The Devil and Mitt Romney: Lessons from Stravinsky & Robert Johnson

The anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the RNC convention in Tampa really got me thinking about what's in store for this country, so I needed music to help me make some sense of it all.

As my recent blog post about punk rock will attest, my musical tastes run the gamut but nothing soothes my senses while writing quite like classical does; I'm partial to baroque choral arrangements when working at the keyboard.

A few days ago I listened to Igor Stravinsky's "The Soldier's Tale" for the first time on WWFM radio. The unusual piece is one of Stravinsky's (pictured left) more eclectic compositions, which is saying a lot for the Russian-born composer known for creating in a wide range of musical styles.

According to the Good-Music-Guide.com Website, Stravinsky's concert version of  "The Soldier's Tale"  is scored for just 7 musical instruments in a jazz-influenced style and interestingly features four characters with speaking parts; a princess, a soldier, the Devil and a narrator. The story is based on an old Russian folk tale about a soldier who decides to sell his soul to the Devil in exchange for a book that reveals things about the future.  

The Faustian origins of selling one's soul to the Devil (or a demon) in exchange for youth, knowledge, power, wealth or love resonate in American folklore as well. British guitarist Eric Clapton and the band Cream popularized the song "Crossroads", but it was written by influential Delta Blues master Robert Johnson as "Cross Roads Blues" in 1936 two years before his death.

One of only two known photos of Robert Johnson.

Blues fans are aware of the claims that Johnson, who died under mysterious circumstances at age 27 in relative obscurity, was said to have sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for his mastery of the Blues guitar; but there are many possible explanations for this popular explanation for his exceptional musical talent.

While Johnson was in many ways an enigma, interviews with many people who actually knew and played with him do shed some light on the origins of the Crossroads claims; that Johnson literally went down to a cross roads one night and met the Devil, who took Johnson's guitar, tuned it and gave it back to him along with an astounding ability to play.

As a spiritual person, I'm not in a position to say whether Johnson actually made a pact with Satan, but such stories probably have more to do with misunderstanding and Johnson's peculiar nature. In the late 19th and early 20th century, African-American musicians who played Blues often earned the  disapproval of the Baptist Church, and might be accused of having "sold his soul to the Devil"; owing more to the fact that Blues was associated with late night carousing in "juke joints" or little local bars where Blues musicians played live and alcohol (Johnson had a fondness for whiskey) smoking, dancing, casual sexual encounters and other behaviors perceived by more conservative "church folk" as "evil" were popular.

Another possibility stems from Johnson's relationship with Blues guitarist Ike Zimmerman. Ike was a black farmer born in Grady, Alabama in 1907 and he was not only an extremely gifted Blues player, he also taught a number of people to play; including Robert Johnson. Blues scholar Bruce Conforth interviewed Zimmerman's daughter who claims that Johnson (known to the Zimmermans as RL) was a diligent student who practiced frequently under Ike's tutelage during his lengthy stays with the family.

In order to play at night and not disturb anyone, the two of them would walk along a dirt path, pass a cross roads into a nearby white-owned graveyard known as the Beauregard Cemetery and sit on top of tombstones and play for hours; as it was quiet there and no one would disturb them. Neighbors who lived near the cemetery recall hearing them both playing at night and during the day and it's possible these accounts evolved into the stories of Johnson's guitar skill being mystical in origin.

During his all-too-brief life, Johnson traveled widely to various towns, hamlets and cities, some who knew him claim he was known to be in the habit of simply walking off and disappearing after playing onstage; and might not be seen for weeks or months. That may or may not be attributed to his love of whiskey; I worked as a bartender in New York for 6 years and knew many people prone to what's known as the "Irish Exit" - where some people get drunk and just leave the bar without telling their friends or anyone else; it's a habit of some drinkers.

According to Wikipedia, a widely-read article in 1966 by Pete Welding in Down Beat Magazine in which he related a story told to him by Blues guitarist Son House (who knew and played with Johnson), House alleged that he knew Johnson when he was younger and more of an average guitarist, but the next time he saw him play he had morphed into an exceptional player. House attributed that jump in skill to the "pact with the Devil" theory but as researchers discovered in later interviews, there was at least a 24 month period between the time House saw Johnson play; so it's quite possible during that time Johnson had been staying with Ike Zimmerman and mastering his technique so he was just a much better guitar player because of practice.

I strongly recommend you pick up a copy of "Searching for Robert Johnson: The Life and Legend of the King of the Delta Blues Players" by Peter Gurainick (1998). You can order a used copy for as low as $2.10 plus shipping from Amazon. It's a really informative read that gives fresh insight into Johnson's life and accounts of his peculiar, eccentric behavior; I tend to think it's those things, coupled with his short life and immense talent which serve as the fertile breeding ground for the stories of his supposed pact with the Devil.

Unfortunately there are tendencies, in my opinion, for historical achievements by people of African descent to be labeled as "mysterious" or attributed to other-worldly types of explanations because some people (sub-consciously or not) can find it hard to accept that a person of color was simply that gifted, or intelligent.

Take the ancient Egyptians for example, I read "Chariots of the Gods" when I was younger, I saw and enjoyed Roland Emmerich's 1994 Sci-Fi film "Stargate" ; there's a slew of oddball explanations that have become entrenched in popular culture as to how (and why) the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids, most having to do with extraterrestrials in spaceships coming down out of the sky to do it for them.

As someone who's fond of history, I think such theories tend to trivialize African history and their contributions to world culture. Some popular fiction entertainment (like Stargate) tends to function as a substitute to accepting the fact that ancient Egyptians had simply mastered complex concepts of advanced mathematics, science and engineering in the Nile River basin 3,150 years before Jesus of Nazareth walked the earth after Upper and Lower Egypt were united under the first Pharaoh Menes.

Back in 2009, I blogged about an Austrian scientist who determined that Cleopatra was in fact, of African descent; despite slews of films and television productions depicting her as a Caucasian female.

In a similar fashion, I think that illustrates the root causes of the stories of Satan bestowing magical guitar powers on Robert Johnson; the guy was just a prodigy, a highly-gifted guitar player. But for  some people, reckoning his skill with his dark skin and African-American features is hard. So they go with the Devil theory.

These things were on my mind as I watched bits and pieces of the Republican National Convention this week. Not because I think Mitt Romney is the Devil or anything, though the Mormon religion has some really strange origin theories that Willard avoids talking about in public.

As I watched speaker after speaker up on the stage in Tampa sharing their narrow-minded vision for America, I just kept thinking about all the billionaires who've poured hundreds of millions of dollars into his campaign and into Super PACs in an all out effort to defeat President Obama. Men like Sheldon Adelson and the Koch brothers don't shell out dough like that unless they expect to get something in return.

As Mitt smiles and waves next to Paul Ryan, I can't help but wonder; if Mitt does win, what happens to the 300 million Americans who aren't in the top 1% when all these billionaires come-a-calling to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to collect on their investment? Like the main character in Stravinsky's "The Soldier's Tale", it's all good and well when you get that coveted prize you wanted from the Devil; but what's in store for the soul of America when the Devil comes to collect?

By the way, ever wonder why Mitt never discusses his religion?

Countdown in Ohio: Will Jon Husted Really Fire Two Board of Elections Members for Standing Up for Voter's Rights?

Tonight millions of people across the nation are holding their breath as Hurricane Issac chugs towards New Orleans; threatening landfall on the Gulf coast on the eve of the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

But a potential storm is brewing in Ohio too.

Embattled Secretary of State Jon Husted (who just canceled a featured-speaker appearance at the True the Vote Ohio summit in the wake of increased media scrutiny over his voter suppression tactics) will have to decide whether to fire Democratic Montgomery County Board of Elections members Dennis Lieberman and Thomas Ritchie (pictured left).

Both men made an appearance on tonight's edition of Politics Nation with Al Sharpton and I was impressed by Lieberman's statement that, "I can find another job but I only have one conscience." in reference to the very real possibility that he will loose his job because of Republican efforts to suppress voter participation across the nation.

Lieberman and Ritchie (who also made an appearance on the Rachel Maddow Show) were suspended last week for defying Husted's order that early voting and weekend voting hours be curtailed; despite the fact that 197,000 Ohio voters cast their votes early or during evening and weekend hours during the 2008 election.

Between the flood of money from billionaires and Super Pacs, the constant stream of negative TV ads distorting President Obama's record and the voter suppression efforts, clearly there's a method to the Republican madness and it may just be the numbers. Earlier this evening Rachel Maddow and her guest, former New York Times columnist Bob Herbert, discussed the startling fact that this election will likely be the last presidential election where a white demographic will have enough voters to be able generate a sufficient majority to elect a president.

By 2016 with the rapidly-expanding Hispanic and Asian populations changing the fabric of the nation, the traditional Republican demographic (as it now stands) just won't have the numbers to elect a president. That's a huge shift for this nation and it scares a lot of people on the Republican side.

Enough for them to start laying the foundation to be able to suppress voters in heavily-Democratic districts. If Jon Husted fires Dennis Lieberman and Thomas Ritchie tomorrow for simply supporting expanded hours for Ohio citizens to take part in the electoral process, a basic foundation of the United States reinforced by the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965, the GOP may very well unleash a storm that could end up doing more damage to their own brand than simply loosing an election. 

GOP Efforts to Strip Voter Rights: Jim Crow Rides Again

Say hello to one of the faces of voter suppression in 2012. He's not some thug you'll find standing around the ballot box with a club trying to intimidate people attempting to exercise their Constitutional right to vote.

Nor is he some mafia hood like the kind gangster Al Capone sent to Cicero, Illinois in 1924  to physically beat voters into casting ballots for his hand-picked corrupt Republican candidate Joseph Z. Klenha.

The man pictured here is Jon Husted, the Secretary of State of Ohio and his name is popping up in the mainstream media after he led efforts to cut back the available hours for Ohio citizens to vote during the upcoming elections; including totally eliminating early voting and night and weekend voting hours.

Just so we're clear here, during the 2008 Presidential elections many voters in Ohio complained about facing waits as long as six hours to cast their ballots; the same year 48% of voters in Franklin County cast their votes early.

It's not like it's a big secret about why Republicans nationwide are going out of their way to make it more difficult to vote. The Franklin County Republican chairman Doug Preisse freely admitted the rule changes would restrict black voter turnout in an e-mail to the Columbus Dispatch. According to Priesse, a former primary adviser to Newt Gingrich, "...we shouldn't contort the voting process to accommodate the urban voter-turnout machine."

But Republicans should contort it to keep people from participating in the Democratic process? What has happened to the GOP? And when did they decide to turn America into a Banana Republic?

Have you heard of the organization called 'True the Vote'? Last night Rachel Maddow featured a spot on this right wing group openly dedicated to intimidating voters at polling stations. True the Vote claims it's training millions of members to simply show up at polls (mostly in places where minorities vote) like they did in Houston, Texas.

Yup, same Texas that had four cases of voter fraud in the last two general elections. Make no mistake this isn't a "black or Hispanic-thing"; this an "American-thing". All Americans should be very concerned at this kind of hijacking of people's right to vote; not just because it's immoral, illegal and a mockery of American values, it's a blatant violation of the most basic premise of Democracy.

The same sort of mindset who embrace abstract patriotic rhetoric to send US troops over to foreign lands to kill people in the name of "Democracy" are actively trying to obstruct the Democratic process here in America. Think about that. If you don't, you're just going to make it easier for the GOP to obstruct the votes of whichever demographic that disagrees with them.

"The sides are being divided now. It’s very obvious. So if you’re on the other side of the fence, you’re suddenly anti-American. Its breeding fear of being on the wrong side. Democracy’s a very fragile thing. You have to take care of democracy. As soon as you stop being responsible to it and allow it to turn into scare tactics, it’s no longer democracy, is it? It’s something else. It may be an inch away from totalitarianism."

SAM SHEPARD, The Village Voice, Nov. 12, 2004

Mainstream America Meets the Real Republican Party

Looks like the proverbial chicken of extremist GOP rhetoric is coming home to roost.

Frantic members of the GOP leadership, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, are tripping over themselves in an effort to distance themselves from Congressman Todd Akin's now infamous comments and paint him as some kind of rogue radical who strayed off the ranch. But with 76 days left before the 2012 Presidential election Americans of all stripes are getting a good look at one of the central planks of the GOP platform and a sense of just how archaic their views on woman's health really are; it's also becoming clear Akin isn't alone. Not by a long-shot.

In an article in yesterday's New York Times, Jonathan Weisman quoted Missouri GOP Committee member Sharon Barnes (pictured above) as not only agreeing with Akin that rape rarely results in pregnancy, she also said, "at that point if God has chosen to bless someone with a life you don't kill it."

Her views aren't that different than Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan's either. Ryan's name is next to the 200 other House members of the GOP who supported House Resolution #3, the 'No Taxpayer Money for Abortion Act' (sponsored by Representative Chris Smith of NJ) which sought to restrict exceptions on Federal funding for abortions for women in the case of rape or incest.

Ryan also supported House Resolution 212, the 'Sanctity of Human Life Act' which went even further and sought to ban abortion even in cases of rape; it was sponsored by Georgia Congressman Paul Broun; who also tried to de-fund the Voting Rights Act.

These views, while clearly way out of step with most Americans stance on abortion, have been a central theme of the GOP since the rise of the Tea Party in 2010. The right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has helped Republican state legislators from around the nation pass almost 1,000 anti-abortion bills around the nation.

Back on January 20th of this year when former GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum was asked what a woman who was raped and became pregnant should do, the poster-boy for the pro-life movement argued that rather than have an abortion, she should be compelled by law to keep the baby and "make the best of a bad situation."  'American Exceptionalism' indeed.

Let's see how presidential hopeful Mitt Romney makes the best of this situation as he contemplates the grim reality of his going up against an incumbent after having chosen a loose-cannon running mate who's views are repugnant to the majority of American women and offensive to those of us who believe the government has no business dictating moral or medical choices for anyone.

Any political party that would place it's ideology over the victims of rape has no business running the nation in the 21st century. What are they thinking? Oh and speaking of chickens coming home to roost, Akin totally chickened out of an appearance on Piers Morgan on CNN. Check it out.

Chase Austin Tapped as A.J Foyt's Driver for 2013 Indy 500

Between GOP Missouri Rep. Todd Akin's comments about rape  and my last blog about Dinesh D'Souza's crazy ass I gotta switch gears, so lets talk auto racing. You wouldn't know it from most of my posts here but I'm a true gear-head who's loved fast cars since I was old enough to know that they were loud and went fast.

So when I read an Associated Press article about a young African-American race car driver prodigy named Chase Austin, I had to blog about it. That's Chase pictured in the box and I'm a bit jealous because he looks like the age I was when I was still playing with my prized Hot Wheels collection.

As reported by AP sports writer Rusty Miller, Austin, 22, has been racing different types of cars including go-carts, sprint cars, stock cars and Indy Lights, since he was 8-years old. He inked a development driver deal with the prestigious Hendricks Motorsports when he was just 14.

Austin caught Foyt's attention after Chris Miles, a principal with Starting Grid, Inc., (an organization that promotes minorities in racing motor sports) helped promote Austin as an Indy Lights driver for Willy T. Ribbs Racing. Racing legend A.J Foyt (himself a 4-time Indy 500 winner) recently tapped Austin to drive his A.J. Foyt Enterprises racing teams Indy car entry next year. If he can qualify for the race in 2013, he's poised to become just the third black driver to compete in the prestigious Indianapolis 500.

Willy T. Ribbs raced at Indy in 1991 and 1993 (backed in part by comedian Bill Cosby), and George Mack raced in 2002.

For guys and not a few women, race car drivers occupy a special place atop the apex of popular culture. You don't need to know a lot about cars or auto racing to recognize names like Jackie Stewart, Michael Schumacher, Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt or even one of my childhood favorites, the mysterious animated Racer-X from the classic Japanese cartoon Speed Racer; which I watched religiously as a child. Was there anything cooler than the Mammoth Car?

Growing up I watched races like the Indy 500 and Daytona 500 but rarely saw people of color involved with the sport. Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton of England has emerged as one of the best drivers in the world in a sport where few people of color had any real presence until he came on the scene. But as Formula One broadens its reach past it's Euro-centric origins with drivers of many different nationalities and new Grand Prix races in places like Abu Dubai, China, Malaysia and Singapore, popular drivers like Hamilton have come to symbolize auto racing's efforts to diversify it's ranks.

There's little question the world of Indy racing recognizes it's own need to follow suit. Time will tell if Austin has the right stuff, but either way it's an exciting moment for auto racing and a special moment for American race fans. Kudos to A.J. Foyt for giving a young talented brother a chance too; that's big.

Somehow I doubt the mainstream media will fawn all over him the way they do Danica Patrick.

Dinesh D'Souza: The 'Sheriff Joe' of the Conservative Media Movement?

So I'm reading film reviews in the New York Times last Friday August 10th when I came upon a full-page ad for a film called "Obama's America: 2016". The cryptic subtitle read: "Love him, hate him, you don't know him - He is downsizing America."

Uh oh, I thought. I scroll down to check the credits and sure enough this cinematic masterpiece was co-written and co-directed by none other than right-wing writer Dinesh D'Souza (pictured above). For those of you who've been kind enough to follow my blog, you may recall that I wrote about D'Souza back on September 20, 2010 in the lead-up to the 2010 Presidential elections. [Read the blog to get the full story.] Disclaimer: it may be a bit self-serving to link to my own blog, but hey, you do what you gotta do.

Those of you who might not be familiar with D'Souza, don't let that bookish appearance fool you.
Ideologically, this guy is as far right as Ann Coulter and just as nutty as Michelle Bachmann. Two months before the 2010 Presidential election D'Souza penned a widely-panned Forbes Magazine article in which he tried to make the case that Obama, was somehow trying to radically re-shape US foreign policy in an effort to mirror the political views of his estranged Kenyan father.

Well, we've seen how that turned out. Bin Laden is dead, the war in Iraq is over, America has played a quiet but definitive role in the collapse of regimes in Egypt, Libya and soon, Syria; and US troops will soon wind down the war in Afghanistan.

D'Souza, born in India but raised in Arizona, has had nothing but contempt for African-Americans, Jews and homosexuals since he was offending people with his not-so cleverly disguised hate speech in college. Now it seems he's moved on to film.

It would take a psychiatrist to explain how a dark-skinned immigrant would allow himself to be used by American conservatives to bash minorities with pseudo-intellectual theories and baseless assumptions. It's almost like he's the 'Sheriff Joe Arpaio' of right-wing conservative media.

Speaking of media spotlight-loving unapologetic racists, the August 16th Rolling Stone article 'The Long Lawless Ride of Sheriff Joe' offers a really penetrating look into the life of notorious Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Like D'Souza, Arpaio has a long history of hating racial minorities in America, RS contributing editor Joe Hagan peels back the layers of this poster boy for intolerance with a must-read profile. Check it out.

The Republican Smear Job on Obama

After Barack Obama's victory in the 2008 Presidential election, Republican organizers conceded that his campaign had soundly beaten them to the punch when it came to using the Internet to galvanize massive support, communicate with the voter base and channel campaign contributions.   

It's certainly no secret the GOP has pulled out all the stops to make Obama a one-term president. The Supreme Court's Citizens United decision made a mockery of the Democratic process and opened up the spigots for unprecedented floods of cash to pour into the 2012 presidential race. Take a look at Tim Dickinson's article entitled  'Right Wing Billionaires Behind Mitt Romney' in the May 24, 2012 issue of Rolling Stone, it offers a frightening look at the kinds of money flowing into GOP Super Pacs from wealthy individuals.

While the Obama campaign uses it's massive e-mail outreach to communicate with supporters and coordinate volunteer efforts, it's apparent the GOP is actively using it's e-mail lists to fuel the Republican Smear Campaign. I trade e-mails with a Republican friend of mine out in California, last night he told me he's been receiving huge numbers of e-mails from right-wing organizations that are stirring up resentment for Obama by spreading claims that the President never went to Columbia.

Snopes.com offers ample proof the President DID in fact attend and graduate from Columbia. Despite the baseless GOP & Tea Party accusations, clowns like Donald Trump (pictured above) continue to sling the lie to the masses. Rather than supervise the crime in his own territory, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio continues to harass Hispanics and beat the dead horse of the Birther movement; continuing his own bizarre investigation into Obama's birth certificate. Makes you wonder if it's really about the deficit, policy or the skin color of the President for Republicans; regardless, Obama's opponents, misinformed voters who stay informed through Fox News, actually believe it's truth. Scary.

Separating Skinheads & Punks from Ignorant Neo-Nazi Posers

With all the mainstream media attention suddenly (and rightfully) being focused on 'Hatecore' music and the skinhead music scene where Wade M. Page was a recognized figure, it's worth noting that not all skinheads and punk rockers are neo-Nazis.

My high school classmate, trusty friend and business partner James Blackburn read my blogpost yesterday about Page and his neo-Nazi ex-girlfriend Misty Cook. Like me and many different members of our West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South class, James was a big fan of punk rock, heavy-metal and alternative music in the late 1980's.

Last night he reminded me via e-mail that within the punk rock scene in the 80's and 90's, the numbers of peaceful skinheads who oppose the neo-Nazi influence of more right-wing skinheads, far outnumbered their goose-stepping counterparts. People unfamiliar with the scene have often mistaken music-loving skinheads with neo-Nazi skins.

The skinhead music subculture that emerged in England in the late 1960's was racially diverse, a product of the unique merger of the Jamaican reggae, 'Rude Boy', Ska and British Mod music scenes. Only in the 1970's when high unemployment left millions of UK youth without jobs, did the rising white nationalist ideology espoused by angry right-wing extremist groups like the National Front and Blood and Honor begin to merge with a revived skinhead music scene. Media attention tended to focus on the violent 'white power' skinheads, and as the hardcore music movement spread to New York and other cities in the US; punks were often mistakenly branded as violent racists.  

As 'punk rock' in the US grew in popularity in the late 70's and early 80's, 'real' punks and skinheads  began pushing back against being wrongly lumped into the same basket as their extremist counterparts and various efforts to distinguish themselves emerged. For example, some peaceful skinheads began wearing blue or yellow shoelaces in their Doc Marten boots as opposed to the red or white shoelaces often worn by neo-Nazi skinheads.

Influential hardcore punk bands like the Dead Kennedys began to incorporate their ideological opposition to fascist punks with popular songs like 'Nazi Punks, Fuck Off' released in 1982 which mocked racist skins for their views and violent behavior at hardcore shows and became something of an unofficial anthem.

In 1987, Marcus Pacheco and Steven M started Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice, or SHARP as a movement to demonstrate that the skinhead and punk music scene was based on racial diversity and socio-political expression rather than hate and racism. James sent me the image of the SHARP patch above and told me that while he was attending art school in New York City in the 80's he often saw 'white power' skinhead toughs on the Lower East Side at places like CBGB's or over at the bars and head shops on St. Mark's Place trying to pick fights; but they usually ended up getting stomped on by SHARP-aligned skinheads violently opposed to racist skinheads.

I saw many hardcore shows at City Gardens in Trenton, New Jersey between 1985 and 1989 and the vast majority of people there to see bands were all about the energy of the music. Sure I saw a few 'white power' punks hanging around there, but as a 6-foot 7-inch, 260-pound black guy who played football, I was never intimidated by them.

I recall standing at the back bar of City Gardens one night waiting for the Ramones to go on stage and I saw this scraggly-looking white kid wearing a black t-shirt with a swastika on it. Having had a few beers, I walked over and asked him why he was wearing that shirt given the US and the Allies lost thousands of soldiers, airmen and sailors in their effort to destroy the Third Reich in WWII - he had no answer, he just looked kind of feeble and embarrassed and couldn't make eye contact with me. 

My older sister first took me along to punk shows in 1983-1984 in Washington, DC when we lived in Bethesda, Maryland. I remember going to see the influential DC punk band 9353 and how mind-opening it was to see Rastafarians, alongside punks and skinheads of all different races at places like the 9:30 Club and DC Space. It was my first introduction to a vibrant music scene based on social consciousness, alternative expressions of guitar and vocals; a culture that stood far outside the rigid confines of mainstream suburbia where I and many other alternative fans lived; and longed to escape.

Fringe 'Hatecore' assholes like Wade M. Page who try and use the scene to espouse their narrow-minded views of hate and violence are just blots on the radar, nasty splotches on the windshield rooted in ignorance and fear who will never co-opt the unique spirit and energy of this highly influential form of musical expression.

Wade Page's Murder of Innocent Sikhs: What are the Feds Doing About Neo-Nazis in the US?

As mainstream media begins to delve deeper into the facts about the troubled life of Wade M. Page (pictured left) the fact remains that his brutal unprovoked murder of six of innocent Sikh Americans in a Wisconsin temple clearly could have been prevented.

Could the signs have been any more clear? His membership in the Hammerskin Nation, close association with the neo-Nazi 'Hatecore' music scene, white supremacist ideology, and desire for 'Holy Racial War' (painfully grandiose neo-Nazi speak for murdering innocent people who don't look like them) was known to Federal authorities, ex-Army associates and former work supervisors. 

Disturbing details are emerging about Page's neo-Nazi nursing student ex-girlfriend Misty Cook too.

According to an article by John Eligon of the New York Times Frau Cook, 31, who was arrested and released on weapons possession charges on Sunday, not only works as a waitress at the Prime Table Family Restaurant less than a mile down the road from the Sikh Temple where the rampage took place; for 3 years she's also been an active member of a Hammerskin Nation support group called Crew 38.

Misty's no doe-eyed fringe member of the movement either. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center's Hatewatch blog, she's active on the Crew 38 online forum under the name "LuLuRoman" and has an eye-popping 856 posts on their Website to her credit. The SPLC also claims she's linked to the Volksfront; a Skinhead group founded in 1994 inside the Oregon State Penitentiary by four inmates convicted of (drum-roll please..) hate crimes.

If he was 'indoctrinated' into the neo-Nazi movement during his less-than-distinguished stint in the US Army, why doesn't the Army or the Defense Department commit resources to keep closer track of discharged soldiers known to be associated with violent right wing extremist groups?

Were the Feds tracking Hammerskin Nation or Crew 38 members? It wasn't that long ago that Former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover called the Black Panther Party "the greatest threat to the internal security of the country" and poured massive resources into COINTELPRO; a vast law enforcement initiative of police harassment, assassination, surveillance, infiltration and other illegal tactics used to dismantle the Black Panther Party.

What's the FBI doing about the dozens of neo-Nazi groups across the nation today? Is it enough? Which groups are active in your state? Check out the SPLC list.

Ryan Seacrest Offers Useless Facebook Friend Stats in Lieu of Sports Analysis

Was Ryan Seacrest's on-air comparison of which Olympic athletes had the most Facebook followers on Sunday night meant as actual sports analysis?

Maybe it was some kind of clever commercial product placement to help Facebook try and bolster it's sagging stock price by showing advertisers that being able to show the number of friends you have on Facebook justifies it's initial $104 billion market capitalization?

If you didn't watch the Olympics broadcast on Sunday night, at some point during the coverage NBC cut away from track or gymnastics coverage and returned to Bob Costas on the set, who turned to his left and looked at the analysts chair next to him where Ryan Seacrest (pictured above) was seated.

Before I knew what was happening Seacrest was standing up offering analysis; but not about any of the events that had just taken place, or the athletes who'd competed in them. Instead Seacrest turned to a big color monitor with a Facebook logo on it and proceeded to launch into a comparison of which athletes had the most social media followers.

I had a WTF? moment, then quickly changed the channel. Nothing against Ryan Seacrest but watching him do post-event Olympic analysis was kind of like watching Katie Couric on the CBS Evening News in the same chair where Cronkite and Rather sat; you just felt there was just something awkward about it and it didn't quite work.

Seacrest sits at the top of the media food chain as a veteran radio personality and television producer. Okay so he's executive producer of Keeping Up With the Kardashians and Denise Richards: It's Complicated, it's not a crime to work with attention-seeking Kardashians or Charlie Sheen's ex is it?

He's certainly a veteran television host with shows like American Idol, the 2008 Superbowl pregame and halftime shows, E! news and the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards to his credits; but what's he doing offering Olympic sports analysis of any kind? He's never covered mainstream competitive sports on TV, he's not an Olympic medal winner - or even an athlete for that matter.

To be fair to NBC, broadcasting daily continuous coverage of the 2012 Olympics has to be an enormous undertaking. We can appreciate the need for the various athlete profiles, interviews and assorted "filler types" of pieces used to fill time between the transitions between different events.

Maybe Seacrest's out-of-place social media/Web metrics piece was just a klutzy way of NBC Universal trying to woo Seacrest's coveted American Idol demo; God knows there have been enough commercial promos for NBC's The Voice with Howard Stern. (Fifteen years ago the former self-crowned "King of All Media" would've mocked HIMSELF for doing that show) 

There are dozens of former Olympic athletes with personality, camera presence, media savvy and intricate knowledge of specific Olympic sports who would have made better (and more insightful) analysts than Seacrest.

On a Sunday night when Jamaican Usain Bolt outran a talent-rich field to set an Olympic record in the 100 and US gymnast McKayla Maroney fell on her second vault to take silver; I think NBC could have done better than Ryan Seacrest. I'd venture the sports-savvy American audience was probably expecting something a little more substantive than "which athlete has the most Facebook friends". 

Private Danny Chen: Victim of Intolerance Inside US Army Culture?

Despite evidence that US Army private David Chen, (pictured left) was the target of a long pattern of racial slurs, insults, harassment and physical abuse aimed at his ethnicity from the time he entered boot camp, Sgt. Adam Holcomb (the first of eight soldiers court charged in a violent racial hazing just prior to Chen's death) was found not guilty of negligent homicide in a court martial at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina last week.

While the 10-person jury did find Sgt. Holcomb guilty of maltreatment of a subordinate and assault, the max he'll get is two and a half years. It leaves Chen's family, friends, neighbors and members of the Chinese-American community across the US still seeking answers and justice in the wake of the murky circumstances surrounding Chen's death in Afghanistan last year.

On the night of October 3, 2011 the 19 year-old Lower East Side Manhattan native (assigned to Company C, 3rd Battalion of the 25th Infantry Division) was found in the guard tower of a remote Army base known as Combat Outpost Palace near the Pakistan border in Kandahar Province southwest Afghanistan with a single self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Army lawyers claimed it was suicide resulting from Chen's struggle to adjust to the intense demands of infantry life coupled with depression over being disowned by his Chinese parents.

Chen's mother Su Zhen Chen took the stand to vehemently deny she, her husband and family were estranged from their son, or had disowned him in any way. His lawyer, Army prosecutor Captain Blake Doughty argued Chen was driven to suicide as a result of a pattern of physical abuse and harassment (including ethnic and racial slurs) that started when Chen began basic training as the only Asian-American in his platoon.

New York Times reporter Kirk Semple provided excellent insight into the case including details from the first day of the court-martial being held at Ft. Bragg, NC. [Read it.]. But with suicide rates among active duty US personnel stationed overseas at an all-time high, I thought this case was deserving of more extensive mainstream media coverage than it has received.

Chen was stationed in Fort Wainright, Alaska prior to his deployment overseas. An article in the Anchorage Daily News claims he documented the racism he faced from his Army peers and superiors in a journal he kept. [Read the ADN piece.]. The article also offers accounts from older Asian-American military veterans who document patterns of discrimination in the Army going back for years.

Few accounts encapsulate the historic struggle of Asian-Americans to overcome the obstacles of bigotry and racism within the US military more than the incredible story of the US Army's 442nd Regimental Combat team during World War Two. A unit comprised of Japanese-Americans recognized as the most highly-decorated regiment in the history off the Army. [Read about the 442nd]

In light of such lessons, paid for with the blood and sacrifice of American soldiers, you'd think the Army would've learned to crack down harder on officers, NCO's or soldiers who discriminate against any fellow soldier based on ethnicity or race.

Regardless of the outcome of the court martial it's clear lack of oversight by the Department of Defense and the Army allowed this kind of harassment to exist at the unit level. During his stint in the Army Chen was harassed because of his ethnicity at bases both here while he was training and later overseas where he was serving. Seems to me he was fighting two wars.

Hair-Gate: Gymnast Gabby Douglas Dissed by Hair-Obsessed Black Trolls

16 year-old Gabby Douglas helped lead the US woman's gymnastic team to gold on Tuesday night, then became the first African-American woman to win a gold medal in the individual all-around competition on Thursday; just the fourth American woman to win the latter.

Despite a performance that millions around the globe found inspiring, Gabby found herself the subject of criticism on Twitter. Not because of her dismount, but because of her hair.

Who would use Twitter to critique something as inconsequential as Gabby's hair? The Huffington Post Website offers a few samples of the kinds of negative comments Gabby received from, get this; black people. [Read for yourself]. Only in America folks. There's something vindictive, childish and snarky about the whole mess. 

My Grandmother had little tolerance for African-Americans who cultivated negativity within their own communities by tearing down successful people of color with snide comments. She likened them to "crabs in a bucket", pull one out of the bucket as the adage goes and two or three will be clinging on trying to drag them back down. 

Wouldn't you think a 16 year-old US gymnast could count on all Americans getting behind her efforts to compete on the world stage in one of the most difficult Olympic events?

The vast majority of us (of all races) who watched the woman's gymnastics competition on Tuesday night did just that. Watching the composure and athleticism of those five young women gave me pause to appreciate a glimpse of the essence of true American Spirit; something I hadn't really sensed in awhile.

No empty political soundbite ideology, no gloomy reports about the sluggish pace of the economy. Just a diverse group of five young American women who came out onto the floor determined to win gold.

Gabby Douglas was the perfect image of grace and athleticism; and despite the Twitter nonsense, she looked beautiful. As an African-American it made me proud to see her win and I was reminded of the qualities that make this the greatest nation on Earth.

With all the challenges we face as a nation and as a global community, someone who ignores the two Olympic gold medals Gabby won to Tweet trite, superficial comments about something as trivial as her hair seriously needs to turn off the TV, shut down the computer, get off the couch and get a life.

Sad but true: If a group of white people had started Tweeting about Gabby's hair, the same self-hating black people who actually DID Tweet about Gabby's hair would've been up in arms, outraged and calling them racists. But when we insult our own THAT's okay?

Remember how radio talk show host Don Imus was vilified when he called members of the Rutgers University basketball team "nappy-headed ho's" on the air in 2007? 

The Web is full of Trolls who use social media to insult and degrade people, but the fact that some African-Americans used their Twitter accounts to mock a 16 year-old athlete's hair says less about Gabby than it does about black self-esteem and self image.

UPDATE: Friday, August 3, 2012

Just listened to an informed discussion on the Brian Lehrer show on WNYC  about the global conversation being generated by Gabby Douglas and learned there's a larger presence of black female gymnasts than I thought. A caller noted that the 2012 British, Dutch and French woman's Olympic gymnastics teams all currently have black athletes on their rosters; other countries do too.

 Another woman called in to remind listeners that Wendy Hilliard made the Olympic team in 1980 and Betty Okino was a member of the 1992 team that won a bronze medal.     

Who can forget Dominique Dawes? The first African-American gymnast to win a gold medal in an individual event during the 1996 Olympics as a member of the "Magnificent Seven".   

Listen to a podcast of the segment if you're interested, it's not that long.