Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Today's Political Comment

If you browse the political crannies of the Internet, you're probably already sick of reading about the bogus "scandal" that yesterday cost Agriculture Department employee Shirley Sherrod her job. Basically, a video was disseminated by right-wing hatchet guy Andrew Breitbart that seemed to show her admitting that she, a black person, was actively (and currently) discriminating against white people. Turns out, of course, that the video was from a decade or two ago and that it had been edited to make it appear she'd actually done that when in fact, she was explaining why she hadn't.

It's rare when you see an issue like this where just about everyone has embarrassed themselves. The White House and the N.A.A.C.P. look bad for rushing to condemn/fire the lady without, obviously, waiting to see if Breitbart's reporting was, as it usually is, inaccurate. The folks who might ordinarily side with Breitbart (including Fox News, which yesterday thought this was The Story of the Century) are denouncing the story as inaccurate...but mostly in ways that don't fault their side for spreading it. And of course, Breitbart — who pounces on the media every chance he gets for slanting news and not accepting responsiblity for what they do — seems to think it's everyone's fault but his that he spread a lie so egregrious, even Glenn Beck couldn't endorse it.

The real sad part is what it shows about the playing of the race card in America. Lately, it seems to be used primarily to get white people rallied against minorities. Fox keeps flogging tales of the New Black Panthers — who as someone else said are about as threatening as the New Christy Minstrels...and smaller in number. There's also a big to-do about a Muslim mosque being planned for the vicinity of the old World Trade Center that has some folks hauling out their religious intolerance.

It all reminds me of a friend I lost once whose bigotry became so all-consuming that I was afraid to let him walk into my bedroom for fear he'd come out wearing the sheets. He officially denounced all racism but the only kind that really bothered him was any allegation, no matter how small, that some white guy (like him) might ever lose out on anything. He kept drawing these false equivalences between minorities being lynched or forced into poverty and the real and outrageous discrimination, which was that at this place of work, some Asian guy had been promoted over him. With the economy being what it is and some folks already paranoid about That Scary Black Man in the White House, I fear we're in for a lot of this.

• Posted at 1:14 PM · LINK

Recommended Reading

Matt Taibbi on how the Senate works...and it applies to Congress, as well. Your representatives' votes have a lot to do with whether or not the bill in question would have passed or failed without them. If and when it doesn't matter, they can vote to impress their constituents instead of the way they'd vote if it would actually impact passage.

• Posted at 10:08 AM · LINK

Today's Video Link

My two favorite performers, Mr. Stan Laurel and Mr. Oliver Hardy, star here in The Music Box, their Oscar-winning 1932 short subject. Nobody funnier...

• Posted at 1:19 AM · LINK

Hail to Thee, Fat Person!

Robert Poodiak, a reader of this site, is the latest of about eighty people to let me know about this. Collectors' Choice Music is offering eight new CDs that might be of interest. They're the eight albums that Allan Sherman made for Warner Brothers Records back in the sixties — all eight, starting with the mega-selling My Son, the Folk Singer.

A few years ago, I would have snatched these up faster than you could say "Sarah Jackman" but that was before the release of the Rhino boxed set, My Son, the Box. Everything that is on these eight albums was in that set...that is, if you don't count the fact that these new releases have new liner notes by Dr. Demento. If you're a big Sherman fan, you probably have that boxed set and no need to buy these. If you don't have My Son, the Box, I'd suggest you look around and see if you can find a copy. It's out of print but it does turn up on Amazon and other places for about $140. Yeah, that's more expensive than buying these but the boxed set has other goodies on it.

If you do want to buy these eight new CDs, you'll probably want to order from Collectors' Choice. Amazon is taking orders and if I were less honest, I'd put up links to them there since I get a tiny commission on Amazon orders through this site and I get bupkiss from Collectors' Choice. But Collectors' Choice is selling them for $10.98 and Amazon is selling them for $12.98. So go where you can get the best deal.

• Posted at 1:12 AM · LINK