"Pop + Politics" - 3 new articles

By: BiodunIginla

Los Angeles : CA : USA | 11 months ago

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by Biodun Iginla, BBC News

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"POP + POLITICS" - 3 NEW ARTICLES

Village Voice Cans Three in Editorial, including Nat Hentoff

This just in: Adding to the media meltdown, my former alma mater, the Village Voice, just laid off three more in editorial. [Full disclosure, I was laid off myself for "matters of taste" in 2007]. Among those laid off is Nat Hentoff, who’s been at the paper since 1958, writing about jazz, and later, civil liberties in his weekly long-running column. Fashion writer, Lynn Yaeger, who has worked with the paper over 15 30 years, starting in classifieds, before moving into editorial, was laid off, along with staff writer Chloe Hilliard, who was hired under the current editor, Tony Ortegain 2007. We know, we keep saying this, but we continue to be amazed that there is anyone left to lay off.

Nat Hentoff’s Greatest Hits Compilation.

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Right Wing Response: Rudolph Sues, Ahmadinejad Gives Christmas Message, and More…

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer sued Santa and won. Check out the parody column at the Globe and Mail. It’s a cautionary tale about discrimination, or rather a roast on political correctness…

Feliz ‘dinejad! says National Review Online’s Mark Steyn. Iranian President Mahmoud AhmadinejadIranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave the “alternative Christmas message” on BBC 4 this year. Here’s the story and the full text of Ahmadinejad’s message, and here’s the response from NRO’s Michael Rubin.

We’re safer since 9/11 because of the policies of the Bush Administration, writes Department of Homeland SecuritySecretary Michael ChertoffMichael Chertoff in a Washington Times op-ed. John Hinderaker at Power Line agrees, but places less emphasis on airport and border security and more on Bush’s aggressiveness overseas. Hinderaker adds that he hopes the Obama Administration realizes we need to stay aggressive. But how the president-elect will lead is still a big question mark.

Huffington’s read on the economic crisis is wrong, argues David Harsanyi at RealClearPolitics. In a recent post on the same site, Arianna HuffingtonArianna Huffington wrote that laissez-faire capitalism is dead, but Harsanyi rebuts, pointing out that federal regulation has actually grown during the Bush years. Harsanyi decries leftist scare tactics and argues we shouldn’t use a temporary recession to make foundational changes to the economy.

Obama shouldn’t go after the Bush Administration for war crimes, writes Mort KondrackeMort Kondracke, executive editor of Roll Call. With “Bush haters” calling for investigations into war crimes related to the global war on terror, “Obama should make it clear right now that he opposes such action,” Kondracke writes. Such calls are a sign of “political vengeance” rather than truth-seeking, and a probe would disrupt national unity and, more importantly, morale within the intelligence community during wartime. Putting a stop to such talk now, Obama would also prevent the “unseemly” possibility that Bush blanket pardons everyone involved in the GWOT on his way out.

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Daily News Roundup: Blago, Whales, and Racial (Racist?) Songs…

Environmental groups and the Navy reached an agreement over whales and sonar. Separate from a case in which the Supreme Court ruled the Navy could not be unduly required to protect whales, this case contends that sonar is dangerous to whales and other marine animals around the globe and brings a partial victory to both sides.

As Israeli forces step up their assaults on Hamas, Obama remains relatively quiet. The New York Times reports that the President-elect is deferring to President BushPresident Bush, but notes that Obama’s public comments on the recent escalation in the on-going Israeli-Palestinian conflict represent a near-endorsement of Israel’s air strikes.

Blago’s attorney plans to use an Obama report to vindicate the scandal-ridden Illinois governor. Barack ObamaBarack Obamareleased an internal report last week showing he and Governor Rod BlagojevichRod Blagojevich had not schemed to fill the President-elect’s vacant Senate seat. Now the attorney will submit it as evidence to the courts. Of course, even if it clears Obama of any suspicion, Blago’s still in hot water.

First Lady Laura BushLaura Bush defends her husband’s presidency and talks about women’s rights in Afghanistan and Iraq.She appeared on Fox News Sunday this week.

Republicans quarrel over a song distributed by one of their own: “Barack the Magic Negro.” Chip Saltsman, a candidate for chair of the Republican National Committee, mailed a holiday CD including the above-named song, prompting a mixed reaction from his rivals for the position, and sparking a public discussion over media sensitivity to race as the nation prepares to inaugurate its first black president. One of the writers of “Puff the Magic Dragon,” the tune to which the song is played, responded via the Huffington Post.

The overall murder rate is dropping, but black teens are killing more, according to a report released today by acriminal justice professor at Northwestern University. The numbers diverge along racial lines for juveniles aged 14-17, with hardly an increase in the murder rate for whites but a 34 percent increase for blacks—not good news for anyone.

Wireless carriers are bracing for a storm on Inauguration Day. It will be the first presidential inauguration in which mobile phones are so ubiquitous, the Los Angeles Times reports. With people expected to call friends, send text messages, and snap and send photos by the thousands, carriers are worried so much digital traffic could jam the networks. They’re encouraging people to moderate their usage and offer a few tips for communicating that day.

Mr. Craig’s restroom has lost much of its novelty. Someone apparently offered $5,000 for the restroom stall atMinneapolis-St. Paul International Airport where Senator Larry E. CraigLarry E. Craig was arrested in 2007 in a sex sting. Now fewer tourists are taking interest in the place and complaints of lewd conduct there have stopped or at least dropped in number. The airport, by the way, refused to sell the bathroom fixture.

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