TresSugar

The Case of the Missing SNL Bailout Sketch: What Happened?

CitizenSugar — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 07:55:29 -0700

This is an odd story, the mysterious disappearance of an SNL sketch on the Bailout. Since $700 billion is pretty big doin's, naturally the Lampooners in Chief wanted to get in on the action - regardless of whether Congressional hearings/press conferences lend themselves to comedy (uh, they don't.) The sketch trained a carefully pointy eye on the possible Democratic roots of the Bailout plan.

Why then has the sketch, which skewered everyone from the 99th richest person in the world, George Soros to philanthropists Herb and Marion Sandler, disappeared? The rumor is, the skit got zapped because it tweaked the above, who happen to have well-known liberal leanings. It also happened to identify the Sandlers as "people who should be shot." Despite their best efforts, it's the internet - you can still watch the whole clip and see a full script, if you know where to look.

What was SNL up to? To find out, read more.

SNL has said they've taken the skit down temporarily for editing as, "upon review we caught certain elements in the sketch that didn't meet our standards. We took it down and made some minor changes." The "should be shot" line is being killed as well as references to "corrupt activities." What else is going? Any mention of Rep. Barney Frank's involvement in the subprime problem, including the line, "And thank you Congressman Frank as well as many Republicans for helping block Congressional oversight of our corrupt activities." The new version is now available.

So what's the deal behind the editing? Legal concerns - or political ones? Did the sketch go over the line?

Gwen Ifill's Book Casts Debate Moderation Questions

CitizenSugar — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 07:58:42 -0700

With the Lunch Bucket vs. Barracuda match up a hair over 24 hours away, the sassy, classy debate moderator Gwen Ifill has found her plate full of more than just prepping questions. Ifill, the PBS news maven and moderator of Washington Week, broke her ankle on Monday, though her doctor has given her the A-OK to travel and keep her debate duties. She called the accident, "Another crazy twist in a crazy week."

The week is about to get crazier if Matt Drudge and many others have anything to say about it. The top story on the DrudgeReport is of Ifill's upcoming book, set to be released on Inauguration Day called The Breakthrough: Politics in the Age of Obama. The book focuses on "emerging young African American politicians," one of whom is Barack Obama. The book also includes interviews with Colin Powell, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, and MA Gov. Deval Patrick, though given the climate the focus is on the big "O." Does that make for an uh-oh in a moderator?

To see what people are saying about it and my nickel (hey, two cents is not worth what it used to be) read more.

The book's Obama connection has been hyped as a "glaring conflict of interest," and Fox's Greta Van Susteren said the McCain campaign didn't know about the book and says having her moderate "simply is not fair - in law, this would create a mistrial."

Ifill moderated my favorite debate of all time, the one where Dick Cheney showed up to dinner with John Edwards, and one was the guest of honor and one was the main course. I'll let you assign roles as you see fit. I think the lady has cred to spare, and I'm frankly not concerned about the crossover of moderating a debate and writing a book examining the journey of African-Americans in the political process. Everyone from your mom to Wolf Blitzer's beard is calling this campaign, specifically Obama's journey, historic. Why wouldn't a journalist investigate something which she deems a trend worth exploring - especially one who's covered politics from the New York Times to the NewsHour?

And though some are up to their eyeballs in ire over the supposed lack of disclosure, it's not info that's so hard to find. Last time I checked, a listing on Amazon.com and the first paragraph of your work bio weren't really good places to hide things, just one of the reasons I'm not assigning indignation to this story. Look, these are touchy political times for us all, but naive or no, I have faith that at some point you have to trust that investigative curiosity and reportage are not equal to being a debate-throwing sycophant. And given the fact that most of the world will have a close eye on the fairness of the proceedings, I'm decidedly not worried. Are you?

Source

Howard: Says His Race Doesn't Celebrate National Anthem

CitizenSugar — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 08:00:30 -0700

Earlier this summer at a charity flag-football game thrown by Allen Iverson, Josh Howard (these men are all basketball players, apparently) made a derisive comment about the national anthem that has tipped off a storm of controversy. I wasn't familiar with this gentleman prior to this story but his message in the video is loud and clear: when the video pans to him during the singing of the anthem, Howard says:

The 'Star-Spangled Banner' is going on. I don't celebrate this sh**. I'm black.

That quote was followed by a string of the n-word and some indecipherable comments about Barack Obama. The owner of Howard's team, the Dallas Mavericks, said they've been dealing with the free-speaking incident and that ". . . we will be going through some advanced communication-skill sessions together this training camp." The comment raises an gripping question about free speech and what role race plays in a person's experience as an American.

To see the video, and analysis to the event, read more.

For ID purposes, Howard is the one with the towel on his head.

ESPN has run a very thoughtful analysis of the event, using this as historical context: in 2003, college basketball player Toni Smith was in a similar controversy for refusing to face the flag during the anthem, had a reason behind her actions. She said:

The flag means to me; first, it means it stands for the millions and millions of indigenous people who were massacred to claim it. It means the millions of those enslaved in order to build it up. And it means the millions of those who are still oppressed in order for it to prosper.

The author of the piece comes to this conclusion:

I doubt his words were a result of how he's been treated. This wasn't really about him. Think about where he was when he made the statements: Allen Iverson's charity flag football game, which raises money for scholarships to historically black colleges and universities. It's great that Iverson has organized this event, but it shouldn't have to exist. If the ideals of equality this country was founded on had always been met, there wouldn't have been a need for the historically black schools, and students wouldn't need donations to be able to attend them. So if we're going to be mad at what Howard said, we should be just as mad at the lengthy chain of events that led him to be where he was when he said it and we should do something about ending it.

Was Howard justified in his comments about the anthem? Does a person's race dictate how one feels about the country? Is this story less about what Howard said, and more about the events that might have led to it - or is that giving him too much credit?

Source

Doctored McCain Atlantic Cover Shots: Who's to Blame?

CitizenSugar — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 06:00:35 -0700

John McCain's turn as cover model for this month's issue of the Atlantic has raised hackles, eyebrows, and now the necessity for apology from the editor of the magazine, which ran the pic. The editor says he's sending an apology to the Senator after outtake pictures by the photographer Jill Greenberg wound up on her personal website, edited for horrific effect. As of this writing, Greenberg was still featuring the doctored photos on her blog, including one backlit image showing a sinister McCain with the words, "I'll have my girl kill Roe v. Wade" printed atop.

The Atlantic editor's apology for the subsequent fallout says:

When we contract with photographers for portraits, we don't vet them for their politics-instead, we assess their professional track records. We had never worked with Jill Greenberg before (and, obviously, we will not work with her again). Based on the portraits she had done of politicians like Arnold Schwarzenegger and her work for publications like Time, Wired, and Portfolio, we expected her, like the other photographers we work with, to behave professionally. Jill Greenberg has obviously not done that. She has, in fact, disgraced herself, and we are appalled by the manipulated images she has created for her Web site of John McCain.

The Atlantic might go further than the strongly worded indictment of the photographer, and sue. Is that the appropriate response?

Olympian Milli Vanilli? Cuter Girl Lip-Dubs For Real Singer

CitizenSugar — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 08:02:02 -0700

The angelic-faced cherub singing with a voice from heaven during the opening ceremony of the Olympics really only had one piece of that puzzle: Lin Miaoke, the 9-year-old who was featured performing "Ode to the Motherland" while fireworks flared and 1 billion people watched was pulling one of the oldest tricks in the book. She was lip-synching the song.

And not just to ensure a flawless performance in case nerves or the wires interfered with her singing - she lip-dubbed because she was cuter than the girl who owned the voice. Under pressure from the highest levels of the Communist Party, the ceremony's production team was sent on the ultimate star search: to find the perfect face and voice to represent China. Unable to find the whole package, they pulled a C+C Music Factory swapperoo: Lin Miaoke performed to 7-year-old Yang Peiyi's voice (pictured below). To see why this happened, read more.

The reason given was "national interest," though it's unclear if Miaoke even knew it wasn't her voice played. The general music designer of the ceremony said when he revealed the illusion, “the child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feeling and expression.” Miaoke is already being called the "smiling angel," while real singer Peiyi says that she was happy just to have her voice featured.

This is the second report of fakery coming out of the ceremony (the recorded fireworks being first). My heart just breaks thinking about that perfectly cute 7-year-old and how it's going to affect her knowing that she wasn't "cute" enough for the Olympics. Is this a sad scandal or one to chalk up to showmanship?

Source

AIDS Bigot to Get HIV-Research Funding Amendment Tribute?

CitizenSugar — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:15:32 -0700

While the Senate is working to pass a $50 billion AIDS package, North Carolina Senator Elizabeth Dole has introduced an amendment to name an HIV/AIDS relief bill after the man whose seat she currently holds, the late Jesse Helms. The tribute is not without its sticking points: to say Senator Helms was not a friend to AIDS awareness and prevention is an understatement tied with a big, red ribbon.

Here are the Greatest Hits of Helms's record on AIDS:

"There is not one single case of AIDS in this country that cannot be traced in origin to sodomy." (1988)
Seven activists from ACT UP put a huge condom on Helms's home with a sign reading, "Helms Is Deadlier Than a Virus."(1991)

That's not all. To see the rest and what else the Senate is doing on AIDS this week, read more.

When expressing dissent at refunding the Ryan White Act: The government should spend less on people with AIDS because they got sick due to their "deliberate, disgusting, revolting conduct." (1995)
Later, softening his position on funding AIDS relief in Africa, he countered that the case was not the same for American gays beause homosexuality "is the primary cause of the doubling and redoubling of AIDS cases in the United States." (2002)

Perhaps Dole figures that the natural evolution of Helms's perspective on AIDS would now, by 2008, have swung around to full support of the prevention, research, and treatment of HIV/AIDS? The proposed Dole/Helms amendment comes as Sens. Kerry (D-MA) and Smith (R-OR) are trying to repeal the 1987 ban of HIV positive travelers to the US. The measure, which contains $50 billion to fight AIDS in poor areas. The measure is expected to pass this week.

Is Dole's attempt to include Helms in the AIDS measure a fitting tribute, or does it make a mockery of AIDS activism and progress?

Source

Employee Quits Over "So Gay" Ad: Perfect Pitch or Sold Out?

CitizenSugar — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:00:00 -0700

The South Carolina state employee who approved a controversial ad campaign aimed at gay tourists has resigned, according to the director of the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism.

The "South Carolina is So Gay" posters appeared in the London Underground and were aimed at gay travelers - the campaign is sponsored by Amro Worldwide and other cities like Boston, Las Vegas, and New Orleans have used the slogan to proclaim their inclusiveness.

But the frank-talkin' slogan is not what the Palmetto state director had in mind, "Our tourism marketing funds are for the purpose of bringing visitors to South Carolina, not for getting involved in various social agendas," adding that the South Carolina target audience is families.

The poster's mastermind says that the "So Gay" campaign is supposed to reverse the negative impact of the phrase and make it a tourist magnet. Does it work?

Source

Army Deletes Soldier's Blog: In Line or Censorship Online?

CitizenSugar — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:15:52 -0700

Kaboom: A Soldier's War Journal (subtitled: Embrace the Suck) is embracing no more. The blog, kept by a soldier who wrote under the name LT G in Iraq, known as one of the most honest and compelling dispatches of blogging from the warfront, has been shut down by those above his pay grade.

Kaboom's LT G wrote often about his periodic wide-open disregard for military decorum (sometimes openly questioning superiors online) and just as often mused on the daily personal exploits of time in country - like the time he almost went out into the warzone sans pants.

But after a passionate posting inspired by being asked to become the company XO, his superiors had decided he'd gone too far. The last posting reads, "I have been ordered to stop posting on Kaboom, effective immediately. . . it was too much unfiltered truth. I’m a soldier first, and orders are orders. So it is."

In 2007 the Army passed new rules governing what soldiers could and could not say online, being required to "consult with their immediate supervisor . . . prior to publishing or posting information in a public forum." The rules are framed as a way to protect operational security, though in the instance of Kaboom, all events were described after the fact, and all identifying details changed. Supporters of the blog think the removal of Kaboom exposes a blackhole of censorship in the blogosphere. Did the Army go to far, or were they right to remove Kaboom?

Source

They've Got Beauty Covered - the Miss Headscarf Pageant

CitizenSugar — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:00:13 -0700

A Danish television station held a “Miss Headscarf 2008” beauty contest to show “cool Muslim women who often make up a very fashion-conscious and style-confident part of the Danish street scene.” The hope behind the pageant was to quell the controversy over calls for a ban on Islamic dress in public and foster healthy debate.

One behind the pageant says, "We would like to contact all the Muslim women who are seldom heard in the debate but are often just as preoccupied with fashion and beauty as other women." Entrants in the pageant don't have to be Muslim, they just need to submit a photo of themselves wearing a headscarf. One of the contestants in her video says, "It's about the time the media talked to us, and not about us all the time."

Not everyone thinks it's a great idea. To see why not, the BBC video of the story, and the winner, read more.

This idea is widely criticized by Islamic traditionalists, one of whom, a spokesman for the Islamic Society, said: “I strongly advise the girls to shun the competition," and went on to compare the women competing to nuns competing in a beauty pageant. This is the second conflict Danish media has had with Islamist fundamentalism since 2005 when a newspaper depicted the image of the prophet Mohammed, which sparked outrage and the threats of attack. The winner of the controversial contest is 18-year-old Huda Falah.

Can a contest like this foster healthy debate and a greater understanding of women in the faith? Does the very notion of the pageant go against their religion?

Source

Grads Tossed For Rebel Flag - Has the Meaning Changed?

CitizenSugar — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 06:00:58 -0700

Three seniors in Bloomington, MN, missed walking in their graduation last night as punishment for displaying the Confederate flag on their trucks. For displaying the flag, the three were suspended from all school activities including their own graduation ceremony.

"The Confederate flag is a symbol of, in some cases, hatred, bigotry and it has the potential to create a very disruptive environment," said a spokesperson for the Bloomington School District, on the decision to punish the three. Officials say the Student Code of Conduct prohibits behavior that may provoke or offend other students.

The Confederate flag controversy isn't new, but this part caught my attention - to see how the students defend the actions and the flag, read more.

One of the students punished said, "I'm just a country type of person, country music, big trucks and everything, that's basically all it means to me . . . it has nothing to do with hate and racism, that's just what these parents are teaching their children today."

And then this from another, "We're all big fans of the Dukes of Hazard. It's just us showing we have our own style and we aren't going to conform to whatever anyone else thinks. . . I did not mean to offend anybody. I guess it's how you interpret it. And if I did offend somebody I'm sorry, it wasn't a shot at anyone." To them, the flag is a sign of rebellion, not racism. The student continues, "The confederate army was in rebellion to the US Army who were about money and power. We never took it as racial or anything like that."

And then there's this sticky part of the story: since the school principal is African-American, the students said that's why he was so offended and too harsh with their punishment. Ah.

Is it possible the Confederate flag now means country music, trucks, and non-conformity? Has a Dukes of Hazard modern sensibility erased the history of the symbol?

Source