All Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck seem to do is complain and make outlandish statements.  Their fiery words often spark controversy and invite extreme criticism and ridicule from everyone from Keith Oberman to Jay-Z.  It doesn’t help that they have many avid followers that believe every single thing they say.  If I was any liberal politician I would find it super hard to not full on call them out for the rating hungry, contentious, attention whores that they are.  So luckily I’m not the president of the United States who is much wiser and realizes that it will not get him anywhere to use words as harsh for these two annoying nut jobs as they use for him.

In an interview with Harry Smith on CBS when asked about words like “socialist” and “Nazi” that are being thrown around in association with him, Obama specifically calls out Limbaugh and Beck for their polarizing radio and TV shows.  However, he diplomatically explains it away saying, “… when you listen to Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck its pretty apparent and its troublsome, but keep in mind that there have been periods in American history where this kind of vitriol comes out.  It happens when you’ve got an economy that is making people more anxious.”  Very diplomatic, Mr. President because I have the feeling that you really want to go in on them like “Rush Limbaugh is so fat that…” and “Glenn Beck is so stupid that…”

To hear Limbaugh and Beck talk most of Americans are against Obama’s policies (which doesn’t make much sense since he was very clear about his major goals during his campaign for presidency and apparently enough of the voting public liked what he had to say because, you know… he’s president and all).  What it really seems to be is that those in disagreement and the ignorant just seem to shout louder than people that are in agreement with the administration’s policies.  Obama doesn’t buy that most Americans are of the same mindset as Limbaugh and Beck.  He believes that “the vast majority of Americans know that we’re trying hard, that I want what’s best for the country.”

Above is the billboard advertisement in downtown Newark for AKOO jeans which is T.I.’s clothing line. Residents are up in arms because of the image being depicted:

Is the young, seductive woman about to have oral sex with the young man 30 feet above a major intersection of the state’s largest city? Or have they just finished?

Stand at the heart of the central business district, and look up. If you don’t want to crane your neck, walk back toward University Avenue, then turn around. The billboard dwarfs everything. At night it’s lit up and looks even — well, you can’t miss it.

This billboard was meant to sell AKOO jeans, a clothing line by popular rapper T.I. . . . but who can think of jeans when so much is going on?

Let’s see. Her head is just under his crotch. The belt of the jeans is open. Her right hand is between his legs, reaching upward and grabbing on the back of his pants to expose part of his underwear. Her left hand, not far from her face, tugs on his front pocket. Now look even closer. His hand — what! — is over the back of her head. Get the picture now? Does that say JEANS? Read more

Um, there’s no question about it…o boy either just got brained up or he’s bout to. At first glance, I wouldn’t associate AKOO with anybody’s jeans. Perhaps a brand of dental dam or maybe even the title of Superhead’s new how-to guide. But whatever, I don’t know why everyone is so surprised like clothing labels haven’t been using sex to sell their clothes for years. Get over it people.

Read more »

Kevin Smith (director of Zach and Miri Make a Porno and the new movie Cop Out with Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan — more commonly known to me as Silent Bob, so that’s what I’m going to call him) went ballistic today on Twitter then on his own podcast and blog over an incident that happened on a flight.  Silent Bob got asked to leave a Southwest Airline flight because he was too fat (not in those words, of course).  Silent Bob usually purchases two seats on flights because, according to him, “its just more comfortable” and he “can afford it” so he doesn’t usually run into this problem.  However, this time he got bumped to a different flight and only got one seat.  After he was already seated the flight attendant asked him to deplane because, to her judgement, the armrests could not easily go down all the way, a no-no for Southwest Airlines.

Silent Bob was, of course, enraged.  He admitted to the flight attendant that yes, he is fat, but that he isn’t so fat that he couldn’t fit comfortably in his seat.  After his social media outcries Southwest apologized twice (once as a Twitter response to Silent Bob).  Additionally, Silent Bob was able to get on a later Southwest flight, where he Twitpic-ed himself seated with both armrests down, so clearly the flight attendant judged incorrectly.

This is getting a lot of media buzz because Canada just passed a law (of course) that says if a passenger must get a second seat because they are overweight then the second seat is free.  Oh liberal Canada, that doesn’t even make sense.  Its another seat and it costs money.  If you bring a kid on a plane and they take up an extra seat it costs extra.  If you bring your large self on the plane it should cost extra, too.

Passenger advocacy groups (which I had no idea existed and who must not be doing that great of a job because we all have to pay that new extra fee for checked luggage… I’m just saying) are saying that this just goes to show that the airlines need more concrete guidelines so that flight attendants are not making subjective judgments on the fatness at which you can’t ride a plane.  They also say that with the rise of obesity in the U.S., the airlines should install special “obese” rows reserved for passengers that might need that extra room.  My thoughts… 1.) Its interesting that Silent Bob is not even so overweight that he really couldn’t get down the armrests, but he’s about to be the face for every obese advocacy cause.  2.) Tweeting something off the wall and making yourself the wronged victim right when you have a movie coming out is great PR.  Silent Bob got tons of Twitter followers off of this.  3.) Don’t fly Southwest if you’re fat, those seats are tight even if you can get the armrests down.  4.) Only fly first class if you’re fat because its more comfortable, you get better food anyways and its probably cheaper than buying the two seats you know you need to purchase so that your thigh won’t be touching me for the next 6 hours.

I should avoid saying the obvious about the U.S. really having a problem when people get to talking about obese rows on planes… but it really needs to be said.

Tonight there is a wonderful event going on called “HEARTS FOR HAITI”. It is not another benefit, but rather a celebration of the Haitian spirit. Please come out if you can:

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010 @ Arena
135 W 41st St
(Between Broadway & 6th Ave)

7pm-midnight
Open bar 7pm-8:30pm compliments of Hennessy

Music by DJs Clue, D-Nice, Jon Quick, Kiss, Mick Boogie, M.O.S., Ted Smooth, Tony Touch

Downstairs in the carnivale lounge DJ Franky of the Untouchables playing the best of Haitian Konpa & Zouk

Hearts for Haiti Host Committee:
Andrea Price, Angela Yee, Arlene Pitterson, Blacklight Ent., Calcie Cooper, Demetria Lucas, Derrin Woodhouse, DJ Big Des, DJ CEO, DJ Cosi, DJ Herbert Holler, Dr. Lee Gause, Ed Freiberg, Edgar Taveras, Eric Soler, Esther-Mireya Tejeda, Fabrice Armand, Fred Cool Out, Gardy Guerrier, Gary Grant, George Sepulveda, Enterprises, Hen Rock, J. Medina, James Cruz, Joseph Solis, Kevin Powell, Kwame Jackson, L. Boogs, Laura Stylez, Red Carpet Entertainment, Liris Crosse, L-Mani V, Lola and Tom Patrick-Odeen , Lord Sear, Mack Petion, Marc Smooth, Marlene Taveras, MIH Icons, N3P Media, Obinna Onyeagoro, Omar Hamilton, Paul Estevez, ParlourMagazine.com, Persaud Brothers, Pulse Greek Network, Roman, Sacajawea Hall, Shane & Shawn Ward, Shawn Pecas, Shon Miller, Stone Jackson, The Kid Daytona, Walker, Tiza Alejandro, Tony Martinez, Yardley Messeroux

Minimum donation: $20. All additional amounts, including checks are welcomed.

We also encourage all to bring one or more of the following items:
Blankets, Nutritional bars/granola bars, solar flash lights, clothes, feminine products, shoes, candles/matches, medicine, first aid kit, and purification tablets (to purify water for drinking)

100% OF ALL MONETARY PROCEEDS COLLECTED AT THE DOOR WILL BE DONATED TO DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS WITH A DESIGNATION TO THE HAITI EARTHQUAKE RELIEF EFFORT & ALL CLOTHING AND SUPPLY DONATIONS WILL BE DONATED TO YELE HAITI.

Attire in good taste. 21 and over. ID a must.

Ok, so in the last post I told you how you can help Haiti, but just in case that wasn’t enough and you need some convincing and some inspiration…
Our fellow bloggers (and recording artists… they’re multi-talented) Blogsworth and Prime Minis of ALLSMiLES made this track called Hold the World. It samples Lil’ Wayne and Eminem’s Drop the World. However, it puts a much more positive spin on the lyrics and is great inspiration not only for contributing to the Haiti relief effort, but also fitting for celebrating the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. A great reminder of the responsibility each of us has to humanity.
Hold the World

Blogzworth & Prime Minis have a message for you

Whatever you’re views might be on Lady Gaga, her heart seems to be in the right place. She is selling a shirt on her website 100 percent of the proceeds of which will go towards the relief effort. Also, she has pledged to donate all proceeds from merchandise sales at her January 24th Radio City Music Hall show.

Lady Gaga Haiti T-Shirt

A number of actors, including Meryl Streep (love her!), Olivia Wilde, and Josh Brolin are auctioning off the clothes they wore to Sunday night’s Golden Globes and will donate the money raised by the auction to Haitian relief.

The gown Meryl Streep will be auctioning

On January 22nd there will be a telethon called Hope for Haiti in which artists will perform and speak to encourage proceeds for aid in Haiti. George Clooney, who will host the show along with Wyclef Jean and Anderson Cooper, says that over 40 artists will be in attendance (bet Kanye won’t be invited to this telethon, though). The show will be played on just about every station imaginable, including MTV, and will benefit Red Cross, Yele, UNICEF, Oxfam and Partners in Health. Additionally, many of the songs from Hope for Haiti artists will be available on iTunes with proceeds going to benefit the partner non-profits.

The devastation seen on TV in Haiti is overwhelming.  Up until now I have found it hard to even write about the situation. As the most empoverished nation in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti simply was not prepared to handle disaster.  However, I know that help is on the way because so many people are mobilizing and doing what they can to support the relief effort.  It is bad enough that the infrastructure had gotten to the state that it had been in and it is truly unfortunate that it took a disaster to bring much needed attention to this small nation.  Now that they’ve got our attention it is not only kind to help, but it is imperative.  How appropriate that this is Martin Luther King, Jr. Weekend, a time in which we recall that devoting ourselves to helping and showing empathy to those in need is true humanity.  Here are just a few ways you can help with Haiti:

The threeKings NYC MLK Weekend All Black Affair (mentioned in an earlier post) will now be granting free admission to anybody bringing a printout receipt for a donation of at least $10 to Yele Haiti or American Red Cross to Sunday night’s party at Crimson.  A portion of the event proceeds will also be donated.

Other events include:

I know I barely gave you enough notice for this one, but just in case…

If you are less into events and more into giving directly, here are some reputable organizations to donate to.  There are organizations that are focused on just getting much needed supplies to Haiti, while others are organizing and sending medical teams, or focusing on taking care of the children.

American Red Cross
Care
Clinton Bush Haiti Fund
Direct Relief International
International Medial Corps
International Relief Teams
Better Future (Orphans) International
UNICEF
Yele Haiti

Michael Eric Dyson gets a big “C’mon Son!” for this comment.  Once again, can President Obama run the country?  He can deal with every race thing under the sun when he is caking from all of his book deals and university graduation speeches after he is done being president.  All y’all need to calm down.  You too, Michael Eric Dyson.  Great way to make a point about dealing with race in a positive and constructive way by using de-constructive stereotypes.

Sometimes I wonder if there will ever be a time when this president will be able to just do his job.  I seems like every couple of months President Obama has to accept an apology from somebody for some race related comment or he gets disrespected in a way that no other president would have, and ,although its not explicit, race is usually the reason.  It seems like the man can’t win.  For godsakes he is trying to run the country.  If you were on an airplane, would you do things to undermine the pilot because the way he looks makes you uncomfortable?  No, you would hope that he gets the plane safely on the ground and if he needed your help you would pitch in if possible.  Yet, we are all in this country together and we have people who are so stubborn they would sacrifice the good of everybody just to undermine the leader.

Its unfortunate that Senator Harry Reid, who is right now in the process of trying to forge a health care reform bill that will actually have a chance of being adopted, made the comments he did that have now been published in the book, Game Change.  In a private conversation Senator Reid stated that he believed that presedential candidate (at the time) Obama would have a chance of winning because he is “light-skinned” and doesn’t speak with a “Negro dialect, unless he wanted to.”  Reid is definitely in the wrong and reckless for his word choice. However, I have to wonder if he was speaking about the viability of an African-American candidate because, in that context, his comments make sense although they are insensitive.  Reid should have been a lot more choosy about his words, but we can’t say that he lied.

Now the Republicans are all over Reid’s comments, made over two years ago, and some in his state are calling for him to step down.  Ummm, excuse me, but none of you have asked Republicans to step down for making racists comments, and there have been more than a few.  Its atrocious how they keep forcing controversies and contentions to distract people from the real issues and many times  race has been the main distraction.  Reid has apologized.  Obama has had to take time out of his busy job as Commander-in-Chief & head policy maker to publicly accept the apology.  Let Reid’s constituents decide if they’re unhappy with him and let President Obama do his job.

The above title in not a joke. Rudy Giuliani really and truly did say the following this morning on Good Morning America:

“What he [Obama] should be doing is following the right things that Bush did – one of the right things he did was treat this as a war on terror. We had no domestic attacks under Bush. We’ve had one under Obama. Number two, he should correct the things that Bush didn’t do right. Sending people to Yemen was wrong, not getting this whole intelligence thing corrected.”

Ooook. Excuse me dumbass, but what about September 11, 2001? Or are we not considering that a domestic attack on our country anymore? WTF, is this the same Rudy Giuliani who based his WHOLE presidential campaign behind 9/11? And besides that… HELLO, were the anthrax scares or Richard Reid shoe bombing not considered “attacks” either??  Cmooonnnnn. No domestic attacks under Bush? Fuck outta here!

I had to post this because it’s an amazing accomplishment. Kenny, Martina, Ray and Carol Crouch, a set of quadruplets, all gained early admission into Yale University for the fall semester. Yale’s one of the toughest school’s to get into so kudos to them!

Amazing.

The  tallest building on earth, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai has finally open.  The opening featured the below mind-blowing fireworks display.  The tower is supposedly 90% full.  It doesn’t get much more baller than this.

Obama is really all about diversity.  The President has appointed more people from diverse backgrounds than any other administration.  Add to the list of diversity a Transgender woman, Amanda Simpson.  Simpson has been appointed to the position of Senior Technical Advisor to the Commerce Department.

Of course, as has been the case with most of President Obama’s appointees whether they are of a diverse background or not, Simpson is well qualified.  Simpson has been a test pilot, has worked in the aerospace industry for over 30 years, ran for the Arizona House of Representatives (but lost.  I coulda told you that you would lose that one, honey.  Arizona is a red state), and was a Director in Advanced Technology Development for Raytheon.  When she started career she was a he and within the last few years she… umm… became a she.  Simpson says that she is “truly honored” about her appointment.

Too much happened in 2009 for us to review so I’m going to let Jibjab.com do it for us.

The January issue of Black Enterprise is a must read for any young entrepreneur or young business person.  The magazine, started 40 years ago by Earl Graves Sr. when he was only 35, is highlighting some of the brightest young entrepreneurs with a feature they are calling BE Next.

BE Next is a group you definitely want to be a part of (or at least I know that I do).  They are 21 to 35 year olds and are making bank running their own businesses.  The four young entrepreneurs profiled in BE Next are Nakia Stith, 31, who inherited and turned around her family’s security company, Jamail Larkins, 25, who owns an aircraft leasing and management business, Natasha Eubanks, 27, whom I sure you all know as the founder of YBF, and Darnell Henderson, 31, who owns a men’s skincare business.  All four of these companies had revenues of over $1 million in 2009 and all four of the entrepreneurs aren’t resting on their laurels, but  have plans in place for future growth of their brands.

Ok, Black Enterprise, thanks for the challenge.  I’ll be working to be part of BE Next.

Two watchdog groups have been in the process of suing the George W. Bush White House for faulty e-mail record keeping.  By Federal law White House administrations are suppossed to keep records of all communications that are done for official business, including e-mails.  The Bush White House claimed that they had kept records of all e-mail communications during the 8 years of the Bush presidency, but ummm, that must not be the case because computer technicians have uncovered 22 million “lost” e-mails most of which were simply miscategorized.

DAMN! This is the federal government!  It makes me feel a little uncomfortable that they didn’t do something as simple as set up e-mail rules for categorizing and archiving messages and didn’t buy some really big hard drives.  I mean, I’m no computer technician or anything, but I just feel like this a problem that can be fixed once its discovered.  In 2003 the White House actually tried to bring in Microsoft to find some of the lost e-mails.  However, the issues weren’t brought up publicly until the 2006 investigation over the outing of a CIA operative.  So I guess in the meantime they just sorta kept losing e-mails?  Anyways, the found e-mails will undergo an archiving process and the ones deemed okay for the public will be made public by 2014.

Aware of the issues, the Obama administration is making great strides to address saving e-mail communication.  President Obama, please setup your auto-archive up so that you don’t find yourself dealing with this ish a full year after you’re out of office.

As President Obama goes to Copenhagen to meet with other national leaders at the international conference on climate change the EPA released a statement saying that there is major and compelling scientific evidence that emissions of greenhouse gases from cars and factories are greatly endangering our health.

The EPA’s statement clears the way for Obama to go to Copenhagen and promise to the other world leaders that the United States will actively come up with a plan to limit pollution and help him to ask the other leaders to do the same.  Also, the statement might encourage Congress to take quicker action on regulations before the Obama administration makes the first moves towards new laws and limits on greenhouse emissions.  Both the administration and Congress have a lot of concerns to take into consideration, like the economic costs new regulations would probably impose upon companies and consumers, but according to the new EPA statement, not making moves on regulations will impose greater costs and risks to health.

Unless you don’t watch TV and don’t have informed Twitter friends, you know that Obama addressed the military and the U.S. about his strategies and plans for troops in the Iraq and Afghanistan from West Point Military Academy.  Of course, the speech was well thought out and strong (we now expect nothing less from Obama).

However, the news is bittersweet.  For Iraq Obama plans to remove all troops by the end of 2011, saying that the removal is a “testament to the character of the men and women in uniform.”  He then outlined the numerous (and scary) challenges that are being faced in Afghanistan.  The country is still facing control by the Taliban, (by the way… gotta love the way Obama says Taliban.  Cracks me up everytime) the extremist Afghan government that completely controlled Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks and protected Al Qaeda.  Through review of the situation in Afghanistan, Obama and his advisors believe that in its current state Afghanistan would not be able to stand on its own.  As a result of the challenges Obama said, addressing the military, “as your Commander in Chief I owe you a mission that is clearly defined.”  The mission calls for 30,000 more troops to go to Afghanistan with the goal of leaving after 18 months.

Obama’s major point throughout the speech was to reinforce that he wants to set up Afghanistan for transition to stable independence.  He even took a moment to address the people of Afghanistan.  Looking directly at the camera he stated, “we have no interest in occupying your country.”

Additionally, Obama turned around and put the price of occupation in context, noting that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost more than $1 trillion, which has basically been debilitating to domestic programs in the wake of the recession.  For this reason, Obama does not want to leave military presence in Afghanistan open ended.  ”The nation that I am most interested in building is our own,” he said.

Now we spike the water cooler with nuclear radiation. **blank stare** Yes folks, someone actually did that. Over in India, a pissed off worker put radioactive tritium in one of the water coolers at the Kaiga Power Plant. Approximately 50 employees had to be treated at a local hospital. An investigation has been launched and the search continues for the person responsible for the act.

Offices everywhere are now taking precautions so that something like this doesn’t occur again.

Damn son, how angry do you have to be to do some shit like that. Wow.

Not really, but the Philadelphia Inquirer accidently ran a Macy’s ad congratulating the Phillies on their World Series win on Monday morning.  Um, wishful thinking?  And the Philadelphia Inquirer writers must have World Series on the brain because in a headline on the same page they were trying to write “Axelrod” and wrote “Alexrod.”

It might not be a presidential election year, but there is still a lot of good stuff going on the week before this election… and somehow Palin is managing to be all up in it.  In upstate New York there was a Republican woman running for the 23rd Congressional District, Dede Scozzafava, but apparently she was too left of far right for Sarah Palin.  Palin posted on her facebook page that she did not support Scozzafava, but supported the more conservative independent candidate, Doug Hoffman.  Palin’s post not only made Scozzafava drop out of the race, but she also straight up switched sides and decided to support the Democrat candidate.  Nice job alienating the moderate conservatives, Palin.  Maybe she forgot that conservatives are in the minority in both houses.

My recommendation to the GOP: find a way to disable Palin’s Facebook page.  I know, I know… free speech, but you guys saw her this time last year.  She went “renegade.” You don’t know where she’s going with this.  By the way… Rush Limbaugh had been supporting Scozzafava.  Hmm… interesting.