Paul Krassner & Nancy Cain said "well done and rare,
simultaneously."
But Phil Proctor said "Michael, you know I love and appreciate you, but you
are so wrong on this issue, it fucking staggers me. This is Nazi-style
propaganda disguised as parody. Think it over."
Baron Dave Romm said "A fair point. I praise lots of political satire, when
I agree with it. I haven't said anything about 'We Hate the USA' except to note
that some of it came from Limbaugh whom I dismiss pretty much out of
hand."
Michael Simmons said "Utterly refreshing. The politically correctums of any
ideology or religion are a pain in the ass."
Someone named Julia said "NICE ONE!!!:) where can one find the republicans
with this now infamous cd? I WANT IT!!! LOL&HAPPY NEW YEAR"
Lee Quarnstrom said "Hey, could it be that Puff the Magic Dragon
is a DRUG song? Nah, just kiddin'."
Anonymous said "Being a Tennessean, I dislike a pointedly racial satirical
song sent out as a Christmas gift by one of my representatives. It might be a
clever piece, but at this time of such overwhelming serious issues facing our
country it smacks of stupidity to think anyone but a racist will find it funny.
Read the lyrics." and another Anonymous said "I defend free speech in every way
I can. Something has to incite violent action before I will decry it. This
doesn't. But fuck, oh fuck, that singer is crap. Not the sweet voices of the
original saccharine garbage, but just crap. It's like listening to a chainsaw
taking your arm off. It's painful." A third anonymous said...
"Bush's Magic Tax Cut lives in DC And funnels through our pocketbooks an
oil subsidy. Texaco and Enron loved that rascal Bush, They filled his
PACS With money sacks That came up to his tush!"
"I have to do this because Rush is on our
radio station," Smith said. "We're going to see him tomorrow. You've heard the
parody song 'Barack the "Magic Negro?'"
"You know, I have not heard it but I've heard of it," Obama said. "I
confess that I don't listen to Rush on a daily basis. On the other hand, I'm
not one of these people who, who takes myself so seriously that I get offended
by -- by every -- every comment made about me. You know, the -- you know, what
Rush does is entertainment, and although it's probably not something that I
listen to much, I don't -- "
"But you said not every day, so you do listen a little then, and why
wouldn't you?" Smith interrupted.
"I don't mind, I don't mind, I don't mind folks poking fun at me," Obama
said. "That's part of the job."
Just about everything offensive in the song comes directly from David
Ehrenstein's original article from the LA Times, Obama
the 'Magic Negro, in which Ehrenstein explains the history of the
phrase...
The Magic Negro is a figure of postmodern folk culture, coined by snarky
20th century sociologists, to explain a cultural figure who emerged in the
wake of Brown vs. Board of Education. "He has no past, he simply appears one
day to help the white protagonist," reads the description on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_Negro
.
He's there to assuage white "guilt" (i.e., the minimal discomfort they
feel) over the role of slavery and racial segregation in American history,
while replacing stereotypes of a dangerous, highly sexualized black man with a
benign figure for whom interracial sexual congress holds no interest.
Can't blame modern Republicans for resurrecting a phrase that's been
around for decades. Blame Ehrenstein for that.
I'm afraid the whole definition of racism is changing, and we're going to
have to usher in a new era in which it's okay for whites to make fun of blacks,
simply because you can't stop us from making fun of the president.
Imagine Tom Lehrer on stage, finishing off a rousing rendition of
Poisoning Pigeons in the Park, saying "The LA Times has called our
president elect 'Obama the Magic Negro.' I can't help but wonder if Al Sharpton
were a member of Peter, Paul and Mary, what would he think of the Times article?
I have a modest example..." And he sings the song.
Or Kenan Thompson playing a dynamite Al Sharpton, as he has many times
on SNL, reading the article in the Los Angeles Times, getting hit on
the head, the video gets all wavy, and when he wakes up, he's dreaming he's
Peter, Paul, and Mary singing Barack the Magic Negro. Tell me you
wouldn't laugh. Context is all it takes, and if Saturday Night Live had
the balls it used to have, they'd do it this week.
Lehrer's a major genius and I'm certainly not saying Barack the Magic
Negro comes close to matching his lyrical dexterity. Paul Shanklin isn't as
articulate as Lehrer, as funny as Weird Al, as off-beat as Luke Ski, or as
Jewish as Allan Sherman. Nevertheless all the problems with the song can be
explained away by the concept: It's poorly recorded because it's a home
recording by Al Sharpton, it's not well written because Al Sharpton is an idiot,
it's not well sung because Al Sharpton can't sing, and it's politically
incorrect because it's Al Fucking Sharpton.
Dreidel Dreidel Dreidel is a song from South Park. In it,
Cartman sings "Dreidel dreidel dreidel, I made it out of clay, but I'm not going
to play with it 'cause dreidel's fucking gay. Jews - play stupid games. Jews -
That's why they're lame."
Taken out of context, this song could be played at a Nazi rally with every
skinhead pinhead singing along, taking the damn thing seriously. As a Jew, that
should piss me off.
But it doesn't because it's Cartman, the biggest asshole on the planet
earth, one of the greatest characters in animation history, racist, fascist,
manipulative, totally hilarious, and anyone who thinks the creators of South
Park are ACTUALLY racist is just being a dick. They've created a CHARACTER
who thinks such things and they dare to give him voice. If Nazis decided to use
the song for their own nefarious purposes, and I'm surprised they haven't,
that's good reason for getting angry at the Nazis, not Trey Parker and Matt
Stone, who were just being funny.
It's good old "one step removed" humor, probably invented by Andy Kaufman
when he first appeared on Saturday Night Live lip synching to the theme
from Mighty Mouse. What made it funny was that he played it as a person
who didn't think it was funny, who thought lip synching to Mighty Mouse
was a performance actually worthy of national television, and it was, but
only if you got it. Springtime for Hitler too; it simply can't be
removed from it's setting in The Producers as something that's
deliberately the worst musical ever produced.
I understand there are people who just don't get it, who never have, and
never will, find things like South Park funny. Not to beat a conundrum
slowly but the humorless deserve a reasonable explanation for what's the big
deal. Here it is.
Cartman doesn't hate Jews because they control the world's banks. He
doesn't hate Jews because of all the killing in Gaza. He hates Jews because they
play with dreidels and dreidels are lame. Who can argue with that? He's a five
year old racist who only hates things a five year old would hate. Dreidel
Dreidel Dreidel is funny because it's Cartman and Barack the Magic
Negro is funny because it's Al Sharpton. Either song, taken out of the
context of the character singing them, could easily be misinterpreted as racist,
and racism is bad, mmmkay, like the word fuck, you should never say it or even
type it, I get that. I also think one of the best ways to get rid of something
is to make fun of it and to say fuck all the time.
Join Erin Hart as she fills in LIVE on Colorado's Colorado's Progressive Talk AM760.net, from 5am to 9am pst | 6am to 10am mst | 7am to 11am cst | 8am to noon est, today, Dec. 26th, and Monday - Friday 29th, 30th, 31st and Jan. 1st and 2nd.
And Change is Coming-what do you love or hate about 2008? Can Obama really bring the change we need?
Enjoy Chanukah, Christmas and Kwanzaa and Celebrate 2009 with us!
Roger Ebert: Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold
It's all coming to pieces, isn't it -- the world we live in, the continuity we thought we could count on, the climate, the economy, the fragile peace. The 20th century was called "the American Century," with some reason. I do not believe the 21st century will belong to anybody, and it may not last for 100 years of human witness. There are nuclear weapons in the Middle East and on the Indian subcontinent, and if one is used, more will follow and who can say when the devastation will end?
Stacy Teicher Khadaroo: "Wanted: More science and math teachers in the US" (news.yahoo.com)
New Bedford, Mass. - Jeremy Kennefick and Geoffrey Gailey are both new science teachers, one a career-changer, the other fresh out of graduate school. Both are teaching in high-poverty districts, where the needs are greatest. And both are surrounded by a rare level of support - financial incentives, mentors, and groups of other new teachers to consult with as they grow in the profession.
Garrison Keillor: Skip the Big Belch with Gay Paree visit (chicagotribune.com)
Minnesotans are a humorous people and we are attempting to elect a comedian to the U.S. Senate, which is delicate work, as you might guess. You shouldn't sweep a comedian into office on a wave of public adulation any more than you should let him win the heroine in the first reel and fly off to Paris and suddenly start ordering meals in fluent French. You need him to move a piano up a long flight of stairs, and that's what Al Franken is doing now. He is leading the race by 50 votes or so out of 2.9 million cast. And when he boosts the piano to the top, he'll sit down and play Chopin.
Will Harris: A Chat with Paul WS Anderson, Director of "Death Race," "Resident Evil" and "Alien vs. Predator"
"In ('Death Race 2000'), although the characters hate one another, they never attack one another with their cars. They're never trying to run each other off the road. And there's a really simple explanation as for why that is: Roger could only afford to build one of each car. So if he ever crashed the cars, there would be no movie! And another thing is that a lot of the cars have machine guns latched on the front of them, but the machine guns never fireŠbecause they're made out of wood!"
Scene stealer: The aXXo files (independent.co.uk)
To Hollywood executives, he's public enemy number one. To film fans around the world, he's a modern-day Robin Hood. As the internet's most prolific pirate makes his 1,000th illegal film download available to the masses, Tim Walker investigates the mysterious figure known only as aXXo.
Marian the Teacher, still in Philly, was first, but wrong, with:
All three are parks.
Alan J responded:
All are parks and/or recreation areas
Sally answered:
Since I am working from my daughter's home, and using her computer with the teeny, tiny print, I will guess that: Besides being in the San Francisco Bay area, Mount Tamalpais, the Presidio, and Angel Island all are State Parks. God, I hope I'm right here...
Happy New Year!
Kappy,scratching his head in Philly, wrote:
They are all a part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area? They were all featured in a short film in 1902, by Thomas Edison? They can all be seen in MILK? I found other things in common, but not sure what you are looking for....
mj said:
Wild guess
They're all on the Pacific plate.
Adam in NoHo almost got it:
Well, apart from being protected parks (but not in the same Park systems), and
being important to native tribes of the area (though not all the same tribes),
Mount Tamalpais, the Presidio, and Angel Island are sites for various military
installations through US history and all three places offer excellent views of
SF itself.
MAM with the only correct answer replied:
Besides being in the San Francisco Bay area, what do Mount Tamalpais, the Presidio, and Angel Island all have in common?
This was a hard one! I think that what they all had in common was that during the Cold War, all three had Nike missille defense installations.
Charlie answered:
I guess I better answer this, even though I'm at a loss.
They are all
1) California State Parks
2) Part of The Golden Gate National Recreation Area
3) Places where the Zodiac Killer did his thing
4) In Marin County, which the terms of the question disqualify, as do #1 and #2.
5) they are all made of protons, neutrons, and electrons, as are you and I.
They have also, apparently, all served as concentration camps, a fate which we
all must beware of.
Sally wins, I suspect (not sure).
Milk - In Limited Theaters Now - WIDE Release on December 12th
After moving to San Francisco, the middle-aged New Yorker, Harvey Milk, became a Gay Rights activist and city politician. On his third attempt, he was elected to San Francisco's Board of Supervisors in 1977, making him the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in the USA. The following year, both he and the city's mayor, George Moscone, were shot to death by former city supervisor, Dan White, who blamed his former colleagues for denying White's attempt to rescind his resignation from the board.
Mr. Milk had been the subject of several books and the Academy Award-winning documentary feature, The Times of Harvey Milk (1984); but Milk (2008) is the first fictional feature to explore private aspects of the man's personal life and career.
Milk was filmed on location in San Francisco. Many of Mr Milk's real-life surviving friends and former associates participated in the making of this film, several appearing on camera.
Prizes:
4 prizes in all - 3 first-prizes:
Levi's Canvas Tote Bag filled with:
o Hat
o T-shirt
o Soundtrack
o Milk: A Pictorial History of Harvey Milk
And, 1 grand prize:
Levi's Canvas Tote Bag filled with:
o Sweatshirt (made from recycled materials)
o Script Book
o Hat
o T-Shirt
o Soundtrack
o Milk: A Pictorial History of Harvey Milk
CBS begins the night with a RERUN'Ghost Whisperer', followed by another RERUN'Ghost Whisperer', then a RERUN'NUMB3RS'.
On a RERUNDave (from 12/11/08) are Sen. John McCain and Bon Iver.
On a RERUNCraig (from 11/20/08) are Larry the Cable Guy, and Third Day.
NBC starts the night with a FRESH'Deal Or No Deal', followed by a FRESH'Lipstick Jungle', then 'Dateline'.
On a RERUNLeno (from 12/22/08) are Robin Williams, Freida Pinto, and Johnny Mathis.
On a RERUNConan (from 9/9/08) are Keira Knightley, Tyler Perry, and Bill Burr.
On a RERUNCarson 'The Scab' Daly (from 11/11/08) are Jay Mohr and the Sounds.
ABC opens the night with a RERUN'Wife Swap', followed by a RERUN'Supernanny', then another unwatchable '20/20'.
On a RERUNJimmy Kimmel (from 11/26/08) are Reese Witherspoon, Human Wrecking Balls Craig and Paul Pumphrey, and Scott Weiland.
The CW offers a RERUN'Everybody Hates Chris', followed by a RERUN'The Game', then another RERUN'Everybody Hates Chris', followed by another RERUN'The Game'.
Faux has the LIVE'College Football - 2008 Allstate Sugar Bowl', then pads the left coast with local crap.
MY has a FRESH'WWE Friday Night Steroid SmackDown!'.
PLEASE check local PBS listings for a FRESH'Bill Moyers Journal', and a FRESH'NOW With Bill Moyers David Brancaccio'.
AMC offers the movie 'Rocky IV', followed by the movie 'Constantine', then the movie 'Return To House On Haunted Hill'.
BBC -
[12:00 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 3
[12:30 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 4
[1:00 PM] How Clean Is Your House? US - Episode 11
[1:30 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 1
[2:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 2 D-Place
[3:00 PM] Gordon Ramsay's F Word - Episode 2
[4:00 PM] How Clean Is Your House? US - Episode 12
[4:30 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 2
[5:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 3 Momma Cherri's
[6:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares Revisited - Ep 1 La Parra de Burriana
[7:00 PM] BBC World News
[7:30 PM] My Family - Ep 1 Bliss for Idiots
[8:00 PM] Monty Python's Flying Circus - Ep. 8 Full Frontal Nudity
[8:40 PM] Little Britain - Episode 1
[9:20 PM] The Catherine Tate Show - Episode 1
[10:00 PM] BBC World News
[10:30 PM] Coupling - Ep 1 Split
[11:00 PM] Monty Python's Flying Circus - Ep. 8 Full Frontal Nudity
[11:40 PM] Little Britain - Episode 1
[12:20 AM] The Catherine Tate Show - Episode 1
[1:00 AM] Monty Python's Flying Circus - Ep. 8 Full Frontal Nudity
[1:40 AM] Little Britain - Episode 1
[2:20 AM] The Catherine Tate Show, - Episode 1
[3:00 AM] Skins - Ep 1 Tony
[4:00 AM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 1
[4:30 AM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 2
[5:00 AM] Cash in the Attic - Ep. 11 Inglis
[5:30 AM] Cash in the Attic - Ep. 12 Kitching
[6:00 AM] BBC World News (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has 'Swingtown', 'Real Housewives Of Atlanta', another 'Real Housewives Of Atlanta', and the movie 'Honey'.
Comedy Central has 'Scrubs', another 'Scrubs', 'Futurama', another 'Futurama', 'Chappelle's Show', another 'Chappelle's Show', 'Comedy Central Presents' (Nick Swardson), and another 'Comedy Central Presents' (Jo Koy).
FX has the movie 'The Core', followed by the movie 'Behind Enemy Lines', then the movie 'Behind Enemy Lines', again.
History has 'Ax Men', 'Seven Deadly Sins' (Sloth), followed by a FRESH'Seven Deadly Sins' (Greed), and 'Crash: The Next Great Depression?'.
IFC -
[7:00 AM] Bruce Lee: His Last Days, His Last Nights
[8:30 AM] The Battle of Shaker Heights
[9:50 AM] Close to Home
[11:30 AM] Bruce Lee: His Last Days, His Last Nights
[1:00 PM] The Battle of Shaker Heights
[2:20 PM] Close to Home
[4:00 PM] Bruce Lee: His Last Days, His Last Nights
[5:30 PM] Coastlines
[7:25 PM] Blue Velvet
[9:30 PM] Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
[11:30 PM] Hell Girl
[12:00 AM] Crash
[1:45 AM] Hallucinations of a Deranged Mind
[3:15 AM] Blue Velvet
[5:20 AM] Close to Home (ALL TIMES EST)
SciFi has 'Stargate Atlantis', another 'Stargate Atlantis', followed by a FRESH'Stargate Atlantis', then a FRESH'Sanctuary'.
Sundance -
[05:00 AM] The Legacy
[06:15 AM] The Rock and Roll Kid
[07:15 AM] The Page Turner
[08:45 AM] The Man Who Became King
[10:00 AM] Big Ideas for a Small Planet - Season 2: Decorate
[10:35 AM] Eco Documentaries - Season 2: The Unforeseen
[12:10 PM] The Sierra Club Chronicles: Episode 1
[01:00 PM] Iconoclasts - Season 4: Archbishop Desmond Tutu + Sir Richard Branson
[02:00 PM] Music Rising
[02:45 PM] Man Push Cart
[04:15 PM] The Page Turner
[06:00 PM] The Favor
[08:00 PM] Ladette to Lady - Season 2: Episode 1
[09:00 PM] Live From Abbey Road - Season 2: Sheryl Crow, Hard-Fi & Diana Krall
[10:00 PM] Blame It On Fidel!
[11:45 PM] Harvie Krumpet
[12:15 AM] Fierce People
[02:15 AM] Live From Abbey Road - Season 2: Sheryl Crow, Hard-Fi & Diana Krall
[03:15 AM] Little Odessa
[05:00 AM] Man Push Cart (ALL TIMES EST)
A member of the Ferko string band performs at the city hall judging area during the Mummers Parade in Philadelphia, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2009.
Photo by Joseph Kaczmarek
Many of Microsoft's Zune media players that froze up on the last day of 2008 because of a glitch involving their internal clock were functioning properly Thursday as the new year was ushered in, according to the company. However, a few people were still complaining of problems operating the devices.
Microsoft spokesman Brian Eskridge said that based on responses from customers and his review of online message forums, affected users of the 30-gigabyte Zune model were not having further problems after fully recharging their devices and powering them on again on Thursday.
But, by midmorning Thursday, a few people were still complaining on one online Zune forum about their devices not booting up. Most people on the forum said their devices were working, and they encouraged people who were still having problems to be patient and let their devices fully charge before powering them on again.
A day earlier when people turned on the 30-gigabyte model, the device would freeze and wouldn't fully boot up, meaning users couldn't play music, videos and games or transfer material between their PCs and the devices. Frustrated users lit up Microsoft's online support forum for Zunes with more than 2,500 messages by Wednesday afternoon.
Cynthia Nixon from the television series 'Sex In the City' rides on the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer float 'Hope Grows' along Colorado Blvd. during the 120th Rose Parade in Pasadena Calif., Thursday, Jan. 1, 2009.
Photo by Richard Vogel
Fifty years after triumphant armed rebels descended from the eastern mountains, communist Cuba celebrated the revolution's anniversary Thursday with toned-down festivities following a trio of devastating hurricanes and under the enduring public absence of an ailing Fidel Castro.
The austere celebrations, including dances and concerts across the island, belied the start of a year infused with possibilities for increased cash and visitors, and other changes that might ease Cubans' daily hardships.
President Raul Castro, who succeeded his older brother in February, planned to speak Thursday night from the same balcony where Fidel declared victory over dictator Fulgencio Batista's government on Jan. 1, 1959.
No foreign leaders were expected at the evening speech on a small, leafy plaza, with little fanfare beyond invitations to 3,000 Communist Party faithful. Outside the seaside U.S. Interests Section in Havana, the popular group Los Van Van performed.
Music sales have continued to slump in 2008 as the increased number of downloads of digital tracks failed to make up for a plunge in the sale of compact discs.
Year-end sales figures released Wednesday by The Nielsen Co. show total album sales, including album equivalents made up of single digital tracks, fell to 428.4 million units, down 8.5 percent from 500.5 million in 2007.
Physical album sales fell 20 percent to 362.6 million from 450.5 million, while digital album sales rose 32 percent to a record 65.8 million units.
Digital track sales, such as those conducted in Apple Inc.'s iTunes Music Store, were up 27 percent from last year, breaking the 1 billion mark for the first time at 1.07 billion.
Female impersonator Gary Marion, transformed into "Sushi", reaches the end of his descent to Duval Street in Key West, Florida, January 1, 2009. The Big Red Shoe Drop, with "Sushi" in a large facsimile of a woman's high heel outside the Bourbon Street Pub Complex, was a whimsical takeoff on New York City's Times Square ball drop.
Photo by Andy Newman
There's no need to cry, Dora. The programmer Viacom and Time Warner Cable agreed on compensation that preserved access for the cable system operator's 15.7 million subscribers to Dora's Nickelodeon network, MTV and 17 other channels.
The two sides, citing disagreement over fee hikes, had threatened a damaging blackout at a minute past midnight Thursday that would have cut off shows such as "Dora the Explorer," "SpongeBob SquarePants" and "The Colbert Report" for Time Warner Cable customers.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Details must still be finalized over the next few days, the companies said.
As cohost of TNT's NBA coverage, Charles Barkley is always ready with a salty quip. And he's still adept at giving a play-by-play when necessary.
The portly former player, arrested on suspicion of DUI this morning, apparently got quite chummy with the Arizona cops who busted him, telling them in no uncertain terms why he was running a stop sign at 1:26 a.m.
"You want the truth? I was gonna drive around the corner and get a b--w j-b," Barkley told a Gilbert Police Department officer, according to his arrest report, which was obtained by the Smoking Gun.
In fact, he was planning an encore visit with a girl who the previous week gave him "the best one he had ever had in his life."
Of all the threats to scientific research Wesley Sizemore has stymied over the years, satellites and cell phone towers don't stick in his memory quite like the possessive old hound and its treasured heating pad.
Sizemore is an interference hunter, vigilantly pursuing stray electromagnetic signals that bedevil researchers at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, which sits on 13,000 square miles tucked away in the nation's only radio-free quiet zone.
Radio observatories need interference-free zones like optical observatories need clear night skies.
Though buffered by ridgetops in a West Virginia mountain valley, 50 miles from the nearest town of any size, the Green Bank observatory is under an audio assault unlike any it's faced in the 50 years since Congress created the quiet zone. Wireless computers and other gadgets are cluttering the same frequencies occupied by signals from neutron stars.
An artist from India's desert state of Rajasthan performs a folk dance during a ten-day long Gandhi Shilp fair in the northern Indian city of Allahabad January 1, 2009.
Photo by Jitendra Prakash
Thieves calling themselves "The Educators" have returned a statue stolen from disgraced investment guru Bernie Madoff. And they hope he's learned his lesson.
The Palm Beach Post reports that the $10,000 copper sculpture turned up Wednesday near the country club Madoff (MAY'-dawf) belonged to.
A note attached read: "Bernie the Swindler, Lesson: Return stolen property to rightful owners. Signed by - The Educators."
The statue was reported missing Dec. 22, about a week after the Wall Street money manager was arrested on charges he bilked investors out of more than $50 billion. His clients included major banks, charities and retirees.
This year, the Wikimedia Foundation - a nonprofit organization that operates the Wikipedia family of Web sites - set a goal of $6 million in donations, enough to cover its 2009 expenses, while hoping to buck the global financial slowdown.
At first, it appeared the fundraising drive that began on Nov. 3 would fall short.
Then, on Dec. 23, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales wrote an impassioned plea to the site's users, imploring them to put their faith in the foundation and to "imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge."
Before his appeal to users, the foundation was receiving about $30,000 a day in donations. Now it averages more than $215,000 in every day.
Fireworks explode over the temple of the Parthenon atop the hill of the Acropolis during New Year's Day celebrations in Athens January 1, 2009.
Photo by Yiorgos Karahalis
Helen Suzman, for decades South Africa's most famous white crusader against apartheid, died on Thursday at the age of 91.
The daughter of Jewish immigrants waged an often lonely parliamentary battle to enfranchise the black majority.
She became one of the few whites to earn respect from black South Africans when she started making regular visits to Nelson Mandela, the black nationalist leader sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964.
The Nelson Mandela Foundation said South Africa had lost a "great patriot and a fearless fighter against apartheid."
Recalling Suzman's first visit to B-Section of Robben Island prison in 1967, Mandela once said: "It was an odd and wonderful sight to see this courageous woman peering into our cells and strolling around our courtyard. She was the first and only woman ever to grace our cells."
Suzman was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and won praise from human rights organizations from around the world for her crusade against apartheid.
A member of the liberal Progressive Federal Party for much of her career, she was regularly jeered in parliament with taunts such as "Go back to Moscow" or "Go back to Israel" -- a reference to her Jewish heritage.
Her arch-foe President P.W. Botha dubbed her "Mother Superior" in sarcastic reference to her scolding attacks on the Nationalists.
Suzman retired in 1989 but remained outspoken, criticizing the post-apartheid ANC's performance on issues such as unemployment and corruption and expressing concern over "affirmative action" driving skilled whites out of the country.
Claiborne Pell, the quirky blueblood who represented blue-collar Rhode Island in the U.S. Senate for 36 years and was the force behind a grant program that has helped tens of millions of Americans attend college, died Thursday after a long battle with Parkinson's disease. He was 90.
Pell, a Democrat, died at his Newport home just after midnight, according to his former assistant, Jan Demers.
Pell was first elected to the Senate in 1960. The skinny son of a New York congressman, Pell spoke with an aristocratic tone but was an unabashed liberal who spent his political career championing causes to help the less fortunate.
Quiet, thoughtful and polite to a fault, Pell seemed out of place in an era of in-your-face, made-for-television politicians. A multimillionaire, he often wore old, ill-fitting suits and sometimes jogged in a tweed coat.
Though criticized by some for his fascination with UFOs and extra sensory perception, he was best remembered for his devotion to education, maritime and foreign affairs issues.
Legislation creating the Basic Educational Opportunity Grants passed in 1972, providing direct aid to college students. The awards were renamed "Pell Grants" in 1980. By the time Pell retired, they had aided more than 54 million low- and middle-income Americans.
Born in 1918, Pell came from a political family and was a descendant of early New York landowners who lived among the old-money families in Newport. Five family members served in the House or Senate, including great-great-granduncle George M. Dallas, who was a senator from Pennsylvania in the 1830s and vice president under President James K. Polk in the 1840s. His father, Herbert Claiborne Pell, was a one-term representative from New York.
Pell graduated from Princeton in 1940, and served in the Coast Guard during World War II. He remained in the Coast Guard Reserve until retiring as a captain in 1978.
A dove who vigorously opposed the Vietnam War, Pell in 1987 became chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. He was considered a weak chairman, and he lost the job to Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina when Republicans gained a majority in 1994.
When attending a July 2006 ceremony in his honor in Newport, Pell did not talk, letting his wife, Nuala, speak on his behalf.
He and his wife, who married in 1944, had four children. Their daughter Julia died of lung cancer in 2006 at age 52.
Actor Bernie Hamilton, who played the no-nonsense police captain on the 1970s TV series "Starsky and Hutch," has died. He was 80. Hamilton died of cardiac arrest Tuesday night at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, said his son, Raoul Hamilton.
Born in Los Angeles in 1928, Hamilton ran away from home as a teenager and wound up staying in someone's garage and attending Oakland Technical High School, where he played football and got involved in acting.
After "Starsky and Hutch," Hamilton spent the next 20 years in the music business producing R&B and gospel records under the record label Chocolate Snowman.
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Make yourself home, take your shoes off...
Go ahead, scratch it if it itches.
The idea is to have fun.
Do you have something to say?
Anything that increased your blood pressure, or, even better,
amused or entertained?
Do you have a great album no one's heard?
How about a favorite TV show, movie, book, play, cartoon, or legal amusement?
A popular artist that just plain pisses you off?
A box set the whole world should own?
Vile, filthy rumors about Republican musicians?
Just plain vile, filthy rumors?
This is your place.
"I have to do this because Rush is on our radio station," Smith said. "We're going to see him tomorrow. You've heard the parody song 'Barack the "Magic Negro?'"
"You know, I have not heard it but I've heard of it," Obama said. "I confess that I don't listen to Rush on a daily basis. On the other hand, I'm not one of these people who, who takes myself so seriously that I get offended by -- by every -- every comment made about me. You know, the -- you know, what Rush does is entertainment, and although it's probably not something that I listen to much, I don't -- ""But you said not every day, so you do listen a little then, and why wouldn't you?" Smith interrupted."I don't mind, I don't mind, I don't mind folks poking fun at me," Obama said. "That's part of the job."
Can't blame modern Republicans for resurrecting a phrase that's been
around for decades. Blame Ehrenstein for that.
Dreidel Dreidel Dreidel is a song from South Park. In it,
Cartman sings "Dreidel dreidel dreidel, I made it out of clay, but I'm not going
to play with it 'cause dreidel's fucking gay. Jews - play stupid games. Jews -
That's why they're lame."
with the only correct answer replied:
