Word of the People

A Reminder

2009-07-09T15:45:00.002-04:00

Coates reminds us of how dope the original Transformers movie was. It had Orson Wells, and it was alot less racist.

How hardcore was Starscream? Man he was ill.

Shiz Ain't Changing

2009-07-09T15:00:00.002-04:00

Maybe the problem in our political debate is "contrary-iness", but it's probably the just the commodification of ideas. Pundits, bloggers, journalists, and so on have to fill virtual pages to draw attention to themselves and they have to do it fast, and alot, so they have to come up with shit that's going to get hits and links. Whether or not that happens to be true or make sense doesn't matter, as long as people will read it, send it out to their buddies, or post it up on facebook.

I don't see this changing for at least...well for a long time.

PS: Irony of the day--blogger's spell check doesn't recognize the word "bloggers". And for some reason this really bugs me. I need a beer.

Sarah Palin as Jesus

2009-07-09T14:04:00.002-04:00

Publius, riffing on Benen, theorizes that GOP support for Palin is rising because they see their persecution in America through her:

"In a sense, she's Jesus -- she's standing in for them, and being crucified for being true to their cause. And so the media criticism (even though totally justified) will help her with this activist base, even if it destroys any chance she might have had to win a national election."

I've been fascinated with this persecution performance (or if you wish, outrage performance) phenomena since I wrote about the R. Kelly trial last semester. It's my feeling that this type of performance is growing in our culture, from Palin's resignation to Peter King's seemingly manufactured outrage at the coverage of MJ's death (Did MJ babysit his kid? Does he even have children?). What is it about our media that finds the performance of outrage or persecution more engaging than reality? Or is it that we can't tell the differance anymore? I don't really have an answer right now, but I think it's a question worth thinking about.

What a surprise...

2009-07-09T13:26:00.003-04:00

CIA caught lying:

Beyond Disgusting

2009-07-09T13:06:00.002-04:00

Turns out one of the people buried in the historic African-American cemetery that had been desecrated as part of a scheme to resell plots was Emmett Till. I'm not sure that his plot had been one of the ones that had been destroyed but, damn...just the thought of it...some people can't even find peace in death.

PS: This is pretty disturbing too.

The Flip Side?

2009-07-09T12:03:00.002-04:00

Watching CNN right now, and they're talking about Health Care reform. What's killing me is the way they're phrasing the question:

"Should we tax the rich to give health care to poor sick people?"

So what's the flip side? Like, are we really supposed to answer this? No, we shouldn't tax the rich to take care of poor sick people, we should let them die. F! 'em.

This is what passes for debate. Great.

Nonsense

2009-07-06T10:38:00.002-04:00

The title says it all. I was thinking about wasting time talking about her resignation but then I realize that if I did that then Sarah Palin would win. Anyway, AL shines a light on this farce here. Money quote (In response to Ross Douthat):

"This last line from Ross's column also bothers me:

'Sarah Palin is beloved by millions because her rise suggested, however temporarily, that the old American aphorism about how anyone can grow up to be president might actually be true.

"This is a ridiculous statement. If you want evidence that anyone can grow up to be president, how about looking at the current President. It's hard to imagine a more unlikely future president than the biracial son of a teenage mother in Hawaii who was given the name of his absentee Muslim father. But Obama did well in school, worked hard, impressed everyone he met with his intellect and managed to put himself in a position to become president."

Oh and maybe, just maybe, not anybody should become president? Hasn't Bush taught us anything?

Bloomberg Endorses Universal Health Care

2009-07-02T07:49:00.002-04:00

Agree or disagree with NY's emperor, er, I mean mayor, he does seem to stay ahead of the curve. From his op-ed in the NY Daily News:

"The public option in health care - which President Obama is supporting as a central part of his proposed reforms - grows out of the same idea. If you like the coverage you have, you keep it. But if you don't have coverage - or if you lose your coverage - you'd have another option. And virtually everyone agrees that a well-managed public option has real potential to provide - for less money - the same benefits that private insurers provide."

Bad Move

2009-07-01T12:55:00.003-04:00

The headline alone gives it away:

"US gives Somalia about 40 tons of arms, ammunition"

"WASHINGTON, June 26 (Reuters) - The U.S. government has provided about 40 tonnes of weapons and ammunition to Somalia's embattled government in the past six weeks to help it fight Islamist insurgents, a senior U.S. official said on Friday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the United States spent less than $10 million on what he described as small arms and ammunition as well as on payments to other nations to train Somali government forces."

This seems so familiar...where have I seen...oh yeah, now I remember!

And we all remember how well that one turned out for us. Ah well ,anything to get Phil Hoffman in a movie.

Pushing Hard for Health (Care)

2009-07-01T12:17:00.002-04:00

Alot of people have wondered why the Dems and Obama haven't used their political capital to push harder on health reform, and more particularly, reform that headlines universal coverage. Erza makes a great point here about the potential disaster that would be waiting for them if they did:

"Hacker and Rajkumar simply consider the policy consequences of a failed attempt at health reform. I think people should consider the political consequences of a failed attempt at health reform. People talk about Colin Powell's Pottery Barn Rule: If you break it, you own it. But there's a partner to that law: Call it the Plumber's Principle. If you hired a plumber to fix your toilet and a week later the problem returned, you'd stop trusting that plumber. If you say you've fixed it, in other words, you own that fix.

"If Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi muscle health reform through Congress, if President Barack Obama signs a bill in the Rose Garden and hands the pen to an ailing Sen. Ted Kennedy, if health reform, in other words, passes with fanfare and attention, Democrats own it. This will not be a quiet accomplishment. They will have told the American people that on this historic day, under this historic administration, they have begun to bend the curve and and tame the insurers and guarantee coverage and generally fix this huge problem that so many before have promised action on but so few have succeeded in tackling.

"And if, 10 years down the road, the plight of the middle class has worsened and cost growth hasn't slowed and the only real difference is that more tax dollars go towards low-income subsidies, Democrats will be blamed for that. Their arguments will have less credibility. Republicans will run ads about "the last time a Democrat told you he could reform American health care."

I think that's a concern that should be kept in mind, but I think a bigger concern for the Dems should be if they do nothing or, perhaps worse yet, manufacture some sort of tepid reform. Again the Obama administration should remember that they were installed to

a) do something...

i) unlike Bush

ii) progressive

Either our parties are going to be more concerned at maintaining power or concerned about improving our country. To do the latter requires doing something, and if it fails, well you have to accept the consequences or not run for office.

Frightening

2009-07-01T11:17:00.002-04:00

Let's hope this WashPo article is just wrong. AL gives his take here. Important quote:

"Whether or not we sympathize with some of the political difficulties the Obama administration faces, it is incumbent upon those of us who care about civil liberties and the rule of law to apply continuous and aggressive pressure on the Obama administration to do the right thing and to live up to the principles they claim to believe in. If there is no political pressure coming from the left on this issue, then the only pressure the administration will feel is demagoguery coming from the right."

I guess it just goes to show you how hard it is to close Pandora's Box.

And About That Movie...

2009-06-30T12:29:00.003-04:00

So far Transformers 2 has been the best summer movie this year. Yeah, I said it. I know, I know, inane plot, flat characters, dumb script, but it is the most fun I've had at the theaters since Dark Knight. I think part two is a far superior movie than they original. Most of all I have to give Michael Bay props for putting together some of the best visual action sequences ever. Say what you want about the man, but he really knows how to blow shit up.

And Megan Fox is really, really hot.

Talking Smack

2009-06-30T11:34:00.004-04:00

I would widen Coates' point here (Important: Please read the whole post to understand his context):

"With respect due, I am so heartily tired of reading certain white writers talk about what's wrong with us [Black people]. It's like watching a terminal cancer patient with, a few months to live, talk shit about another patient, with mere weeks."

I think one of the problems with our American debate is that we base our decisions and opinions on what hegemonic voices (ie. white males, but obviously can and does incorporate voices of other genders and races) tell us. My dad used to ask me, "Why is it that if I wanna know about Indians, or Africans, or black people or any colored people I have to ask a white guy or read a white guy's book?" Understand that my dad is 72 years old so he sees these things slightly different than we may. We may rightly say, well now we can read books on other cultures by people from those cultures, but in our mainstream media are those sources really getting through to us? Remember our march to war in Iraq? Wolfiwitz telling us that our troops would be met with roses and honey? Think maybe we could have gotten some better info if we asked an Iraqi? And I don't mean those dudes on the US payroll like Chalabi, but some less biased guys? We do have some in America you know?

You know why the Daily Show's coverage of Iran was so good? Because they went there and spoke to them.

Now we have a situation in Honduras--how much do you want to bet that on CNN and FOX and MSNBC we're going to have an influx of "experts" where most will not be Honduran, telling us what the Honderan people want? I recently taught a class with a Honduran woman who wrote a paper on the enviromental and social damage done to the Honduran people by the timber interests that are empowered by American and European companies. These timber companies have huge control within the government. Think that information will come out in our "weekly roundtables" as they tell us why Honduras doesn't have a stable and efficent democracy?

If we truly want to have a just and effective foriegn policy that protects American interests without alienating and offending indiginious populations we must give these populations voices to present their issues and then listen to their grivences with good faith.

PS: I do not mean, of course, that a person outside of a community cannot write on that community. If that was the case academics would cease, or would be incredibly hindered. But good scholarship means gathering as much first hand information as possible and then fleshing out arguments from that information. Much of what passes in the media for commentary doesn't seem to go through this process. Rather first hand information is either cherry picked, or is imagined. This is how we get people like Bush telling us that terrorists hate us "because of our freedom." Or, better yet, Ahmadinjad telling is that there are no gays in Iran.

On That BET Tribute to MJ

2009-06-30T11:22:00.001-04:00

Odeisel's got the scoop on what went wrong with it, and how reflects the overall degeneration of BET.

I'm Back

2009-06-30T10:51:00.003-04:00

My classes ended at the beginning of June, and since then I've been bumming around, but one can't just sit around smoking...stuff, drinking beer, reviewing magic cards, reading Tolstoy, jogging, and playing bad video games forever (unless you're one of the characters in this movie), while the world goes to shit.

In review--I think Obama's doing a good job, but not a great job, and while I think Maher is grilling the Prez a bit hard, his overall point, that there's really no left to our political debate, I think is correct. Maybe if there was these bailouts wouldn't be so out of control, universal health coverage would be the center piece in reform, and the Democrats wouldn't have replaced the GOP as the party of no ideas and more rhetoric than substance. We still have captives in Guantanamo who haven't been tried (and Obama claims they may never get a trial), we still have over 130,000 troops in Iraq, and unemployment is still rising.

And Michael Jackson died. Though this may not be the government's fault.

Obviously, it's still too early to judge how this administration is doing, but the tone, the flavor of the overall debate seems as stagnant and stale as the Coleman/ Franken election (I mean they're still fighting? Really?) or NY's legislative crisis (The Republicans lost--they need to get over it, hand over the reins to the Dems, and shut up. And no equivocation Gov. Paterson, you are not getting elected--ever--so try to leave office with at least one ball intact).

Obama was elected one the referendum of change, and while we know that change takes time, it also takes action and it takes determination, two traits seemingly missing from our debate. I think the people made it very clear what we want our leadership to do, and now its time for them to follow through.

Anyway, hope some of you are still out there. If not, then it's still good being home.

Now...

2008-11-05T02:44:00.002-05:00

You may call him President Barack Obama.

As in President of the United States of America.

President Obama.

President Barack.

President B.H. Obama.

Dude...is this like real?

PS: Here's a forecast for you. He's going to be the most awesome president ever.

PPS: You wanna know why? Because he's going to call on the most awesome team to back him up.

PPPS: Dude, do I need to tell you who that team is?

PPPPS: Did you vote?

PPPPPS: You did? Good.

PPPPPPS: Now look in the mirror. Is that you? It is?

PPPPPPPS: Well then, welcome to the party pal.

PPPPPPPPS: And yes, that includes you Cros :)

If You Read One Blog Today...

2008-11-04T14:34:00.002-05:00

Don't make it mine, make it Sully's. He's been posting up people's recollections of their voting experiences as history unravels. I'm man enough to admit that stories like this make me a bit weepy:

"Got up at 6:00am to vote. Put on my sweatshirt and my jeans that reek of Korean barbecue. I arrived at my polling place, a church, at 6:15. I counted. I was number 50 in line. We still had 45 minutes before the polling place opened. You had to stand. You coudn't sit or even lean against the building. It rained all night. The sidewalk was wet. When the polls opened...there were 200 people waiting. Some in heels. Some in ties. Some in pajamas. Lots of hair pulled back in ponytails. Lots of baseball caps. Dodgers. Red Sox. Indians.

"The line stretched from the church to the Burger King around the corner. Kinda fitting. That's America. Faith and french fries. I watched people walk out with their "I voted" stickers. You could see the smiles...and a few tears. An older woman got her ballot and told the poll worker..."I've voted my entire life, but this is what I have been waiting for.""

May God bless America. May God bless the world.

Election Day

2008-11-04T09:25:00.001-05:00

You know what do to.

Sarah Palin's New Job

2008-10-21T10:41:00.002-04:00

Cast member of SNL. Seriously, she's provided the funniest material they've had since Will Farrell left.

Hey, she'll need a job after Nov. 5th.

"No Racism Over Here!"

2008-10-17T09:42:00.002-04:00

This is an actual GOP flier. Words elude me, but I will tell you my first gut reaction was, "Hey, I miss that Kool-aid guy. OOOOH YEEEAHH!"

Then I was like, "Damn this is some racist shit."

The Last Debate

2008-10-17T09:39:00.001-04:00

Seriously, this is what it has come down to. How sad.

Hat Tip: Sully

NameBirdie

2008-09-18T08:44:00.003-04:00

When the Teethwife and I got married we found out what a hassle it was for my wife to change her name over to mine. I mean for us to gather all the paperwork, fill it out, pay the charges, and then ship them out to each individual bureau took alot of precious time out of our busy schedule.

Of course, as it always is, it turned out that a friend of mine developed a site called NameBirdie.com that, for a nominal fee, will allow you to download all the forms from one place and tell you where to send them. Plus it's 100% guaranteed. I don't know if anyone who reads my blog happens to be getting married, but if you are, or if you know someone who is, you REALLY need to head over to NameBirdie.com. Take it from me, name changing is something you don't want to go at alone. The time you'll save will let you do more important things--like reading my blog.

SNL Nails It

2008-09-15T10:45:00.003-04:00

I'll be the first to say that SNL has fallen off, but this is perfect:

Allow me to make one more point. I don't think there is a liberal around that doesn't have more respect for Hillary now than pre-Palin. Seeing what a sham Palin is really brings into focus how qualified and good a politician Hillary is. Frankly Palin's not fit to carry Hil's bra...

God I want to say something else but I won't.

Why I Haven't Been Posting Up Much

2008-09-15T09:55:00.002-04:00

The answer to the above question could be easily answered by saying that I've begun my PhD classes and that I've been incredibly busy. But that wouldn't be the full truth. The real reason I haven't been posting that much is that as a rational human being I don't have much time, or energy, or willpower to write about a what has increasingly become a candidacy of lies; or to be exact, McCain-Palin's candidacy of lies.

Let's be very clear and realistic about this: They are liars. Period. No equivocation. No ambiguity. They are liars in everything they say from claiming that Palin never supported the Bridge to Nowhere, to saying that she never asked for earmarks or McCain saying that the only piece of important legislation that Obama passed was teaching little children sex education. These are all lies.

Here's the video:

What's sicker? The McCain camp has even acknowledged that lying is their strategy:

“We recognize it’s not going to be 2000 again,” McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said, alluding to the media’s swooning coverage of McCain’s ill-fated crusade against then-Gov. George W. Bush and the GOP establishment. “But he lost then. We’re running a campaign to win. And we’re not too concerned about what the media filter tries to say about it.”

Got that? So, to 'win,' we're not concerned by what 'the media filter' (the truth) tries to say. And this is all supposed to sit well with the American public.

Not that the media has been doing much of a job recently. If they were they might as well switch their whole paradigm over to Factcheck.org. (Which probably wouldn't be a bad idea). I understand their need to handicap the race and keep it close, but at some point it wouldn't be a bad idea for us to put on our little patriotic hats and say, "hey, maybe this shit is bad for America." But for some reason we seem to have a problem calling out lies and liars. Even more frightening, we seem to have the hardest time doing so when these lies have the most disastrous results. Sure, the media had no problem calling Clinton a liar when he got caught with Monica, but why is it so hard to call Bush a liar when we found no WMDs, and books have been writing exclaiming the fact that our president knew that was the truth and yet still led us to war? Why?

It's one thing to debate the merits of a particular position when both sides have veracity, but to debate a lie is like masturbating with a vise grip. It's painful and probably won't get you anywhere. The only thing you can do with a lie is expose it and ostracize the liar.

The good news? The truth is out there and the American public, white, black, Latino and the thousand million others in between of all creeds and cultures are reaching their threshold for bullshit. As Sully writes:

"I still believe that the actual truth matters in the world. If propaganda could win in the end against truth, then Bush's approval ratings would be somewhere in the high 80s. They are in the lower 30s. In the end, the American people are not fools. And facts are facts."

You know, I'm going to vote for Obama because I think he's the best man for the job. I have never said that people should vote for him simply because he's a black man or a Democrat. But now I think I have found a simple reason to vote for him. You may disagree with his policies or philosophy, but in the end not only should you vote for him, you must vote for him because Obama in all his liberalness has argued with you honestly, earnestly and truthfully. Against an opponent who's modus operandi is deceit and lies you must, I repeat, must side with the candidate who has treated you in good faith. To reward McCain, a man filled with toxic cynicism, is to endanger and threaten our country, our planet and, perhaps more importantly, reason and truth, which are the building blocks of all human progression.

I Get Rebutted!

2008-09-10T20:08:00.002-04:00

Bill Starlin over at AllHipHop.com shouted me out. I think he didn't really respond to my post but you be the judge.