The Historical American Assumption

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Chocolate News

MAN, if you dont watch the comedy central TV show Chocolate News, you are doing yourself an Injustice to good humor. This show make me remember how funny David Alan Grier was. It him at his best, sketch comedy.




Couple sketches

Word of the Week: Sophomoric

Sophomoric

Definition
1. Of or characteristic of a sophomore.
2. Exhibiting great immaturity and lack of judgment

I'll even use it in a sentence:

After being president for eight years, George W. Bush's decisions were still of sophomoric behavior.

What Happen to 1 Hit Wonders???

Call me Crazy... Nah, go ahead... DO IT!

I'm looking for 1 hit wonders. Think about it...

Isn't that just what half of the artist out right now are?

The bigger example is Soulja Boy. Look, I actually like that superman song. Did I buy his album? Hell 2da Nah. I look at it this way, we always have had those type songs, the only difference is that the artist who made those type of songs before, thats right...

THEY WERE 1 HIT WONDERS

Sir-mix-alot, Baby got back - 1 Hit Wonder

Rex-n-effects, Rump shaker, "all I wanna do is Zoom Zoom Zoom in ya Boom Boom" - 1 Hit Wonder

Tag Team & 95 South, Whoomp There it is & Hoot There it is, both versions - 1 Hit WonderS

Tone Loc, Wild Thang & Funky Cold Madina (they both used the same sounding guitar and drums so its the same song to me) - 1 Hit Wonder

D.R.S., Gansta Lean, I drink my forty to THEIR memory - 1 Hit Wonders

Digable Planets, Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat) - 1 Hit Wonder (Like Dat)

69 Boyz, Tootsie Roll, "cotton candy sweet as gold" - 1 Hit Wonders

Ghost Town DJ's, My Boo, "last night I dreamed of you" I liked the song - 1 Hit Wonders


Quad City DJ's, C'mon Ride it(The Train), yall know was was doin that Choo Choo dance just like kids now "super man that ho" - 1 Hit Wonders


Vanilla Ice, Ice Ice Baby, Alright stop ____(yall know the words) - 1 Hit Wonder




NOW-A-DAYS

SOulja Boy, Plies, D4L, Joe Budden, Nick Cannon, PitBull, Rich Boy, Jim Jones, and the list goes on and on.

They all want to stay around like the really have something to offer. Take your 1 hit and milk it for what its worth. You know you have no real skill, you know you just got lucky and hit 1 out the park. You can tour for 2 years off that 1 hit, it may end up being used in a popular movie, it may get played at all the sports arenas, hell, these days it can be a platinum ring tone. Whatever you do, DO NOT try to pretend you a legitament artist.

Y'know who I blames. ASHANTI! Foolish, it was a foolish song, to me, but I know yall ladies loved it. THAT should have been it. BUT NO, not Ashanti. Lets remake songs from 2 other popular beats(Happy, Baby), Lets keep saying the word baby over and over (awe baby). I know that she acheived platinum status, a shocking, 3 times, but she caint sang. I cant prove it but I bet Irv Gotti used an auto dialer to get those videos played. Its possible that she has other talents, which may be the reason to her being around so long -

BUT IT AINT IN SINGING.

She open the flood gates for all one hit wonders. Thanks to her all one hit wonders try to make a 2nd album. WHich brings me back to Soulja Boy. His new song is gawbidge, he needs to flop so that 1 hit wonders can be put back in ther place; And thats accepting that they are lucky to make 1 hit. Dont get me wrong, soulja boy, keep making youtube videos, beats and even try to get a TV show or a movie deal - just no more albums for 5 year AT LEAST.


SO PLEASE CAN WE BRING BACK THE 1 HIT WONDERS!!!!

Miseducation 101: Swag & Swagger

It never ceases to amaze me how miseducated people tend to be. I'm never surprise when being cool, "with it" or "in" overshadows the desire for proprietary knowledge. It seems now-a-days every one has a penchant to have SWAGGER or poses SWAG but I doubt they really know what it means.

When I think of the word swagger, what immediately comes to mind is P.Diddy. I remember when Diddy did the "Making The Band 2" show and selected the members his reason for choosing Dylan(pictured left) was, "(he) has that swagger".

Looking into that, Diddy did not particularly care for Dylan, and I'm pretty sure that people, who viewed the show, perceived Dylan as thinking he was better than he actually was - Dylan was only great IN HIS MIND.

The word swagger is derived from the word swag. Swag has several meanings, i.e. sway, sink, sag, stolen property, loot, or to walk in an uncontrollable drunken like manner. When the word swagger was began to be used it was to describe the actions of a bully or person that was arrogant.

Definition:
Swagger - To walk or conduct oneself in a boldly rude, disrespectful, arrogant air; To brag; boast;

or simply put CONCEITED...

Don't get me wrong, I know the way those words are used now is slang. The problem is slang does not redefine words. Like the word HATER, the definition is relatively the same (one who hates), its just a blown out of proportion view, and an overly used term. Even in the case of the slang use of "HOT" or relative words like "fiyah" (fire) or flame. The slang use of those words are based off the literal definition of "giving off heat". When something is "HOT" its catchy, it spreads. When you say something is hot, it means it has the characteristics of fire, heat, spice.

SO WHAT AM I GETTING AT?

The "urban"/slang definition of swagger is, how one presents him or her self to the world, how the person handles a situation. An appearance of self-confidence. Prideful, Arrogant walk or stride. Right away I notice the words self-confidence and pride. That gives the word a whole new definition. I mean, can you be confident AND conceited AT THE SAME TIME? There is also an "urban" definition of the word swag, which simply means style. Now that's more correct in meaning. The only unimposed question to this definition is, what king of style?

I guess, if I had no immediate correlation of the word swag/swagger being connected to the word conceited, then maybe, I too, would exclaim my swagger to the world; Or maybe this is the direction of our society. Maybe its cool to be cocky, conceited, loud, obnoxious, self-consumed, arrogant, vain, narcissistic, and full of hot air...

but I'm straight on that.

That's why I'm forever unabashed, which means poised, brazen, and shameless - keep your swag.

Word of the Week: Ameliorant

ALRIGHTY THEN...



Y'know when people say things like, "if you look up stupid in the dictionary, your picture would be right next to it"? Well, that what I'm going to do here with these words.



AMELIORANT - to make or become better, more bearable, or more satisfactory; improve; meliorate.














How fitting?

True Story: Til you do right by me

So peep...


This was one cold snowy winter afternoon. I remember quite vividly. I was a new dad, my son was just a month or two and I was working "three job!", so I was very busy. On this particular day I had an appointment, so I had took my lunch break to make it. I was taking the city bus but I had NO CHANGE! - dont you hate that - I didnt even have any single dollars. The city bus should invest in taking debit and credit cards, I mean, every one else does.

Any way, since I needed change, and I knew the bus was coming soon, I went to the gas station that was like 10 feet from the bus stop. I took my $5 dollar bill and bought something for $1 dollar. The asian clerk/owner gave me a penny for change.

NOW, I had a delayed reaction...

Being in such a hurry I started out the door... I took one step out then it hits me...

BAM! THIS FOOL JUST SHORT CHANGED ME !

It was a lady who was in line behind me, when I made the purchase, I waited 'til she was done. Then I explain to the clerk that I was just before this lady I gave you a $5 dollar bill and you gave me a penny in change for something that cost $1 dollar. First the guy starts saying, "you were not here", then he says, "why you wait", then he was like, "you guys do this all time".

I'm HEATED, you could fry an egg on my head like I was a Looney Toon.

I reach in my pocket and pull out my money. I had like $500 dollars. I'm like, "why would I need to steal $4 dollars from you!"

SO THAT WAS THE ONLY $5 I HAD! the rest was in 20's SO I'M EXRTA HEATED.

Arguing with the china man made me miss the bus, thus, miss my appointment.

now I'm SUPER HEATED!

So when I left the store I put the Karma Curse on him. Like Ceily from the color purple I told the china man, "til you do right by me..." ya'll know the rest.

So I actually worked across the street from this particular gas station and I made it my business to tell everyone of my customers and any one else who would listen...

NOT TO BUY ANYTHING FROM THAT GAS STATION

Yup a boycott.

Slowly but Surely the gas station went out of business some 2 years later.

UPDATE: Pyramidwest Interview with DL Hughley

A few weeks back I did a post about Connects from Twitter and I talked about my friend Pyramidwest. He does, what he describes as, guerrilla interviews. These interview are excellent. This recent one is with DL Hughley and they discuss Bernie Mac, his new show - DL breaks the news, and more.

There are also many more interview with the likes of: Sheryl Underwood, Lavelle Crawford, Don "DC" Curry, Earthquake, Keith Murray, Common, Chuch D, Mc Lyte, Dick Gregory and so many more.

Check out DL interview below...

Insomnia: House of Saddam Part 2

I was up 'til about 4am this morning, drinking warm milk, trying to get to sleep, and watching the Part 2 of House of Saddam.

After watching this part I came to realize that this was not a biography of any kind, really. I'm not saying that this series is portraying false images but this is not about Saddams life or about Iraq. I realized that this is one of those "loosely" based stories - where they take real people and real events and fill in whats missing with dramatization. The focus is really on the family and how Saddam controled them by fear.

Again I will not spoil the story for you but I do want to talk about the family member that stole this part of the series - Uday. Uday is/was Saddams first born son and the one to inherit the presidency; But Uday is a nut case! This Part starts out with Uday in a night club in Baghdad. First he just starts gropping some random lady, then he jumps on the stage, pulls out his guns and starts shooting. He did not shoot in the air either, he pointed at the crowd and fired away. There are also other instances: one where he pulls a gun out on a guy and another where he beats, that same guy, to death with a pool cue.

Tsk tsk... Good stuff!


Check out Uday below...

Insomnia: House of Saddam Part 1

Lately, I've been having my episode of insomnia. I think its a holiday thing but thats another story for another day. Anyway, in the wee hours of the morning/night while channel surfing my cables "on demand" service I discovered this four part series that currently airing called House of Saddam(click), which airs on HBO. I immediately started thinking, who is telling this story about Saddam Hussein? I mean, they killed the guy and his version of the story is one that no country is interested in letting come forth - at least not just 3-4 years after his death. Then I asked myself, what picture will Saddam be painted in?, in what light will he be shown. Also I was like, Is this going to be in english or will it have subtitles? Needles to say, that was enough to spark my interest.

This story is broken down in 4 parts, the 1st part is about how Saddam came into power. The series begans with Saddam watch President GW Bush making his declaration to invade Iraq on the TV. Every one in Saddam's Palace begins to evacuate in a frantic scuffle and getting into vehicles to retreat into hiding, with a nice back drop of bombs and missles exploding - of course this is all a prelude to the 4th part of the series.

The actual timeline begins in 1979, with Saddam doing a hostile takeover and overthowing the current President. He did it all gansta too. Saddam was Vice President and he had invited the President to his daughters birthday party. After they sang, happy birthday, they went into Saddams office. At that point Saddam told the current president, his time in power is over. This was a shock to the current president, as for none of his officers or security would stand by him, they had all backed Saddam.

Now I do not want spoil the whole episode but there so cool and greusome scenes. The most chilling one, for me, was when shortly after he came into power. The scene starts with several men lined up in an alley, hands tied behand their back, face another line of men. Saddam is over seeing the events to transpire. A close up of a man is shown holding up a shakey hand holding a pistol, he is ordered to shoot the "traitor" that stands before him, at the command of "FIRE!". This action was repeated down the line of men.

What I want to add, though, is a few points. I understand why the story would begin with Saddam actually in power; And that this is not a biography, so they would not show his childhood. What I do not get is why they did not show that Saddam was very instrumental in the modernization of Iraq. During the 1970's Saddam also had heavy support from the United Nations. He did a lot for Iraq like, dramatically emprove their education and literacy - which is why, even to this day, their are quite a few Iraqis that support/supported him.

Here is a preview of the series

Resourceful Recyclers

So like I do, just about everyday, I was searching the internet for weird and/or interesting things. Thats when I stumbled upon a Ramen Noodle coin purse(shown on the left). Personally, I do not have a need for a purse, but the product did fit the wierd and/or interesting purpose. So my interest switched to which creative mind(s) thought to create such a product, during which I found several other Ramen Noodle accesories.


So I came to find that these are the creations of OhNoUDidntDesigns. The creator has been at it since 2004 and these products are actually made from discarded food packagings. They are then cleaned and later used to create fashionable items, which extend beyond my Ramen Noodle infatuation.

Ramen Noodle Baby Booties, available in all flavors

Not only is there a coin purse...

This is a check book cover

Sadly, as much as I like Ramen Noodles there was no item that I could get for myself that was made from the Ramen Noodle wrapper - I do not where purses, I do not have any little babies and I do not write checks - DAMN.

Other than Ramen Noodle they have plenty of other designs. here is another good one...

Well this is mostly for the ladies because they offer various styles of purses, but they do have other I tems like key chains, belts and tote bags. They also use just about every wrapper imaginable: Cheetos, Sprite, Disani, Doritos, Lays, Ruffles, Pepsi, Fanta Mountain Dew, Aquafina, Coca-Cola, Resses, and they do custom items too.

For the Holiday they are offering Christmas Stockings.

Looks like the recycled wrapper market is cornered.

So if your a candy wrapper enthusiest, or all about going green, then OhNoUDidntDesigns has you covered.

This definately is a business "dedicated to renewal, revival and of course RECYCLING!"

Twitter Trolling

I must say that, overall, I'm disappointed in twitter, but what can you really expect. Twitter found the very gray area between chat and message boards, with a social network site appeal. The only use I see for it is getting a chance to look at other peoples webpages, blogs and such.


Which brings me to my next "find", Orange Calderon(click), this individual has a blog on tumblr. Its not real heavy on content, or maybe I really didnt pay attention to the words after I seen her picture, which can be seen to the left, to the left.

Yeah, I'm a guy I cant help myself.

From the little I did read, I found she was an espiring fashion designer, who moved to LA from Houston; And is now at some LA Fashion School. In all seriousness, though, she does display an eye for fashion.















I'm no fashion designer but gold heel pumps, I know these are ladies envy. I do not know the name Orange called them "Lola"... SEXIE!!!










Pumps by Lego
well the real name is, "Balenciaga"
Beyonce Rocked them before
$4,175 a pair !

I hope they come with a warranty.


I cant let the masses sleep on the coochie coin purse, WHAT!

The best fashion symbolism ever, if you dont agree think about it, what's the best thing to invest money in?

http://www.etsy.com/ they have a Ramon Noodle coin purse too



Since I felt the need to add this photo, I guess I should educate as well. This is Leah McSweeney model for "Married to the MOB" clothing line.

AND that is one lucky starfish, squid or whatever it is.



So Check out Orangie Porangie...

If not check out one of these fashion designers

AND KEEP READING THE B-BLOGGER DAFANZ!!

*all photos are from orangieporangiepuddingpie.tumblr.com (except beyonce)

Connects from Twitter

Most should have, by now, heard of Twitter. If not, I think of twitter as online text message hub center. You have like 500 charachters to say whatever it is you want the world to know, you can also send links. Lately, there has been an Influx of celebs joining the "twitterverse" - Shaq, Karrine "superhead" Steffans - but its good to find out what other people are offering out in cyberspace.

Hence, I stumbled upon Pyramidwest(click).

This is a very nice website but what I enjoyed were the interviews with various black celebs. I enjoyed how raw they were and how they are like casual conversation(NOT talk showish).

I have 2 here(below) that I enjoyed - Comedians Sommore and Aries Spears. There are a host of otheres that are interviewed as well like Bill Bellamy, Charlie Murphy, Adele Givens, Don Cheadle(actor), Keisha Cole, Nick Cannon and many many more.



Sommore
by GJournalism



Aries Spears
by GJournalism

Americas Funniest You Tubers (AFYT)

OKAY! while wasting company time I stumbled upon Montgomery, AL funny man Mr. Grind THIS IS FUNNY AS HELL!!!!

Are you a Non-Believer?

If I said it were raining outside and you chose not to believe me...
Would you not look out a window? Would you not go outside?

Thats the problem with non-believers. They think that best thing is to erradicate what they do not believe in from everything so that it will not be on their psyche, thus no longer perpetuating their conscious carnal minds from being confronted. If you are so staunch in your disbelief, why does it have to be "out of sight out of mind?" Non-believers hate because they can not escape the possibility of what they disbelieve in. Therefore they are never really firm in their own disbelief because, if they were, they would not equate anothers belief to effecting their DISBELIEF. Non-believers, are usually not FOR anything, just against everything connected to their disbelief.
True believers are not mad or upset by people who choose not to believe in what they believe and it does not distract them from their belief.

SO WHY DOES THE BELIEF OF OTHERS DISTRACT THE NON-BELIEF OF NON-BELIEVERS?

No Child Left Behind

see more pwn and owned pictures I'm talkin''bout the mutha f*ck'n booty poppin @$$ droppin' CHILD... THE CHILD, NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND

SAY WHAT!!!!!

Do you remeber the time?

The last presidential canidate to be accused of treason was John F. Kennedy, the last black man that was able to gather a large crowd whenever her spoke was Martin Luther King Jr. and the last time a politacal race, of any kind, generated this amount of division and fear resulted in the bombing of a Birmingham, Alabama church where 4 little black girl were killed.

Obama Speech in Wisconsin (economic crisis)

Obama vs O'Reilly part 4

Finally Wednesday September 10, 2008, the conclusion of the Bill O'Reilly interview of Sen. Barack Obama aired. The subject of the segment was on Oil and Alternative Energy, which is a subject that should be important to this election. They also touched on foreign policy a little too.

O'Reilly began with, " $150 Billion... over 10 years... TOO WHAT!?!!!! (note more exclaim that inquiry)

Obama responds with, "...wind, solar and hydro..."

O'Reilly throw out, "what if they don't work?"

Obama responds with touts of, and I quote, "similar to ventur capital" and "... similar to the space program".

I find it outrageous for O'Reilly to ask "what if they dont work" but, again, its a mere ploy to see if he can disconcert Obama. What O'Reilly really wanted to get at, was a break down of how much would go where - which would lead to criticisms of which areas should get more funding (blah).

When O'Reilly inquired about Nato and the fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan, Obama responded with,

"Part of the reason is, is that we soured our relationship with the Europeans after Iraq. And, you know, when I went over to Europe, and if you listened to that speech in Berlin... One of the things I said in that speech is you cannot think that the Americans are going to just carry all the freight on this thing. You guys (countries part of NATO) have to step up to the plate."

I just want to remind you, when Obama made this trip, thats when all the grandiloquent "rockstar" and "celebrity" comments were made. Its quite absurd for any one not to see the value of a potential american leader being able to go to another country, an allied country, and get more than just the leaders of that nation to be interested in what they have to say. In my eyes, thats not celebrity luminescence - its a step OUR nation needs to make, its a step in the direction of healing soured relationships that have been maimed by OUR current president, and a step toward world peace. Also it should have commanded respect by the republicans instead of a lot of scoffing and ridicule.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Overall, this was a great interview for Sen. Obama. The Interview showed that Obama can keep his composure under pressure. Furthermore, it displayed the knowledge that Obama has on several policies as well as the multi-faceted government system that american operates under.

I really do not want to delve into the Sarah Palin subject but to say that her newness is equivocal to Obama's is, well, just plain retarded. In respect to her running as a vice president, her knowledge of our governmental system and policies is incomparable to Sen. Obama's. Its Foolish to think that we, as americans, should not be concerned about Palin being next in line behind an aging, over-operated body, known as John McCain (I mean that with no disrepect). This is just my opinion but Palin definately could not handle such and interview, not even a segment - and McCain would not be able to answer questions beyond his coached responses.

enjoy the conclusion below...

comments welcome

Obama vs O'Reilly part 2

On Monday September 8, 2008, part 2 of the Bill O'reilly interview of Sen. Barack Obama resumed. This segment actually entailed political issue of substance - The Ecomony - or as Obama put it, "... lies, damn lies, and statistics".

I must say, this segment touched on about 3 hours worth of info in like 5 minutes - and Obama found it hard to get a word in edgewise. So the basics...

Oreilly: Under President Bush, the economy grew 19 percent more than Clinton.

Obama: there was economic growth. Not as fast as during the 1990s, OK, but there was growth during the Bush administration. But what happened was that wages and incomes for ordinary Americans... their wages and incomes did not go up.

Dafanz: Aye... If the economy grew, why is the real estate market in shambles? Why have so many corporations laid off SO MANY american workers? Why has there been a decrease in the american dollar? Hell, WHY ARE WE IN A RECESSION? OH, and why haven't MY wages increasing?

but all these CEO are, shall I say, "Getting Richer"

Since wages are the same compounded with Inflation, would equate to "Getting Poorer"

Lets continue

O'Reilly: ... Let's get back to taxing the rich... you want 50 percent of my success


Obama: No, I don't. No, I don't.

O'Reilly: if you get elected…


Obama: What I have said is that I would take your marginal rate back to what it was under Bill Clinton (39 %).


O'Reilly: yes. 39


Obama: You(the wealthy) can afford that. That's point No. 1. In exchange, I'm cutting taxes for 95 percent of Americans. 95 percent.


O'Reilly: That's swell, but that's class warfare.


Dafanz: AYE! - Whoa!, hol' on a minute... 95% of americans are poor? Let make it simple...

WE DO NEED A CHANGE!!!

Y'know its quite obvious that Reagonomics, Trickle-down Economics and Supply-side Ecomonics DO NOT WORK!!!

These people and corporations get the benefit of these tax cuts and it does absolutely NOTHING for the working class citizens - both lower & middle class. Yeah , the wealthy enjoy the tax cuts and it does nothing for the working stiff because they take thte extra money and shelter it and put it into their Estates. These people and corporations do not spend their extra money!!

Now what do we get?... Economic Stimulation?

Yeah, lets pacify the american citizens with hush money!

Lets hand out checks to provide a short-term.... AN EXTREMELY SHORT-TERM solution... Instead of creating the possibility of long-term security for those who yet poses it...

SURE GENIUS!!!

Obama calls this, "... calling the same thing something different."

I would quote the ol' american addage but maybe I'm not american enough to use it...

enjoy interview below

Synopsis...

Obama vs O'Reilly part 3

On Tuesday September 9, 2008, the third segment of the Bill O'Reilly interview of Sen. Barack Obama was aired. This segment was focused on the great subject of "Guilt by Association". Let me first say I never seen, or heard of, an presidential canidate that has been slighted SO MUCH for nonpolitical acquaintances - Rev. Jerimiah Wright, Bill Ayers and BLOGGERS? (yeah, 21st century at its best).

For me, the major delima I have about the tintinnabulation this is causing is the fact that this behavior is not indicative of the nonpolitical associations that Pres. George W. Bush had with the oil companies - or the connection Palin (Alaska has the largest supply domestic oil) or Mccain has. Further more I digress because I'm not interested in seeing another "who runs the best smear compaign" or "who is more american" type of election. The real question, even above the issues, is...

Which canidate is going to tryst americans, as a whole, on our needs as citizens?

NOT who is going to run around, like a chicken with their head cut off, in search of new ways to use the extensive military and equipment america poses.

Lets just lump this mess together as a whole, bundle it up, tie it down and throw it in the dumpster where it belongs. Also, LET US NOT allow the rebulicans, and their supporters, to make this into a "who can wiggle out of acquisations the best" campaign.

I am embellished with strife when I see and hear such things. I mean...

Why do rebuplicans think they can dupe WE AMERICANS - for a 3rd election in a row - with their barbarous, conjectural, lethargic, asinine and unscrupulously deceitful grandiloquent rants about democratic canidates?

Or simply put they are Full of Shit!

Well Mr. O'Reilly did say it best when he stated, "I have new respect for Obama, he is sincere in his beleifs and his presence has changed politics forever"

As for Obamas' "associations" we should remember this quote,

“I know thousands of people... So, understandably, people will pick out folks who they think they can score political points with.”

or this quote from Obama, "...It is classic guilt by association.”

My Fellow Americans Let Us Not Forget
For the past 8 year the current president has been
Getting rich with our money
Off the sweat of our brows
From the blood of our families!

enjoy interview below



Conclusion tommorow...

Obama vs O'reilly part 1

On Thursday September 4th, 2008, america's favorite news journalist, Bill O'Reilly interviewed Barack Obama. Let me first say, beyond whatever your (or my) disdain for Mr. O'reilly may be, this is a good thing for Obama to do. First, because no one, probably not even McCain, can challenge Obama on his knowledge of the current political issues and press Obama for answers the way Bill-O can. Secondly, just the mere fact that "The O'Reilly Factor" rating shall bolster for a week then dwindle back down to the regular right-wing extremist audience of old - HA-HA! SO, In order to further boost his ratings, O'Reilly made this 30 minute interview into a series of four 6-7 minute segments to be aired on seperate days. I'm going to disect this 1st segment, which consisted of the issue of the "War on Terror" - or better put National Security.

Now in short, this segment was nothing more than a quiz on weather Obama poses the basic knowledge of americas' national security threats. This bit can be summed up to two issues: what is you plan for Iran and na-na-na-na-na "the surge" did work.

In short on the subject of Iran, O'Reilly questions, "how threatening (do) you feel Iran is?"

Obama responds, "Iran is a major threat" - now this is just the nuts and bolts.

From my perspective, O'Reilly seemingly wants to conjure up a "gong-ho" response from Obama and get him to say we're(america) is going to take Iran out - or either a military strategy.

O'Reilly's real focus was this, "...the next president of the United States is going to have to make a decision about Iran, whether to stop them militarily... a lot of people are saying, look, Barack Obama's not going to attack Iran."

First "a lot of people" is really "a lot of republicans" - I mean...

Do we really need another war raging president at this point in history?

Obama put it best, "Look, it is not appropriate for somebody, who is one of two people who could be the president of the United States, to start tipping their hand in terms of what their plans might be with respect to Iran. It's sufficient to say I would not take the military option off the table and that I will never hesitate to use our military force in order to protect the homeland and United States interests."

Y'kown what I say about this national security subject? I say its quite simple...

WE NEED A LEADER WHO IS RESPECTED BY ALL (OR MOST) COUNTRIES!!!

And Barack Obama is that Leader, we have already seen the respect he gets here, in the USA, as well as in Europe. We need to reestablish the ties that our current president (and fellow republicans) severed and get the support from foreign nations that we once had.

As for The Surge, O' Reilly looked to make Obama, and I quote...

"...admit it to the nation that now we have defeated the terrorists in Iraq, and the Al Qaeda came there after we invaded, as you know. We defeated them."

OR

"...say, I was right in the beginning, and I was wrong about the surge?"

Now Obama did admit the success of the surge and stated, "I think that the surge has succeeded in ways that nobody anticipated... including President Bush and the other supporters."

Of course, there was no admission of being wrong and my interpretation is that - Its not about being against the surge (which we can call "successful") but, moreso, about being against the war and its exorbitant budget (which can be deemed unnecessary, as well as other things).

Enjoy interview below

Part 2 Coming soon

I HAVE A DREAM

Well, this is actually Martin Luther Kings' dream - y'know that dream about one day we will "not be judged by the color of (our) skin but by the content of (our) character" - yeah that dream.

So here we are 45 years from that day(August 28th, 1963) and that dream has not reached fruition. Now Martin Luther Kings' dream is not "A Dream Deferred" but after 45 years of not much amelioration it may appear to be a dried raisen, to stink like rotten meat or to saggy like a heavy load - but this dream will not explode. It will implode from within us all and liberally bring forth the change we lack because on the 45th "anniversity" we will see the first black/"african-american" to run for president under a major party.

I'm talking Barack Obama voted as the Democractic Party Leader, or as the term I would like to coin THE AMELIORANT - that is one to cause change.

Hip Hop vs America

Let me start by saying, after having watch all 3 shows to BET's Hip Hop vs America, the 1st half of the 3rd installment has to have been the most intriguring. Particularly, David Banner and his remarks about the industry and how it effects the type of music a successful artist puts out. Banner went to expound on the fact that every positive record he has made has tanked and whenever he comformed to the formulated music of what is now "hip hop" he was successful. This was just one of many truthes that he spoke of, the most prominent for me was when Banner stated that essentially...

THIS IS BIGGER THAN HIP HOP!!

Also another rap artist, Talib Kweli, confirmed Banners statements by adding that this is a focus only on the "mainstream" Hip Hop music, but that is not a depiction of what is Hip Hop - only about 10% of it. Basically, since right now, Hip Hop is at the pinnacle of its mainstreem success - and dominated by african american males - this genre recieves a litany of peccable reprimands. Which in my most humble of opinions, is quite odd considering that no one cared to really draw an eye to Hip Hop until Tupac and Biggie were murdered. Before that no Hip Hop was played at sporting events, in areanas, on commercials, and rarely in movies - the only outlets were the "urban" radio stations and videos.

I think about this....

If it were rock-n-roll, which has a plethora of sub-genres (punk, alternative, surf, rockabillie, death metal, heavy metal, 80's rock), it would the equivilant of making death metal or punk rock the mainstream for rock. Nowadays when you visualize Hip Hop you think of all the negative (bitch, hoe, shoot someone, sell drugs, pimping, fancy car, throwing money around).

Now this is not all fault of the industry. People who are lovers of Hip Hop need to embrace and make a push for all forms of Hip Hop, if they want the other side to be shown. We need to support the positive rappers as much, if not more, than the idiots who are part of the new Hip Hop Minstral Show.

Surprisingly no episode of this is on youtube or on the home page of BET.com (or ANY "hip hop" blog or website) - so this is obviously of no importance to "the masses" - but I digress.

The most powerful statement ...."we are well adjusted to injustice"

Talib Kweli "Eardrum" go buy it make it platinum...

originally written Thursday, June 26, 2008

Hip Hop is Dead

What does that mean? It does not mean what most people perceive it to be. Most people would say, "are you crazy hip hop is not dead", "Kanye Sellin like crazy", "Fiddy is bananas", Soulja Boy is hot right now", and "Weezy is on fiyah" - true as that may be, that is not a sign that hip hop is not dead.

Now before you go thinking this is one of those "real" hip hop rants is not!


HIP HOP AS WE KNOW IT IS DEAD...

Hip Hop is no longer street, by that I don't mean "gangsta". I am saying it is no longer about the street culture and aesthetic - graffiti, break dancing, block parties, community activism, and things of the like.
Why did NWA say "fuck the police" why was Ice-T a "cop killer"and why is there no groups like X-clan or Africa Bambatta or even De La Soul?

WHAT IS THIS NEW HIP HOP

I swear every one of the mainstream rapper now are "thugs" and "gangstas". I often ask myself "why is this all they offer, why is this the only picture they want painted?".
More importantly the new hip hop is all media driven, you cant sell a single record under a major label otherwise. Now I'm not just talking apperences on MTV and BET and possibly Leno or Carson Daly - I'm talking getting arrested, getting shot at, court for child support, or some fake ass premeditated ultra fabricated beef.

Every since the media lit fire to the Tupac and Bigg beef, they realized how much control they have over this genre of the music industry. Every aspect is driven by the media, more appropriately is all propaganda and publicity stunts.
That's why Puff does not even put out a new group unless they have been on TV for a year before they release the album.

That's why Kanye West and 50 Cent had to have a public competition to sale their latest records.
That's why Lil Wayne had to talk about the Carter III for almost 2 years
That why every year its 1 producer who does pretty much all the hot songs for that year...*ahem* T-Pain currently

So do you now agree Hip Hop is dead?