Chicago Tribune / LA TImes Shrink - Tribune Co Fires Staffers

On the very day the New Yorker jumps the shark, the Tribune Company announces firings, including the editor of the Chicago Tribune and the publisher of the LA Times. The reason: readers flow to online sources and advertisers go with them.

New Yorker, Jesse Jackson, Ralph Nader Use Racism Against Obama

In this installment in my video series I discuss the New Yorker cartoon of Barack and Michelle Obama and how it compares to Jesse Jackson's "nuts" gaffe of last week (which I contend was not a gaffe and was a deliberate action), and Ralph Nader's most unfortunate statement that Senator Obama was "acting white."

I feature New Yorker Editor David Remick's explaination of the creation and use of the cartoon, and provide commentary.

I then explain that all three actions were examples of "jumping the shark" -- using race to get attention for their message, but doing nothing to improve the American condition in the process.

New Yorker's Cartoon Of Barack And Michelle Obama An Outrage

If you've not seen this cartoon for the New Yorker,then here it is in all of its glory. It shows Barack and Michelle Obama in all of the stereotypical garb and poses that bigots and racists -- same thing -- have complained about. It has Michelle as a terrorist doing the "fist pump" and Barack in radical muslim garb.

Why?

What's the point of this?

A number of outraged Obama supporters have flooded the listservs on this matter, and one person John Hay of TellingThoughts.com took up an email conversation with the cartoonist Barry Blitt:

t appears as though “The New Yorker” is now running for cover over their outrageous and highly defamatory Obama magazine front cover. Possibly grounds for a costly New Yorker payout after Senator Obama gets the election out of the way.

Below is the New Yorker cartoonist’s response to an emailed complaint over the cover. It was posted early today by an Obama supporter MK, on one of the Obama site threads.



***************************

New Yorker Cover Artist’s Response to My E-mail | Report to Admin

By MK Today at 2:52 am EDT

Here is Barry Blitt’s response to my e-mail expressing my hurt and distress at his New Yorker Cover…

I am distressed to receive your email. All I can tell you is it was my intention to depict the
hideous innuendo and scare tactics circulated in the media as the ridiculous lies that they are.

My drawing was intended to appear preposterous and ridiculous. That it is being taken at
face value is very upsetting, and directly opposite to its intention. I am sorry for the hurt
it has caused. I cannot actually believe this cartoon, which was meant to mock the bigots
and xenophobes who spread lies, will actually give them license.

I hoped the image would get people talking about the falsehoods being spread about the Obamas.
I still hope that will be the case.

I am sorry once again.

Barry Blitt

But this is like Jesse Jackson all over again. You do something you know is going to upset people, but then turn around and appologize for it. This is happening all too often.

What about the New Yorker's editors? They're the ones who decided to run the damn thing.

Blogger Influence Studies Miss The Point - Print Media Is Dying

I happened over to Flopping Aces, a political blog, and noticed their reference and post on a study that questioned the infuence of bloggers in politics. The study was done in the "olden" days of blogging, circa 2006, and so is already questionable because there were 2 million blogs then, versus over 100 million today.

But the main point missed by Flopping Aces is that with ad dollars moving toward the Internet, and reporters being laid off left and right, blogs remain the one place to go to get news. Yes, biased -- for example, we tend to be pro-Barack Obama -- but that is why people surf blogs. The bottom line is that the way we're getting our news is changing fast and in this sea of alteration is difficult to question the power of blogs.

We're at a point where almost every major news channel on television looks like blogs for news, then uses their content or story idea to some degree. That fact is not in the study's discussed.

"Yes We Can" - Tribute to Obama By Maria Muldaur and Bonnie Raitt

"Yes We Can" is the new musical and video tribute to Senator Barack Obama for President by Maria Muldaur and Bonnie Raitt. I was asked to co-produce and distribute the video on behalf of Maria Muldaur and Joel Jaffe of Studio D Recording in Sausalito , CA. It's not to be confused with the first great "Yes We Can" video and song by Will-I-Am, which is a terrific and pioneering work of its own. Also see www.yeswecanthevideo.com

"Yes We Can" - Tribute to Obama By Maria Muldaur and Bonnie Raitt

Press Release: Singing Legends Team Up For Obama Tribute Song and Video

Here's the video:



> On Metacafe.

> On Google

> On My Space

> On Crackle

> On Sclipo

> On Viddler


> Dailymotion

> On AOL






"Yes We Can" by
Zennie Abraham is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Based on a work at
www.yeswecanthevideo.com.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at
www.yeswecanthevideo.com.
> On Yahoo

Sunday, Bloody Sunday

We have always known music is powerful - that it can affect people, reach them on a very visceral level. Here, then, is a reworking - a mashup, if you will - of a song that was already full of power and emotion. U2's "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" courtesy of YouTube and 1962verbodivino.

Sunday, Bloody Sunday...

I cant believe the news today
Oh, I cant close my eyes and make it go away
How long...
How long must we sing this song?
How long? how long...

'Cause tonight...
We can be as one tonight...

Broken bottles under childrens feet
Bodies strewn across the dead end street
But I wont heed the battle call
It puts my back up
Puts my back up against the wall
...
And the battle's just begun
There's many lost, but tell me: who has won?
The trench is dug within our hearts
And mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart

...

Wipe the tears from your eyes
Wipe your tears away
Wipe your tears away
I wipe your tears away (Sunday, bloody Sunday)
I wipe your blood shot eyes (Sunday, bloody Sunday)

Sunday, bloody sunday (Sunday, bloody Sunday)
Sunday, bloody sunday (Sunday, bloody Sunday)


And its true we are immune
When fact is fiction and tv reality
And today the millions cry
We eat and drink while tomorrow they die

The real battle yet begun (Sunday, bloody Sunday)
To claim the victory Jesus won (Sunday, bloody Sunday)

On Sunday - bloody Sunday!
Sunday, bloody Sunday...

Click for "YES WE CAN" - The new Obama Tribute Video!

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Women Can Be Sexist Too: Clinton Supporters And Sexism

This video is nothing less than a monologue on how some remaining female supporters of Senator Clinton for President are, in pointing out sexism, being sexist themselves.

I point to Salon.com's Editor-in-Chief Joan Walsh as a main example and as one who looks the other way when Michelle Obama is the target of sexism and racism, but not Senator Clinton, followed by Harriet Christian, the terrible and outwardly racist Clinton supporter who gained national attention for her racist and sexist rant against Senator Barack Obama at the DNC Rules Committee Meeting of May 31st.

In fact, I point to this blog "Too Sense" and the article "The Limited Empathy of Joan Walsh" where the blogger dNa writes:

Walsh and Ferraro, experts both on being a black man and running for president, and presumably how easy such an endeavor is, given the vast number of black presidents we have elected. It wasn't that Obama built a top-tier fundraising organization, (from scratch) studied the primary rules and how to take full advantage of them, or ran an disciplined campaign with minimal conflicts it was because it was easy, because otherwise there's no possible way this nigger could have actually pulled it off.

Here Walsh demands a full exoneration for Geraldine Ferraro, complete with deference to her knowledge of how to win "Reagan Democrats," something Ferraro doesn't have the slightest idea how to do. Her supposed rapport with "Reagan Democrats" is based exclusively on the idea that they share the same racial prejudices as she does, which strikes me unbelievably condescending.

With the exception of the use of the "N" word, I totally agree. Joan Walsh lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, not the Deep South, and so should value diversity and attack both racism and sexism, wherever both exist. Instead, she sides with Reagan Democrats, who threaten to back Senator McCain for President.

In this both Walsh, and Suzie Thompkins Buell, the founder of Esprit, have behaved terribly as San Francisco Professional Women of Power. Buell was recently quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying..

Susie Tompkins Buell, a Hillraiser from San Francisco, said, "What really hurt women the most was to look back and see all this gender bias." Ms. Buell said she hasn't decided whether to vote for Sen. Obama and plans to skip the August Democratic convention.

That's ridiculous and it means Buell's view is just like that of Joan Walsh, who one commenter at the Too Sense wrote of using less-than-kind terms...

Joan Walsh is an insult to white women. She has outright lied, presented misleading information, mischaracterized events, and overall has pushed for a vicious agenda of delegitimizing Obama. She and her coterie of "feminists" have shown themselves to be no better than neo-cons.

Salon was an interesting place for insightful articles, but especially for the past year it has been a complete fluff blog, with Joan Walsh showing such astounding immaturity, it has been a sad spectacle to watch. She has been reactionary, completely illogical, and completely emotional.

She should not be an editor of anything.

Finally, I point to efforts like those of The Denver Group to force a new election at the DNC Convention as divisive and driven by some of the worst elements in the Democratic Party -- some people who are both racist and sexist. The main persons here are Larry Johnson and the afforementioned Harriet Christien; Johnson a Clinton supporter best known for working to find a tape on Michelle Obama that does not exist.

They represent the worst elements of the Democratic Party and should be laughed at, then ignored. America made it's choice for Democratic Presidential representative. And even the Florida and Michigan voters knew their elected officials screwed up in moving their primaries forward. To change the DNC Rules would be to declare that the DNC Rules Committee has no backbone or teeth in any decision it makes, and so anyone could go on -- any state leader -- and thumb their noses at the DNC when it wished to do so.

That's not the right course for the DNC. We must end all sexism and racism in the Democratic Party. Period.

Germany Says Bush Did Not Pressure Them To Cancel Obama Speech

As we move closer to Senator Barack Obama's much anticipated speech in Germany, we have this report from Poltical Gateway that says Germany claims the Bush Administration did not pressure them to try and stop the Obama speech from happening,

Yeah. Right. Like I believe the Bush White House had nothing to do with the "outing" of CIA operative Val Plame.

Tony Snow - Former Bush Press Secretary Passes Of Colon Cancer

Tony Snow, former White House / Bush Administration Press Secretary, passed away at the young age of 53 after his battle with Colon Cancer.

He will be missed. I always enjoyed his perspective and his reasoned approach. He seemed like a very good person.

DNC Convention Media Walkthrough At Pepsi Center - Video

This is the video -- 35 minutes long -- of my trip to the DNC Convention Media Walkthrough in Denver, Colorado. It started with my flight to Denver on United that Monday night, which was delayed for about two hours. My intent was to get in during the day but because of the flight backup, I ended up getting in at 11 PM.

The other problem is that I'd not been to Denver since the age of 14. In other words, before I knew how to drive. So my first thought upon landing was "Where the hell am I." My second view was who do I call if I'm lost?

Yikes!

At any rate, the people at National Rental Car in Denver, were great. They gave me a Toyota Prius for rent at a cheap rate. I was inimidated just because it's a vastly different car, but after a short training session, and a drive, I was a big fan of the car.

Especially since it had a GPS device. That was a life-saver for me. Wow.

I finally got to my hotel room at the StayBridge Suite in Englewood, Co. Nice big place of a room, with a kitchen where I burned popcorn in a microwave oven. I am glad it was one night, because I couldn't even make a good pot of coffee -- it came out watery.

The next morning I got up to a bright, sunny ...and hot day. My wakeup call was 6 AM and I got going after 30 min more of slumber. Hey. I need my sleep.

After a rush-hour drive, I got to the Pepsi Center, got my credential, and made a video of interviews with Rich Grant and Chris Lopez, the communications directors for the Denver Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Denver DNC Host Committee, respectively. Grant said that he expected an economic impact of $164 million and Lopez cleared up the funding news regarding the DNC Convention, saying that of almost $40 million needed, about 70 percent, or $28 million, was raised, and that about $11 million was remaining.

Then I headed to the Media breakfast and meet and greet, where I met a number of people that I interviewed in the video and will expound more on later.

...Developing.

McCain Elderly Protester Removed - Brandon Keating Sr Starts With A Bang

YouTuber Brandon Keating Sr. started off his appearance on Zennie's Zeitgeist with a bang, presenting his take on a video of an elderly John McCain protester's unnecessary and questionable treatment by law enforcement. Welcome Brandon and keep them coming!

See it with a click here > BRANDON!

Netroots Blog Caltics Attacking Senator Diane Feinstein

I happened to visit the Calitcs Blog, when I saw an article calling for nothing less than the censure of Senator Diane Feinstein. Why? Because of her support for the FISA bill that just past, and her alledged role as swing vote confirming, as Caltics put it, the appointments of Michael Mukasey, President Bush's torture-condoning nominee for Attorney General, and Leslie Southwick, a racist and homophobic judge.

Yikes!

It seems that no action has stopped Feinstein, according to Caltics.:

We've tried everything to get Sen. Feinstein's attention. Phone calls. Emails. Faxes. Petitions. Protests. Smoke signals. We even launched an online petition supporting a proposed California Democratic Party censure resolution of Sen. Feinstein last November that spread like wildfire across the grassroots, with 35,039 Californians signing on in support.

The censure movement also catalyzed national media attention, fueled by endorsements from MoveOn.org, Progressive Democrats of America, the California Democratic Party Women's Caucus and Progressive Caucus, as well as 38 chartered Democratic Clubs across California.

A number of people have asked if the Courage Campaign would support holding Senator Feinstein accountable for caving on warrantless wiretapping by re-launching the censure resolution inside the California Democratic Party. It's an important question but, frankly, a censure resolution is merely a piece of paper unless there's a people-powered movement behind it.

That's why we're putting this decision in your hands today. If grassroots and netroots activists across California support a new censure resolution of Senator Feinstein, we will launch a censure campaign leading up to the California Democratic Party's next Executive Board meeting.

Yikes!

The problem is when is that meeting? The site of the California State Democratic Party presents the standing committees, but no meeting date for an "Executive Board."

I should have asked Cal Dem Party head Art Torres when I saw him at the Karen Bass event.

FISA is for "Foreign"

The last time I checked, the title of the FISA bill was Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, not "American" or AISA. What's the deal? Are we growing a nation of people who can't read? I have no problem with the FISA bill vote. But the other Feinstein matters deserve the once over. I'd stop short of calling for a censure, however. I think a fair reading of Feinstein's accomplishments is in order. Stay tuned.


FISA