You see? This is why I get my news analysis from The Daily Show and not Fox News.
Fox News has stoked the fire of the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” controversy by demonizing Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, a respected clergyman who is noted as a model of moderate Islam, and who helped the FBI with counterterrorism efforts. They have done so largely by emphasizing one of the Islamic Center’s funding sources, Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal’s Kingdom Foundation.
What Fox New neglects to mention is that Al-Waleed bin Talal is the #2 shareholder of News Corp, Fox’s parent company! So much for journalistic standards and full disclosure. Check out Jon Stewart’s scathing segment below:
I suppose Fox should also question the terrorists at Harvard University. Those jihadist Ivy Leaguers had the audacity to accept bin Talal’s money when they founded The Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Islamic Studies Program. Here is what they say about their benefactor, Forbes Magazine’s 22nd richest man in the world:
Committed to making the world a better place, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal of Saudi Arabia is known for a wide range of philanthropic activities around the globe. He seeks to promote change through mutual cultural understanding. Continue reading
NPR’s Fresh Air featured this report about one of the fastest-growing online businesses: the business of spying on you.
Nearly all of the most commonly visited websites install invisible tracking software on your computer so the information can be sold to advertisers. Julia Angwin, who recently led a team of Wall Street Journal reporters investigating the practice, explains what companies do with the information — and how you can protect your privacy online.
One of the most surprising aspects of this story for me was that many of the websites that leave tracking software on your computer do so without the site owner’s knowledge. So I just did something I haven’t done in a long time. I deleted my cookies. While I was there I noticed that DistortedSoul.com, my own website, had left a cookie on my computer. Most likely it just left one on yours as well.
Where did it come from? I do not know, but I’ll find out and let you know.
But most sites leave a cookie. Facebook, Google, and Dictionary.com also drop a cookie into your site. Some cookies remember our usernames and passwords so we don’t have to. Most of these sites only want to find better ways to sell you stuff.
Is all this spying dangerous? Or just spooky? Or is it convenient that companies will show you ads based on the content of your private emails?
Check out this story and let us know what you think…
Songs like “I Don’t Believe You Want To Get Up And Dance (Oops, Up Side Your Head)”, “Burn Rubber” and later “Early In The Morning” and “You Dropped a Bomb On Me” catapulted Tulsa Oklahoma’s Gap Band to the stratosphere. But their first hit record was “Shake”, a monster funk jam, driven by a tremendous guitar riff, killer horns and featuring a virtuoso bass solo by the youngest of the three Wilson brothers, Robert.
We just received word that 53 year-old Robert Wilson of the Gap Band passed away Sunday of a massive heart attack. Our hearts go out to the Wilson family, and we can honor Uncle Robert by turning up our speakers, bumping this jam as loud as possible and Shaking our booties to the beat. Rest in the Funk, Robert Wilson.
MORE INFO ABOUT ROBERT WILSON AFTER THE JUMP —> Continue reading
UPDATE: Due to unforeseen circumstances, Nadir and the band WILL NOT be at The Rusty Nail on Thursday, August 19. However, you’ll still be able to catch an explosive set by the incredible Fluxphonic.
FluxPhonic is a fantastic group from Ann Arbor, Michigan powered by phenomenal songwriting and the bluesy vocals of rock diva Steffanie Christ’ian. Check out their MySpace for a taste of the goodness!
You won’t want to miss this night of killer rock and soul!!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Fluxphonic
The Rusty Nail
35703 Groesbeck
Clinton Township, Michigan
Showtime: 9:00PM
For more info visit
www.TheNewRustyNail.com
After a valiant three year battle, Cincinnati bass guitarist and funk warrior Chris Walker succumbed on Saturday to the injuries he sustained in a car crash back in 2007. He leaves with us a legacy of wonderful memories, all joy, laughter and dancing.
I wrote about my friend and brother back in August of last year when I traveled to Cincy to play at a Friends for Chris Walker benefit concert. His sister, Carole, and the many musical friends Chris cultivated over the years held periodic performances to help pay the former working musician’s medical bills.
A memorial service will be held Saturday, July 10 in Cincinnati. Rest in The Funk, my brother.
So I finally got a chance to read the Rolling Stone article that brought down a general.
It is said that General Stanley McChrystal was fired for his contemptuous attitude toward his civilian bosses. However, McChrystal’s conduct isn’t the most damning aspect of the piece.
Michael Hastings paints a bleak portrait of the adventure that is the longest war in US history. The Counter Insurgency strategy (abbreviated COIN) advocated by McChrystal and sold to Obama isn’t working, and isn’t likely to work.
The article leaves me repeating the same question I’ve been asking for years: “What’s the point? Why are we at war in Afghanistan?”
Take this assessment from the article:
After nine years of war, the Taliban simply remains too strongly entrenched for the U.S. military to openly attack. The very people that COIN seeks to win over – the Afghan people – do not want us there.
Our supposed ally, President Karzai, used his influence to delay the offensive, and the massive influx of aid championed by McChrystal is likely only to make things worse. “Throwing money at the problem exacerbates the problem,” says Andrew Wilder, an expert at Tufts University who has studied the effect of aid in southern Afghanistan. “A tsunami of cash fuels corruption, delegitimizes the government and creates an environment where we’re picking winners and losers” – a process that fuels resentment and hostility among the civilian population.
So far, counterinsurgency has succeeded only in creating a never-ending demand for the primary product supplied by the military: perpetual war. There is a reason that President Obama studiously avoids using the word “victory” when he talks about Afghanistan. Winning, it would seem, is not really possible.
And if winning isn’t possible, then why continue to waste American treasure and lives?
When are the American people going to get fed up and demand that our president bring the troops home?
Note from Nadir: This is a personal statement in response to WDIV’s misguided report on the US Social Forum. It is not an official USSF statement.
My name is J. Nadir Omowale, and I am a member of Detroit’s Entertainment Commission. I am a musician, Detroit advocate, and a volunteer for the US Social Forum.
I LIVE HERE!!! I’M A CITY OFFICIAL!!! I AM NOT PROTESTING DETROIT!! I LOVE DETROIT!!!
I am appalled at WDIV’s incorrect, misguided and dangerous portrayal of the United States Social Forum and its attendees as “protesters”.
The US Social Forum is a gathering of community organizers, and social justice activists. We are meeting in Detroit to teach and learn from each other.
Yes, Detroit was chosen partially because of the many challenges that the city faces, but it was also chosen for the great progress we have made as we work to improve the economic and social climate here. Continue reading
For better or worse, one thing is certain: Barack Obama’s presidency forces Americans to face our own thinly camouflaged racial tensions.
Once a taboo subject, race has become a common topic in our public and private discourse. Whether it’s conservative pols using YouTube video to stoke the embers of racial division, my longtime friend and foil, libertarian commentator Paul Hue, challenging racial assumptions and stereotypes on his Facebook page, or the always insightful and provocative, anti-racism activist Tim Wise, debating with Roland Martin, Julia Reed and Don Lemon on CNN, race is now front and center on our computer screens, on talk radio shows and on our minds.
The question of Obama’s anger is especially timely to me because of a discussion I had a couple of days ago with my manager and friend, Cornelius Harris, of Alter Ego Management. He stressed the importance of guarding my own words to avoid projecting what some people may perceive as an “angry black man” persona. Cornelius emphasized that a seemingly harmless and even humorous conversation could be misinterpreted because of our society’s racial conditioning. It’s not just an issue for Obama. This is something black men face in the boardroom, at the bus stop and in the world of music.
John Blake’s article on CNN.com asks point blank: “Who would have ever expected some white Americans to demand that an African-American man show more rage?”
Obama’s presidency forces America to confront its fear of the black man, and along with the immigration debate, the so-called war on terror, and the many aspects of the economic crisis, we are openly talking about our fear of the brown man, the red man, the yellow man and even the white man. Race has become a common topic because in this multicultural society, our fear of “the other” has never been far from the surface.
On one hand, this is a good thing. These are conversations that we’ve largely avoided in the post-civil rights era. The climate of fear is high right now, so perhaps this is some sort of group therapy, where we talk about some of the fears and phobias that persist in our lives.
However, as Julia Reed points out in the CNN segment above, all this talk of race may be distracting us from the real issues at hand. (Notably, the only woman in the debate asks about the logic of even having the argument.)
How much do our racial attitudes play into our perception of public figures and the people we interact with every day in the office, on the street or over the Internet? Do these attitudes (or even the analysis of the tensions) distract us from the real problems of environmental disaster, corporate and political corruption, and economic meltdown?
And perhaps most importantly, can’t we all just get along?
In this article from Black Voices, Jeff Mays states that it’s tough to be a black boy in Nashville, Tennessee. I would argue that it’s tough for black boys all over. These problems aren’t exclusive to Nashville, and it doesn’t get better as those boys grow into men. If anything it gets worse.
According to Mays, “nationally, black kids are suspended three times more often than whites.”
The treatment some black males receive in school only conditions them to future stigmatization and negative behaviors. The practice of treating black male students more harshly for behavioral problems is the first step for the school-to-prison pipeline, the trend of dealing with our children as criminals as opposed to the still-developing, potential-filled young people that they are.
Behavioral problems among young boys are real. As hormones begin to explode, and whatever environmental concerns erupt, kids exhibit all kinds of strange behavior.
But how much of this suspension issue is based on teachers’ and administrators’ perception of black boys as problem children? Continue reading
