Sunday, October 26, 2008

Whaaasup? 2008 ...TRUE



Back in the late 90s, director Charles Stone put together a short film called "TRUE," in which several characters sat around talking on the phone and yelling out "Whaaasup!" Picked up by Anheuser-Bush in 1999, the short became a commercial for Budweiser beer in which Stone and several of his childhood friends brought black and hip hop lingo (T R U E) to the mainstream. Long after it became annoyingly copied and overused, it remained embedded in popular American culture.

Today, Charles Stone has returned with a sequel released on Youtube called "Whaaasup 2008." Unrelated at all to beer, the short film recounts what's happened since 1999 under the Bush administration, and makes a rather blatant endorsement for a certain Democratic Presidential candidate. Nothing like a little politics in between "Any Given Sunday." And while it's as hilarious as the original, there's also a sad and chilling "spot on" aspect to its commentary that definitely makes you want to say...

TRUE.

Read More...

Friday, October 24, 2008

Crying Wolf



The now infamous photo of Ashley Todd, proven to be a hoax



It was Thursday when I got an email about a woman who claimed she had been mugged and mutilated by a supporter of Barack Obama. Ashley Todd, a 20-year-old white campaign worker of John McCain, alleged that late Thursday night she was attacked by a 6'4" black male who robbed her in front of a bank ATM in the Bloomfield neighborhood of Pittsburg. According to Todd, the politically astute attacker, upon seeing a McCain-Palin sticker on her car, became so enraged he punched her in the back of the head, knocked her to the ground and then proceeded to carve the letter "B" (an allusion to Sen. Barack Obama) into her face with a dull knife.

The story was shocking, sensational and threatened to perhaps upend the presidential campaign. Except for one problem. Turns out as of this afternoon, the alleged victim has confessed that her story was a complete HOAX.

Read More...

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

F is For Failure- The Tragic Comedy of the Bush Doctrine



Although Sarah Palin may not know what the Bush Doctrine is, the rest of us who have watched the growth of American Empire are well aware. While the current junta in the White House didn't originate this era of American exceptionalism, they have taken the US down a road of unchecked militarism that has threatened to cause even further global instability. Wrapped up in ideologies long voiced in such groups as the Project for a New American Century, the neoconservative underpinnings of the Bush Doctrine's notion of pre-emption have been as doomed as the costly adventure in Iraq.

Tom Engelhardt over at TomDispatch has written an illuminating piece called "F is for Failure," describing the follies of the Bush Doctrine--a strategic policy that has not only been ruinous, but that has ironically brought about precisely what it claimed it was attempting to prevent.

A brief bit of the article and a link are provided below.

You can also listen to it discussed by Tom here.

Read More...

Friday, October 17, 2008

The Black McCains



This week, the Wall Street Journal featured a piece that should remind many of how interconnected we are by race and the legacy that America's "original sin" has wrought. WSJ's Douglas Blackmon interviewed Charles McCain Jr. and his sister Mary McCain Fluker. The two share a name and a legacy of the GOP presidential candidate--they are descendants of slaves held at the Mississippi plantation owned by the family of Sen. John McCain's great-great-grandfather.

Read More...

Thursday, October 9, 2008

That One




When Sen. John McCain angrily referred to Sen. Barack Obama as "that one" during the last presidential debate, something in me twitched. At a past employ, I recall a colleague (a white male) who used the phrase often. Though he never directed it at me, he would always call others (most often women and people of color) "that one" when he was joking or voicing a complaint. I never knew why, but it irked me to hear him say it. Then John McCain used it and almost immediately my phone buzzed with a text message from my sister. It read:

"That One" = boy?

Read More...

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

S M E A R C A S T I N G




Today the good people at FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting) released an expose on the spread of Islamophobia in the news media. Aptly defined as "Smearcasting," the report profiles 12 of the leading pundits and media figures who engage in bigotry, fear-mongering and misinformation in order to gin up anti-Muslim sentiment amongst their viewers and listenership. Among the most flagrant offenders are FOX News talk show hosts Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity, talk radio's Michael Savage, CNN's Glenn Beck, along with right-wing activists Michelle Malkin, Daniel Pipes and David Horowitz.

As noted in a press release by the media watchdog group, the document "describes a loose network of right-wing, anti-Muslim partisans who regularly use innuendo, questionable sources of information and even lies to smear, and effectively marginalize, Muslim Americans in the media."

The full reprt can be downloaded in a PDF form here.

Excerpts from the press release are highlighted below:

This report takes a fresh look at Islamophobia and its perpetrators in today's media. We found prominent right-wing pundits and activists using misinformation and innuendo to broadcast hate against an entire community -- in this case, Muslims -- and major media have either fallen asleep at the wheel or, in many cases, have actively helped to spread the smears.--Steve Rendall, senior analyst at FAIR.


These Muslim-bashing attacks have a real impact, not only on Muslims in America but on our civil discourse. We're in the middle of a historic election in which Islamophobia has already played a role, and I don't think we've seen the last of the dirty tricks and the smearcasting. Media need to step up and do their job of separating fact from innuendo, and they should distinguish the impartial experts from the smearcasters.--Steve Rendall, senior analyst at FAIR.


The report features case studies of the impact of smearcasting including:

Right-wing pundit Daniel Pipes led a successful campaign to oust the principal of a secular Arabic-language New York City public school by initiating a media-driven pressure campaign. The principal's history of forging inter-faith and inter-ethnic alliances was ignored as the campaign branded her a "stealth Islamist," and media pressure eventually forced her to resign.


Conservative columnist and Internet activist Michelle Malkin pressured Dunkin' Donuts into dropping an ad featuring celebrity chef Rachael Ray wearing a black-and-white scarf -- which Malkin falsely identified as a keffiyeh, calling it a symbol of "murderous Palestinian jihad."


To download a copy of the report visit:

http://www.smearcasting.com/pdf/FAIR_Smearcasting_Final.pdf

Read More...

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Biden V Palin- SNL, Polls & News Analysis




Queen Latifah as Gwen Ifil, Tina Fey as Sarah Palin and Jason Sudeikis as Joe Biden.

You know it's getting to where, I hardly need to write a blog anymore.

Thanks SNL

"For her part, GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin – speaking with the programmed cadence of a GPS navigation system — used forced folksiness to deliver crammed material in the manner of a high schooler looking to score a good grade on a Spanish test. The kid may escape with a B-minus, but he wouldn't be able to order a cup of coffee in Spain a week later." --Douglas Burns, Iowa Independent

More feedback on the debate below.

Read More...

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Putin Rears His Head II !




What's up with these silly tv pundits going on about this, "since Palin held her own" tonight it means the debate was a tie? Who came up with that ridiculous narrative? Ah yes of course, I forget, the McCain campaign. So that's the qualifications now for the executive branch--just "hold your own?" Are these guys for real? Is she running for VP or the manager at a local Baskin Robbins?

Now because Palin didn't beging mumbling incoherently, this means all her old gaffes now disappear? Because she put on a "folksy" show of winks and quips like "youbetcha!" this suddenly means she has a "command of the facts?" She's supposedly reinvented herself and we just let bygones be bygones--no more jokes allowed?

In what wack ass rule book is that a fact?

No way! Those moose in the headlight moments on her Gibson and Couric interviews will ALWAYS be funny--yesterday, now, tommorrow and forever!

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

The Reality of Everyday Racism



From The Daily Show, Sept. 29th.

So watch the video first, then read below:

Read More...