Seriously?

The New York Post's editors clearly weren't thinking, which appears to be par for their course:

"But it has been taken as something else -- as a depiction of President Obama, as a thinly veiled expression of racism," reads the statement. "This most certainly was not its intent; to those who were offended by the image, we apologize....However, there are some in the media and in public life who have had differences with The Post in the past -- and they see the incident as an opportunity for payback," the statement says. "To them, no apology is due. Sometimes a cartoon is just a cartoon -- even as the opportunists seek to make it something else."

Come, now, you can't really believe that is a legitimate apology. Any reasonably sentient person with even a shred of historical perspective would easily make the association of the chimp to the first African-American President of the US. Given the legacy of racist depictions of African-Americans, over centuries, as monkeys or apes, any aforementioned reasonable person should draw the conclusion that a cartoon such as this would be perceived as at best insensitive, at worst blatantly racist.

As for the defenders of the artist and tabloid who point out that GW Bush was often portrayed as a chimp, the intent of the cartoon is beside the point. There is a line beyond which is no man's land when it comes to racial sensitivity, and there's just too much historical baggage for this to be taken in another context.

live action facebook...

How Did You Die?

this is one of my all-time favorite poems - sj

How Did You Die?
By Edmund Vance Cook – 1866-1932

Did you tackle that trouble that came your way
With a resolute heart and cheerful?
Or hide your face from the light of day
With a craven soul and fearful?
Oh, a trouble’s a ton, or a trouble’s an ounce,
Or a trouble is what you make it.
And it isn’t the fact that you’re hurt that counts,
But only how did you take it?

You are beaten to earth? Well, well, what’s that?
Come up with a smiling face.
It’s nothing against you to fall down flat,
But to lie there – that’s disgrace.
The harder you’re thrown, why the higher you bounce;
Be proud of your blackened eye!
It isn’t the fact that you’re licked that counts;
It’s how did you fight and why?

And though you be done to death, what then?
If you battled the best you could;
If you played your part in the world of men,
Why, the Critic will call it good.
Death comes with a crawl, or comes with a pounce,
And whether he’s slow or spry,
It isn’t the fact that you’re dead that counts,
But only, how did you die?

Baby-faced boy Alfie Patten is father at 13

BOY dad Alfie Patten yesterday admitted he does not know how much nappies cost — but said: “I think it’s a lot.”
Baby-faced Alfie, who is 13 but looks more like eight, became a father four days ago when his girlfriend Chantelle Steadman gave birth to 7lb 3oz Maisie Roxanne.


He told how he and Chantelle, 15, decided against an abortion after discovering she was pregnant. The shy lad, whose voice has not yet broken, said: “I thought it would be good to have a baby. “I didn’t think about how we would afford it. I don’t really get pocket money. My dad sometimes gives me £10.”

Alfie, who is just 4ft tall, added: “When my mum found out, I thought I was going to get in trouble. We wanted to have the baby but were worried how people would react. “I didn’t know what it would be like to be a dad. I will be good, though, and care for it.” Alfie’s dad Dennis told how the lad does not really understand the enormity of his situation — but seemed desperate to be a devoted and responsible father.

Secret...
He wanted to be the first to hold Maisie after the hospital birth. He tenderly kisses the baby and gives her a bottle. And Dennis, 45, said: “He could have shrugged his shoulders and sat at home on his Playstation. But he has been at the hospital every day.” Maisie was conceived after Chantelle and Alfie — just 12 at the time — had a single night of unprotected sex. They found out about the baby when Chantelle was 12 weeks pregnant. But they kept it a secret until six weeks later when Chantelle’s mum Penny, 38, became suspicious about her weight gain and confronted her. After that Alfie’s family told only those closest to them for fear he would be “demonised” at school.


Chantelle gave birth to Maisie on Monday night after a five-hour labour at Eastbourne Hospital, East Sussex. Last night she told The Sun: “I’m tired after the birth. I was nervous after going into labour but otherwise I was quite excited.” Chantelle told how she discovered she was expecting after going to her GP with “really bad” stomach pains. She said: “Me and Alfie went. The doctor asked me whether we had sex. I said yes and he said I should do a pregnancy test. He did the test and said I was pregnant. I started crying and didn’t know what to do. “He said I should tell my mum but I was too scared. We didn’t think we would need help from our parents. You don’t really think about that when you find out you are pregnant. You just think your parents will kill you.”


But Penny figured out what was going on after buying Chantelle a T-shirt which revealed her swelling tum. Chantelle admitted she and Alfie — who are both being supported by their parents — would be accused of being grossly irresponsible. She said: “We know we made a mistake but I wouldn’t change it now. We will be good loving parents. “I have started a church course and I am going to do work experience helping other young mums. I’ll be a great mum and Alfie will be a great dad.”

Chantelle and Maisie were released from hospital yesterday. They are living with Penny, Chantelle’s jobless dad Steve, 43, and her five brothers in a rented council house in Eastbourne. The family live on benefits. Alfie, who lives on an estate across town with mum Nicola, 43, spends most of his time at the Steadmans’ house. He is allowed to stay overnight and even has a school uniform there so he can go straight to his classes in the morning. Alfie’s dad, who is separated from Nicola, believes the lad is scared deep down. He said: “Everyone is telling him things and it’s going round in his head. It hasn’t really dawned on him. He hasn’t got a clue of what the baby means and can’t explain how he feels. All he knows is mum and dad will help.

“When you mention money his eyes look away. And she is reliant on her mum and dad. It’s crazy. They have no idea what lies ahead.” Dennis, who works for a vehicle recovery firm, described Alfie as “a typical 13-year-old boy”. He said: “He loves computer games, boxing and Manchester United.” Dennis, who has fathered nine kids, told how he was “gobsmacked” when he discovered Alfie was to be a dad, too. He said: “When I spoke to him he started crying. He said it was the first time he’d had sex, that he didn’t know what he was doing and of the complications that could come. I will talk to him again and it will be the birds and the bees talk. Some may say it’s too late but he needs to understand so there is not another baby.”

Lovely...
Chantelle’s mum said: “I told her it was lovely to have the baby but I wish it was in different circumstances. We have five children already so it’s a big financial responsibility. But we are a family and will pull together and get through.“She’s my daughter. I love her and she will want for nothing.” Last night Michaela Aston, of the anti-abortion Christian charity LIFE, said: “We commend these teenagers for their courage in bringing their child into the world. At the same time this is symptomatic of the over-sexualisation of our youngsters and shows the policy of value-free sex education just isn’t working.”

Today Sussex Police and the local council's children services said they have investigated the case and pledged continued support for the young parents. Britain’s youngest known father is Sean Stewart. He became a dad at 12 when the girl next door, 15-year-old Emma Webster, gave birth in Sharnbrook, Bedford, in 1998. They split six months later.

Please Help Billy Evans

I didn't believe this-BUT IT REALLY WORKS! I found a check for $3,876.53 in
my mailbox just TEN DAYS after I initially forwarded it. Please...try to help
this very poor little boy with more challenges than
we could ever imagine!

Hello Everyone: I am a very sick little boy. My mother is typing this for
me, because I can't. But she is crying. "Don't cry mommy." Mommy is
always sad, but she says it's not my fault. I asked her if it was God's
fault, but she didn't answer, and only started crying harder, so I don't
ask her that anymore.

The reason she is so sad is that I'm so sick. I was born without a body.
It doesn't hurt, except when I go to sleep. The doctors gave me an
artificial body. My body is burlap bag filled with leaves. The doctors
said that was
the best they could do on account of us havin' no money. I would like to
have a body transplant, but we need more money. Mommy doesn't work because
she said employers don't hire crying people. I said don't cry, mommy and
she hugged my burlap body. Mommy always gives me hugs, even though she's
allergic to burlap, and it chafes her bad. I hope someone will help me.
You can help me if you forward this e-mail. Dr. Johansen said if
you forward this that Bill Gates will team up with AOL and do a survey
with NASA. Then the astronauts will collect prayers from school children
from all over America and take them up to space so that the angels can
hear them better. Then they will go to the Pope, and he will take up a
collection in his church and send the money to the doctors. The doctors
could help me get
better then. Maybe one day I will be able to play baseball. Or maybe
just use lungs and heart, when the doctors make them. The doctors said
that every time you forward this letter, the astronauts can take another
prayer to the angels. Please help me. Mommy is sad, and I want a body. I
don't want my
leaves to rot before I turn 10. If you don't forward this e-mail, that's
o.k. Mommy says that just means you're a mean heartless son-of-a-bitch
who doesn't care about a poor little boy with only a head. She says that
if you don't stew in the raw pit of your own guilt-ridden stomach, that
she hopes you die a slow horrible death so you can burn in hell. What
kind of person are you that you can't take 5 minutes to forward this to all your friends
so that they can feel guilt and shame for the rest of their day, and them
maybe help a poor, bodiless 9 year-old boy? Please help me. This really
sucks. I try to be happy but it's hard. I wish I had a puppy. I wish I could hold a puppy.

Thank You!
Billy 'Smiles' Evans, The boy with just a head. And a burlap sack for a body.

While we circle the drain economically, hoping that President Obama can convince the holdouts to enact some stimulus legislation before we drown...if I hear another dumbass say something about how "FDR made the Great Depression worse" my head will explode. That is simply not true.As one can see above, GDP moved along in a generally upward fashion during FDR's presidency. The one blip of decline was related to budget-balancing in 1937. By the time WWII began (in late 1939), the US was well on its way up and out of the hole, so that by 1941 and US entry into the war, the Depression had effectively ended already with record GDP achieved years earlier.

Obama is looking at charts & graphs showing a precipitous fall in employment. Note the green line. That's where we are now. Where's the bottom? The US lost almost 600,000 jobs in JANUARY. What's this month or next going to look like? Obviously, the GOP economic free-for-all orgy of greed left one hell of a mess for the rest of us.

I give you the Bush-Cheney Recession (or Bush-Cheney Depression). The past eight years will inhabit some seriously dark chapters in history books.

Billy Joel: worst pop singer ever?

The Worst Pop Singer Ever
Why, exactly, is Billy Joel so bad?
By Ron Rosenbaum


Saw this on the Slate a week or so ago. good analysis, and something I've been asking myself my whole life. Ron Rossenbaum does a song by song breakdown from a greatest hits record as well. Below an excerpt; click on title of this post for entire story.sj

...I'm reluctant to pick on Billy Joel. He's been subject to withering contempt from hipster types for so long that it no longer seems worth the time. Still, the mystery persists: How can he be so bad and yet so popular for so long? He's still there. You can't defend yourself with anti-B.J. shields around your brain. He still takes up the space, takes up A&R advances that would otherwise support a score of unrecognized but genuinely talented artists, singers, and songwriters, with his loathsomely insipid simulacrum of rock.

..there's always the chance we'll see another of those "career re-evaluation" essays that places like the New York Times Sunday "Arts & Leisure" section are fond of running about the Barry Manilows of the world. The kind of piece in which we'd discover that Billy's actually "gritty," "unfairly marginalized" by hipsters; that his work is profoundly expressive of late-20th-century alienation ("Captain Jack"); that his hackneyed, misogynist hymns to love are actually filled with sophisticated erotic angst; that his "distillations of disillusion," to use the patois of such pieces, over the artist's role ("Piano Man," "The Entertainer," "Say Goodbye to Hollywood," etc.) are in fact "preternaturally self-conscious," not just shallow, Holden Caulfield-esque denunciations of "phonies," but mentionable in the same breath as works by great artists.

...I decided to make a serious effort to identify the consistent qualities across Joel's "body of work" (it almost hurts to write that) that make it so meretricious, so fraudulent, so pitifully bad. And so, risking humiliation and embarrassment, I ventured to the Barnes & Noble music section and bought a four-disc set of B.J.'s "Greatest Hits," one of which was a full disc of his musings about art and music. I must admit that I also bought a copy of an album I already had—Return of the Grievous Angel, covers of Gram Parsons songs by the likes of the Cowboy Junkies and Gillian Welch, whose "Hickory Wind" is just ravishing—so the cashier might think the B.J. box was merely a gift, maybe for someone with no musical taste. Yes, reader. I couldn't bear the sneer, even for your benefit.

...let's go through the "greatest hits" chronologically and see how this "contempt thesis" works out.

First let's take "Piano Man." You can hear Joel's contempt, both for the losers at the bar he's left behind in his stellar schlock stardom and for the "entertainer-loser" (the proto-B.J.) who plays for them. Even the self-contempt he imputes to the "piano man" rings false.

"Captain Jack": Loser dresses up in poseur clothes and...

(click on title of this post for the breakdown)

another take on the Michael Phelps event...

So Radley Balko from reason-online wrote this piece. I put two snippets below from his article. Click on the title of this post to go to the original article and read the entire post; it's funny, and he makes some excellent points. Radley himself, is an interesting character; you can click on his name in the article and read about his many accomplishments and career, including his time as a policy analyst for the Cato Institute specializing in civil liberties issues. sj

What Michael Phelps Should Have Said

Smoking pot shouldn't be a crime. Or the public's business.
Radley Balko | February 2, 2009

Dear America,
I take it back. I don’t apologize.

Because you know what? It’s none of your goddamned business. I work my ass off 10 months a year. It’s that hard work that gave you all those gooey feelings of patriotism last summer. If during my brief window of down time I want to relax, enjoy myself, and partake of a substance that’s a hell of a lot less bad for me than alcohol, tobacco, or, frankly, most of the prescription drugs most of you are taking, well, you can spare me the lecture.

...and then this, at the end of the piece:

Go ahead and tear me down if you like. But let’s see you rationalize in your next lame ONDCP commercial how the greatest motherfucking swimmer the world has ever seen...is also a proud pot smoker.

Yours,
Michael Phelps

click on the title of this post to go to the original article

(wo)[men]

So here are the results of two polls, in which I asked people how much they would hypothetically (duh!) pay to spend the night with Orlando Bloom (great-looking dude; very cool; actor) or Miranda Kerr (gorgeous super-model, also very cool). They've been dating for at least a year and there are many rumors they'll soon be getting married.

The multiple choice answers for each were: $500, $1000, $2500 and $5000. Here's the breakdown on each:

Orlando Bloom: 6 responses. 50% would pay $2500 or more to spend the night with him. The other 50% $1000 or less. 2 would pay $5000.

Miranda Kerr drew a little more excitement: 11 responses. 8 people (72%) would gladly pay $5000 to spend the night with her; 3 more, $2500. 90% of respondents would pay $2500 or more for one night with her. Only one of the people who responded deemed this hypothetical event only worth $1000.

Now here's something funny: I had two males ask me why there wasn't a $10,000 choice! They "surely would've picked that one," they both said! I told them we're in a recession, times are very tough, and I selected the choices based on what I thought would be realistic. Fun(ny) stuff.

Phelps has 14 olympic medals. And he smokes weed. Problem?

okay, so apparently this is a big story today. why? can't one of the greatest athletes of all time relax every once and a while? Not only is he not harming anyone, his occasional relaxing with beer and marijuana over the years (as has been reported before, by the way), most surely hasn't effected his utter domination of every and all swimming opponents or his obliterating of the record books in all swimming strokes and different competitive formats. Now, if smoking green is in violation of the OIC rules and/or other governing bodies, and rules him out for future events, next olympics, etc, then so be it. Rules are rules. And surely he's aware of those rules when he made/makes his choices. But enough with the uninformed, misguided and ignorant stigma and critiques that are too often associated with marijuana, and the people from all walks of life who chill out socially with it; almost everyone I know, chills out or partakes once in a while with beer, wine, liquor, cigarettes, soda, coffee, cigars and/or more; most of which - if not all - are more harmful to people than marijuana is. Perhaps amongst the "aww, I really liked him," and "I am shocked - he seemed like such a good kid!," and all the other similar reactions we'll hear endlessly on this event, there will be a few reactions along these lines: "wow. he smokes marijuana and he's still far and away the greatest swimmer in the history of the world. how bad can it be?!"


Michael Phelps in Shocking Drug Scandal After Being Pictured Taking Hit from a Bong

Normally when you talk about Olympic athletes using drugs it is steroids or some type of supplement that can increase their performance in their sport. Michael Phelps, who dazzles the sports world last year, isn't exactly Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens when it comes to his drug of choice. The record breaking gold medalist, instead, has been snapped on camera taken a hit of a marijuana bong that was obtained by UK scandal sheet News of the World [1].

The picture was taken at a University of South Carolina party and, if it is proven that there that was in fact cannabis in the bong, Phelps would likely get sanctioned from the Olympic committee.

In the past few months, Phelps has been partying hard and having some insiders in the sport wondering if he can regain his world class athletic mantle with his lifestyle. In the the News of the World Report, they wrote:

One party-goer who witnessed the star’s behaviour told the News of the World: “He was out of control from the moment he got there.

“If he continues to party like that I’d be amazed if he ever won any more medals again.”

In 2004 after his Olympic glory in Greece, Phelps was popped for a DUI and sentenced to 18 months probation. After dominating this Olympic games, that scandal blew over and the swimming star was able to earn a number of endorsements. With this new allegation, the only thing that Phelps may now be able to advertise is an upcoming c film.

This isn't the first time that Phelps has made headlines for the wrong reasons.