t a high-profile model,” says one New York-based modeling source from a well-known agency.

Partly, this is because she didn’t seem to care about it. Bingo Rimer, the photographer who discovered Nordegren, told SI: “Elin doesn’t care about modeling. She never has. Even the few things I got her to do, I had to drag her into the studio. Being famous, the whole celebrity thing, she really and truly does not care about that.”

Nordegren did some commercial work, posing in swimsuits and whatnot, but she went to college anyway, at the prestigious Lund University, and took a job in a Stockholm clothing store called Champagne, where she met Mia Parnevik, wife of Swedish golf sensation Jesper Parnevik, who hired Nordegren as the nanny to their children.

The Parneviks were sort of like the Posh and Becks of Swedish golf; he was known as much for his disco-inspired trousers and strange hats as for his playing acumen. His wife is something of a shopaholic. (Hence the fortuitous meeting with Nordegren.) In 2001, at the British Open, Nordegren met Woods, whose penchant for blondes was well-documented.

At first, Nordegren was reportedly uninterested in Woods. As Mia Parnevik later noted, her thoroughly competent nanny displayed no interest whatsoever in the sport. She also had hopes of becoming a child psychiatrist and was concerned about appearing to be a “gold-digger.”

Further, the famously awkward Woods did not make a smooth approach. According to a close friend of the Parneviks who spoke to SI, Woods was so nervous about asking her out, he had a friend do it for him. “Her reaction was, ‘What the hell was that?’” the magazine quotes a close source as saying. “She thought it was so weird and pathetic. Of course she said no.”

But Woods persisted, flooding the Parneviks with calls, and she relented.

It turned out they had much in common. Like Woods, the golf-industry source notes, Nordegren was sporty. She’d played soccer and knew a lot about golf from her time with the Parneviks. “She was also conservative by nature, like him,” the person says.

Months after the romance blossomed, she returned to Sweden for Christmas, told Rimer of the relationship, and—displaying a press savvy befitting a future high-profile wife—worked out a deal so that only photographs she approved would be released. (Later on, nude photos of a woman looking like Nordegren surfaced, but they were apparently fakes. She sued for libel and won.)

A year later, the happy couple went on safari in South Africa, where they disappeared for 20 minutes, worrying ranger Nhlanhla Khumalo, who thought they might have been eaten by tigers. When they reemerged, Khumalo later told People magazine, Nordegren was wearing a giant engagement ring. “The diamond was half as big as my finger,” he said.

The 2004 wedding that followed was fit for a king. Held in Barbados, it reportedly cost $1.5 million. Hootie and the Blowfish played (well, everyone says they shared a certain squareness) and fireworks lit up the sky. Guests included Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley. The afterparty was held on—you guessed it—a golf course. The couple spent their wedding night aboard Woods’ $20 million yacht, which he christened “Privacy.”

It’s something the couple is no doubt missing as the tabloid feeding frenzy continues.



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Sources: NBC Sports, The Daily Beast, Yahoo, Devil Ball Golf Blog, Wikipedia, Huffington Post, Sports By Brooks, Yard Barker, TMZ, AP, Getty Images, Schoolboy 111, Youtube, Google Maps,

"Healthcare Fighting" Kung Fu Mix Parody (Video)

"Healthcare Fighting (Kung Fu Mix)"

(See your favorite political heavy-hitters fight it out over Health Care
Reform -- Kung Fu style!! After months of health care bickering and
bitterness, this musical parody is just what the doctor ordered. From: Parody & Son)




Sources: A Parody & Son Presentation, MSNBC, Health Reform.gov, Youtube

Australian Jackson 5 Blackface Skit Draws Racial Ire

(Connick disgusted by Jackson parody. Singer Harry Connick Jr., who was serving as a guest judge on an Australian TV show, is visibly shocked when a of group singers parodying the Jackson Five performs in blackface. TODAY’s Natalie Morales reports.)

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(In Australia during Wednesday night's "Hey Hey It's Saturday," four men with afro wigs and blackface sang and danced behind a Michael Jackson impersonator wearing white makeup.)







Jackson blackface skit sparks race controversy

An Australian variety show host has apologized for a skit in which singers parodying the Jackson Five performed in blackface.

American singer and actor Harry Connick Jr., who was serving as a guest judge on Wednesday night's "Hey Hey It's Saturday," was visibly shocked by the skit, in which four men with afro wigs and blackface sang and danced behind a Michael Jackson impersonator wearing white makeup.

Connick, 42, gave the performance a zero score and told them that if it had been done in the United States it would have been pulled off the air.

Blackface was a traditional trope of minstrel shows in the U.S. that dates to the 19th century. Whites playing stock black characters — usually offensive stereotypes meant to demean — rubbed coal, grease or shoe polish on their faces. Blackface performances are not common in Australia.

Public reaction to the "Hey Hey" performance in online forums was mixed. Some Australians said they were embarrassed such a racist sketch had been broadcast, while others said detractors were too politically correct and that the skit was funny.

Michael Jackson died June 25 at age 50.

Disgusting

At a news conference on other issues Thursday morning, opposition politician Helen Coonan labeled the skit "disgusting."

Host Daryl Somers apologized to Connick at the end of the live show.

"I know that to your countrymen, that's an insult to have a blackface routine like that on the show, so I do apologize to you," Somers said.

Connick said he would not have appeared on the show if he'd known about the skit.

"I just want to say, on behalf of my country, I know it was done humorously, but we've spent so much time trying to not make black people look like buffoons, that when we see something like that we take it really to heart," he told Somers after his apology.

Anand Deva, the frontman of the "Jackson Jive" act, said it was not meant to cause offense but added he would not have performed it in the United States.

"Hey Hey" ran for 27 years starting in 1971. The "Jackson Jive" group first appeared on the show 20 years ago and were invited back to reprise their roles during the second of two reunion shows for the once-popular program.



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Sources: MSNBC, Huffington Post, Youtube, Google Maps

SNL's Joe Wilson "You Lie!" Parody

(While its true Rep. Joe Wilson's conduct during Joint Session as Pres. Obama delivered his new Health Care speech wasn't funny, this parody is hilarious. No other show does Political comedy better than Saturday Night Live.)





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Sources: NBC, SNL, Politico, Google Maps

Rachel Maddow Interviews Burris and Blago (SNL Parody)

On Saturday Jan. 10th, the cast of SNL performed their usual Parodies and Political Satire that made Tina Fey Entertainer of the year while portraying Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin last year.

This time they made fun of recently impeached Ill. Gov. Rob Blagojevich (played by Jason Sudeikis) and his Senate pick Roland Burris (played by Keenan Thompson).

The skit comprised of a fake interview hosted by MSNBC's Rachel Maddow (played by Amy Elliott).

The production was extremely funny with the exception of the gay bashing jokes made towards Maddow's character by Sudeikis's.

What do you think?

Check out the clip below and judge for yourself.



Sources: Huffington Post, CBS News, CNN, SNL, MSNBC, NBC, MaddowFans.com