Your Monday* Random-Ass Roundup: Heard 'Em Say

Believe it or not, I’ve been known to be a jackass. Ask anyone who had the misfortune of knowing me in college. Or a couple years ago. I really hope President Obama isn’t asked about it anytime soon:


Anyway, lots of things have happened since our last Monday roundup. Here’s a few of them, a week and almost a full day later than usual. Sorry. I blame it on death panels and creeping socialism:

1. As you all probably know, President Obama called Kanye West a “jackass” for his behavior at the VMAs. But that moment was supposed to be off-the-record, and so Terry Moran, the ABC reporter who tweeted the comment, took it down. ABC has apologized. (G.D.)

2. Alyssa agrees: maybe Kanye really does need a break. (Blackink)

3. One picture tells a million – or two million – lies. Politifact gets to the truth about the latest “tea party” in D.C. (Blackink)

4. A new poll says that 73% of doctors want a public option. (G.D.)

5. Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich attempts to bring some sanity – and facts – to talk about the public option. (Blackink)

6. But even if there is a public option, Obama has plans to go beyond language in a House bill to make sure no public money goes to pay for abortions under health care reform. Why? (Blackink)

7. Speaking of health care reform, file this under everything is always good for Wal-Mart. (Blackink)

8. The FDA just approved a new vaccine against the H1N1 virus that causes swine flu. (Blackink)

9. Despite evidence to the contrary, many people, especially Southerners, think crime is on the rise. (Quadmoniker)

10. 50 Things being killed by the Internet. (Belleisa)

11. In eight states and D.C., being a victim of domestic violence is a pre-existing condition. No, really. (Blackink)

12. As if South Carolina tourism officials didn’t have a hard enough sell, a number of people have indicated they’ll be staying away from the Palmetto State following GOP Rep. Joe Wilson’s outburst at President Barack Obama. (Blackink)

13. From Jonathan Chait’s fantastic review of a new biography about Ayn Rand: “‘She wrote of one of the protagonists of her stories that “he does not understand, because he has no organ for understanding, the necessity, meaning, or importance of other people’; and she meant this as praise.” Well, that explains a lot. (Blackink)

14. This is rich: President Bush thought Sarah Palin was underqualified to serve on the national level. Well, he would know best. Also, he thinks Hillary Clinton has a “fat keister.” Classy. (Blackink)

15. Wow. A study in England found that when heroin was given to addicts in supervised clinics, drug use and street crime dropped dramatically. (Blackink)

16. Sort of related: Newly released FBI numbers show that we’re nearing epic fail in the “War on Drugs.” (Blackink)

17. Call it “The Chinese Dream“: a number of Africans are migrating to China in search of economic opportunity. In fact, a 10 square kilometer area in Guangzhou has been dubbed “Chocolate City.” (Blackink)

18. After years of being the envy of the nation, California’s higher education system- if not the state itself – could face a bleak future if it follows through on a plan for a large fee increases. (Blackink)

19. Reports of sexual misconduct of federal inmates by prison staff members have doubled over the past eight years, according to The Washington Post. In many places, as Matt points out, being sentenced to prison is a form of abuse itself.

20. A video of Quentin Tarantino’s best movie picks since 1992. And “Friday” made the list. (Belleisa)

21. Racewire calls Michael Moore’s latest film, “Capitalism, A Love Story,” his best work yet. (Blackink)

22. This post, from Booker Rising, is disgusting. And not even close to funny. There will be more on this later. (Blackink)

23. From Jacket Copy, the LA Times book blog, a site called Slaughter House 90210 which mixes pop culture images with literary captions. (Belleisa)

24. Is anyone really surprised that Jay Leno’s new show was not that funny? (Blackink)

25. The Face of Foreclosure: a Planet Money listener offers up aLink series of photographs outside the foreclosed home of Minneapolis woman Rosemary Williams. (Blackink)

26. South African runner and unfortunate international curiosity Caster Semenya has now been placed on suicide watch. I strongly agree with Pam: “She deserved — and deserves — so much better from the collective us than what she’s received.” (Blackink)

27. Michael Jordan will never let us forget that he was better than everyone else. Not even as he’s being inducted into the Hall of Fame. (Blackink)

28. And give it up, New York. LeBron ain’t playing for the Knicks. Unless, of course, he somehow tires of playing on a winning team. (Blackink)

Told you I was a jackass.

* It’s actually Tuesday.

Joel

Joel Anderson —blackink —  writes about sports, politics, crime, courts, and other issues far beyond his competence at BuzzFeed. He has worked at media outlets in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Atlanta and contributed to a number of publications, including The Root and The American Prospect, among many others.
  • Chait’s essay on Rand is fantastic. I never knew that she was a straight-up cult leader, and while I knew Greenspan was an admirer, I didn’t know he was an acolyte.

  • @6: Barack and his administration seem to be jumping through all sorts of hoops to pander to the tea party crowd. The irony present is that Bush and his cronies made no concessions in regards to the anti-war movement. They even outright dismissed it. Also peculiar is the fact that many of these folks were mum and actually compliant during those eight years while they watched people die for no apparent reason so I guess it’s fitting that they want to see the same phenomenon continue.

    @26: Sometimes we forget that the spotlight doesn’t erase emotional fragility. We just love to to spew that vitriol, don’t we? Many of us fear such scrutiny and as a result we lash out against those who subject themselves to it in order to justify our own fears. It’s disgusting, but it’s human.

  • ladyfresh

    yay! this has become one of my favorite posts…er i haven’t been able to click all the way through but thanks again

  • ladyfresh

    yes! i heard the accusations of the Ann cult before and Greenspans devotion as well. I haven’t read the essay yet i look forward to more details on the rumors i’ve heard

  • Re: #6. I’m not sure why you think that provision is the White House acquiescing to the birther set. care to explain?

  • April

    Can’t wait for the follow-up to #22.

  • blackink12

    Aw, nah … thank you for reading and the good word.

    Also, I’d like to offer a bit of a tribute to fellow H-Town native Patrick Swayze. Even though I could barely stomach “Dirty Dancing” or “Ghost.” (Btw, I had no idea the Puerto Rican cat in “Ghost” – Rick Aviles, who played Willie Lopez – died of AIDS after struggles with heroin abuse). Man.

  • blackink12

    Forgot to acknowledge my man’s contribution to hip-hop: http://www.theawl.com/2009/09/patrick-swayze-hip-hop-icon

  • Kia

    Neither can I.

    Every once in awhile I find myself there and always regret having followed the link. I do so because I want to believe that there are level headed black conservatives that I can listen to/read, even while disagreeing with their platform. But invariably it boils down to the same old tired arguments with some cheap sensationalism thrown in for fun.

  • ladyfresh

    wow yeah i remember Aviles from washington square park

  • Obama has acquiesced to the pro-life set since he was campaigning – he either agrees with them at some level in principle, or he sees abortion as a political chit. This has nothing to do with the birthers/tea party types, but feminists might argue he’s acquiescing to the “forced-birthers,” which is the pro-life crowd.

  • The birther/tea party set are like the conservative’s street team. For instance, Jay-Z may not advocate his street promotions crew tagging up bathroom stalls with the release date of his next album, but he knows it’s good for business.

    It’s kind of like a chicken or the egg game of political sentiment. Some think the administration makes these concessions to placate conservatives in the House and Senate. But is it them or merely the sentiment they are playing to? That sentiment is ubiquitous and manifests itself in several different ways and has evolved over the years like everything else. How it evolves into the future is squarely dependent on how we act today. In order to make progress you have to be progressive even in the face of aggressively regressive ideas. Wow, that’s a hard sentence to read.

    Politicians talk in coded language, think of the protesters as the translators. Now, of course, not every conservative politician agrees with some of the vitriol being spewed in the streets because even in oppositions there are differences of opinion (shades of gray always), but there is a nucleus. The administration is catering to that nucleus. Just think of any political movement as a Venn Diagram. In the case of the conservative movement abortion, gun control, gay marriage opposition and the like rest in the overlapping middle. That center represents the nucleus. I hope that makes sense?