black…MYstory

I am not a journalist by any stretch of the imagination. I am an opinionated guy with a website. However, I still think I could have done a better job than Insight Magazine and Fox News.

Insight Magazine is owned by the same company as the conservative paper The Washington Times (The Washington Times is owned by Sun Myung Moon who, among other things, literally thinks he’s the new messiah). So, needless to say, one should expect it to be ideologically-bent. But, now, it, as well as Fox News, are eating crow over a story they ran. Insight published a story alleging that, as a child, Barack Obama attended a madrassa, a type of Muslim school that supposedly teaches radical Islam and espouses strong Anti-Western doctrines. The anonymous source for this story was alleged to have been someone inside the Hillary Clinton campaign staff. Well, after this story appeared, right-wing blogs and television shows, including shows on the Fox News Network and CNN’s Glenn Beck ran with this to bolster their partisan rantings.

Now, to attack Obama for something that occurred when he was six years old was silly enough but, it gets worse — the story is flat-out false.

The school Obama attended was not a madrassa. In fact, the school has not religious foundation whatsoever. Unlike Fox or Insight, CNN news actually did some fact-checking and found out that the school Obama attended is a public school where boys and girls attend alike and teachers and students wear Western clothing. Additionally, the student body contains children of diverse religions backgrounds, including Christians, Buddhists and Confucians.

Futhermore, the Clinton campaign denies being the source of the story and calls the piece “an obvious right-wing hit job.”

From what I hear, Fox issued some sort of statement yesterday saying they were only referencing a source and offering opinion on the allegations. But, it appears to me that, once again, the xenophobes on the Right have forsaken journalistic integrity for fierce partisanship.

For those interested, the CNN video is below (thanks to crooksandliars.com)

 

 Lie about Obama debunked: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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“U.N.I.T.Y.” from the album Black Reign

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To call Darfur, Sudan a dangerous place would be an understatement. I have heard estimates as high as 500,000 in regards to the number of people killed in the genocide. In addition to this, women and young girls are routinely raped by members of the Janjaweed militias. However, these rapes are not only the plight of black Sudanese women but, also, aid workers.

Groups such as Oxfam and Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) have had female workers sexually attacked. As a result, this puts the future of aid work in Sudan in jeopardy.

This is just the latest chapter in a frightening and depressing saga that, for the most part, goes on ignored.

But, because it black life and the lives of those helping these black folks, maybe it just doesn’t matter to rest of the world.

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FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps has sounded an alarm on the plight of black media owner by calling it a “national disgrace.”

Addressing the 10th annual Wall Street Project conference, Copps discussed how black broadcast media ownership has fallen 30% in the past nine years. So, if one looks at black television, for instance, black ownership is 1.3% of the total market.

Copps lays it out in plain and stark terms:

Copps said media ownership has a direct bearing on how people of color are portrayed in the media.

“And we wonder why the depictions of minorities in our media are so often distorted? We wonder why issues of importance to our many diverse communities don’t get the attention they need if they are ever to be resolved? Let’s be frank: ownership matters. Truth be told, ownership rules. Unless and until we do something to increase minority ownership, our communications sectors will continue to under-serve the great Promise of America.”

Point taken.

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Here’s my perfect scenario for the State of the Union speech tomorrow:

Bush: “My fellow Americans, I am here to report to you the state of our union. It is not as strong as it was and I take full responsibility for that. As a result, effective Feb. 1 2006, both I and Vice President Dick Cheney will step down from our positions of leadership in hopes of salvaging our nation’s credibility as a beacon of democracy.

Thank you and good night.”

Okay, I know that’s crazy but, I can dream, can’t I?

C’mon, I can’t be the only one thinking this. If not, how do you explain Bush’s latest approval ratings? Our illustrious leader has, again, matched his lowest rating of 33% in an ABC News/Washington Post poll.

For Bush, the bad news just starts there. Dismay over the unpopular war is dragging him down across the board, from his personal ratings to his position vis-à-vis the resurgent Democrats. It’s all a remarkable comedown for a president who, shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, saw his approval rating soar to the highest for any president in polls since 1938.

Today, by contrast, 71 percent in this ABC News/Washington Post poll say the country is headed seriously off on the wrong track — the most since budget battles led to a highly unpopular government shutdown in early 1996. Bush’s war leadership clearly is the prime complaint: Sixty-four percent call the war a mistake, more than said so about Vietnam during that conflict.

The intensity of sentiment, moreover, has only grown: Fifty-one percent of Americans now “strongly” disapprove of Bush’s job performance overall, a majority for the first time. Just 17 percent strongly approve — a 3-1 negative ratio.

Through a partisan lens, three-quarters of Republicans continue to approve of Bush — but with much diminished vigor. There are only about half as many Republicans who “strongly” approve (42 percent) as there are Democrats who strongly disapprove (76 percent). And among two of his core support groups, conservatives and evangelical white Protestants, he’s at career lows in overall approval.

So, while my fantasy may sound implausible, I’m sure that there are millions out there having the same fantasy, right now.

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“So Wat Cha Sayin’” from the album Unfinished Business

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYcUY471dZM

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