Gordon Brown Becomes 1st Major World Leader to Sign Anti-Semitic Pact

Cheers to Gordon Brown.

The current British Prime Minister may be under fire from conservatives within the UK government over his handling of the current economic crisis, but it's a positive sign that he has become the first leader of a major Western Power to step forward and put his signature on the London Declaration against antisemitism.

On Wednesday the Anti Defamation League Website reported that 120 lawmakers from 40 countries came together at the Inter-Parliamentary Coalition for Combating Antisemitism.

One of the most interesting goals of this ambitious effort to combat anti-Jewish bigotry is to form a coalition of Internet experts to track the metrics of online antisemitic activity.

Perhaps they could start by monitoring racist, antisemitic hate monger Ann Coulter, who openly expresses her hatred of Jews (and pretty much anyone who isn't blond, white, Christian, American and registered with the Republican party..) on mainstream media all the time. Take a look at the clip to the right. Achtung baby.

It's a great sign to see global initiatives like this take root as humanity seeks to step into a more evolved age of awareness and begin bringing hate and discrimination in all it's forms into the light of truth and knowledge.

My hope would be to see the White House follow suit with a similar pledge of support from President Obama and raise racial unity and the healing of the wounds of hate to it's rightful place at the top of the agenda.

Ann Coulter Defends White Supremacist Council of Conservtive Citizens

It simply baffles me how mainstream media organizations continue to parade Ann Coulter onto podiums, panels and talk shows to feed from the trough of her offensive slew of pseudo-journalism and demented right-wing white supremacist ideology.

Back on January 5th I blogged about the successful grass-roots efforts of thousands of outraged Americans of all races who flooded NBC with calls of protest over a scheduled appearance on the Today Show to promote her latest book; which MediaMatteers.org described as filled with blatant inaccuracies and falsehoods.

Don't get me wrong, in this nation the First Amendment grants us the right to free speech.

But just as the Supreme Court has ruled that doesn't mean you can shout fire in a crowded theater, I consider it a mockery of the Constitution to permit this anti-Semitic, homophobe-racist liar to have a pulpit on the airwaves to pollute the nation's collective consciousness with hate.

Let's take a specifc example.

To hear right-wing extremist/media pundit/author Ann Coulter describe the Council of Conservative Citizens in her latest book, one might asume that the CCC is merely a group of patriotic Americans with an atypical conservative ideology.

According to a recent article posted on the Southern Poverty Law Center's Hatewatch e-newsletter, Coulter describes the CCC as a group advocating “a strong national defense, the right to keep and bear arms, the traditional family, and an ‘America First’ trade policy.” Further, anyone who levels criticism against the CCC including the New York Times, she dismisses as liberals “who have no principles.”

But as is usually the case with Coulter, the actual truth is very different from what she says or writes. The CCC is a modernized version and the successor of what was once known in this country as the 'White Citizens' Council'.

What is the WCC?

It would be a disservice to call it a white supremacist hate group, because it's far more extensive and couches itself behind a cloak of legitimacy.

During the 30's, 40's and 50's when members of the NAACP, lawyers, human rights groups, journalists and other advocates of legal rights undertook massive grass roots campaigns across the southern United States to confront segregation and work to ensure that blacks in the south were able to exercise the right to vote, White Citizens' Councils chapters sprang up in communities across the south to defend segregationist policies and actively discourage and prevent blacks from voting - a right granted under the Constitution.

The "Councils" were typically made up of leading business and civic leaders of a given town or community and included judges, sheriffs, bank owners, real estate agents, store owners, farmers, lawyers and many newspapers publishers and editors.

In a recent article on the Anti Defamation League Website, the ADL not only tags the CCC as an extremist organization, but describes their cause as:

"Advances its ideology by inflaming fears and resentments, among Southern whites particularly, with regard to black-on-white crime, non-white immigration, attacks on the public display of the Confederate flag, and other issues related to "traditional" Southern culture."

Dime-store intellectuals like Coulter aren'the only ones who have spoken in front of and supported the CCC. Reublican Senator Trent Lott and Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, both influential figures in the GOP, (take a wild guess as to how THESE guys feel about African-American Michael Steele being selected as the Republican Natonal Committee chair) have spoken at CCC events.

Read about the CCC for yourself.

If Ann Coulter defends them, what is she doing on Fox News or appearing at college campuses?

Ask yourself why mainstream media gives her a pulpit from which to spew racist, anti-Semitic lies? Why would a person like this be anywhere NEAR the Today Show?

People like Ann Coulter represent far more of a danger to the US than any terrorists; terrorists are subject to arrest and capture - we don't put them on talk shows and radio to talk about their philosophy.

New York Post's Racist Cartoon Continues to Spark Outrage and Protests

The New York Post continues to make headlines around the world, although not for their coverage of the war or the struggling economy - but for depicting the President as a dead chimp.

It's a new low even by the questionable standards of the New York Post as the editorial staff is apparently reduced to resurrecting the most base racist imagery in order to sell newspapers.

In the wake of the growing firestorm of controversy surrounding the disturbing cartoon (pictured above) depicting two white police officers standing over the blood-spattered corpse of a dead chimpanzee representing the President of the United States, the owners and editorial staff of the Post have further degraded themselves by issuing a half-ass apology that defended the decision to run the cartoon as a protest against the economic stimulus bill; suggesting they have absolutely no clue of just how offensive this cartoon is for many Americans.

But if the global media reaction is any indication, the Post is about to get a lesson.

On Saturday the nation's oldest civil rights organization, the NAACP called for a boycott of the paper, demanded a detailed apology and insisted that the editor-in-chief Col Allan and the cartoonist Sean Delonas both be fired.

Local television news stations here in New York City over the weekend featured updates on the story and interviews with New Yorkers in the street - who, regardless of race seem overwhelmingly aghast at the cartoon.

The question on many minds is why?

The editorial pages of the Post are typically populated by more Republican-leaning views that span the gamut from conservative thinkers like Robert Novack or Ralph Peters, all the way to bizarre fact-bending purveyors of angry, hate-filled right-wing rhetoric like Michelle Malkin or Bill O'Reilly - but this cartoon goes beyond that.

Aside from it's sports or entertainment coverage, one can always depend on the Post's articles and writers to present a perspective that will come down on the right. That's one of the reasons I read it, as a way to gauge conservative viewpoints that differ from my own. I've had two of my letters published.

But I've noticed that whenever an unarmed black suspect is beaten or shot by members of the NYPD, the Post inevitably spins the coverage as pro-police regardless of the facts of the case. Like clockwork, an article by cranky conservative crumudgeon Steve Dunleavy will appear extholing the virtues of police and blasting anyone who has the audacity to question police brutality.

But by now it's clear to millions of people of all races that the Post has stepped off the proverbial reservation and violated the boundaries of reasonable editorial commentary.

It's not a lampoon, a political cartoon or even a jest.

It is a violent and racist statement that dredges up the tired time-honored stereotypes that depict African-Americans as apes, gorillas or monkeys in place of well-reasoned intellectual discourse.

In response the Post printed a lame excuse for an apology and used the opportunity to label Al Sharpton as an instigator. Sharpton is what he is, but he didn't draw the cartoon.

It's flat out wrong of the Post to suggest the murder of the President (at the hand of two white police officers) because they disagree with the economic stimulus package.

What's next? Inspiring lynch mobs to storm the White House and lynch Presdent Obama because he passes legislation the Post doesn't like?

The editor-in-chief needs to resign immediately along with the cartoonist and an apology must be made by Rupert Murdoch. Period.

As an American I'm not really comfortable with an arrogant power-obsessed Australian media-tycoon condoning the murder of a US president because he doesn't like his legislation or his skin color - not when he owns other newspapers and two television stations here in the city as well.

Haven't we got enough problems to deal with without racists like Murdoch fanning the flames of hatred and ignorance to sell more copies of a newspaper?

Hugo Chavez Fans Anti-Semitic Flames in Venezuela

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez's defiant ideological stance against the United States and in particular former-president George W. Bush reveals a man with an unquestioned grasp of the power of the media.

He garnered worldwide media attention after calling Bush "The Devil" at the United Nations. He openly denounced Bush's Iraq War policy and sought to align the world's poorest nations in opposition to US foreign policy.

When skyrocketing oil prices in 2004 pumped billions of dollars into the Venezuelan economy, Chavez defiantly thumbed his nose openly at Washington by shipping free heating oil to poor urban residents in the Bronx and other areas in the United States during the winter months.

He has hosted Hollywood admirers like Sean Penn and Danny Glover.

But according to a February 12th New York Times article long-held accusations of anti-Semitism leveled against him have once again surfaced amidst a recent wave of violence against Jewish-owned businesses, synagogues and other property after Chavez denounced Israel for their actions in the Gaza War.

He expelled the Israeli ambassador then demanded that the members of Venezuela's Jewish population denounce the leaders of Israel's government as "assassins." When a synagogue was desecrated with anti-Semitic slurs on January 31, Chavez brazenly dismissed the attacks as the work of Israel's intelligence wing the Mossad - despite a report from the Venezuelan attorney general that 5 members of the Venezuelan police and an intelligence operative were arrested in connections with the attacks.

State-sponsored anti-Semitism? Chavez's positions on Jews go back well before 2009; one of his closest advisers in the 90's was Norberto Ceresole, an Argentinian sociologist recognized by many as a fascist and an anti-Semite.

To his credit Chavez offered aid to residents of New Orleans in the wake of Katrina and actively campaigned on the part of the poor in his own country; but that's not a blank check to dredge up anti-Jewish rhetoric in an attempt to tap anti-Semitic feelings in his nation.

His recent actions leave cause to wonder if those efforts to help blacks in the US were sincere, or just clever media spin employed to solidify his own power. For someone who accuses the Israelis of acting like Nazis, Chavez certainly seems to have the lessons of the Third Reich's resident spin-meister Josef Goebbels down to a tee.

Michael Steele Named RNC Chair - Republicans Make a Stand for Change

As anyone who's read this blog might know, on the weekends I love cooking brunch and listening to NPR.

I did pretty well on this afternoon's always hysterical radio news quiz "Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me" think you know your current events for the week? Click the link and take a shot at this week's quiz!

Tavist Smiley is doing a phone interview with the newly selected chair of the Republican National Committee. A Black president AND a black chair of the GOP in one year? I gotta sit down.

In January I kicked off 2009 with a blog in the wake of perpetually hostile femme-Nazi-freak Ann Coulter's book plug appearance on NBC's Today Show being pulled after viewer outrage promted a flood of calls to 30 Rock.

It wasn't just former Republican National Committee chair-candidate Chip Saltsman's sending out CD's with the song "Barack the Magic Negro" on it to the members of the RNC as a holiday stocking stuffer (it's not his fault, that disengaged schmuck wanna-be power broker didn't even grasp how that affects the perception of the party, he was strictly status-quo....zzzzzzz) that clarified the need for the Republican Party to step back and redefine itself to re-connect with the American electorate.

In 2008 the GOP learned the hard way that it cannot possibly survive as a party that speaks exclusively to privileged white males.

Political novice Sarah Palin's selection as the VP candidate was nothing more than a failed media gimmick designed to try and counter the media fervor and energy that stemmed from the Democratic party's selection of Barack Obama as their candidate for president.

What was the GOP honestly thinking picking an obscure governor of a state with a population of 686,293 people who has difficulty conjugating and thinks Africa is a country as the next person in line for the highest office in the land?

John McCain didn't even select her as his running mate, the party did; and it's now well-known he was privately pissed about it.

Time will tell but I think it's a pretty big statement on the part of the GOP to pick Michael Steele, the first African-American lieutenant governor of Maryland (who lost a bid for former Senator Paul Sarbanes US Senate seat to Ben Cardin) as the head of the party.

It's not going to alter the culture of the party over night, but listening to Steele's interview, its the little things that are slowly going to change the perception problems and branding issues that the Republican party faces looking ahead.

For instance Steele told Tavist Smiley he requested that the daily press briefing the party issues be sent to all major African-American media outlets for radio, newspaper and Internet.

Prior to that, communicating with the media outlets that speak to blacks wasn't even part of the of the Republican agenda. That's the kind of thinking that will have to change if the GOP expects to move forward in the 21st century as a party that has the ability to govern on behalf of all Americans regardless of salary, skin color or religion.

Put simply change is the natural order of the universe and it's time for the GOP to cowboy up.

Steele's appointment is a step in the right direction.

Two Ad Industry Execs Discuss Their Experiences in a 2007 Ad Age Interview

I was thinking about my previous entry about the state of the ad industry and I recalled a very interesting interview from AdAge.com a couple years ago with two African-American ad executives from different generations.

Doug Alligood and Erika Emeruwa were both ad execs with BBDO in March, 2007 at the time of the article.

They were 73 and 27 respectively at the time the article was written.

I thought it might be lend some perspective to the challenges facing the ad industry to look at their perspectives to lend some insight into how we can better understand the kinds of steps the leaders of this industry might consider to not only bring some balance to the ranks of Madison Avenue; but to get a sense of how difficult it is for people of color to feel comfortable about choosing to work in such an industry.

It's a good surface look at what it's like to be black in the advertising world.

Doug Alligood was at BBDO in the early 60's, almost unheard of at the time. In that respect he is something of a pioneer in the industry - a black man who found success and a career working in an industry that is today, almost exclusively white.

Erika Emeruwa is bright, confident graduate of George Washington University, a young woman raised in circumstances very similar to my own - an environment in which she was usually "the only black person in the class" and I know what that is like having been raised in the suburbs of Bethesda, MD.

Their 2007 interview in AdAge.com (written by Lisa Sanders) is an interesting and I think objective look from the perspectives of two African-Americans with middle class upbringings who simply had a passion to work in the ad industry...and succeeded. It's worth a look.

Looking at ways to encourage diversity within the ad industry.

Ad Industry - the Last Frontier?

Last February when I blogged about advertisers under-serving Asian-American consumers, I referenced a Calgon commercial (pictured left) I remember well from my childhood which was rife with stereotypical assumptions and images of Asian-Americans.

Just look at the image, does anyone honestly think the commercial was written, or cast with a sensitivity to Asian-Americans in mind?

Images like this illustrate how the appalling lack of diversity amongst advertising professionals sanctions the creation and use of commercials that often use racial stereotypes to sell products to a demographic that isn't Asian-American.

Don't be fooled either, very little has changed within the advertising industry since this commercial was running in the 1970's - take a look at the Bendick & Egan Advertising Industry Report: Race and Employment in the Advertising Industry, January 2009.

On January 9th I blogged about the ad industry being taken to task for the alarmingly lax strides made in the hiring of minority ad professionals and inequity in compensation for blacks in the industry. I generally don't see a lot of mainstream media coverage exploring the extent of the influence that advertising wields over our perceptions of race and culture.

Most mainstream media, be it NBC Nightly News, Time or even People Magazine are far more concerned with selling ads than looking at how those ads affect the way Americans think about race or perceive people of different backgrounds.

Fortunately there are b2b publications like Ad Age that consistently devote coverage and analysis of the ad industry's power over perception; and how that impacts race.

To mark Black History Month Ad Age.com kicked off a month-long series of articles with an interesting piece on how the ad industry serves, or under-serves the 40 million African-American consumers in the US.

The article raises interesting questions about how the ad industry engages black consumers, who spend almost $3 trillion annually. $3 trillion in spending and the ad industry still takes that segment of the US population for granted? How pathetic.

The unprecedented initiative launched by law firm Mehri & Skalet and the NAACP to confront the ad industry about it's inability to desegregate it's ranks and create a work environment that is more reflective of our nation's cultural makeup is receiving a lot of publicity - but not in the mainstream publications, television stations, Websites and radio that reach most Americans.

With the Superbowl hype making headlines recently, journalists and media pundits alike have been looking at all kinds of questions about commercial content. Which Superbowl ads made them laugh? How much does a 30-second buy during the Superbowl cost? Are TV advertisers pitching the appropriate products in a given time slot?

How many people watch commercials on TV and count the number of minority faces they see? How many people pause to think what a magazine ad says to people of different religious backgrounds?

When there isn't a diverse group of people sitting around the conference room table or in cubicles of the major ad agencies creating the commercial content we see, we shouldn't be surprised when ads don't enage or speak to consumers of all backgrounds.

Until Madison avenue and the holding companies that dominate the industry get serious about it, we'll get exactly what they've been serving us; commercial content served up by people who don't represent the demographic they're targeting.

It's not an 'Ancient Chinese secret.'

The Legacy of Dr. King's Vision

On the eve of the inauguration of president-elect Barack Obama, the impending sense of change felt across this nation is intense and immediate.

Magnified by the observation of the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. it lends a transcendental quality to the moment unfolding before us.

What is taking place before the scrutiny of the lens and the pen that will describe this moment in history and the eyes of millions of observers is nothing less than a new declaration of an awakening of our collective consciousness.

The culturegeist is evolving before our very eyes.

It's not just for black people, or Democrats, or for Americans but for the world and for humanity. Millions of people across the globe recognize this sense that we are witnessing the ascension of an intelligent and pragmatic world leader grounded in humanity and character; tethered by his faith.

Every media channel is poised to capture each moment of the time-honored ceremony about to take place in the Nation's Capitol. The millions of people who've descended upon the city to witness the occasion or simply "be there" will stretch the limits of the bandwidths and electronic conduits through which millions of gigabytes of data will flow back and forth between mobile devices and computers well into the night.

The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. would have been 80 years old last Thursday January 15th had he not fallen to an assassin's bullet on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.

Here in America one of the ways we recognize King's legacy as a human rights icon and transformative figure is with the observance of a federal holiday on the third Monday of each January.

There's a powerful Tsunami of change pushing it's way through America. Towards a more advanced and inclusive culture born of the core of our country's complex history. It's part of a movement with many soldiers and participants; many heroes and many martyrs.

It didn't just start with Obama but his character, ideas about this nation and record as a politician have placed him in synch as the path of this wave prepares to usher in unprecedented change.

Dr. King could not have wished for a greater gift.

Watch the "I Have a Dream Speech"

Still Afraid of the Dark? Madison Avenue Gets an 'F' for Diversity in New Report

A January 8th Adweek article rips into the the advertising industry for it's dismal record of hiring minorities and a culture which discourages hiring or promoting people of color.

In a story that ran on the Media & Advertising page of the New York Times Stuart Elliot focused on the collaborative efforts of attorney Cyrus Mehri and the NAACP to bring attention to the advertising industry's dismal record of creating a racially diverse workplace.

On Thursday Mehri and representatives from the NAACP held a press conference in New York to announce the initiative Mehri's firm Mehri & Skalet calls 'The Madison Avenue Project'. They released a 100-page report, 'Research Perspectives on Race and Employment in the Advertising Industry' that outlines their conclusions.

The Times' piece quotes Mehri as saying: “Forty-five years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it’s still a closed society,” he added, where “favoritism rules and merit is cast aside.”

For anyone familiar with the media industry, this does not come as earth-shattering news by any means. For years Madison Avenue has taken heat for keeping it's ranks essentially closed to people of color and today it remains the most segregated professional sector in the United States.

They were talking about the same thing 30 years ago.

For example, the report released Thursday (click the link above for a PDF of the report) cites in part: "In 1978 the New York City Human Rights Commission found that limited minority employment (in the advertising industry) was 'not simply the result of neutral forces, but emanated directly from discriminatory practices.'"

It wouldn't be accurate to malign everyone in the advertising business for bearing responsibility for the entrenched culture of hierarchy quietly linked through connections through school, family or professional association; and skin color.

To be fair, a number of professionals from the industry have made calls over the years for the industry to improve it's track record of minority hiring and recruitment. The advertising organization known as the 4A's (American Association of Advertising Agencies) has made efforts, such as their 2005 Diversity Career Fair pictured above.

But the industry has yet to undertake a serious effort to back up the scattered rhetoric usually bandied about during Adweek or in February during Black History Month.

Mehri, who has a proven track record of successfully bringing suits against large corporations including the NFL, is leading what seems the most concrete initiative to encourage changes within the industry.

I for one hope it takes root, I used to temp for ad agencies in the mid 90's when I moved to Manhattan and let me tell you as a black man I felt like an alien walking around a new landscape.

But it's so much more than any one group of people feeling anger at restrictions built into the structure of the industry they are excluded from.

Through a constantly-evolving media merger of images, text, colors, sounds, shapes, words and music delivered to Americans across a range of media platforms, advertising wields enormous power and influence in shaping the ideas and concepts we have about ourselves and the society we live in.

By all rights it makes sense that the industry should be comprised of a collective workforce that mirrors the fabric of the nation.

But unfortunately, as Cryus Mehri reminded the attendees during Thursday's press conference, entertainer Nat King Cole once shrewdly observed;

"The advertising industry is afraid of the dark."

Cyrus Mehri accuses the industry of non compliance.

Riots Erupt in Oakland After Police Fatally Shoot 22 Year-Old African-American in the Back

I hate doing this kind of blog entry but it's happened once again.

Police have fatally shot and killed yet another unarmed African-American male citizen of the United States.

CNN.com reports on riots and mass arrests of protesters in Oakland, California in the wake of community outrage over the death of 22 year-old Oscar Grant, a father who was shot in the back by Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer Johannes Mehserle as he lay face down on the ground while another officer had him subdued on the ground of a train station.

Multiple witnesses at the scene captured the shooting on video which sent community residents into a fury. Apparently Grant and two friends were pulled from a BART train for being involved in a brawl around 2am as they celebrated New Years at the popular Embarcadero waterfront area in San Francisco.

Racial injustice over the shooting sent crowds into a fury on Wednesday night to protest against excessive use of force by police.

Interestingly, national media attention seems more drawn to the riots that have erupted in the wake of the shooting than the actual shooting itself.

Why aren't police held accountable for excessive use of force in this nation?

Watch the video for yourself, why would a police officer need to shoot an unarmed suspect already held to the ground?

Fortuno's Victory in Puerto Rico Brings Hope to Moderate Republicans

Addendum to my last post about Ann Coulter and Chip Saltsman.

This morning as I read through the Wall Street Journal I came upon clear evidence that reasonable-minded and principled Republicans were just as sick as I am of the right-wing nut jobs of the conservative movement (*see Ann Coulter) garnering the lion's share of media attention as the nation prepares to close the door on the Bush/Cheney presidency and celebrate the innauguration of president-elect Obama.

Easha Anand put the spotlight on the newly-elected governor of Puerto Rico Luis Fortuno in this morning's Journal. The 48-year old Hispanic politician (pictured above) is the kind of candidate many Republicans see as the real future of the party.

At Georgetown University he subscribed to the William F. Buckley-founded National Review and counts Ronald Reagan as his hero.

Part of that future is certainly Republican Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. Elected in the fall of 2007, he was the first Indian-American and first non-white politician since Reconstruction elected to the office of governor in the state of Louisiana.

Jindal and Fortuno are part of the base of a potential bridge to the millions of conservative Hispanic, African-American and other minority voters the GOP often ignores in the planks of their political platform and alienates in the execution of their core ideals; a few politicians not withstanding.

Certainly the National Black Republican Association might take issue with that statement. The short-list for GOP party head includes two African-American men.

Michael Steele has become more familiar on the national stage in recent years. The bespectacled former Maryland lieutenant governor addressed the party delegates at last summer's Republican National Convention.

His views are seen as somewhat more moderate than fellow black Republican Party chair-candidate J. Kenneth Blackwell, the ex-secretary of state of Ohio (a critical battleground for presidential delegates. Blackwell led a 2004 Ohio amendment to ban recognition of same-sex marriages, supports gun ownership rights and opposes abortion.

Those positions might sound conservative but they mirror the views of millions of African-American and other minority voters the GOP has yet to put out the welcome mat for.

When Jindal first won in Louisiana there was definitely something of a magical quality to his public personae and his eloquence. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina and serious questions about government responses to the crisis he seemed to symbolize and radiate a sense of hope.

His intelligence and forthright manner remind me very much of a Democratic candidate who moved from notoriety as a state politician to national office with incredible speed - Barack Obama.

Jindal "has that", back in October I blogged that he was going to change the face of the Republican party. He was born in 1960 and raised in a middle-class suburban environment with parents who instilled a combination of conservative traditional Indian and American values into his character along with a genuine love for the nation.

No coincidence that the Fortuno piece ran in the Wall Street Journal either.

Irrespective of your opinion of Rupert Murdoch it's an excellent newspaper that bears the standard of what I consider (for the most part) to be a progressive, pro-capitalist conservative mindset.

It's the perspective of many (I suspect) who silently yearn to distance the GOP from it's current conventional wisdom tag as a party that has no interest in appealing to a wider spectrum of Americans that represent different races, religions, backgrounds, sexual orientation and nationalities.

Guys like Furtuno and Jindal are the Republican party's first steps on the long road back to a White house they probably won't see until at least 2016 at the earliest. After their bruising defeats in the recent elections the GOP is clearly facing an immediate, crucial and defining moment in their party's history.

Let's face it people, from a pure media perspective, the Republican Brand is dead in the water.

Will they shift their ideals to embrace the America that is, or will they continue to give off the impression that they're scared of it?

As long as Republican Party chair-candidate Chip Saltsman can send copies of "Barack the Magic Negro" out to the current members of the Republican National Committee as Christmas presents, that Elephant ain't gonna hunt.

Coulter Gets Cancelled - RNC's Saltsman Defends Sending Out Copies of "Barack the Magic Negro" to RNC Comm Members

In recent days the acrimonious cogs of the more conservative elements of the Republican media machine have kicked into high gear with an all-out assault on the African-American president elect they worked so hard to defeat in 2008 - they're even chucking pot shots at the future First Lady too.

Rising out of the political primordial ooze of cess-pool media with her bizarre mix of fact-bending empty right-wing rhetoric and intellectual hot air is Ann Coulter. Concocting a book that Media Matters identifies as filled with unsupported claims and complete fabrications.

After being deluged with e-mails and calls (prompted by Media Matters.org I called last Friday and left a message, call 212-664-4444 and share your opinion!) NBC bowed to pressure and pulled the plug on Coulter's appearance to plug her book on the Today Show.

Kudos to the cooler heads who prevailed in THAT decision. Who honestly thinks the network that partially defined the 2008 presidential election with Tina Fey's hysterical lampooning of GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin can, in good conscience provide a platform for Ann Coulter to pitch a book filled with lies and distortion?

Who's the Einstein over at 30 Rock who booked her in the first place?

While I'm glad viewers will be spared from having to listen to her, part of me feels bad that there are people who won't get to hear and appreciate the racist, anti-Semitic schpeel that comes out of her mouth when she knows a camera or a mic is on.

She's so obstinate and grimly spunky, I really admire her steadfast determination to defy reason, truth and sense and live her life from her own perspective, however irrational it is. It lends truth to the oft-repeated phrase; Dinosaurs DO walk the earth.

Oh but wait! There's music in the air to accompany this multi-pronged assault too!

Also leaving pockmarks strewn across the media landscape is the now-infamous CD that Republican National Committee chair-candidate Chip Saltsman sent out to members of the Republican National Committee as a stocking stuffer for Christmas.

It includes the song first played on Rush Limbaugh's show back in 2007, "Barack the Magic Negro" , but it doesn't stop there! This kooky collection of juvenile racist slag also includes such holiday classics as "The Star Spanglish Banner" and "Ivory and Ebony". Really.

And this comes from a guy in the running to HEAD the GOP? From CNN:
"I think most people recognize political satire when they see it," Tennessee Republican Chip Saltsman told CNN. "I think RNC members understand that."

Um, okay. Chip.

In the face of one of the most challenging times in American history it's reassuring to see the GOP making these efforts to broaden the reach of their party and reach out to a wider demographic and counter the perception that the GOP is simply not equipped to serve the needs of the millions of people who voted for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

You have to wonder how many of those voters were voting AGAINST the very message the noisiest wing of the GOP media seems to be sending out on all frequencies these days. Coming in loud and clear with seemingly little interference from the more reasoned minds of the Republican Party.

Coulter lampooned on SNL:

Madoff's Betrayal

I've been weighing the cultural fallout from Wall Street investor Bernard Madoff's recent admission to authorities that his financial firm was just an elaborate scam.

The majority of the media attention about the curious case of this entrenched financial con artist (pictured left) has been focused on the alarming scale of the scheme, the failure of government agencies to react to the warning signs and the high-profile investors he swindled.

But what kind of impact will this shameful $50 billion scandal have on our country and culture? The extent of the damaged to his victims clearly goes way past money.

Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet was a descendant of French royalty and sailing enthusiast whom many wealthy European investors (including members of the Rothschild family) entrusted with growing their capital in US markets.

He was just one of the wealthy fund managers who watched their investments vanish into thin air after Madoff's multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme unraveled recently.

In the early hours of Tuesday morning December 23rd, just two days before Christmas Villehuchet was found dead at his desk his New York City office with his wrists slashed after he'd spent days trying frantically to recoup some of the $1.4 billion he'd invested with Madoff.

There were politicians impacted as well.

New Jersey Senator Senator Frank Lautenberg's charity lost money. On Christmas day Associated Press journalist Angela Delli Santi reported that New Jersey State Senator Loretta Weinberg, a 73 year-old grandmother was also one of Madoff's victims after her Los Angles-based money manager Stanley Chais informed her that their money had been invested with Madoff's firm - and there was nothing left of the $1.3 million she and her family had unknowingly invested with Madoff.

Her story was echoed in the Blogosphere as well.

Was it really worth it for Madoff? His once-sterling reputation on Wall Street will forever be overshadowed by the truth of the deprived nature and depth of his greed and deception.

I haven't seen a lot of mainstream media discussion about the impact on the Jewish community.

Nor have I seen a lot of dialogue about the unfortunate reality that the incident only serves to fuel the simmering stereotypes fueled by the age-old anti-Semitic images and distorted caricature of the "greedy Jewish banker" which still run through the fabric of this nation and in many parts of the globe.

I say that as an African-American guy who gets sick of hearing media headlines about ignorant criminal acts committed by young black men; it's not just that it's an embarrassment to the black community as a whole when I read about some kid in Brooklyn who attacks and beats an elderly woman of color in her building elevator for 30 bucks. To me that's a disturbing sign we ALL need to pay attention to.

So I wonder how Jewish people feel about Madoff.

How does a man pass himself off as a wealthy, well-connected financial genius for decades when he's just a guy who uses knowledge of the stock markets & institutional investing, common sales techniques, and a fictionalized word-of-mouth reputation to play on people's greed and loyalty to their faith?

I'll leave it to writers with far more expertise in the complexities of financial oversight to uncover the wordy, numbers-laden details surrounding exactly how this slick hustler pulled this off under the scrutiny of government regulatory agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Award-winning NY Times financial reporter Diane Henriques offered one of the best pieces I've read on the scandal and the man behind it; it helped offer some perspective to this complex case.

We're looking at a man who spent years on golf courses in the US and ski slopes in Europe culling relationships with influential investors, financiers, celebrities and bankers (often based on their shared Jewish heritage) and selling them an intoxicating cocktail of false word-of-mouth assurances of trust, inflated hard-to-believe yearly returns and the alluring promise of belonging to an elite company of prominent investors based on religious ties and wealth.

Bernie never used the hard sell, you had to be "referred" to him.

While hard work helped propel Madoff to the top of Wall Street and his early belief in electronic trading reflects his foresight, he is certainly not some kind of financial prodigy or market wizard as he was oft-called; for instance, according to the New York Times he had personal relations with one of the SEC officials charged with oversight of his "firm".

Even in normal circumstances there's something inherently distasteful about about a scam artist who serves his own greed by taking advantage of others in order to line his own pockets. But in the current economy it takes on a nauseating and distinctly un-American quality; even if he was duping the rich.

The Yeshivaworld.com Website offers interesting insight into the New York Hasidic community's thinking on current events. There are some Jewish people from New York who simply dismiss Madoff because he's not "really" Jewish.

A mistake is only a mistake if we learn nothing from it. Let's hope this doesn't just become another cultural marker of our times, another opportunity for people to make money.

What a sad statement of the inherent greed that in many ways defines our current culture.

Would-Be Obama Assasin Claims Court is Racist

With the economy, the holidays and the horrifying attacks in Mumbai dominating the headlines of mainstream media it's only really online that you can follow the absurdity of the legal proceedings against 20 year-old wanna-be assassin Daniel Cowart (pictured left).

Cowart, along with fellow neo Nazi Paul Schlesselman, 19, used up their respective 15 minutes back in October when they were busted for alledgedly plotting to kill Senator Barack Obama.

It's been exactly one month to the day that I blogged about their bizzarre dim-witted plot to murder innocent people (some by beheading) and then kill the president elect while attired in white tuxedos.

In a laughable twist worthy of a (good) M. Knight Shalaman movie, Cowart is seeking to have his indictment dismissed, claiming that he cannot recieve a fair trial because there are African Americans and other non-white people on the grand jury.

Check out the details and a shot of Cowart sporting a wife-beater t-shirt on the CBS Website.

These two knuckleheads are like a walking example of what happens when you have no education, no purpose in life and basically sit around your basement playing ultra-violent video games for hours at a time while idolizing the Third Reich.

Limbaugh/Hannity Hold Obama Accountable While Bush Occupies White House

Is it possible that the now-legendary Willie Horton ads created by Lee Atwater and Roger Ailes (which played a major role in the outcome of the 1988 Presidential election between George Bush H.W Bush and Democratic candidate Massachusetts governor Mike Dukakis) could inspire someone to find a way to blame the worst US economy since the Great Depression on a man who hasn't yet been sworn into office?

Could be! Media Matters.org is one of many different media sources reporting about Rush Limbaugh joining forces with fellow bitter fact-bending conservative media pundit Sean Hannity to blame the credit-mortage crisis, Wall Street slump and global banking glut on Barack Obama.

In a page torn straight out of the Nazi uber spin meister Joeseph Goebels (pictured above) playbook, Limbaugh and Hannity have leap-frogged sanity and reason and instead orchestrated a campaign to repeatedly use the term "Obama Recession" to describe the current economic woes.

"His ideas are killing the economy, his ideas are killing Wall Street." Limbaugh exclaims in a strange excerpt from his syndicated radio show, click the video above right to hear it for yourself.

Wasn't Obama one of 100 Senators (and of course the DC "Shadow Senator"...) on Capitol Hill?

Bush is still President, correct? Juuust checking.

And people wonder why the Republicans lost the White House and seats in both the Senate and House?

Austrian Transit Worker Fired for Saying Seig Heil!

It's been some time since I've looked at some the stories the media covers outside the United States so I thought I'd share this one from Austria.

Back on October 26, 2008 Yahoo! News reported about a 35 year-old streetcar driver from Austria who was fired for using the term "Seig Heil!". Apparently the Third Reich aficionado was finishing his streetcar's last run on a historic section of downtown Vienna, he shared this news on the intercom with his passengers then completed his statement with a hearty "Seig Heil!"

I've been to Berlin, Germany twice and it's well known that even a mention of Nazis, Hitler or the Nazi party will earn you stern looks of disaproval from native German's within earshot. After some afternoon beers at a cafe a friend of mine was just talking about WWII and mentioned Nazi tanks and at least four people sitting near us turned around and glared at him. No lie.

Sharing any kind of pro "Nazi talk" or wearing a swastica will get you arrested FAST.

The story was first reported by a Jewish newspaper and later picked up by other media sources.

Recently many Austrian officials were concerned that thousands of neo-Nazi's would descend on the country for the funeral of 58 year-old right-wing extremist Jorg Haider who was killed in a car accident in October.

Haider was something of a lightning rod for the global neo-Nazi movement having frequently and openly expressed pride and admiration for Nazi Germany and their anti-Semitic policies. Haider's parents were both members of the Nazi party, offering a sad testament to the power of hate and fear to corrupt minds when it is reinforced and celebrated in the home.

I suppose the family that goose-steps together stays together.

Regardless the world will be a better place without this politician who celebrated one of the world's most heinous regimes that brought about the death of millions of innocent people.

Being fired for saying two words may seem harsh, but it's a testament to the legacy of hate unleashed upon the world by Hitler and the architects of the Third Reich.

The Science of Hope

I envisioned this blog as a place to engage in an exploration of race, culture, tolerance and the too-often divisive nature of our nation's culturegeist.

I use that term to describe the mass subconscious as it relates to how we see each other and ourselves. What irks me is that it seems we've developed a mental laziness, a lethargic tolerance of fear-based intolerance that runs totally contrary to the ideals and principles upon which this nation was founded.

It is my opinion that the media plays a huge role in how we perceive ourselves and hence, I make an attempt to look at how the media covers and reports race to better gauge our culturegeist.

So I was fascinated by an article I just read in the Science section of the New York Times that examines how tolerance and racial coexistence can expand and heal - just as much as racism can constrict and damage. The article, written by Benedict Carey, offers a compelling look from a scientific viewpoint at how the simple act of taking time to learn to trust and get to really know the individual from a race or culture different from one's own can have a virus-like effect the expands outward exponentially.

It suggests that a metaphysical healing of our nation's deep racial divisions is entirely possible and scientifically plausible. For generations American's have become adept at tucking people into tiny little boxes where we classify, assume and ultimately shape our perception of an entire people - based on an encounter or experience with one or a few people.

A black guy mugged my grandmother so all black people are dangerous criminals; a white man refused my uncle a job so all white people are vindictive racists; a cab driver of Arabic descent drove past me to pick up a white passenger on the street so all cab drivers who look like they are from the mid-east hate and fear black people; my great grandmother was raped and brutalized by a Japanese soldier in Nanking, China during the occupation of mainland China during WWII so all Japanese are violent

The Times article reinvigorates my sense of hope that we are just as able to humanize one another if we can learn to stop dehumanizing one another and therefore evolve humanity as a whole. Not by complex and costly scientific or sociological experiments, or bloated government initiatives; but by exploring the human instinct to trust rather than fear; to feel unconditional love rather than illogical hate.

I think the recent election of our 44th President is a glaring example that we can cast aside our fear and mistrust, challenge the limitations that have shackled ALL Americans for so long and move past the stereotypes that blind us to the immense and unlimited possibilities of true human evolution and racial harmony.

Obama's Victory Stirs Disturbing Suburban Resentment

The tectonic shift that occurred on Tuesday night is reverberating across our nation and in countries around the world.

Last night C-Span ran clips of various news broadcasts from around the world and the same energy that has fueled such inspiration and hope in towns and cities in every corner of America was also palpable in countries like India, Germany, Japan and so much so in Kenya that a November 5th national holiday was declared for the country's students and workers.

But the reality is that not everyone shares that sense of jubilation. There is also an unquestionable sense of fear and resentment simmering throughout members of the US populace. And there is anger.

The shift that immediately altered the cultural landscape of our nation has unsettled many people uncomfortable with the impending changes that will inevitably occur in our perceptions of race, culture and indeed history.

The rain and humidity in New York has been brutal for the past couple days so I immediately clicked on WCBS radio to get the weather before I left for work this morning; but it wasn't the weather that made me stop and listen.

It was the story of 51 year-old Gary Grewal of Hardwick Township, Warren County, New Jersey. As he left his home to take his daughter to work at 7:30am the day after the election, Grewal, who is of Indian descent, discovered the homemade cloth banner his wife Anlina had put up in front of their home to congratulate Obama on his victory was draped across the ugly remnants of a burned cross.

The New Jersey Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the attack as a hate crime. I'm not sure how much, if any national coverage it generated but the story was covered by the Philadelphia Inquirer and other local news outlets. I would imagine the story will be picked up by AP but I didn't see any mention of it on either the NBC or ABC network news broadcasts.

The Staten Island Advance Website reported that officials from the Washington, DC-based CAIR also called on the FBI to launch an investigation into a Staten Island, New York attack on a 17 year-old African-American boy named Ali Kamara. Reporter John Annese wrote that Kamara was walking home on the night of the election when a car pulled up and four white males inside yelled "Obama!" at him before jumping out and beating him bad enough that he was taken to a hospital to have stitches to repair a laceration on his skull.

It is critical that law enforcement address these incidents as we aren't talking about the expression of 1st Amendment rights, these are mindless acts of violence and intimidation.

We will never move forward as a nation until we examine the deeper psychological meaning behind the fear and anger that drive people to attack innocent people for exercising their Constitutional right to vote. If anything, this election has made clear that the days of driving people of color away from the polls by using intimidation and physical force are over, but without question we see all too clear that within our nation we have citizens living in a past that will never return.

Checking the temperature: It's 2008, and people are still burning crosses.

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With Cultural Dexterity Obama Makes History

The November 4, 2008 elections were on my mind from the moment the sound of a Barack Obama supporter shouting with excitement drifted through my open bedroom window as the polls opened at 6:30am.

I roused myself and began getting ready as I wanted to cast my vote before work.

My apartment building sits on the west side of Frederick Douglass Boulevard between 111th and 112th street in Manhattan. The northwest corner of Central Park sits one block south across from the 110th street MTA subway stop where I catch the downtown B or C train each morning.

The Election District 72 polling site where I vote sits directly across the street of my apartment in a medium-sized recreation room located on the ground floor of the Charles Hill Tower on 2050 8th Avenue. Normally, voting is a breeze in the early morning but as I stepped outside at 7:20am the first thing I saw was a quiet group of people waiting quietly in a line that snaked around the corner onto west 112th street.

That was my first inkling that something monumental was about to happen in America.

It was a struggle to keep my mind on work and I arrived early in order to leave at 5 to race home and scan the television channels for the latest election results. In doing so I witnessed the dawn of a new era for tolerance, intellectual evolution and social cohesiveness in this nation.

The global media was glued to the massive cultural shift that ended at 11pmEST when the results from the crucial California race came in and showed that Senator Obama had surpassed the requisite 270 electorial votes needed to win the 2008 presidential election; and for the first time ever, a black man became the 44th president of the United States.

There are so many things I feel thankful for one is being alive to witness the momentous occassion in US politics and indeed, history.

We came together as a country and voted in record numbers and I'm proud of that. I listened to both candidates give speeches that were gracious, eloquent and thoughtful. It was an inspiring testament to both men's character that they called for unity in their remarks to their supporters.

I wanted to hear a sampling of what people were thinking about this momentous election, so I watched C-Span's coverage of Obama's speech and I'm of the mind that while the election of the nation's first black president is an historic occasion in every sense; I was reminded that we've got a lot of work to do.

C-Span fielded a variety of uncensored calls from people all over this country expressing their impression of the election results. I was struck by the nearly identical tone of almost 95% of the calls in support of John McCain. Nearly everyone of them expressed disappointment with the victory of Barack Obama as they talked about a sense of being fearful of the rapid changes unfolding before them.

Numerous callers claimed the election wasn't valid because Obama wasn't from this country and that he is a Muslim terrorist. Apparently some of these callers are seriously misinformed or just don't realize that Hawaii is in fact the 50th state, Obama was born there, so he's an American.

It seemed to elude them that you cannot be elected to the United States Senate without being a US citizen.

One woman with a thick foreign accent talked at length in fear-driven abstract generalities, confusing non-specifics and ignorant half-truths about why Obama was a poor choice for president; she claimed that he got into Columbia University because a Saudi prince wrote him a letter of support - which she claimed validated her concerns that he was a friend to terrorists. She sounded like a frightened child who's father has dropped her hand in crowded room.

Poor silly creature, I'm honestly not sure what's more pathetic; her not realizing how uninformed and brainwashed she sounded - or that she has no clue that the Bush family are all far closer to Saudi princes and kings than Obama ever was or will be.

Think about THAT one. If there was anyone who got into an Ivy League school based on the merits of a letter of Saudi royalty, it was our current president.

Of course don't mistake my observations of some of the media coverage for not feeling excited and hopeful that a real leader has been restored to the White House for the first time in long while. But I'm a realistic optimist. There's a lot of work to be done right here inside the hearts and minds of Americans living in every corner of the land.

For people from every background, religion, ethnicity and race, it is a time of hope and anticipation to begin the Herculean job of restoring this nation. But let's not forget that for some in this country, skin still matters more than reality, science, truth or character - and therin lies our most critical battleground. Our most daunting challenge.

I take a measure of solace in my faith in the general of eloquence, grace and quiet strength now charged with leading us, ALL of us, into the fray left from over a decade of Republican control of Washington...Once more unto the breach.

Grant Park, Chicago - November 4, 2008

Cultural Stereotypes - Italian Style!

Anthony Crupi is a senior editor of Mediaweek and one of my favorite columnists.

His weekly column covers all manner of advertising-related topics and alway seem to connect with the human elements of advertising.

Crupi's irreverent tone, off-beat observations (how many columnists drop 15th century Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch's name?) and self-depreciating style offer insightful looks at, and into the world of advertising; specifically cable TV.

I earned myself some looks from depressed-looking early morning Manhattan commuters when I laughed out loud while riding the packed downtown "B" train on way to work as I read his November 4, 2008 column entitled, "Si, perfetto".

In an effort to illustrate the absurd nature of television content, Crupi describes a thirty-second television commercial for Barilla Plus pasta that that sets a new standard for the use of totally inauthentic ethnic stereotyped characters to pitch product.



Are ANY of those people even partially Italian?

I've been making the same observations about warped ethnic stereotypes in commercials for years. My brother and I used to laugh at the Popeye's and Kentucky Fried Chicken commercials which were replete with tables full of grinning black people sucking down artery-clogging pieces of fried chicken with fatty side dishes, licking their lips to a gospel-like soundtrack.

One of my absolute favorites was an Olive Garden commercial with the usual 15-person Italian-American family sitting round a table. The commercial began with a guy in an absurd dilemma that began something like:

Man
"Mama was in town from the old country and the whole family
was gathered to eat; but I didn't have enough room to cook for
everyone and Mama is so particular about the food!"

Cut to: Closeup of Italian Grandmother type in black dress wringing her hands and looking about the kitchen in terror.
Man
"My sister said, Let's take her to Olive Garden'"

You can picture the rest, "Mama" spooning up watery-flavorless sauce over dead-looking pasta and cardboard-like bread and smiling warmly at the members of her Italian family as guys make kissing sounds and expressive hand gestures amidst the faux-Italian decorations of their local Olive Garden.

I mean, I'm not even Italian and I was offended by it! But it was so funny I literally laughed myself silly every time it came on.

Advertisers have seconds to draw an audience into a commercial and I suppose appealing to the one-dimensional assumptions of ethnic characteristics, physical traits and racial stereotypes is just their way of grabbing our attention.

This isn't to say I haven't enjoyed a meal or two at Olive Garden before. And I guess there are worse things than moderately-priced family-style Italian restaurants located in US strip-malls; but do they have to skewer a rich cultural tradition to promote it?

check out this Olive Garden commercial spoof!

Cowart, Schlesselman Plotted Racial Killing Spree

On the surface the Deseret News article about FBI reports of increasing hate crimes in places like Utah, might not seem all that alarming. But it's the overall trend that concerns me right now.

A subtle something no one seems to speak of though we all certainly feel it; as in the results of the recent AP-Yahoo! poll revealing that at least 40% of white Americans harbor some degree of negative view of black Americans.

It wasn't that long ago that three men (pictured above left) were arrested in Colorado for an alleged plot to kill Obama during the Democratic National Convention.

There seem to be a plethora of strange signals that both contradict and illuminate. To me the more complex issues aren't really being sufficiently explored in the mainstream media - but I still some of the stories and the facts being reported.

This blog has followed the increases in hate crimes in cities and towns across the globe, now it seems that many extremist hate groups are attempting to disguise their nature to tap into the currents of racial fear and division coursing through this nation.

The USA Today Website reports that many Neo Nazi groups are now tailoring their messages for a more mainstream appeal. Re-enforcing the fact that acts of bigotry, racial hatred or intolerance are agitated by factors like high unemployment and fears induced by immigration issues.

It's impossible for any media source to ignore the latest white supremacist threat against Senator Barack Obama's life. An article from Yahoo! News reports that the two braniac bigots who were arrested in connection with the case, 20 year-old Daniel Cowart of Bells, Tenn., a high school drop-out living with his grandparents and 18 year-old Paul Schlesselman of West Helena, Ark. were unlikely in any position to actually carry out a bizarre plot to kill Obama by driving towards him in a vehicle shooting weapons while wearing all-white tuxedos and tops hats.

The Yahoo! report states that both rookie racists doomed their demented far-fetched scheme from the start:

"Among the blunders: They drew attention to themselves by etching swastikas on a car with sidewalk chalk, only knew each other for a month, couldn't even pull off a house robbery, and a friend ratted them out to authorities."

What's most troubling is that even if this was a sort of fantasy that was being lived out by two uneducated disenfranchised kids seeking attention, it's hard to stomach their intentions to execute 88 black people and behead 14 of them.

Or comprehend their desire to take a cache of weapons (taken from their own relatives) and go to a predominantly black high school on go on a killing spree.

It might not lead me to understand exactly why and how two kids could harbor such virulent hate at such a young age, but it does compel me go back and look at that Deseret News article again - maybe 55 incidents of hate crimes in Utah should be more alarming to the nation than it seems to be.

The two are being held without bond for weapons violations and plotting to kill a presidential candidate. In an interesting snapshot of American culture, thekansascity.com site reports that Schlesselman's sister admits her brother believed himself to be a part of a 'master race' and often used the phrases 'Heil Hitler' and 'White Power' around the house - but the boy's father insisted, "I think it's just a lot of talk. He would never do something like this,"

According to police, the father's .357 handgun was part of the boy's arsenal.

McCain's Family Tree

The news that Barack Obama and Dick Cheney were related through a common ancestor was pretty eye-opening considering how far apart on the political thread they are, but not shocking given the long and complex history of slavery and inter-racial relationships in this nation.

Now the CNN.com Website has a fascinating video interview with some of Senator John McCain's black relatives from Mississippi. McCain's great-grandfather was a slave owner and the African-American relatives in questions are his descendants and thus, blood relatives of John McCain.

It strikes me as somewhat ironic that, given all the divisive race-based rhetoric employed by members of the GOP during this election that we discover that McCain himself has black relatives.

Not surprising though. It's far more common than many people might believe, some people are either too freaked out about it to explore or acknowledge it; or simply have no idea.

In the small North Carolina farming town where my father was raised during the Great Depression, there are many white people with my last name; it is somewhat odd to drive around down there and see oil company trucks or businesses with my last name emblazoned on them.

These are descendants of the slave owners who once owned my relatives. This is the reality of the nation we live in.

It's kind of weird. I actually want to do a documentary about it and see if I could get some of the white people who are my distant relatives to participate.

Will the Bradley Effect Tilt the Results on November 4th?

It's a close race even though Obama seems to be maintaining a lead over Republican rival John McCain according to most poll buzz.

To counter concerns about the hard-to-track Bradley effect - the theory that based on racial fears, white voters who voted for Obama in primaries and polls will secretly vote for John McCain once they get inside the booth.

Theory? It's named after former five-term Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley, who despite a commanding poll lead was trounced in his 1982 run for Governor.

The New York Times reports Obama shattered campaign funding records by raising at least $100 million in September alone and is now outspending Obama 4 - 1 in advertising across the country.

But serious concerns about the racial attitudes of many white voters remain. Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha himself came out and said the Western part of the state he represents is racist.

It's hard for many Americans to look some of this hatred and prejudice in the eye but some things have to be heard to believe.

Check out this video.