RapFix – Pusha T Drops ‘Exodus 23:1′ Video Teaser Clip

 

On Wednesday night Pusha T shook things up with his new single "Exodus 23:1," which includes a feature from The-Dream. The track caught the attention of Lil Wayne, who tweeted a pretty blunt message in reply, and today the G.O.O.D. Music rapper has released a 30-second teaser clip for the song's full video titled "My Life is Real." Check out the video above. Pusha T Teams Up With The-Dream For Debut Album Pusha debuted the new single on Wednesday night (May 23) from Cannes, France, where he tweeted about the premiere of Kanye West’s new short film “Cruel Summer. A few lines in particular seemed to be aimed at Drake and YMCMB ("Contract all f---ed / Explain up I guess that means you all f---ed up / You signed to one ni--- that signed to another ni--- that's signed to three ni--- / Now that's bad luck") but Wayne’s tweet was still a surprisingly blunt reply to the new track. This wouldn’t be the first time that the two MCs have had issues with each other, although in 2011 it seemed that all was well between the two camps.

Schilling's 38 Studios a Rhode Island 'Debacle,'

 

May 25 (Bloomberg) -- Former Boston Red Sox pitching star Curt Schilling's 38 Studios LLC game-making company is "disintegrating" despite state efforts to save it, Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee said. "We are doing our best to salvage this, but the situation is very dire," Chafee said today in a Bloomberg Television interview. The company dismissed workers yesterday, according to Nicole Romeo, a Labor and Training Department spokeswoman. Schilling, 45, moved the company to Providence from Maynard, Massachusetts, with the promise to create hundreds of jobs after Rhode Island provided $75 million from an economic development fund, using bonds sold in 2010. The state unemployment rate has been more than 10 percent for three years, rising to 11.2 percent last month. Concerns about 38 Studios arose when the company missed a May 1 debt-service payment, covering it later. Chafee, an independent who took office in January 2011, inherited the deal with Schilling's company from former Governor Donald Carcieri, a Republican. "It was really insanity on the part of the previous administration to get into this high-risk industry, and now we're seeing the ramifications," Chafee said on Bloomberg TV's "Street Smart" show. "Now we're seeing this company disintegrate on us," he said, calling it "a debacle." Bond Repayment The state may be on the hook to repay bondholders who own the debt, issued by the Rhode Island Economic Development Corp. No one from the company has responded to telephone calls today and yesterday seeking comment on the dismissals. 38 Studios released its first game, "Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning," in February. Chafee said sales fell short. "The game failed," he said yesterday at a briefing for reporters in the Rhode Island Statehouse. "That was integral to the success of the company." The bonds maturing in November 2015 traded at an average yield of about 4.8 percent May 23, up from 3 percent April 10, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. "The financial struggles of 38 Studios, a video-gaming venture, underscore the risks pertaining to economic development project financing by state and local governments," Marcia Van Wagner, a Moody's Investors Service senior analyst, said yesterday in a statement. She said the debt used to back the company isn't at risk, citing state commitments to cover repayment. Wearing number 38 on his jersey with the Red Sox in 2004, Schilling helped the team win its first World Series title in 86 years. He also played for Major League Baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks, Philadelphia Phillies, Houston Astros and Baltimore Orioles.

Analyzing Timetable for Hakeem Nicks's Recovery

 

Analyzing Timetable for Hakeem Nicks’s Recovery By JENE BRAMEL Jene Bramel, a Fifth Down contributor, has begun a blog, Second Opinion, in which he’ll use his experience as a doctor to help fans understand various injuries and analyze their effect on players and teams. Hakeem Nicks broke the fifth metatarsal in his right foot Thursday. Early estimates put his expected recovery at 12 weeks, giving him a chance to return to the field by mid-August. Giants Coach Tom Coughlin wasn’t as confident, saying “it’s probably going to be close” when asked if Nicks would be ready for the season opener on Sept. 5. Can Nicks rehab in time for the Wednesday night season opener? How realistic is the 12-week timetable? Though optimistic, it is realistic, according to a study done by Dr. Robert Anderson of the Carolina Foot and Ankle Institute. Anderson, who will be performing Nicks’s surgery, is the go-to surgeon for N.F.L. players with complicated injuries, especially Lisfranc injuries, Achilles’ tendon ruptures and fifth metatarsal fractures. Anderson’s 2011 study looked at outcomes for elite athletes who required surgical revision of a poorly healed or re-fractured fifth metatarsal. While Nicks’s injury does not fall into that more concerning group, he’ll very likely be undergoing the same surgical procedure – screw fixation with bone grafting – and have a comparable rehabilitation schedule. Of the 21 athletes Anderson studied, 12 were football players. Nine of those twelve returned in 12 weeks or less; three returned within 15-16 weeks. Among all 21 athletes, 16 returned to their sport within 12 weeks. All returned to their previous level of competition. Though Anderson’s study is reassuring, Nicks’s rehab and recovery won’t be without potential setbacks. Areas of the fifth metatarsal are notorious for inconsistent healing and re-fracture because of relative poor blood supply to parts of the bone. Anderson’s method seems to limit those complications with the aid of bone grafting, but a player pushing the limits of the recovery timetable will heighten the risk of re-fracture. Should Nicks have a successful rehab after surgery, he’ll also have to avoid a cascade injury – an injury to another, previously unaffected part of the body – as he gets into football shape late in camp. Hamstring or other muscle strains are an all-too-common occurrence as players attempt to return to their previous level of play before fully conditioned. The bottom line: While Nicks may be able return to practice during training camp, those final two-three weeks of rehabilitation will be critical. If he makes it through the end of training camp without a compensatory injury, he should be considered fully healed and back to his baseline injury risk. Unfortunately for the Giants and Nicks, who has yet to finish a full 16-game season, the durability concerns won’t be going away anytime soon.

The Bodega: A Brief History of an Urban Institution

 

In some parts of America, it’s called a “party store.” In others it’s called a “corner store.” And elsewhere it’s a “grocery”. In New York City, the term for a small, local retailer that sells everything from beer to diapers  is “bodega,” and it was in the stockroom of one of these stores that 6-year-old Etan Patz lost his life 33 years ago today. On Thursday, a former bodega employee named Pedro Hernandez told police that on a sunny morning in 1979, he had lured the boy into the basement of a store in Manhattan’s SoHo district, choked him to death and then hidden the body in a trash bag. He is accused of second-degree murder. (MORE: Are We Witnessing the Death of the Big-Box Store?) While most local outlets went ahead and called the crime scene a bodega, TIME refrained from using the term in our story on Etan today;  not everyone in the country is familiar with the Nuyorican, Caribbean or Noo Yawk patois that spawned the term. The word is from the Spanish la bodega — grocery store — and years ago, referred primarily to those found in Spanish speaking neighborhoods in the city, where the shops sprang up on streetcorners in residential neighborhoods, as opposed to the more established retailers along major avenues. But the convenience of having a convenience store within arms reach of one’s apartment appealed more and more over the years to New Yorkers. Delis, Korean groceries and bodegas — the terms are fairly interchangeable, no matter what neighborhood you’re in –  now number number more than 13,000 in New York City alone, many still owned by Puerto Rican and Dominican retailers. “In Central and South America and the Caribbean, they have bodegas on every corner to serve the poor,” said Fernando Mateo, spokesman for the Bodega Association of the United States. The term is used in cities with large Spanish-speaking populations elsewhere, of course; but it’s taken firmer root in the Big Apple than anywhere else. “New York City is basically the largest urban community in the world. Bodegas serve people who are used to that service in their native countries.” Mateo explained that bodegas have traditionally served a need in the inner city because where a large retailer will charge $5 for a gallon of milk, a bodega owner might charge $1.50 for a quart; someone who has an immediate need will go for the more convenient option several times a week. “But also they become a place where people get together and go over their daily news, and people become part of their communities,” he said. “It’s unique that supermarkets have not been able to put the bodega owner out of business.” (VIDEO: Extreme Couponers Get Groceries for (Almost) Free) But because the bodegas have also been the targets of armed robberies and complaints about food choices, the stores are not without their detractors. In 2002 the city launched an initiative to install security cameras in many of the stores after 12 bodega owners were killed in stickups. The city, adopting the term itself, launched its “Healthy Bodega Initiative” to help owners offer healthier alternatives for their customers. Politics, however, have found their way into bodegas as well. Mateo disagrees with what city health officials are trying to do. “It’s a political initiative, not a real initiative,” he says. “You’re not going to change the habits of people who are used to eating a certain kind of food.”

NOLA's 'Times-Picayune' to cut paper to 3 days a week

 

The changes announced Thursday were combined with similar moves at three major Alabama daily newspapers also owned by the Newhouse family group's Advance Publications. The Birmingham News, the Press-Register in Mobile and The Huntsville Times will switch to publishing three days a week as part of a new focus on online news. At all four papers, there will be unspecified staff cuts. All four papers will continue to publish continuously on their websites, and online access will remain free. Newspapers have struggled in recent years as consumers increasingly get their news online. Print advertising declined as the economy went into recession, and newspapers have yet to learn how to make online advertising as profitable as its printed counterpart. "For us, this isn't about print versus digital, this is about creating a very successful multi-platform media company that addresses the ever-changing needs of our readers, our online users and our advertisers," said Advance Publications' president of local digital strategy, Randy Siegel, in an interview with the Associated Press. "This change is not easy, but it's essential for us to remain relevant." Siegel didn't say how much money the reduced print runs in Louisiana and Alabama would save, nor how many staff members would be laid off or hired in the new online units. "To get good quality information is not cheap," said Jennifer Greer, chair of the journalism department at the University of Alabama. "What you are seeing is people trying to figure out a business model that works in a digital age." The decision was met with sadness by some residents in New Orleans, where The Times-Picayune won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Staffers continued reporting despite being forced out of the newspaper's offices amid widespread flooding and power outages. The storm drove away thousands of residents, some of whom never came back. The city — and its newspaper — struggled to recover in the years since. The paper was a lifeline for the Southern, working-class city, providing government announcements, obituaries, Carnival and scoops on local corruption, said Cheron Brylski, a 53-year-old New Orleans-based political consultant. Not having the paper every day is like losing a sports team, she said. "Where is New Orleans headed since Katrina? This is not something that helps our recovery," she said. The papers in Alabama also have long histories. The Mobile paper has roots to 1813 with the founding of the Mobile Gazette and became a daily in 1832, according to a history of the publication on al.com. And in 2007, the Birmingham News won a Pulitzer Prize for a series on corruption in Alabama's two-year college system. Birmingham News employees were told during morning meetings that longtime Editor Tom Scarritt will retire this fall when the new companies are created, according to two reporters who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the changes for the company. In New Orleans, a new company, the NOLA Media Group, would be created to oversee both The Times-Picayune and its affiliated website, NOLA.com. The announcements mirror changes Advance Publications made in Michigan. In 2009, the company shut the Ann Arbor News but created AnnArbor.com, a news website that still publishes print editions on Thursday and Sunday. In February, it launched the MLive Media Group, which runs MLive.com, to focus its efforts in Michigan digitally. Meanwhile, all of its eight other newspapers in the state offer three days of home delivery with newsstand sales from three to seven days a week. Newspaper analyst Ken Doctor, who writes the Newsonomics blog, said the company is trying to hold on to declining print ad revenue for a few more years, and expects Advance to eventually cut print runs at its other newspapers in New Jersey, Oregon, Ohio and elsewhere. The company owns The Oregonian in Portland, Ore.; The Plain Dealer in Cleveland; and The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J. "It's a big bet to retain profitability and hope that in the shock therapy, there are profits on the other end," he said. Print circulation has been dropping steadily over the years at the four newspapers affected by Thursday's announcement, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. On average, the four papers' circulation in the half year through March fell about 6% from a year ago. Nonetheless, TheTimes-Picayune remains one of the nation's most successful newspapers. Of the top 50 large-sized markets, the newspaper has the highest rate of readership of its daily edition in the U.S., according to Austin, Texas-based Scarborough Research, a firm that tracks the industry. The Times-Picayune's average paid circulation was 133,557 in the six months through March, down 49% compared to March 2005, a few months before Hurricane Katrina hit. The Birmingham News' circulation of 103,729 is down 29% from five years ago; the Press-Register's of 82,088 is down 18%; and The Huntsville Times' of 44,725 is down 15%. Die-hard supporters and even Mayor Mitch Landrieu pledged to make sure the newspaper remained a part of New Orleans culture. "Through wars and floods, the 'Aints and a Saints Super Bowl victory, the TP has been and remains an integral part of our daily routine and our culture," Landrieu said. Anne Milling, a longtime member of the advisory board to The Times-Picayune, said an online-focused model wouldn't work in New Orleans. She said she and other supporters were exploring bringing in new owners committed to a daily paper, or even starting a new daily publication. "We always do things differently," she said. "It's part of our tradition: You wake up with a cup of chicory coffee and read the newspaper."

First Cup: Friday - TrueHoop Blog - ESPN

 

Greg Cote of The Miami Herald: This series was never about the easy storylines and ancillary noise. It wasn’t about what team was tougher or which was “soft.” Was never about who was flopping or who was more physical. Wasn’t even about the flagrant fouls, suspensions, trash talking or dripping blood. Peel away all that static and distill to the essence and this Heat-Pacers second-round playoff series was about what Thursday night’s deciding Game 6 here was about. Just this: Miami was better. Was all along, and showed it. Miami was the team missing major players Chris Bosh to an injury and Udonis Haslem to a suspension, and playing on the hostile road against an utterly desperate opponent — and still Miami was better. Why? Simple. No over-analysis needed. Miami was the team that had the best player in this series — the best player in the entire NBA. Except LeBron James isn’t always even the best player on his own team. Sometimes that is Dwyane Wade. This time, when it mattered most, it was Wade. Man, was it ever. Brilliantly, emphatically, it was Wade. “He was spectacular,” James said. Ethan J. Skolnick of the Palm Beach Post: It came after the ball left Mario Chalmers' hands, just before the buzzer. It came as the ball fell through the net, with Wade already sliding down the baseline, cocking his fist. Punching the air. That was the punch-out of the pugnacious Pacers, for all intents and purposes, putting the Heat ahead 10 on the way to a 105-93 victory. Indiana tightened it some in the fourth quarter, pulling within six with 2:28 remaining, before LeBron James drove in for an easy layup, then swept in for a much tougher one, then drained a 20-foot step back jumper. So, yes, James (28 points) did plenty in this close-out contest, one that advanced the Heat to the Eastern Conference finals for a second straight post-season - Miami will face the winner of Saturday's Game 7 between Boston and Philadelphia, starting Monday. But James ranked second on this night to No. 3, who entered and left the arena in hot pink pants. "They're just mad they can't pull this off," Wade said of getting mocked in the ESPN studios. And, no, the Pacers couldn't pull off an upset. Simply, they got too much Wade. Too much 2006 Finals Wade. Took much 2008-09 should-have-been-MVP Wade. Too much splitting of double teams, too much slithering through the smallest crevices, too much banking in shots while drawing fouls. Forty-one points, on 17-of-25 shooting. Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: The Pacers have nothing to hold their heads down about. Did they beat themselves on Thursday? Absolutely. You can’t turn the ball over 22 times and expect to beat a team as good as the Heat. That’s not going to happen. Still, Pacers fans should happy about the season.I constantly got asked this season about whatI thought about this year’s team talent wise, likeability, etc. Thursday wrapped up by ninth full season of covering the NBA. The 2011-12 Pacers are the second best team overall that I’ve covered, not that far behind the 2003-04 Minnesota Timberwolves. This Pacers team was seriously a team. There weren’t any cliques inside the locker room. Players hung out together off the court, often going to dinner on the road. As I made my way out of Bankers Life Fieldhouse at about 12:15 a.m. early Friday, I walked by the hallway that leads to the locker room and sitting outside of it was Paul George, Danny Granger and Dahntay Jones with their families. Nobody was in the rush to leave. They were laughing and joking. Jones said they were simply hanging out. This franchise is headed in the right direction. Of course they’ve got some work ahead of them to improve the roster if they expect to close the gap between them and the Heat. But that’s something to talk about down the road. For now, though, take pride in knowing that the Pacers are a franchise you should be proud of again. Ron Borges of the Boston Herald: Basketball is in many ways a simple game, and it doesn’t get any simpler than this for Kevin Garnett: Do you want to win the game or not? If you do, you won’t finish the night with fewer shots in the paint than a guy a foot shorter than you are. Certainly Rondo is someone who slashes to the basket. He is not a jump-shooting point guard. He most often scores, when he scores, by driving to the basket and creating both openings and chaos, but that doesn’t mean he belongs in the paint more often than Kevin Garnett. There is no question Garnett can hit the jump shot. The question is can his team beat the Philadelphia 76ers if he insists on obsessing over it? The answer, quite frankly, is probably no. So what’s a 6-11 guy supposed to do? That’s not up to Rajon Rondo or Doc Rivers to decide. It’s up to Kevin Garnett. Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News: Zero. Ofer. Nada. Those are numbers that hung around the neck of Boston Celtics center Kevin Garnett after the 76ers’ 82-75 series-tying win on Wednesday at the raucous Wells Fargo Center. Garnett scored 20 points and made nine field goals. But none of the points was scored from inside the lane, nor did any of his 20 attempts come from there. It was a concerted effort by the Sixers’ defense, orchestrated by coach Doug Collins and associate head coach Michael Curry. The plan was to have the big bodies, Spencer Hawes, Elton Brand and Lavoy Allen, push Garnett off the low blocks as much as possible. If he should get the ball there, double him and force him to throw it out to the non-shooters on the Celtics. In Wednesday’s win, the strategy worked. Garnett instead resolved to take his 6-11 frame to the perimeter, where getting offensive rebounds is impossible. ... When Garnett settles outside the lane, Boston’s offense looks like the Schuylkill Expressway at rush hour. With Paul Pierce looking for his shot and Ray Allen trying to run off picks for his and Rajon Rondo not driving because there is no one in the lane to dish to, the Sixers are in an ideal defensive position. Dan Duggan of the Boston Herald: On Tuesday, 76ers coach Doug Collins showed his young team footage of the 1982 Eastern Conference finals, complete with images of Celtics fans adorned in white sheets to represent the ghosts of Boston Garden. While many of the players had never seen anything like it, the image was all too familiar to Hall of Famer Julius Erving, who starred for the Sixers from 1976-87. The teams met in five playoff series during Erving’s career, with Philly prevailing three times. With the current editions of the Celtics and Sixers reviving the rivalry with Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals tomorrow at TD Garden, memories have come flooding back to Erving. “It brings back all the memories because it seemed like it always came down to that,” said Erving, who recently was hired by the team to serve as a part-time adviser. “At least probably seven of the 11 years I played here it was always who was coming out of the East, Boston or Philly?” The stakes aren’t quite as high with this matchup, but Erving sees traces of the old rivalry developing. “It’s different. These two are probably not the two best teams in the NBA right now, but of the six teams that are left, they’re still here and they’re still competing and they still want it,” Erving said. “They feel like, ‘I’ve got to take this one game at a time but my goal is to try to win a championship.’ ” Erving hasn’t decided if he’ll attend Game 7, but he knows what the atmosphere will be like. "It will be very intense,” Erving said. Bob Ford of The Philadelphia Inquirer: Since the team moved from Syracuse, the Sixers have been involved in a Game 7 a total of 11 times, winning five and losing six. On the road in Game 7, they are 1-5, with the lone win coming on a memorable afternoon in 1982 in the old Boston Garden when Andrew Toney scored 34 points in the conference championship game and the Celtics fans chanted "Beat L.A., Beat L.A." to the Sixers because they knew it would make them sound cool and classy and people would still talk about how cool and classy they were years later. The Sixers, alas, did not Beat L.A., but they did beat Bird, Parish, and McHale in that Game 7, which was pretty impressive. The second-generation Big Three that the Sixers will face Saturday don't present as daunting a task since they were never quite that big, and since they appear to be shrinking as the series continues. On the other hand, the Sixers don't seem to have an Andrew Toney on the roster, and if they win, it probably won't be by strangulation but with their preferred method of death-by-a-thousand-paper-cuts. So, those are the numbers and the history, and this is the point of the column where it is worth mentioning that it's all a load of hooey. If we have learned anything about the current Sixers - other than their general disdain for getting to the free-throw line or making free throws once there - it is that numbers mean nothing when it comes to this team. Nothing. Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News: Game 1 of the Western Conference finals will mark the first time Manu Ginobili has faced Oklahoma City this season. The oft-injured Spurs guard missed the first two meetings, Jan. 8 and Feb. 4, with a fractured left hand. Ginobili was inactive for the March 16 game for rest reasons. The Spurs went 2-1 against the Thunder without him. Ginobili believes his lack of court time against Oklahoma City could make a difference early in the series. “You don’t get a feel for how they guard you or what they do on pick-and-rolls and stuff,” Ginobili said. “The first game will be very important for me to understand what is going on.” Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: Kevin Durant has some advice for Thunder coach Scott Brooks. "One thing Scotty needs to do is just shut up,” Durant said. About the team's turnovers, that is. So far this postseason, Brooks' silence has been golden. According to guard Russell Westbrook, the Thunder was terrible at taking care of the ball when its coach harped on it during the regular season. But when Brooks piped down in the playoffs, Oklahoma City immediately enjoyed better ball security. Which explains why Durant playfully suggested for his coach to put a sock in it. “We'll probably be a better team,” Durant joked. Brooks is on board with his two All-Stars. “Usually, I don't agree with either of those guys much, but they're telling the truth. I haven't mentioned the turnovers at all,” Brooks said. “But I haven't mentioned it because we haven't turned it over. Trust me, if we're turning it over 25 times I'm on 'em and showing every clip and why we're turning it over because of bad spacing and so forth.” No need. Brooks hasn't had to play bad cop because the Thunder has had a turnover turnaround. After leading the league with 16.3 turnovers during the regular season, the Thunder now heads into the Western Conference Finals against San Antonio averaging a postseason-low 10.7 turnovers.

President Obama Accuses Mitt Romney of ‘Cow-Pie Distortion’ on Debt, Deficits

 

DES MOINES, Iowa –  On his first visit back to the Iowa state fairgrounds since the 2008 campaign, President Obama tonight used a grassroots rally to launch sharp new attacks against rival Mitt Romney over the debt and deficit and vigorously defend his own handling of the same. The venue holds symbolic value for Democrats because it was here, in August that Romney made his now-famous declaration that “corporations are people, my friend.” Obama thrust the Republican candidate’s unflattering moment front and center early on. “The worldview that Gov. Romney gained from his experience as a financial CEO explains something. It explains why the last time he visited these same fairgrounds, he famously declared ‘corporations are people,’” Obama said, drawing loud boos from the crowd of 2,500. “That’s what he said, that’s what he called them,” Obama added. “It also explains why, when a woman right here in Iowa shared a story of her financial struggles, he gave her an answer out of an economics textbook.  He said, ‘Our productivity equals our income.’  Let me tell you something: We believe in the profit motive. We believe that risk-takers and investors should be rewarded. That’s what makes our economy so dynamic. But we also believe that everybody should have opportunity.” Ahead of the event, Obama’s re-election campaign circulated a video of Romney’s Iowa State Fair remarks, all aimed at bolstering their claim that the former private equity executive was a wealth-seeker who put investors’ interests ahead of the middle class.   Several of the campaign’s major, multi-state TV ad buys – each of which have included Iowa – have touched on the same theme. Obama offered his most spirited attacks on Romney over his claims about the burgeoning federal debt and record-high deficits that have been incurred over the past three and a half years. “They’ve got the nerve to go around saying that they’re somehow going to bring down the deficit,” he said, referring to Romney’s budget blueprint. “Economists who’ve looked at his plan say it would swell our deficits by trillions of dollars, even with the drastic cuts he’s called for [on] things like education, agriculture and Medicaid. “He promises to do that on day one,” Obama added, referring to the new Romney TV ad by the same name.  “We don’t need that. That’s going backwards. We’re going forwards.”  “Forward” is Obama’s re-election campaign slogan. Romney, on his most recent visit to Des Moines earlier this month, argued that Obama has presided over a “prairie fire of debt,” and told voters, “Every day we fail to act we feed that fire with our own lack of resolve.” His campaign and the Republican National Committee have also stressed that during Obama’s first term, $5 trillion was added to the debt, which now exceeds $15.6 trillion. “A president who broke his promise to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term has no standing when it comes to fiscal responsibility. By the end of this year, President Obama will have presided over a record-shattering four consecutive trillion-dollar deficits and added an historic amount to our national debt,” said Romney spokesman Ryan Williams. “When you listen to President Obama’s campaign speeches, it’s as if he’s forgotten that he’s been president for nearly four years and has a record to defend. President Obama has proven beyond all doubt that he is not serious about fixing our country’s spending problem.” Offering a rebuttal tonight, Obama said that his administration has taken fiscal issues seriously, attributing high deficits to the “depth of the recession.” He said Romney’s claims were divorced from reality. “I know Gov. Romney came to Des Moines last week worried about a ‘prairie fire of debt.’ That’s what he said: ‘Prairie fire,’” Obama said. “But, you know, he left out some facts. His speech was more like a cow-pie distortion.” “I don’t know whose record he twisted the most, mine or his,” he added. Obama argued that the pace of federal government spending during his tenure has been the slowest of any president in 60 years. “By the way, it’s like the Republicans run up the tab and then we’re sitting there and they’ve left the restaurant,” he said. “Why did you order all those steaks and martinis?” The president said Romney’s budget – which includes new tax cuts for wealthier Americans – would not be the deficit slayer he claims it would be. “Oh, by the way, something else he hasn’t told you is how he’d pay for a new $5 trillion tax cut,” Obama said.  “That’s like trying to put out a prairie fire with some gasoline.” Obama claims his plan would cut the deficit by $4 trillion over 10 years through a combination of spending cuts and tax hikes. SHOWS: World News