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I'm so hungry, I could
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Tuesday, October 23, 2007
No News?
Cal Thomas, a conservative columnist, aside from having the worst dye-job of any major syndicated writer, also routinely writes some of the lamest, chicken-hawk apologist drivel seen in major newspapers around the country. This week, however, he penned an almost lucid, only moderately paranoid and defensive opinion about the Lib'rul Media™. The gist of it was that things are going better, maybe even great in Iraq, and no one is really talking about it. The Democrats and the Lib'rul Media™ have picked a dangerous position, calling the war lost, and boy, are you pinko scum gonna pay now that things are so hunky-dory in Iraq.
And I suppose on scale, things have improved somewhat. American deaths seem to be down, suicide bombings are down to a Beirut/Saigon level of carnage, and I'm pretty sure any US Senator that wants to can still take a brigade of Marines and three helicopter gunships with him and stroll leisurely through a Baghdad market. Take that, Defeat-o-crats!
Thomas thinks that this means the tide of anti-Republican sentiment in this country will soon shift, Americans will return to blindly backing this war of choice, and we can get around to swearing in President Giuliani in 2009. Please, please, don't let him wear a dress to the ceremony...
But the media being what it is (Liberal? No. WHORES.), doesn't really like that whole "no news is good news" thing, nor should they. If things are going well in Iraq, then they will find something to focus on, perhaps something that has been utterly ignored since September 2001.
Domestic issues.
Relax, I'm not only talking about your illegal maid, Congressman. Let's keep talking about the president and Republican congressmen who have decided to make a partisan issue out of health care insurance for middle class children who currently lack coverage, and the right-wing attack on a 12 year-old boy who told his story. Let's talk about immigration. Let's talk more about the shift of wealth from the lower and middle classes to the super-rich, stagnating wages, skyrocketing energy prices, education reform, Scooter Libby, the Walter Reed Scandal, illegal wiretapping, Alberto Gonzalez or a hundred other truly important considerations as yet another election approaches.
By all means, the less the media focuses on the Iraq fiasco, the better I'll like it. Iraq barely makes my top five things that Bush has completely fouled up.
C'mon, newspeople. Cal Thomas is a feeble old man. Can't we grant him a last wish and spend a few minutes in each newscast talking about how great things are in Baghdad? You know, maybe after you ferret out the facts on some of these other issues, if you have the time.
And the balls.
Labels: Bush, Cal Thomas, immigration, Iraq, Libby, partisanship, the media
posted at 7:04 PM
0 comments
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Fun with local news
I am poring over the internet a few days ago, when I stumble across a news story on a local TV news website about pets being attacked by raccoons someplace. The story was certainly compelling enough, but what I really enjoyed about it was how unbelievably poorly it was written. I'd link it from here, but it has been corrected, I suspect, because of a letter I emailed to the guy whose name and photo were at the top of the page.
I should add, that I set my account to show sender as "The Late Ed Murrow." And we're off!
Sent: Tue 9/4/2007 8:59 PM
To: {redacted}
Subject: Gotta ask
Did you read this before you stuck your name on it? Because I'd swear it was written by a graduate from an ESL program. Leave it up, though, it's very funny.
Be well,
{redacted}
A couple of days later, this lands in my in box:
--- "{redacted}"
Thanks for bringing that to my attention. No, I did not read it before my "name was attached". Since you're such a journalism expert you should know--we report the story and then the web editors take our stories and transcribe them. Writing for TV doesn't always translate to writing for print. I know. I used to write for The Los Angeles Times.
But I'm glad you received so much joy in pointing it out and so much esteem that you would call yourself the "late ed murrow".
My guess is, his time in LA was not spent proofing Miss Manners column. So I reply:
Sorry for the delay, my snark filter was temporarily overwhelmed.
You may be surprised to learn that I am not a media expert. And apparently, you would also be utterly astounded to find that most people who look at the news on your website are not, either. It is your name at the top of the article, and us poor, dumb hicks out here on the interwebs are not sophisticated enough to know that it is your editors making you appear foolish, and not sheer laziness on your part, or worse. Perhaps you ought to put the bit about working at the LA Times in your station bio, which would put the "print journalist slumming" into perspective for us, the great unwashed.
But credit where credit is due: Your rebuke of me was top notch, although I would have preferred to see you use a comma to combine the last two sentences in the first paragraph. Alas, none of us is perfect, and I'm sure it was your editor's fault, anyway.
Best of luck!
{redacted}
I strongly suspect that we are not done here. I will post updates as warranted, and stay tuned, because at 11, I will blog which common household item is a ticking time bomb, waiting to kill you all.
posted at 8:46 PM
0 comments
Friday, June 15, 2007
Paul Krugman owes me a dollar
Paul Krugman is a columnist for The New York Times, an economist, and one hell of a smart guy. During the run-up to the fiasco in Iraq, he was really the only voice saying that there was a lot of BS flying around, and many of the things that he predicted have come to pass. He took a lot of crap for it, and probably still does, for the high crime of noticing that the emperor wears no clothes. I'm a fan.
But now he's ripping me off.
In his column today, Krugman elaborates on a subject that I wrote about over three years ago. Now, since this is important, and his readership is slightly higher, I'm content to let this go. But honestly, acknowledging me would have been the decent thing to do. Or at least get me a gig at The Times.
Keep railing away, Paul. I'm just happy to help.
Labels: Paul Krugman, the media, The New York Times
posted at 7:31 AM
0 comments
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Paris Captured
Boy, life sure is crazy sometimes. One minute, you're skating out of jail for some mansion arrest with your Tiffany ankle monitor strapped to your leg, the next, you're being carried out of court, kicking and screaming.
And what's really crazy is that I can honestly say Paris Hilton is being treated unfairly.
The LA County Sheriff let Paris out of jail for a couple of reasons:
She didn't really like jail very much.
She was being mentally stressed by the incarceration.
As far as those two factors go, tough shit. I'm actually pleased by both of those things, because I'm not a very nice person. But there was another explanation, too.
LA County jails are overburdened, to no one's surprise. The sheriff concluded that a person with Hilton's record would reasonably be one of the first released in order to clear space for more dangerous criminals. He also suspected that if her name was Shmaris Shmilton, she'd never have even seen the inside of a cell.
So, he let her out, and sent her home with conditions. Confinement to the home, no false eyelashes exceeding two inches in length, etc.
As you've read here, I was not pleased.
And as you're reading here now, I still really don't give a damn that she has to go back to jail, even though as the law goes, she's being treated differently.
Now, being treated differently is something that people like Paris have gotten used to, and they wouldn't have it any other way. Usually, this treatment results in what we might call privileges. This time, it's to her detriment.
And as I looked at the photos of her screaming and crying, I was not really moved, even though as I've said, she's not being treated fairly.
But you know what? She understands something now that she never understood before. She understands what real fear is. She understands that a bad bottle of Cristal is not an actual tragedy. She is beginning to see that sometimes the bills don't always go to the accountant. She has begun to understand what life is like in a world where no one is there to protect you, and you have to clean up your own messes. This experience will be a revelation for Paris Hilton.
But it will pass. I assure you, nothing good will come of this. So enjoy it while you can, if you get a kick out of seeing an heiress forced to eat hot dogs. I'm not too proud to admit that I will.
And what's really crazy is that I can honestly say Paris Hilton is being treated unfairly.
The LA County Sheriff let Paris out of jail for a couple of reasons:
She didn't really like jail very much.
She was being mentally stressed by the incarceration.
As far as those two factors go, tough shit. I'm actually pleased by both of those things, because I'm not a very nice person. But there was another explanation, too.
LA County jails are overburdened, to no one's surprise. The sheriff concluded that a person with Hilton's record would reasonably be one of the first released in order to clear space for more dangerous criminals. He also suspected that if her name was Shmaris Shmilton, she'd never have even seen the inside of a cell.
So, he let her out, and sent her home with conditions. Confinement to the home, no false eyelashes exceeding two inches in length, etc.
As you've read here, I was not pleased.
And as you're reading here now, I still really don't give a damn that she has to go back to jail, even though as the law goes, she's being treated differently.
Now, being treated differently is something that people like Paris have gotten used to, and they wouldn't have it any other way. Usually, this treatment results in what we might call privileges. This time, it's to her detriment.
And as I looked at the photos of her screaming and crying, I was not really moved, even though as I've said, she's not being treated fairly.
But you know what? She understands something now that she never understood before. She understands what real fear is. She understands that a bad bottle of Cristal is not an actual tragedy. She is beginning to see that sometimes the bills don't always go to the accountant. She has begun to understand what life is like in a world where no one is there to protect you, and you have to clean up your own messes. This experience will be a revelation for Paris Hilton.
But it will pass. I assure you, nothing good will come of this. So enjoy it while you can, if you get a kick out of seeing an heiress forced to eat hot dogs. I'm not too proud to admit that I will.
Labels: Paris Hilton, reality, the media
posted at 12:06 AM
0 comments
Monday, April 30, 2007
Look Who's Back
It seems that no one can stay away from the lure of the spotlight. Some people are famous for a little while, and then they drop off the radar. Not everyone can have a fifty-year career, like Peter O'Toole or Sean Connery. Although, judging by the cited examples, you ought to be from the UK if you crave longevity.
Bob Barker. I needed an American in there.
Someone once said that politics is show business for ugly people, and I wish it had been me. It's a great line, made all the greater by the truth of it. Like show business, most people in it don't stick around in politics for too long, which I attribute to the vast temptations of scandal that come with power. Of course, lots of people wield power without ever being elected, and those people are the best proof of the addictive nature of power.
Over the past twelve months, many retired generals have come forward to speak of their reservations about the war. Those on the left, especially before last year's midterm elections, were thrilled to have unimpeachable military figures speaking out against the war and the Bush administration's miserable inability to run it.
I was less thrilled.
Oh, sure, there was some relief in hearing that people in the know were saying what so many of us had suspected for a few years. But with so many dead and wounded over that period, saying "I told you so" was inappropriate, and furthermore, useless.
I wanted to know why these military leaders, the ones who have spent their lives training for war, fighting in wars, teaching and studying tactics for combat, why these people stood by while giddy dilettantes who shirked their duty during Vietnam, allowed the finest military in the world to be used in such a haphazard and pointless way.
And said nothing.
If even one highly-ranked military official had said, while still in Iraq, that the plan was flawed, that there was no apparent strategy, that American men and women were sacrificing so much in a conflict that we had no business fighting in, perhaps a meaningful dialogue could have started sooner. Saying the Titanic isn't unsinkable after you're already been rescued is meaningless.
Yes, you would have never been promoted again. Yes, you would have been removed from your command. And yeah, the Bush administration would have destroyed your reputation, as they value loyalty to the president over that to the soldiers, the country and especially the truth.
Which brings me to the new book by former CIA director, George Tenet.
The balls on me, to go after a Presidential Medal of Freedom winner.
Tenet is best remembered for his exclamation about the "fact" that Saddam Hussein has WMD. He called it a "slam dunk."
Four years later in his book, he claims that what he meant was that in regard to making a case that the public would believe, well, that was a slam dunk.
Like that's better somehow.
Tenet, in his recollection, was just a hapless guy who meant well, but got swept away in the feverish march to war by Neocons drunk on power. He was the head of the god damned Central Intelligence Agency, and knew the truth, but no one would listen to him.
And like these suddenly concerned retired generals, Tenet has found his voice. Too late, by several years, and thousands of lives.
If George Tenet had resigned and stated why in late 2002 or early 2003, the press might have found its collective balls, and done some actual investigative work that could have uncovered all of the lies and dissembling that the administration had been doing since September 11, 2001. But he didn't. Power and the limelight are tough to walk away from.
Not for everyone, though.
There is a man named John Brady Kiesling, a lifelong diplomat who was working for the State Department under Colin Powell during the run-up to war. In spite of the fact that he knew he was effectively ending his twenty-year career, he concluded his resignation letter to General Powell with the following paragraph:
"I am resigning because I have tried and failed to reconcile my conscience with my ability to represent the current U.S. administration. I have confidence that our democratic process is ultimately self-correcting, and hope that in a small way I can contribute from outside to shaping policies that better serve the security and prosperity of the American people and the world we share."
Was that so hard?
Actually, I'm sure it was. Keeping your mouth shut so you can stay with the team is relatively simple. Telling the President of the United States and his alleged brain trust of sycophants that they are taking this country down the path to a costly, quagmiric foreign policy nightmare is hard. I suppose that's why so few people bothered to do it.
George Tenet has found his voice, and just in time to sell a few books. I heartily encourage you to ignore it.
Bob Barker. I needed an American in there.
Someone once said that politics is show business for ugly people, and I wish it had been me. It's a great line, made all the greater by the truth of it. Like show business, most people in it don't stick around in politics for too long, which I attribute to the vast temptations of scandal that come with power. Of course, lots of people wield power without ever being elected, and those people are the best proof of the addictive nature of power.
Over the past twelve months, many retired generals have come forward to speak of their reservations about the war. Those on the left, especially before last year's midterm elections, were thrilled to have unimpeachable military figures speaking out against the war and the Bush administration's miserable inability to run it.
I was less thrilled.
Oh, sure, there was some relief in hearing that people in the know were saying what so many of us had suspected for a few years. But with so many dead and wounded over that period, saying "I told you so" was inappropriate, and furthermore, useless.
I wanted to know why these military leaders, the ones who have spent their lives training for war, fighting in wars, teaching and studying tactics for combat, why these people stood by while giddy dilettantes who shirked their duty during Vietnam, allowed the finest military in the world to be used in such a haphazard and pointless way.
And said nothing.
If even one highly-ranked military official had said, while still in Iraq, that the plan was flawed, that there was no apparent strategy, that American men and women were sacrificing so much in a conflict that we had no business fighting in, perhaps a meaningful dialogue could have started sooner. Saying the Titanic isn't unsinkable after you're already been rescued is meaningless.
Yes, you would have never been promoted again. Yes, you would have been removed from your command. And yeah, the Bush administration would have destroyed your reputation, as they value loyalty to the president over that to the soldiers, the country and especially the truth.
Which brings me to the new book by former CIA director, George Tenet.
The balls on me, to go after a Presidential Medal of Freedom winner.
Tenet is best remembered for his exclamation about the "fact" that Saddam Hussein has WMD. He called it a "slam dunk."
Four years later in his book, he claims that what he meant was that in regard to making a case that the public would believe, well, that was a slam dunk.
Like that's better somehow.
Tenet, in his recollection, was just a hapless guy who meant well, but got swept away in the feverish march to war by Neocons drunk on power. He was the head of the god damned Central Intelligence Agency, and knew the truth, but no one would listen to him.
And like these suddenly concerned retired generals, Tenet has found his voice. Too late, by several years, and thousands of lives.
If George Tenet had resigned and stated why in late 2002 or early 2003, the press might have found its collective balls, and done some actual investigative work that could have uncovered all of the lies and dissembling that the administration had been doing since September 11, 2001. But he didn't. Power and the limelight are tough to walk away from.
Not for everyone, though.
There is a man named John Brady Kiesling, a lifelong diplomat who was working for the State Department under Colin Powell during the run-up to war. In spite of the fact that he knew he was effectively ending his twenty-year career, he concluded his resignation letter to General Powell with the following paragraph:
"I am resigning because I have tried and failed to reconcile my conscience with my ability to represent the current U.S. administration. I have confidence that our democratic process is ultimately self-correcting, and hope that in a small way I can contribute from outside to shaping policies that better serve the security and prosperity of the American people and the world we share."
Was that so hard?
Actually, I'm sure it was. Keeping your mouth shut so you can stay with the team is relatively simple. Telling the President of the United States and his alleged brain trust of sycophants that they are taking this country down the path to a costly, quagmiric foreign policy nightmare is hard. I suppose that's why so few people bothered to do it.
George Tenet has found his voice, and just in time to sell a few books. I heartily encourage you to ignore it.
Labels: 9/11, Bush, hypocrisy, Iraq, Tenet, the media
posted at 12:18 AM
0 comments
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Right again, jackass
CBS fired Don Imus this afternoon.
"Free at last! Free at last! Thank God almighty, we are free at last!"
Great days are ahead, my friends, now that racism is over. Frankly, I'd be surprised if the Shiites and Sunnis didn't throw down their arms, get together, and sign a peace treaty with Israel.
Yes, anything is possible, now that Don Imus has been fired.
I have set my alarm for 5am tomorrow morning, in eager anticipation of seeing the sun rise in the west. If racism can be so easily overcome, then the other laws of nature should be toppling as well.
Perhaps GM and Toyota, in a burst of good feeling, will finally unveil the vehicle which will end our dependence on fossil fuels. Why shouldn't they? There is nothing holding any of us back from being the best we can be, now that Don Imus has been fired.
This is what it's all about. This is the Utopian future we have dreamed of.
"Free at last! Free at last! Thank God almighty, we are free at last!"
Great days are ahead, my friends, now that racism is over. Frankly, I'd be surprised if the Shiites and Sunnis didn't throw down their arms, get together, and sign a peace treaty with Israel.
Yes, anything is possible, now that Don Imus has been fired.
I have set my alarm for 5am tomorrow morning, in eager anticipation of seeing the sun rise in the west. If racism can be so easily overcome, then the other laws of nature should be toppling as well.
Perhaps GM and Toyota, in a burst of good feeling, will finally unveil the vehicle which will end our dependence on fossil fuels. Why shouldn't they? There is nothing holding any of us back from being the best we can be, now that Don Imus has been fired.
This is what it's all about. This is the Utopian future we have dreamed of.
Labels: censorship, civil liberties, Don Imus, hypocrisy, irony, the media
posted at 2:35 PM
2 comments
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Imus
The most recent development in the story is that MSNBC, which televises Imus' morning show live weekday mornings, has gone beyond its initial two-week suspension, and has decided to dump the show from its lineup.
All of this is due to the reaction after Imus' comments last week about the Rutgers women's basketball team. By now, we've all been blasted again and again with someone or other recounting the phrase "nappy-headed hos." I think that this phrase is going to become a cultural touchstone for years to come, sort of like "You are the weakest link," "Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Willis?" and "You forgot Poland."
When I first heard the clip, my reaction was that Imus had said something stupid and offensive, and it came off as a lame attempt at humor. Imus has certainly been in these waters before, although in his career, he has a had a lot more good moments than bad, and I don't say this as a fan of the show. I like some of his interviews with politicians and others, but by and large, I find it a bit dry. Imus is very good at what he does, it's just not for everybody.
I wasn't really offended by what he said, although I'll admit I was actually shocked to hear his producer, Bernard McGuirk, use the word "jigaboos." That's some old-school racist verbiage, there. Interestingly, in the non-stop feeding frenzy since then, I've heard no one on television repeat this part of the conversation. Now, they may be sparing our delicate sensibilities, but if "nappy-headed hos" is so awful, then I suppose it shouldn't be repeated ad nauseum, either.
Jigaboos. Christ.
I thought about that word, and was fairly sure I hadn't heard it since college, and that was in a history class.
African-American studies, if you must know.
Again, I was surprised when I heard it last week, and it started me thinking about the word. I suppose the be-all end-all of racist slurs is "nigger." That is just one of those things you say when you're pretty sure that you're ready to be punched in the face. It's not a word that I use, or even think of to use, to be honest. I understand the weight of it, and the baggage it carries. It's a shocking thing, and it ought to be. Unfortunately, it isn't anymore. I know I can turn on the radio in any city in America, and maybe anywhere in the world, and if I have the right station on, I will hear that word and many others like it in no time at all. And to be honest, it doesn't shock me in the least when I hear it.
Have I become desensitized to it? Has it lost its power through the constant use in certain musical circles? And is that a good thing somehow?
That's a separate topic, and besides, Imus didn't say "nigger." He didn't say "jigaboo" either. He called the women "nappy-headed hos."
And in a medium where Rush Limbaugh can refer to Barack Obama as a "Halfrican-American" and Neal Boortz can opine that a black US Congresswoman from Georgia looks like a "ghetto slut," it's hard to understand why Imus is in so much hot water.
It was a stupid attempt to make fun at their expense. Did they deserve it? No. Do most people who get skewered by deejays, pundits, talk show hosts and late-night comedians deserve it? All of them? Probably not.
But like the Bat signal from the Batman TV show (I suppose it could have been any brown mammal, in retrospect), the usual suspects have raced to the front of the fray, and they have been there often enough to remember to bring their own microphones.
The Revs, Jesse and Al.
I have spoken about Jesse Jackson before. This man was in the shit during the civil rights movement in the US in the 60s. This guy marched, protested, and put his life at risk time and time again to further the cause. He was standing with MLK on that damned balcony in Memphis when the doctor was assassinated. He was a legitimate candidate for president in 1988, and has a lot of good to his credit, more than me, and more than most.
Since '88? Not a hell of a lot. He tends to show up at places where racism or the old-boy network may be impacting maybe eight people. Wasting time protesting Major League Baseball for not having enough black employees in the front offices is a misuse of effort. Defending Michael Jackson as he faces child molestation charges destroys your credibility. You may have noticed that black males are dying at one another's hands in obscene numbers, and too many of the ones that live end up in prison.
And frankly, after you refer to New York City as "Hymie Town," you don't get to call anyone a bigot anymore. Sorry, that's just how it goes.
Sharpton, on the other hand, started badly, coming on the national scene as the point man in the Tawana Brawley fraud, but since then has gotten his hair together, dumped the velvet warm-up suits and gold medallions, become respectable, and a man of consequence in political circles by speaking the truth. In the 2004 campaign, he was the only candidate who seemed to be speaking English at the debates. I like Al.
But he cannot resist the lure of the big takedown, be it Michael Richards, or Don Imus. I don't recall seeing him or Jesse hovering around the Mel Gibson circus, but I suppose they may have been busy that week.
This gets into what Bill Maher has aptly referred to as "fake outrage." I couldn't possibly put it any better than that.
You know who doesn't get to be outraged by what Imus said? Anyone who owns a 2Pac or 50 Cent CD. You've heard black women degraded, and danced along to it. You need to shut the fuck up.
It's not absolutely relevant to the issue, but I would like to know if any of the women on the Rutgers team had even heard of Don Imus before last week. I would also like to know if any of them had anything on their individual iPods that could be considered offensive in the same way as Imus' remarks.
And if so, do you hear it differently now? I hope so, I really do.
I feel bad for these women. They didn't deserve this. They play a game at a world-class level, they are students at a good school, and not one of them probably ever dreamed she'd be famous for something like this. If they have injured feelings, I am sorry for that.
But hurting your feelings is not a criminal offense.
This is nothing less than a free speech issue. Don Imus can say anything he wants, this is America. If the Klan gets permits to have a rally in the park because they meet all the conditions in order to obtain them, then the Klan gets to march. I can choose to not listen to Imus, or not attend the rally if I desire. I can call the President of the United States a sonofabitch, and there's not one thing anyone can do about it. My friends might shun me, and I may get kicked out of the NRA, but that's part of the equation. Free speech has consequences.
Imus may lose his audience, his sponsors may pull their ad budgets, and CBS Radio may decide after those things happen that he's no longer a commodity worth keeping. If they can him then, it's a business decision, and that's how it ought to be.
Firing Imus because he went over the line and hurt someone's feelings is cowardice.
If I was a betting man, I'd wager that CBS will cave, just as NBC did, and send Donny off to his ranch. No one has any balls anymore, and it's better to put out a mediocre product than to occasionally stir up controversy. They fired Dan Rather over those memos about Bush's AWOL time during Vietnam, even though everything that was in these faked memos was 100% true.
CBS. The Tiffany Network. What a joke.
Tiffany. That sounds like a nappy-headed ho's name, but that's just my opinion.
All of this is due to the reaction after Imus' comments last week about the Rutgers women's basketball team. By now, we've all been blasted again and again with someone or other recounting the phrase "nappy-headed hos." I think that this phrase is going to become a cultural touchstone for years to come, sort of like "You are the weakest link," "Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Willis?" and "You forgot Poland."
When I first heard the clip, my reaction was that Imus had said something stupid and offensive, and it came off as a lame attempt at humor. Imus has certainly been in these waters before, although in his career, he has a had a lot more good moments than bad, and I don't say this as a fan of the show. I like some of his interviews with politicians and others, but by and large, I find it a bit dry. Imus is very good at what he does, it's just not for everybody.
I wasn't really offended by what he said, although I'll admit I was actually shocked to hear his producer, Bernard McGuirk, use the word "jigaboos." That's some old-school racist verbiage, there. Interestingly, in the non-stop feeding frenzy since then, I've heard no one on television repeat this part of the conversation. Now, they may be sparing our delicate sensibilities, but if "nappy-headed hos" is so awful, then I suppose it shouldn't be repeated ad nauseum, either.
Jigaboos. Christ.
I thought about that word, and was fairly sure I hadn't heard it since college, and that was in a history class.
African-American studies, if you must know.
Again, I was surprised when I heard it last week, and it started me thinking about the word. I suppose the be-all end-all of racist slurs is "nigger." That is just one of those things you say when you're pretty sure that you're ready to be punched in the face. It's not a word that I use, or even think of to use, to be honest. I understand the weight of it, and the baggage it carries. It's a shocking thing, and it ought to be. Unfortunately, it isn't anymore. I know I can turn on the radio in any city in America, and maybe anywhere in the world, and if I have the right station on, I will hear that word and many others like it in no time at all. And to be honest, it doesn't shock me in the least when I hear it.
Have I become desensitized to it? Has it lost its power through the constant use in certain musical circles? And is that a good thing somehow?
That's a separate topic, and besides, Imus didn't say "nigger." He didn't say "jigaboo" either. He called the women "nappy-headed hos."
And in a medium where Rush Limbaugh can refer to Barack Obama as a "Halfrican-American" and Neal Boortz can opine that a black US Congresswoman from Georgia looks like a "ghetto slut," it's hard to understand why Imus is in so much hot water.
It was a stupid attempt to make fun at their expense. Did they deserve it? No. Do most people who get skewered by deejays, pundits, talk show hosts and late-night comedians deserve it? All of them? Probably not.
But like the Bat signal from the Batman TV show (I suppose it could have been any brown mammal, in retrospect), the usual suspects have raced to the front of the fray, and they have been there often enough to remember to bring their own microphones.
The Revs, Jesse and Al.
I have spoken about Jesse Jackson before. This man was in the shit during the civil rights movement in the US in the 60s. This guy marched, protested, and put his life at risk time and time again to further the cause. He was standing with MLK on that damned balcony in Memphis when the doctor was assassinated. He was a legitimate candidate for president in 1988, and has a lot of good to his credit, more than me, and more than most.
Since '88? Not a hell of a lot. He tends to show up at places where racism or the old-boy network may be impacting maybe eight people. Wasting time protesting Major League Baseball for not having enough black employees in the front offices is a misuse of effort. Defending Michael Jackson as he faces child molestation charges destroys your credibility. You may have noticed that black males are dying at one another's hands in obscene numbers, and too many of the ones that live end up in prison.
And frankly, after you refer to New York City as "Hymie Town," you don't get to call anyone a bigot anymore. Sorry, that's just how it goes.
Sharpton, on the other hand, started badly, coming on the national scene as the point man in the Tawana Brawley fraud, but since then has gotten his hair together, dumped the velvet warm-up suits and gold medallions, become respectable, and a man of consequence in political circles by speaking the truth. In the 2004 campaign, he was the only candidate who seemed to be speaking English at the debates. I like Al.
But he cannot resist the lure of the big takedown, be it Michael Richards, or Don Imus. I don't recall seeing him or Jesse hovering around the Mel Gibson circus, but I suppose they may have been busy that week.
This gets into what Bill Maher has aptly referred to as "fake outrage." I couldn't possibly put it any better than that.
You know who doesn't get to be outraged by what Imus said? Anyone who owns a 2Pac or 50 Cent CD. You've heard black women degraded, and danced along to it. You need to shut the fuck up.
It's not absolutely relevant to the issue, but I would like to know if any of the women on the Rutgers team had even heard of Don Imus before last week. I would also like to know if any of them had anything on their individual iPods that could be considered offensive in the same way as Imus' remarks.
And if so, do you hear it differently now? I hope so, I really do.
I feel bad for these women. They didn't deserve this. They play a game at a world-class level, they are students at a good school, and not one of them probably ever dreamed she'd be famous for something like this. If they have injured feelings, I am sorry for that.
But hurting your feelings is not a criminal offense.
This is nothing less than a free speech issue. Don Imus can say anything he wants, this is America. If the Klan gets permits to have a rally in the park because they meet all the conditions in order to obtain them, then the Klan gets to march. I can choose to not listen to Imus, or not attend the rally if I desire. I can call the President of the United States a sonofabitch, and there's not one thing anyone can do about it. My friends might shun me, and I may get kicked out of the NRA, but that's part of the equation. Free speech has consequences.
Imus may lose his audience, his sponsors may pull their ad budgets, and CBS Radio may decide after those things happen that he's no longer a commodity worth keeping. If they can him then, it's a business decision, and that's how it ought to be.
Firing Imus because he went over the line and hurt someone's feelings is cowardice.
If I was a betting man, I'd wager that CBS will cave, just as NBC did, and send Donny off to his ranch. No one has any balls anymore, and it's better to put out a mediocre product than to occasionally stir up controversy. They fired Dan Rather over those memos about Bush's AWOL time during Vietnam, even though everything that was in these faked memos was 100% true.
CBS. The Tiffany Network. What a joke.
Tiffany. That sounds like a nappy-headed ho's name, but that's just my opinion.
Labels: America, censorship, civil liberties, Don Imus, free speech, hypocrisy, Jesse Jackson, the media, victim
posted at 11:42 PM
0 comments
Saturday, January 07, 2006
The War on Happy New Year
Something insidious is at work, and I didn't really even notice it at first. The new year is a week old, and I've written checks for various things, as we all do. Incredibly, not once have I written "2005" in the date slot. This is unprecedented with me, and perhaps with all check-writing humans. Why am I so acutely aware that it's 2006? How could I have adapted so quickly?
I went about my business, not giving it a lot of thought, and likely giving myself far too much credit for being oh-so-smart. I do that sometimes.
But as I was finishing up at work yesterday, I was wrapping up a phone call, and the person on the other end concluded the call by saying, "Happy 2006!"
The phrase echoed through my mind, like a really bad simile. "Happy 2006." Yes, it's 2006. I had heard this phrase a lot in the previous days, and it occurred to me that I had heard it around the start of previous years.
"Happy 2005!"
"Happy 2004!"
You get the idea.
And out of the blue, it hit me: This was a war on Happy New Year.
America is falling apart, we're at war, real wages are down, 45 million people don't have health insurance, and the multi-culti, neo-hippie liberal godless scum were waging a PC war on the start of the year. The blood ran cold through my veins.
I called a number at random, and when the person answered, I yelled, "Happy New Year!" The man at the other end screamed at me and slammed down the phone. "Maybe I just accidentally called the president of the local ACLU," I thought. I kept calling random numbers, hour after hour, until three or four in the morning, and the response was the same, or worse.
"It's 2006! We know! What is wrong with you?"
The media had done a nearly flawless job of brainwashing regular Americans with this "Happy 2006" blasphemy. There can be no other explanation for the continued, and increasingly hostile responses I have received as I continue to scream "Happy New Year!" while walking around the neighborhood or visiting local elder care facilities.
This is far too important to just give in to PC thugs, and I vow to continue greeting friends and strangers alike with gleeful shouts of "Happy New Year!" well into the summer months. Howard Dean and Hillary Clinton are not going to rob this American of another joyous celebration.
If you don't like it, move to France.
I went about my business, not giving it a lot of thought, and likely giving myself far too much credit for being oh-so-smart. I do that sometimes.
But as I was finishing up at work yesterday, I was wrapping up a phone call, and the person on the other end concluded the call by saying, "Happy 2006!"
The phrase echoed through my mind, like a really bad simile. "Happy 2006." Yes, it's 2006. I had heard this phrase a lot in the previous days, and it occurred to me that I had heard it around the start of previous years.
"Happy 2005!"
"Happy 2004!"
You get the idea.
And out of the blue, it hit me: This was a war on Happy New Year.
America is falling apart, we're at war, real wages are down, 45 million people don't have health insurance, and the multi-culti, neo-hippie liberal godless scum were waging a PC war on the start of the year. The blood ran cold through my veins.
I called a number at random, and when the person answered, I yelled, "Happy New Year!" The man at the other end screamed at me and slammed down the phone. "Maybe I just accidentally called the president of the local ACLU," I thought. I kept calling random numbers, hour after hour, until three or four in the morning, and the response was the same, or worse.
"It's 2006! We know! What is wrong with you?"
The media had done a nearly flawless job of brainwashing regular Americans with this "Happy 2006" blasphemy. There can be no other explanation for the continued, and increasingly hostile responses I have received as I continue to scream "Happy New Year!" while walking around the neighborhood or visiting local elder care facilities.
This is far too important to just give in to PC thugs, and I vow to continue greeting friends and strangers alike with gleeful shouts of "Happy New Year!" well into the summer months. Howard Dean and Hillary Clinton are not going to rob this American of another joyous celebration.
If you don't like it, move to France.
posted at 8:44 PM
1 comments
Sunday, July 17, 2005
What was I talking about?
Oh, yeah. Karl Rove.
Because I want to be informed, I read the paper each day. The Rove/treason story has gone from Page 1, to page 6, to page 10, to gone. No one cares. It's still being covered somewhat, because the press finally has a story worth it's time. But people just don't care. The President is "a good Christian man," and if Rove is his friend, then all of this must be untrue.
The latest, of course, is that Rove got Valerie Plame's name from columnist Robert Novak. The tried and true "blame the press" gambit, which in this day and age, never seems to fail. The press is so damned liberal, what with your Limbaughs, Hannitys, O'Reillys, and the literally hundreds of unimaginative local wannabees spewing half-truths over the airwaves. Aside from Air America, my guess is, you don't have a liberal talker on the air where you live. The liberal press is such a myth, it's the Willie Horton, the Silent Majority, the McCarthy list of our age.
The biggest irony, of course is, that the same working class Americans who deride the liberal, godless media, are the same people who make wholesome shows like I Want To Marry Millionaire, Banging The Boss, and I Fellated A Midget runaway successes. People bitch about the media, but for the wrong reasons. They complain that it is undermining the morals of our country, and maybe it is. All the media ever does is give us exactly what we want. We should be complaining about the lapdog approach that the press takes toward a criminal administration being run by an incompetent president, and his treasonous advisers.
"I would, but there's something good on."
I'm watching the Rove thing fade away. It's not gone yet, but it will play out as I have written previously. You get what you deserve. Choke on it.
Labels: bastardry, Karl Rove, partisanship, the media, treason, Valerie Plame
posted at 1:13 PM
0 comments
Sunday, December 05, 2004
Death Penalty
I can't lie to you, I like it in a lot of ways. And I understand why many people do, to be honest. It goes along with the whole Biblical "eye for an eye" thing. And it's very satisfying! Vengeance tends to be, after all.
But, as anyone even barely familiar with statistics knows, it just doesn't work. People don't avoid capital crimes because they fear the death penalty. Oh, sure, they get a little scared and remorseful just before Old Sparky gets fired up, but that doesn't mean a thing. Frankly, it's the anal rape in prison that keeps me on the right side of the law. I'd have killed most of you by now if I thought I could get away with it.
But pronouncements like that are not the way to increase readership and drive up ratings, so here's a nice Christina Aguilera song for you as we kick off another 40 minute Free Ride!
I'm sure I've just violated any number of copyrights and patents, but I'm not going to get into why the media suck right now. I will, but I don't have the energy right now. There are so many factors, and I really don't want to be exhausted when I decide to really lay it down.
Labels: death penalty, the media
posted at 2:57 AM
0 comments
Saturday, October 16, 2004
It has come to this
We watch the news and the Sunday morning yak fests, and we see the same people saying the same things over and over. Guys like Tim Russert and Chris Matthews are on the upper end of these shows, but really, all of the most pointed political commentary these days comes from people best known as stand-up comedians. Specifically, I refer to Bill Maher and his excellent Real Time With Bill Maher show on HBO, and certainly, Jon Stewart of Comedy Central's The Daily Show. These guys are smart, speak bluntly, and have no interest in keeping the big ball of polit-speak crap rolling.
But today's appearance by Jon Stewart on CNN's Crossfire may be some of the greatest political commentary and live television in history.
Link goes to the video: Click here, dammit.
It's 13+ minutes, but it is utterly beautiful to watch. Enjoy.
Labels: the media
posted at 2:47 AM