RSS Feed for This PostCurrent Article

Evening Open Thread

By SusanUnPC on July 30, 2008 at 9:35 PM in NoQuarter Radio, Open Thread

Our writers have written so many great stories today, from the irreverent to the profound. If it’s possible we’ve missed any news stories, do share them with us below. And here are two action items:

(1) IN LESS THAN FIVE MINUTES YOU CAN MAKE A MAJOR DIFFERENCE THAT can affect the future of the Democratic party. (I know, I know. Everyone always says that. But we MEAN IT! Because it’s TRUE. The results of this survey will go to the right people. And, during the Denver convention, YOU will be part of the news stories on the Platform committee’s actions.) We ask that you take part in the I Own My Vote Virtual Platform Committee Meeting now! It really takes only five minutes, and the list makes for a fascinating read. Click here to start. And, if you have not yet signed the pledge, click here to do so.

(2) If you missed last night’s stellar radio programming on NoQuarter Radio, you can listen to the archives. What an evening we had, with two media pros! We had the premiere of the Nocturnal Warrior. All of us who were listening knew it instantly: We were in for a riveting hour of radio and stimulating discussion. Listen now. Then, our great pro, DCMediaGirl treated us to a fascinating dissection of the media, and took calls, despite some technical issues that she handled with typical aplomb. Listen here.

DCMediaGirl returns Friday night for the premiere of her new show, along with her sharp Pakistani blogger pal, Tune in to DCMediagirl’s South Asia Hour Friday at 10 p.m. ET.

You can also check out all of DCMediaGirl’s posts here at No Quarter.

  • yttik

    Ludacris Gets an Earful From WomenCount
    Group demands apology from artist and immediate action from Party leaders

    http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/ludacris-gets-earful-womencount/story.aspx?guid=%7B6F652959-EDFA-485C-A978-BD6C6742444E%7D&dist=hppr

    • Northwest rain

      Women Count? Wasn’t this the group that was hijacked by Obama?

      • yttik

        I don’t think so. They’re the ones that ran the ads “not so fast, hillary’s voice is our voice”.

        http://www.womencountpac.com/Site/Welcome.html

      • mahaska

        OT, hey NW rain, did you feel the earthquake tonight about 10pm? Here on the island it manifested as 2 very sharp jolts. Funny cuz we were just talking about it last night.

    • destardi

      Here’s an email I sent to “the ludacris foundation”

      Irrelevant bitch? F*CK THEM!!!!!

      I’m PISSED

      That “irrelevant bitch” marched with MARTIN LUTHER KING JR!

      Nice way to stoke racial tension. Seriously, here, check this out;

      Media lies about Clintons’ comments:

      http://mediamatters.org/items/200801130004

      obama, the corrupt politician who HAPPENS to be of mixed heritage divides by the lowest common denominator of RACE by perpetuating LIES

      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/01/12/obama-camps-memo-on-clin_n_81205.html

      And says he “regrets his campaign doing this”
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQY_9ZcsjpQ&feature=related%3cbr

      obama and “ludacris” are MAKING racists..wake the fuck up!
      ——————————-

      Emails:

      info@theludacrisfoundation.org; President@theludacrisfoundation.org; Director@theludacrisfoundation.org

      • yttik

        “obama and “ludacris” are MAKING racists..wake the fuck up!”

        You are correct. I’ve been screaming this from the rooftops. Obama is creating racism. He is causing tension and resentment to build. This needs to stop now.

        • destardi

          This pains me to no end.

          Black folk deserve someone who actually CARES and WANTS to bring people together; obama will go up in flames because of the destructive people he surrounds himself with.

          The fact that “ludacris” is not a paid staffer, makes no damn difference.

          In fact, it’s WORSE. WIth a wink and a nod, imagine all those young people who assume it’s ok to call a US Senator a bitch, and the obvious difference is that one guy is black, and the bitch is white.

          I’m just about to vomit.

    • Clinton Fan

      That song is a real, er, gem. How’s Obama gonna have THIS one both ways? He’s got Ludacris with his bitch words on his iPod (as the “singer”–and I use that term loosely–says quite PROUDLY at the start of the song, displaying a photo of himself with The Anointed One) so how can Obama convincingly disavow and distance now?

      According to this opus from this poetry-challenged dunce, Hillary is a bitch, you see, and McCain doesn’t belong in any chair unless he’s paralyzed. And if Ludacris (moronic name for a moron, apparently) goes to jail, Barack will give him a pardon. Ahhh, and Barack should make HIM the Vice President (there’s an idea!). They’re gonna paint the White House black and the white folks are “terrified.”

      All this, to the accompaniment of a bump, bump, formulaicly boring beat, with the added visual “delight” of sturdy legged women dressed in the varying uniforms of streetwalking prostitutes, bumping and grinding away with surly expressions on their faces. It looks like they hauled all the ladies of the HBO occasional series “The Point,” off the street to serve as dress extras for this cheesy effort.

      Yeah, it’s a real charmer of a tune. They’ll LOVE IT, I tell ya, LOVE IT in the Heartland! This will be HUGE in Kansas…a BLOCKBUSTER in Missouri…just the ticket in Texas….Obama should make it his new SOUNDTRACK!

      Unless McCain does, first!

      I suppose if Obama grabs a ten foot pole, and gives Rev. Wright, Father Idiot, and Grandma a sturdy poke, he might be able to find room for Ludacris under that bigass old bus of his!

      It’s occasions like this when you wish this forum had one of those little icons of a smilie rolling on the floor, laughing its little ass off. This whole song-a-palooza flap is hysterical. So much for UNITY, UNION, and CHANGE. This sounds like the same old Rev. Wright shit, only from a rapper who’s long on bullshit and short on talent.

      And speaking of sound? That sound of frantic, labored, wheezing breathing and heavy footfalls is Obama running the fuck away from Rapper Ludacris as fast as his skinny legs can carry him! Run, Anointed One!! RUN!! Run SWIFTLY, pointing your skinny finger in disapproval…but RUN!!!

      • mahaska

        And he threatens Jaesse Jackson’s life in the “song” (I use the term loosely). Asks him if he wants it in the head or gut.

      • Zee

        “I suppose if Obama grabs a ten foot pole, and gives Rev. Wright, Father Idiot, and Grandma a sturdy poke, he might be able to find room for Ludacris under that bigass old bus of his!”

        Is Jay Z gonna get tossed under, too? Obama’s campaign called Hillary a bitch using his “99 Problems” song at his “victory” party when he and Michelle strolled in.

        I guess if so, he’d have to throw himself and his campaign under, too.

  • Angry Michelle

    Got two questions.

    Isn’t Obamarosa just an Apprentice?

    Is there going to be an official presidential crack pipe?

  • pew

    If there really is a Whitey tape, or something that could really damage Obama,and he looks like he;ll really lose,could Clinton use the back door approach, to get back in the race?

    http://uspolitics.einnews.com/article.php?nid=461158

    • Angry Michelle

      Get Clinton to the Whitey House.

    • csuzeq

      That’s an old article.

      I would love to see Clinton run Indie. The democratic party is dead if they don’t allow the roll call at the convention so she should go for it after 8/28/08!

  • http://investigatebarackobama.wordpress.com/puma/ kat in your hat

    Hah? You missed a little scandal today, yes.

    I’m really surprised this hasn’t been published on NOQ today. Ludacris came out with a new song–Obama is the theme of it. “Obama Is Here” (I think) Ludacris says that Obama told him that he is one of his favorite rappers on his IPOD, he asks for a pardon if he goes to the slammer, or maybe a VP spot, he says McCain deserves to be paralyzed in a wheelchair, he calls out Jesse Jackson, he says he wants to paint the White House black, and he calls Hillary a bitch.

    The song became so viral that the Obama camp had to issue a harsh statement EARLY THIS EVENING. Throwing Luda under the bus now.

    See here:

    http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2008/07/30/ludacris-for-obama/

    YOUTUBE:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHb3Ic1hVfI

    I don’t know, but don’t forget Obama brushing his shoulders off– Jay-Z Big Pimpin’ Style, and the rumor (or fact?) that Obama had a celebration party with the song 99 Problems but a bitch aint one playing.

    Obama’s Rap Delight

    • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

      One of us will probably write about it. It made me too ill to deal with it.

    • navyvet48

      None of the writers had the stomach to post anything on the song. I found the lyrics revolting!

  • typical.white.person

    Armstrong Williams:

    Theorists who conjecture about racial relations in America posit that racism, an institutional practice, differs from prejudice, a personal flaw, in that racism requires power. It has therefore been argued that while both whites and blacks exhibit prejudice, only white people can be racists.

    .

    But one wonders whether blacks, as they have gained more access to institutional power in recent times (they can now be found in greater ranks in government, business and the media), can also be practitioners of racism.

    .

    In fact, unfairly calling someone a racist may itself be viewed as a form of racism — because it uses prejudice (judging the person without knowing his or her intentions) and implies a threat of power, in this case the threat of social shaming, economic boycott or legal retaliation. Moreover, one wonders whether black elites exhibit the same degree of responsibility for avoiding racism as society requires of white elites. Some would say there’s a double standard at work here: that black elites can get away with being openly prejudiced, while whites cannot. [italics added]

    • elise

      By Armstrong’s definition, Hillary’s supporters in general cannot be called racist, if you believe the polls. If they are poor, they have no power and don’t fall under that definition.

  • alee21

    Off topic, but look at this article from WSJ:
    OPINION
    Obamanomics Is a Recipe for Recession
    By MICHAEL J. BOSKIN
    July 29, 2008; Page A17

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121728762442091427.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries

    So, if Obama actually sticks to his campaign rhetoric, we will end up paying much higher taxes.

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLPoV4diMjk&eurl=http://riverdaughter.wordpress.com/ Woman Voter

    Comment by Northwest rain | 2008-07-30 21:51:43

    Women Count? Wasn’t this the group that was hijacked by Obama?
    ………………………

    No they haven’t been hijacked by Obama…they are daring to go into the lions dens and fight…like professional women!

    [Quote]
    http://www.womencountpac.com/Site/Welcome.html
    Women Count PAC: Stop the Silence On Sexism in the Media – Please let us know if you’re willing to attend a meeting in your local area to stop the silence on sexism! . . [G]ender bias is a violation of Civil Rights and that men and women should be treated equally in the media and in all facets of our society.
    [End Quote]

    • Kristine

      ok…really off topic, but the lion’s den reminded me of this video of six baby white lions…baby pumas if you will.

      http://www.beesight.com/animals/video-super-cute-white-lion-cubs-making-debut-in-uk.html

    • Northwest rain

      A week or so ago — there was a comment on Riverdaughter’s blog — someone had clicked on the Listening Meeting — and they found themselves on Obama’s website. The question was what the hell happened.

      I did go to the WomenCount PAC and the Listening Meeting no longer goes to the Obama website.

      With the hijacking of Planned Parenthood etc — it is hard to stay current.

      • yttik

        I hear you. I am still disapointed in MoveOn, Planned Parenthood, a few branches of NOW, and several so called “progressive” sites. What happened to these people’s integrity? It’s like they get absorbed by the kool aid and forget what they stand for.

  • Larse12

    Come visit the new site and see the truth about Obama. Help us get it out.
    http://www.larrysinclair0926.com/main.html?src=%2Findex2.html

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLPoV4diMjk&eurl=http://riverdaughter.wordpress.com/ Woman Voter

    Here are three more and there are more over on youtube.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB3brK2MoBU&feature=related Indiana
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCaEAdk7sew&feature=related Pennsylvania
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-P-GgdgvPFA&feature=related North Carolina
    ………………………………..
    Money Changes Everything :: Superdelegates Are For Sale
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLPoV4diMjk
    ……………………….

    Wow…the ‘Super” Sale…Hope PAC has been going on for some time…. Lordi…anyone seen any reporters?

  • Dawnelle

    GOOD EVENING OPEN THREAD! ;-)

    PUMAS RULE!

    RISE HILLARY!! RISE!!

  • onmomnaturesside

    Larry, muchas gracias for making me take the next step. I cast off the platform proclamation mailing that I got from Obam$ into the black hole file, (basura)
    , but when you stated how you realized that a voice is a voice and we must (let me repeat) MUST stop this Obomination. Our voices and this moment for this effort & standing for a platform is perfect.
    We need to show numbers and our roar….
    err… our strength.
    PUMA… 18 million strong

  • pew

    Has everyone seen this latest Pelosi interview?

    http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080804/kvh

    • Northwest rain

      Could NOT read it — all I could see was blah blah blah blah.

      Traitors don’t get much of my time.

      PUMA

      • Chicago Joe

        She suggested Chet Edwards as a running mate. I am not familiar with him.

        • mahaska

          That’s her best pal from some southern place.

  • http://larrysinclair0926.com Larry Sinclair

    Just wanted to say thank you to all those readers of this site who have helped get the word out that I am back up.

    The latest AFL-CIO attempt to continue to use Obama’s forged Birth Certificate causes me to publish another article tomorrow with a certified copy of a Hawaiian Certificate of live birth (obtained in 1983) from an individual who was indeed born in Hawaii.

    Again thank you for your kind words.

    Thank you,

    Larry Sinclair

  • Mitty

    I thank Larry and Susan for the introduction of open threads.

    PUMAs need to share information.

    I am mentally scattered most of the time, so it will take me a while to collect my marbles and write something coherent.

    All I can manage now is

    PUMA ROCKS

  • james

    Having just viewed the McCain campaign ad featuring Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, I’m beginning to wonder if the McCain people have totally lost their minds.

    Who hired these Bozos?

  • PS

    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article3582291.ece

    Can someone locate the Hawaiian newspaper interview that is referenced below from the article from above? Was his wife & child listed in this interview?

    Ann was still only 18 when Barack Jr was born in August 1961. Barack Sr left Hawaii less than a year later, after giving an interview to the local paper to celebrate his place in Hawaiian history as the first African graduate of the university: “the 26-year-old, straight-A student from Kenya is heading for Harvard to work on his PhD in economics”.

  • ObamaNOT

    Mow with arrogant obama stating this is the moment the world has been waiting for, he is going to be harder to stop…..because the DNC is now 100 percent chained to him….so the DNC will use every trick and rule to keep you guys down and silent….The media seems to be slowly TURNING on BO…..I would suggest you guys do a million person march against the DNC in DC and DEnver….

  • judd

    In the below link you will read an article about intel we have that Iran plans to nuke us I ask the following who you gonna want in the White House
    as Commander and Chief:

    a. Hillary says she is gonna wipe Iran off the map if they screw with us or our allies
    b. Obama says he wants to go talk and offer carrots and sticks
    c. John McCain unknown plan

    http://www.newsmax.com/timmerman/iran_nuclear_plan/2008/07/29/117217.html

    • james

      The United States currently has around 3,575 strategic and 500 nonstrategic warheads; about 1,260 additional warheads held in the inactive stockpile. We’ve got land and submarine based ICBMs ready to lauch. We’ve got nuke-capable cruise missiles. We’ve got around 70 B-1 bombers, 16 B-2 bombers, and 44 B-52 bombers ready to fly.

      What do you suppose would happen if Iran got a couple of shots off in our direction? What do you suppose would happen if we even suspected they were about to do this?

      • Northwest rain

        Not much would be left of Iran — this is propaganda — just like the crap used by bush/cheney etc to justify their invasion of Iraq.

      • bemused

        If they could in fact get off a crippling electromagnetic pulse, our ability to respond would be very small. That’s the point that has been feared for years, a high altitude EMP would totally cripple electronics. On or off, the equipment would be shorted out, not to reboot ever. How do you think the planes and missles we have are going to deliver without electronics? It would be a way to take over the world with one bomb.

        • james

          During my childhood everyone half-expected global thermonuclear war. We half-expected it to start on any perfectly normal day. We had fully-stocked fallout shelters in public buildings, back yards and basements across America. There’s an abandoned underground Nike missile silo a couple of miles from where I’m currently sitting. Elementary school kids knew what to do the instant they saw a brilliant flash. It was drilled into our little heads. We had nightmares of blinding flashes and mushroom clouds.

          Times have changed. I no longer worry so much global thermonuclear war. Other things have have taken its place. Global overpopulation leading to catastrophic ecological collapse seems like a far more likely possibility. An unstoppable, genetically modified virus tops the list. With computer controlled gene sequencing, that’s the global terror weapon of the near future. Unfortunately it doesn’t take access to hard-to-obtain fissionable materials or billion-dollar industrial-scale laboratories. It doesn’t even require a nation-state as a sponsor.

          It would be far better if states like Iran and North Korea had no nukes. But we’ve got other threats to worry about that require closer attention.

  • Gary McGowan

    I guess I can’t be off-topic in an open thread. I just became aware of this via the email copied below:

    Wednesday, July 30, 2008 22:52

    The campaign to send Karl Rove to Jail just took a huge step forward! In a stunning action just minutes ago, the House Judiciary Committee voted to hold Rove in contempt.

    Brave New Films and our partners have been working steadily to maximize the impact of the petition. And we want to continue this fight, so please contribute so we can.

    Let’s take a look at the campaign so far:

    - 12 Days Ago: We launched Send Rove to Jail [You can sign the petition here too.] . You immediately recognized a crucial chance to hold Rove accountable for flagrantly breaking the law and you seized it, raising over 40,000 signatures in 24 hours!

    - 9 Days Ago: CREDO Mobile took note of your efforts. They hopped on board and sent the petition to their subscribers, garnering tens of thousands more signatures.

    - 5 Days Ago: We hit the 100,000 signature milestone, causing even more progressive groups to get involved, including Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, The Nation, Campaign for America’s Future, Progress Now, and People for the American Way, the last of whom alone generated another 15,000 signatures.

    - Yesterday: Brave New Films Editorial Director ZP Heller hand delivered three petition boxes containing over 127,000 signatures to the House Judiciary Committee in Washington D.C. Together with our partners, we took our message directly to HJC member Linda Sanchez (D-CA), who was impressed by the sheer number of signatures. “I think it’s ridiculous that Karl Rove thinks that he doesn’t have to follow the law,” Sanchez said. “And nobody in this country should be above the law.”

    - Today: Sanchez led the HJC in a vote of contempt for Rove!

    In just 12 days, your ability to sign and spread our petition led us from merely pointing out Rove’s lawbreaking hubris to helping convince the HJC to vote him in contempt.

    Now help us take this fight to the full House. Contribute here so Brave New Films can remain vigilant in this battle. For it is not just about Rove; his case raises larger critical issues of holding lawbreakers accountable and advocating justice within the framework of our legal system.

    Yours,
    Robert Greenwald
    and the Brave New team

    —
    You can get our latest videos on email, iTunes, RSS, Facebook, and YouTube here. [You can view videos and choose to subscribe at this page] We are located at 10510 Culver Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232.

  • JKFriz

    Susan – still waiting for a retraction on the Ma’ariv accusation, which was trumpeted loudly here in several posts.

    http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/07/29/obama-vindicated.aspx

    I think the various posts concerned with this issue deserve an update.

    • CountryFirst

      Given BOs propensity for controlling the information that the media has about him, it was easy to believe that handing out the prayer prior to going to the wall was true – modus operandi, you know.

      • JKFriz

        Great. Just because something jibes with your preconceptions doesn’t necessarily make it true.

  • judd

    James:

    If your stats on the stock pile of ammo are true, then Hillary is our commander because she is ready to wipe them/IRAN off the map if they attack us or our allies and she must know that we have all we need to do it with in a matter of milli-seconds.

    That is called being ready on day ONE!

    That is called progressive-experience that is needed in the White House.

    That is why Hillary Clinton must be President of the United States of America.

    Obama is a slink-fink and failure.

    Reality-Iran and the middle east conflicts are going to bite us in the ass and probably before the next president takes office.

    They will attack when our country is divided like it is now and was in 2000 when they attacked on our own soil at the World Trade Centers.

    This division is exactly what the enemy of the US wants. Obama is loving being the divisive figure and worshiped world wide.

    DANGER DANGER DANGER is what Obama is…………..

  • CountryFirst

    I don’t have a link for this because it was emailed to me earlier today, so I’ll just copy and paste:

    Check, Please
    By JAMES TARANTO
    July 30, 2008

    One of the most appealing features of the Barack Obama candidacy is the idea that Obama is “postracial”–that he is a candidate who is black and does not practice the adversarial politics of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. This is why his 20-year association with the racist anti-American crackpot Jeremiah Wright was potentially so damaging to him, and why Jesse Jackson’s lurid fantasies of sexually mutilating Obama were such a great stroke of luck for the candidate.

    But a story in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin raises serious questions about Obama’s postracialism. The paper describes an Obama appearance at Unity ’08, “a convention of four minority journalism associations”:

    “I personally would want to see our tragic history, or the tragic elements of our history, acknowledged,” the Democratic presidential hopeful said.

    “I consistently believe that when it comes to whether it’s Native Americans or African-American issues or reparations, the most important thing for the U.S. government to do is not just offer words, but offer deeds.”

    Exactly what Obama is advocating here cannot be determined, but it seems to be something of an endorsement of the idea of “reparations for slavery,” which is usually taken to mean cash payments. In this view, the following deeds are insufficient to balance the ledger between America and the descendants of slaves: the Civil War, the ratification of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, Brown v. Board of Education, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the continuing practice of racial preferences.

    The idea of reparations is highly unpopular, and with good reason. Unlike the Japanese-Americans who in 1988 received compensation for their internment by a Democratic administration in the grips of wartime hysteria, no one alive today has ever been a slave. The idea of the government cutting checks to compensate people for a wrong that they did not personally suffer is unlikely to appeal to anyone except perhaps those who stand to receive those checks.

    The politics of this are rather odd. There is little for Obama to gain by endorsing reparations. If ever there was a candidate who has no need to pander to the descendants of slaves, it is Barack Obama. Democratic presidential candidates can usually count on upward of 90% of the black vote, and Obama racked up similar percentages in a hard-fought primary battle.

    On the other hand, in order to attract votes among nonblacks, Obama needs to guard carefully his postracial credentials. It’s one thing to endorse racial preferences, a conventionally liberal if unpopular view. But reparations remains a fringe idea–the sort of idea a presidential nominee would normally be careful to stay away from.

    The Star-Bulletin report also calls attention to an anomaly in the culture of American journalism:

    When Obama walked on stage at the McCormick Center, many journalists in the audience leapt to their feet and applauded enthusiastically after being told not to do so. During a two-minute break halfway through the event, which was broadcast live on CNN, journalists ran to the stage to snap photos of Obama. . . .

    Obama, who acknowledged that he needed a nap, stood up to say farewell to the audience of journalists, many of whom gave him another standing ovation.

    Normally, journalists are expected to adopt a professional attitude of detachment. After 9/11, some journalists even criticized colleagues who wore American flag pins, which the former saw as an unacceptable display of nationalism. Yet few openly object to the notion that “minority” journalists–Unity is a coalition of the Asian American Journalists Association, the National Association of Black Journalists, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the Native American Journalists Association–are advocates on behalf of their racial or ethnic group. Would a politician get a standing ovation at a convention of the Society of Professional Journalists or some other nonethnic organization of journalists?

  • brandon alan kough

    i am grey matter an actual humanbeing