Don't Tell Me You Didn't Hear That!

Here's the video of Sarah Palin failing to repudiate, reprimand, correct...hell...failing to lead, after one of her supporters yells out a clear racial slur during a speech at one of her rallies.

Was it just that she wasn't able to hear the supporter yelling "He's a Nigger!" or did she purposely do nothing to address that supporter's hatred born of ignorance? I have my own opinion about this matter, but I'll let you decide for yourselves.






-Noface

The Happy Days Of The Andy Grifith Show!

Having watched old reruns of both Happy Days and the Andy Grifith Show as a child, this little vid put a smile on my face...

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

Ron Howard, Andy Grifith, and Henry Winkler for change. Awesome!!

-Noface

What America Means to Me!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. That is so true! In my opinion, this picture says it all...





This is what America means to me. No, not dead soldiers, but a country worthy of loving (even if it means confronting) and dying for no matter what your religion, political ideology, race, gender, or sexual orientation is.


Rest In Peace CPL. Kareem Rashad Sultan Kahn.

-Noface

*Picture Courtesy of Platon at Newyorker.com

Personal Politics vs. Party Politics

General Colin Powell announced his endorsement for Senator Barrack Obama and gave very clear and articulate reasons for doing so. I'm not impressed with that. I don't think someone should be viewed as a heroic figure or villainous despot, just because of who they plan to vote for. I'm not going to knock a guy/gal that feels that McCain is the best man for the job (being president that is), so long as that person has clear rational reasons (for himself/herself not anyone else) for taking that position.

No, no...Powell gets two thumbs way up for asking himself and by extension the rest of the Republican Party some very tough questions. One of the most important (in my mind) being, "Where we going with this...?" (I am paraphrasing of course). He was essentially calling into question how this new or "neo" Republican Party was defining what and where the real America was and who real Americans were.

He is correct in stating that the right answer to the Charge that Obama is a Muslim is "No he isn't...he is a Christian". He is even more correct in stating that the better answer to that question is so what (paraphrasing again). He goes on to remind us that there are other religions in this great country of ours and the people that practice those religions have lived in, fought for, and died for America.

So am I praising Powell for speaking up about his concerns about the divisive tone that the McCain campaign has adopted? Yeah, I guess, but the bulk of my praise for Powell goes to the fact that he was willing to examine his views and how they were being represented (or not) by his party and the campaign of his close friend. That to me is very important, the fact that he's not voting out of loyalty or a desire to see his party in power but based on his wish for America to be a better more united place. That is an example; I believe we should all follow. Who is the one who is going to turn my America and your America into OUR AMERICA! I’m not saying that everyone will come to the same conclusion that Powell did but at least they will have made the effort to take a critical look at themselves and the party or person there are supporting/opposing, making up their own minds and not have it made up for them.

I feel the fact that Powell is a Black Republican makes his endorsement more poignant. I had almost lost all faith in my conservative brothers and sisters (those who are indeed brothas and sistahs), because it appeared to me that no matter how rotten the McCain/Palin campaign got, they turned a blind eye and held their collective breath while showing their support and solidarity with the ticket. Let me just say, I don’t care if some one is a conservative, liberal, moderate, or whatever. There are gems (along with turds) in many of the different political ideologies. When a person puts party loyalty and partisan talking points over their own moral compass, well…I just can’t take what they have to say seriously. This is why the look into Powell’s thought process was like a breath of fresh air to me, because it reminded me that not all Black Republicans were going the way of the “Slave Catcher” as the Field Negro likes to call them.

Powell’s endorsement and the endorsement of other prominent conservatives for Senator Obama, gives me hope in the belief that we as Americans can disagree on a lot of things but we can be united in the knowledge that we are all Americans, we all love our country, and we all want America to prosper and succeed as a world leader. Perhaps we are finally witnessing the first rays of dawn after a long, long night (eight years long to be exact).


Of course Mr. Limbaugh had to give his two cents worth, which with the current rate of inflation, really equals nothing…




-Noface

Sarah Palin...Meet Sarah Palin!

Sarah Palin was on SNL again last night (twice) in the form of Tina Few and some female governor from Alaska that must of won a contest or something. As always Fey was spot on, as for the governor though, she needs to work on her impression a little more...LOL



...also on the show was Palin's new rap song performed by...Amy Poehler??? What the Fudge? Is the McCain Campaign so frightened of a screw up that it won't even let Palin perform a simple rap song?!? PFFFFT! FAIL!



All in all it was an ok show!

-Noface

The Final Presidential Debate!

First off, let me just say that I am so glad that there will be no more debates this election season. I mean, I love politics just as much as the next nerd, but this has been a long and tiring two years and frankly I look forward to this being over with.

Now on to the debate...

It looks like (from my first impression and later the instant polls on all the major news channels) that McCain is 0-3 in terms of these debates. That is a shame too, because this was McCain's best debate performance yet. It appears that no matter how good McCain does, Obama appears to much better. Why is that? Well, here's my theory.

It all comes down to temperament (Obama called way back in Denver). McCain has managed to prove Obama's point in regards to the qualities of leadership, throughout this general election. Its not about experience, it’s about judgment. Its not about patriotism, it’s about temperament.

When it comes to the type of leadership qualities that I look want in a president I look for the following:

1. Wisdom
2. Integrity
3. Competence
4. Intelligence (including intellectual curiosity)
5. Stability
6. Charisma
7. Compassion
8. Conviction


Those are the major virtues of leadership in order of importance (to me). So far I have only seen number seven from John McCain (especially during the debate). During this final debate, it appeared to me that McCain really believed what he was saying (whether accurate or not) and became increasingly unsettled when he sensed that he was not connecting with...well...anyone but those in his base. This is when things went downhill for McCain (and when he transformed into McGrumps again).

The more unsettled McCain became the more snarky, sarcastic, and visibly upset he became. In a televised debate delivery is just as important as message, and McCain's delivery was horrible (meaning that his message suffered as a result). That's how we got the jokes that only McCain himself laughed at, Health in quotation marks, McCain informing Joe the Plumber that he's rich now (among a lot of other unnecessary references to Joe), the constant blinking, and the barely contained rage.

Meanwhile Obama remained as cool as glass of ice water in the summer time, which only made McGrumps seem McGrumpier. In the end calm and steady won the race again.

On a side note, I have to give props to the moderator for keeping the debate moving and hitting the candidates with follow up questions.

-Noface

*Picture Courtesy of CNN.com

Barrack Is Not An Arab!

I’m glad to see that after a week of letting his supporters stew in their own ignorance and hatred, John Sidney McCain has finally grabbed the mic and said “Enough!” (not that exact word of course, but you get the picture). This week, we saw how ugly politics can get and how alive and well racism is in America. It all started with Joe Six-pack’s number one boo Sarah “Pit-bull with Lipstick” Palin (of course). Ms. Wasila ’84, began attacking Barry with the old guilt by association route. She said that he was paling around with terrorist (a reference to his limited relationship with former domestic terrorist William Ayers). After that little bombshell (for any one living under a rock for the past nine months) we saw the middle name Hussein make reappearance (a middle name meant to be as derogatory as the middle finger). While these dots were being placed to be connected (and connected they were) we saw McCain/Palin “rallies” become increasingly angry and not in the “We want change now!” kind of way. The anger had more of a “Lynch that nigger” tone to it. Indeed McCain supporters would frequently yell epitaphs, verbally assault minority members of the press, and one actually called for the assignation of good old Barry (O_o has silly season become crazy season).

This recent turn of events has everyone worried about what the footlocker McCain is doing with his campaign. Conservatives are worried that this will backfire at a time when the country wants solutions and not racism veiled in code words and catch phrases. Liberals know that this will backfire, but are worried that the crazies have come out of hiding and history will be stopped with a bullet. The rest of us just watch in awe as a campaign implodes.

But as I said before, McCain (either because of his conscience or the polls) has decided to put an end to the foolishness and set the record straight….





I’m not even angry at the old lady that thought that Obama was an Arab (as if that is the equivalent of being a Nazi or something). I find myself filled more with pity than anything else. Her ignorance has brought her nothing but fear (you can hear how terrified she is of an Obama presidency, by the tremor in her voice) and she is representative of a lot of people out there who do not know the truth about Barry (and may not want to know the truth simply because he’s black). I feel sorry for her because if my view of the future is correct and Barry does become the 44th president of the United States, she will by choice be part of what had to be overcome instead of a member of this New America that we idealists fervently believe can come to pass. She will forever be seen as the problem (thanks to YouTube) and not a part of the solution.

Now McCain could have let this elderly woman continue to wallow in her ignorance and bask in the adulation of bigots, but he instead suffered a fit of integrity and leadership and let the people at his rally know what the deal really was and how his campaign was going to be handled from that point on (we can only hope). At that moment, McCain looked more like the old maverick of 2000 instead of the “IwannabepresidentBushcopy‘08” candidate that we have seen recently. Good for you John!

MEANWHILE….

It seems like Governor Palin did abuse her authority in the firing of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan (the Trooper-gate Scandal)…hmmm….seems like next week will be as exciting as last week was.

-Noface

McGrumps Strikes Again!

I just saw the second presidential debate and substantively I'm not sure who won, because by and large both candidates repeated old stump speeches and the entire debate was pretty boring (at least for this observer). I'm sorry but I was pretty disinterested about twenty minutes into the debate so I really stopped paying attention to what the candidates were saying. Sorry! I learned from my friends, all of those elitist pundits from the “liberal mainstream media”, and quick polls from undecided voters, that Obama won the debate by a wide margin. So that’s that I guess.

I’ll tell you what really got my attention, though. Ok, so McCain is explaining some kind of bill that was bad in someway, and he was explaining that his name would not be found anywhere on the bill. He then goes on to say “…You know who did vote for the bill…*while pointing to Obama* that one!” When I heard that I was stunned at how stupid McCain has become in terms of effective debating. In the first debate he refuses to acknowledge Obama’s presence and in this one he calls him “That One” which The Field Negro says reminds him of the term “Those People”.

…JOHN MCCAIN…Keeping it classy since 2006! PFFFFT!!

-Noface

*Photo Courtesy of Politico.com

Tina Fey Does It Again!

I like how SNL has been able to tackle all of the subtleties of the presidential election and of course Tina Fey knocks it out of the park once again. When I saw the real debate on Thursday and witnessed Palin playing that "I'm a folksy hockey mom" crap a little too much, I wondered if secretly deep down inside her heart of hearts, she likes being made fun of by Fey.

Jason Sudakis and Queen Latifa were great as Biden and Ifil respectively. They were spot on in their portrayals of Biden and Ifil as being severely restrained from calling Palin's B.S, as to not appear as bullies and biased.

I'm sure going to miss Palin when McCain looses in November, if only because it means no more great skits from Tina Fey.




-Noface

The Juice Gets Squeezed!!!

They got him folks. After 13 years they finally got The Juice. I must say that I am not too surprised (although the circumstances of this case were pretty fishy) and I am not ashamed to say that I am not sorry for Orenthal James. In my opinion, no matter what his level culpability in this current case was, to many people this was a second chance to do what couldn't be done the last time Orenthal James was facing the possibility of jail time, put him under the jail. Orenthal James, being the S-M-R-T guy that he is, gave them that opportunity (with the “If I Did It” book and this one would be tempted to think that the Juice wanted to go to jail). I know that many people are unaware of the specifics of the current trial and I am here to tell you that the specifics do not matter. When I heard that Orenthal James was going to be charged with conspiracy, armed robbery, and kidnapping, I knew that he would be found guilty no matter how flimsy the charges were (and no matter how questionable the witnesses for the prosecution were). The simple fact is that Orenthal James got away with the unforgivable crime (YES I BELIEVE HE DID IT) of killing members of the white race, was enough to convince me that no matter how "not guilty" Orenthal James was this time he would not be able to escape the hammer. Think about it, this dude got away with doing something that others of his particular skin color were put to death for, whether they were guilty or innocent (more often than not they were innocent). Of course as I predicted, Orenthal James was found guilty of all charges against him and if he is not sentenced to life with out the possibility of parole, I will be very surprised.

For all of you people of color out there who are making big moves and doing big things, let this be a reminder to you that this is still "the white man's" America. You can only spit in his face for so long before he uses every weapon in his arsenal to put you down. I know you were beginning to think that no matter what color your skin is as long as your money is green you can buy a get out of jail free card (yes I am aware of the irony) as many times as you want. I'm sure that the Combs, Jackson, and Kelly trials reaffirmed that notion. I assure you though, that folks are just itching for another crack at those fellas (Jackson and Kelly especially), so if they are too arrogant to count their blessings and stay out of trouble (or stay away from the kids) they could find themselves in Orenthal James's shoes.

This of course is mostly the fault of Orenthal James. He had to have known that white people don't like him. He had to have known that he was on thin ice for 13 years. He had to have known that if he were caught up in something that even seemed similar to a crime that he would be destroyed. He KNEW that the justice system is not as fair as many would like to believe it is (I mean his last criminal trial proved that). Yet he put his "nigger on" and decided to show everyone whose boss and get his stuff back with his boys. Well he found out whose boss....THE WHITE MAN.

My advice to Orenthal James now is the advice I give to all of those who are about to do hard time…Don’t Drop the Soap. To all my upwardly mobile People of Color out there, get your paper, live the American Dream, and use some God given common sense to avoid the traps set up by a system that clearly was not meant to protect or benefit anyone who is not the white man.



-Noface

The VEEP Debate

I just finished watching the debate and ummm....WTF Palin? I mean really, folksy works on the stump (let's be real it draws the crowd), but in a debate it just makes you look Bushish (I just made that up). Now, maybe that would have worked 4 years ago (indeed evidence suggests that it did) but in these times that ain't gonna fly. I don't understand how she can just ramble on and not even come close to answering most of the questions that were asked of her. I really hope that buzz words like "Alaska" "Darn Right" "Hockey Mom" and "Maverick" did not bamboozle the millions of people that watched this debate. If anyone can tell me what exactly she was saying, I will give that person a chocolate chip cookie with a glass of milk.

Now, Biden was not Perfect but he did a hell of a lot better than I thought he would and it seemed to me the he dominated the debate in talking points and in presence. This of course is just my opinion and I'm sure that others would beg to differ.


Now all there is to do is wait for the late night comedians and those knuckleheads from YouTube to tell us what really happened in the debate.


-Noface

*Photo Courtesy of CNN.com