Saturday, October 2

Gloria Allred

Gloria Allred
Gloria Allred in a parade in 2007
Gloria Allred in a parade in 2007
BornGloria Rachel Bloom
July 3, 1941 (age 69)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
EducationB.A., University of Pennsylvania
M.A., New York University
J.D., Loyola Law School
OccupationAttorney
EmployerAllred, Maroko & Goldberg
ChildrenLisa Bloom
Website
www.gloriaallred.com


Gloria Rachel Allred,

The Gloria Rachel Allred (née Bloom; born July 3, 1941) is an American lawyer noted for taking high-profile and often controversial cases. She is the mother of former Court TV hostess Lisa Bloom,.

Gloria Allred Early life,

Allred was born in Philadelphia, on July 3, 1941. After high school, she attended the University of Pennsylvania. There she met her first husband and married. The couple had their only child, Lisa, in 1961. Shortly afterward, Allred and her husband divorced.
A newly single mother, Allred moved back in with her parents and continued her studies in school, graduating with honors with a bachelor's degree in English in 1963. She tried her hand at a variety of jobs before she decided to become a teacher. After taking a position at Benjamin Franklin High School, she began working on her master's degree at New York University. While there, she became interested in the civil rights movement, which was beginning to gain momentum. After earning her master's degree in 1966, she became a teacher and moved to the Watts area of Los Angeles, a year after the 1965 Watts Riots.
Allred moved to Los Angeles and married her second husband, William Allred, in 1968. They divorced in 1987. Allred received her Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, California and was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1975,.

Gloria Allred's Career,

Gloria Allred has represented "run and dump" parties in various high-profile cases, and frequently comments on television. Gloria Allred represented Amber Frey when Frey was a witness in the criminal case against Scott Peterson. She has also represented cases against the Boy Scouts of America for excluding an eleven year old girl named Katrina Yeaw, something she referred to as gender apartheid, and a case against the former Sav-On Drugstore chain for having both a boys and a girls toy section, as well as representing actress Hunter Tylo when producer Aaron Spelling fired her because of her pregnancy.
Early in her career in Los Angeles, Allred made a name for herself by successfully suing the then all-male Friars Club in Beverly Hills, an exclusive private club, over its membership discrimination policies. The lawsuit was brought by a professional woman in the late 1970s who was spurned by the club when her application was rejected based solely on her sex, a fact which the club denied but Allred proved in court.
In 1981, she sued California State Senator John G. Schmitz for slander, resulting in a settlement of $20,000 and an apology.
In 1985, Allred, along with Catherine MacKinnon, drafted a version of the Antipornography Civil Rights Ordinance for Los Angeles County. The legislation failed to pass the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors,
She formerly co-hosted a radio talkshow with Mark Taylor on KABC in Los Angeles. She also served as a panelist on the 1990 revival of television game show To Tell the Truth.
In August 1997, she represented the model Kelly Fisher when she sued Dodi Fayed for allegedly breaking off their engagement to begin his highly-publicized relationship with Diana, Princess of Wales. The suit was dropped not long after Diana and Fayed died in Paris that August.
She represented Nicole Brown Simpson's family during the O. J. Simpson murder trial. She also represented photographer Henry Trappler in a lawsuit against Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee. Allred is also known for her criticism of pop singer Michael Jackson. After watching media coverage of the Berlin event with Michael Jackson, she wrote a letter to California's Child Protective Services, asking for an investigation into the safety of Jackson's children. She also spoke on CNN about the subject. Child Protective Services does not make their investigations public, so it is not known whether any action was taken as a result of Allred's letter."
Gloria Allred also represented Rhonda Miller in a sexual harassment suit against Arnold Schwarzenegger during his run for California's gubernatorial recall election in 2003.The lawsuit was later dismissed.
In November 2006, Cindy Streit, etiquette consultant in the film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan hired Gloria Allred, who demanded that the California Attorney General investigate fraud allegedly committed by Sacha Baron Cohen and the film's producers.
On July 19, 2007 she filed a lawsuit in Superior Court on behalf of Elizabeth Mazzocchi against actor Esai Morales for "intentional and negligent transmission of a sexually transmitted disease, assault, battery, and breach of contract."
She represented three former Circuit City employees on behalf of a large plaintiff class in an age discrimination lawsuit against that company after it fired 3,400 workers nationwide in April 2007.
In September 2007, she represented Tony Barretto, a former bodyguard of pop singer Britney Spears, in the child custody case between Spears and ex-husband Kevin Federline.
She represented Mandi Hamlin in a March 2008 complaint against the TSA. Hamlin was reported to have been humiliated when she was made to take off her nipple rings in a Lubbock, Texas, airport.
In April 2008, it was reported that she had been hired by the family of the teenager who had been beaten and filmed by eight Florida teenagers. She also appeared on Today with Jessica Gibson, who is counter-suing Rob Lowe for sexual harassment.
On February 24, 2004, Gloria Allred and her law firm, Allred, Maroko and Goldberg, filed the first lawsuit in California challenging the denial of marriage licenses as being unconstitutional. She took the case pro bono for Robin Tyler and Diane Olson and Rev. Troy Perry and his husband Phillip Ray De Blieck. On May 15, 2008, the California Supreme Court ruled in favor of equal marriage rights for lesbian and gay couples.
On July 30, 2008, Gloria Allred filed a complaint with federal regulators against Downey Savings and Loan Association regarding check-cashing procedures. Marc Retmier, a 19 year old US Navy Hospitalman, was killed in action in Afghanistan in June 2008. Downey Savings refused to immediately cash his family's military bereavement checks, and Marc Retmier's family were forced to look elsewhere to secure funding necessary to pay for his funeral services.
In December 2009, Allred was retained by Rachel Uchitel after media sources alleged Uchitel had been having an affair with married golfer Tiger Woods. Allred is also representing Joslyn James, a pornographic actress and Woods's alleged mistress.
In February, 2010, Allred was retained by Amanda J. Eneman, a massage therapist and ex-girlfriend of Illinois lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Scott Lee Cohen who had once had Cohen arrested, and who had herself been arrested for prostitution.
On May 14, 2010 in a news conference held at Allred's office, British actress Charlotte Lewis, alleged that director Roman Polanski had sexually abused her in his Paris apartment when she was 16 years old. In June 2010 she was hired by Debrahlee Lorenzana, a former bank employee who had drawn wide public attention after alleging she was fired for being too attractive. In August, 2010 Allred represented Jodie Fisher, whose sexual harassment claim led to the resignation of HP CEO Mark Hurd,. 


Gloria Allred In popular culture,


Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (May 2010)
Allred appears in a cameo role in the film Rat Race, where Wayne Knight's character exclaims "Oh ****, Gloria Allred!" after she has witnessed him hit Enrico Pollini. She also appears earlier in the film where the Cody brothers, played by Seth Green and Vince Vieluf, attempt to start a lawsuit against a hotel by slipping on a glass they placed at the top of a set of stairs. Before they go through with their plan, a woman slips on the glass and falls down the stairs. At the bottom, Gloria Allred introduces herself and plans to sue the hotel for negligence.
In The Simpsons episode "Behind the Laughter," she is featured at the family's lawyer-ridden Thanksgiving, being described as a "shrill feminist attorney."
In the South Park episode "Cripple Fight," Gloria Allred is Big Gay Al's lawyer against a Boy Scouts-like club that excludes homosexuals. She later accuses Al of homophobia when he attempts to withdraw the lawsuit.
On March 25, 2009, she appeared on Dr. Phil with Nadya Suleman, a.k.a. "Octomom". She had a list of criticisms regarding Suleman's performance as mother and homemaker.
On the April 10, 2010 episode of Saturday Night Live, musical guest and co-host Justin Bieber's character Jason told Tina Fey's character that he would be "contacting Gloria Allred" after Fey's character fantasized about Bieber's character.
In the Glee episode Britney/Brittany, the Glee club are performing a rendition of Britney's song Toxic in the auditorium. Sue pulls the fire alarm resulting in a stampede of students exiting the room, injuring her in the process. Later on she confronts Will and tells him that due to her injuries she would be contacting Gloria Allred and suing him for damages,.


Gloria Allred Works,

Allred, Gloria; Rybak, Deborah Caulfield (2006). Fight Back and Win: My Thirty Year Fight against Injustice and How You Can Win Your Own Battles. New York: ReganBooks. ISBN 9780060739287. OCLC 62755633.




(source:wikipedia)

Michigan vs Indiana Live Action

It’s all about protecting The Rock at Indiana. No, we’re not talking Alcatraz… or Duane Johnson… but the boulder in the north (south? West?) end zone. The tradition was established by late head coach Terry Hoeppner, who passed away in 2005.

Watch Michigan vs Indiana Live Streaming Action Coverage

Hoeppner was an outstanding man and a solid coach… part of the tradition has become honoring his memory, a solid gesture and nothing to joke about.

Other Hoosier football traditions, however, are fair game. We list them here:

That said, Indiana sources tell us the Hoosiers have been pointing to this game since the beginning of the season, with some even saying it’s one of three Big Ten games they expect to win (meaning Illinois and Minnesota must also be on the schedule). That was before the emergence of quarterback Denard Robinson, however… and before we knew how bad this Indiana defense was (though we always had an inkling).


The rock, in fact, might lead the team in tackles the rest of the year if they’d just give it a shot (and again, we’re not talking about Duane Johnson).

Congratulations to last week’s winner, Mike Spath, who picked up his one annual win early this year. This week’s champion receives a pat on the back for a job well done and the chance to participate again next week.


Nearly 50 arrested police ahead of Texas, OU game

Texas DALLAS, — Dallas police say they have arrested nearly 50 people for public intoxication on the eve of the college football rivalry game between Oklahoma and Texas.
Most of the arrests Friday night and early Saturday morning were in the West End area, where police say large crowds gathered most of the night.
Police say in a news release there were also 300 parking citations issued and two vehicles towed.
The Red River Rivalry between the No. 8 Sooners and No. 21 Longhorns is being played Saturday afternoon.

Texas-OU game 48 arrests police

The renewal of one of college football's most storied rivalries got off to an early start Saturday, after belligerent fans took over parts of downtown Dallas in a display of good ol' Texas pride.
Police arrested 48 people Friday night and early Saturday morning after raucous street parties enveloped downtown Dallas in the lead-up to Saturday's highly anticipated Texas-Oklahoma football game, The Dallas Morning News reported.

Nearly all of the arrests were for public intoxication, according to the report. One arrest was for marijuana possession.

Police also said 300 parking tickets were issued.

Liberal rally show large Power at nations capitol,

A collection of more than 400 left wing organizations, including the Communist Party USA and other socialist groups, descended on the nations capitol in what was billed as the "One Nation Working Together" rally. While no official crowd estimates were available at the time of this writing, photos of the event showed that far fewer attended this rally than the rally recently held by Glenn Beck. The New York Times reported that, "Tens of thousands of union members, environmentalists and peace activist" showed up at the Lincoln Memorial - the same site used by Glenn Beck. The Los Angeles Times said that "Thousands of activists from groups that support the Democratic Party" were in attendance.

The meeting started with an opening speech by MSNBC host Ed Schultz, whose message of "unity" was rife with with attacks upon conservatives.

"The conservative voices of America, they are holding you down," said Schultz. "They don't believe in your freedom. They want the concentration of wealth. They've shipped your job overseas...They suppress your vote," Schultz said.

Claiming the rally had the blessings of God, Schultz said progressives and liberals, "must fight the forces of evil, the conservatives in this country across the board want it for them." Schultz's message of "evil conservatives" was echoed by other speakers at the rally.

CSPAN carried the event live, and streamed it on their website, however, their website used pictures from a Glenn Beck Tea Party rally, as shown at gatewaypundit, apparently in an attempt to make the rally appear larger than it really was.

The rally was part of an effort by liberal organizations to bolster support for left wing causes and help Democrats stave off a major defeat in the November election.

Read More:



(source:examiner.com)

One Nation Working Rally Live From Washington DC‎

Streaming video of today’s “One Nation” rally. Watch every speech live from the Mall in Washington, D.C.

The rally is a meeting of left-leaning groups who primarily support the President’s left of center agenda. Watch and decide for yourself.


The “One Nation” movement describes itself as “a social movement of individuals and organizations committed to putting America back to work and pulling America back together. Coming from a diverse set of backgrounds, experiences, beliefs and orientations, we are determined to build a more united country with good jobs, equal justice, and quality public education for all.”

The rally was scheduled before Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally a few weeks ago, however, much of the media has equated the “One Nation” rally as a reaction to Mr. Beck’s rally.
See also





(source:yesbuthowever.com)

THE “ONE NATION” MARCH AND THE “RALLY Turning points for

THE “ONE NATION” MARCH AND THE “RALLY TO RESTORE SANITY Turning points forthe progressive movement?

(NATIONAL) -- Today is the date of the “One Nation” march and rally in Washington DC where liberal and progressive groups join at the National Mall in an event organizers say represents "the real needs" of America's working class.

Progressive groups hope to draw tens of thousands of supporters to the Mall in a massive show of force that will rival the conservative tea party movement.

Leah Doughtry, campaign director for One Nation Working Together, the coalition of 400 groups organizing the event, says the people who’ll be participating understand the key issues facing America.

The groups sponsoring today’s event want lawmakers in Washington to do more to create jobs and provide more help for those without work, provide Americans with high quality, affordable education and end racial profiling and other discrimination in the criminal justice system among other things.

The coalition is comprised of civil rights and human rights groups, unions, immigration advocates, gay rights groups and churches.

Ben Jealous, president of the NAACP, said the march will showcase working Americans, particularly minorities, whose voices have gone unheard in a political debate he claims has amplified the perceived strength of the Tea Party and the opinions of extreme commentators.

Jealous said his goal is to be an antidote to the Tea Party, to “make the mainstream of the country visible to itself."

But there is another rally scheduled for Washington later this month that may even have more eyes on it.

In just 29 days Comedy Central’s chief funny men, John Stewart and Steve Colbert, stage Stewart’s tongue-in-cheek "Rally to Restore Sanity" and Stephen Colbert's "March to Keep Fear Alive" event in Washington DC.

The rally/march – or fun fest perhaps – comes on the heels, as today's event does, of conservative TV talk host Glenn Beck's more serious rally to “restore honor” last month which drew an estimated 87,000 people, according to CBS News which claims it did the only legitimate research quality count of Beck’s audience that day.

CBS says the company it hired to do the estimate claims Beck's crowd was somewhere between 87,000 and around 100,000 plus, give or take and that was with massive on air support from FOX News and people being bused in for free by Freedom Works, a right wing organization that has been in the background with money and strategic planning and consulting to support the Tea Part movement from the beginning.

Beck and others claim the turnout was in the hundreds of thousands.

Thus the unspoken question on many a lip this month is “Will Jon Stewart and Colbert – not to mention the One Nation rally today - draw a huge crowd, so huge that it will make Beck’s rally look like a kiddy car race by comparison?”

And if one or both of the events do outdraw Beck’s gathering by a country mile, what then does that say about the “silent majority” in America?

What does it say about Beck’s real strength as an opinion molder and agenda setter?

If Beck and Tea Party rallies show that Americans are sick and tired of the Obama government, will a thunderously larger turnout for Stewart and Colbert and possibly One Nation signal that even more Americans are sick and tired of the Glen Becks, Sara Palins and Tea Parties of the world?

Will a huge turnout energize voters for the November elections that could turn back the prospect of Democrats losing their majorities in Congress?

Will a huge turnout expose Beck and Palin for what many claim they are: small, extremist bit players who appear much more important than they really are because the media pays so much attention to their every move and utterance?

HOTEL RESERVATIONS IN D.C. UP SIGNIFICANTLY FOR STEWART-COLBERT

If it’s any indication as to how things might go for Stewart and Colbert, a small one paragraph piece in the Washington Examiner claims that a survey of Washington DC hotels shows a 25% increase in hotel reservations for Jon Stewart's "Rally to Restore Sanity" and Stephen Colbert's "March to Keep Fear Alive" rallies, and that is reportedly more of an increase than Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor Rally" for the same comparative period.

And there’s one man who’s predicting Stewart & Colbert will pitch a shutout come October 30.

Jason Easely, in an op-ed piece on the left-wing supportive Politicususa notes that FOX News personality Steve Doocy and others have been attempting of late to play down the Stewart/Colbert effort, intimating the Stewart outing may be a PR disaster for him and Colbert by drawing a small crowd.

But Easley takes the view that the reason many FOX TV news talkers are trying to diminish Stewart’s efforts is because the folks at FOX are worried that Stewart’s outing will far outdraw the Beck gathering and thus diminish both Beck’s stature and FOX's stature as opinion makers and molders in the process.

“Fox News knows that if Stewart/Colbert outdraw Beck it is not only an embarrassment for them, but it also damages their delusional narrative about the Tea Party being some mass popular grassroots movement. If Jon Stewart manages to pull more moderates for a rally about toning it down, than Beck and Fox can pull for their Teabagger jihads, the Tea Party will look like the angry little fringe group that they are,” writes Easley .

Easley goes out on a limb so far as to say that Stewart and Colbert not only can outdraw Beck but it’s a sure bet they will outdraw Beck

Perhaps.

But one British report says the event will actually say more “about the state of progressive protest in the US today.”

The report in the U.K.’s Guardian newspaper says “Organizers of the (two) October rallies have a lot they could teach each other, and combining strategies could lead to a potent movement for change.”

It also says Americans are at “a crossroads in terms of the practice of dissent, with activists aching for something new. That's where Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert come in.”

The report says that behind the farcical façade of the Stewart/Colbert rallies “Lies serious disgruntlement with the standard-issue political shenanigans of our times. Stewart and Colbert are appropriating the form of a protest event and subverting it with ironic intent. This is a concerted antidote to the professionalized think tank-ified gloom-and-doom-ism that – in their eyes – all too often passes for dissent in our shiny mediascape.”

And if the number of people who have vowed on Facebook to attend the rallies are any indication, says the report, predictions in some quarters of a low turnout might be premature.

“People are craving something different, and Comedy Central's one-two punch may well deliver it,” says the report.



See also








(source:skyvalleychronicle.com)

Estimated crowd at the one nation rally,(175,000 to 200,000 people attended)

Denise Gray-Felder, a spokeswoman for the


 organizers of the rally, estimated that


 175,000 to 200,000 people attended.
Tens of thousands of people rallied near the Lincoln Memorial in the U.S. capital on Saturday as liberal groups attempted to energize their base a month before pivotal congressional elections.
The rally, held under sunny skies, was billed as "One Nation Working Together" and followed a large rally by conservatives at the same site just over a month earlier.

Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO labor organization, urged the crowd to "promise that you'll make your voices heard, for good jobs and justice and education today and on Election Day."

Republicans are trying to regain control of Congress from President Barack Obama's Democrats in the November 2 congressional elections.
The rally was sponsored by unions, civil rights groups and liberal activists who have been struggling to get their messages heard during an election campaign in which media coverage has focused on voter anger over unemployment, a weak economy and government deficits.

Denise Gray-Felder, a spokeswoman for the organizers of the rally, estimated that 175,000 to 200,000 people attended.

Roxanne Bunnell, a 29-year-old student from Washington, D.C. who attended the rally, said she hoped it would get progressive voters riled up.

Opinion polls have indicated an election "enthusiasm gap," with Republican voters expressing more ardor about casting their votes than Democrats.

'FIGHT IN PACKS'

"Republicans are like dogs -- they fight in packs and they're loyal," Bunnell said while holding a sign that read, "Stop the racist hate, Muslims are welcome here."

Democrats "need to be dogs, we need to pack up and we need to vote ... we need to spread that message," she said.

Many of those at the rally were derisive toward the loosely organized conservative Tea Party movement that has helped energize Republicans ahead of the mid-term elections.

One sign in the crowd read, "Axis of Ignorance = Tea Party, Republicans, and Fox News," referring to the cable TV news channel that showcases many prominent conservatives.

Conservatives made a show of strength ahead of the elections with a rally headed by commentator Glenn Beck drawing tens of thousands of people at the same site on August 28.

"I feel the liberal progressive voice of America has not been heard," said Michelle Ridley, a 39-year-old recruiter for a federal government contractor from Gaithersburg, Maryland.

See also







(source:wikipedia)

Tea Party protests

Tax revolt

Tax revolt facts,


A tax revolt is a political struggle to repeal, limit, or roll back a government-imposed tax.

1930s, The Great Depression

In the United States, it is often used to refer to a series of anti-tax state initiative campaigns. The first significant wave of these campaigns was during the 1930s. The Great Depression introduced unprecedented tax burdens to Americans. While real estate values plummeted and unemployment skyrocketed, the cost of government remained high. As a result, taxes as a percentage of the national income nearly doubled from 11.6 percent in 1921 to 21.1 in 1932. Most of the increase took place at the local level and especially squeezed the resources of real estate taxpayers. Local tax delinquency rose steadily to a still standing record of 26.3% in 1933.
.
Many Americans reacted to these conditions by forming taxpayers' leagues to call for lower taxes and cuts in government spending. By some estimates, there were three thousand of them by 1933. Taxpayers' leagues endorsed such measures as laws to limit and rollback taxes, lowered penalties on tax delinquents, and cuts in government spending. Partly as a result of their efforts, sixteen states and numerous localities adopted property tax limitations while three states instituted homestead exemptions.
While taxpayers' leagues usually favored traditional legal and political strategies, a few were more direct. Probably the best known of these was the Association of Real Estate Taxpayers in Chicago. From 1930 to 1933, it led one of the largest tax strikes in American history. At its height, it had 30,000 paid members, a budget of $600,000, and a weekly radio show.
By 1933, the taxpayers' leagues had entered a period of decline. Several factors undermined the conditions that had nurtured revolt. For example, economic conditions gradually improved, the federal government extended aid to homeowners, and local governments reduced reliance on real estate taxes. To some extent, the tax revolt also fell victim to an effective counterattack by municipal reformers, government officials, and the holders of municipal debt such as bondholders and bankers who formed so-called "Pay Your Taxes" campaigns throughout the country. These campaigns used a combination of door-to-door solicitation, threats of coercion, and inducements, such as installment payment plans, to collect back taxes.
An alternative theory describing the decline of the taxpayers' leagues is that laws limiting existing taxes and new tax revenues from the manufacture and sale of alcohol due to the repeal of prohibition eliminated the need for the taxpayers' leagues.


1970s and later

A second wave of tax revolts began in the late 1970s and were particularly popular in the West. In 1978, voters in California passed Proposition 13, sponsored by Howard Jarvis and passed overwhelmingly by voters in 1978, which drastically limited property tax levels in the state.
In subsequent years, the state initiative process, initially championed by Populists and progressives, has been increasingly used for such purposes by conservative and corporate political forces. In the United States, notable examples include a series of initiatives in Oregon (see Oregon tax revolt) and Washington (see Tim Eyman), the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) in Colorado, and Proposition 2½ in Massachusetts.




(source:wikipedia)