W.'s senioritis

By definition every second term U.S. President since FDR eventually becomes a lame duck that the public ignores. No matter how good or bad their presidency, after the last midterm congressional elections we're looking towards the next possible president, we pretty much could care less what the sitting president says or does -- unless it is a veto, military act, impeachment or presidential pardon.

Most just bow out gracefully and forgettably -- not W, whose recent behavior is strangely reminiscent to Will Ferrell in Old School. Except Ferrell is "Ha Ha" funny whereas W is a tragic comedy. I have to agree, from the pictures below it looks like the President has a bad case of high school senioritis.

From When I Write:

"I will give it to this guy because he’s like a high school senior that has a case of senioritis, or the I don’t give a f#ck type of attitude, which is shown below in the other photos from the US Air Force Academy cadets graduation ceremony in Colorado…

For those having no clue what the “Heizman” is, just click the picture or close over it to get the hyperlink. I mean really for a president to just let it all hangout and say to hell with it in front of the public is kinda comical no matter how much I dislike what he’s done over the past 7 plus years. You also wonder if he’s dipping back in the sauce when he was speaking at the ceremony, but I won’t go there because you can just view those pictures below to see something is a little off I hate to caricature this guy, but he really makes it too easy…

Sirota's Uprising

I'm a bibliophile, so hat tip to PageOne KY for alerting us about the Louisville appearance of a great rebel journalist, David Sirota. He'll be at Carmichael's on June 25 @ 7:00 P.M.

From PageOneKY:

Those of you familiar with the internets and reality know all about David Sirota and his liberal left ways with the truth. He’s renowned as a journalist and has led the fight to bring the reality-based community into the mainstream. And he has a great new book that’s hitting shelves across the country.

THE UPRISING: An Unauthorized Tour of the Populist Revolt Scaring Wall Street & Washington is what could only be called a masterful look at the force shaping American politics today. David spent a year traveling the country documenting the new populist revolt on the Right and Left and this book is his powerful examination of what’s taking place.

Blackface on Facebook

Browsing on Facebook, a friend of mine found this casually displayed in his News Feed. Not surprisingly, there is a phenomenon on the website of people dressing up as minstrels to the point that some even call it blackfacebook.

The guy in blackface went all out, he even painted his chest and hands. Brought the malt liquor too. I wonder who he's suppose to be dressed as anyway? Ironically he's being embraced by a guy dressed as Uncle Sam.

More and more I'm seeing minstrelsy reappearing. Many are saying that because we're past Jim Crow, this is longer offensive. Yeah. Right. I guarantee a lot of these frat boys dressing in blackface will update the "I'm not racist, I have a black friend" defense and start saying, "I'm not racist, I voted for Obama."

My ¢2 on the changes @ LEO

No one better than Stephen George could have written about the rumblings, changes and new ownership at LEO. His editorial in this week's edition about the torturous "low trade" known as journalism that is a "habit worse than heroin", summarizes and addresses it best. For those of you who don't know what in the blue blazes I'm talking about go here, here, and finally here to catch up.

Being a rookie to Louisville's journalism means that my opinion on the subject ought not matter as much or register on the local media radar. Stephen in many ways was Cary Stemle's mentee at LEO. He's the best authority on the matter. Still, there's a bit of survival's guilt. Also, I haven't seen Cary since last Wednesday, before his ouster. My last memory was him at his desk going over a story yet chatting cheerfully. It's a bit unnerving that I haven't seen him since.

There've been plenty of people who I have felt have been mentors, advisors and allies to my writing. The first group of people are obviously the founders of The SOULution, who gave me my first platform as an undergrade at the University of Louisville. My 'big brothers' are to blame if you've been upset at anything I've written. Of course, I cannot say enough about my mentor, Dr. Ricky L. Jones.

Since then I've met a handful of people in this town I respect without question -- Cary Stemle was among them. His ideas were inspiring, his writing was superb and his leadership was motivating. Plus, he was a funny guy to match. It was Cary who suggested last year that I enter my name in the Academy for Alternative Journalism at Northwestern University. I remember thanking him when I was accepted in this year's class. Those spitting fire over him demonstrate the public's investment in not just LEO, but its character. I hope readers who are righteously indignant will at least give the post-Stemle era a chance to pass or fail before claiming hyperbolically 'LEO is dead'.

Whether in dress, speaking or thought, I have never been a shark in the free-market waters. I picked up a pen because I love writing. I suck at business. I hate capitalism. Even though it's great at making toys -- my Palm Centro cell phone and 2004 Volkswagen Passat especially. I'm naive, I don't believe in putting dollars and cents before conscience, principle, or people.

Period.

I just couldn't let this moment pass without saying Thank You to a great writer and a helluva friend.

Peace & Blessings Cary.

What's the matter with Kentucky?

Boy, Kentucky has sure gotten plenty of attention for being racist. Maybe it's a bit unfair to compare Kentucky to Oregon. Our results in the presidential primary cannot be examined in a vacuum. The Beaver State has a different history (no Civil War) and racial makeup (absolutely no black people). Nonetheless, there's something about our toxic soup of race, income, education, geography and history that makes this subject so important. Maybe it's the isolation of being in rural Kentucky. Maybe it's the split decision during the Civil War. Maybe it's becausae Barack didn't campaign personally in the Bluegrass. Maybe it's just shit eating rednecks who wouldn't vote for a black person whether it was Colin Powell, Barack Obama, Clarence Thomas or Uncle Ruckus.

Read my contribution to the conversation, which just so happens to be LEO's cover story.


Race and the Presidential Race

Whatever the case may be, let's be clear, 21% voted against Barack just because he was black! We can ignore it at our own peril, but Appalachia hysteria is real. Watch below.

Fear of Islam hurts Obama in Kentucky

Memorial Day memo to the U.S.

For several months I've been on a steady diet of what you could call "end of empire" books. From Niall Ferguson's Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire to Matt Taibbi's The Great Derangement, there's something about this sort of literature that captures my mind. I don't know about you, but I'm worried about my country --intolerant religion, imperial hurbis, broken government, corporate media and bad financing is a toxic soup for a nation with even the loftiest ideals.

As we approach the end of this Hobbesian decade one of the great oracles on the subject has been the thoughtful Kevin Phillips, author of and The Emerging Republican Majority and American Theocracy. In today's C-J, Phillips says the recent pessimism about America might not be as overblown as the super patriots from Team America think. He writes a warning Americans to stop thinking of themselves as the "city on the hill" and face the pending domestic and global crisis we're facing.

From the Courier-Journal:

More than 80 percent of Americans now say that we are on the wrong track, but many if not most still believe that the history of other nations is irrelevant -- that the United States is unique, chosen by God. So did all the previous world economic powers: Rome, Spain, the Netherlands (in the maritime glory days of the 17th century, when New York was New Amsterdam) and 19th-century Britain. Their early strength was also their later weakness, not unlike the United States since the 1980s.

NY Gov. pardons Slick Rick

I told people NY Gov. David Paterson is a true blue progressive. We either forget or never knew that he drafted legislation to create restrictions on the use of deadly force by police officers. Fewer know that he was arrested in protest when he symbolically blocked the doors of One Police Place in protest of the 1999 Amadou Diallo shooting.

Slick Rick ought to thank that escort for busting Client 9.

From Nah Right:

Governor David A. Paterson announced today that he has granted Ricky Walters a full and unconditional pardon of his 1991 attempted murder and weapon convictions, in order to allow Walters to seek relief from deportation from the federal immigration courts...

"Mr. Walters has fully served the sentence imposed upon him for his convictions, had an exemplary disciplinary record while in prison and on parole, and has been living without incident in the community for more than 10 years,” said Governor Paterson. “In that time, he has volunteered at youth outreach programs to counsel youth against violence, and has become a symbol of rehabilitation for many young people. Given these demonstrated rehabilitative efforts, I urge federal immigration officials to once again grant Mr. Walters relief from deportation, so that he is not separated from his many family members who are United States citizens, including his two teenage children.”

Hillary invoking RFK assassination is code for "Hang him!"

Given her white workers appeal comments plus the ugly race-based vote in 'Klantucky', this sort of talk puts my racial paranoia in full bloom. Added together I just hear: "Hang him!"

Sen. Clinton could have used plenty of other historical examples exist of lengthy primary campaigns, but bringing up RFK's assassination as a rationale to stay in the race is morbid. If you needed another reason to turn your back on the Clinton campaign, here's one more.

From Newsday:

Hillary Rodham Clinton invoked the June assasination of Robert F. Kennedy to defend her decision to remain in the race until the final primaries -- sparking immediate condemnation by Barack Obama's campaign.

The former first lady, speaking to the editorial board of the Sioux Falls, S.D. Argus Leader, expressed outrage over calls for her to exit when she inexplicably brought up the killing of the Democratic icon in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968.

She later apologized, but SHE HAS DONE IT BEFORE. What lengths will this desperate Dixiecrat go to in order to become president? Keith Olbermann's 'Special Comment' ought to be especially poignant tonight.

UPDATE:

"Sen. Clinton, this is unforgivable"

Common f. Pharrell - Universal Mind

Boy, it's been a rough week. So to close it out I need something to lift my spirits. One of LEO's interns, Erin, put me on game to the leaked track from Common's new album, Invincible Summer due July 1.

Notice the electro sound mixed with the old school sound. A lot of the more conscious MCs are taking us back to hip-hop's origins. Tell me you don't want to break dance to this track.


What do you think?