Sunday, November 23, 2008

"Meet The Press" 11/23/08 James Baker, William Daley, On Obama Economic Plan, Sen. Joe Liberman Full Video



This is today's full "Meet The Press" episode covering the Obama Economic Plan and featuring an interview with Senator Joe Liberman regarding how he campaigned against Barack Obama.

Barack Obama On Meet The Press More Proof Mark Halperin's Wrong About The Media Being "Pro-Obama"

I'm still not believing TIME Magazine political director Mark Halperin's comment that now-President-Elect Barack Obama was given a "free-pass" by the "pro-Obama" media.  And to prove my point that Halperin's wrong, I dug up this "Meet The Press" interview done early this year where the now-late Tim Russert grills Obama about the "Reverend Wright Issue" right off the start of the show.  


No other candidate faced such a potentially withering negative PR storm and came out the better for it. Perhaps that's missing -- deliberately? -- in Halperin's thoughts on the matter.  If so, he should reconsider.  See the full "Meet The Press" interview held May 4th, 2008 and just before the Indiana and North Carolina primaries, below:


Part One





Part Two


Joe Liberman On Meet The Press Does Not Apologize To Obama

As the Huffington Post pointed out, Senator Joe Liberman (I) Conneticut failed to say "I'm sorry" to President-Elect Barack Obama for the way Liberman went against the candidate and with Senator John McCain.

I think Liberman's darker devil believed that the American people would not elect an African American as President and so made a calculated bet -- and lost.

Here's Liberman doing the old Washington two-step:




Mark Halperin Thinks Election Coverage Was Pro-Obama? That's Nuts

I just read on Politico.com's Forum page that Mark Halperin's wining and moaning that the media was "in the tank" or "pro" Obama.


That's nuts.


For two years with "Obama Rapid Response" I've worked to counter Fox News coverage, the Washington Posts line of dirty "Why did you run this and keep bringing up Rev. Wright" articles, and a constant slew of "Obama is Muslim" crap that even the Associated Press played into.


All of that, and more, and Halperin thinks the media was "pro-Obama".


That's just plain false. I'll write more on this soon. But there's your warning.

Zennie's Zeitgeist Blog is now "Zennie62" Blog

I made a decision to make a big change: "Zennie's Zeitgeist", the name I gave my blog in 2005 to explain that I was trying to chronicle the events of our time, is giving way to "Zennie62". The effort is to have one brand name for all of my social network platforms, and since all of them have Zennie62, changing the flagship blog in the SBS Media network just seemed to the logical thing to do.

Yes, the focus will remain the same, but what I want is to avoid confusing people with different "Zennie" names -- now there's just one. Yes, we will still have the 86 blogs, but Zennie62 is the main blog in the system and takes readers to the other blogs and to the SBS world of games and content.

Zennie62. On Twitter. YouTube. iReport. The upcoming BlogTalkRadio. And here.

Abraham Biggs Webcam Suicide On Justin.tv - Blame American Culture



Abraham Biggs decided to take a lot of pills and basically kill himself on Justin.tv and at this now unused page while others -- a lot of people -- watched. I'm not so sure which is worse, the fact that he did it or the fact that the public just watched and let him do it without calling for help sooner.

Equally disturbing is the reaction of Justin.tv, which wrote:

As for the broadcaster incident last night, we don’t comment on individual videos, however, our policy prohibits inappropriate content on Justin.tv. We rely on the community to flag videos that they feel are objectionable. Once a video is flagged, it is reviewed and quickly removed from the system if it violates our Terms of Use.

You know, who cares about the "objectionable" aspect of the video, what about the fact that no one, not even Justin.tv took action to prevent that as it was happening?! That's sick. And sicker still is the news that some moderator on Bodybuilding.com egged Abraham on to take his own life!

Biggs' sister said it best:

"Joking about it, laughing about it, watching somebody breathe and then not breathe," the victim's sister, Rosalind Biggs, 27, said through tears. "It just would have taken one phone call."

One phone call. That's all. Hell, reportedly they were watching him for 12 hours ! 12 hours!

It's sad. He's just 19 years old and his MySpace page shows a person with a zest for life. But this note he left shows the inner pain he had just below the surface, and not to far down at that:

Ask a guy who is gonna OD (again) tonight anything
To Whom It May Concern,
I am going to leave this for whoever stumbles across my bookmarks later on.
I hate myself and I hate living. I think that if someone who knows me
reads this they will know who I am. So I will leave this unsigned. I am
an a@#hole. I have let everyone down and I feel as though I will never
change or never improve. I am in love with a girl and I know that I am
not good enough for her. I have come
to believe that my life has all been meaningless. I keep trying and I
keep failing. I have thought about and attempted suicide many times in
the past. I used to think of my failure as some mystical way of telling
me that I was really meant for something meaningful. The only thing I
dread, besides the pain, is the way my family will suffer. I do not want
my mother or father to think that it was anything they did that lead me
to kill myself. I never really had any plans of leaving a note. I
thought that I would not be able to describe why I want to do this and I
am right. There is no way to tell you or anyone else why I dread every
new day. My father had such high expectations for me and tried to give
me every opportunity to improve upon myself. I let him down. I think
that I am a major disappointment to him. I have a job but I?m always broke
and I am in college but barely, I show up to class but that?s about it.
I want my life to end. I am tired of f@#$ing up everything. I
am tired of people always telling me that they do not like me. I am
tired of trying to be decent. I hope that someone finds this post and I
hope that my parents know that I f@#$ed up not them. It is my fault I
screwed up my own life.
The hate that rages within me, rages not for those I love so dearly or
those who have crossed my path.
This hate rages full force towards me and only me.
I have long forgiven those who've hurt me, but I have not and cannot
come to terms to forgive myself for the things I have done to myself, and
the things I've done to hurt those in my life.
You have all touched my life in one way or another,
especially those whom I call family.
I cannot tell you how sorry I am for ending my life the way I did. I
hope that you can all find it in your heart to see it as way for me not
suffering anymore and that I am finally at rest with myself, for being at
rest with the guilt that constantly ate at me for so long.
Please forgive me all for taking my own life so early. I tried so hard
to fight against this strong battle. I have reached out for help so many
times, and yet I believe, I was turned away because of the things I did,
that it is a punishment I am willing to take, for I know that being who I am
has only brought myself and others pain.
I love you all and will forever live within the memories we created.
Forgive me.
Love always and forever,
As for my signature I will leave you with a quote so that if anyone
reads this they will know it's me, "Can?t feel pain if your dead? Just Saying"

What this says to me is Abraham was receiving a lot of negative voices and he took them to heart. There's a saying "See a man for what he is and he will be that, but see a man for what he can become and he will reach his potential."

Abraham, it seems, was surrounded by people who could not -- or would not -- see his potential. But why?

I think far too many Black men, young men, get the voices of hate and negativity, as well as the images of the same. It's why Barack Obama's election was so very important but also why it came too late for Abraham. Apparently the die was already cast for this.

The bottom line: if you ever hear of a person talking about taking their own life take it seriously. Period.