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Of all the times to launch into the Twitter ecosystem — with developers quaking from last week’s revelation that Twitter would compete with them head-on, and Twitter expected to launch a monetization platform at its own conference this week — the legendary entrepreneur Bill Gross is tonight announcing his new company TweetUp.

TweetUp aims to identify relevant tweets and tweeters based on popularity, engagement, interest and also paid bidding on keywords. Though Gross has created many companies over the years through his incubator Idealab, and most recently has been focused on solar energy, TweetUp most closely resembles his great insight of the late ’90s: GoTo.com — which became Overture, aka search advertising, aka Google’s core business. TweetUp is similarly a contextual advertising system for the new web-technology-seeking-a-business model on the block, Twitter. The difference is, Gross wants to monetize the content itself, by getting publishers to pay to reach a relevant audience.

The best thing about Gross’ idea is it comes with built-in distribution and monetization. I’ve seen a bunch of really cool innovations on real-time search lately, but these startups tend to focus on the algorithm rather than the way they will matter to users. Sure, nobody’s using the TweetUp marketplace yet, but at least it has a business model.

In order to identify top tweets, TweetUp uses signals such as a Twitter user’s ratio of retweets to followers and how much they’ve previously tweeted about similar topics, but it also adds in the ability to promote your tweet or your profile by paying something like $0.05 to $1.00 to bid on a term. Then it builds tweets into an ad unit that other publishers can run, giving them real-time, relevant content in a widget in their sidebar, as well as 50 percent of the revenue. Publishers can also opt-in to a keyword rollover feature similar to Kontera’s that pops up a window with a few relevant Tweets when you mouse over a link in the text of an article.

Gross sees it as a way to give relevant tweets more staying power, and to help interesting Twitter users find more followers who are interested in their areas of expertise. He built the company after being frustrated that his own personal tweets from events like Davos and the TED Conference were drowned out. Gross, for all his stature and access to elite events, has fewer than 1,500 followers.

The hard part for Tweetup will be building an ecosystem of participation. And Gross knows this — GoTo was a tough sell too. “This is not going to be an overnight business,” he told us. “It’s going to be an evangelism sell.” To kick it off, he’s offering the equivalent of $100 in TweetUp money to the first 1,000 users. Once the system is populated, TweetUp ad units will go live sometime in the next month. Participating clients and publishers include Seesmic, Twidroid, TwitterFeed, Klout, Business Insider, Answers.com and PopURLS.

I do think Gross has a point: your content doesn’t matter unless people read it, and in the modern media age, where everyone’s a publisher, audiences are harder to come by. You’ve got to work. But as a writer, it feels awfully weird to fork over money to get people to read my tweets and hopefully click through to my stories. Gross’ reply: “If you can pay a lower CPM than you can get [on your web page] yourself to drive traffic, then you will pay.”

TweetUp is not without competition; for instance, OneRiot just began offering a self-service system that publishers can use to promote their recent content on its real-time search engine and on Twitter clients. And of course, Twitter has a few ideas up its own sleeve as well.

Gross is serving as TweetUp’s CEO, and the Pasadena, Calif.-based company already has 10 employees. It has raised funding from Index Ventures, Betaworks, Steve Case’s Revolution, First Round Capital, Jason Calacanis and Jeff Jarvis.

Gross, by the way, will be speaking about his other passion, alternative energy, at GigaOM’s Green:Net conference later this month, put on by our sister site Earth2Tech. Gross was until recently the CEO of eSolar, which is using software to lower the cost of solar and produce it at a utility scale. You can buy tickets to Green:Net here.

I just finished reading an excellent article in Hedge Funds Review called "Records management in the new regulatory environment." It’s piece that echoes much the same message I’ve been preaching for years now:

Adobe will soon introduce its Creative Suite 5 to the public. A tool in the new suite will allow for easy import of Flash animations into HTML5 Canvas code. Once IE9 launches, all major browsers will support Canvas. At that point, any Flash creation can be viewable by just about anyone without downloading the Flash plugin. It also means, clearly, that devices that cannot accept the plugin can nonetheless run the animations built on it.

Those who are excited about this probably think of Flash is a space hog. As ReadWriteWeb has discovered, it sometimes is, though not always.

Sponsor

One of the points of interest regarding this development is the fact that Apple products block flash from “access to the required APIs.” HTML5 may prove a way around for Flash users and the users of Apple devices, like the iPhone and iPad who wish to use the content.

On the video below, “Adobe Flash Platform Evangelist” Michael Chaize compares performance of Flash 10.1 and HTML5 on mobile devices.

Comparison of performance of Flash Player 10.1 and HTML 5 on Mobile Devices from michael chaize on Vimeo.

Discuss

Thirty-seven roosters were euthanized Sunday morning after Riverside County authorities broke up a cockfighting ring near the Salton Sea.

Acting on a tip, a dozen Riverside County sheriff’s deputies and animal control officers busted the open-air cockfight shortly after 10 a.m. in the 100000 block of Avenue 72, known as the North Shore area, said John Welsh of the Riverside County Department of Animal Services.

“Everybody bolted and nobody took ownership of the birds or the property,” Welsh said.

Deputies in four-wheel-drive vehicles chased spectators out into the desert, Welsh said. Thirty-two participants were arrested for misdemeanor animal cruelty, according to a sheriff’s press release.

Of the 40 roosters found on the premises, three had already been killed during the event, Welsh said. The other 37 were given lethal injections by animal control officers.

“Roosters raised to be cock fighters, you can’t put them up for adoption,” Welsh said.. “They’ll fall into nefarious situations where someone would sell them on the black market. You can’t put them in a cage with other birds, they will just kill all the chickens.”

“Their fate is to be humanely euthanized in the field,” Welsh said. “It’s better than that barbaric tournament.”

–Jason Felch

Moribund Palm is up for sale, says Bloomberg. Who is in the short list of potential bidders? It’s not Google, but close enough: HTC. And it makes total sense, because buying Palm could save HTC’s ass in the Apple lawsuit. More »

A transient man was arrested on suspicion of murder Sunday after he confessed to bludgeoning a homeless woman to death with a club, Hemet police said Sunday.

The body of 48-year old Robin Livesay was found Tuesday morning behind Davita Dialysis in the 3000 block of West Florida Avenue.

Detectives identified the suspect as Christopher Scott Lewis, a 39-year old transient. Lewis has a tattoo with the word “Headhunter” on the back of his head and is known for impersonating a U.S. Marine, Hemet police said in a statement.

Patrol officers came across a man matching Lewis’ description Sunday morning while on patrol.

Lewis was arrested and confessed under questioning by Hemet detectives, said Lt. Dean Evans of the Hemet Police Department.

Livesay "was a local homeless person,” Evans said. Lewis "was in and out, moved around a little bit…. They were at least acquaintances.”

–Jason Felch

A cause of death has been identified for beloved star Dixie Carter. The Broadway actress best remembered for her role as witty Southern belle Julia Sugarbaker on the hit sitcom Designing Women died of endometrial cancer, an agressive form of uterine cancer, Entertainment Tonight has learned. Carter, 70, passed away on Saturday after a brief battle against the disease.

How Did Dixie Carter Die?

Dixie’s acting credits include roles on TV’s Family Law, Different Strokes, and an Emmy-nominated guest stint on ABC’s Desperate Housewives in 2007. In addition to Hal Holbrook, Carter’s The Killing of Randy Webster co-star and husband of a quarter century, the actress is survived by her two daughters, Mary Dixie and Ginna.

The Rangers had no need for a ninth-inning relief hero in its Sunday afternoon route of the sinking Mariners, but had they required the services of a closer, that man would have been 21-year-old Neftali Feliz(notes). The fireballer with the 96 mph average fastball has been appointed the team’s temporary closer while Frank Francisco(notes) works through his generosity issues – 7 H, 2 BB, 6 ER allowed in his past 1 IP.

Feliz was two-for-three in save opps and whiffed 39 batters in 31 IP in his two-month Texas debut last season. Simply put, he has the makings of a fantastic closer. But Rangers manager Ron Washington went out of his way to emphasize the fact that this will only be a temporary gig for Feliz.

"He’s our closer until I get Frankie back there," said Washington before Sunday’s game. "Frankie will be the closer of the Texas Rangers. We’re just giving him a chance to get himself together."

Washington actually explains in greater detail than you typically get from a manager his expectations for a Francisco return in this AP story.

In terms of actionable fantasy advice, the obvious point here is to grab Feliz, if he is available. But he entered the day rostered in 80 percent of Yahoo! leagues, and you can count on that gap having closed considerably throughout the course of the day.

As for Francisco owners, you should probably keep him around in competitve leagues of 12 teams or more. If we’re to believe that Washington won’t end up falling in love with Feliz as the ninth-inning option, then Francisco may only be a couple weeks, or a handful of quality outings, away from getting his job back.

• Cleveland’s Chris Perez(notes) hoped to close out Detroit on Sunday, but instead he walked three batters, allowed a single and a double along the way and let the Tigers’ winning run score from third on a wild pitch to rookie Scott Sizemore(notes) with two outs. After a seemless two saves in as many opportunities coming into Sunday, we finally got to see the dark side of Perez. Control issues have been his bugaboo during his short career – 53 walks in 101.2 IP. If he’s going to Wally Pipp the injured Kerry Wood(notes), his control lapses have to be at a much more manageable level. He could have survived a couple hits and a walk on Sunday. But instead, after he walked Ramon Santiago(notes) to load the bases with two outs, he let the situation consume him. The next batter, pinch hitter Johnny Damon(notes), was walked on four pitches and then the wild pitch to Sizemore followed to end things.

"I can’t walk Santiago in that situation," Perez said. "He’s a bench player, and I’ve got to make him hit the ball with two out, but everything was leaking away from me, and I just couldn’t make the right adjustment. The same thing happened with Damon."

In reality, Perez could afford to walk Santiago in that situation – first base was open and the lead was still in tact. His comment about Santiago being a bench player leads me to question his focus. Bench players end up hurting opposing teams on a daily basis in the majors. He shouldn’t be dwelling on the fact that he let a "bench" player get the better of him. His sole purpose is to preserve a lead, and he still had it even after walking Santiago. But it seemed clear that the walk to Santiago messed Perez up in a big way.

• Drew Stubbs(notes) is a thing of beauty on the base paths. He stole two bases against Cubs lefty Tom Gorzelanny(notes) on Sunday. In doing so, he displayed excellent timing on his jumps, a smooth stride and little wasted motion from start to finish. Oh, and I should mention that the dude can flat out fly. He’s a special base stealing talent, no doubt. Unfortunately, his ability to make consistent contact is not so special. He whiffed three times on Sunday, his second straight game with a K hat trick.

• Reds manager Dusty Baker opted to go with Jay Bruce(notes) as a pinch-hitter in a 1-1 tie, one-out, bases loaded situation in the bottom of seventh inning against Cubs lefty Sean Marshall(notes). Consider this just more fuel for the fire for all the Baker second-guessers – and, let’s be honest, isn’t that pretty much everybody? Bruce is a career sub-Mendoza Line hitter against southpaws and he stepped into the box on Sunday with an 0-for-3 line against lefties this season. The Reds announcers speculated that Baker might have been trying to get Bruce’s confidence going considering that if Bruce ended up putting wood on the ball, there was a very good chance he’d drive in a run even if he got out. Of course, Marshall ended up striking Bruce out, and the way Bruce was seen muttering to himself and pacing when he got back to the dugout, you have to think that his confidence against lefties has sunk even lower.

• Gorzelanny put forth a nice effort in the Cubs’ 3-1 loss to the Reds, striking out seven and not allowing an earned run in 6.2 innings of work. He did allow an unearned run when left fielder Alfonso Soriano(notes) let what should have been an easily-caught fly ball by Jonny Gomes(notes) bounce out of his glove with one out, two-on in the seventh inning. Said one of the Reds announcers of Soriano’s glove work, "That’s just embarrasing." Soriano also struck out twice and went hitless to lower his season average to .143.

• Not to belabor the Reds-Cubs affair, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Reds starter Mike Leake’s(notes) major league debut – the Reds’ top draft pick last year became the first pitcher since Darren Dreifort in 1994 to make his MLB debut without having played in the minors. Among other things, Leake is lauded for his composure, no doubt one of the main reasons the Reds felt he could handle bypassing the minor leagues. He showed that cool under pressure by pithing out of multiple jams on Sunday to finish with just one run allowed in 6.2 innings. But he walked seven batters and, from my way of thinking, he spent way too much time and energy trying to nibble the outside corner on Sunday. Leake’s a control pitcher with a deep bag of tricks but he’s not overpowering, and it might not be an unreasonable approach for him to try to live on the outside. But I’d feel a lot better about how he pitched today if he had shown an ability to work inside on ocassion.

• Florida closer Leo Nunez(notes) managed to close out the Dogers with a scoreless ninth to preserve a 6-5 lead. He allowed a hit and walk to make things interesting, but he knuckled down when things got tight and relied on seven straight change-ups to finish out the game unscathed. In the process, he got the benefit of some questionable calls from the home plate umpire. But there’s nothing that says a save has to be pretty.

• Speaking of knuckling down, Dodgers starter Charlie Haeger(notes), a knuckleballer, fanned seven of the first 10 Marlins he faced and finished with 12 strikeouts, and three earned runs allowed, in a six-inning no-decision. I watched a couple innings of his outing and he definitely had his floater jumping – twice he allowed batters to reach first base after a swinging Strike 3 because the catcher wasn’t able to hang on to the ball. Haeger also flashed the ocassional mid-80s fastball, which is a notch above your average knuckler’s fastball velocity, so it’s at least something for hitters to think about. But Haeger has less than 60 IP at the major league level and his minor league track record is a bit spotty (control-wise), so don’t consider him much more than a curiosity yet.

• After a diving catch by left fielder Willie Harris(notes) bailed out Washington closer Matt Capps(notes) from a bases loaded situation on Saturday, Capps worked a perfect ninth Sunday to pick up his third save of the season. Capps was roughed up last season and this spring, marking him as an early-exit closer by many in the fantasy community. And, man, did you see teammate Tyler Clippard(notes) blow away seven Mets in three innings of relief on Saturday to set up Capps? It’s easy to envision Clippard’s high heat filling a ninth-inning role for the Nats. But give Capps credit. He hasn’t allowed a run in four outings this season and, for now, there’s no closer controversy in Washington.

• Bobby Jenks(notes) avoided a blown save against Minnesota on Sunday, thanks to negligent base running by J.J. Hardy(notes). With Hardy on first base with two outs in the ninth and Chicago protecting a 5-4 lead, Twins pinch hitter Jim Thome(notes) drilled a two-strike offering by Jenks into the left-centerfield gap. But Sox left fielder Juan Piere got the ball in to cutoff man Mark Teahen(notes) quickly – in fact Teahen got the ball just a beat after Hardy hit third base. Hardy, who didn’t think third baseman Teahen, or any other Sox infielder for that matter, would be in position to cut the ball off because of the big shift put on for Thome, continued home as the throw to catcher A.J. Pierzynski(notes) beat him by roughly half a baseline.

"It just turned out that Teahen goes back out there as the relay guy. It’s probably a play that no one’s ever practiced it and it worked out for them," Hardy said.

• Tip of the cap to old school ace Roy Halladay(notes), who became the first pitcher to record a complete game this season. In the 2-1 victory over the Astros, Halladay needed just 111 pitches (0 walks). In addition, he yielded 11 ground balls to just 5 fly balls and Houston did not record an extra-base hit.

• How bad is the Houston offense? Well, consider this: The Arizona Diamondbacks scored as many runs (13) in one inning against Pittsburgh on Sunday as the Astros have scored all season. You could argue that a better question would be, how bad is the Pirates pitching? Pittsburgh now sports a jumbo-jet sized 7.47 ERA after its 15-6 shellacking on Sunday.

• Albert Pujols(notes) and Matt Holliday(notes) hit back-to-back, two-out ninth inning home runs off Milwaukee closer Trevor Hoffman(notes) to erase a three-run deficit and tie up the score with the Brewers at 7-7. I was tempted to push this Closing Time live before the conclusion of this last game of the day, but I knew better than to assume any lead is safe when Pujols is involved. Casey McGehee(notes) bailed Hoffman out with a walk-off shot in the bottom of the ninth, but after blowing a save on Friday to the Cards, Hoffman surely can’t head out to Chicago for the next series fast enough.

Quick hits: Colleague Andy Behrens called Aroldis Chapman’s(notes) Triple-A debut on Sunday "dazzling." But a blunder by Chapman cost him the win, as Behrens explains … You might also be interested in Behren’s take on another mega-hyped pitcher making his Triple-A debut on Sunday … outfielder Jose Guillen(notes) was one of Sunday’s top hitting stars, banging out two home runs and driving in four runs in a loss to Boston. If Guillen gets bumped back up into a clean-up role, he becomes a very interesting waiver wire commodity, if he hasn’t already. He battled injuries last season but he had back-to-back seasons of 20-plus home runs and 97-plus RBIs prior to ’09. He’s healthy now at a not-yet-over-the-hill 33 years of age and he’s in a contract year … Good day for owners of Arizona’s Chris Young (HR, 4 RBI). Bad day for owners of San Diego’s Chris Young (DL – shoulder tightness) … Colorado’s Carlos Gonzalez(notes) had to leave Sunday’s 4-2 victory over San Diego after three innings because of tightness in his hammy. Boston’s Jacoby Ellsbury(notes) left Sunday’s victory over Kansas City in the ninth inning after taking an Adrian Beltre(notes) knee to the ribs after the two collided while chasing a fly ball. While both are likely minor injuries, as a fantasy owner, I’ll take the bruised ribs over hamstring tightness any day.

Before I turn things over to y’all, I’ve got to give props to Phil Mickelson, who outplayed Tiger woods, Lee Westwood and a host of others on Sunday to win his third Masters title. I’m not a huge fan of watching golf, but that changes for the majors and especially The Masters. And I’m always willing to stop and watch Mickelson anytime I happen to catch him on the tube. To me, he’s the most exciting golfer in the game. Sure, when Tiger is on, he’s an unrelenting machine and his intimidation factor is off the charts. But there’s an unpredictability to Mickelson’s game – his ability to shoot a ball into an impossibly bad situation without warning and an equal ability to make an unbelievable rescue shot to save himself – that makes him more interesting to watch than anyone else out there.

Alright, I’ve had my say. What say you? — Photo via Getty Images

After persistent rumors that several suitors might be interested in the ailing Palm (NSDQ: PALM), now Bloomberg is reporting that the company has put itself up for sale and is seeking bids as early as this week.

According to three people familiar with the situation, Bloomberg said the company has hired Goldman Sachs and Frank Quattrone’s Qatalyst Partners to find a buyer. In the past week, HTC and Lenovo were identified as two of the companies that may be potential bidders. The sources said Dell also looked at deal, but decided to pass. On Friday, Palm’s stock jumped based on rumors that the Pre-maker may receive a takeover offer. The company’s market value now hovers around $870.8 million. Bloomberg said a Palm spokeswoman declined to comment.

The company has launched two products to fairly rave reviews, but has failed to gain significant market traction. It was criticized for partnering initially with Sprint (NYSE: S) Nextel, which was having its problems of its own, and then the handset-and OS-maker blotched its launch with Verizon Wireless. It now has a significant backlog of unsold devices, and is facing a cash shortage.

Still, CEO Jon Rubinstein made the point in a recent interview that Palm was a turnaround story and would have been dead in the water with out the new webOS, which is a valuable asset. In the company’s previous earnings call, Rubinstein dismissed the idea that the company could be up for sale, and said that if any offers were serious, he’d be obligated to bring them to the board’s attention.

Related

• Lenovo Considers Acquisitions For Mobile Growth
• Is HTC Interested In Palm?

When you write about Washington prospect Stephen Strasburg(notes), you’re supposed to focus on his triple-digit fastball. But check out the highlights from his pro debut and tell me you’re not impressed with the curve, too.

On Sunday, making his first start for Harrisburg, Strasburg demonstrated yet again why he’s the most thoroughly hyped young pitcher in baseball. He picked up a five-inning win against Altoona, Double-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Strasburg struck out eight batters in front of an overflow crowd of 7,877 (which probably thinned a bit after he was finished), allowing four hits, two walks, one earned run and three unearned runs.

He was not necessarily at his best, although he still reached 100 mph and his fastball was routinely clocked at 97-98 mph. Strasburg was shaky in the first inning, as he gave up a double, single and walk to Altoona’s 3-4-5 hitters. He quickly settled down, however, and retired the next eight batters, five of them on Ks. Again, just to be clear: the curve was vicious. Strasburg failed to pitch around a pair of errors in the fourth, resulting in the unearned runs.

Still, it was a promising turn for the 21-year-old, just as everyone expected. The in-stadium media presence was unlike anything the locals are likely to see again. Details here via the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

[Altoona] received nearly 60 media credential requests from 30 different
outlets, and Strasburg’s photo graced the specially-made media passes
even though he’s an opposing player. Two auxiliary press boxes were set
up, and reporters were advised to have their laptop computers fully
charged upon arrival due to a potential shortage of electrical outlets. ESPN News cut to broadcast each half-inning that Strasburg was pitching,
which is believed to be the first-ever live national airing of a
sporting event in Altoona.

You really have to love the "shortage of electrical outlets." Because of course a Pirates farm club would be too cheap to provide power strips.

Harrisburg catcher Jhonatan Solano called Strasburg "unbelievable," adding that he thinks "in a couple (more starts), he goes to the big leagues." But Yahoo!’s Jeff Passan offered a more reasonable timetable earlier in the day, one that accounts for the fact that baseball economics are insane.

If Strasburg makes his Nats debut in the June 4-6 series against the Reds and opposes Aroldis Chapman(notes), then we’re declaring a holiday. (Not an official holiday where you don’t have to go to work, but more like one of those situations where a carpet store has a really special sale). That game would demand a liveblog, with pre-blog festivities. Please stay tuned for additional details. 

—

Photo via AP Images

Filed under: Advice, Health, Healthy Eating, 30-Day Nutrition Challenge

Have you been feeling less than 100 per cent? Perhaps you are low on energy, have had headaches or digestive issues or are carrying around a few stubborn extra pounds, all of which is dismaying as you think of yourself as a fairly healthy person. And … Read more

 

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Although President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Reid and their elite socialistic foot soldiers cast it in pleasant, humanitarian terms as a means of providing healthcare to those who couldn’t otherwise afford it, the majority of Americans recognized Obamacare for what it was: a transfer of wealth to Big Pharma, trial lawyers, unions and other special interests and a power grab over society’s producers.

Hence, the growth of the Tea Party movement across the United States.

The Tea Party took root early in 2009 in response to the massive government spending policies and takeover of two-thirds of the American automobile industry and all of the financial industry by the redistributionists—carrying both the Democrat and Republican labels—seeking to turn America into Karl Marx’s dream state. The Tea Party grew stronger and louder as Obama—the Liar-in-Chief—denied his socialistic tendencies and looked down on them with an arrogant disdain and dismissiveness.

Tea Partiers found their voices as 2009 turned into 2010 and the power grab reached its zenith when Obama’s dream came true and the House and Senate overrode the will of the majority of Americans and passed into law Obamacare on March 21. They turned out by the thousands in Washington, D.C., that day and the day before—traveling there from all over the country on a couple of days notice—to protest, and those who couldn’t go flooded the Capitol switchboard with calls and the Capitol email servers with correspondence.

The arrogant elitists who occupy Washington, D.C., laughed in the faces of the Tea Partiers once the passage of Obamacare was assured. Pelosi grabbed her gavel and, along with a group of her lackeys, marched boldly through the crowd of Tea Party protesters on the day the voting began, hoping above hope to incite some incident that would allow them to paint the protesters as radicals and racists.

When no one took the bait the arrogant elitists made up an incident, with one congressman saying he was slurred by a racial epithet from Tea Partiers and another claiming he was spat upon. Despite those claims no arrests were made, no video or audio evidence of any slurs have turned up and the congressman who claims spittle flew his way was unable to make any kind of identification of a culprit. And Andrew Breitbart’s $100,000 reward to the United Negro College Fund for evidence of a slur remains unclaimed.

Capitol police escorting the group of elected elitists through the crowd of Tea Party peasants saw no evidence of anything untoward and sensed no danger for those they were charged with protecting.

That’s because Tea Partiers aren’t violent sociopaths as the Left and liberal media would have you believe. They are ordinary, everyday Main Street Americans—49 percent Republican and 51 percent either independent or Democrat; 70 percent conservative, but 22 percent moderate; 55 percent male; and 45 percent with annual income below $50,000, 55 percent above $50,000. In age, education, employment status and race the Tea Party supporters break down statistically almost exactly like the general population, according to Gallup polls.

They’re people who would rather be at home or at work than having to stand outside their capitol building holding signs and demonstrating. They are people who, three or four years ago, would not have dreamed they would have to stand up to a government that is spending away the future of their children and grandchildren and making an unconstitutional power grab.

And make no mistake: That’s what the elected elitists are doing. That group of Ivy League educated lawyers and political scientists that walk the halls of Congress—and one who now resides in the White House and refuses to travel sans teleprompter—has been attempting to pull a bait and switch on the American people, telling them Obamacare had nothing to do with socialism or redistribution of wealth or power over the people but only in helping the less fortunate.

Some fell for it. But, despite Obama’s eloquent teleprompter and long windedness, most haven’t. Indeed, 52 percent still oppose Obamacare four weeks after its passage. But now that it has passed the elites are no longer hiding their true intent: socialist redistribution.

In their own words:

• “It’s a simple proposition to us: Everyone is entitled to adequate medical health care. If you call that a ‘redistribution of income’—well, so be it. I don’t call it that. I call it just being fair—giving the middle class taxpayers an even break that the wealthy have been getting.”—Vice President Joe Biden
• “(Health reform is) an income shift. It is a shift, a leveling, to help lower-income, middle-income Americans. … [T]he maldistribution of income in America has gone up way too much, the wealthy are getting way, way too wealthy, and the middle income class is left behind. (The new health care legislation) will have the effect of addressing that maldistribution of income in America.”—Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.)
• “I don’t worry about the Constitution on this. … What I care more about, I care more about the people dying every day that don’t have health care.”—Rep. Phil Hare (D-Ill.)
• “Let me remind you this (Americans allegedly dying because of lack of universal healthcare) has been going on for years. We are bringing it to a halt. The harsh fact of the matter is when you’re going to pass legislation that will cover 300 (million) American people in different ways it takes a long time to do the necessary administrative steps that have to be taken to put the legislation together to control the people.”—Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.)

To their credit, Republicans in Congress opposed Obamacare. It seems the GOP plans to run on a platform of “Repeal the Bill” as we head into the midterm elections this fall. However, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), in typical Republican style of surrendering before the battle has been enjoined, has already lost his backbone and is saying repeal is not going to happen. The surrender came three weeks after he said Republicans would and should run on a platform of repeal.

Senate candidate Mark Kirk of Illinois has also backed off his repeal the bill stance. Rep. Mike Castle, (R-Del.) is running for the state’s open Senate seat and he is also avoiding a pledge to repeal. Expect other Republicans to follow.

As I pointed out last week in Don’t Pin Your Hopes On The Party Of Lincoln, the GOP can’t be trusted to fight for smaller government. Big government is in their genes. Thankfully, Kirk and Castle have opposition.

Remember in 1994, after a bruising fight with President Bill Clinton over universal healthcare, Republicans ran on their Contract with America which would have, in their minds, streamlined government, required a balanced budget, created jobs, set term limits and produced other reforms. Some elements did not pass in Congress and others were vetoed by Clinton and the Republicans moved on to other things, like growing government under George W. Bush.

So if you want to take back your government—take back your country—from the Obama regime and his Marxists redistributionists, don’t think you’re going to do that by selecting just any Republican candidate. He or she may be a Bob Corker, Mike Castle or Mark Kirk—maybe a socialist, maybe a progressive or maybe just a spineless, deceitful politician—with no intention of shrinking government.

The Tea Parties will give you some idea of the worth of a candidate. But it’s up to each individual voter to check out a candidate’s record if he has one, or his words and deeds if he doesn’t, before the vote and to hold his feet to the fire after the election.

That’s the only way you’re going to be able to take your country back. The elitist redistributionists are feeling invincible, and their special interests promise generous campaign contributions when the campaign begins.

It’s your job as a voter—as a citizen—to show that your vote is more important than cash from corporatists, trial lawyers, unions and their other johns.

This is probably not the helpful boost Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell was looking for from Mississippi Governor, former RNC head and grandpappy of K-Street pay-to-play lobbying Haley “prototypical Southern Sheriff” Barbour, a guy who calls himself a ‘fat redneck with an accent.’

Shorter Haley: Our Mississippi legislature marks Confederate History Month annually, and they’re Democrats (mostly) plus we have a Confederate Memorial Day in Mississippi. Isn’t Virginia just like Mississippi, dad-gum-it? *ptui* [chaw hits spittoon]

As Bob McDonnell, the new faux-moderate face of the oh-not-so-racist GOP, hoped that the whole controversy over his slavery omission that he’s serially apologized for and re-edited his Confederate History Month proclamation to accommodate, had gone away, here’s the guy Central Casting would send any movie director who asked for a “Southern Sheriff” type, despite being a megamillionaire after inventing pay-to-play K-Street lobbying and a stint as Chairman of the RNC:

Asked by anchor Candy Crowley if McDonnell’s resolution was a mistake, Barbour said, “I don’t think so.”

“I don’t know what you would say about slavery, but anybody that thinks that you have to explain to people that slavery is a bad thing–I think that goes without saying,” he said, adding “Maybe they should talk to my Democratic legislature, which has done the exactly same thing in Mississippi for years…I’m unaware of them being criticized for it.”

As for the criticism McDonnell faced, including from President Obama, Barbour said: “It’s sort of feeling that it’s a nit, that it is not significant, it’s trying to make a big deal out of something that doesn’t amount to diddly,” he also said.

Hey, Haley — this is called giving legs to your buddy’s dogwhistle just when he’d hoped the howling was over. McDonnell managed to reach out to the racists within his party, piss off Virginia moderates, and then piss off the racists with his retraction/apology/editorial tour. He just wants it to go away.

“It’s a lasting scar mainly for its combination of stupidity, insensitivity and ignorance about the civil war,” said one senior [GOP] party strategist granted anonymity to speak candidly. The source did add, however, that McDonnell “has a lot of time to make amends and put it behind him.”

So, in the spirit of making amends, Bob McDonnell’s spokesman, GOP Tucker Number Seventeen, didn’t even mention the omitted-slavery proclamation in his ‘response’ to Sheriff Haley:

Governor Haley Barbour is a tremendous leader for Mississippi. Governing Magazine named him Governor of the year in 2006 for good reason. He has led his state’s recovery from Hurricane Katrina, focused on economic development and job creation, reformed the public education system and put Mississippi at the forefront of alternative energy research and development. We thank him for his leadership and service to the state and country

Shorter Bob McDonnell: Haley’s Republican Governors Association helped elect me over the hapless Creigh Deeds, and the RGA is probably the only game in town given Michael Steele’s fuckups, but ix-nay on the avery-slay oclamation-pray, okay Sheriff?

(And btw: When she pressed Sheriff Haley for an answer, Candy Crowley showed how it’s done.)

 

Dear Bob,

I want my son to get some coins each month, but where can he hide them in an apartment that is not in a safe or lock box that someone can pick up and carry away? What is a good way to store them?

JZ

Dear JZ,

First of all, tell no one that you have gold on the premises. That goes for friends and relatives. Any slip of the tongue can alert a thief to your valuables who would be more diligent in a search than would a burglar who picked your home at random.

After that, there are some simple tricks you can use depending upon the way your apartment is constructed. If there are voids in closets (ceilings or walls) you can buy a small—preferably fireproof—safe and secure it in the void. Be sure the void is covered in such a way that it doesn’t look different from its surroundings. If you have large baseboards you can remove one section and cut a small hole in the drywall and place your gold behind the baseboard, securing the baseboard with just a couple of nails for easy removal. You can purchase a package of frozen vegetables or fruit or a container of ice cream, remove the contents and put your coins in the container and the container in the freezer. Most burglars won’t look there. You can also place a few coins at a time in envelopes and tape them inside your cabinets to the underside of the countertop. If you use a little bit of imagination you can thwart most common thieves.

Best Wishes,
Bob

Filed under: Morning Scoop

Each morning, we dish out a few links we love.

It might be time to join a team — new studies show that soccer isn’t just great for your body, it can also do amazing things for your personality too.

What diet will work best for you? It’s all in … Read more

 

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What is a Puka Dog? It’s not your ordinary hot dog, that’s for sure! Puka dogs are Hawaiian-style hot dogs served at, of course, Puka Dog in Poipu on Kauai. “Puka” is Hawaiian for hole – as in puka shell necklaces, where many small shells with holes in the center are strung on a necklace. Puka dogs start out with large buns that, instead of being sliced down the center as traditional buns are, have a hole poked lengthwise right in the center. Each bun is closed at the bottom, to hold in the hot dog and all the relishes topping it, and open at the top so everything can fit inside.

The toppings are what make these dogs unique. The dogs themselves are polish sausages (or veggie dogs). They are topped with one of three sauces – mild, medium or spicy – one of a variety of tropical relishes, as well as with mustard. The relishes include coconut, mango, banana, papaya, starfruit and pineapple. They are all very sweet, very tasty and very tropical. You can even get a tropical mustard if you choose the lilikoi option (passionfruit) over yellow or dijon.
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This is the moment when we find out who among our elected officials stands for the public interest and who should be thrown out of office.

There are no gray areas, either they are for us or for themselves and the special interests.

The drama that has unfolded in recent weeks has stripped them all bare, exposed their webs of worn-out fictions and outright lies, left naked their mismanagement as they danced around the result of years of overspending and sweetheart contracts.

Ten months into the fiscal year, they still have a $200 million deficit or is it $300 million or do they have a $100 million surplus as Council President Eric Garcetti speciously boasts.

They have failed to face the harsh realities, deflected responsibility and left most city agencies in chaos with huge gaps in staffing and services. And now they are at the precipice where denial of accountability and juggling the books to paper over their failure will only make them look more ridiculous than they already are.

The bills start come due this week for the Department of Water and Power with Jan Perry pushing relentlessly forward to rein in this rogue agency while the mayor faces the deadline for appointing a fifth member of the DWP Board and replacing David Freeman as interim general manager.

Next week, he must deliver his State of the City.and present his budget plan to deal with the $484 million deficit for 2010-11 — or is it $600 million or has the rise in pension fund investments eased some of the pressure. Their numbers are pulled out of thin air so it’s hard to know.

We will quickly see whether any of our elected officials learned anything at all from the fiasco over DWP rate hikes that ended with gridlock over $6 million and alarmist budget warnings from Controller Wendy Greuel that evaporated to her satisfaction when $30 million was found lying around in an undisclosed place.

Bernard Parks’ Budget Committee kicks off this week’s festivities by taking up the CAO’s latest financial guesstimates at 1 p.m. today and play more games with moving funds around to at least get through next month without running out of cash..

It will also consider Tom LaBonge’s proposal to sell a valuable Seagrave fire engine for $1 dollar to Los Bomberos “a non-profit organization comprised of Los Angeles City firefighters in partnership with community and business groups (that) mentors firefighter candidates; participates in efforts to recruit and train qualified candidates…and fosters upward mobility among its members.” So maybe things aren’t as bad as they look or perhaps LaBonge’s rose-tinted glasses have him living in a separate reality.

Then, on Tuesday at 2 p.m., Perry’s Energy and Environment Committee will start to take apart the DWP by first examining the two-month-old report on how the utility handled the more than 100 claims of losses from last fall’s Coldwater Canyon water main blowout — a report that relies on the usual arrogant bureaucratese to avoid engaging the widespread complaints of residents and businesses.

She also will get an “independent third party assessment of the LADWP’s water system and to determine the cause(s) of the recent water main breaks and related matters.”

Of greater concern to many is the DWP Rate Payer Advocate issue and Perry’s Committee will consider several different motions that date back to the end of last year..

One by Jose Huizar and Richard Alarcon would have the DWP set up a “fully independent ombudsman, something the DWP shot down in December.

“LADWP customers do not need a ratepayer advocate since…customers have reliable service..customers enjoy the lowest cost of service in Southern California…LADWP has already numerous levels of oversight, supervision and control…Executive Management Team continues to share information and create opportunities for dialogue to increase transparency and education…The Mayor, Los Angeles City Council, Controller, and the Board already perform the role of protecting the ratepayers, including the low income and lifeline customers…The costs to establish a ratepayer advocate position/division at LADWP are unknown…”

We all need a good laugh to start off the week so the DWP Dec. 29 letter should help.

Then, there’s a proposal from Greig Smith, Perry and Garcetti for an Inspector General within DWP that dates back to October.

“Over the course of the past year, the Department of Water and Power (DWP) has faced a variety of issues that have impacted the City and brought concern to its residents,” the motion says at the outset citing “the ongoing deterioration of tbe DWP’s infrastructure,” rate hikes, lack of transparency and other well-known problems like the lack of a coherent green energy program.

Both these motions would seem to be out of the question given recent events which have discredited Freeman and his No. 2 Raman Raj.

A third motion that also has languished since October is by Garcetti and Perry to actually create the Rate Payer Advocated through a Charter Amendment that would truly make it independent and permanent and largely immune from political influence.

“The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is at a critical point in their
history,” the motion says.

“LADWP rates, costs of water and energy procurement and infrastructure needs
have increased. While LADWP has taken some measures to improve efficiency and spur
conservation, often in the form of rate increases, their lack of responsiveness to
customers and providing transparency has made these attempts ineffective and left
customers disenfranchised.”

Not on the agenda is the latest move to derail accountability and transparency in the DWP, the proposal from the mayor, controller, DWP Board and its officials to let Greuel be the public’s watchdog — which is like sending a kitten on a leash to do the work of a junkyard dog roaming free.

The bottom line in all this is whether the Council’s standing up to the mayor and the DWP on massive rate hikes without a plan was just a rare show of courage or whether they actually get it.

The DWP is broken and failed in its mission. It has betrayed the public trust and lost the confidence of the people.

No capable utility executive wants the job of General Manager as long as Freeman is hanging around and there is no political will to take down union boss Brian D’Arcy.

Any attempt to raise rates without coming clean about the Integrated Resources Plan that is being suppressed and clearly showing what all costs are of fossil fuels, green energy, job creation, salary and benefits costs and all the rest that the DWP works so hard to keep secret or unintelligible.

How the full Council deals with these issues and the mayor’s budget plan will determine whether City Hall is capable of fixing what our elected officials have broken or whether they all need to be replaced and major reforms instituted through boroughs or other measures that will share power with all segments of the community and turn LA around.

Filed under: Health, Healthy Eating, 30-Day Nutrition Challenge

What is the 30-Day Challenge?

The challenge is simple enough to describe, but more difficult to put into practice. Over thirty days, our challengers are going eliminate all sources of gluten, dairy, sugar, caffeine (green tea is acceptable), … Read more

 

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Review of the Motorola Devour on Verizon Hardware hands-on with the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Verizon HTC Incredible specs galore Part 1 Part 2 Part 3	New Device Outed: BlackBerry Curve 9300 Shows Up In New BlackBery UAProf Document Twitter for BlackBerry (beta) Now Available to the Public! New Live Photos of BlackBerry Bold 9650 Show Off Bold Branding
Nokia E71 and E66 get Ovi Maps Why you shoud use Ovi Maps	Pre Plus and Pixi Plus coming to Germany? Coming soon: Linux apps on webOS SFR France to launch Pre Plus, Pixi Plus April 27th?
Massive iPhone OS 4 preview with multitasking, folders, game center, and more Complete Apple iPad review and tons and tons of iPad app and game video reviews Apple iPhone OS 4 SDK bans Flash CS5, MonoTouch, cross-compilers, and Adobe fires back Verizon has asked to carry the iPhone	Microsoft’s ‘Pink’ phone grabs a sneak peek Trade in your iPhone for an HD2 on T-Mobile Foursquare implements ‘cheater code’, solves world problems

This gets me back. It happened to me most days, when I was a kid. Sometimes I even pretended I didn’t really need the piece, thinking that it would magically appear if the Lego Gods thought I wasn’t interested anymore. More »