The blogosphere and mainstream media were all abuzz today over the controversial cover on the latest issue of The New Yorker. Illustrator Barry Blitt has done a number of provocative covers for the magazine, but his latest shows Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in the Oval Office, adorned in Muslim attire, a photo of Ossama Bin Laden on the wall and a burning American flag in the fire place, giving a “terrorist fist bump” to wife Michelle, herself decked out like a ’60s-era Black militant.
The picture has drawn stiff criticism from the Obama camp and even condemnation from Republican presidential hopeful John McCain, but the magazine is defending its decision, saying it is just another example of the type of satire Blitt is famous for.
The picture is satire, designed to draw attention to many of the ridiculous rumors that have swirled around Obama since he announced his candidacy. No one with any intelligence would take it seriously. But America is full of people lacking in basic intelligence or the ability to discern the truth from concocted lies and deliberate distortions. Many are just gullible enough to believe every single one of these and other rumors. And they vote.
The New Yorker article does go into great detail about the calculated rise of Barack Obama.
While that controversy brews, another flew in under the radar. This past weekend, syndicated television commentator John McLaughlin of The McLaughlin Group, asserted that Obama “fits the stereotype blacks once labeled as an Oreo — a black on the outside, a white on the inside.”
The watchdog group, Media Matters, wants McLaughlin to publicly apologize and has created a campaign to raise public awareness.
Finally, David Simon, executive producer of the critically acclaimed television series The Wire may be off on his next great adventure. Simon, who already produces the HBO miniseries Generation Kill, set during the Iraq War, has just gotten the greenlight from that network to produce a pilot about life in post-Katrina New Orleans. “Treme,” named after the New Orleans neighborhood where many musicians live, will film its first episode sometime later this year. The show promises to take a critical look at life in the city itself and if it gets picked up, production could start in 2009. Former “Wire” star and New Orleans native Wendell Pierce is one of the first names attached to the project.
If my personal life had the structure and responsibility I have in my professional work, I could be hell on wheels. I have lots of great ideas and things I still want to accomplish, but the minute I enter my apartment after a day at the office, I become a vegetable. I park my increasingly ample ass in front of my computer, with the tv set on to my left, and stay there until it’s time to go to bed. I manage to answer maybe half of the hundreds of emails I get a day, skim most of the hundred-plus blogs I subscribe to, and surf dozens more other websites.
Yesterday, I got sucked into the Facebook black hole. I promised myself I wouldn’t but I have succumbed. A friend invited me to become his friend and since I had already set up an account but never done anything with it, I decided to accept. Then I spent the rest of the night updating my profile and signing up new friends.
I already have a Linkedin profile, two in fact. One for my 9-5 career, another for my dormant yet still hoping-to-be-rekindled acting career. I have a Flickr account, and a page on MyBarakObama.com. I created the family tree we all contribute to on Geni.com. I run several listservs and this blog, which even got a mention on Ramone Johnson’s About.com blog.
I surf the sports sites, the adult sites, Youtube (I’m hooked on Derrick L. Brigg’s video show ADTV) and of course the entertainment sites with news and ticket offers for things going on around New York. But I haven’t been to a show of any kind in ages because I spend too much time online.
The internet was supposed to connect people. No doubt it has, but the question is, what is the quality of those relationships and how easy is it to conduct them solely online with no impetus to ever engage each other face-to-face?
I came to the conclusion years ago that being in the New York City Gay Pride march was far more interesting than watching it. It’s the difference between being an active participant versus a passive observer. Besides I love to hear people cheer whenever I go by.
But in the weeks leading up to this year’s pride, I was in a bit of a quandary: who would I march with, or rather, whose float would I ride? See, just as I discovered the fun of being in the march, I also discovered that riding on the back of a flatbed truck from Fifth Avenue and 52nd Street down to Christopher Street in Greenwich Village was a helluva lot easier on my feet, ankles, knees and lower back than walking.
My former employer always had a float, but, well, they are my former employer. My current employer organized a contingent, but there was no plan for a float. I thought about some community-based organizations I used to be associated with, but again, those are past relationships and I didn’t know how welcoming they’d be just because I literally wanted a free ride. So like it or not, if I was gonna do it, it looked like I’d have to hoof it.
My friends in political circles had asked me awhile ago to be more involved with the gay community outreach efforts of the Obama campaign but for time and burnout reasons, I’ve been somewhat reluctant. But the email invite came more than a week ago, looking for Obama Pride marchers and well, I couldn’t resist. Smart move on my part. It was a blast.
More than 300 organizations and a half million people take part in the march. In terms of permit applications it is officially a march, not a parade; a march is a political event that comes with guaranteed first amendment rights that cannot be denied on the whim of some bureaucrat. Moving that many people into parade formation still takes coordination and patience however.
It officially started at noon, but our group and others lined up on W. 54th Street didn’t move until about two and a half hours later, just around the time the clouds burst, the first of three downpours on the day. Actress and former Golden Girls star, Rue McClanahan, rode ahead of us in a convertible as our celebrity Obama backer. Our band of about 60 sign-carrying, Obama t-shirt wearing, rain-soaked marchers kept up a steady, noisy series of chants and cheers that revved up a largely supportive crowd the entire distance. There were a few diehard Hillary supporters with rats hibernating in their butts, but they were outnumbered and even admonished at one point by one of the public address announcers to get behind the candidate, lest we see four more years of Republican mismanagement and indifference to LGBT causes.
Walking the route, you always bump into friends along the way, and today was no exception. Joining me in the Obama camp was even a fellow blogger. who I’m sure will have pictures of the event. Not with us, but present at the front of the line, was Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor David Paterson, who defied doctor’s orders and marched one day after undergoing cataract surgery. His appearance marked the first time a New York governor has marched during Gay Pride. He continues to score favorable points with the community.
I can only assume the Pride Fest down in the Village went on despite the rain. By the end my feet were swollen and in pain and it was all I could do to hobble up to 14th Street to get the train home. Wet and tired as I was, it was a fun day.
It almost seems as though my blog has turned into an obituary column. With each passing day either one of my childhood heroes or just a noteworthy public figure passes away. Some of them I didn’t even get a chance to mention.
Today the first news I heard when I awakened was that one of my favorite comedians, George Carlin, had died. He is an iconic figure who not only amused and delighted a generation with his sharp observations about life, politics, religion or just stupid behavior by average people, but he influenced a legion of comedians like Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock. Carlin had a mastery of the English language despite being a high school dropout.
You can read all about his life in this NY Times obituary, but the best way to appreciate him is through his work.
Here is his “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television” routine that caused controversy all the way to the US Supreme Court.
Tim Russert, NBC News’ Washington bureau chief and the moderator of “Meet the Press,” died Friday after a sudden heart attack at the bureau, NBC News said Friday. He was 58. More
