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WaPo Finds It Scandalous Beck Would Challenge Obama’s Religious Beliefs

Posted on August 30, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

The Washington Post found it newsworthy that “Beck challenges Obama’s religious beliefs after rally in D.C.,” but emphasized how Glenn Beck’s views could cause a backlash, and papered over Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s wild-eyed radical sermons as merely focusing on “the importance of empowering the oppressed.” In the story on page A-4, Post reporter Felicia Sonmez made no mention of the president’s avoidance of church services while she repeated the White House assertion that he’s a “committed Christian.” Here’s the summation:  During an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” which was filmed after Saturday’s rally, Beck claimed that Obama “is a guy who understands the world through liberation theology, which is oppressor-and-victim.” “People aren’t recognizing his version of Christianity,” Beck added. Beck’s attacks represent a continuing attempt to characterize Obama as a radical, an approach that has prompted anxiety among some Republicans, who worry that Beck’s rhetoric could backfire . The White House has all but ignored his accusations, but some Democrats have pointed to the Fox News host to portray Republicans as extreme and out of touch . Notice that the Post doesn’t suggest that Rev. Wright’s rhetoric can, and has been used to portray Obama and his Democrat supporters as extreme and out of touch. Here’s how Sonmez summarized the rants of Wright: The Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., the onetime pastor of Obama’s former church in Chicago, is an adherent of black liberation theology, which centers on the struggles of African Americans and the importance of empowering the oppressed. Obama severed ties with Wright during the presidential campaign after some of the minister’s inflammatory language drew controversy. Beck, on his Fox News show last Tuesday, said that liberation theology is at the core of Obama’s “belief structure.” “You see, it’s all about victims and victimhood; oppressors and the oppressed; reparations, not repentance; collectivism, not individual salvation. I don’t know what that is, other than it’s not Muslim, it’s not Christian. It’s a perversion of the gospel of Jesus Christ as most Christians know it,” Beck said. Sonmez didn’t note that Wright’s “liberation” theology has roots in Marxism . She also ignored that Wright suggested just days after 9/11 that America deserved the terrorist attack for its imperialism or his kooky view that the federal government created AIDS as a tool of black genocide. But editing those specifics out is a common media practice .

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Jane Lynch Scores Supporting Actress Award At Emmys

Posted on August 29, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

‘Glee’ creator Ryan Murphy also takes home some hardware, for Best Direction of a Comedy. By Jocelyn Vena Jane Lynch accepts Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy at 2010 Emmy Awards Photo: Kevin Winter/ Getty Images Jane Lynch won’t be throwing any slushees in the faces of Emmy voters this year. The woman who weekly terrorizes the kids of “Glee” as Sue Sylvester took home the statue for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy on Sunday night and seamlessly combined humor and true surprise in her acceptance speech. “Thank you so much,” she told the crowd from the stage, clutching her Emmy in a one-shoulder purple dress. “This is outlandish!” Lynch went on to thank her family and “Glee” co-stars in true Lynch-ian fashion. “I want to thank my parents on the South Side of Chicago for raising us to the sounds of musical theater and being so unintentionally hilarious,” she said in her speech. “I love being an actor. I love being an ensemble.” Later, recalling the calming spirituality of Buddhism, she joked, “Although I am not Buddhist, they do seem like a very calm people.” She had the audience in stitches when she said actors “have no choice or any marketable skills. I have to thank my lord and creator [‘Glee’ mastermind] Ryan Murphy for creating this role of a lifetime and the cast who are so young and fresh-faced, and when I’m not seething with jealousy, I’m so proud of you. And I love you my wife Laura and my little girl, Haden.” Later on, Murphy also snatched up a prize for Best Direction of a Comedy. In his speech, he shared with the room why he was inspired to make the show: “Thank you so much. I’m so shocked. I would like to thank Fox … Tom Ford for the tux, my beautiful cast, whom I love so much. ‘Glee’ is about the importance of arts education, so I would like to dedicate this to all my teachers who taught me to sing and finger-paint.” What did you think of Lynch’s win and acceptance speech? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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How to Speak "Palinese"

Posted on August 29, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Thanks to Debbye… There's a new dialect that can be witnessed in mainstream media news and talk radio. It's called “Palinese.” Here's how you too, can speak it… Recent examples of Palinese: language of the double standard: If you're a minority and you're selected for a job over more qualified candidates you're a 'token hire.' If you're a conservative and you're selected for a job over more qualified candidates you're a 'game changer.' Black teen pregnancies? A 'crisis' in black America. White teen pregnancies? A 'blessed event.' If you grow up in Hawaii you're 'exotic.' Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, you're the quintessential 'American story.' Similarly, if you name your kid Barack you're 'unpatriotic.' Name your kid Track, you're 'colorful.' If you're a Democrat and you make a VP pick without fully vetting the individual you're 'reckless.' A Republican who doesn't fully vet is a 'maverick.' If you spend 3 years as a community organizer growing your organization from a staff of 1 to 13 and your budget from $70,000 to $400,000, then become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review,create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new African Amerian voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor,then spend nearly 8 more years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, becoming chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, then spend nearly 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of nearly 13 million people, sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you are woefully inexperienced. If you spend 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, then spend 20 months as the governor of a state with 650,000 people, you've got the most executive experience of anyone on either ticket, are the Commander in Chief of the Alaska military and are well qualified to lead the nation should you be called upon to do so because your state is the closest state to Russia. If you are a Democratic male candidate who is popular with millions of people you are an 'arrogant celebrity'. If you are a popular republican female candidate you are 'energizing the base'. If you are a younger male candidate who thinks for himself and makes his own decisions you are 'presumptuous'. if you are an older male candidate who makes last minute decisions you refuse to explain, you are a 'shoot from the hip' maverick. If you are a candidate with a Harvard law degree you are 'an elitist 'out of touch' with the real America. if you are a legacy (dad and granddad were admirals) graduate of Annapolis, with multiple disciplinary infractions you are a hero. If you manage a multi-million dollar nationwide campaign, you are an 'empty suit'.If you are a part time mayor of a town of 7000 people, you are an 'experienced executive'. If you go to a south side Chicago church, your beliefs are 'extremist'. If you believe in creationism and don't believe global warming is man made, you are 'strongly principled'. If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian. If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years with whom you are raising 2 beautiful daughters you're 'risky'. If you're a black single mother of 4 who waits for 22 hours after her water breaks to seek medical attention, you're an irresponsible parent, endangering the life of your unborn child. But if you're a white married mother who waits 22 hours, you're spunky. If you're a 13-year-old Chelsea Clinton, the right-wing press calls you 'First dog.' If you're a 17-year old pregnant unwed daughter of a Republican, the right-wing press calls you 'beautiful' and 'courageous.' If you kill an endangered species, you're an excellent hunter. If you have an abortion you're not a christian, you're a murderer (forget about if it happens while being date raped) If you teach abstinence only in sex education, you get teen parents. If you teach responsible age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society. added by: EthicalVegan

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CBS ‘Early Show’: Can Obama Fix ‘Image Problem’ and Bring Back ‘Campaign Magic’?

Posted on August 23, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Opening Saturday’s CBS Early Show, co-host Chris Wragge proclaimed: “Image Problem: The President is on vacation and under fire. From the jobless numbers to the Mosque mess – why is the man with the soaring rhetoric having such a hard time getting his message across?” The headline on screen during the later segment read: “Image Issues; Can Obama’s Team Bring Campaign Magic Back?” Introducing the segment, co-host Rebecca Jarvis referred to “conservative critics” taking issue with President Obama’s vacation time on Martha’s Vineyard. In a report that followed, White House correspondent Chip Reid made sure to parrot administration talking points on the matter: “White House advisers stress that this is a working vacation with numerous daily briefings….White House officials say they’re confident the American people understand that with such a high-pressure job, a President needs and deserves some time to unwind and recharge.” Reid also compared Obama’s time-off with that of his predecessor: “By the end of this trip, President Obama will have taken 9 vacations and visited Camp David 14 times for a total of 80 vacation days since he took office. But at the same point in his first term, President Bush had taken far more time away – 14 trips to his Ranch in Texas and 40 to Camp David. The total, 225 days.” During Obama’s earlier trip to Maine, Reid made the same comparison. Following Reid’s report, Jarvis spoke with conservative radio talk show host Amy Holmes and Jennifer Palmieri of the liberal Center for American Progress. Beginning with Holmes, Jarvis wondered about the President’s “image problem”: “…the President has received some criticism here for the types of vacations he’s been taking….Why do you think the White House is having such a tough time shaping its image right now?” Turning to Palmieri, Jarvis cited various low poll numbers for Obama and raised the possibility of replacing White House staff: “The team from Chicago that put this man in office, Jennifer, does that team need to be replaced at this point in time with the approval so low?” Palmieri dismissed the idea, but Jarvis went back to Holmes and asked: “Why do you think they were able to stay so on point throughout the campaign and now it looks like the administration is really missing the mark?” Holmes replied in part: “President Obama has weighed into such a wide diverse range of issues, most recently the Ground Zero Mosque, that he has muddled his own message about what is it he’s really trying to accomplish.” In her final question to Palmieri, Jarvis pressed: “Why isn’t the Obama administration keeping the focus number one on the jobs picture in this country?” Here is a full transcript of the August 21 segment: 8:00AM TEASE CHRIS WRAGGE: Image Problem: The President is on vacation and under fire. From the jobless numbers to the Mosque mess – why is the man with the soaring rhetoric having such a hard time getting his message across? 8:06AM SEGMENT REBECCA JARVIS: Now to President Obama on vacation for the third time this summer. This is a ten day get away and the others were much shorter but his conservative critics say the trip is sending the wrong message. CBS News chief White House correspondent Chip Reid is traveling with the President in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. Beautiful scene behind you, Chip, good morning. CHIP REID: It sure is, Rebecca. In fact, critics are saying that the President is spending too much time in places like this, creating an image that’s inappropriate for these difficult economic times. [ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Image Issues; Is the President Struggling to Stay On Message?]   President Obama in casual clothes browsed at a bookstore on the first full day of his ten-day stay in Martha’s Vineyard. Later, he went off to play golf. But White House advisers stress that this is a working vacation with numerous daily briefings. JOHN BRENNAN [ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT FOR COUNTERTERRORISM & HOMELAND SECURITY]: There are a number of issues that the President is following very, very closely and expects to be kept informed about developments on those issues. REID: The President has come under fire from some conservatives for his vacations this summer, first to Bar Harbor, Maine, last weekend to the Gulf, and for the First Lady’s trip to Spain. Critics say his attention should be on the dire economy and the plight of average Americans. RUSH LIMBAUGH: Yes, he’s been working so hard, he’s tamed the economy, he’s tamed Iraq and the oil spill’s fixed. He plugged the hole and now he gets to go to Martha’s Vineyard. REID: By the end of this trip, President Obama will have taken 9 vacations and visited Camp David 14 times for a total of 80 vacation days since he took office. But at the same point in his first term, President Bush had taken far more time away – 14 trips to his Ranch in Texas and 40 to Camp David. The total, 225 days. Presidents, though, are never truly on vacation. Crises often arise. For example, the Christmas day bomber tried to strike while President Obama was vacationing in Hawaii. And for President Bush, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf during a long stay at his Ranch. White House officials say they’re confident the American people understand that with such a high-pressure job, a President needs and deserves some time to unwind and recharge, Rebecca. JARVIS: Thank you, Chip Reid. CBS News’s Chip Reid. So why has it become so hard for the man who ran such a disciplined campaign for President to control his message now and his image in the White House? Joining us is independent conservative Amy Holmes, co-host of America’s Morning News, and Jennifer Palmieri of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, a liberal think tank. Jennifer and Amy, great to see both of you this morning. Thanks for being with us. AMY HOLMES: Good morning. JENNIFER PALMIERI: Good morning. [ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Image Issues; Can Obama’s Team Bring Campaign Magic Back?]                  JARVIS: And, Amy, let’s start out with you, because obviously the President has received some criticism here for the types of vacations he’s been taking, he spent a day visiting the Gulf and now he’s spending ten days in Martha’s Vineyard. His wife, Michelle, visited Spain in the midst of this economic crisis. Why do you think the White House is having such a tough time shaping its image right now? HOLMES: Well, they’re having a tough time because they’re having a tough economic time. But count me among the conservatives that does not begrudge our Presidents their vacations. In fact, I wish politicians spent more time outside of the beltway, less time in Washington, and being really in touch with the American people. Martha’s Vineyard, maybe not exactly in touch, maybe he should be in a camper, I’d like to see that. But, I’m not one of the people that’s actually attacking the President on taking some downtime. JARVIS: A lot of people, though, however are thinking that the President is falling short, his approval ratings have dropped this last week, Jennifer. Across the board, we saw a number of approval ratings that were particularly weak, the Associated Press, 49%, Time, 46%, the Gallup poll, only 42% approve of the President. The team from Chicago that put this man in office, Jennifer, does that team need to be replaced at this point in time with the approval so low? PALMIERI: No, I don’t – I think that the – that the team from Chicago has been dealt a very difficult hand and they’re doing just fine. But the – President Obama’s approval ratings are certainly lower than they have been in the past, but is worth noting that they’re higher than President Clinton’s approval ratings were in 1994 at the same time and even higher than President Reagan’s approval ratings were in 1982 at this same time. And the – I think the Reagan and the Obama situation are sort of – are good comparisons, because Reagan, also, had inherited a very difficult economy. And, you know, the Presidents had a lot of legislative victories, but the White House understands very clearly that you don’t get points from the American people just for legislative victories. They want to see results. And the uncomfortable truth that the White House is wrestling with is that a lot of these policies that they’ve enacted take time for people to see results in their everyday lives and I think, you know, the economy used to shed 600,000 jobs a month when Obama took office. Their adding jobs now each month, not as many as they’d like, but the economy is slowly recovering. But, they understand that there’s a frustration that exists until people see these changes really take effect and that’s just going to take some time. JARVIS: Amy, why do you think they were able to stay so on point throughout the campaign and now it looks like the administration is really missing the mark? HOLMES: Well, there’s a big difference between campaigning and governing and when you’re campaigning, you can stay on message with that close team from Chicago, you know, hope and change. But once you get into government, you’re actually dealing with this – panap- JARVIS: Panoply. HOLMES: This huge array – panoply, thank you – this huge array of issues. And where I think I might disagree with Jennifer in terms of the Obama-Reagan comparison, is that Obama came in with much higher approval. So his fall-off, the drop-off has been much more dramatic than what Ronald Reagan faced and I think also President Obama has weighed into such a wide diverse range of issues, most recently the Ground Zero Mosque, that he has muddled his own message about what is it he’s really trying to accomplish. So we can also look at his policies, even Barney Frank, the liberal from Massachusetts, said that it was quote-unquote ‘dumb’ of this administration to promise that their stimulus bill would keep unemployment below 8%, we’re at 9.5. So he see – the Democratic Party itself is sort of like shooting within the circle when it comes to their own message and this President and they have advisers telling them this fall run, do not walk, away from President Obama. JARVIS: Jennifer, isn’t everybody in this country worried about jobs, why isn’t the Obama administration keeping the focus number one on the jobs picture in this country? PALMIERI: Well, I think that when you see when the President gets out in the country, as he does probably a couple of days a week, that is what he’s – that is what he’s talking about. And they have taken a lot of steps in the beginning of the administration to stabilize the economy and I think that the reason why you don’t see his approval ratings falling off worse is because people understand that he did bring us back from the brink of a depression. And they also understand, and the polling reflects this, that it takes more than 18 months to get out of as a big of a hole as we did have in economy. So I think that people are frustrated but they do understand that why this is so difficult for the President to get out of. JARVIS: Jennifer Palmieri, Amy Holmes, thanks so much to both of you for being with us. PALMIERI: Thank you, Rebecca. HOLMES: Thank you.

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Bozell Column: Sleazy Songs of Summer

Posted on August 21, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Ever wonder what those teenagers are listening to while wearing those iPod earphones? Maybe you’d rather not know. You will be horrified. The Culture and Media Institute recently reviewed the top pop songs from May through July. To say that hedonism is in the air is an understatement. Of the 22 songs on the charts, a whopping 64 percent made at least one reference to sex, drugs or alcohol, or contained profanity. All 22 songs had music videos, and 68 percent of them featured sexualized dancing, alcohol, violence, or partying scenes. The “anthem” of the summer seems to be the song “California Gurls” by Katy Perry, the ex-Christian singer who kick-started her career with the hit “I Kissed a Girl (And I Liked It)” in 2008. She’s so “mainstream” this year that she hosted the Teen Choice Awards on Fox. Her “Gurls” song is catchy and raunchy, starting with the boast that she and her girlfriends are so hot “we’ll melt your Popsicle.” That phrase is hot slang. Please imagine 7-year-old girls learning and reciting the lyrics to these songs — because they do. Perry sings about “Sex on the beach / We don’t mind sand in our stilettos / We freak in my Jeep” to Snoop Dogg, who also raps on the song. Snoop calls out the men to “kiss her, touch her, squeeze her buns.” The boys hang out to “all that ass hangin’ out,” watching the girls in “bikinis, tankinis, martinis, no weenies.” Shakespeare he is not. Romantic sonnets are not in season. Getting sex quickly seems to be the only aim. The hottest new star is named Ke$ha, and her song with pop band 3OH!3 (No, I don’t understand it either) is called “My First Kiss.” It sounds innocent, but innocence isn’t allowed. The lyrics include a request for sex: “Lips like licorice, tongue like candy / Excuse me, Miss, but can I get you out of your panties?” Another song, “In My Head,” is sung by Jason Derulo and features the lyrics “Instead of talking, let me demonstrate / Yeah / Get down to business, let’s skip foreplay.” Would you like more song sheets for the kiddies? Rihanna is another princess of pop. Her song challenges a boy to make a move: “Come here, rude boy, boy / Can you get it up? / Come here, rude boy, boy / Is you big enough?” She also promises to “give it to you harder” and “turn your body out.” The video matches the theme, with Rihanna holding one breast, putting her finger in her mouth and constantly rotating her hips as she asks her beau to “take it, take it, take it.” Is this woman a singer or a stripper? Just one version of this song’s video has 90 million plays on YouTube — just in case you’d think no one really pays attention to these things. Rihanna also sings in “Rude Boy” that she likes the way “you pull my hair.” The most controversial song of the summer is her duet with the rapper Eminem called “Love the Way You Lie.” In between Eminem’s rapping, Rihanna repeatedly sings, “Just gonna stand there and watch me burn / But that’s all right because I like the way it hurts / Just gonna stand there and hear me cry / But that’s all right because I love the way you lie.” There is no shame in this industry. Consider that Rihanna was physically abused by fellow pop star Chris Brown. So she milked the attack to pump up her star power. But what message do young people take from this? The Chicago Sun-Times reported the video (starring actors Dominic Monaghan and Megan Fox) shows “an ugly cycle of domestic abuse — graphically loving, fighting, drinking, shoplifting and ultimately burning down the house.” Burning down the house? That’s because Eminem raps, “I just want her back / I know I’m a liar / If she ever tries to f—ing leave again / I’ma tie her to the bed and set the house on fire.” Like most rappers making no attempt at anger management, Eminem loads his songs with profanity and dares the radio programmers to try and bleep them all out. On his first new single “Not Afraid,” Eminem used six F-bombs and three S-words in four minutes. That includes an “F-you for Christmas,” an “F the world” and an “F the universe.” That doesn’t include the bonus usages of countless other vulgarities. It’s clear that the major “music” companies, desperate to ring up sales as their market collapses due to technological change, are refusing to exercise any restraint of any kind on these “artists” they sell. It travels way beyond hipster rebellion into a dark, loveless, violent underworld.

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WaPo Publishes Puffy 25-Paragraph Story: ‘When It Comes to Praying, Obama Prefers Privacy’

Posted on August 20, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

” When it comes to praying, Obama prefers privacy. ” Thus reads the page A2 headline for Michael Shear’s August 20 Washington Post story that reads like an extended Obama White House campaign press release. Shear opens with a story about how Obama prayed with “three Christian pastors” over the phone as he flew to Chicago to celebrate his 49th birthday. “As he celebrated his birthday, he was in a reflective mood,” Shear cooed. “He told them he wanted to pray about the year that had passed, what’s really important in life and the challenges ahead,” the Post staffer added before cuing up Joel Hunter, “an evangelical pastor who ws on the call and who is part of a small circle of spiritual advisers who frequently talk to Obama by phone.” Hunter served up the argument of Shear’s article, that because Obama is private about his Christian faith, it’s no wonder polls show a growing number of people unsure of his faith, with some even thinking he’s a Muslim. “You know what happens with a vacuum?” Hunter asked, before answering his own question, “It gets filled.” Aside from Hunter and Obama himself, Shear quoted only Obama staffers: deputy press secretary Bill Burton and Joshua DuBois, Obama’s “chief faith adviser in the White House.” Shear failed to raise any Christian leaders who, for instance, might question how a Christian like Obama could be as staunchly opposed as he is to any restriction on abortion rights. Shear also noted that Obama “talked about his belief in Jesus’s resurrection” at an Easter breakfast earlier this year, going on to quote the relevant passage in the next paragraph. Yet Shear failed to recognize that Obama’s mishmash of spiritual beliefs aren’t exactly in line with the exclusivist claims of historic, orthodox Christianity. Indeed, one can detect a bit of Clintonian word-wrangling in an 2004 interview with Cathleen Falsani of the Chicago Sun-Times , particularly when Obama tackles the meaning of Jesus’ statement that he alone is “the way, the truth, and the life” (emphasis mine): “I am a Christian,” the 42-year-old Illinois state senator and Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate says, as one of the nearby customers interrupts to congratulate him on his recent primary win. Obama shakes the man’s hand and says, “Thank you very much. I appreciate that,” before turning his attention directly back to the question. “So, I have a deep faith,” Obama continues. “I’m rooted in the Christian tradition. I believe that there are many paths to the same place , and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people. “That there are values that transcend race or culture, that move us forward, and there’s an obligation for all of us individually as well as collectively to take responsibility to make those values lived.” It’s perhaps an unlikely theological position for someone who places his faith squarely at the feet of Jesus to take, saying essentially that all people of faith — Christians, Jews, Muslims, animists, everyone — know the same God. That depends, Obama says, on how a particular verse from the Gospel of John, where Jesus says, ” I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me,” is heard.

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WaPo Publishes Puffy 25-Paragraph Story: ‘When It Comes to Praying, Obama Prefers Privacy’

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Exclusive: Raekwon Talks Justin Bieber Remix With Kanye West

Posted on August 19, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

‘I definitely didn’t give him anything that I thought was too hot to be spoken on by a 16-year-old,’ Rae tells MTV News. By Shaheem Reid Raekwon Photo: Getty Images Kanye West’s Twitter spawned one of the most talked-about (and unexpected ) musical collaborations in years — and the song was only finished Wednesday. West and Justin Bieber started talking on Twitter a few days ago about making a remix of the Biebs’ “Runaway Love.” ‘Ye suggested Raekwon get involved, and the next day, the Chef and the Louis Vuitton Don were in New York’s Electric Lady Studios knocking out verses. “Kanye was just being Kanye,” Rae told MTV News about the session. “He was definitely excited. The energy in the room was already speaking for itself. It was time to get up and have fun on the track together. We was drinking, laughing, being normal cats. At the same time, we had a houseful of celebrities in the house as well. [Kanye] was moving through the facility checking out the studios he had. He had three studios in there. “You had Akon in the building. Mos Def was just chillin’. Mos is a good friend of ‘Ye’s,” Rae added. “You had Charlie Wilson, the legendary cat from the Gap Band. Chris Rock walked in. These are guys that really respect who ‘Ye is. ‘Ye’s energy is cool. He’s a normal cat. A normal Chicago/world cat. Very mature. Having a great time.” Rae said his followers on Twitter alerted him that Kanye and JB were talking on their pages about collaborating and had brought his name up. He didn’t hesitate to let them know he wanted in. “This is a conversation that extended from the Twitter thing,” the Staten Island general explained. “Kanye was having a conversation with Justin over the Twitter. They came up with this great idea to have me involved. I was told to check it out and see what they talking about. They was right. They was saying, ‘This is something Kanye and Justin want to do.’ So automatically, first thing I do is hit them back and say I’m with it. Definitely, it created a movement. A lot of people want to see what could be the outcome to this remix. It’s definitely a hot remix.” For the past year, most of Rae’s accolades have been coming via his raw street music, most exemplified by 2009’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II LP. Obviously, Rae didn’t go into the “Pyrex Vision” or “Surgical Gloves” zone with his rhymes for Bieber’s fanbase. “All I did was ride the beat and listen to what he was singing to,” Chef said of his rhymes on the “Runaway Love” remix. “I can go basic when I want to. I can go rated R, I can go rated PG. I definitely didn’t give him anything that I thought was too hot to be spoken on by a 16-year-old. I know how to read beats, and listening to the record, I just complemented. At the end of my 16 [bars], when you do hear Justin coming, it fits and it’s a great sound. I didn’t go crazy. One thing people gotta recognize about me, I’m the Chef. I know how to make spicy food, I know how to make food that ain’t spicy. I made something that fit the criteria. “Me and Kanye are just here to sprinkle a little bit more love on this man’s success and all our success,” he added. Rae didn’t exactly have Bieber Fever before this collabo, but he respects the teen’s work. Chef said he recognized Bieber’s star quality and potential when he saw him perform last year. The MC hasn’t heard an entire Justin album yet, but his kids are big fans. The “Runaway Love” remix has also sparked the opportunity for more Raekwon/ Kanye West collaborations. “We sat down and we talked about it, we talked about doing things in the future. This is just the beginning,” the Wu-Tang co-founder revealed. “This is something that was supposed to happen a long time ago. He started throwing on them tracks, ideas started coming to my head. I was like, ‘If this cat produces a Rae and Ghost record, what could come out of it?’ Every album, he evolves. He’s always doing the extra, or absurd, the abnormal, but it sounds crazy.” Are you excited to hear the “Runaway Love” remix? Let us know in the comments! Related Artists Raekwon Justin Bieber Kanye West

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Exclusive: Raekwon Talks Justin Bieber Remix With Kanye West

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‘American Idol’ Winner Lee DeWyze’s Debut Due November 16

Posted on August 19, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

‘I’m really proud of what I’ve done so far,’ he tells MTV News of yet-untitled album. By By Gil Kaufman, with additional reporting by James Lacsina Lee DeWyze Photo: MTV News The major-label debut from season-nine “American Idol” winner Lee DeWyze will be released November 16. So far, that’s about all we know about the yet-untitled CD from the suburban Chicago singer/songwriter, who beat out dreadlocked soul mama Crystal Bowersox for this season’s crown thanks to an all-American story about his rise from humble paint-store clerk to household name. The soft-spoken DeWyze, 24, has been writing and recording songs for the album while logging miles on this summer’s American Idols Live! Tour and said in a statement accompanying the announcement of the release date that he’s been “very fortunate” to record with some amazing songwriters for the disc. “I can’t wait for everyone to hear my debut album.” Technically, it’s his third album , but it’s his major-label debut, since he released two previous efforts on the small Chicago label WuLi Records: 2009’s Slumberland and 2007’s So I’m Told. On those discs, he honed the everyman, sensitive growl that helped him win “Idol,” where his slow and steady rise and humble demeanor catapulted him past season-long favorite Bowersox. MTV News recently caught up with DeWyze at the Los Angeles stop of the “Idol” tour and he spilled a bit of detail on the songs he’s been working on and the sound fans can expect to hear. “I’ve written on every song. … I’m more or less looking forward to showing everybody what I do outside of the show and outside of this. To be able to be my own artist and do my own thing, I’m really looking forward to.” He said he couldn’t talk about which artists and songwriters he’s working with but hinted that they were ones he’s listened to and is a fan of. “What’s really most important about the album for me is keeping it true to what I want to do and the kind of music I like to make and having it be real, not just some words thrown together,” he said. “I like to write about love and relationships and emotions and feeling … being down and up. I like writing about things that everybody experiences and to be able to put that into my music … it’s going to be fun.” As if the grueling “Idol” tour isn’t hard enough, DeWyze said he’s flying in and out of New York, Los Angeles and Nashville on his days off to write and record the songs. “I have a lot of say in it,” he said of crafting the sound and mood of the disc. “I have a lot more say than people would think. It’s going to be really good. I’m really proud of what I’ve done so far.” Though there’s no official title yet, DeWyze said he has a few strong contenders. “These are things I dreamt about doing years ago,” he said of working on a major-label album. “To be able to actually do it now is pretty cool.” There has been no word yet on the release date of Bowersox’s album, though the runner-up’s disc has typically hit stores a few weeks after the winner’s effort. Are you excited about DeWyze’s debut album? Let us know in comments below! Get your “Idol” fix on MTV News’ “American Idol” page , where you’ll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions. Related Photos Lee DeWyze: From Illinois Boy To ‘American Idol’ Star Related Artists Lee DeWyze

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‘American Idol’ Winner Lee DeWyze’s Debut Due November 16

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Smile! Aerial images being used to enforce laws

Posted on August 16, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Aug 14, 12:17 PM EDT Smile! Aerial images being used to enforce laws By FRANK ELTMAN Associated Press Writer AP Photo AP Photo Buy AP Photo Reprints RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (AP) — On New York's Long Island, it's used to prevent drownings. In Greece, it's a tool to help solve a financial crisis. Municipalities update property assessment rolls and other government data with it. Some in law enforcement use it to supplement reconnaissance of crime suspects. High-tech eyes in the sky – from satellite imagery to sophisticated aerial photography that maps entire communities – are being employed in creative new ways by government officials, a trend that civil libertarians and others fear are eroding privacy rights. “As technology advances, we have to revisit questions about what is and what is not private information,” said Gregory Nojeim, senior counsel at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Democracy and Technology. Online services like Google and Bing give users very detailed images of practically any location on the planet. Though some images are months old, they make it possible for someone sitting in a living room in Brooklyn to look in on folks in Dublin or Prague, or even down the street in Flatbush. Sean Walter, an attorney and first-term town supervisor in Riverhead, N.Y., insists he is a staunch defender of privacy rights and the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable search and seizure. But Walter supported using Google Earth images to help identify about 250 Riverhead homes where residents failed to get building permits certifying their swimming pools complied with safety regulations. All but about 10 eventually came to town hall. Walter said the focus was safety, not filling town coffers with permit money, which averaged about $150 depending on the size of the pool. A 4-foot fence is required, gates have to be self-closing and padlocked. All pools must have an alarm that sounds when sensors are activated indicating someone is in the pool. “We have a town employee who is a personal friend of mine whose son was found face-down in a swimming pool,” Walter said. “He's OK, but I don't want to be the supervisor that attends the funeral of a child that drowns in a swimming pool.” Lillie Coney, associate director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C., fears that while Walter's focus was safety, other municipalities may use the images to check for other transgressions. “It's only a matter of time,” Coney said. “There are lots of ordinances where this can be used. In California, where they deal with brush fires, could a satellite image show if a homeowner has brush growing too close to his home? What if someone has junk cars on their lot in violation of ordinances?” Riverhead resident Tony Villar said the town's action “could be considered Big Brother looking down at you.” “But at the same time, if the government can listen to your telephone conversations in the name of terrorism,” he said. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_EYES_IN_THE_SKY?SITE=TXKER&SECTION… Standing outside the Riverhead Public Library, Walter Casey of Flanders agreed. “I think it's a great intrusion on people's privacy; they should use it on the politicians' backyards.” The New York Civil Liberties Union's Donna Lieberman said there are ways to enforce requirements “without this sort of engaging in Big Brother on high. Technically, it may be lawful, but in the gut it does not feel like a free society kind of operation.” In Greece, officials are struggling with a debt crisis and have sought to catch tax-evaders by using satellite photos to spot undeclared swimming pools – indicators of taxable wealth. Google spokeswoman Kate Hurowitz said in a statement that Google Earth acquires its information from a broad range of commercial and public sources. “The same information is available to anyone who buys it from these widely available public sources,” she said. “Google's freely available technology has been used for a variety of purposes, ranging from travel planning to scientific research to emergency response, rescue and relief in natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the Haiti earthquake.” At least nine lawsuits seeking class-action status have been filed in the United States, contending that Google collected fragments of e-mails, Web-surfing data and other information from unencrypted wireless networks as it photographed neighborhoods for its “Street View” feature. Google is also facing investigations or inquiries in 38 states as well as in several countries, including Germany, Spain and Australia. The Mountain View, Calif., company said in May it had inadvertently collected the data from public Wi-Fi networks in more than 30 countries, but maintains it never used the data and hasn't broken any laws. Google Earth posts updates about every two weeks on selected images from its providers, with images ranging from a few weeks to a few years old. For big cities like Chicago, tracking illegal pools, porches and decks through Google Earth requires frequent imaging updates, so the Chicago buildings department uses it as a reference tool on a case-by-case scenario, said spokesman Bill McCaffrey. “We're not opposed to adopting new technology, but until it advances where we can get photos of more recent updates, we don't have any plans to implement it,” he said. Smaller towns such as Champaign and Naperville, Ill. opted to use satellite images as reference only. “Mostly it's so we can see that we're going to the right building when we go to do inspections,” said Ann Michalsen, lead inspector for code enforcement in Naperville. It's also important for police officers to know they have the right destination when executing search warrants, said Joe Pollini, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “Most departments would use it as a preliminary step, but they would also use active surveillance with their own aircraft,” he said. The nonprofit group Consumer Watchdog is seeking to determine the extent of the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration's use of Google Earth in its investigations, spokesman John M. Simpson said last week. Federal contracting records reviewed by Consumer Watchdog show that the FBI has spent more than $600,000 on Google Earth since 2007. The Drug Enforcement Administration, meanwhile, has spent more than $67,000. Simpson has called on Congress to investigate how U.S. law enforcement and intelligence communities are using Google technologies. The group says it has concerns that data could be used for racial profiling. The New York Police Department's Real Time Crime Center uses satellite imaging and computerized mapping systems to identify geographic patterns of crimes and to pinpoint possible addresses where suspects might flee – information relayed to investigators on the street. The NYPD also has two major security initiatives where a network of public and private cameras will eventually link and be searchable. The NYCLU has filed lawsuits in opposition. “We live in an environment where we are told that if it's on camera, if you have a video record, that will make us safer,” Lieberman said. “That may be appealing, but it is an unproven assertion. There's no evidence of that. Yet we see millions, if not billions, of post-9/11 money has gone to law enforcement for installing cameras in every conceivable nook and cranny.” http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_EYES_IN_THE_SKY?SITE=TXKER&SECTION… added by: DefKid

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Charles Krauthammer Smacks Down Mark Shields Over Rostenkowski’s Legacy

Posted on August 14, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer on Friday smacked down PBS’s Mark Shields in a discussion about late Sen. Dan Rostenkowski’s legacy. As the conversation on this week’s “Inside Washington” turned to the passing of the former powerful Democrat, Shields swooned liked so many of his colleagues:  Danny Rostenkowski was a throwback…he worked across the aisle. I mean, he was just phenomenal that way. There was no ideology to him. And, you want to know how politics has changed? Danny Rostenkowski used to go back to Chicago by car. You know who rode with him? Bob Michel, the Republican leader rode with him and back, and Henry Hyde, the conservative leader, and they were friends.   With the ball nicely set up on the tee, Krauthammer ripped a monster drive down the middle of the fairway (video follows with transcript and commentary): MARK SHIELDS: But on Danny Rostenkowski, just one word. I have already spoken positively and emotionally about Charlie Rangel and I won’t do that again. But Danny Rostenkowski was a throwback, he was a guy’s guy, he liked a steak, he liked a good story, he liked to tell a good story. And, and he worked across the aisle. I mean, he was just phenomenal that way. There was no ideology to him. And, you want to know how politics has changed? Danny Rostenkowski used to go back to Chicago by car. You know who rode with him? Bob Michel, the Republican leader rode with him and back, and Henry Hyde, the conservative leader, and they were friends. Can you imagine now under this present climate these guys being together for twenty minute subway ride? GORDON PETERSON, HOST: Danny liked a good steak but did he bring home the bacon? CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: Bob Michel rode in his car and I am sure they had a lovely time with a lot of stories, but that is why the Republicans were in the minority for 40 years until he was taken over by Newt Gingrich who had an agenda, a Contract With America, and brought the Republicans in to power in the House. So I know how if you are a Democrat, it’s lovely if you have working across the aisle if you are in charge of the aisle. Indeed. The Left and their media minions just love bipartisanship and working across the aisle when they control both chambers of Congress. Yet when Republicans are in control, not so much. Bravo, Charles.  

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Charles Krauthammer Smacks Down Mark Shields Over Rostenkowski’s Legacy

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