What is the Race Card?
I think white people hate the concept of the race card, because Black People.
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Sex has No Place in the eyes of Kids??!?!!?
What the fuck is going on in this country? Well, I do know -- it's the rise of Evangelicalism, the religious right and assbag groups like The Parents Television Council.
So what's got me hot today? A
I'll reprint it for your eyes--
Video Game Known for Violence Lands in Trouble Over Sex
By SETH SCHIESEL
Under pressure from Democratic senators, the board that rates video games assigned the latest installment of the Grand Theft Auto series an adults-only label yesterday, effectively removing it from the shelves of most major retail stores.
The decision comes a few weeks after independent programmers uncovered a sexually suggestive scene that the game's creators say was never meant to be seen.
The board's president, Patricia Vance, said yesterday that the move was the first time in years that the group, the Entertainment Software Rating Board, had changed the rating for a game that had already been released. The rating was changed to "Adults Only" from "Mature," which is meant to signal appropriateness for players 17 and older.
Several top video game retailers, including Wal-Mart and Target, said yesterday that they would no longer sell the current version of the game, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
Like the motion picture ratings system, the video game's review system is nominally voluntary but usually compulsory in practice. Just as major movie theater chains almost always refuse to exhibit NC-17 movies, most mainstream retailers refuse to stock adults-only games.
The game's developer, Rockstar Games, which is owned by Take-Two Interactive, said yesterday that it would stop making the current version of the game and would release a new version as soon as possible.
Fueled by a mix of freewheeling play and rough-and-tumble urban motifs, the Grand Theft Auto series has become one of the world's most popular game franchises. According to the NPD Group, a market research firm, the game had sold more than 21 million copies since 2001 and had generated $924 million in revenue for Rockstar Games.
Even as game players, mostly young men, have flocked to the series, politicians have singled it out for its violence and sexually suggestive material.
The franchise's latest installment, San Andreas, has sold almost six million copies since its release in October but has drawn close scrutiny in recent weeks after independent game enthusiasts uncovered a sex-oriented "minigame" that had been hidden in the program's code.
To unlock the hidden scene, a user must download a program from the Internet known as Hot Coffee that was created by fans of the game. The scene depicts mostly clothed digital people performing sex movements.
"An artist makes a painting, then doesn't like the first version and paints over the canvas with a new painting, right?" said Rodney Walker, a spokesman for Rockstar Games. "That's what happened here. Hackers on the Internet made a program that scratches the canvas to reveal an earlier draft of the game."
Yesterday's decision by the rating board is sure to fuel tension between game companies and a subset of their players, known as modders, who make modifications for their favorite titles. Many companies, including Rockstar, have traditionally encouraged modders as a way of extending the life and relevance of their games.
But yesterday's action may also encourage publishers to make their games less alterable so that they are not held responsible for the changes that modders make or the old code that they unearth.
In a statement, Take-Two said that it was considering legal action against companies that help game players change the content.
Game players can buy devices on Web sites that allow them to alter games for consoles like Sony's PlayStation 2 that are impossible for normal users to change. On personal computers, users can change their games without special hardware.
Ms. Vance, the board's president, said that the mere presence of the Hot Coffee scene on the game disc, even in locked form, was cause to change the rating.
"This is the first time that we have dealt with a third-party modification and this raises a number of issues that we as an industry will have to deal with," Ms. Vance said.
"We want to make it very clear to publishers that they must clean up their product before shipping it," she said. "In the past they may have included content on the disc that they never intended the audience to access, but now hackers have sophisticated tools to unlock this stuff and the publishers have to be sure to either disclose the material to us or delete it."
Yesterday's move came as the industry and the ratings board have come under increasing political pressure. After reports about the modification, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York, called on the Federal Trade Commission last week to investigate the game's earlier mature rating.
Mr. Walker of Rockstar said the company intended to release a new version of the game without the Hot Coffee code as soon as possible.
Ms. Vance said such a move would restore the Mature rating, and a Wal-Mart spokeswoman said that her company would almost certainly restock the new version.
Nonetheless, Take-Two lowered its financial forecast for its year that ends in October.
The company said it expected net sales for the year of $1.26 billion to $1.31 billion, down from an earlier forecast of $1.3 billion to $1.35 billion. The company said it expected earnings of $1.05 to $1.12 a share, down from an earlier forecast of $1.40 to $1.47 a share.
So what's got me hot today? A
I'll reprint it for your eyes--
Video Game Known for Violence Lands in Trouble Over Sex
By SETH SCHIESEL
Under pressure from Democratic senators, the board that rates video games assigned the latest installment of the Grand Theft Auto series an adults-only label yesterday, effectively removing it from the shelves of most major retail stores.
The decision comes a few weeks after independent programmers uncovered a sexually suggestive scene that the game's creators say was never meant to be seen.
The board's president, Patricia Vance, said yesterday that the move was the first time in years that the group, the Entertainment Software Rating Board, had changed the rating for a game that had already been released. The rating was changed to "Adults Only" from "Mature," which is meant to signal appropriateness for players 17 and older.
Several top video game retailers, including Wal-Mart and Target, said yesterday that they would no longer sell the current version of the game, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
Like the motion picture ratings system, the video game's review system is nominally voluntary but usually compulsory in practice. Just as major movie theater chains almost always refuse to exhibit NC-17 movies, most mainstream retailers refuse to stock adults-only games.
The game's developer, Rockstar Games, which is owned by Take-Two Interactive, said yesterday that it would stop making the current version of the game and would release a new version as soon as possible.
Fueled by a mix of freewheeling play and rough-and-tumble urban motifs, the Grand Theft Auto series has become one of the world's most popular game franchises. According to the NPD Group, a market research firm, the game had sold more than 21 million copies since 2001 and had generated $924 million in revenue for Rockstar Games.
Even as game players, mostly young men, have flocked to the series, politicians have singled it out for its violence and sexually suggestive material.
The franchise's latest installment, San Andreas, has sold almost six million copies since its release in October but has drawn close scrutiny in recent weeks after independent game enthusiasts uncovered a sex-oriented "minigame" that had been hidden in the program's code.
To unlock the hidden scene, a user must download a program from the Internet known as Hot Coffee that was created by fans of the game. The scene depicts mostly clothed digital people performing sex movements.
"An artist makes a painting, then doesn't like the first version and paints over the canvas with a new painting, right?" said Rodney Walker, a spokesman for Rockstar Games. "That's what happened here. Hackers on the Internet made a program that scratches the canvas to reveal an earlier draft of the game."
Yesterday's decision by the rating board is sure to fuel tension between game companies and a subset of their players, known as modders, who make modifications for their favorite titles. Many companies, including Rockstar, have traditionally encouraged modders as a way of extending the life and relevance of their games.
But yesterday's action may also encourage publishers to make their games less alterable so that they are not held responsible for the changes that modders make or the old code that they unearth.
In a statement, Take-Two said that it was considering legal action against companies that help game players change the content.
Game players can buy devices on Web sites that allow them to alter games for consoles like Sony's PlayStation 2 that are impossible for normal users to change. On personal computers, users can change their games without special hardware.
Ms. Vance, the board's president, said that the mere presence of the Hot Coffee scene on the game disc, even in locked form, was cause to change the rating.
"This is the first time that we have dealt with a third-party modification and this raises a number of issues that we as an industry will have to deal with," Ms. Vance said.
"We want to make it very clear to publishers that they must clean up their product before shipping it," she said. "In the past they may have included content on the disc that they never intended the audience to access, but now hackers have sophisticated tools to unlock this stuff and the publishers have to be sure to either disclose the material to us or delete it."
Yesterday's move came as the industry and the ratings board have come under increasing political pressure. After reports about the modification, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York, called on the Federal Trade Commission last week to investigate the game's earlier mature rating.
Mr. Walker of Rockstar said the company intended to release a new version of the game without the Hot Coffee code as soon as possible.
Ms. Vance said such a move would restore the Mature rating, and a Wal-Mart spokeswoman said that her company would almost certainly restock the new version.
Nonetheless, Take-Two lowered its financial forecast for its year that ends in October.
The company said it expected net sales for the year of $1.26 billion to $1.31 billion, down from an earlier forecast of $1.3 billion to $1.35 billion. The company said it expected earnings of $1.05 to $1.12 a share, down from an earlier forecast of $1.40 to $1.47 a share.
Friday, July 15, 2005
News Bulletin from CULTURE JAMMERS
I subscribe to a newsletter from that magazine called AdBusters, it's called Culture Jammers and they dropped this bomb about the bombing in London last week. And no, I don't have anything to say about it. It's what you expect you know, from crazies who follow a militant form of Islam, an aggressive imperialist form of Islam. Plus people in London are used to bombings... remember all them IRS suitcase bombs from the mid70s to the early 90s? Oh, you forgot about that? Do some research online.
Anyway, here's the news letter.
Jammers,
Today, millions of people around the world -- in cities from Paris to
Rome to Toronto -- spent two minutes in silence to honor lives lost
in last week's London bombings. It was a fitting, human tribute. It
was also a capstone to a week of extraordinary response, one that may
have opened a whole new chapter in how we understand a War Against
Terror.
From day one, world leaders and commentators publicly debated what
motivated the bombers to commit this terrible crime. Even more
importantly, many have gone on to discuss the real injustices and
inequalities that may have led to such desperate and misguided acts.
This sober, insightful, even introspective thinking shows how far
we've come since 9/11 -- when the range of acceptable reactions
rarely strayed from shouts of "evildoers" and "freedom-haters."
It's a welcome shift, signaling that we may in fact be ready to
seriously tackle the most important question of all: What are the
root causes of terrorism, and what responsibility does each of us
have to do something about them?
Together, over the next few weeks, let's tackle this question head on.
Here's one suggestion on how we can start: Let's recognize we have a
responsibility to treat the deaths of all people in the so-called War
Against Terror with the same solemnity and grief we have afforded the
54 victims in London. Since the coalition invasion of Iraq, tens of
thousands of innocent people have died as a direct result of the
conflict. Are they not equally deserving of two minutes of our time?
Should we, as Culture Jammers, challenge this double standard and
spearhead a day and time for two minutes of silence to remember these
victims? Two minutes of silence, two minutes of contemplation, two
minutes of reflection. Would you be on board? Would you be willing
get on the internet and help spread the word to pull this off? All
80,000 of us could really make an historic step forward in the
process of reconciliation. Send your pledge to:
Of course, there are innumerable other ways to spark this necessary
discussion about the root causes of terrorism. Let us know how you've
decided to contribute, or send us some of the most insightful
analysis you've read or heard in the media. We'll feature the best,
most fearless, most inspiring submissions on our website. Send them
to:
Onward.
Anyway, here's the news letter.
Jammers,
Today, millions of people around the world -- in cities from Paris to
Rome to Toronto -- spent two minutes in silence to honor lives lost
in last week's London bombings. It was a fitting, human tribute. It
was also a capstone to a week of extraordinary response, one that may
have opened a whole new chapter in how we understand a War Against
Terror.
From day one, world leaders and commentators publicly debated what
motivated the bombers to commit this terrible crime. Even more
importantly, many have gone on to discuss the real injustices and
inequalities that may have led to such desperate and misguided acts.
This sober, insightful, even introspective thinking shows how far
we've come since 9/11 -- when the range of acceptable reactions
rarely strayed from shouts of "evildoers" and "freedom-haters."
It's a welcome shift, signaling that we may in fact be ready to
seriously tackle the most important question of all: What are the
root causes of terrorism, and what responsibility does each of us
have to do something about them?
Together, over the next few weeks, let's tackle this question head on.
Here's one suggestion on how we can start: Let's recognize we have a
responsibility to treat the deaths of all people in the so-called War
Against Terror with the same solemnity and grief we have afforded the
54 victims in London. Since the coalition invasion of Iraq, tens of
thousands of innocent people have died as a direct result of the
conflict. Are they not equally deserving of two minutes of our time?
Should we, as Culture Jammers, challenge this double standard and
spearhead a day and time for two minutes of silence to remember these
victims? Two minutes of silence, two minutes of contemplation, two
minutes of reflection. Would you be on board? Would you be willing
get on the internet and help spread the word to pull this off? All
80,000 of us could really make an historic step forward in the
process of reconciliation. Send your pledge to:
Of course, there are innumerable other ways to spark this necessary
discussion about the root causes of terrorism. Let us know how you've
decided to contribute, or send us some of the most insightful
analysis you've read or heard in the media. We'll feature the best,
most fearless, most inspiring submissions on our website. Send them
to:
Onward.
If You Can't Say "FUCK" on TV? When can you say? Only In the Bedroom?
ABC apparently let the "f" word slip by its screeners during the Live 8 Concert when The Who took the stage. While the expletive made it into the east coast feed, it was edited out before the mountain and west coast feeds. Not good enough says the complainant - the Parents Television Council (PTC). Who we all know are a bunch of suburban bitches with asses so tight they can turn coal into diamond (guess they need an ass-fucking?) and hen-pecked so-called men... usually GOP loyalists who have their hands in the air with the other cunts... they need to rehumanize themselves.
In the east, the word was uttered during the 8pm hour. While the PTC recognizes and apparently appreciates ABC efforts throughout the broadcast, this "slip" they say still warrants an FCC ruling. Please! Spare me this kind of moral highground crap. Take a look at the economic prognosis of this country, and quit clouding the reality of the future with piddly-ass comments about so-called offensive speach! Shit, Karl Rove's face broadcasted into my living room is offensive AND obscene -- to me, at least. Is the FCC going to rule against CNN and Fox News for their round-the-clock coverage of Rove's Snivelly Whiplash countenance? I thought NOT!
Said the PTC: "This kind of language does not belong on network television, particularly when so many children are in the audience." Apparently, they didn't see the rating. 'cause kids are surfing the net watching German porn where men and women get fisted and laugh with glee about it. Nor do kids in America give a FUCK about the systemic kleptocratic problems in Africa. All American kids give a rat's ass about is - when does PlayStation 3 hit the streets?!
The complaint was files against Allbritton station WJLA, who has an indemnification clause in its network affiliation agreement against any improprieties by the network.
In the east, the word was uttered during the 8pm hour. While the PTC recognizes and apparently appreciates ABC efforts throughout the broadcast, this "slip" they say still warrants an FCC ruling. Please! Spare me this kind of moral highground crap. Take a look at the economic prognosis of this country, and quit clouding the reality of the future with piddly-ass comments about so-called offensive speach! Shit, Karl Rove's face broadcasted into my living room is offensive AND obscene -- to me, at least. Is the FCC going to rule against CNN and Fox News for their round-the-clock coverage of Rove's Snivelly Whiplash countenance? I thought NOT!
Said the PTC: "This kind of language does not belong on network television, particularly when so many children are in the audience." Apparently, they didn't see the rating. 'cause kids are surfing the net watching German porn where men and women get fisted and laugh with glee about it. Nor do kids in America give a FUCK about the systemic kleptocratic problems in Africa. All American kids give a rat's ass about is - when does PlayStation 3 hit the streets?!
The complaint was files against Allbritton station WJLA, who has an indemnification clause in its network affiliation agreement against any improprieties by the network.
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Get Your Terrorism On???
You know the BIG reason that Prescott Bush's grandson is clammoring for increased aid to Africa? Well, it's multifold, but it occurred to me after the Live 8 concerts over the weekend, that the US can't allow any African nation to reach the level of abject loathing of America and its decadant ways that the plethora of countries in the Middle East have. The attempt to uplift sub-Saharan Africa is a shrewed manouever to nip terrorism in the bud. As we've seen in countries like Liberia, Sierre Leone, the Congo and Rwanda -- Africans, when pushed to rabid levels, can be some dangerous, heartless muthatfuckas. And the GOP doesn't want any Nigerian terrorists running wild in the South Bronx or Knoxville or any place else for that matter.
Of course the big difference between African states and Middle Eastern states, in terms of zealous factions of the population, is that African don't hate The Hate that begat their probelms. They recognize the complete rape-n-pillage movement that was colonialism, and they try to deal with it.
See in the Middle East all them shiekdoms and tyrannical so-called Presidents aren't at the level of kleptocracies that are blights to almost every African nation. Yeah, the Saud Royal family GETS OVER, but they don't pillage their own peoples' wealth and infrastructre and food, just to buy some gold jackets and kick it in BMWs. The Middle Eastern rulers don't share the wealth they already amassed. African rulers take all the aid money that receive and dump it into palaces in Spain or bank accounts in the Caymans or fly barbers in from New York City at $5000 a pop for the latest bald-fade. Yeah, Mubutu of the former Zaire was all about doing just that.
No, the current GOP president might have a good intentions, but ultimately the West is gearing up for the next level of rape-n-pillage of the Motherland.
Saturday, July 02, 2005
Leaving The Country To Get Fucked
Man, I can't believe that Sandra O'Connor is stepping down from the highest court in the land, leaving the chump-in-chief to select a replacement. I KNOW he's going to follow in his dad's footsteps and nominate a dangerous person to be part of the Supremes.
This is a test of Prescott's Grandson's convictions and past promises, and his biggest opportunity yet to assure that this Current Dangerous presidency will leave a conservative stamp for a generation to come.
A Generation to come.
Not that it really matters, because America is tearing itself apart at the seams (and we refuse to recognize it), so in the next generation is going to rioting a lot more than we've ever seen. And the Supreme Court just won't have any kind of control.
Still, if there is a chance for the country to survive the MAJOR MAJOR economic shifts that are approaching, then the ability to thwart conservative agendas is paramount. And the best way to do that is on the Supreme Court.
Justice O'Connor wasn't a liberal or a conversative, but more of a pragmatist who did what she thought was right for the country.
The interesting thing is that a new supremor doesn't have to follow the party doctrine at all -- but he or she could easily be a wack-ass like Clarence Thomas, someone who is still so damn young (meaning decades still on the bench) and has nothing to contribute. I don't see why he doesn't step the fuck down!
Will the country really know how to deal with a most conservative Supreme Court?
The selection need not be as devicisive as we all expect. The current commander-in-chief, if he wants to be a unified, will rebuke the party extremists and moderates, and choose someone that will effectively government for the next twenty years. And considering that Billy Reinquist is on his way out, too, the GOP has a chance to consolidate its power more and concentrate the wealth into fewer and fewer hands.
This is a test of Prescott's Grandson's convictions and past promises, and his biggest opportunity yet to assure that this Current Dangerous presidency will leave a conservative stamp for a generation to come.
A Generation to come.
Not that it really matters, because America is tearing itself apart at the seams (and we refuse to recognize it), so in the next generation is going to rioting a lot more than we've ever seen. And the Supreme Court just won't have any kind of control.
Still, if there is a chance for the country to survive the MAJOR MAJOR economic shifts that are approaching, then the ability to thwart conservative agendas is paramount. And the best way to do that is on the Supreme Court.
Justice O'Connor wasn't a liberal or a conversative, but more of a pragmatist who did what she thought was right for the country.
The interesting thing is that a new supremor doesn't have to follow the party doctrine at all -- but he or she could easily be a wack-ass like Clarence Thomas, someone who is still so damn young (meaning decades still on the bench) and has nothing to contribute. I don't see why he doesn't step the fuck down!
Will the country really know how to deal with a most conservative Supreme Court?
The selection need not be as devicisive as we all expect. The current commander-in-chief, if he wants to be a unified, will rebuke the party extremists and moderates, and choose someone that will effectively government for the next twenty years. And considering that Billy Reinquist is on his way out, too, the GOP has a chance to consolidate its power more and concentrate the wealth into fewer and fewer hands.
Friday, July 01, 2005
White Women NEED Help
I was reading the Washington Post today (online) and I came across a story about Natalee Holloway -- here's excerpts of it, plus my comments in italics
Someday historians will look back at America in the decade bracketing the turn of the 21st century and identify the era's major themes: Religious fundamentalism. Terrorism. War in Iraq. Economic dislocation. Bioengineering. Information technology. Nuclear proliferation. Globalization. The rise of superpower China.
Every few weeks, this stressed-out nation with more problems to worry about than hours in the day finds time to become obsessed with the saga -- it's always a "saga," never just a story -- of a damsel in distress.This type of yellow journalist drama should be regulated to the grocercy store fishwrap and those chump shows like Inside Edition, but these stories always are the lead on so-called news shows like CNN and Fox News Channel. And it's ALWAYS covered on the three network news channels, plus the othe bevy of cable news channel are up here giving us round the clock coverage -- at the expense of what I would consider real news, real debate and real investigative reporting (if such a thing is possible post-Reagan).
Before the Runaway Bride, there were too many damsels to provide a full list, but surely you remember the damsel elite: Laci Peterson. Elizabeth Smart. Lori Hacking. Chandra Levy. JonBenet Ramsey. We even found, or created, a damsel amid the chaos of war in Iraq: Jessica Lynch. Are you starting to see a pattern here?
The specifics of the story line vary from damsel to damsel. In some cases, the saga begins with the discovery of a corpse. In other cases, the damsel simply vanishes into thin air. Often, there is a suspect from the beginning -- an intruder, a husband, a father, a congressman, a stranger glimpsed lurking nearby.
Sometimes the tale ends well, or well enough, as in the cases of Smart and Lynch. Let's hope it ends well for Holloway. But more often, it ends badly. Once in a great while, a case like Runaway Bride comes along to provide comic relief.
But of course the damsels have much in common besides being female. You probably have some idea of where I'm headed here.I can see what the Post writer has to pussy-foot around the subject -- all these broads are white, and the majority are blondes
A damsel must be white. This requirement is nonnegotiable. It helps if her frame is of dimensions that breathless cable television reporters can credibly describe as "petite," and it also helps if she's the kind of woman who wouldn't really mind being called "petite," a woman with a good deal of princess in her personality. She must be attractive -- also nonnegotiable. Her economic status should be middle class or higher, but an exception can be made in the case of wartime (see: Lynch).
Put all this together, and you get 24-7 coverage. The disappearance of a man, or of a woman of color, can generate a brief flurry, but never the full damsel treatment. Since the Holloway story broke we've had more news reports from Aruba this past week, I'd wager, than in the preceding 10 years.
I have no idea whether the late French philosopher Jacques Derrida hung on every twist and turn of the Chandra Levy case; somehow, I doubt he did. But I suspect the apostle of "deconstructionism" would have analyzed the damsel-in-distress phenomenon by explaining that our society is imposing its own subconsciously chosen narrative on all these cases.
It's the meta-narrative of something seen as precious and delicate being snatched away, defiled, destroyed by evil forces that lurk in the shadows, just outside the bedroom window. It's whiteness under siege. It's innocence and optimism crushed by cruel reality. It's a flower smashed by a rock.
Or maybe (since Derrida believed in multiple readings of a single text) the damsel thing is just a guaranteed cure for a slow news day. The cable news channels, after all, have lots of airtime to fill.
This is not to mock any one of these cases (except Runaway Bride) or to diminish the genuine tragedy experienced by family and friends. I can imagine the helplessness I'd feel if a child of mine disappeared from a remote beach in the Caribbean. But I can also be fairly confident that neither of my sons would provoke so many headlines.
Whatever our ultimate reason for singling out these few unfortunate victims, among the thousands of Americans who are murdered or who vanish each year, the pattern of choosing only young, white, middle-class women for the full damsel treatment says a lot about a nation that likes to believe it has consigned race and class to irrelevance.
What it says is that we haven't. What it says is that those stubborn issues are still very much alive and that they remain at the heart of the nation's deepest fears.
Non-white men dicking down white woman and then disposing of them (either by leaving while they're sleeping or slicing their throats, although Black men know better because history has taught us not to ever go down that route) ALWAYS gets the tisk-tisk, as they're sharping up the knives and preparing the hot tar.
This Hollaway chick is dead, and lost at sea. There's no other smart explanation, 'cause if she was kidnapped where's the ransom? Now because there are whites and well as people of color involved in the disappearance, the white kid (whose pop is a judge) is going to get the best legal defense... the Aruban niggas, shit they is going to be hung or keelhauled or thrown to the sharks -- whatever they do in that part of the world for the Death Penalty.
Still what's going to irk the fuck out of me is what little girl's face is going to be a banner-ad on the CNN ticker later this summer?
And is it going to be something with a person of color is involved? True or not! Remember that one crazy-ass white women who executed her kids, then said some "nigger did it", remember her? That's gonna happen again, mark my words!
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