The Pick of Destiny.....

“The first stage of Fascism should be more appropriately called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power”
–Benito Mussolini

“Will it be Tits or Destiny?”-Jables

Now despite my own Napoleonic complex, it is rare for me to quote Fascists and a stout actor/metal vocalist even to prove a point. However, I just wanted you to think about this the next time the Stock Market falls 500 points in one day. This of course comes a day that the Chinese Stock Market falls by 9%. The fact becomes this, the world is economically flat, and it comes at a point in history when everything else falls in a hazy shade of gray. Is it really possible to tell the good guys from the evil doers? We are told by scripture (The Willimantic Chronicle) that the free market creates opportunity when new populations and resources are opened up to the rest of the world. However, has this made the post Cold War era any more secure? Certainly not. If anything it has destabilized practically every region of the globe.

In the passed few days I started to get back to a process I used at UConn to decipher how the world would view the United States in 1000 years. I have completely forgotten it and will have to create a new one. Sorry…It was awesome and profound.

Many scholars have remarked to me that the United States was the “New Rome”. Perhaps, ....but I begged to differ. I saw this tact as Eurocentric hubris. The Cold War will most definitely be seen as an American victory. However, even if we concede the 20th Century was the “American Century” (which is highly debated), the development of the Far East in the last decade forces us to view the 60 year old figure four leg lock of global American influence as a perhaps a passing fad. The United States may end up being the “House of Pain” of World History.

Some Anti-American scholars believe that the United States will be forgotten like the Phoenicians of old, as they pioneered sea technology only to usurped by more blood thirsty opponents. We have pushed ideological perspectives (Capitalistic Democracy) and technology (Internet Porn and Fantasy Sports).

This becomes the ultimate question for all Americans to consider. History is distorted by the winner, and when historical perspective is on the line, that is when the Fascists make their presence known. The Persians did it, the Romans did it, so did Ghangis Khan and the British. At what point do we decide to take over through Thermonuclear force in the face of being usurped? Some War Hawks and Neo Cons believe it is our destiny. They seek to sacrifice our ideas for the power required to distort history. I would argue that the longer our currant corporate interest are intertwined with our hardcore political influence in world affairs, the closer we come to dropping the big one.

Will it be tits or destiny? I’ll hope for Tits, but then again, The Prez lovez the ladies…


Strength and Honor

Another Jam

From Dead Prez.
My Vote for Best YouTube Video Ever.

The war in Iraq is a sham.The election has already been bought.

Go Green

And the Winner Is...

With all the media coverage that the fight for Anna Nicole Smith’s remains has received, along with the wall to wall coverage of the exploits of white trash provocateur Britney Spears in the passed week, The Prez almost forgot the Superbowl of Inane Western Culture (The Oscars) was this weekend. On with the Predictions…

Best Picture
(Babel, The Departed, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine, The Queen)
The Little Miss Sunshine phenomenon reminds me of Fred Durst back in 1999. Great acclaim for a short time, top of the world even,…. until we all came to our senses.
Winner-The Departed- There is no question about it. It would be insane if this does not happen. We are talking drinking your own piss or being a Gay Republican kind of insane here.

Best Actor
(DiCaprio, Gosling, O’Toole, Smith, Whitaker)
None of these actors were as good as Colin Farrell as Sunny Crocket or Sasha Baron Cohen as Borat, but since DiCaprio is actually nominated for his second best performance (With his best being in The Departed), I’m down with giving him the award. Plus, his ex is now dating an NFL Legend in the making, so he could use a self esteem builder.

Supporting Actor
(Arkin, Jackie Earle Haley, Hounsou, Murphy, Wahlberg)
I would love the award to go to the guy who played Kelly Leak. But this one goes to Marky Mark as Sergeant Dignam hands down. If nothing else then for uttering the dialogue “That would make us C****, and you don’t think we're C**** do you?. Simply Brilliant

Best Actress
Who cares….Lets go with Penelope Cruz for her possible acceptance speech.

Best Supporting Actress
A future Ms. Skinamax perhaps....

Best Cinematography
(The Black Dahlia, Children of Men, The Illusionist, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Prestige)
Who needs PCP when there are trippy films like Pan’s Labyrinth?However, I am going with Children of Men, because any film so disorienting has got to impress film people, and some how Emanuel Lubezki captured a dark apocalyptic hellscape to match Clive Owen’s tortured Anti-hero persona.

Best Documentary
Jesus Camp was the scariest film in years, but I’m not into horror Documentaries that have me questioning the progress of Human Beings. This award actually goes to Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, if for no other reason then it got my lazy, immature, and apathetic Senior Law Classes to care about some thing other then their trucks or the latest Larry the Cable Guy DVD for five minutes.

Best Director
No offense to the other nominees, but Scorcese wins or it is a sign the Apocalypse is upon us.

Original Screenplay
This one is going to Letters from Iwo Jima, although some people may have a Little Miss Sunshine hangover.

Best Song
Uuuuhhh…Randy Newman is nominated. Enough said.

Best quote describing a film on a movie poster

“America is all about speed,..Hot, Nasty, Badass speed”- Eleanor Roosevelt

(in reference to Talladega Nights)

Funniest Trailer of 2007 so far
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM4yekiPo3w

Funniest Shit Ever…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq1_6D9QS9Y

The 1/20/09 Chronicles

On the day that Chris Cornell leaves Audioslave and a planet of Rock fans turn their eyes to the upcoming RATM reunion, The Prez lets out his grief with a commentary on the newest favorite to win the Republican Primary. So in his latest installment of the 1/20/09 Chronicles, with the help of Elvis Costello the Prez asks,

What’s so Funny about Rudy?

Recent polls and biased liberal news outlets have begun to show perennial candidate John “The Next Big Thing” McCain slipping in the hearts and minds of conservatives everywhere. Who has begun to warm these cold hearted bastards with his hot island songs? It is “America’s Mayor” Rudolph Giuliani. Not since Diamond Joe Quimby has a Mayor held the perception of masculinity and supreme political prowess while doing so little. Since he left office in 2001, Giuliani founded Giuliani Partners, a security consulting business, acquired Giuliani Capital Advisors, an investment banking firm, and joined the Bracewell & Giuliani law firm. Something tells me Giuliani has Bracewell’s vote, but why on earth would anyone else vote for this guy?


What else….9/11.


Guilani first gained prominence as a hardcore prosecutor. This is the guy who indicted Anthony “Fat Tony” Salerno”, the head of the Genovese crime family. As a Mayor from 1993-2001 Giuliani was a controversial, typical Yankee fan. He “cleaned” up Times Square with a “redevelopment project”. Without the spin, this means he pretty much closed the peep shows and bussed the homeless people up state. Viacom was happy. Giuliani embraced illegal immigrants, and became a media savvy politician. However, his personal life has long been a mess. This is not a gossip column, so let’s just assume it has been funky and leave it at that.

However, the sight of Giuliani, mask and all, trying to coordinate the emergency services that awful day was really something. On that day, Rudy Giuliani gained so much in the minds of American’s, some would say he almost profited more then the Carlyle Group on 9/11. In that moment all of this man’s short comings in the eyes of the peeps were vanquished. The corruption in City Call, the Gestapo tactics toward the poor, the bizzaro outing of his affair with Judith Nathan, the rage of Mets fans after the 2000 World Series. All of it…gone in an instant.

This Cat was named Time magazine’s 2001 Person of the Year. He received an Honorary Knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II. He was a member of the Iraq Study Group.

Despite this, not since 2001 has Guliani been the poster child for the Republican Party. Staying relevant has been a problem, as so much has transpired since then. The War in Afghanistan was botched, the War in Iraq turned into another Vietnam, and Curse of the Giambino turned the Yankees into the Texas Rangers. However, both political parties are now in transition phases. In recent weeks Giuliani has highlighted his concerns for securing America’s economic and military future, not to mention lots of talk about Homeland Security. Ahhh…His bread and butter.

You know Wall Street is a big fan. The Conservative business community has long been the baby huey of the Republican Party. As the religious right reexamines how to take over the world on the “back” of Sam Brownback, Giuliani shakes the hands of centrists and conservatives in places like New Hampshire, Iowa, and California.

Will this win Giuliani the Republican Primary? Logic says the South will need to get on board big time. Something they are very reluctant to do. Which means Rudy best get on his knees. However, when 9/11 is the beginning, middle, and end of every aspect of your campaign in the minds of the ‘folks, anything is possible in America. Just ask the Boy Prince.


Of the Wesleyan Nine, the original RG right now is ahead of “The Next Big Thing” 7-2. Very Bizarre….but what do expect from people who still get information from the Radio.

Obama in Trouble already?

Today Barack Obama officially announced he is running for President in 2008. This of coarse is a big deal. There has never been a Black President. The event was so big that Obama made his announcement in Springfield Illinois, the home town of our 16th President. Even Honest Abe no doubt saw this coming from a hundred miles away. However, this commentary is not about Obama’s potential as a candidate for the Presidency. There has already been a ton of discussion on the matter, and it will no doubt be one of the biggest stories of 2007/08. IC and the folks (myself included), at Presidential Politics will cover this ad nauseum.

Tonight’s commentary is on an event that was held at the same time at Hampton University in Virginia. You see, today was also the day C-Span aired “The State of the Black Union”, a series of discussions by leading African American’s in the fields of Education, Religion, Politics, Media, Economics, Social Services, Literature, and Entertainment. The event is a 4 hour long “Town Hall” type panel discussion organized by the great Tavis Smiley and radio host Tom Joyner. Since 2000, the event has been essential viewing for me. The perspective of African Americans toward America’s mainstream power base has long been one of disenfranchisement. The event does a great job of letting an eclectic group of people from the Black community present ideas on how to improve life in America. It is a huge event. It shows Dead Prez is right, its Bigger then Hip Hop.

The afternoon panel is always the best, as Smiley himself narrates, and the panel often includes some of the greatest minds in America today. It also highlights the fact that any day I get a chance to listen to Cornel West speak is a good day.

The fact that Obama chose not to attend the event and made his announcement in Springfield, Illinois did not go unnoticed. Even one of Obama’s former professors at Harvard, Charles Ogletree, made a point to state his displeasure toward Obama’s absence. In the early panel discussion, both Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton were quick to point out that African Americans need make it clear that their votes are not already locked up, something that could lead to vocal marginalization during the primary. The later panel was also quick to point out that Obama’s running should not mean that the Black community has "its" voice that will speak for them come 2008.

This presents a unique dynamic that is a Catch 22 for Obama because the panel is right. Obama needs the support of African Americans, but his fanbase in not defined by just Blacks. He was not a product of someone raised in the throws of the Civil Rights movement. His father was from Kenya and his mother was a white woman from Kansas. He was born in Honolulu. His parents separated when he was two years old and his mother then married a guy from Indonesia. He is from a multi-racial family, and lived in Hawaii and Jakarta as youth. Personally, I think this gives him a kind of international appeal that America needs right now. Despite doing a lot while a member of the Illinois state legislature, Obama’s national presence is not connected to his work in the Black community. Like Tiger Woods, Obama must be careful not to alienate the Black community by embracing this international appeal too soon, which often is interpreted as selling out a vital community in need of powerful voices, who can help decide the democratic candidate.

Thus, while the symbolism of Obama announcing in Honest Abe’s backyard was impressive for Chris Mathews and Presidential historians every where, the State of the Black Union showed it was at best a missed opportunity and at worst a slap in the face to many in the African American community. Obama’s first chance to embrace his position as a leader was lost today.

I think it was a huge mistake. Honest Abe’s only policy to deal with Black people was to send them back to Africa. Sorry, not the textbook version, but the truth. You know how I do. Obama announcing in Virginia of all places, home to the (degenerate) Confederate capital, would have been just as symbolic.

So if you have any free time check out Tavis Smiley’s new book, The Covenant in Action, online now. It is a must read for all Americans.

To all my peeps out there, stay strong, don’t buy into the manipulative Hallmark Capitalist Machine that is Valentines Day. It should only really be known to the world as it is to me, as my brother's birthday. So a shout out to The General, Happy 31st.

I am off to work on my application for a VP job at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame…Cuz Umi Says "Shine your light on the world"....


Strength and Honor Comrades.......

The Struggle Continues...