A Question of Character?

Without question race is playing a major factor in the 2008 presidential elections and the man who's elected will impact the cultural fabric of this nation in a variety of significant ways.

John McCain (pictured with second wife Cindy McCain) tends to talk in lofty non-specifics that make it very difficult to gauge where he'll stand on issues that directly impact race. But he does talk about character quite a bit.

Sharon Churcher wrote an interesting piece on the London Daily Mail Website on John McCain's first wife Carol that offers insight a real look into his character and what kind of person he really is.

She must've been in a rush to get the article finished, as most of it seems to be plagiarized from an extensive article about McCain's life on Wikipedia.org.

The mainstream media has until this point avoided any mention of McCain's first wife, whom he divorced after he returned home to the US from Vietnam to find her disfigured from a Christmas eve car accident. He met his 2nd wife, a former swimsuit model and the daughter of a politically-connected Arizona multi-millionaire who would help engineer his move into the political arena.

No wonder Cindy stays out of the media spotlight silently with that grin on her face.

I don't know Cindy McCain personally but at this point Michelle Obama comes off as more intelligent, well spoken, well educated, confident and strikes me as more in the mold of what a real First Lady is and should be.

With her secretive nature and reluctance to release her tax records for public scrutiny Cindy McCain often comes off as something of a trophy-wife living a privileged insulated life off of daddy's money.

But the facts say otherwise. She's played an active role running her father's business, a beer distributorship. She actively serves on charities that focus on clearing mines around the world and helping poor children with severe oral surgery needs; in fact she adopted a girl from Bangladesh with a severe cleft palette at the behest of Mother Teresa.

I must confess there's much more to Cindy than I thought there was and I wonder why the media seems not to report any of the positive sorts of things she's done. Or the negative for that matter.

Snopes.com reports that she became addicted to Vicodin and Percocet after two back surgeries and a DEA investigation found she used a medical charity she founded to illegally obtain large amounts under false names - she ducked prosecution by striking a deal with the Justice Department. No doubt, Senator McCain's character aided in that episode, one you probably won't hear on Fox News anytime soon.

Meanwhile Fox News trumpets the results of a recent Rasmussen Report that shows 1,000 people polled viewed Michelle Obama more unfavorably than Cindy McCain - a poll which also showed the approval rates for both women were nearly even at 49% and 48%.

Memorial Day Ku Klux Klan Defacement Condemmed by Community

Many Americans celebrate Memorial Day as an uplifting break from the routine of work that both honors those who have given their lives in service to this nation and also heralds the arrival of summer.

In one of the latest examples of a sharp rise in hate-crime activity across the nation, Medford, Oregon residents Gary David Ross, 37 and Devan Grant Klauseggar, 28 decided to express their patriotic fervor by using some kind of propellant to burn the shape of a cross on the lawn of Sol and Jonathan Whyte's home, they also took the time to spell out the words "KKK" on the lawn and ignite it as well before fleeing the scene around 11pm with a third suspect. The Ku Klux Klan is a long way from the their nightmarish hey-day in the 1920's (Klan members pictured above in the infamous KKK march on Washington in 1926) when over 4 million members were registered in the United States and brutal lynchings of African-Americans were at their peak.

These ignorant fireworks enthusiasts selected the Whyte's because they are a mixed-race couple with two young children who are multi-racial as well.

Kudos to the South Oregon Mail Tribune's Anita Burke for reporting this story; Most of the mainstream network news broadcasts were typified by familiar images of picnics, scenes from the beach and picturesque small-town parades.

Both suspects were arrested and are being charged with a variety of offenses, but to me the most important part of this story is the overwhelming response of support by neighbors.

Strangers left flowers, gifts, and notes of support. Local high school students brought letters and gifts from the student body; a landscaper stopped by and offered to repair the lawn.

The Medford City Council voted to unanimously condemn the act in a resolution.

"By making members of specific groups fearful, angry and suspicious, hate crimes polarize communities and damage the very fabric of our society," the resolution said.

That's the real America, strangers and neighbors, politicians and police all coming together to douse the flames of ignorance and bigotry. That's the fabric of the culturegeist, love will always conquer fear and ignorance no matter what some may say or write.

In the community of Medford, Oregon we've seen a true celebration of Memorial Day; one that truly honors the spirit of what thousands of veterans died fighting for.

Clint Slaps Down Spike - Courtney Hazlett Channels Her Inner Bigot

The Blogosphere is rife with commentary on the ongoing media tiff between actor/director Clint Eastwood and director Spike Lee.

Lee has made headlines before for his outspoken and at times left-field criticism of various entertainment figures on issues related to his perception of African-Americans in film and television and Hollywood's treatment of blacks in the industry.

Spike is promoting his new film about a WWII African-American Army unit in Italy, during the interview at the Cannes film festival he openly criticized Clint for not casting any black actors in either of his twin WWII films saga, 'Flags of Our Fathers' and 'Letters From Iwo Jima'.

Despite the fact the both films deal with very specific stories during WWII involving episodes that historically did not involve African-American soldiers, Spike suggested that the media had somehow ignored supposedly racist casting decisions by Clint.

In response to Spike's comments Clint suggested Spike should "shut his face" in an interview with The Guardian's Jeff Dawson.

In response to THAT, MSNBC talking head Courtney Hazlett demonstrated monumental ignorance and insensitivity by suggesting that Lee had been "uppity" in his comments to Eastwood.

How this lightweight pseudo-journalist could not be aware of the racial context of the term uppity (once frequently used by southerners to describe and denigrate African-Americans they felt were acting beyond their station) is mind boggling. As was the MSNBC producer who showed a clip of Clint from one his movies menacing an African-American character with a shotgun as Courtney unloaded here ditzy 2nd rate analysis.

She ignited a media firestorm and quickly issued an apology in an effort to cover her stupidity.

In ABCNews.com interview Spike fired back at Clint "First of all, the man is not my father and we're not on a plantation either," That's vintage Spike; use outspoken, vague and baseless accusations based on his own perceptions to simultaneously bring issues or race and film into the mainstream media discussion and promote his film.

I admire Spike as a director and filmmaker and he's altered the landscape of contemporary cinema, but it's totally inappropriate for him to make accusations about Clint being biased in his casting decisions. Clint's films have featured a range of intelligently portrayed characters of various races including African-Americans over the years - Clint was the filmmaker who made and directed 'Bird' a 1988 film about the life of black jazz legend Charlie Parker.

Just keep it in context and remember Spike has some odd ways of promoting himself and his films - this is the guy who called Eddie Murphy and Bill Cosby "Sellouts".

Frankly Spike had some balls calling out Eddie, (the highest grossing film star in history his movies have grossed over $3.4 billion...) for not giving more opportunities for actors of color despite the fact that Murphy gave roles to a number of up and coming black performers in his movies -Halle Berry in 'Boomerang'; Damon Wayans in 'Beverly Hills Cop'; Martin Lawrence in 'Boomerang'; Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Samuel Jackson in 'Coming to America' as well Chris Rock in 'Beverly Hills Cop II'

So Spike often talks with flare and good intent, but much less actual fact. I wrote a letter to Clint to show my support for him and his record as a filmmaker and to assure him that Spike's left-field accusations are just that, accusations.

A Candidate for All Americans

One of the topics for this morning’s Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC deals with how African-Americans are viewing the nomination of Barack Obama as the Democratic presidential candidate and how it’s going to impact the nation and people of color.

Of course a couple callers were already concerned that he hasn’t been on the soapbox being the champion of African-American causes. I tend to agree that in the strategic sense, Obama needs to run as the President of the United States, he’s not just a leader of the black community but of all American communities.

For the first time we have a candidate who appeals across the fabric of the mainstream and connects with a wide range of voters because of his vision and the positions that he advocates; particularly his opposition to the war in Iraq and the need for a shift in the way we perceive ourselves as a nation.

I agree with a caller of West-Indian descent from New York who felt strongly that just because Obama is running for president does not mean that he has to bear the burden of every single issue and problem faced by every single African-Americans. We should assume he is going to govern on behalf of all people and that he can do so in a way that does not make him automatically beholden to any demographic.

Interestingly, a caller from Amsterdam said that when he walks into shops he is asked who he is supporting for president. He reported that there seems to be a real sense of excitement amongst people in the Netherlands about Obama winning the Democratic primary. In fact Obama’s picture is on the front page of most newspapers on newsstands in Amsterdam.

Something is happening in this country and I think the culturegeist of our nation is going to be the better for it.

Obama Wins, Harriet Christian Rants

Senator Barack Obama has made history by securing the Democratic presidential nomination. But he's going to have to work quickly to heal some of the divisions within the Democratic party.

I'm listening to the 11pm WCBS New York news and reporter Lou Young, reporting from outside an Obama fund raiser on Manhattan's Upper East Side, suggested that Hillary Clinton is going to have to find a way to reunite the party.

Frankly she had her chance at the nomination and she lost it fair and square. Obama is the party's nominee and the responsibility to bring it into line is his.

By now thousands have seen the video clip of Clinton supporter Harriet Christian ranting like an insane lunatic in front of a phalanx of cameras. Sporting sunglasses and sounding like she's on medication, Christian calls Obama an "inadequate black male" before stalking off babbling about how she and her "group" would be voting for John McCain - out of spite it seems rather than based on any kind of political logic or loyalty to the Democratic party.

Bitter is an understatement.

Political consultant Dan Gerstein suggested one of the reasons George W. Bush won and was re-elected was because of the support he received from white women. I've got confidence that there are millions of registered white female voters who do and will support Barack Obama versus McCain based on his character and policy stances - Morons like Harriet Christian are just disenfranchised ignorant and symbolic of why this nation needs change.

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Skinheads Placing Posters in the City of Brotherly Love

The recent shooting of a white Philadelphia Police Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski in Port Richmond while in pursuit of African-American suspects in a bank robbery has received a lot of national media attention in print and online.

The loss of an officer's life in the line of duty is a tragic incident and while the shooting of Sgt. Liczbinski has brought increased attention to the violent crime rate in Philadelphia, it has also spurred action by local hate groups.

According to a May 22nd article in the Philadelphia Inquirer a racist group originally founded in Harrisburg, PA made up of a loose alliance of skinhead groups from Pennsylvania that calls itself the Keystone State Skinheads (pictured above left) claimed responsibility for putting up posters in the Port Richmond and North Philadelphia area.

The posters depict pictures of four Philadelphia Police Officers and pictures of the three black suspects and the words: "Guns don't kill police officers. Dangerous minorities do. How much longer can you ignore this?" View a PDF of the poster here.

This isn't the first time members of the Keystone State Skinheads have been involved in distributing racist literature, committing extremely violent acts of hate and violating the law. Take KSP member and repeated violent law-breaker Keith Carney; he was arrested in December, 2001 for defacing Philadelphia's Vietnam War memorial with racist literature. Click here and scroll down a couple frames to see a photo of Carney at a Mumia Abu-Jamal rally.

Other KSP members have been found guilty for a variety of violent offenses, from enticing and then beating black bar patrons and mixed race couples in Lancaster to brutal murders: Kenneth Hoover and Charles Marovskis were arrested in January, 2007 for the 1998 murder of two homeless black men in Florida - one 62 year-old victim had been severely beaten and stabbed in the eye with a tire iron before being dumped under an overpass - the other killed with an axe and dumped in the woods.

Sadly just one more example of the sharp rise of hate crime activity in the United States, until the mainstream media recognizes the danger posed by these groups mainstream America will remain unaware, or simply ignore them.

Swastikas on the Wall: This is Your Town

I read a report recently that most mainstream media stories come from AP or the other larger news organizations. Well here's a story directly impacting the culturegiest of our nation that you're not going to see on mainstream media sources.

The Beth Israel synagogue on 1406 Mound street in Madison, Wisconsin boasts a membership of approximately 300 families and was founded in 1949. The Wisconsin State Journal reports that an unknown group or individual has targeted their place of worship twice since April with anti-Semitic graffiti.

On Monday morning May 5th a member of the synagogue found a swastika and the words "Die Jew" were written on a wall in black magic marker. Back on April 25th two large swastikas were found on the front door of Beth Israel. Even though the doors have since been cleaned and repainted, it doesn't cover up the pain and outrage of seeing the place of worship defaced with such offensive symbols and words.

Madison Police have assigned a hate crimes detective to the case. In the picture above, Beth Israel Rabbi Katz shows the Torah to a group of visiting elementary school students.

Anti-Semitic acts like this are on the rise across the United States: Why don't we see these stories on mainstream network television broadcasts and Websites?

Fox News 'Rachel Ray Scarf-Gate': Arab-Bashing?

Is TV host and cook Rachel Ray in cahoots with a donut maker to inflame Islamic extremists?

Michelle Malkin and Fox News think so!

This morning AdAge.com reported that flavored-coffee and pastry behemoth Dunkin' Donuts removed an online ad (pictured above) featuring spokeswoman Rachel Ray, in response to claims generated by conservative bloggers and Fox News commentators that the scarf she is wearing in the photo looked like a kefiyeh.

Fox News commentator and frequently-creepy syndicated conservative news columnist Michelle Malkin brazenly suggested in her blog that the grayish-colored scarf was anti -American and could send a potentially dangerous message to Islamic extremists.

The kefiyeh, or keffiyeh is a Arab headdress for men comprised of a diagonally folded cloth secured to the head by an agal band.

It is worn in a variety of styles for, among other reasons, keeping the desert heat off the head and keeping sand away from the eyes and mouth.

Regardless of the fact that the scarf Ms. Ray was wearing was a paisley pattern and in fact, not a kefiyeh, nor was the scarf even made of the same material as a kefiyeh or even being worn in the style of the kefiyeh (or that it is Arab MEN who wear it) Fox News commentator Michelle Malkin suggested that the grayish-colored scarf was anti -American and could send a potentially dangerous message to Islamic extremists.

In response to Ms. Malkin's bizarre right-wing, Neo Con hysteria Dunkin' Donuts pulled the ad rather than face a firestorm of irrational backlash from outraged, misinformed Fox News watchers and conservative paranoid conspiracy theorists terrified at the thought of someone having the nerve to wear a scarf that reminded them of a kefiyeh in a coffee ad.

I read the reader comments to the Ad Age article and blogged a response.

The Boston Globe and LA Times picked up the story too. I steeled myself and read a sampling of the reader comments on Malkin's blog and many of them went easy on her, as it seems quite a few watch or have watched Rachel Ray and seemed rather puzzled at Malkin's out of left field observation.

Frankly, Malkin has been on a tirade about Dunkin' Donuts violating her views on immigration so the scarf thing seems much less about ideology or fact, than Malkin's own need to self-righteously pander to conservatives.

Oil is moving past $130 a barrel, there are food shortages around the world and President Bush and his inner circle are being confronted with former press secretary Scott McClellan's revelations that they lied to the American people about the Iraqi invasion - all Malkin can come up with is an Arab-Bashing link to a scarf?

She's Fox material all right, through and through.

Liz Trotta's Obama Gaff on Fox News Spark Debate

As if the mainstream media being all over Hillary Clinton for shooting herself in the foot yet again after invoking Senator Robert Kennedy's June 1968 assassination before the Democratic primary as justification for her continuing to stay in the race wasn't low enough, she takes the bizarre step of blaming the Obama campaign for fanning the flames in reaction to her own comments.

If THAT wasn't enough Hillary is probably relieved that the media focus on her controversial assassination comment was (temporarily at least) turned onto former Washington Times New York bureau chief Liz Trotta (pictured at left).

Trotta smugly jokes about Obama being assassinated. Look at the tape yourself, it's all over youtube.

Commenting on the implications of Hillary's Kennedy comment, she begins a somewhat typically pontificating inside-media-pundit answer, then clearly says, "...what we have here are people suggesting she wants to knock off Osama, (she recognizes she mistakingly said "Osama" instead of "Obama") then shakes her head and corrects herself, joking, "...uh, Obama, or both if we could." She laughs and the Fox commentator eggs her on suggesting: "Tell us what you really think!"

Typical fare for Fox News.

I'm not really familiar with anything Trotta has written, but you can get a glimpse of her sometimes right-wing leaning ideology from this Webpage from the Media Matters site.

Not surprising that she snidely let her take on Obama slip out on Fox, if the Media Matters page is any indication, she's just another entrenched Bill O'Reilly-like blowhard conservative spouting off and offering up muddled opinion with real facts.

Different Strokes for Different Folks?

When I was growing up there were a couple of popular mainstream half-hour television comedies that centered on cute black boys living with adopted white families.

There was Webster, starring Emanuelle Lewis but the most popular of the two by far was NBC's "Different Strokes" which aired from 1978 to 1985 and starred Gary Coleman as Arnold; he and his older brother Willis (played by Todd Bridges) were adopted by the wealthy Manhattan resident Mr. Drummond played by Conrad Bain. It was a funny show produced by Norman Lear that dealt with a range of complex racial themes and topics.

Recently there has been some media attention on transracial adoptions. The 1994 Multi-Ethnic Placement Act reflects an attempt by our government to lay out Federal standards and guidelines for the adoption of children from the foster care system.

On Tuesday the CNN.com Website reported that a group of leading adoption agency advocate groups urged changes in the Federal guidelines that specifically govern transracial adoptions in this country. The changes stem from a report released by the Evan B. Donaldson adoption institute, a group that lobbies to improve adoption laws and practices.

These groups are concerned that there hasn't been sufficient enforcement of amendments that strongly suggest proactive recruiting efforts to encourage "same race" parents to adopt African-American kids in order to more positively impact their cultural identity.

On average, black kids represent a higher percentage than white kids and also stay in the foster care system longer than their white counterparts - so I am led to wonder; what's more important?

A foster child having a parent, or a foster child having a parent of the same race and ethnicity? Should love be "color blind"?

Kudos to CNN for taking the lead in fostering dialogs about issues related to race and ethnicity in America.

McCain Parts Ways With Pastor Hagee

Back on April 25th I blogged about the mainstream media's analysis and treatment of Barack Obama's former Reverend Wright versus their examination of Pastor John Hagee; an early supporter of GOP presidential candidate John McCain.

McCain was never a member of Hagee's church in Houston, Texas but the Arizona Senator was content to tout his endorsement to score points with the millions of registered voters from "Bible Belt" regions who tend to align themselves with the Christian Coalition at election time.

Hagee is living proof that fundamentalist and evangelists Christians do not hold a monopoly on moral authority, logic or a reasoned interpretation of the Bible.

What a difference a month makes. The hornets in the nest of mainstream media were stirred up after Sam Stein penned a revealing piece on the Huffington Post Website detailing disturbing statements Hagee made in a sermon that seem to ascribe a biblical reasoning for Adolph Hitler's extermination of millions of European Jews during WWII.

Bruce Wilson first posted an audio recording of Hagee's sermon on his Talk To Action Website of the opinionated Pastor asserting that Hitler's Holocaust was a divinely inspired fulfillment of scripture.

The effect of the statements and their content were sufficient for McCain to finally cut the tether between his campaign and Hagee - and Pastor Hagee, insisting that his statements were taken out of context also withdrew his endorsement of McCain.

In the end this episode points to the power of the media to link a presidential candidate to statements made by religious leaders associated with them. Obama had nothing to do with Reverend Wright's bizarre ramblings nor did McCain have anything to do with Pastor Hagee's.

The more interesting question is the media's use of material made in the pulpit on Sunday mornings to paint a presidential candidate in a different light - even if it's not their own.

Many in the Blogosphere have all questioned why the media remained relatively hands-off on Hagee when he suggested the residents of New Orleans brought destruction upon themselves because of sin; or that the Old Testament foretold a US invasion of Iran.

Did the media storm kick in only after Hagee's bizarre assertion that the Holocaust and Hitler were fulfilling Biblical prophecy? Did the mainstream media lend equal analysis to the statements made by Wright and Hagee?

Federal Response Weighed in Wake of Sean Bell Decision

The City of New York and the NYPD may become the focus of a Federal probe as politicians step in to address the real issue of the Sean Bell case - the repeated shooting of unarmed African-American citizens by policemen.

US Rep John Conyers (pictured left) chairs the powerful House Judiciary Committee. He joined other New York politicians including Rep Charlie Rangell in filing a request for the Department of Justice to investigate civil rights violations of Sean Bell, Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman.

In the wake of Judge Arthur Cooperman's dismissal of all charges against the three NYPD detectives who unleashed 50 shots into a car with three unarmed suspects killing one and wounding two, the civil rights division of the Justice Department and the FBI's New York field Office announced they will investigate the facts of the case.

For all of Judge Arthur Cooperman's legal interpretations, the real truth is an unacceptable trend continues. Where the New York court system routinely absolves officers of any responsibility for the use of excessive force in cases where they felt "threatened" or that "their lives were in danger" ( a definition so broad it overshadows logic and common sense) and as such felt the only option was to open fire.

It may be 2008 but it smells like 1908.

NYPD Off the Hook in the Shooting of Sean Bell

17 months after Sean Bell, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield were shot outside a Queens nightclub hours before Bell was to be married the State Supreme Court in Queens handed out a sentence of not guilty to the NYPD detectives who pumped 50 shots into a car full of unarmed African-American men.

Right now the Brian Leherer show is discussing the results of the trial, but in all reality what's to discuss?

The facts are now all too familiar to New Yorkers.

Once again three members of the NYPD pulled out their weapons and shot an unarmed African-American man and injured two others (one of the bullets went through the window of a local resident's home, another hit the local Air-Tran station) - and no one was convicted on any charges.

Detectives Oliver, Isnora and Cooper (Pictured above) face no charges and walk away as if nothing wrong happened. There's something wrong about this - there's something disturbing about a system that doles out acquittals to members of the "most highly-trained" police force in the world every time they shoot an unarmed back man in the city of New York.

As an African-American male I am outraged and I realize that I, and others like me, are essentially less than human in the eyes of the law-enforcement community who are supposed to "serve and protect".

Despite the fact that I pay taxes, graduated from college, am a working professional, have never been convicted of a crime or arrested and always go out of my way to assist strangers of all races - in the eyes of the NYPD I am the enemy and I am to be feared and my life means nothing.

As a human, a citizen of the United States and a resident of New York I am devastated and can only imagine what the victim's families are feeling after this perversion of justice.

Judge Cooperman, in rendering the verdict said to the packed court, “the police response with respect to each defendant was not found to be criminal.” My faith in the justice system of this city is totally shattered.

McCain Gets Tough on Katrina Response, But Will the Media Be Tough on John Hagee/

It's been interesting watching the mainstream media's reaction to John McCain openly courting the support of controversial Pastor John Hagee

In some ways, John Hagee makes Obama's former Pastor Jeremiah Wright seem tame by comparison. Hagee heads up the 18,000 member Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas.

His bigoted comments are a matter of record, he believes that the Book of Esther in the Bible foretells a US invasion of Iran and the media seemed to all but ignore the fact that he blames the Katrina disaster on the city of New Orleans itself.

CNN's article talks about the media blitz of sorts McCain created when he took a 20-minute stroll/photo op through the hurricane-ravaged 9th Ward of New Orleans; part of his efforts to breech the Democratic strongholds in an effort to prove he's not just another GOP flunkie.

To be fair to McCain, he blasted the Bush administration and the Federal government for their pathetic response to the plight of thousands of impoverished citizens. But the CNN piece doesn't even mention John Hagee until the second to last paragraph!

Is that fair and balanced media analysis? Excerpts of recordings of Jeremiah Wright's explosive comments were repeatedly payed on radio, television and the Web in conjunction with links to Obama.

John Hagee is on television twice a day and what are we hearing about his views on homosexuals and immigrants, or that it's our religious destiny to invade Iran?

As Columbia University Graduate Journalism professor Thomas Edsall opined on the Huffingtonpost.com Website - the mainstream media is more focused on embracing the Clinton campaign's message that Obama can't carry the general election because of his race, than they are turning the spotlight onto John Hagee's record.

Hillary's not just openly playing the race card - she's got many members of the mainstream media playing the game too.

White Supremacist Kevin Strom Sentenced to 23 Months for Possession of Child Pornography

In his role as the leader of the white supremacist National Vanguard movement, Kevin Alfred Strom (pictured left) was widely considered one of the nation's leading right-wing Neo Nazi "intellectuals".

On April 21st a Federal Court sentenced the father of three to 23 months for possession of child pornography. Strom has been in jail since January 2007 after FBI agents raided his home and searched his home in response to allegations he'd been stalking a ten-year old 5th grade girl who was friends with his step-daughter.


Strom tried to defend himself claiming the kiddie porn was "unwillingly" downloaded onto his computer. Such statements contradicted reports by his wife Elisha who testified under oath that she secretly videotaped her hate-monger husband naked in front of his computer masturbating to child porn images on at least 25 occasions.

She noted that he had superimposed the heads of the Neo Nazi 14- year old blond-fraternal twin music duo from Bakersfield, California, Prussian Blue onto the nude bodies of adult porn images and masturbated to them.

The "stay-at-home" mother of the brainwashed young blond devotees of Adolph Hitler, April Gaede was an active member of Strom's National Vanguard movement. Her daughters were linked to the group as well.

As recently as 2005 former KKK leader and white supremacist David Duke openly gushed about this convicted pedophile on Duke's Website during an interview Strom conducted where among other things the two discussed their passion to be involved with a movement filled with people "motivated by love of their traditions and their values and their freedom."

Apparently those "traditions" include stalking young girls and trying to entice them to have sex. Fortunately Strom is "free" to think about it for the next 23 months - happily far away from pre-teen girls.

Will She Stay or Will She Go?

The world was pretty tough on Katie Couric (pictured left) last week.

From the time stories began circulating about internal rumblings over her precarious position as the news anchor for CBS News, the media wasted no time pouncing on one of their own.

After I paused to read the April 9th online article posted on TV Week's daily online feed online article about the speculation surrounding Couric leaving the news desk at CBS, I read two interesting reader comments and got sucked into the debate immediately.

I posted a first response then came back later and dropped a follow-up response after a very nice woman seemed to bristle at the thought of a group of misogynistic male bloggers picking on poor Katie.

This was by far the story of the week in New York. Rarely has the word 'Katie' been splashed on the cover of the New York Post with such abandon. Of course it was all over the Web too, I thought I the best media coverage was the WSJ online article.

We'll see how it plays out. The CBS brass aren't just going to sit there while their television news product resides in third place. Remember this is a brand journalists like Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather helped create.

Black Rock was quick to fire out a press release announcement on April 10th trumpeting their 'Victory' over Rather's $70 million lawsuit against CBS and Viacom. The last thing the 'Eye' network needed was any kind of spillover affecting their annual broadcast of the Master's this weekend.

The sparks should continue this week. The story has everything to do with how our culture perceives and interprets the stories and events that filter through the media pipeline.

Does it have more to do with the actual truth surrounding these events, or our emotional reactions to them?

Florida Woman & Two Mentally Disabled Friends Beaten for Refusing to Pay Money for Being White

The depraved depths of bigotry and ignorance no bounds, be they racial or moral.

On March 30th the Website of Channel 6 WKMG, in Orlando reported that four African- American men were being charged with a hate crime after a 62 year-old white woman and two mentally disabled men with her refused to pay the suspects a "fee" for being in Kaley Park and being white.

Is stupidity the only thing that's color-blind in this country?

April , 2008 Vogue Cover of LeBron James & Gisele Bundchen - Racist Imagery?

The monthly cover of Vogue magazine will never be confused with a bastion of multicultural imagery by any means, so it's hard to find fault with the world's elite fashion book when it finally puts an African- American male on the cover.

But the April, 2008 cover (pictured left) has generated a surprising amount of nationwide media coverage and public commentary; most of it negative.

The image of Cleveland Cavalier's basketball phenom LeBron James with model Gisele Bundchen cradled in his left arm continues to draw the attention of local and national media in print, on the Web and on television - where the Today Show had quite a debate.

In an article posted on the fashion industry trade magazine WWD's Website, some black editors and media critics pointed out that the picture points to the larger issue of the way mainstream media portrays African-American men in visual images. Many have even suggested it's sub-conscious reference to King Kong carting off the terrified blond female.

The Garden State's nj.com Website quotes a University of Maryland professor as saying the image only serves to reinforce long-held stereotypes of black men, particularly black athletes as savage brutes; the image depicts the laid back James with an intense, scowling open-mouthed snarl as he dribbles a basketball in one hand as he clutches the demure Bundchen with the other.

The controversial image also stirs comparisons to age old myths and hysterical fears about black men threatening white women with their sexuality - myths that once led to the lynching of thousands of innocent black men in this country.

To be fair, James himself seemed unfazed and dismissed criticism of his Vogue cover photo taken by Uber photographer Annie Leibovitz as one of many shots depicting a range of emotions. Maybe, but we see which one hit the stands.

No matter where you stand, it does illustrate an important issue that impacts our collective culturegeist - does the media intentionally manipulate images of black men to play on stereotypes?

Remember it wasn't that long ago that Time magazine presented OJ Simpson's arrest photo on the cover of it's June 27, 1994 - and editors intentionally darkened his skin color from the original photo to make him seem more menacing. Skeptical? Check it out, judge for yourself.

Or maybe people are just envious that James got to spend the day taking snapshots with one of the hottest women on the planet?

As Roy Johnson, editor-in-chief of Men's Fitness observed in the WWD article:

"It's a reminder that as African-Americans, we have come very far to have an African-American male featured on the cover of Vogue, but we have very far to go to continue to educate people within our industry regarding the power of images and the potential impact they can have on their readers."

Arlington, Texas Mayor Orders Black Couple to Remove Racist Graffiti Spray-Painted on Their Home

On the morning of December, 21, 2007 as many in the Texas town of Arlington prepared for the Christmas holiday, a local black contractor named Broderick Gamble was horrified to discover that someone had used a can of red spray paint to deface the brand new white garage doors of the dream home he'd been building since 2006.

The words "KILL" and "DIE NIGGER" (see photo above left) cast a dark shadow on the neighborhood and indeed the town itself.

Just two days earlier, Gamble's fiancee Etha Kay "Silk" Littlejohn had been assaulted with a two-by-four and subjected to racial slurs by Grace Head; a 66-year-old white neighbor who lives four blocks from the Gamble home.

Head was indicted on charges of aggravated assault and criminal mischief, both charges carry additional weight because it was classified as a hate crime.

But the town, and the two victims became embroiled in a controversy after Gamble repeatedly refused orders to remove the offensive graffiti and pledged to leave it up to demonstrate the scope of racism he claims to have been subjected to since breaking ground on his dream home.

The story got quite a bit of local media attention, there's even a 2 minute 41 second clip on youtube. Good amount of blogging too. The spirit of the holidays won out though as strangers pooled together friends to contact Gamble and his fiancee and bring them Christmas gifts.

Nice to see human nature and goodwill win out over ignorance and fear.

Geraldine Ferraro Out of Clinton Campaign After Controversial Interview

In her latest obvious attempt to intentionally insert race into the minds of the American electorate Senator Hillary Clinton called on former Queens Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro to do the dirty-work .

In a fiery interview with Torrance, California newspaper the Daily Breeze, Ferraro attributed Senator Barack Obama's campaign success and position as a possible Democratic presidential candidate to the color of his skin.

"If Obama was a white man he would not be in this position." the former vice presidential candidate was quoted as saying. "And if he was a woman of color he would not be in this position. He's very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept."

Taken out of context? Read the original article for yourself.

The Obama camp vented steam publicly over the incident with the usual indignation now common to candidates from both parties - the New York Post's page 19 headline labeled it a "Slap at Obama."

When asked about top Obama adviser David Axlerod's accusation that her comments were proof positive that Clinton was condoning the use of race Ferraro asserted in a follow-up interview with the the Daily Breeze, "I really think they're attacking me because I'm white. Hows that?"

Was it anger over never quite having gotten over the ass-kicking she Walter Mondale got at the hands of the Reagan-Bush ticket in 1984? A hot-flash perhaps?

Whatever it was Hillary was quick to distance herself from Ferraro's somewhat pedestrian reduction of Obama's broad-based support to his skin color.

She danced cunningly onto the stage of the National Newspaper Publisher's Association (an association of over 200 African-American community papers) and was all apologies.

Then she ceremoniously slapped Ferraro's wrist by booting her off the campaign's finance committee.

On the one hand I'm kind of glad to see Gerry's still out there mixing it up but the reality is her confusing old neighborhood Queens-inspired take on Obama's political appeal does nothing to raise the level and quality of dialog and exchange of ideas in this race.

If that's all the Clinton camp can offer up to distract the voters and media from Obama's victory in the Mississippi primary then there's a sense of either ruthless desire to win this race, or desperation.

I suspect it's a mix of both with some plain old-fashioned political savvy mixed in. Shrewd strategic play for Hillary and to me it demonstrates she's clearly a tactical thinker who can delegate - even if it was passing on the responsibility of playing the race card to others.

Stay gold Pony-girl.

23 Year-Old PSU Student Victim of Brutal Anti-Semitic Hate Crime Beating On Temple University Campus

For one young student of my Alma mater Penn State University, the tales his grandfather told him of his experiences in Auschwitz during World War II seemed remote and far-removed from the young millennium's idyllic suburban Philadelphia upbringing.

But the walls separating the 23-year old young man's perspective from the totalitarian brutality of the Third Reich was shattered in a violent February 29th attack that took place on the Temple University campus (seen left) outside the Alpha Epsilon Pi house on North Broad Street in Philadephia around 1:30am.

The Philadelphia Daily News reported that Michael Walsh, 20, of Florham Park, N.J.; David Scott, 20, and Steven Scott, 19, two brothers from Willow Grove, Montgomery County; and Bryan Pediero, 19, of East Brunswick, N.J. - turned themselves in to face charges according to Philadelphia police.

The Philadelphia Inquirer's coverage of the story seemed somewhat more sedate - insisting the the incident was "tentatively being labeled" a hate crime.

When four guys jump a Jewish guy and his friend coming out of a pizza joint at 1:30am, demand to know if they're members of the Jewish fraternity across the street then start beating the shit out of him while yelling anti-Semitic slurs I think the average reasonable person would say that fit's the definition of a hate crime.

But regardless of how it was reported, at least it was reported. It's clearly a sad testament to the growing number of hate crimes happening right now in communities not just across the US, but across the globe - skeptical?

Check out paulasays.com an extensive detailed list of anti-Semitic attacks from countries around the world.

The Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Report documented 888 known hate groups in the United States in 2007 - an increase of 48% since 2000.

It's heart-breaking to imagine a grandfather with the courage to somehow survive the horrors of Aushwitz being reduced to tears at the news that his grandson, a promising college student, was savagely beaten by four men who yelled out anti-Semitic slurs while their inner hatred rained down on a cold winter night in 2008.

Red Cross Reports 180 Civilians Dead in 2008 as Tensions Between Sri Lankan Govt and Tamil Minority Approach Boiling Point

The bloody war raging between members of Sri Lanka's (formerly Ceylon) minority Tamil population and the ruling government has shifted into an even deadlier and more violent phase.

Equally disturbing is a recent government crackdown on access by journalists and human rights observers to any areas near the battlefields and sites of violence, making the horrifying details almost invisible to any scrutiny by the world media.

The decades-old conflict is once again a hot media topic in a busy slate of world events dominated by the most violent terrorist attack against Israeli citizens in recent memory and mounting anxiety over the situation in Darfur.

The above photo of a Tamil Tiger soldier preparing to fire an RPG at government forces in the Sri Lankan jungles (note the small sticker on the rear of the weapon with an image of Tamil Eelam leader Velupillai Pirapharan) symbolizes the brutal nature of this conflict that has raged across this island nation since the late 1970's.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (frequently referred to as the LTTE or Tamil Tigers) is a nationalist organization formed by Pirapharan (also spelled Prabhakaran) in 1975 in response to frustration by members of the ethnic Tamil population over marginalization by the government and a desire for a separate homeland in the north and east of Sri Lanka.

The LTTE has been engaged an insurgent war for years, taking advantage of guerrilla tactics, small scale attacks against high-value targets such as local police and a number of political assassinations including Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duraiappah and even Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Ghandi in 1991.

A number of nations including Canada and India currently list the LTTE as a terrorist organization.

In January a brokered cease-fire agreement established in 2002 was declared void by the government of current Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Government troops have embarked on a coordinated offensive against the LTTE across the country - the Red Cross reports that at least 180 civilians have been killed since the start of this year alone. In recent days Sri Lankan officials claim to have killed at least 40 Tamil rebel fighters according to the BBC News Website.

There are civilian reports that a number of Tamil citizens are being systematically "dissappeared" by government forces.

There are numerous accounts of violence committed by government forces upon innocent ethnic Tamil civilians as well. The Tamil Eelam Website has disturbing photos and a detailed account of the Monday August 14, 2006 government attack that killed 61 schoolgirls and wounded 150 during a two-day first-aid training session for girls in Sri Lanka's Mullaithivu district.

Government Kfir jets bombed the compound where the training session was taking place.

The cultural mistrust, anger and hatred has claimed at least 25,000 lives and the UN reports there have been more disappearances in Sri Lanka in 2008 than in any other nation in the world.

This conflict illustrates a broader cultural schism that stretches across the socio-economic and Geo-political spectrum.

A tear in the fabric of mankind's cultural consciousness - a rip, one of many in the culturegeist that begs the question; how long will racial, religious and cultural divisions win out against reason and the desire to evolve as a species?

The 21st century is just getting started so what does this beginning say about the larger human condition?

At the least, it's an alarming signal that doesn't quite seem to be reaching everyone. It remains to be seen if a solution will emerge from within Sri Lanka and it's warring sides, or will this require more of an international focus and effort.

Hard for journalists and the media to raise the profile of this problem when Sri Lankan officials have put the clampdown on any outside access to the front lines of this simmering human tragedy.

O'Neil Solomon's Death Sits Quietly in the Shadow of the Sean Bell Trial

As the trial of NYPD police officers charged in the shooting death of Sean Bell gets underway in New York City, a much less well-known milestone passed without much fanfare.

Last Thursday's two-year anniversary of the brutal police beating of former limo driver O'Neil Solomon's passed relatively unnoticed by most mainstream media outlets.

The beating he received at the hands of up to 16 NYPD officers in Brooklyn on the night of February 21, 2006 beating went relatively unnoticed too. Unfortunately is was drowned out by storm of controversy surrounding the Sean Bell shooting.

It's not that Solomon's death is any less important in it's representation of the problems that stem from the remnants of institutionalized racism within the NYPD sub-culture and a distorted perception of African-American and Hispanic males that exists amongst the more than 40,000 officers.

But the Bell shooting simply took place in a much brighter spotlight; and the violent reaction of the officers involved remains baffling in it's scope and horrifying in lack of reasoning or sense.

The confusing events that took place in the early morning hours of November 25, 2006 that led NYPD Detective Michael Oliver to pump 31 shots (he was struck by 50) into the body of young bride groom Sean Bell outside of a Jamaica, Queens nightclub are once again the subject of local and national media attention as the trial of the accused officers is now in full swing.

On March 21, 2006 the New York Daily News did print an article with the details surrounding O'Neil Solomon's vicious beating by a group of enraged NYPD officers after he fled from a traffic stop in Brooklyn on the night of February 21, 2006.

But it was published two days after the March 19, 2007 indictment of Detective Oliver along with NYPD Officers Gescard Isnora (who fired 11 shots at Bell) and Michael Cooper (who fired 4 shots) by a Queens Grand Jury on charges including first degree manslaughter.

Bell was finishing a night of celebration marking the end of his bachelor status, and was to be married in the morning. In contrast O'Neil Solomon had just fled a traffic stop that turned into a police chase. He was an ex-con with a lengthy rap sheet that included arrests for stolen property, assault and a sexual assault on a 13-year-old.

Maybe it's harder for the media to find a compelling story in Solomon's troubled past, but he didn't deserve what happened to him that night in the Brooklyn streets when the police caught up with him.

St. Vincent's Hospital nurse Janice Pinheiro, 37 witnessed the beating outside her Autumn Avenue home. She told the Daily News up to 16 cops hit Solomon with nightsticks and stomped him in the head and chest - when she tried to intervene and began pleading and screaming at them to stop, they handcuffed her and took her to the 75th Precinct station house.

Pinheiro's complaint led to the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) opening an investigation into the incident. In the days following his release, Solomon complained of feeling sick; he was rushed to the hospital on March 4th where he was pronounced dead.

But don't look for justice from the courts in this case. NYPD officials claim arrest photos show no visible signs of trauma - nor did the coroner find any. At least that's what they say.

Even though the process of the criminal case against the officers involved in Sean Bell's violent shooting death is just getting started, maybe there's a better chance that whatever justice is served will provide at least a measure of justice for O'Neil Solomon; though a measure unseen except by those who knew and loved him.

Official Apologies for Australia's Stolen Generation

Our friends over at Wikipedia offer the following definition for Aborigine:Indigenous peoples, Displaced peoples with a prior or historical ownership of a land, and who maintain (at least in part) their distinct traditions and association with the land, and are differentiated in some way from the surrounding populations and dominant nation-state culture and governance. (Excerpt from Wikipedia.org

Let's face it the plight of the Aborigine people doesn't exactly light up the headlines of mainstream media outlets in the US. Most of what my mind absorbed about Aborigine people came from the images I gleamed from superficial sanitized slices of world culture littered across the various media platforms I grew up with.

'Crocodile Dundee' was really the first time I can consciously recall seeing Aborigine characters portrayed on film with a sense of humanity.

Bruce Trevorrow's harrowing account of being taken from the Adelaide Children's hospital in South Australia when he was an infant opened my eyes to a different dimension of the aborigene experience that I had not honestly considered let alone explored before.

Trevorrow (pictured above) and scores of aborigine children like him were removed from their Aborigine families by agencies of the state, or those acting on their behalf, and adopted and raised by white Australian families with the consent and complacency of the government.

The scores of Aborigines who endured similar fates has attracted a wide range of media attention, garnering mentions here in the US and around the globe, from NPR radio to the "ABC News Website"

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made headlines across the globe recently when he offered an official apology on behalf of the Australian government to the Aborigine people.
Though it might not seem so to many puzzled by the logic or need of such a statement it's a huge step.

It's a statement, an official recognition of events. That's a long way from snatching children from people's families. A number of US states have issued apologies for the government's role in slavery to no small amount of controversy. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair apologized for Britain's Role in the slave trade.

Real healing in the cultural sense must begin with an objective analysis of the past. It's the only way to really affect the present and build a positive foundation for the future.

Polish Immigrant Defaces 57 Jewish Tombstones in Chicago - 3 Busted for Vandalism in East Windsor NJ

I recently blogged about the rise in neo-Nazi activity across the US but the hate activity continues even as mainstream media ignores it for the most part; even as it begins to reach epic proportions.

On Friday February 1, 2008 Mariusz Wdziekonski, 21, a Polish immigrant who's been living in the US for about four years confessed to police that he was responsible for desecrating 57 tombstones in the Jewish Westlawn Cemetery in Norridge Park Township, Illinois.

Wdziekonski used blue and silver paint to deface Jewish headstones with swastikas and anti-Semetic graffiti such as "white power" and "Aryan power."

The disturbed machine mechanic, who told Des Plaines police he was a member of a neo-Nazi group known as "National Socialist Movement 88", was also involved in the neo-Nazi movement in his native Poland.

The disturbing part of this is that it spawns copy-cat incidents by ignorant young men with no sense of history, little in the way of intellect and too much time on their hands; and it's now
happening all over our nation - even right next to the town where I went to High School.

On Friday February 8th, three college students in East Windsor, NJ were charged with anti-Semitic vandalism in connection with statues and signs spray-painted in East Windsor, Hightstown and Roosevelt.

18 year-olds Nicholas Kurahara, Nikolai Afanassenkov and Max Drazdik were all charged; the 3 bigots were home on college break last month and boozed up when the incidents occurred and are all members of a band I obviously won't be listening to anytime soon.

Want to see demented, goose-stepping morons burning books in 21st century America?
Then hold your nose and check out this Website.
Remember -this is happening in your community, in Europe and all over the Internet right now as you read this.

This blight upon the fabric of our culturegeist will continue to fester in these difficult economic times until mainstream media turns the power of the spotlight on this issue and real Americans begin to understand who these people are and their obsession with hate, bigotry, anti-Semitism and racism.

It begs the question; what the hell are they so angry about and more importantly, who taught them to hate?

Are Asian Americans Being Underserved By Advertisers?

My first real exposure to ethnic advertising was the old Calgon detergent commercial (Still from the commercial seen left) where a smiling All-American WASP mom is standing in the dry-cleaners/laundromat gushing to the Asian-American laundry guy behind the counter about how clean her clothes are.

When she asks him how he does it, he smiles and says with a mysterious air: "Ancient Chinese Secret!" On cue the Asian-American guy's perky, Americanized-Asian wife comes cruising out of the back waving an empty box of Calgon detergent, announcing loudly: "We need more Calgon!"

The customer gives him a look after he's totally busted and admonishes him with faux-anger: "Ancient Chinese Secret huh?"

It was so cute and endearing that the not-so-subtle stereotype of the Asian guy behind the counter came off as harmless.

These days it seems advertisers are sticking with mainstream images, performers and settings when it comes to commercials; with Asian-Americans such a large and growing part of our culturegiest in this nation, why is it we rarely see advertising targeting their culture?

According to a recent study by the Selig Center for Economic Growth Asian-American spending power in the US is expected to reach 528 billion by 2009. People of Asian descent in this nation comprise 5% of the US population and 86% speak English.

So why do media buyers approach targeted ethnic advertising with a lukewarm attitude?

According to the New American Media Website targeted ethnic advertising is more cost efficient and delivers better ROI but mainstream advertisers still tend to rely on mainstream media to deliver the message to Asian-American communities.

Just turn on your TV and surf the channels, there's no question advertisers still seem confused about how to market to Asian-Americans, African-Americans, Hispanics and other minority groups.

I wonder if it's fear or ignorance?

Advertisers Flee Michael Savage's Ultra-Conservative Radio Schpeel

In a move that's sure to dampen Ann Coulter's day, five more high-profile advertisers have pulled their support of nationally syndicated radio program Savage Nation.

Host Michael Savage is being actively targeted by a group of organizations united in their outrage at the controversial talk show host's comments against Muslims and other groups.

Michael Savage pictured above

It's not the first time Savage's bigotry has landed him in hot water with the media companies that bankroll his vicious tirades. He made headlines in 2003 when he teed off against a male homosexual caller on his talk show on MSNBC, suggesting to the man: "You should only get AIDS and die, you pig." He was subsequently fired by MSNBC.

But his homophobic verbal attack was tame compared to the bizarre, rambling tirade he unleashed against Muslims on October 29, 2007. Visit the Website NOSAVAGE.ORG to hear a recording of the segment or see PDF's of the printed transcripts. It's hard to listen to it and remember companies pay him to be on the air.

Savage has become a victim of his own hate as companies including the makers of well-known brands such as Icy Hot, Selsun Blue, TurboTax and even GEICO are siding with a coordinated effort to hold the horrifying hate-monger accountable for his divisive spew.

Groups such as Hate Hurts America and the Interfaith Community have aligned to demand that advertisers sever their association with Savage's nationally-ranked syndicated program. Wal-Mart, AT&T and Sprint Nextel are just a few of the companies that have moved to distance themselves from Savage.

Savage's cartoonish Website promotes a range of ultra right-wing causes, but to me the bigger issue is who is actually tuning into this program to listen to this ignorant, un-American drivel?

What sort of Neanderthal media executive green-lights a pathetic moron like Savage in the first place?

ADL: Skinhead Activity Rises in US & Around the Globe

With much of the daily national media spotlight focused on the current elections, the state of the US economy and the details of Brittney Spears' bizarre personal life I really haven't seen that much television, radio or print media coverage concerning the February 7, 2008 report issued by the Anti-Defamation League that warns of a rise in neo-Nazi/racist skinhead activity in every state in America.

The report cites at least 110 newly formed skinhead groups which have taken advantage of frustrated, disenfranchised white youth who are easily sucked into the flurry of racist skinhead Websites around which much of this activity centers.

Lack of jobs with benefits, stagnant wages for working & middle class citizens, fear of immigration and a rapidly changing culture in America are just some of the factors contributing to this rise in hate crimes. The report notes there have been at least 83 reported criminal incidents over the past several years, including 17 involving murder, attempted murder and manslaughter.

Case in point: In January, 2008 29 year-old Thomas Verducci was charged with shooting 30 year-old Jose Corona in the head in a Vallejo, California bar in January 2007. Verducci is an alleged member of the Family Affiliated Irish Mafia (FAIM) a loosely organized skinhead group based in northern California near the San Francisco area.

Websites like the ADL's Skinhead Project and the Southern Poverty Law Center's (SPLC) Intelligence Project offer some of the most extensive analysis of hate crimes and groups who espouse racist, anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, anti-government and anti-gay ideologies and agendas.

The only way these groups and their activities are going to move beyond a blip on the media radar is through exposure of, and dialog about these groups and their violent anti-American activities. It affects our culturegeist and it's not just happening in some isolated working class community in California, or Florida, or New Jersey - it's happening right now where you live.

That's not the America the founders envisioned, it's not the America hundreds of thousands of Americans have died defending and certainly not the America that is going to move forward into the 21st century.

Neo Nazis Suspected in German Arson-Fire That Kills 9

Investigators in Ludwigshafen, Germany are trying to determine if a group of neo nazis (pictured left, German Skinhead rally, 2000) are responsible for setting a suspicious blaze that consumed the interior of a building that housed Turkish immigrants on Sunday, February 3rd.

At least nine people, including five children, were killed in the fire and another 60 injured. Prior to the fire "Hass", the German word for hate, was scrawled next to the door of the building on at least two different occasions.

A photographer captured a dramatic photo of a couple dropping their infant Onur four stories down to a policeman in a desperate effort to save the baby from the smoke and flames - the infant survived the fall.

Sadly German officials and citizens have been dealing with the uncomfortable question of how to stem the tide of facism and white supremacy for years. This latest incident underscores a global rise in hate crime activity against minority groups. Given the state of the economy it's not surprising to see disenfranchised youth venting their frustrations on innocent people that cannot defend themselves.

It's not limited to young men with shaved heads and engineer boots either, Turkish, African and other immigrant groups often deal with subtle race-based discrimination in areas such as housing and access to decent medical care.

Spikes in hate crime activity always take place in times when jobs are scarce and opportunities limited. The signature of hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan has always been violent, cowardly attacks on innocent people. Check out the link to the Southern Poverty Law Center in the upper left to get the latest on hate activity in the US.

Rebel Fighting In Chad's Capital Underscores Destabilization & French Government's Global Influence

A surprise attack coordinated by three rebel groups in Chad is threatening to further erode stability in a region already being crippled by violence and government unrest.

Despite the attacks on Saturday, president Idriss Deby (pictured left) remains ensconced inside the palace in N'djamena and in control of government troops which used tanks and helicopter gunships as part of sweeping counterattacks on rebel positions on Sunday.

Africa is wracked by internal conflicts at present, the rise in violence in Kenya and now Chad will only delay the deployment of UN troops and has the potential to drag Sudan into the conflict.

The French government, the former colonial power in the region, maintains a force of about 1,200 troops and sent 300 more to bolster their presence; but they are there largely to protect French diplomats and other private citizens. The attack comes a minor setback for a French government seeking to expand and strengthen the role of it's military around the globe.

Africa is just a complete mess right now and nothing is going to change until there is an authoritative body in place equipped, funded, authorized and staffed to deal with regional flare ups of violence.

Wesley Snipes Outed as Member of the 'Tax Denial' Movement

Actor Wesley Snipes has vanquished the un-dead, faced down the Yakuza and was cleared of two felony fraud and conspiracy charges and three misdemeanor charges for failing to file returns or pay taxes. He will face the gavel for three more misdemeanor tax charges.

In a series of reportedly rambling letters defining his position, Snipes claimed, among other things that he is a "nontaxpayer" by law.

An article posted by David Cay Johnston on the nytimes.com Website listed some details of arguments included by Snipes in a 600-page document he submitted to the court, including a rather interesting defense that is apparently common to tax deniers, Johnston wrote:

"Mr. Snipes also complained that the I.R.S. violated his 14th Amendment rights to equal protection because it would not help him establish what he said was his rightful status as a legal nontaxpayer."

I went to the Times site and checked out the PDF text of Snipes' anti-tax defense. All I can say is that I can see where the US Attorney in the case dismissed the actor's massive document as "gibberish". It's extensive, meticulous in detail and ALL of 600 pages; a law degree or familiarity with the intricacies of the US Tax Code would be helpful.

I've heard of anti-government movements, "patriots", KKK, evolved weekend warrior types who brandish the Constitution and Bible in one hand and a really big hand gun in the other. But this was the first time I ever heard of a movement of Americans who actually believe that the IRS collects income tax illegally by manipulating Americans with the fine print of the tax laws.

Apparently we've all been "bamboozled" into paying income tax since it was enacted by the Federal Government, which, to them, is in itself an evil institution. Anywayyyyy...

Seriously though, who wouldn't want to pay less or even NO taxes? But I'm not sure where I stand on the tax denial movement. Check it out for yourself, here's a link to a site that gives you somewhat of a feel for the thinking behind the those who feel they don't owe Uncle Sam a dime.

In my limited experience, movements such as this one inevitably attract the same type of mindset that is sympathetic with theories supporting racial superiority, divisive, antiquated thinking and belief in a God who apparently populated the planet with a whole bunch of people he didn't really like.

Whatever works for you Wes.