Michele Bachmann Speech Attacks Obama Care

Michele Bachmann State Of The Union Response Speech Attacks Obama Care Stimulus And More

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) delivered her own rebuttal to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday night despite Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) being tapped to give the official Republican response (video below).

CNN was the only cable network to carry the Tea Party favorite's speech.

Bachmann suggested she's "not in competition with Paul Ryan," according to CNN.

The Atlantic relays advanced excerpts of Bachmann's remarks.

Click here for live coverage of the 2011 State of
After the $700 billion bailout, the trillion-dollar stimulus, and the massive budget bill with over 9,000 earmarks that the President signed, many of you implored Washington to please stop spending money we don't have.

But, instead of cutting, we saw an unprecedented explosion of government spending and debt at President Obama's direction; unlike anything we have seen in the history of our country.

For two years President Obama made promises... He claimed that he would find solutions to fix our economy and help create jobs.

Well, here are a few suggestions:

The President could stop the EPA from imposing a job-destroying cap-and-trade system.

The President could agree with House Republicans and commit himself to signing a Balanced Budget Amendment.

The President could also agree to an all-of-the-above energy policy whereby we increase American energy production, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, reduce the price of gas at the pump, and create good-paying jobs in the U.S.

The President could turn back some of the 132 regulations put in place in the last two years that each have an impact of $100-million or more on our economy.

Thanks to all of you, there's reason to hope that real spending cuts are coming. Last November many of you went to the polls and voted out big-spending politicians and you put in their place men and women who have come to Washington with a commitment to follow the Constitution and cut the size of government. And I believe that we are in the early days of a history-making turn here in the House of Representatives.

Last week we voted to repeal ObamaCare, and each day going forward, we must work hard to dismantle the massive government expansion that has happened over the past two years.

Video:

Supreme Court Justices State Of The Union Address 2011

State, Of The Union Address 2011: Supreme Court Justices Won't All Attend

WASHINGTON — Chief Justice John Roberts will lead a contingent of six Supreme Court justices at President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech, quieting speculation that only Democratic appointees to the court would attend.

Roberts had objected to the partisan atmosphere at last year's address, particularly after Obama offered rare criticism of the court during his speech.

Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg confirmed that six justices would be present at Tuesday's speech, although she would not say which ones. But as three of the nine justices had previously all but ruled themselves out, it seemed a safe assumption that Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy would join their four colleagues who were appointed by Democratic presidents.

Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor also are expected to attend. For Kagan, it would be her first speech since Obama nominated her last year. Sotomayor was Obama's first high court pick.

Justice Samuel Alito, who mouthed the words "not true" in response to Obama's criticism, is spending this week as "jurist in residence" at the University of Hawaii law school. Justice Antonin Scalia, at the Capitol Monday to speak to the Tea Party Caucus, has not attended a State of the Union speech at least since the mid-1990s. Justice Clarence Thomas said last year that he doesn't go because "it has become so partisan," although he attended Obama's first speech to Congress in February 2009.

Last year, six justices in their black robes sat silently while Obama leveled criticism at the court – and specifically its conservative majority – for the decision it had announced just days earlier freeing corporations and labor unions to spend freely in elections for Congress and president. Roberts, Alito and Kennedy, Republican appointees, were there, along with Breyer, Ginsburg and Sotomayor, named to the court by Democrats.

Roberts addressed the issue in a speech in Alabama in March. "To the extent the State of the Union has degenerated into a political pep rally, I'm not sure why we're there," he said.

Roberts said anyone is free to criticize the court and that some have an obligation to do so because of their positions.

"So I have no problems with that," he said. "On the other hand, there is the issue of the setting, the circumstances and the decorum. The image of having the members of one branch of government standing up, literally surrounding the Supreme Court, cheering and hollering while the court – according the requirements of protocol – has to sit there expressionless, I think is very troubling."

The shootings in Tucson this month that killed six people and left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords wounded have led some lawmakers to abandon the tradition of sitting by political party, creating an expectation that the atmosphere surrounding this year's speech might be less partisan.

Roberts has been to every State of the Union since he joined the court more than five years ago. Kennedy has attended the last four speeches.

Breyer appears to have missed only one State of the Union in his 16 years on the court, and has been the only justice present on at least four occasions. No one from the court attended when Breyer was ill in 2000.

Occ Foreclosure

Key Senator Urges Obama To Push Foreclosure Relief In State Of The Union

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) is urging President Barack Obama to pledge a new round of foreclosure relief during his State of the Union address next week. In a letter to the president obtained by The Huffington Post, Merkley said the administration's current anti-foreclosure programs have proven woefully inadequate, and pushed for a more thorough program to keep families in their homes.

"A record one million families lost their home to foreclosure last year," Merkley wrote. "Next week, Mr. President, you will have the attention of the nation. I urge you to use this opportunity to renew efforts to tackle the national foreclosure crisis."

Merkley's call for presidential leadership on foreclosures comes as infighting among federal regulators appears to have stalled out key reforms to the bank divisions that work with troubled borrowers and process foreclosures.

The FDIC has been pushing to impose new requirements on the operations of those divisions, which are known as mortgage servicers. The agency has been engaged in heated negotiations with other regulators at the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). According to a source familiar with the negotiations, the Fed had initially opposed the plan, but agreed to support the rules after a few weeks of negotiations. The OCC, however, which is currently responsible for regulating the largest mortgage servicers -- Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup -- has resisted those rules. The OCC has never publicly sanctioned a mortgage servicer, despite widespread court findings of servicer fraud in the foreclosure process.

The Treasury Department, which had supported the new rules, had expected an agreement between agencies by Friday, Jan. 14, according to a spokesman. That anticipated agreement has not yet come to fruition.

But Treasury itself is engaged in a delicate dance on foreclosure policy -- defending the foreclosure prevention program criticized by Merkley, even as it urges sweeping reform of the bank divisions that participate in that program.

"The goal of the [Home Affordable Modification Program] was to prevent three to four million foreclosures," Merkley wrote, "but to date, fewer than 600,000 homowners have been approved."

Merkley is a persistent advocate for financial reform, and co-authored a key provision of last year's Wall Street overhaul legislation known as the Volcker Rule, which bars banks from speculating with taxpayer money.

At a Wednesday meeting of the Mortgage Bankers Association, Cindy Gertz, Treasury's Director of Operations for HAMP, praised the servicers involved in the Treasury plan, noting that they had ramped up staffing in order to deal with the foreclosure flood. Treasury spokeswoman Andrea Risotto told HuffPost that Gertz's praise for servicers was restricted to HAMP, and not to any other servicer activities. But servicer abuses within HAMP have been widely documented, with borrowers frequently making good on loan modification arrangements only to be foreclosed on.

Risotto noted that Treasury has a "compliance agent" that inspects servicers once a month to make sure banks are implementing the program correctly. Nevertheless, servicer employees have admitted to fraudulently robo-signing hundreds of foreclosure documents a day as a matter of ordinary procedure. Treasury has never sanctioned a servicer for violating HAMP rules, and maintains that it has no authority to do so, because the program is voluntary for banks.

But as Treasury defends servicers with one hand, it is also demanding fundamental reform of the servicer industry with the other. On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called for an overhaul of the way servicers are paid, arguing that the status quo is a "broken" system.

Regulatory agencies are debating whether to include standards for servicer conduct in new "skin-in-the-game" regulations for the mortgage bond market. The Wall Street overhaul legislation contains a provision requiring banks to retain at least five percent of the default risk whenever they sell mortgages off to investors. But there's a key exception to the rule: for standardized, top-quality loans, banks will not have to retain any of the risk. The FDIC hopes that by including mortgage servicing rules in the definition of a standardized, top-quality mortgage, they can create a new gold standard for mortgage lending that is immune from current abuses.

But these new regulations would only reform the way that servicers operate with regard to new mortgages. They will not help the millions of borrowers already trapped in unaffordable loans, nor will they provide a way to manage the widening gyre of fraud allegations and other improprieties that pose massive potential losses at the nation's too-big-to-fail banks.

In a speech Wednesday, FDIC Chair Sheila Bair warned, "Chaos in mortgage servicing and foreclosure is introducing a dangerous new uncertainty into this fragile market." Bair suggested creating a foreclosure disaster fund akin to the BP oil spill fund that would compensate wronged homeowners and investors, while capping liabilities for big banks.

Merkley wants to find a solution that deals with homeowners already facing foreclosure (and bank fraud). He's pushing for a six-point program to overhaul the current foreclosure system, including new standards for servicer conduct and new legal mechanisms to provide debt relief to deserving families.

Central to the program is a reform of the bankruptcy code, dubbed by Merkley as "lifeline bankruptcy reform." Mortgages are currently excluded from the bankruptcy process, so even if borrowers declare bankruptcy -- a process that is difficult to qualify for and comes with serious financial penalties -- they cannot get debt relief on their mortgage. By making mortgages subject to renegotiation in bankruptcy under the supervision of a judge, Merkley hopes to establish a process that would allow borrowers to remain in their homes without simply granting a get-out-of-debt free card to everyone whose home value has declined since the collapse of the housing bubble.

"This makes much more sense than paying for modifications," economist Dean Baker, co-Director of the Center for Economic Policy and Research, told HuffPost. Under HAMP, the Treasury pays servicers $1,000 to implement each loan modification, plus an additional $1,000 for every year that borrowers keep paying on the modified loan.

A similar program for farm loans was adopted during the mid-1980s and helped thousands of family farms avoid foreclosure, and a recent IMF report suggested bankruptcy reform as an effective solution to the U.S. mortgage mess. The same report found that the high rate of foreclosure may be responsible for between 1 percent and 1.25 percent of the U.S. unemployment rate, currently at 9.4 percent.

Mortgage bankruptcy reform was endorsed by then-Sen. Barack Obama during his presidential campaign, but died in the Senate in Spring 2009 amid weak backing from President Obama. Senate Republicans, who pushed for bankruptcy to be the appropriate way to deal with faltering megabanks, did not believe that consumers should receive the same treatment. Several bank-friendly Democrats also opposed the bankruptcy overhaul, prompting Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to fume that banks "frankly own the place," referring to Congress.

Merkley also calls for an end to the "dual-track" system, in which mortgage servicers begin the foreclosure process even as they negotiate loan modifications with troubled borrowers. The system allows banks to foreclose as quickly as possible if the modification falls through, but also leads to many unnecessary foreclosures as banks improperly continue with foreclosures on successful modifications. Merkley would also require servicers to establish a single individual to contact borrowers, preventing paperwork mix-ups and other bank confusion which lead to improper foreclosures, and establish an independent party to review whether banks have followed the rules on foreclosures.

OCC policy already bans the dual-track system unless the process is required by mortgage bond agreements, but the OCC is yet to enforce that ban with any sanction against banks that violate it.

The potential impact of other elements in Merkley's plan is less clear. He would implement a "short-refinance" plan, which would allow homeowners who owe more on their loan than their house is worth to refinance into a new loan at the current value of their home. Government agencies would then pay the existing bank to expunge the remaining debt levels. But Baker was skeptical that such a program would be workable. With home prices down dramatically nationwide from their bubble-level peaks, even outright housing speculators will be sure to seek relief, triggering a government payout to the very banks who caused the problem by lending recklessly in the midst of a bubble. "There is not going to be any plausible means test that you can put in place that will prevent almost anyone in this situation from taking advantage of the opportunity," Baker said.

Merkley would also provide a $5,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers in an effort to boost home sales. But Baker said such an arrangement is unlikely to be an efficient mechanism to lift the struggling housing market.

State of the Union Barack Obama use address

State of the Union: Barack Obama to use address

Barack Obama will use Tuesday’s State of the Union address to cement himself in the political centre as he aims to capitalise on a series of unexpected recent political successes.
White House advisers have indicated that the speech will be used as a rebranding amid a revival in his fortunes that he hopes lead to his being re-elected next year.
The annual address on Tuesday night, which last year was watched by 48 million, will pull together the themes the US president has been developing over the past two months as he sought to rescue his presidency following what he described as a “shellacking” for Democrats in the November midterm elections. Read Full Story

Empire State Of Mind Lyrics video mp3 songs

Jay-Z: Empire State Of Mind Lyrics video mp3 songs Watch Online

Yeah, yeah, I'ma up at Brooklyn, now I'm down in Tribeca
Right next to De Niro, but I'll be hood forever
I'm the new Sinatra, and since I made it here
I can make it anywhere, yeah, they love me everywhere

I used to cop in Harlem, all of my Dominicanos
Right there up on Broadway, brought me back to that McDonald's
Took it to my stash spot, 560 State Street
Catch me in the Kitchen like a Simmons whipping pastry

Cruising down 8th Street, off-white Lexus
Driving so slow, but BK is from Texas
Me, I'm up at Bed-Stuy, home of that boy Biggie
Now I live on Billboard, and I brought my boys with me

Say what up to Ty Ty, still sipping mai tai
Sitting courtside, Knicks and Nets give me high fives
Nigga, I be spiked out, I can trip a referee
Tell by my attitude that I am most definitely from

In New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made, oh
There's nothing you can't do, now you're in New York
These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you, let's hear it for New York
New York, New York
(I made you hot, nigga)

Catch me at the X with OG at a Yankee game
Shit, I made the Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can
You should know I bleed blue, but I ain't a Crip though
But I got a gang of niggas walking with my clique, though

Welcome to the melting pot, corners where we selling rock
Afrika Bambaataa shit, home of the hip hop
Yellow Cab, Gypsy Cab, Dollar Cab, holla back
For foreigners that ain't fifty, they act like they forgot how to act

Eight million stories out there, and they're naked
Cities is a pity, half of y'all won't make it
Me, I gotta plug, Special Ed "I Got It Made"
If Jesus payin' LeBron, I'm paying Dwyane Wade

Three dice, Cee-lo, three-card Monte
Labor Day Parade, rest in peace, Bob Marley
Statue of Liberty, long live the World Trade
Long live the king, yo, I'm from the Empire State that's

In New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made, oh
There's nothing you can't do, now you're in New York
These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you, let's hear it for New York
New York, New York

Lights is blinding, girls need blinders
So they can step out of bounds quick
The sidelines is blind with casualties
Who sipping life casually, then gradually become worse

Don't bite the apple, Eve, caught up in the in crowd
Now you're in style, end of the winter gets cold
En vogue with your skin out, the city of sin is a pity on a whim
Good girls gone bad, the cities filled with them

Mommy took a bus trip, now she got her bust out
Everybody ride her just like a bus route
Hail Mary to the city, you're a virgin
And Jesus can't save you, life starts when the church ends

Came here for school, graduated to the high life
Ball players, rap stars addicted to the limelight
MDMA got you feeling like a champion
The city never sleeps, better slip you an Ambien

In New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of
There's nothing you can't do, now you're in New York
These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you, let's hear it for New York
New York, New York

One hand in the air for the big city
Street lights, big dreams all looking pretty
No place in the world that can compare
Put your lighters in the air, everybody say yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
(Come on, come on)

In New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made, oh
There's nothing you can't do, now you're in New York
These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you, let's hear it for New York
New York, New York

Jay-Z: Empire State Of Mind video songs Watch Online

Video From: www.youtube.com

Radioactive Lyrics Video Mp3 song

Kings of Leon: Radioactive Lyrics Video song Watch Online

When the role is called up yonder
I hope you see me there

It's in the water
It's where you came from
It's in the water
It's where you came from

And the crowd begins to wonder
And they cry to see your face

It's in the water...
It's in the story
It's where you came from
The sons and daughters
In all their glory
It's gonna shape them
And when they clash
And come together
And start rising
Just drink the water
Where you came from...
Where you came from

You're the rose That was called from yonder
Never sold yourself away

It's in the water...
It's in the story
It's where you came from
The sons and daughters
In all their glory
It's gonna shape them
And when they clash
And come together
And start rising
Just drink the water
Where you came from...
Where you came from

And when they clash
And come together
And start rising
Just drink the water
Where you came from...
Where you came from

Kings of Leon: Radioactive Video song Watch Online

Schmidt's CEO Exit Marks The End of an Era

Schmidt CEO Exit Marks The End of an Era

When Eric Schmidt ends his run as Google's CEO, he'll leave behind a legacy of big accomplishments and some open questions for Larry Page.

Perhaps it's a sign of what a good chief executive Eric Schmidt was at Google that I thought he'd spent just five years in the role.

When I remembered that Schmidt had in fact joined Google as CEO at the dawn of the new century, I was shocked. We were all so young back in March of 2001, untouched by nation-altering tragedy. Back then, Google was just an awesomely good search engine.

Schmidt, now chairman, shepherded Google from search to a network of wide-reaching and powerful services. As he noted during Thursday's announcement when Larry Page became CEO, Schmidt was the one that played the adult role at a critical time in Google's development. Without his discipline, what might Google have become?

I'm sure that Larry Page and Co-founder Sergey Brin had many big ideas back in 2001, but how to make them real, and how to bring it all together to create a powerful, vibrant and, most important, vastly profitable business would have been vexing, if not nearly impossible, without a seasoned CEO like Schmidt to show them the way.

Schmidt's button-down, yet affable style seemed to mesh well with Brin and Page's youthful "smartest geek in the room" approach – and there is no doubting their success.

Schmidt, meanwhile, must be credited with every major win, from AdSense to Picasa, from AdMob to Android, and Gmail.

It's a not a perfect record. Schmidt didn't always know how to quelch Google's backroom developer impulses. He let the Google Wave thing get out of hand and seemed unable (or unwilling) to guide Google Buzz to a gentle death.

News From:  www.pcmag.com

Schmidt steps aside at a critical juncture. Google's made great strides in mobile, but the successful delivery of Honeycomb (Android 3.0) hangs over them. An industry is relying on Google. Without this made-for-tablets Android OS, it's unlike any Android tablet can compete with or beat Apple's iPad. Schmidt helped oversee the delivery of the very successful Google Chrome browser and the still somewhat confusing Google Chrome Operating System. The departing CEO will leave it to Page to figure out how far Chrome goes as a platform and if it ever merges with Android.

Ten years is quite a run as a chief executive, and Schmidt's legacy with Google is assured. Now we'll wait to see how Page will run the company he cofounded, and where Schmidt will go from here.

2011 State of the Union

State of the Union 2011 Watch Video

On January 25, President Obama will give his third State of the Union address. With a struggling economy, two ongoing wars, and a new Republican majority in the House, the president is under pressure to outline a compelling vision for the nation.

If you were in his shoes, what would you say? What's happening in your corner of the country, and what should we do about it? In a minute or less, give us your "State of the Union." We'll feature the best ones here on washingtonpost.com.

SHARE YOUR STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS

WHAT: In a minute or less, tell us what you think is the biggest challenge facing our nation. What is YOUR take on the state of the country?
WHEN: Now through Friday, Jan. 21, 2011
HOW: Log in below with your YouTube account; videos must be your own




News From: voices.washingtonpost.com

Amy Beck's husband sued by family

Amy Beck's husband sued by family of underage student; allegedly threatened 14-year-old with gun

The husband of Amy Beck, a former middle school teacher who admitted having sex with an underage student, threatened the victim's life, the student's family alleged in a lawsuit.

Beck's husband, an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department, threatened to kill the teen after he found the underage boy having sex with his wife, according to multiple reports.

The lawsuit claims that Beck's husband, National Beck, discovered the two in the couple's home and threatened the kid with his LAPD-issued weapon, the818now.com reported. The LAPD is also being named in the lawsuit.

"Officer Beck yelled at the victim and threatened that he would kill the victim with his police gun," the lawsuit reportedly stated.

Amy Beck, then a sixth-grade teacher at Jordan Middle School in California, admitted in March to having a seven-month relationship with the student, according to KTLA News.

She was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading no contest to charges of unlawful sex and lewd acts on a minor, but is expected to be released in March if she receives time off for good behavior.

The family said not only did National Beck threaten their son with a department-issued weapon, but the department failed to follow up on their complaint, according to reports.

The suit also complains that National Beck didn't immediately report the sexual abuse - which he is required to do as a police officer.

While both Becks may be in legal trouble, they have no plans to divorce, Amy Beck's husband told reporters at her sentencing hearing in May.

"Her husband is absolutely standing by her," Michael Williamson told reporters.
News From: www.nydailynews.com

Occupation Of America

When we are sitting in our nice and cozy homes we may not think that we are being occupied but it’s only a matter of time before we can visibly see what the government is doing. We must do something to stop this but what can we do? Some people are doing a V for Victory campaign to show that we are not being silent. Do you think the government’s control is going to lead to an obvious occupation of America?

The occupation of America has been forming for quite some time. Ever since Obama got into office things have just went down hill further and further. He is not for America is any way whatsoever and there are different posters that will be circulated to protest. One of the things that will be protesting are the V for victory posters and the Joker poster of Obama.

Are you going to allow America to be taken over and your life to change? You are resistance, there is no one else that can do anything about this. The airlines, bus lines and all the other transportation is being controlled by the department of homeland security. Even the constant signs, and insane laws are leading us to be more and more comfortable with the occupation of America.



News From: www.wagerrun.com

Medium TV Series Finale

Medium series finale Farewell to one of TV best families

Medium never got the love and attention it deserved, and after seven psychic seasons on two different networks, the series comes to a close tonight. The gory crime-solving and supernatural elements of the show were fun, but the best part of the show was always its realistic portrayal of a stable, happy family, squabbles and all.

Joe and Allison DuBois are a close second to Eric and Tami Taylor for my favorite married couple on TV — playful, loving, expressive, and they’re terrific parents, too. Before Modern Family was getting all the (totally deserved!) credit for its realistic, not-at-all annoying kid actors, Medium‘s trio of blond munchkins were tearing it up. (Especially Maria Lark.) The DuBois women might be able to communicate with the dead, but they also argue over spelling tests, or who might need glasses, or who finished the cereal or passed her driving test. More Info

Spartacus Gods of the Arena Prequel Season

Spartacus Gods of the Arena Prequel Season Episode 1 Recap

['Spartacus: Gods of the Arena' - 'Past Transgressions']

We are back, ladies and gentlemen. The first few minutes of 'Spartacus: Gods of the Arena' gave us heaping helpings of things we've come to expect from this Starz series: spurting blood, naked bodies, violence, profanity, and, just for grins, Batiatus using a public toilet.

Remind me again, why isn't this airing on ABC Family?

OK, I kid, but it almost felt as though with this first episode back, 'Spartacus' felt a particular need to get in our faces with its most outrageous or provocative content. There couldn't just be sex, there had to be lots and lots of sex of many different varieties; there couldn't just be violence, there had to be unusual beheadings and an extra helping of insanity when it came to the creative use of spurting blood.

All right, all right, we get it -- this is a show about people who use each other for any number of purposes, and the results aren't always pretty. And iff we didn't get the point that bodies are merely so much flesh to be sold by the pound, a couple of scenes were set in a butcher shop.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the show's in-your-face tendencies; after a year without 'Spartacus' I would have beheaded someone myself if this show hadn't returned when it did. I just hope that, in the six episodes of this prequel season, the show can both hold on to its signature sauciness and dig into the characters in the ways that made 'Spartacus: Blood and Sand' much more than the sum of its blood-spattered parts.

'Gods of the Arena,' this new prequel season, is only six episodes long, and it makes me wonder -- in that relatively short time span, can we come to care about Gannicus' plight as much as we did about the lives of Spartacus, Crixus, Doctore or even Barca in 'Spartacus: Blood and Sand'? That remains to be seen.

But the first episode of the prequel season covered a lot of ground quite fluidly and set up several new conflicts with efficient energy, and it was intriguing to see the characters in such different places. How different things were five years ago! Let's take a brief look at then and now, for each of the show's main characters:

Batiatus (John Hannah): It's poignant to see a Batiatus who is, in a way, quite innocent. He's been around, sure, but he's so certain that all it takes to succeed as a ludus owner is persistence and an ability to cross the right palms with silver. How naive! At the end of the episode, his energetic ambition collides with a cold, stark reality: The people who occupy the higher reaches of society don't want the upstarts below them to succeed. Tullius, the man Batiatus had wanted to emulate, ended up pissing in his face. That's one thing I love about the show -- not the abuse via urine, but the way it constantly leaves its characters in unwinnable situations. On a character level and a story level, things are about to get interesting: We know that Batiatus is going to fight and scratch and claw his way out of this hole, but we also know events like these are going to make him every bit as ruthless as the heartless Tullius in a few years. Clearly something will go wrong between the good friends Batiatus and fellow ludus owner Solonius, and no doubt other relationships will suffer as well.Lucretia (Lucy Lawless): It's also poignant to see Batiatus and Lucretia so deeply in love. In a few years' time, they'll still love each other, but as we saw in 'Blood and Sand,' they'll be both be much more scarred and cynical. There might as well have been an "irony alert" sign flashing when Lucretia talked about not wanting to bed a dirty, gross gladiator. As we saw in 'Blood and Sand,' she not only slept with Crixus but had deep feelings for him -- feelings she couldn't quite admit. In any event, once we saw Lucretia as such a loving, supportive wife, that was our clue that things are bound to go at least partly wrong between them. These young marrieds are about to find out just what it will cost them to rise in Capuan society.

Oenomaus (Peter Mensah): Fans of 'Blood and Sand' are probably saying to themselves, "Hey, why is Doctore not being called by his rightful name? What's going on here?" In this prequel season, which is set five years before 'Blood and Sand,' Oenomaus is using the slave name he carried before he took over instruction at Batiatus' ludus. And given that Oenomaus is relatively content as 'Gods of the Arena' begins, my guess is that he's the character who will suffer the most this season. He's got a wife, and even if they are both slaves, they're both being treated relatively well and they get to spend time together. Oenomaus even smiles now and then! Clearly things are about to go very wrong in his life. It's interesting to note, however, that though his circumstances are different, Oenomaus/Doctore is essentially the same guy he was before -- ethical, honest, strong, reliable. I love this character and relish the idea that we'll get to explore his life more fully. Also, I must add that there's no doubt in my mind that Oenomaus' wife will come to a brutal end this season. That's not based on inside knowledge, that's just a guess. Since when do the people in this world ever get to keep what they want? If they do, they generally have to pay a very high price.

Crixus, Ashur and Barca: We see the burly gladiator Crixus when he first arrives at Batiatus' ludus, when his hair was still long and he was mocked for being a "little" guy. Ashur is among the trainees who survived the house's brutal training regimen but has yet to get the brand of the brotherhood. It should be interesting to see how Ashur got the injury that ended his career in the arena. As for Barca, he appears to be the same tough guy, and that's to the good; not everything in life changes all that much in a five-year span.

As far as the show's new characters, Gaia is ringing a few alarm bells for me, though it's too early too tell if she'll end up being a good or bad addition to the cast. If Gaia (who's played by Jaime Murray) ends up being a standard-issue vixen, there to cause soap-opera-style troubles between the lead couple, that might be problematic; so far she's seeming like an overly predictable type. It's too soon to tell, though; we'll have to see what her game is, and if the feelings she apparently has for Lucretia are real or merely part of some secret agenda.

Vettius and Tullius are, so far, relatively one-dimensional villains, but the characters are well played (though Vettius' sneering could get quite old if he doesn't moderate it a bit). In any event, 'Gods of the Arena' is really the story of how Lucretia and Batiatus lost their innocence, so to speak, and John Hannah and Lucy Lawless are so good at playing earlier versions of themselves that it doesn't really matter that not all the show's characters are fully fleshed out (no pun intended).

Of course, the season is also the story of Gannicus, and I think it was wise of the show's writers to make him the opposite of the Spartacus who arrived at Batiatus' ludus five years later. That taciturn man burned with an interior fire and quietly came up with an increasingly canny plan for revenge; he was the unshowy opposite of Gannicus, a heedless bad boy who never thinks about the consequences of his actions.

Will we find out that Gannicus nurses some secret pain that makes him take refuge in wine, women and spectacular feats in the arena? Possibly. That might be an interesting way to go with the prequel season, but the truth is, the character may end up being just one more supporting player in the saga of Lucretia and Batiatus. That might be the wisest course for the 'Spartacus' franchise. I don't know about you, but I still have the memory of Andy Whitfield's performance as Spartacus fresh in my mind, and I don't know that I'm quite ready to emotionally invest in another gladiator's personal saga.

But to see Lucretia and Batiatus fight their way from street brawls to the sands of Capua's shiny new arena? I'm definitely interested in that tale. As I said, I don't know if six episodes will be enough time to tell that story with depth and complexity, but the previous season frequently shocked and surprised me in good ways, so I'm giving 'Gods of the Arena' the benefit of the doubt. And given how energetic the first episode of 'Gods of the Arena' was, our return to Capua is off to a good start.

Story From: www.tvsquad.com