Michelle Obama hosts first White House dance event

WASHINGTON – The stately White House East Room, home to many a bill signing and ceremonial gathering, becomes a stage Tuesday for pirouettes, jetes, gravity-defying leaps and maybe even some bumps and grinds as Michelle Obama inaugurates a new dance series.

Dancers of all types — ballet, modern, hip hop and Broadway — take over the room, first for an afternoon workshop, during which students from around the country will have the chance to work with some of the biggest names in dance.

Then, after a short break, the students return to see their mentors perform in an hour-long, star-studded show. Even Broadway's young "Billy Elliot" will be there — four Billys actually, from the show's rotating cast.

But the main attraction is the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and that's because its celebrated artistic director, Judith Jamison, soon to retire after two decades in the job, is the honoree of the event.

"What a rare opportunity, to be invited by your country's first lady to be honored like this," Jamison said in a weekend interview. "I've been to the White House a couple of times before, but this event is totally unique. It's so terribly important to recognize this art form and to understand how important it is to the fabric of this country."

Click image to see photos of the White House dance event

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

"This will be another clarion call to people: Pay attention to your arts!" Jamison said. "My dancers are so excited."

The 67-year-old Jamison is an icon of the dance world. She joined the Ailey company in 1965 and became the choreographer's muse, her dramatic power as a dancer epitomized in the unforgettable 1971 solo piece "Cry." In 1989, after Ailey's death, she took over as artistic director. She is scheduled to step down in 2011.

Tuesday's program is directed by Damian Woetzel, the recently retired star of the New York City Ballet who is on the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. He had a dizzying array of choices from which to cull an hour of the country's best dance. And he said it wasn't exactly hard to find dancers, no matter that the event comes just after a summer vacation weekend.

"Everyone was so excited to be a part of this," Woetzel said in an interview. "It's really an exciting opportunity to present the variety of dance in this country. And the student component makes it especially unique. It's a great way to start the school year."

Though the Obamas have spotlighted many varieties of music since they came to the White House — there have been events celebrating Latin music, rock, jazz, country, classical and Broadway show tunes — the dance world might have felt ignored, until now.

But Michelle Obama seems to be a dance fan. Jamison noted proudly that the Obamas and their daughters spent one of their first nights out as first family taking in an Ailey performance at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

"They came backstage, took pictures — the dancers were thrilled," she said.

Also on the program Tuesday: the Paul Taylor Dance Company, Broadway's "Billy Elliot the Musical," TheWashington Ballet, Super Cr3w and the New York City Ballet.

The students are from dance schools around the country: The Alvin Ailey School, Ballet Hispanico, Cab Calloway School of the Arts, Dance Theatre of Harlem, the Chicago Multicultural Dance Center and others. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100907/ap_on_en_ot/us_white_house_dance_1

Bailey Comment:

All of this is just fine and dandy!  But my question is while I'm out working to pay my own bills, how are the Obama's going to pay for all of the above? I didn't think that Michelle or Barrack together made enough money to pay for stuff like this? Oh thats right, someone else is footing the bill and I wonder who that someone else will be!

It just keeps going on and on and on and on!!

Democrats and liberals accuse voters of temper tantrums at their own peril

Eugene Robinson, under the guise of nonpartisan criticism, says the anger and resentment that voters feel toward Democrats is nothing more than more than a childish temper tantrum.  It’s not that they are reacting rationally and predictably to the Democrats’ arrogance and elitism. No, according to Eugene Robinson, the only possible reason is the voters’ out-of-control emotions.  

The American people are angry because President Obama presented himself as a centrist during the campaign, but upon taking office almost immediately started governing as a radical leftist. They are angry because Obama promoted and the Democrats in Congress passed a nearly one trillion dollar stimulus package because they said it was necessary to keep unemployment below 8 percent; it sent the unemployment rate soaring to nearly 10 percent . Voters are angry because those same Democrats blatantly ignored them and passed ObamaCare when they made it crystal clear they didn’t it. None of this is on Robinson’s radar screen; instead, he chalks it up to voters being irrational. The Democrats and the liberals who support them dismiss the voters again at their own peril. 

Bailey Comment: 

When someone takes money out of your wallet and spends it like they have a non ending supply of it on nothing but junk, it would make anyone mad! Then you tell them over and over to stop it and they act like they don't hear you or could care less, sure I would get mad and throw a fit, what kind of normal person wouldn't?

The Summer of Recovery? WRONG WAY FOR LABOR DAY: UNEMPLOYMENT RATE JUMPS TO 9.6

AP: WASHINGTON — The unemployment rate rose in August for the first time in four months as weak hiring by private employers wasn’t enough to keep pace with a large increase in the number of people looking for work.

The Labor Department says companies added a net total 67,000 new jobs last month, down from July’s upwardly revised total of 107,000. Wall Street analysts expected a smaller gain, according to Thomson Reuters.

Overall, the economy lost 54,000 jobs as 114,000 temporary census positions came to an end. State and local governments shed 10,000 positions. The jobless rate rose to 9.6 percent from 9.5 percent in July.

More than a half-million Americans resumed their job searches in August, which drove up the jobless rate. When the unemployed stop looking for work, they are no longer counted in the jobless rate. http://www.theblaze.com/stories/breaking-unemployment-rate-to-9-6/

Comment by Bailey:

"Do You Miss Me Now" is making its way around the country! Well my question is do you miss Bush now, because I sure do!

New Black Panthers

  It seems kind of strange that nothing has been heard later about the Voter Intimidation Case against the black panthers. Is this another case that our federal government is sweeping under the rug?

Address to the Nation

Anyone that watched the presidents address to the nation on august 31st would all agree, boring!  Where was all the fire and enthusiasm that Obama always shows? If I didn't know better I would believe that his heart was not in his speech, which you know it wasn't. It was 17 minutes long and about 5 minutes into it I found myself snoozing. A democrat most have written his speech? Please Mr. President, fire that person and get you some rest!

Gallup: GOP Has Largest Poll Lead Ever

Monday, 30 Aug 2010 10:17 PM

A new Gallup poll released Monday shows Republicans with a record 10-point edge over Democrats on the "generic ballot" test — the question of whether voters prefer a Democratic or Republican congressional candidate. It’s the largest GOP polling edge at this stage in the 68 years of the generic ballot poll, Politico first reported.

The news is so discouraging that an increasing number of Democratic strategists now say privately that they fear the House is already lost, Politico reports.

The Gallup poll, coming at the end of a brutal August for Democrats and President Barack Obama, reinforces the rapidly forming prevailing view that the horizon is as bleak for Democrats as it ever has been.

The 51-41 percent edge Republicans have now represents the largest Republican edge heading into a midterm election since the poll was first conducted in the 1942 election cycle, giving them greater reason for optimism than in the weeks leading up to their 1952 and 1994 House takeovers. It also represents a stunning reversal from the 6-point lead Democrats posted in the poll in mid-July.

"You have millions of Americans worried about the economy, jobs, deficits, their children's future, and we're out there talking about what - Bush, Iraq?" Chris Kofinis, a longtime Democratic strategist, told Politico. "Our message needs to be more positive, more hopeful, more focused, and we need talk to the economic reality of everyday Americans and their families. There is time to pivot, but we're just not there yet."


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Brewer to State Department: Remove Reference to Arizona Law from UN Report Published August 27, 2010 | Associated Press

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer demanded Friday that a reference to the state's controversial immigration law be removed from a State Department report to the United Nations' human rights commissioner.

The U.S. included its legal challenge to the law on a list of ways the federal government is protecting human rights.
In a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Brewer says it is "downright offensive" that a state law would be included in the report, which was drafted as part of a UN review of human rights in all member nations every four years.
"The idea of our own American government submitting the duly enacted laws of a state of the United States to 'review' by the United Nations is internationalism run amok and unconstitutional," Brewer wrote.
Arizona's law generally requires police officer enforcing other laws to investigate the immigration status of people they suspect are illegal immigrants.
Critics say it would lead officers to target Hispanics. Supporters, including Brewer, say the law prohibits racial profiling and other human rights abuses.
The U.S. Justice Department sued to block the measure, arguing federal law trumps the state's authority to enforce immigration laws.
A federal judge in July sided with the Justice Department and blocked enforcement of the law's most controversial provisions a day before it was scheduled to take effect.
In its report, the State Department does not specifically allege that Arizona's law would lead to racial profiling.
"A recent Arizona law, S.B. 1070, has generated significant attention and debate at home and around the world," the report says. "The issue is being addressed in a court action that argues that the federal government has the authority to set and enforce immigration law. That action is ongoing; parts of the law are currently enjoined."
A State Department spokesman had no immediate comment on Brewer's letter.
Brewer, a Republican, is running for election in November. Her popularity in Arizona and her national profile have soared since she signed the immigration measure in April.

To Much!

Comments by Bailey:
I'm sitting and drinking a cup of coffee this morning and I'm thinking does any of these comments I post on the internet really matter to anyone except me? I think not as it is like dropping a grain of sand onto a sandy beach by the seaside. There are millions of blogs, websites, and information on the internet, way to much for a human being to process. And everyone is constantly coming up with a gimmick to get you to notice their blog. So what I write and post means very little to anyone else except for myself, but I'll keep on doing it because it makes me feel better! Maybe that is whats wrong with our country, there is to much of everything!