We Are The World 25 for Haiti - Sarah Palin singing Rap lyrics?

We Are The World 25 for Haiti is out and is a smashing success. It's now the number one Itunes download. And while the remake has enjoyed rave reviews, not everyone is happy. Count Jay-Z among them who, according to EW.com, did not participate in We Are The World 25 because "We Are the World’ is like ‘Thriller’ to me, Jay-Z said, "I don’t ever wanna see it touched."

While Jay-Z wanted a new song and not the remake, others have mixed reviews of the rap lyrics in the song. This blogger thinks the rap portion, created by LL Cool J, is genius. But some commenters were "thrown off" by the rap portion, one of the commenters on my We Are The World video said Wyclef Jean "sounded like Tarzan", and New York's Jay Smooth took to his website Illdoctrine.com to announce...

It is with a heavy heart I must report that on the evening of February 12th, 2010, Rap Music died once and for all. After battling a long illness, our beloved Rap was too weak to withstand the overpowering shame of that We Are The World remake.

We Are The World 25 for Haiti is powerful, period. And the rap portion is a logical and welcome addition given the growth of Hip Hop Culture. But to me, We Are The World 25 for Haiti is not complete until we have Republicans singing it. That's right: Republicans.

I can think of no better person for this, than Sarah Palin. If Sarah Palin can raise the roof on Saturday Night Live, she can sing the rap portion of We Are The World 25 for Haiti. My video is a kind of simulation of Sarah Palin singing We Are The World 25 for Haiti's rap.

Now, Sarah Palin's got to live up to this. It will give her the street cred she needs if she wants to be President of The United States!

Seriously.

Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras - what's going on in Oakland, SF, and Atlanta?

Today is Fat Tuesday or "Mardi Gras" and according to Wikipedia historically refers to the yummy ritual of eating richer, fatty foods before the fasting of the Lenten Season, which starts on what is called Ash Wednesday. But you know that Fat Tuesday is a synonym for "party Tuesday" in February. It's a day to wear beads and masks and do things you'd normally not do on a "school day" let alone a "school night". But where do you go if you happen to shuttle between Atlanta and the San Francisco Bay Area? Good question.

In Oakland, Ozumo's on the corner of Broadway and Grand is hosting a celebration that starts at 5 PM PST and features the sounds of New Orleans by live entertainment and "DJ Gray". In addition there will be Fat Tuesday food specials and Brazilian drink specials.

Right next door to Ozumo's free event, Pican's hosting a Fat Tuesday celebration, too, and that starts at 5:30 PM PST. Pican will have beads, boas, "traditional NOLA bites", Southern Comfort Hurricanes, and a cocktail called "Bulleit Sazerac" according to the report. In Pican's case, the cost is $75 at the door and $5 goes to Haitian relief. But with that, Pican's a fun place:



But Broadway & Grand's not the only place to go for Fat Tuesday in Oakland; you can head down to Jack London Square, too.

Miss Pearls Jam House at The Waterfront Hotel where Broadway ends has a Fat Tuesday event which starts at 7 PM PST. Miss Pearls' features live music with the Craig Caffall Band and an evening raffle.

Of course, if you want to have a party on Fat Tuesday without the heafy entry fee, check out Lake Chalet at 1520 Lakeside Drive. It's my favorite place to eat in Oakland, the bar is well-stocked, and it's always beads-friendly. Plus, if it's a nice day in the evening, the Patio should be rocking! The Lake Chalet is where I held my YouTube Meetup a while back:



Also, head over to Arizmendi Bakery on Lakeshore or in San Francisco for Fat Tuesday. No cocktails, but they do have something called "King Cake", a "colorful Danish pastry with pecans"! Now, as a word of warning, it seems only the San Francisco Arizmendi has a Fat Tuesday-related happening, but check the Oakland Arizmendi Bakery anyway. They're always full of unannounced surprises!

Of course, if you want a more serious evening you can head over to the Oakland City Council Budget Session at the Oakland City Hall at 5 PM PST. But after that gut-wrenching slice-and-dice party, you may very well be driven to drink, so wear your beads!

Fat Tuesday in San Francisco, frankly, makes Oakland look like a kitchen match compared to the H-Bomb-sized number of events in "The City". Here's a link to a search for all that's going on this year, 2010: FAT TUESDAY SAN FRANCISCO. But if you need some direction, go to Ruby Skye and check out the band "The Wonderbread 5". And of course, there's the Carnival celebration at the Mission Cultural Center that kicks off at 6 PM.

For me, the place to go is The Balboa Cafe on the corner of Fillmore and Greenwich, where there's no cover charge, a lot of beads, bartenders Lance and Brian should be working tonight, and if you're single it's a ton of fun (no comment on what married people do there!).

But what about Atlanta on Fat Tuesday?

The difference is the Fat Tuesday ethic is rich in Atlanta, even when it's not Fat Tuesday! Again there's so much to do, that a search link works best for ya: FAT TUESDAY ATLANTA. But where to go from all of the choices? Thee's the Mardi RA Masquerade Ball 2010 at RA Sushi at 1080 Peachtree St., Suite 8. There, you join Baton Bob as he hold his costume contest. It starts at 8 PM and its free.

The other place to go to is Parish Foods and Goods at 240 N. Highland Ave. They've got an all day thing with oysters, all-you-can-eat treats, roasted pig, and red beans and rice. Yum! Check it out.

What ever you do, be safe and don't drink and drive.

Geekosystem doesn't get the diversity message

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Geekosystem doesn't get the diversity message, judging by this rather unfortunately bad take in Mediaite.

(And for the record, Steve Krakauer, who wrote the post is confused. He's confronting me, not the San Francisco Chronicle. That's a crazy trick some people resort to when they don't like my opinion on something. The fact is the SF Chronicle does not tell me what to write or to think and that's the way they like it; me too. Plus, the same post can be found at Zennie62.com and I'm syndicated with a number of organizations and have a TV show. Moreover, I've contributed to Mediaite and who knows, this blog post may wind up there too!)

Geekosystem is the new Dan Abrams website that's attempting to represent what it considers "Geek culture." That really got my attention, so I visited the site and because Rachel Sklar's the Editor-At-Large at Mediaite, I expected some of the same obvious attention to cultural diversity that has been presented in Mediaite. But when I visited Geekosystem, I didn't see that at all and discovered that Rachel didn't have the same creative control. Thus, I went into action.

I'm well aware of what I'm doing. I'm one of the few African American voices in media that generally points out racism and diversity problems in such a way that the message is widely distributed. That upsets people who don't want to be reminded we still have a long way to go.

My value system says that people should want to mix and that diversity is not only good, it is something that is to be expected at every turn. Diversity is the one sign we're not going to repeat the civil rights mistakes of the past.

My issue with Geekosystem is described here, so I'll work to expand on it with this blog post. Simply this: Geekosystem does not show that Geek culture is truly so diverse that if I click on a mention of programmers I would see someone black, for example. I mention African Americans because between mainstream black culture and mainstream media, blacks who are geeks are largely ignored, or at least feel that they are. This is also true for women, even though that's changed a lot because of the great work of organizations like BlogHer.

But my point is, no one, woman or minority should look at a publication like Geekosystem and feel excluded. If I, or someone else, makes that claim it's not to be dismissed. It's very real. Stating that I should start a site called BlackGeeksdotcom is not going to solve the diversity problem. That promotes racial segregation.

Diversity is more than having an intern who's of color write on a publication from behind the veil. It's having the desire and mission to present an obviously diverse World. That's what I'm driving at. Yes, my point of view is infuriating. That it is, is a barometer of how far we have to go. It's the only way to really smash the comfort level of world view that allowed Geekosystem to develop. From a hard, cold, demographic perspective, the publication does appeal to what is a young, white, frat boy mentality. And as a guy who does have much of that point of view, yet is black, I'm well qualified to point it out.

We're in the middle of a culture war today. There are people, like myself, who launched an online campaign to compare Stanford Running Back Toby Gerhart, who's white, to NFL Legend Jim Brown, who's black. Why? Because the media tendency has been to compare white running backs to white running backs, and black running backs to black running backs. That's wrong and ignores the simple fact that Toby Gerhart runs like Jim Brown. Period.

We're forcing a type of thinking that says "racial diversity" first. If you think about the long term outcome of such an objective, it means a much better quality of life and a and more economically efficient America. No longer will we have to worry that the best programmer out there was ignored because he or she was black or female. Geekosystem can go a long way toward creating that kind of American society. Indeed, there's no good reason for Geekosystem to fight it. To the extent that any reader is annoyed by my call, I'm very delighted. Diversity does not happen by accident; it occurs by intent.

Oscar Nominees Luncheon Live Stream here!

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), Oscar Luncheon is in full swing now at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side) has just complete her question and answer session with the press. Now, Precious Director Lee Daniels is speaking.

Bullock is just one of a number of attendees (as was presented in this space): from the Best Actor and Best Actress categories are: Jeff Bridges, George Clooney, Colin Firth, Morgan Freeman, Jeremy Renner, Sandra Bullock, Carey Mulligan, Gabourey Sidibe and Meryl Streep.

For the Best Supporting Actor and Actress Categories, Vera Farmiga, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Anna Kendrick, Woody Harrelson and Christoph Waltz have been invited to the luncheon. All five Best Director nominees are here: Kathryn Bigelow, James Cameron, Lee Daniels, Jason Reitman and Quentin Tarantino.

Here's the live cast:

Watch live streaming video from academyawards at livestream.com

Rachel Maddow embarrassed Rep. Aaron Schock on Meet The Press

The Internet is abuzz with accounts of MSNBC's Rachel Maddow's confrontation of Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill) on NBC News' Meet The Press (MTP), Sunday.

Rachel Maddow, in pointing out that Rep. Aaron Schock criticized Democrats for economic stimulus spending programs, then shows up for ribbon cuttings of facilities funded by those same programs, embarrassed the neophyte GOP congressman from Illinois.

Rachel Maddow said:

...just this week you were at a community college touting a $350,000 green technology education program, talking about how great that was going to be for your district. You voted against the bill that created that grant. And so that's happening a lot with Republicans sort of taking credit for things that Democratic bills do, and then Republicans simultaneously touting their votes against them and trashing them. That's, I think, a, a, a problem that needs to be resolved within, within your caucus, because, I mean, you seem like a very nice person, but that's very hypocritical stance to take.

Here's a video of the MTP segment where Rachel Maddow punks Rep. Aaron Schock:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

But there's a bigger problem than Rachel Maddow's embarrassing expose of Rep. Aaron Schock's actions and that's Rep. Aaron Schock's lack of knowledge of the details on that which he speaks. That's getting him into a lot of credibility trouble, especially at home in Illinois.

Billy Dennis of Peoria Pundit, a blog out of Peoria, Illinois, points out that Schock got "his facts wrong" when Schock stated that accused terrorists were not read their Miranda rights. Dennis found a CBS News account of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and F.B.I. Director Robert Muller explaining that the terrorist in question, Richard Reid, aka "The Show Bomber" , was read his Miranda rights, and that was during the Bush Administration.

Schock should spend more time studying, not sunning

And The Atlantic Blogger Andrew Sullivan observed that Rep. Aaron Schock is "in over his head" after the GOP Congressman said he was "pro-torture" and explained that the method was working, when most in Washington, including many conservatives, knew that torture wasn't working.

Andrew Sullivan:

At some point, someone close to him needs to pull him aside and say "keep your head down, learn the issues before you go on television and start spewing things that can't be unsaid." The fact that he hasn't even toured the prison in his own district is pathetic.

Congressman Schock should heed Sullivan's advice before Illinois voters give him more time to work on his abs.

Stay tuned.

American Red Cross must explain $175 million in unallocated Haiti donations

One month ago, singer Wycef Jean's "NGO" (for"Non-Governmental Organization) called "Yelle Haiti" raised just over $1 million to help victims of the 7.0 Haiti Earthquake. At the time, scores of non-profit organizations sprang up to announce some kind of effort to assist the quake-damaged country.

But of all of them, Yelle Haiti received the most attention because of alleged past spending patterns, leading to the awful and unfounded accusation that Wycef Jean was using the money for personal use. In this video made one month ago, Wycef Jean answered his critics:



Just after The Smoking Gun and The Washington Post blog posts were issued (and with no evidence of having attempted to personally contact Wycef Jean to give him a chance to respond to the accusations) and the rescue efforts ramped up, suddenly the American Red Cross became mentioned in commercial after commercial as the "go-to" nonprofit for donations.

Ok, but where's the $165 million?

Some newspapers, like The San Francisco Chronicle, included the American Red Cross in a list of recommended organizations to donate to in the effort to help Haiti. The message, and thus the common assumption or "conventional wisdom", was that the American Red Cross was the "safe" organization to donate to.

It's not.

According to CNN Money, The American Red Cross had to ask for a $100 million cash infusion after its emergency fund was depleted. Today, reports are that the American Red Cross spent or committed nearly $80 million to "meet the most urgent needs of earthquake survivors."

But wait. Where did the cost of $80 million come from? Or is it that the American Red Cross received that much in donations and while all of it is committed, only part of it is spent? According to the American Red Cross' own one month report, it has raised $255 million for the Haitian Relief effort.

That's as much money as was raised to finance the upgrade construction of the Miami Dolphins' stadium for Super Bowl XLIV.

But here's where the reports gets really confusing and disturbing. While $255 million was raised, only $80 million was spent or committed, leaving $175 million in donations that's neither spent nor committed to Haiti.

Where's the $175 million the American Red Cross collected? Where's The Washington Post and The Smoking Gun to look at this?

The complete American Red Cross Haiti one month report does not help because it fails to even mention the $175 million collected but not spent or committed to Haiti.

Why?

The logical mind would think that if the American Red Cross gained $255 million in money that donors believed was going to the Haiti effort, then all of the $255 million should be committed to Haiti, not some of it.

This is a major outrage. But more outrageous is the media's blind eye to the American Red Cross' activities. One would think a reporter would not be so lazy that they could avoid subtracting $80 million from $255 million, get $175 million, read the Red Cross' online documents, and start asking about the unallocated $175 million?

But that's what's happened in the case of the only mainstream media organization to look at donation spending progress to date, The Miami Herald. The report in the business section mentions the $255 million and the $80 million in one sentence - this one:

For Haiti, the Red Cross has raised more than $250 million and has plans for some $80 million of that so far, said Red Cross spokesman Jonathan Aiken.

But disturbingly, The Miami Herald fails to ask the "What happened to the $175 million in donations" question.

Everyone deserves an answer, especially Wycef Jean and those who've ran Yelle Haiti, and who continue to be dogged by a PR attack that seems to have benefitted organizations like the American Red Cross and allowed them to submit sloppy reports of their own.

Indeed, The Miami Herald picked up the "something's wrong with Yelle Haiti" theme and repeated it in the same story where they give the American Red Cross a blind pass. That is awful and must be explained ASAP.

Stay tuned.

Jamie Mcmurray wins Daytona 500; pothole ruins race rep

Jamie Mcmurray managed to win a Daytona 500 permanently scared by what will go down as The Pothole Problem. The Daytona 500 was stopped for 2 hours and 23 minutes so that track workers could conduct the mundane and (one would think) already accomplished work of covering potholes.

If one stops to consider how important it is to have a safe track, then the only explanation for why a race like the Daytona 500 was allowed to go on, even with such a problem, has to be budget cuts running up against sponsor expectations. In other words, "We paid for this TV time, so you'd better start this race, period." So they did.

But the pothole problem was too great to ignore and the race was stopped while it was addressed. While observers felt the pothole "wasn't a big issue" at the end of the race, that it happened is a problem. Dale Earnhardt told the USA Today he's called for a resurfacing in the past. But to date, nothing has happened.

With a year to prepare the Daytona 500 track, this is an awful development. But even worse is that no one can explain how conditions were allowed to deteriorate to this level.

Stay tuned.