I went to a Motley Crue concert this weekend and it was absolutely awesome. Well, the music, and the show were awesome. I was just a little bit perturbed about the political undertones that played on the screens on either side of the stage, though. The porn fest that played on the screens was a little over the top, but it was expected. It was a rock concert after all. The political undertone was kind of out of line though. It’s no wonder kids are flocking after Obama if this is where they get their political educations.
During the songs, the clips showed images of former dictators ruling with iron hands, and President George Bush intermingled with them. It said over and over, “Fact: Governments control people with fear,” and it when on to show images of war, 9/11, and a flash by quote reading, “World Trade Center Building 7,” which obviously refers to the conspiracy theory that building 7 was destroyed by the U.S. government to hide a cover up of the “real” 9/11 perpetrators. While the band screamed, “Shout at the Devil,” President Bush’s image flashed on the screens, flipping off the crowd, and morphed into an image of the devil.
Rock rebellion? Of course! But it does beg the question, how much influence should a bunch of former drug addicts have on America’s political climate? And it’s not just Motley Crue! Rock bands and other performers all over the country are using their concerts and albums as a soapbox to spew their political rhetoric. Green Day, Audioslave, Antiflag, the Dixie Chicks, Ludacris, and more, use their music and their shows to indoctrinate our nations youth into a anti-nationalist fervor. Read the rest of this entry »
Living in Southern California, despite pockets of conservative communities here and there, we bleed primarily blue. Or so it at least seems, on the surface.
It’s said by some that America leans conservative. You’d never really know that by following pop culture, including much of the mainstream news, TV programming, and Hollywood.
Liberal activists have always appeared to make the loudest noise, wearing their liberalism on their sleeves, in open hostility to all things conservative (last week, one hippie mobile on the road had a bumpersticker that said “I’m pro-choice and I vote”, “Sticking it to the religious right” and a host of other “in your face” type of thumb-in-the-eye stickers plastered to the vehicle like a moving billboard sign). I know I generalize, and it could only be because I live in blue state California; but I think liberals have always been much more vocal and liberated in their views, not shy to make spectacles of themselves in demonstrations. Counter-protestors, such as the Chester County Victory Movement, are the much welcomed exception to the rule.
I have yet to see anyone in Los Angeles sport anti-liberal bumperstickers and t-shirts, though on rare occasions there might be a Bush/Cheney sticker (I’ve only seen one McCain bumpersticker, though I’m sure that will change as the “normal people” who aren’t political 24-7 might show their support for a month or two prior to election); and a little bit more common are pro-troop and military stickers, since those are not statements of political affiliation (although I’ve yet to see a “semper fi” and “Army Strong” sticker alongside “Code Pink” and “I Support the Troops- Bring Them Home” bumperstickers platered onto the same moonbatmobile).
Personally, I’m all for food handlers wearing head scarfs (or should I spell it “scarves”?), hair nets, hats…anything that keeps hair and sweat from falling onto food they are preparing. But I’m also of the belief that businesses should have the freedom to discriminate (for the most part) who they hire. You don’t like it? Don’t do business there.
Yes, I know The Daily Show is a comedy. My cable guide specifically says, “A humorous slant on recent news stories.” The point Joe makes here however is that across the board, there is a liberal slant that isn’t based on kickbacks from the DNC, but (to quote his guest New York Times journalist John Harwood),
I don’t think they are hacks for the Democratic Party. People write about what’s funny to them. And the stuff that’s funny to them is, is the stuff that comes out of what they see that they want to make fun of from Republicans.
The point Harwood mistakenly makes is that yes, people in the media (from Harwood to Stewart) only see Republican “stuff” as worth covering.
Joe’s point of course is that we should all look at both sides-not just the “Republican stuff” or the “Democrat stuff.” Americans need to open their eyes, and see which side is selling the worst used cars.
The only episode of Boston Public I ever saw, was Chapter 37, which dealt with the “N”-word. Couldn’t find a single clip on YouTube, but that episode should have made me a regular watcher (it didn’t, although Jeri Ryan is certainly eye-catching). It really was a good episode.
I’d offer my thoughts, but right now I’m just too exhausted; still wanted to blog the following segments from The View, though:
The LA Times today ran an article today by Geo Washington U’s Eric Sides and John Lawrence - “Who listens to blogging heads?”- that basically poo poos any influence the Internet’s plethora of political blogs have over fellow citizens.
In fall 2006, political scientists, including us, representing about 30 universities conducted a survey of 16,000 Americans, the Cooperative Congressional Election Study. The survey asked respondents whether they read blogs and, if so, which ones. We analyzed the answers, and the result is the first detailed portrait of political blog readers.
About 34% of the respondents said they read blogs, but only 14% named at least one blog that focuses on politics. Who are these political blog readers?
Compared with those who don’t read political blogs, they are more likely to have a college degree and, obviously, are more interested in politics. They are more likely to identify themselves as Democrats or Republicans, rather than as independents, and are more likely to call themselves liberals or conservatives rather than moderates. Political blog readers are more likely to vote, give money to candidates or simply talk about politics. They live and breathe politics.
Of course, the major flaw is the age of their “survey”… Two to three years in the cyber and technology world is a long time…. we must remember that it was only a decade ago that home computers were becoming the norm in the American household.
It has been one year since Prince William County, Virginia began its crackdown on illegals. Many have fled to Maryland, a very Blue sanctuary state. Though Marylanders don’t like it, their lawmakers refuse to respond to the problem. The self-deportation by Hispanics from the “Devil’s County,” or as they call it in Spanish, Condado del Diablo, was noted back in March by the Washington Post in a series of stories.
Today’s Washington Post gives us an update in an article entitled “A Hispanic Population in Decline.” Gotta love this first part. It seems not all people fully appreciate the great multi-cultural influences that diversity brings to a neighborhood.
The family that planted corn in the front yard of their $500,000 home is gone from Carrie Oliver’s street. So are the neighbors who drilled holes into the trees to string up a hammock.
Oliver’s list goes on: The loud music. The beer bottles. The littered diapers. All gone. When she and her husband, Ron, went for walks in their Manassas area neighborhood, she would take a trash bag and he would carry a handgun. No more. “So much has changed,” she said in a gush of relief, standing with her husband on a warm summer evening recently outside a Costco store.
Certainly the Archbishop has taken more than his fair share of criticism in the wake of his published opinion. But first, let’s establish just what the Archibishop said as perspective: You can read his lecture, linked above. But I’ll pull shorter summaries from a report about his interview with BBC on his website.
The Archbishop made no proposals for sharia in either the lecture or the interview, and certainly did not call for its introduction as some kind of parallel jurisdiction to the civil law.
Instead, in the interview, rather than proposing a parallel system of law, he observed that “as a matter of fact certain provisions of sharia are already recognised in our society and under our law” . When the question was put to him that: “the application of sharia in certain circumstances - if we want to achieve this cohesion and take seriously peoples’ religion - seems unavoidable?”, he indicated his assent.
I’ve been meaning to blog on this for quite some time, ever since Dennis Prager brought this New York Times article to my attention over 2 years ago.
Take a look at the photo at the top. Is there anything strikingly odd about the photo? What do you see? I see a “ridiculous” little Asian boy pretending to be a cowboy, and proud of wearing the get-up. I say “ridiculous”, because, of course, there weren’t really any Asian cowboys out in the Wild West. If anything, I should be playing the part of an Injun. But back then, at the time, I didn’t feel ridiculous. I thought I looked like Robert Conrad. Read the rest of this entry »
“There is no white America. There is no black America. There is no Latino America. There is no Asian America. There is just the United States of America.”
-Senator Barack Obama
I’m offended by the Candidate of Unity…
I was hoping he’d be a different kind of candidate…one who would be all things to all people. But look here. Do you feel left out of the Hyphe Nation? Read the rest of this entry »
Philadelphia - The Twistee Treat ice cream and water ice store at Frankford and Longshore avenues will donate 100 percent of its July 4 earnings to the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund.
The store, owned by Paul and Linda Corbett, parents of two Marines and eight other children, is small but hard to miss -it’s shaped like a big ice cream cone and is known to Mayfair locals as “The Cone.” Mr. and Mrs. Corbett decided last year to support the fund after Mr. Corbett heard about it on the radio.In addition to donating all proceeds from this Independence Day, Twistee Treat will also collect donations for the fund.
Also, all active duty and reserve military personnel who visit the shop will receive a free large ice cream, water ice or sundae. “What we are doing is a drop in the bucket compared to what the need is,” said Mr. Corbett of Twistee Treat’s donation and fundraising efforts.”They serve us every day,” Mrs. Corbett said of servicemen. “What we are doing is very small and insignificant compared to what they do for us.”
Twistee Treat is located at 6900 Frankford Avenue and is open from 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday. It is open from 1 p.m. until 10 p.m. on Sunday.
Independence Day approaches and it is clear that, especially in an election year, all politicians must profess to be patriotic. Some are, and some are not. The thing about patriotism is that it is either in you or it isn’t. Patriots who have it, can spot it in others. Patriots live, breathe, and exude patriotism because it is part of their fiber. It becomes part of your fiber when you are taught, beginning as a child, that the root of America’s greatness is our freedom. You learn that America has freed millions of people from the grip of tyranny and oppression over our long and storied history. You learn that American freedom still serves as a beacon of hope for billions of people around the world. And while some people may not be proud of our country, Patriots are proud.
Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the U.S.A. (Proud to be an American) as sung by 5, 6, and 7 year olds at an elementary school in Virginia. They sing a patriotic song every day, right after the Pledge of Allegiance. This is how you make Patriots. Happy Independence Day.
There is a little ugly-but-true hit piece (the best kind) on Michelle Obama from Dinesh D’Souza at Townhall.
Consider the case of Michelle Obama. She was raised in a two-parent, middle-class family. She applied to one of America’s top universities, Princeton, and was admitted. Of this experience, Michelle says on the stump, “All my life I have confronted people who had a certain expectation of me. Every step of the way, there has been people telling me what I couldn’t do. When I applied to Princeton, they said: you can’t go there, your test scores aren’t high enough.”
Which is all very moving, except that her test scores weren’t high enough. Michelle Obama is part of the affirmative action generation of above-average but far-from-stellar performers who were granted preferential admission to America’s most elite institutions.
Michelle notes that she graduated with honors in her major. Again, the problem is that her undergraduate thesis is on the web. You might expect that she wrote about Shakespeare’s sonnets or the political evolution of W.E.B. Du Bois. Well, no. Essentially Michelle Obama wrote about the problems of being a black woman at an Ivy League university.
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