24: Jack. Is. BACK!!!!!!
Whoa....
Boondocks (The Television Show):
I heard excerpts of it on a talk station this morning.
All I have to say is:
1. Thank goodness I have TIVO.
2. DAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAYYY
YYYYYYYYY
YYYYYUUUU
UUUUUUUUUUM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMM
I go to bed last night and the news is reporting that one miner is dead with the fate of the others unknown.
I wake up and I hear that all miners except for one is dead. Then I hear a woman saying that orginally, they were all lived except for one and that they found out the truth hours later. This woman is now saying she's going to sue someone.
WTF?!?!?!?!??!?!
Your "loved one" has just been confirmed to have been killed in a mine accident and the first thing you think of is to sue someone?
Then I get home and my wife is livid because it's being reported that they were all in church praying when an "outsider" came in and said they were all alive except for one person. The people in the church start cheering. Then the pastor of the church asks people to pray for the family of the dead person, and very few people came up to pray for that family. The, later....
Right now I'm doing something dangerous, and that's writing when I don't have all of the facts. That's the blame being put on the media by the standard media critics, but I have to say if a rumor that the people are alive is going around, it's not a surprise that the media will report it, especially in this age of media competition. But they should have tried to fact check.
The media screwed up.
In the Baltimore area, a columnist for The Baltimore Sun resigned because "he had used sentences and paragraphs from other newspapers in some of his columns without attribution."
So another white newspaper person resigns because of suspect reporting/sourcing. What does this say about white newspaper writers?
I guess affirmative action is to blame.
Monday Night Football leaving the "over the air" channels and going to ESPN is the death of an era.
Sad.
"That flag has always represented, number one, treason and, number two, a separation of white people from Jews, niggers and homosexuals. And you can't change that. You can't tell me I'm never going to be able to look at that flag and think, ‘Ah, it's my heritage, my, you know...’ Never,” says Freeman.
Al Jazeera said that, if true, the story would raise serious doubts about the U.S. administration's version of previous incidents involving the station's journalists and offices. In 2001, the station's Kabul office was hit by U.S. bombs and in 2003 Al Jazeera reporter Tareq Ayyoub was killed in a U.S. strike on its Baghdad office.
The United States has denied deliberately targeting the station.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said: "We are not interested in dignifying something so outlandish and inconceivable with a response."
Richard Norton-Taylor and Michael White
Thursday November 24, 2005
The Guardian
Fears that fresh revelations about disputes between Tony Blair and George Bush on the Iraq conflict could damage Downing Street's intimate relationship with the White House prompted this week's unprecedented threat by the attorney general to use the Official Secrets Act against national newspapers.
Senior MPs, Whitehall officials and lawyers were agreed yesterday that Lord Goldsmith had "read the riot act" to the media because of political embarrassment caused by a sensitive leak of face-to-face exchanges between the prime minister and the US president in the White House in April 2004. He acted after the Daily Mirror said a memo recorded a threat by Mr Bush to take "military action" against the Arabic TV station al-Jazeera. Mr Blair replied that that would cause a big problem, reported the Mirror. David Keogh, a former Cabinet Office official, has been charged under the secrets act with sending the memo on the Blair-Bush conversation to Leo O 'Connor, researcher to the former Labour MP Tony Clarke. Mr Keogh and Mr O'Connor will appear before Bow Street magistrates next week.
The meeting between Mr Bush and Mr Blair took place at a time when Whitehall officials, intelligence officers, and British military commanders were expressing outrage at the scale of the US assault on the Iraqi city of Falluja, in which up to 1,000 civilians are feared to have died. Pictures of the attack shown on al-Jazeera had infuriated US generals. The government was also arguing with Washington about the number of extra British troops to be sent to Iraq at a time when it was feared they would be endangered by what a separately leaked Foreign Office memo called "heavy-handed" US military tactics.
There were UK anxieties that US bombing in civilian areas in Falluja would unite Sunnis and Shias against British forces. The criticism came not only from anti-war MPs, but from Mr Blair's most senior military, diplomatic, and intelligence advisers. When Mr Blair met Mr Bush in Washington, military advisers were urging the prime minister to send extra forces only on British terms. General Sir Mike Jackson, the head of the army, said while British troops had to fight with the Americans, "that does not mean we must be able to fight as the Americans".
Andrew Nicol QC, a media law expert, said he was unaware of any case going to trial where a newspaper or journalist had been prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act. He said Lord Goldsmith appeared to be trying to "put down a marker" to prevent further leaks or publication of further disclosures from the document already allegedly leaked.
Last night the former defence minister Peter Kilfoyle tabled a Commons motion saying Mr Blair should publish the record of his discussion with Mr Bush.
Downing Street stressed that the decision to take action was "entirely up to the attorney general" and was intended to "draw a line in the sand" on further leaks.
Miller Lite is the real "Pimp Juice".
When you got Flava Flav in a beer commerical, hawking your swill, you are DA PIMP!
The show had 1 maybe 2 funny spots. I expected more "ha ha".
The satire/political commentary was in your face and showed no
ingenuity. To me, the best satire is subtle or so over the top it's
just shows how stupid the situation is; think George Carlin.
That's how I read the Boondocks comic strip. It hits you in 3 or 4 panels.
*BAM*
Right in the gonads.
I think the restraint and limited space does well to make McGruder hit it.
With the cartoon, he has less restraint and about 21 minutes to get
his points over. That may be too much. He gets 2 more looks for me, if it doesn't get better, that's it.
Check out this article.
I'll take a bit from the article. I'll take it as is. Please note what was written, and when things are quoted.
Delegate Salima Siler Marriott, a black Baltimore Democrat, said Mr. Steele invites comparisons to a slave who loves his cruel master or a cookie that is black on the outside and white inside because his conservative political philosophy is, in her view, anti-black.
"Because he is a conservative, he is different than most public blacks, and he is different than most people in our community," she said. "His politics are not in the best interest of the masses of black people."
There is a problem with this. I just heard her on a talk show and she said she didn't say what is in the first paragraph. She did say what is in the second paragraph, thus the direct quote is accurate.
She gave her opinion, and that opinion can be questioned.
The talk show host was livid about this article, and based on what he was saying, I got mad as well, until I went to the article itself. Then I realized he was taking things out of context and getting things flat out wrong.
For example, he said that Mfume supported the idea of going after Steele for being a Republican. Well, Mfume is never directly quoted. Only Mfume's spokesman is quoted.
In fact, this is what Mfume's spokesman said:
"There is a difference between pointing out the obvious and calling someone names," said a campaign spokesman for Kweisi Mfume, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate and former president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
...
"The facts are the facts. Ehrlich went to that country club, and Steele said it didn't bother him," Mr. Trippi said. "I think that says something ... and should be part of this debate."
This article is a race baiting hachet job.
And I'll say it again: When Black Dems attack Black Dems as sellouts, is it news like this?
Update
From the article:
State Sen. Lisa A. Gladden, a black Baltimore Democrat, said she does not expect her party to pull any punches, including racial jabs at Mr. Steele, in the race to replace retiring Democratic U.S. Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes.
"Party trumps race, especially on the national level," she said. "If you are bold enough to run, you have to take whatever the voters are going to give you. It's democracy, perhaps at its worse, but it is democracy."
Lisa Gladden called into a radio program. She said the quote of the 2nd paragraph is accurate. She said she did not say the what was in the first paragraph. Note there are no direct quotes in that paragraph.
Update 2 Mfume called in and denounced it.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/10/24/D8DECEP00.html
Study: Most Katrina Victims Were Older
Oct 24 7:36 AM US/EasternBy JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN
Associated Press WriterNEW ORLEANS
A majority of people killed by Hurricane Katrina were older residents unable or unwilling to evacuate in the rising floodwaters, according to a study of almost half the bodies recovered in Louisiana.
About 60 percent of the nearly 500 victims identified so far were age 61 or older, the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals reported.
"The elderly were much more likely to be in hospitals and nursing homes as well as possibly homebound and not able to access transportation in order to evacuate from the storm," said agency spokesman Bob Johannessen.
I don't like doing this, but:
in·fer·ence
1 a the act of passing from one proposition, statement, or judgment
considered as true to another whose truth is believed to follow from
that of the former
im·ply
2 : to involve or indicate by inference, association, or necessary
consequence rather than by direct statement
When I heard Bill Bennet's comments, I heard them in full context.
My take on the matter was to think that if all Black babies were
aborted, some fraction of those Black babies would turn to crime. I
never assumed the statement meant ALL Black babies would become
criminals. And, statistically speaking, I'm right. In fact, most won't be criminals. But for those that would turn to crime, since they wouldn't be around, the crime rate would have to go down.
The same applies if Bennett used whites instead of Blacks or if he said male babies only or if he said if we somehow removed all males between the age of 15-30.
In looking at the responses to Bennett's remarks, there seems to be a
strong thought that states Bennett meant all Black babies aborted
would have been criminals. No where do I see that in Bennett's remarks.
However, going further, it seems to me that Bennett's comments are not what's making the racists feel comfort, it's the replies that confirm the idea that most Blacks are criminals.
Maybe I've missed it, but the fact that most Blacks are NOT criminals, is being lost, to me, with the knee jerk reactions.
That's what is giving comfort to the racists.
OK, now Eugene Robinson writes this about the media and revisionism.
I witnessed this warp-speed process in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. I got there five days after the deluge, when the story, as the whole world understood it, was one of "Mad Max" depravity and violence. Hoodlums were raping and pillaging, I just "knew" -- even shooting at rescue helicopters trying to take hospital patients to safety. So it was a surprise when I rolled into the center of the city, with all my foreign-correspondent antennae bristling, and found the place as quiet as a tomb.
The next day I drove into the French Quarter and was struck by how pristine St. Louis Cathedral looked, almost like the castle at Disney World. I got out of the car and walked around the whole area, and I wrote in my notebook that except for the absence of tourists, it could have been just an ordinary Sunday morning in the Big Easy. Then I got back into the car, and on the radio a caller was breathlessly reporting that, as she spoke, a group of policemen were "pinned down" by snipers at the cathedral.
I was right there; nobody was sniping at anybody.
Ummm...
So, let me get this straight. The snipper "incident" made national news, he was there an knew it didn't happen, yet there was no article in the Post about it? Nor did Robinson write a column about it before now!?!?!?!?!?!?
And HE talks about revisionism?
Knee.Grow.PLEASE!!!!
Watch who gets dogged.
Will it be the functionally illiterate single mother, whose family has a high incidence of illiteracy, who was raped when she was 15 and then became wild, she says, because of a loss of self esteem because she was raped?
Or, will it be the drug addict mother, whose family took her child away from her because she was an addict, who, when placed in a dire situation, offered meth to a criminal?
Who? Me a cynic?
Allegedly an AP news item, but it had no links and I couldn't verify it (the Kanye and Pepsi around the world promotion is still playing at pepsi.com) but hey, like the MSM's coverage of black folks in New Orleans, sometimes you gotta break some eggs in order to make up some news;
Kanye West, former spokesperson for Pepsi, has since lost his endorsement deal with the soft drink giant due to his publicized remarks regarding the mishandling of the Katrina evacuees/victims.
The rest of the note enclosed calls for a boycott of Pepsi products. Other than the Quaker Oats, I don't see any non-expendable health food items being peddled by Pepsi.
I mean if you're like me...just SICK and TIRED of being black in America and being mishandled, then do something. Our parents and their parent's SHUT DOWN an entire bus system during the Civil Rights era by CHOOSING to do something.
Here is your opportunity.
We're calling a boycott on ALL Pepsi products. If they want to drop
Kanye, how about we DROP them! And as much as we love a good Pepsi and
a bag of Fritos, we should NOT buy another Pepsi including any of
their family products (see link below) until a formal apology is given
and a donation is rendered to the Red Cross (or a similar organization) in the sum of the amount of Kanye's contract with Pepsi.
If you're committed to doing something to tell not just Pepsi but the
world (including the Associated Press for that racist caption) that
there is power in the Black community, then pass this along. Because
there's POWER in numbers.
Ethiopian Proverb:
"When the webs of the spider UNITE, they can trap a LION."
We Can Do This!
Pepsi Products:
Pepsi/Frito Lay/Gatorade/Tropicana/Quaker/Brisk Ice Tea See a list of
products by clicking here:
Black-Partisan Republicans, to distinguish them from Black Republicans and despised Black Conservatives, sometimes have to take one for the Republican team. Though they know better, both morally and intellectually, because of the fact that black folk remain hyperdependant on middle-eastern petroleum too, somebody has to suck it up and act hard in support of the republic's incredibly imaginative just-so-stories spun in support of the discretionary quagmire that thuggery has wrought.
One wonders to what lengths the republic will have to go in order to hold together the fragile jingoistic fig leaf covering over the terror of the situation? In light of yesterday's revelation by Reuter's Chief in the Guardian;
Reuters has told the US government that American forces' conduct towards journalists in Iraq is "spiralling out of control" and preventing full coverage of the war reaching the public.
The detention and accidental shootings of journalists is limiting how journalists can operate, wrote David Schlesinger, the Reuters global managing editor, in a letter to Senator John Warner, head of the armed services committee.
The Reuters news service chief referred to "a long parade of disturbing incidents whereby professional journalists have been killed, wrongfully detained, and/or illegally abused by US forces in Iraq".
Mr Schlesinger urged the senator to raise the concerns with Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who is due to testify to the committee this Thursday.
He asked Mr Warner to demand that Mr Rumsfeld resolve these issues "in a way that best balances the legitimate security interests of the US forces in Iraq and the equally legitimate rights of journalists in conflict zones under international law".
At least 66 journalists and media workers, most of them Iraqis, have been killed in the country since March 2003.
US forces admitted killing three Reuters journalists, most recently soundman Waleed Khaled, who was shot by American soldiers on August 28 while on assignment in Baghdad. But the military said the soldiers were justified in opening fire. Reuters believes a fourth journalist working for the agency, who died in Ramadi last year, was killed by a US sniper.
'A serious chilling effect on the media'
"The worsening situation for professional journalists in Iraq directly limits journalists' abilities to do their jobs and, more importantly, creates a serious chilling effect on the media overall," Mr Schlesinger wrote.
"By limiting the ability of the media to fully and independently cover the events in Iraq, the US forces are unduly preventing US citizens from receiving information ... and undermining the very freedoms the US says it is seeking to foster every day that it commits US lives and US dollars."
Mr Schlesinger said the US military had refused to conduct independent and transparent investigations into the deaths of the Reuters journalists, relying instead on inquiries by officers from the units responsible, who had exonerated their soldiers.
He noted that the US military had failed to implement recommendations by its own inquiry into the death of award-winning Palestinian cameraman Mazen Dana, who was shot dead while filming outside Abu Ghraib prison in August 2003.
He said that Reuters and other reputable international news organisations were concerned by the "sizeable and rapidly increasing number of journalists detained by US forces".
He said detentions were prompted by legitimate journalistic activity such as possessing photographs and video of insurgents, which US soldiers assumed showed sympathy with the insurgency.
Earlier this week Reuters demanded the release of a freelance Iraqi cameraman after a secret tribunal ordered that he be detained indefinitely.
Samir Mohammed Noor, a freelance cameraman working for Reuters, was arrested by Iraqi troops at his home in the northern town of Tal Afar four months ago.
A US military spokesman has told the agency that a secret hearing held last week had found him to be "an imperative threat to the coalition forces and the security of Iraq".
The news agency has demanded that he be released or given a chance to defend himself in open court.
The US network CBS has raised concerns over the arrest of its cameraman, Abdul Amir Younes, who was arrested in hospital in April after he was shot by US troops.
CBS said it is concerned that he had no legal representation at the hearing and has had no chance to see the evidence against him.
· To contact the MediaGuardian newsdesk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 7239 9857
· If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".
Journalists in danger
30.08.2005: Press groups demand release of Iraqi cameraman
26.08.2005: No special treatment for journalists in Iraq, says US
20.05.2005: I never said US tried to kill reporters, says ex-CNN boss
03.05.2005: Journalist death toll worst since 1955
28.04.2005: Captive journalists may still be alive
27.04.2005: Kidnappers threaten to execute Romanians
08.04.2005: CBS cameraman shot by US troops
29.03.2005: Romanian journalists kidnapped in Iraq
07.03.2005: Italian hostage accuses US
18.02.2005: Journalist group calls US to account over Iraq
16.02.2005: Kidnapped journalist makes video plea for freedom
04.02.2005: Italian reporter kidnapped in Iraq
09.02.2005: Journalist killed with son in Iraq
04.05.2004: Media death toll highest for a decade
27.08.2004: Media war toll rises
18.01.2005: Do more to protect journalists, governments told
18.01.2005: Journalists' killers 'not being brought to justice'
International News Safety Institute
Julia Day
Wednesday September 28, 2005
Subtitle: The Media Dropped a Big, Warm, Steaming Load in America's Living Room When Covering Katrina
When he media reported on the "violence" that happened in New Orleans after Katrina, the levee breaks, and the resulting floods, they reported a lot of things that were "sensational".
Now that things have calmed down a bit, the reality of some of those "sensational" reports is starting to come out.
(I received this link in e-mail).
Rumors of deaths greatly exaggerated
Widely reported attacks false or unsubstantiated
6 bodies found at Dome; 4 at Convention Center
By Brian Thevenot
and Gordon Russell
Staff writers
After five days managing near-riots, medical horrors and unspeakable living conditions inside the Superdome, Louisiana National Guard Col. Thomas Beron prepared to hand over the dead to representatives of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Following days of internationally reported killings, rapes and gang violence inside the Dome, the doctor from FEMA - Beron doesn't remember his name - came prepared for a grisly scene: He brought a refrigerated 18-wheeler and three doctors to process bodies.
"I've got a report of 200 bodies in the Dome," Beron recalls the doctor saying.
The real total was six, Beron said.
Of those, four died of natural causes, one overdosed and another jumped to his death in an apparent suicide, said Beron, who personally oversaw the turning over of bodies from a Dome freezer, where they lay atop melting bags of ice. State health department officials in charge of body recovery put the official death count at the Dome at 10, but Beron said the other four bodies were found in the street near the Dome, not inside it. Both sources said no one had been killed inside.
At the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, just four bodies were recovered, despites reports of corpses piled inside the building. Only one of the dead appeared to have been slain, said health and law enforcement officials.
...
"I think 99 percent of it is bulls---," said Sgt. 1st Class Jason Lachney, who played a key role in security and humanitarian work inside the Dome. "Don't get me wrong, bad things happened, but I didn't see any killing and raping and cutting of throats or anything. ... Ninety-nine percent of the people in the Dome were very well-behaved."
...
"I had the impression that at least 40 or 50 murders had occurred at the two sites," he said. "It's unfortunate we saw these kinds of stories saying crime had taken place on a massive scale when that wasn't the case. And they (national media outlets) have done nothing to follow up on any of these cases, they just accepted what people (on the street) told them. ... It's not consistent with the highest standards of journalism."
Earlier on, I started to question what was being reported.
The first questioning of reporting that I saw, was done from the The Guardian.
Murder and rape - fact or fiction?
Gary Younge in Baton Rouge
Tuesday September 6, 2005
The Guardian
There were two babies who had their throats slit. The seven-year-old
girl who was raped and murdered in the Superdome. And the corpses laid
out amid the excrement in the convention centre.
In a week filled with dreadful scenes of desperation and anger from
New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina some stories stood out.
But as time goes on many remain unsubstantiated and may yet prove to
be apocryphal.
New Orleans police have been unable to confirm the tale of the raped
child, or indeed any of the reports of rapes, in the Superdome and
convention centre.
Adding to that, you have some conservative pundits saying that Katrina exposed "the failure of the welfare state." Meanwhile, what seemed to get lost in the events were some very basic facts:
Addressing the "learned helplessness" because of "the failure of the welfare state", let me quote from the first article again:
"We're not prisoners of war - y'all are treating us like evacuees and
detainees!" he recalled one of them shouting.
But many others sought to quiet such voices. On the deck outside the
Dome on Sept. 1, the day before buses arrived, preachers took it upon
themselves to lead the agitated crowd in prayer and song.
"Everybody needs to help the soldiers," Baldwin recalled one of them
saying. "We're all family here."
About 15 others joined the medical operation, as people collapsed from heat and exhaustion every few minutes, Baldwin said.
"Some of these guys look like thugs, with pants hanging down around
their asses," he said. "But they were working their asses off,
grabbing litters and running with people to the (New Orleans) Arena"
next door, which housed the medical operation.
And, to close this out, for now, re-read this first hand account.
What I hope to have done was to show how the media was irresponsible in the coverage of Katrina. The 24 hour news cycle did a large disservice to the people of New Orleans, Mississippi, and other affected Gulf States.
The media gave a portrait of people that was wrong, and I must say, racist. They showed the "poor Blacks" but didn't show the "poor whites". This story became a "poor Black" story instead of an affected people story.
Yet again, the media chose to portray the Blacks in the area as poor, lawless, and out of control. And it wasn't just the "liberal" media who did it. It was the "conservative" media as well.
When I have time, I'm going to do more on the media and Katrina, addressing it more from the race angle.
Do you remember seeing news film coverage of the Civil Rights battles where a white man is telling a reporter that they wouldn't have any race problems if the media weren't involved?
Well, after viewing the media irresponsibility at work during Katrina, I think I have some understanding of that point of view.
More later.
On the road and I'm tired, but I have to ask this again:
If you don't trust the media because you think they are biased and/or get the story wrong on purpose, why do you think the media got the story RIGHT in their coverage of Katrina concerning alleged lawlessness?
How much of the reporting on events in NOLA was accurate?
Meaning,
The following two stories appeared in The Washington Post. Both were above the fold.
U.S. Lowers Sights On What Can Be Achieved in Iraq Administration Is Shedding 'Unreality' That Dominated Invasion, Official SaysBy Robin Wright and Ellen Knickmeyer
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, August 14, 2005; Page A01The Bush administration is significantly lowering expectations of what can be achieved in Iraq, recognizing that the United States will have to settle for far less progress than originally envisioned during the transition due to end in four months, according to U.S. officials in Washington and Baghdad.
The United States no longer expects to see a model new democracy, a self-supporting oil industry or a society in which the majority of people are free from serious security or economic challenges, U.S. officials say.
Then, there was this one:
Iraqi Sunnis Battle To Defend Shiites Tribes Defy an Attempt by Zarqawi To Drive Residents From Western CityBy Ellen Knickmeyer and Jonathan Finer
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, August 14, 2005; Page A01BAGHDAD, Aug. 14 -- Rising up against insurgent leader Abu Musab Zarqawi, Iraqi Sunni Muslims in Ramadi fought with grenade launchers and automatic weapons Saturday to defend their Shiite neighbors against a bid to drive them from the western city, Sunni leaders and Shiite residents said. The fighting came as the U.S. military announced the deaths of six American soldiers.
Dozens of Sunni members of the Dulaimi tribe established cordons around Shiite homes, and Sunni men battled followers of Zarqawi, a Jordanian, for an hour Saturday morning. The clashes killed five of Zarqawi's guerrillas and two tribal fighters, residents and hospital workers said. Zarqawi loyalists pulled out of two contested neighborhoods in pickup trucks stripped of license plates, witnesses said.
The contrast is left up to the reader to think about. This one makes me laugh, sigh, and wonder what's going on in the administration.
On the most segregated day in the country, a thought just occurred to me.
Some accuse "Hollywood liberals" of being racist because Blacks and other "people of color" have a very hard time getting roles. But Hollywood is a very capitalist system, meaning those who generate money, get money to generate more money.
If "Hollywood liberals" give Blacks and other "people of color" fewer roles, maybe it's because they think that Blacks and "people of color" won't generate the type of revenue that they are seeking. And if that's the case, is it Hollywood, or the audience, who is to blame?
Two articles of note:
Rumsfeld Says Weapons From Iran Found in Iraq
By Daniela Deane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 9, 2005; 3:09 PM
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday that weapons have been found in Iraq that were "clearly, unambiguously" from Iran and that the weapons would ultimately become a problem for Tehran.
Speaking at a Pentagon briefing with Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Rumsfeld said it was unclear whether the weapons were coming from elements of the Iranian government or from other parties in that country.
"What you do know is that the Iranians did not stop them from coming in," he told reporters. "It's notably unhelpful for the Iranians to be allowing weapons of those types to cross the border," said Rumsfeld. He offered no further specifics on the weapons.
----------
By Ben White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 9, 2005; 5:48 PM
In a sharp blow to advocates for stronger corporate oversight, a Delaware judge on Tuesday ruled that Walt Disney Co. board members did not violate their duty to shareholders when they awarded Hollywood super agent Michael Ovitz a $140 million severance package in 1997 to push him out the door.
The $140 million award came after Ovitz spent an unhappy 14 months as Disney president and deputy to his one-time close friend, chief executive Michael D. Eisner, who concluded that his chosen successor was a flop.
The decision in the case came six months after the end of a gossipy and celebrity-soaked trial that laid bare intimate details of one the strangest and most disastrous executive partnerships in recent business history.
The ruling, from Delaware Court of Chancery Chief Judge William B. Chandler III, is expected to have enormous implications for other cases involving corporate directors' legal responsibility to protect shareholders and serve as a check on management. Many public companies are nominally headquartered in Delaware, so rulings from the state often set critical precedents in corporate law.
--------
I don't have anything to say.
Okay ladies, you can stop slapping each other nowTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ALBANY — A New York City radio station has agreed to stop its “Smackfest” promotion, in which women slap each other for prizes, under a $240,000 settlement announced Monday, said state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.
WQHT Hot 97’s parent company, Emmis Communications, agreed to pay a settlement equal to the maximum fine it faced, Spitzer said.
Spitzer and the state Athletic Commission stated that the hip-hop and rhythm and blues station held 24 “Smackfest” contests from April 2004 to January 2005. Young women took turns “violently slapping” each other for concert tickets and as much as $5,000 in cash, Spitzer said. Images of the slapping then ran on the station’s Web site.
“This agreement should be a wake up call to all those in the entertainment industry who think outrageousness is a clever marketing strategy,” Spitzer said.
I bet their ratings rose.
I had a thought about the cnu post on blogosphere as "sub-optimal"...not too long ago, WiRed carried a story about Puff delivering the opening remarks to some technology group that deals with wireless communications (CTIA??)...
surprise...the appeal of Puff to this group is the percentage of young black folk using wireless communications...it's a higher percentage, according to WiRed, than for whites or asians...black folks are using the type of technology that can be accessed using cyberspace - but it may not be through a conventional blog because blogs are tied to keyboards and a functionally different than text messages and other mobile communications...still, there are tremendous possibilities here - especially with respect to organizing and the frequent use by those in the dope game of disposable phones...
so in one respect, you nailed it - but blogs are kinda old school - ass-tied to a desk communication...it's neither mobile nor active unless you have a nice little laptop and a battery supply...as the technology of keyboard phones is more widely accessible, it will be the time to develop new message formats to communicate and drive ideas - but this will require a CONTENT PRODUCTION machine that uses music and film without conceding all space to the Big 6 or Hollywood. and that is a project worth pursuing, but much easier said than done.
So What's the Story with Bob Novak?
Over the course of the investigation into the matter, special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has gone after journalists such as Miller with a fury — winning findings of contempt against them for refusing to give up their sources.
Yet, there has been a conspicuous absence of any similar effort against Novak. This has led to speculation that either Novak has been given special treatment by a Republican prosecutor, or he has revealed his sources, or his sources have revealed themselves to the prosecutors.
R&B Crooner Luther Vandross Dies at 54
NEW YORK (AP) - Grammy award winner Luther Vandross, whose deep, lush voice on such hits as "Here and Now" and "Any Love" sold more than 25 million albums while providing the romantic backdrop for millions of couples worldwide, died Friday. He was 54.
Vandross died at John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Edison, N.J., said hospital spokesman Rob Cavanaugh. He did not release the cause of death.
Since suffering a stroke in his Manhattan home on April 16, 2003, the R&B crooner stopped making public appearances - but amazingly managed to continue his recording career. In 2004, he captured four Grammys as a sentimental favorite, including best song for the bittersweet "Dance With My Father."
Funk wit dis!
Paraphrasing...
"Lastly. If you can't sing or perform your song in a church, then don't come up here thanking God!"
I would like to pose and discuss a question related to a couple of media creations that I am intimately familiar with. The first is the FX dramatic series 'The Shield' and the second is the top selling videogame 'Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'.
The basic question is how real are the portrayals of actual black gang life and what does it mean. I'm prepared to beat this one to death. In light of a little piece I read the other day on the crime of PG County, (a damn fine piece of reality blogging, btw) I'm interested to know how our ways and means of communicating that ugly part of American reality has improved since the days of Rodney King.
I would, for the sake of provocation, suggest that the narrative of gangsta rap is about to be superceded in both accuracy and artistic merit by a new verisimilitude in the best of these new media.
Charges Against Teen Upgraded After Dog He Allegedly Raped Dies
SPARTANBURG, SOUTH CAROLINA (FOX Carolina News) - A Campobello teen is accused of raping one neighbor's dog and another neighbor's two little girls. Now the dog has died and charges against the teen have been upgraded.
After receiving word that the dog died possibly because of the rape. Fox Carolina called the Solicitor's office to see if now new charges would be filed against the teen. An hour later Solicitor Trey Gowdy called to say that the charges will be upgraded to the "most serious animal cruelty charges they have on the books."
I'm not an Al Sharpton supporter, but I give props were props are do. The man gets props for sticking it to the Democrats. The man gets props for going onto "hostile" shows and standing his ground, many times making his hosts look stupid when they believe he is stupid.
Now, Rush Limbaugh steps up to the plate and Sharpton does his thing.
What he thinks about specific issues is of no consequence. It will not be a matter of the critique. It will not be a matter of my mentoring. I have no intent to change Sharpton's thinking about anything. It would not be the point. My offer had to do specifically with the specific requirements necessary to succeed on the radio. I have no desire to learn from anybody who doesn't do this. There's nothing to learn from anybody who doesn't do this. So I don't disagree that it would be interesting, but as far as my learning some of the thoughts of the left...? By the way, by the same token, Reverend Sharpton, this would not be about teaching you anything to do with conservatism. You probably think you know what conservatives think and that's why you're a liberal and you disagree with them on some things, but that had nothing to do with politics. Nothing whatsoever to do with issues, this offer. This offer was made only in the best of good faith, to try to genuinely impart, by virtue of mentoring and critiquing the time-honored and tested techniques, skills, and required necessary before one even gets to the substance of one's comments on the radio. So I'm going to continue to hold this under advisement. Because I'm not sure that Reverend Sharpton understands exactly what I meant and I'm not sure he understands the goodwill in which I mentioned it. I'm not interested in debating Al Sharpton on this program. Everybody else does that with Al Sharpton everywhere else. I'm actually interested in creating a Limbaugh of the left so the media can drop it.
I don't think the Dr. of Democracy gets it.
The conservative media appears to be having a "hate Clinton" type of melt down over the "unveiling" of Watergate figure, Deep Throat.
I understand former Nixon officals loosing their minds, but I was surprised at the conservative pundits who also blew a gasket.
Felt had problems. In fact, he was found guilty of crimes, himself. Later, Pres. Reagan gave him a pardon. So, the man isn't a saint like some are making him out to be. But the fact is, Nixon and his aides broke the law, and they paid the price for it.
The U.S. places itself as "The Example" for other countries to emulate. It is then appropriate, to say that when our officials mess up, they are handled within our system. If Felt believed the only way to handle it was to go to the press, because the FBI higher ups would cover up the issue, so be it.
To steal from Two Face, "Some people need an enema!".
In "What The Media Covers, Part I" I tried to show that the media covers what it covers in a manner that cannot be easily explained. In short, they are inconsistant with the coverage of certain "news" events.
In Part II, I want to extend this to how the media covers "racial" issues and how the comments of "If it happened the other way around..." may not be warranted. In fact, in many cases, I think it is a case of race baiting that the authors, typically claim they abhor.
Let's talk about the murder of Kevin Shifflet.
Kevin Shifflet was a young boy, who was white, who was playing outside of his home. A Black man came up to Kevin, made a racial comment, and then stabbed the boy. The boy died.
The Washington Post and the Washington Times both covered the story. The Washington Times mentioned the racial comments and printed the composite drawing of the attacker. The Washington Post didn't mention the comments nor did it publish the drawing.
A conservative talk show host in Baltimore noted the different coverage and went on a rampage saying the "white on Black crimes" are always covered while "Black on white crimes" are rarely, if ever, covered. He used this case as a prime example and said it was because of "political correctness" that the Post didn't mention the details.
Unfortunately for the host, he didn't contact the Post about the coverage nor did he look at the Post online edition. If he did, he would have found out, as some of his callers did, that the Post did publish the composite picture there, as well as mention the comments. He also would have found out that the police released the information too late for the Post print edition, but not too late for the Times print edition. The next day, the Post printed the composite drawing as well as referencing the racial comments.
The FrontPageMagazine also covered the events. In fact, they took the same approach as did the talk show host. However, as a reader of FrontPageMagazine, I caugh the inaccuracies of the piece, and documented how the piece was wrong. At the time, FrontPageMagazine made corrections in the article, however they did not mention that the corrections were made. The changes in the article went from "they aren't mentioning the race of the attacker and the comments" to "if it were reversed it would be bigger news."
Well, that was the case until David Horowitz, loose with the facts as always, wrote this piece.
For four months following the atrocity, the local police in Alexandria Virginia, where the crime took place, actively suppressed the racial identities of Kevin and his attacker. Now that the racial identity of perpetrator and victim are known, and the racist motive of the attacker is clear (he previously tried to strangle a white person and left racist notes in his hotel room), the crime has still not been declared a “hate crime,” and the nation still could care less about Kevin Shiflett and his fate.
First, the race of the attacker was shown all over the local news after the police released it. The comments made were also mentioned. Next, the police never actively suppresed anything. They let the public know in a timely manner. Lastly, the attacker was found to be psychotic.
Horowitz race baited.
What wasn't mentioned was the NAACP putting up an award for tips leading to the arrest of the person who stabbed Kevin.
It didn't make the national press.
When a Black man in Pennsylvania went crazy and went to his job and killed only white people, that case made the national news. Still some white commentators said that "the Civil Rights leaders" were no where to be found. Too bad that the NAACP put out a press release denouncing the attack. But there was no national press concerning what the NAACP did.
Let's go back to the conservative talk show host that was mentioned earlier. He pulled the race card again when a white man was attacked by Black men. He said that the newspapers were not mentioning a probable racial motivein the case. The victim didn't mention any racial comments. The victim's wife didn't mention any racial comments. The attack was covered in the news in a factual manner but the conservative radio show host wasn't satisfied. A few days later, the truth came out: the man was attacked because a drug deal went bad. That last fact didn't make the press at all. A police media representative was contacted by the host to discuss the case and the media representative sprang that information on the host.
Now, let's mention a hate crime that recently occurred in Anne Arundel County, Maryland.
A Black man got into a fight with 6 white men. Eye witnesses stated that the white men were mad that the Black man was with a white woman. During the fight, racial comments were made towards the Black man. That should qualify as a hate crime, but it wasn't called a hate crime. Additionally, the local NAACP got involved because, at first, the county didn't want to charge the men with a crime.
Now, if you ask some people, that has all of the ear marking of a nationally reported case. But, was it? No.
Here are a few other cases that, if you listen to some about media reporting, should have made the national news:
Two white men, in a truck, targeted Blacks walking down the street. They would hit the people with baseball bats while hanging out of a window of the truck. They decided to take hitting mailboxes to another level. No national news coverage for this story. In fact, it was only reported in the regional journal newspaper.
In a rural part of Maryland, a historic Black church was burned by some white people. Again, no national news.
To go further, how many times recently have we seen the national news cover white women or white kids who have been declared missing? How often do you see the same treatement for Black women or Black kids?
I would think that if Blacks get better treatment in the press, then missing Black kids would be reported in the national news more than is now. Of course, it's easy to report more than none.
Just look at the damned coverage of the woman who got cold feet about her wedding! Why was that national news?!?!?!
The next time someone pulls the race card, think before chiming in that you agree.
So, for about 5 days, the national media has covered the story of the "missing bride-to-be".
It turns out that this grown woman got cold feet and instead of facing it, ran!
Police inAlbuquerque say the bride-to-be discovered in New Mexico late Thursday told them she wasn't really kidnapped after all.
At a news conference, police said Jennifer Wilbanks admitted it was actually a case of cold feet. She says she needed some time along to rethink the wedding that had been scheduled for Saturday, April 30th.
I wondered from day one why that story made it to the national level. So, again, the question that seriously needs to be asked is, "What makes the media cover what it covers?"
Yesterday, on a local news station, I saw 2 news segments that covered teh disappearance of people. One was a college student who went to New York for the weekend to be with friends, another was a woman who disappeared going to a concert.
Neither of these cases have made the national news.
On the local level, some stories have made the news that I've wondered how they were able to get a local news television station to come out and waste time covering the story.
We are familiar with the "If it bleeds, it leads" angle of news coverage, but the case of scared bride-to-be had no blood. The Lacy Peterson case had blood, but it was a murder. We see local news coverage of murders every day on the news. They don't make it to the national level at all.
There is the recent case of the 5 year-old girl who went crazy in school. The ONLY reason this made national news is because there is a video tape of the incident. But, even then, it turns out that this happened WEEKS before it made it to the national stage.
While that madness had made the national news, another more serious incident also made the national news, but not at the same decibel level.
School officials may be charged in alleged sexual assault
Nick Juliano THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The girl was led by the arm behind a stage curtain in the auditorium. There, witnesses said her lip was bloodied and she was sexually assaulted by a group of boys, an attack videotaped by one student and watched by more than a dozen others who came running as word spread.
Within minutes, the developmentally disabled girl reported the alleged assault to a special education teacher, who said the girl "looked dazed and confused and was crying."
But principals didn't immediately notify police for fear of media attention, in violation of state law. When the girl's father arrived, he was asked not to call 911. He ignored the request and called police.
Now administrators at Mifflin High School face the possibility of being charged along with students in the alleged March 9 assault at the school, which has a history of violence.
Note that the information went out on the Associated Press Wire. So the Associated Press picked it up. It was published in newspapers outside of the area of where it occurred. It just didn't make that big of a splash on the national level.
Some people, like The Black Informant, are upset about that incident and believe Black media really should have picked up on this with vigor. (In my area, I first heard about the incident in the Black media. Those who commented on it were outraged).
I have no clue as to what makes things more "news worthy" on the national stage. Some things makie it while similar things don't make it. I guess it's a choice of the editors and how they feel that day.
For example, I asked my wife why the "missing bride-to-be" should have been national news from the start. One thing I do know, and that those who cover it from a racial angle, probably have it wrong as well.
What do I mean?
Some insist that "white on Black crimes" are reported with more vigor than "Black on white crimes."
I'll hit the racial angle in "What The Media Covers, Part II".
Everyone is discussing the "out of control" 5 year old. Frankly, after listening to the mother, I think the mother needs to be pimp smacked.
But this isn't about that, directly at least.
Since the start of the 2004/2005 television season, "Nanny 911" and "Super Nanny" have been on the air and generating decent viewer numbers.
Both of these shows focus on traditional families, with out of control kids (or not in control parents), who seem to be middle and upper middle class.
Given that the talk show airwaves are lighting up on this event, I wonder how many columnists will tie the out of control kid and the "nanny shows" together? How many columnists will pull out the race card?
Stay tuned.
Johnson, 33, and Taylor, 24, made headlines recently when they agreed to a truce after years of gang activity. Speaking on behalf of the gang members, Johnson told the audience he made the decision to follow Jesus Christ and expressed his thanks to those who had been working with him and others to stop the violence. Also thanking the Ebenezer congregation for accepting him and his friends into the church, Johnson decided to join the Fort Washington church. I want to "keep it real and do he right thing," said Johnson.
Howard County students change law and lives
Over the years, the young women involved in Sister to Sister, a service learning organization at Oakland Mills High School in Columbia, have constructed a quilt for an all-girls school in Afghanistan, staged a Jade Vaughn and Kim Sealy (both standing), members of Sister to Sister, helped passed a law that will enable minors in Maryland to donate bone marrow. Joslyn Wolfe, the group's advisor, introduced the idea to the group in 2003.peace vigil for victims of school violence and spearheaded a penny drive to provide stationary supplies for women victimized by sexual bondage in sub-Saharan Africa.
Now, the group can add changing public policy to their list of accomplishments.
Inspired by the story of a teenager in Washington State who helped pass legislation that allowed minors to donate bone marrow, the group decided two years ago to seek similar legislation in Maryland.
And after seeing their bill die in a House committee last year, the group saw their resubmitted bill approved by the Legislature this year, a change in law that may save the life of someone needing a life-saving bone marrow transplant.
"We didn't know anybody that needed a bone marrow transplant," said Kim Sealy, 18, a Sister to Sister member. "We just wanted to help people and make it easier for more people to find bone marrow matches."
The measure allows people younger than 18 to donate bone marrow as long as they have medical approval. The National Marrow Donor Program, the federally funded nonprofit that facilitates most of the marrow transplants that occur between non-related donors and patients, normally requires that donors be between the ages of 18 and 60.
Of the Sunday talking head shows, Fox Sunday and Meet the Press are the cream of the crop. Meet the Press, in my opinion, towers above all. Russert really is non-partial in his questioning and does not let the politicians get away with much.
Today, I saw Fox Sunday but not Meet the Press. If you watched the show, and if you are not so much of a partisan that you just refuse to admit "your side" is ingenuous, then you have to admit that the Republican and Democratic senators discussing judges and the blockage of voting for judge appointees are a good reason why politicans are held in such low regard.
Fact: Republicans did not allow many of Clinton's appointees to get a vote by using secret holds or just refusing to allow appointees to get a vote in the conference committee. If Republicans want to discuss constitutional issues, then they have to admit that there is no constitutional support for conference committees in the Constitution.
Fact: Democrats are not allowing some appointees to get a vote by invoking the fillibuster tactics. Republicans have firm ground in saying that judge appointees, by tradition, have not been fillibustered, although there is one situation in the 1800s that it happened.
From my point of view, they both came off looking like snake-oil salesmen. They both are playing the American public for fools.
I've caught a lot of negative feedback for asking why it is that the positive things in the Black community don't get reported. I've written that the negative crap comes from both the "Black left" and the "Black right".
So, I'm wasting time on the internet, surfing along and I come across this piece by Joseph C. Phillips concerning Black manhood:
Instead of reporting that insight, we are treated with study after study that perpetuates the notion of Black men as "other than" as some alien, predator species unconstrained by morality, inherently anti-intellectual and violent. The stereotypes that emerge from such notions create a cultural virus that feeds on itself growing ever larger and more destructive. There is no amount of status or education that can escape the impact. If black men are as abnormal as we are constantly told, I would be wary of hiring them, would be frightened of being alone with one and certainly wouldn't want one dating my daughter.I wonder, given all this scrutiny, isn't there anything Black men do right? I mean aside from playing basketball? Perhaps Reuters will publish an article or two that proclaims most Black men are not intravenous drug users or engaging in irresponsible homosexual behavior. Why not report the discovery that the overwhelming majority of Black men 26-29 are NOT involved in the criminal justice system? How about some up close and personals with Black men that get up every morning and bust their humps to take care of their families, who play with their kids in the park and send roses to their wives? We exist and we are the rule, not the exception!
My thing is, J.C. Phillips was going to attend a conference held by Jesse Lee Peterson, who has not much good to say about Blacks.
The British music group Loose Ends was drastically under rated.
Downloading to get a funk fix.
Prince rocked the Image Awards.
Just flat out to' it up!
In a bass solo, he played the ax just like Larry Graham.
Morris Day and Jerome got some love.
Shelia E got some love!
Little dude can rock.
So says David Lambro:
At a well-attended "town hall" meeting in heavily black Prince George's County, Md., some 250 people turned out to hear Mr. Mehlman in a question-and-answer dialogue. It was a rare event in a party that has all too often ignored the black community. A chief adviser to Mr. Mehlman told me this week he plans to meet with and speak to a broad range of black groups in the coming weeks. A major speech is planned at predominantly black Howard University, and he plans to visit more black neighborhoods. "There will be a lot of community-type events within the African-American community," this adviser told me. Notably, Mr. Mehlman appeared last week on the nationally televised PBS talk show named after and hosted by Tavis Smiley, who sponsored the civil-rights meeting in Atlanta that alarmed Miss Brazile. An independent-minded black leader who wants a broader political dialogue in the black community, Mr. Smiley is being sounded out by the NAACP to become its next president, a sign that the venerable black organization may be ready to soften its often-harsh anti-GOP rhetoric.
This is funny.
Damn.
Just.
Damn.
On so many levels.
All who took part need to be Drop Squadded and then shot.
Just. Damn.
Leave that crap to Howard Stern.
Damn.
Armstrong Williams is shiningly upright by comparison!!!
How surreal can the neocon three ring circus get?
Let the comedic explaining begin....,
The general thrust of this piece is what I've been writing for years in the ether that is the internet.
It appears that if we hear something negative about ourselves we are quick to take ownership. “Black people are drugs addicts and drug dealers,” and our response? “Yep, that’s us.” “Most Black folks are lazy and on welfare,” and our response? “Yep, that’s us.” It seems that we don’t challenge, we won’t question and we do ourselves a great disservice.
...
...
If we are so ready to condemn, then why are we not equally ready to commend? Where was the “well done” for our young black sisters when the press release from the National Center for Health Statistics (dated December 17, 2003) stated that teenage pregnancy had gone down by 30 percent in the past decade and that the sharpest drop of any group was African-American teenage girls – 40% in the last decade and 50% since 1991? Where was the collective “bravo” for our young people when the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics and the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of the Census acknowledged that the African-American dropout rate (as of 2001) was at 10.9% - the lowest it’s ever been? Also, it was almost identical to the national average (meaning all students) of 10.7%. Most of us appear to be unaware of this information – so it appears that our youth aren’t the only ones who need to study more. Yes, I’d love to see the dropout rate down to 0%; but that shouldn’t preclude us from celebrating what we have achieved. I think it would be wonderful if none of our young women became pregnant in their teenage years, but I am proud of what they have done. The high-profile prophets of black negativity, who are so geared up to impugn our youth, could not be found to herald their triumphs just as enthusiastically.
I read the online edition of The Washington Times to get a conservative presentation of the news that they deem is fit to publish.
I remember reading about the Times firing Sam Francis for comments he made at a conference held by American Renaissance. I've read the Times coverage of the American Renissance bi-annual conference and never have I read where the conference is a gathering of individuals to promote white superiority and eugenics.
So, whenever I read something in The Washington Times, I know what to expect when they have coverage of events that may have race involved.
That brings us to this:
Feb. 9, 2005 -- Marian Kester Coombs is a woman who believes America has become a "den of iniquity" thanks to "its efforts to accommodate minorities."White men should "run, not walk" to wed "racially conscious" white women and avoid being out-bred by non-whites. Latinos are "rising to take this country away from those who made it," the "Euroamericans." Muslims are "human hyenas" who "smell blood" and are "closing in" on their "weakened prey," meaning "the white race." Blacks, Coombs sneers, are "saintly victims who can do no wrong." Black solidarity and non-white immigration are imposing "racial revolution and decomposition" in America.
Coombs describes herself as just "a freelance writer in Crofton, Maryland." But this is one writer who's a bit more well-positioned than she lets on.
Marian Kester Coombs is married to Francis Booth Coombs, managing editor of the hard-right newspaper The Washington Times. Fran Coombs has published at least 35 of his wife's news and opinion pieces for his paper, although his relationship to her is not acknowledged in her Times bylines.
And that's not all. Fran Coombs has presided over the Times' republication of articles taken from white supremacist hate groups, not to mention allowing a key employee at the paper to write fawning pieces about the same groups.
Enough said.