Oh, The Freemanity

Eliminating Evil: Getting over the urge to light up

noreply@blogger.com (Eric W. Freeman, Jr.) — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 02:01:00 +0000

I figured I needed to write all this down eventually. I'm trying to quit smoking cigarettes, and I need to talk about how hard this really is. It's torture, plain and simple.

Addiction to cigarettes comes in two parts: the nicotine itself and the habit. Eliminating nicotine from the system involves a steady process of confronting one's demons and figuring out the best way to control urges and cravings. It's not rocket science, but it is torture. For any who feel like they "know" something about trying to quit (without actually smoking for multiple years and trying to quit), you don't know. You just don't. You could be trying to help, you could be legitimately concerned about health, or you could have a personal experience that affected your point of view (like a death in the family), but unless you've tried to quit smoking after multiple years and even more packs and cartons, lay off.

This feels like I'm getting over a disease. And as the minutes go by, I realize that I really am.

Fifty more lessons learned throughout this year

noreply@blogger.com (Eric W. Freeman, Jr.) — Mon, 04 May 2009 12:14:00 +0000

50. Mike the Tiger can’t be fed in public because of “security reasons.”

49. LeBron James is the next Michael Jordan.

48. Twitter is evil.

47. iPhones are worse.

46. Smart phones were not made for smart people.

45. Talent isn’t skin deep. Yes, this one’s about Susan Boyle, the British singing sensation that looks like the offspring of Joan Rivers and Austin Powers.

44. It’s tough to talk when you’re teabagging.

43. Michelle Obama is — and should be — the hottest woman on the planet.

42. Short shorts with words displayed on the rear end will never go away.

41. Rap music is dying. Case in point: the new hit song, “Do the Ricky Bobby.”

40. Felons do the best work, as evidenced by their tireless efforts on Student Government’s Class Gift project.

39. Members of SG don’t realize how little they matter or how pretentious they are.

38. It’s tough to get to “The Next Level” when you’re at the bottom of the top tier. It’s even tougher to do “More” with budget cuts.

37. Crying gets you nowhere.

36. Hannah Montana is to America what hepatitis is to the third world. It’s curable and life would be better without it.

35. I’m kind of a jerk.

34. The Octomom is getting exactly what she wants in coverage of her lack of parental skill.

33. Sarah Palin thought about getting what she would outlaw across the country.

32. There’s no difference between Sarah Palin and the Octomom, only California isn’t dumb enough to elect Octomom governor.

31. “Scrubs” is dead.

30. “The Office” is dying.

29. For a hint into the stupidity of America, tune into any matchmaking series on VH1.

28. Jon Stewart is a better journalist than Sean Hannity.

27. Stephen Colbert, the current comedian, is a better journalist than Glenn Beck, the former comedian.

26. Rachel Maddow might singlehandedly save the value of cable news.

25. Chancellor Michael Martin looks more like the Monopoly Man than former Chancellor Sean O’Keefe.

24. Vice President Joe Biden doesn’t have a filter between what he thinks and what he says.

23. Neither does Rush Limbaugh.

22. Neither does Bill O’Reilly.

21. The Twilight series will destroy humankind before global warming ever melts us.

20. If you lived in Somalia, you’d be a pirate too.

19. Navy Seals are amazing.

18. If Al-Qaeda were smart, they would recruit geese.

17. America is only No. 1 in obesity and imprisonment.

16. Friedrich Nietzsche was right.

15. Martin Heidegger was dead wrong.

14. Joel Osteen missed the point.

13. The correct debate about torture is not whether those techniques worked, it’s whether those techniques were torture.

12. Ask the Japanese we executed after they waterboarded our troops in World War II.

11. None of us know anything, but we all share the same capacity to learn.

10. The truly wise questions. The truly dumb assumes.

9. Liquor before beer, never fear. Beer before liquor, never been sicker. Marijuana at all, you’re going to jail.

8. Bobby Jindal is running for president in 2012.

7. I’m not voting for him.

6. Neither is the rest of the country after his Mr. Rogers impression.

5. Capitalism is more dangerous than socialism.

4. Greed in a free society is more dangerous than piracy.

3. Taking a semester off from doing something you love to refocus study habits pays off in the end.

2. Taking a year and a half off school to refocus after tragedy pays off a year and a half after returning.

1. Fear the hat.

Twitter is fodder for 21st century misinformation

noreply@blogger.com (Eric W. Freeman, Jr.) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:37:00 +0000

How much twit could a Twitter twit tweet if a Twitter twit could tweet twit?
Apparently, not enough.

As social networking continues to remain the fastest, most efficient way to connect with friends and family, the newest craze in Internet information is Twitter. People on Twitter are given 140 characters to send a brief message, telling people anything from where they are to what they’re doing.

This past February, Compete.com named Twitter the third biggest social networking site on the Internet, just after MySpace and the reigning champion, Facebook.

Celebrities and politicians alike tweet what they’re doing, most notably the gaggle of congressmen tweeting during President Obama’s Feb. 25 address to the nation.

This isn’t a good thing.

The prompt for new users on the Web site labels the service as a micro-blog in response to a simple question: “What are you doing right now?”

But if you can see beyond twit level, congratulations. You don’t buy into fads.

The media, however, bit long and hard.

Most notable of the media twits is CNN’s Rick Sanchez, broadcasting his hour of CNN’s
“Newsroom” at 2 p.m. He dedicates his hour of news coverage to asking viewers to respond to stories he reports through Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.

CNN’s own breaking news Twitter was recently put to the test of gaining one million followers — those who follow the tweets of others — against the eventual Twitter champion, none other than Ashton Kutcher.

When Kutcher reached one million followers, he went on Larry King — who delivered some trash talk during the competition — and, along with Sean “Insert New Nickname
Here” Combs and Jimmy Fallon, talked about how Twitter has inspired a new generation of user-updated media.

When the Mumbai terrorist attacks occurred in India last year, it was Twitter leading the way, delivering information about the attacks to those who couldn’t rely on traditional forms of media for access.

But interactive reporting has its pitfalls.

This weekend, the world learned of a possible pandemic, in the form of a new case of swine flu. Twitter became flooded with information requests about the subject, comprising 2 percent of all tweets this past Monday.

The controversy spawned a debate on how health information is obtained and disseminated, as the PC World all of a sudden became at odds with the Center for
Disease Control and Prevention, the leading authority in tracking and accessing the threat of swine flu.

“This is a good example of why [Twitter is] headed in that wrong direction,” Brendon Slattery, contributing writer for PC World, said. “It’s just propagating fear amongst people as opposed to seeking actual solutions or key information.”

The CDC countered by praising Twitter’s online community for discussing the subject, meaning people held a vested interest in learning more information on the subject. The Center still advocates seeking help from established medical institutions for the most up-to-date and accurate information.

As the world becomes increasingly interactive, it’s tough to assess the difference between needless hype and genuine information. For all of the hype about swine flu, an estimated 36,000 people die from flu-related symptoms every year in the U.S.

“Bad news always travels faster than good news,” said Al Tompkins, who teaches broadcast and online news at the Poynter Institute.

What happened to the journalists in this country? Is the advent of social networking responsible for the decline and fall of credibility in journalism?

Are we all journalists now?

If so, I’ll call us exactly as I see us:

A nation of twits.

The planet is warming because fat kids love cake

noreply@blogger.com (Eric W. Freeman, Jr.) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:36:00 +0000

Do you like cheeseburgers?

If you do, you’re killing the planet.

A new study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine blames fat people for the increase in global warming, as increased energy costs for food production, increased carbon emissions and a heavier reliance — forgive the pun — on cars contribute more to climate change.

The study outlines the differences between the U.S. and slimmer countries like Vietnam, whose population consumes 20 percent less food and produces less greenhouse gases than the U.S., where 40 percent of the population is obese.

Food production alone is responsible for about 20 percent of all carbon emissions on the planet and will continue to get worse, considering the average body mass index continues to increase in America and the United Kingdom, where 25 percent of the population is obese and is set to increase to at least 40 percent in three years.

Less energy is required to transport skinny people, as fatter people are more prone to driving cars, increasing carbon emissions and furthering the death of the planet, according to an April 20 article in the International Journal of Health.

As one of those obese 40 percent, I cringe at this study. There’s nothing wrong with large quantities of beef. After all, this is America. But now I’m killing the planet.

I used to be comfortable with slowly killing myself and increasing a trend of undocumented workers in ungodly conditions to make the Whoppers I so regularly consume.

I used to be comfortable with the slow death I inflicted on myself on a daily basis.

Now, I’m being blamed for tsunamis, floods and Hurricane Katrina. It’s no secret America is the fattest nation on the planet. The Daily Reveille also reported Louisiana is the second fattest state in the country. But what difference can a nation that invented the Big Mac and the Super Size really make?

As inclined as I am to side with the Republicans — in that global warming is a myth Al Gore invented to sell movies and books — it’s tough to feel responsible for liking things that are delicious.

Message to PETA: Roul’s Deli is delicious. Also, I won’t stop ordering Mega Shrimp Burgers until they cease to be delicious.

In this instance, I’m more than willing to blame America first. After all, our obesity has gotten exponentially worse during the past 40 years.

When McDonald’s first opened, the “large” size beverage was 20 ounces. Today, the 20 ounce drink is a “small.”

As the standard of living in America got larger, so did our bellies, favoring the convenience of cheap, quick food in favor of locally grown, fresher alternatives.

Our own self-indulgence has led to new, thoroughly uninspired artery cloggers as the Triple Whopper, the 24-hour drive thru and, my personal favorite, Baconnaise. Thank you, Jon Stewart.

It’s OK to feel bad about killing the planet. It’s OK to indulge in guilty pleasures every once in a while.

But when a wall has to be torn out of your house so paramedics can transport you to the hospital after your heart attack because you can’t fit through your front door, it’s time to change.

I wrote a column last month about my ongoing crush on Michelle Obama and her new vegetable garden. I argued, “We can show the world we aren’t a nation of lazy slobs addicted to high fructose corn syrup as if it were crack.”

Now, it’s not just for us. It’s time to save the world — one celery stick at a time.

Prohibition didn't work once, isn't working now

noreply@blogger.com (Eric W. Freeman, Jr.) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 21:20:00 +0000

Raise your hand if you remember Chicago in the early 1930s, at the height of alcohol Prohibition.

The early ‘30s saw mafia warfare at its highest, featuring all-time highs in black market profiteering and bootlegging what so many enjoy on a nightly basis today.

Alcohol was prohibited by the 18th Amendment, but for the next 16 years, alcohol sales thrived underground while violence and murder rates skyrocketed.

Prohibition was eventually repealed in 1933 by President Franklin Roosevelt at the height of the Great Depression.

Yet today, the country faces another pandemic as a black market incites violence caused by demand of an illegal product.

Today, Americans want to smoke marijuana.

Over 100 million people, including President Obama, have admitted to smoking weed and another 25 million admit regular use over the past year, according to The Washington Post. Moreover, in 2007, 62 percent of those who admitted first-time use of the drug were under age 18.

Marijuana is by far the most commonly used illicit drug in the U.S., yet the substance itself stands alone in comparison to legal drugs like alcohol and tobacco.

In 2000, alcohol by itself, without counting drunk drivers, claimed the lives of 85,000 people. Tobacco holds a rate six times higher, killing 435,000 people, according to the Journal for the American Medical Association.

Not a single person has ever died from a marijuana overdose, yet 775,137 people were arrested for simple possession in 2007.

The momentum from the 1980s in fighting our “War on Drugs” has taken a different turn, as more and more citizens plead with lawmakers to produce legislation to decriminalize, regulate and tax marijuana.

Chairman Betty Yee of the California State Board of Equalization endorsed a bill in February to regulate the estimated $14 billion marijuana market, citing a potential income for the state of $1.3 billion. The $14 billion figure came from eliminating expenses in marijuana law enforcement and a taxation level comparable to alcohol and tobacco.

The state currently collects $14 million from marijuana dispensaries — marijuana shops legal under state law — a figure that will grow after U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced Feb. 26 the DEA would no longer raid them.

In the medical community, scientists have produced repeated studies about the benefits of marijuana, specifically for those who suffer from glaucoma, hepatitis, HIV/AIDS and certain cancers, primarily those who suffer from loss of appetite.

Marijuana legalization will not come easily. But leaders need to be more honest about the nature of marijuana and what it does to people.

The truth changes from person to person.

“The problem is that it’s difficult to tell what the effects of marijuana will be for any given person at any time, because they vary based on the person, their drug history, how much marijuana is taken, and its potency,” according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Obama recently addressed legalization in terms of stimulating the economy at an online town hall meeting in the White House.

After pointing out the weed question was the No. 1 most asked question in three different categories, including the economy, law enforcement and health care, he belittled the online audience and hypocritically dismissed legalization altogether.

If Obama was arrested for his weed use, he wouldn’t be president.

Instead of lighting up a substantive debate over decriminalization, regulation and taxation of marijuana, Obama ignored the plea of a nation dealing with border violence, overflowing prisons, crippling diseases and a stagnant economy.

Presumably he doesn’t want to be remembered as “the weed president,” but he shouldn’t worry.

We don’t remember FDR for legalizing Jell-O shots.

Student fees should be increased, called ‘taxes’

noreply@blogger.com (Eric W. Freeman, Jr.) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:32:00 +0000

Oliver Wendell Holmes never needed to go to the University Student Recreation Complex.

But the former Supreme Court justice did offer some enlightenment for the situation confronting University students.

“Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society,” he said.

Across the country, Wednesday’s “Tax Day Tea Parties” brought together thousands of people nationwide to protest what they called “wasteful spending” by buying millions of tea bags and throwing them all away. The message has to do primarily with government bailouts but, thanks to Fox News’ corroboration disguised as “coverage,” turned into a nationwide exercise in hypocrisy.

The looming budget cuts will wreak havoc on the quality of living, setting the University back “decades,” according to Chancellor Michael Martin.

As a result, students now face larger class sizes, the elimination of scholarships and higher student fee increases.

The first two would limit the quality of learning, but student fee increases should be appropriately named to reflect their impact on the University.

We should be calling student fees “taxes.”

And they should be increased.

I just lost most of you — I can feel it.

The traditional argument against tax increases is the prevention of the growth of businesses, reducing the number of jobs allegedly created by small and large business owners. In this case, government is likened to its own entity, scheming and plotting to rob everyone of everything from their money to their guns and, inevitably, their beliefs.

What was lost on the crowds around the country was literally surrounding those crowds, as the parks and waters, the roads and bridges, the municipal buildings and the police guarding them, were all funded with taxes.

Here on campus, we can eat lunch in the Student Union, rent books from a vast library, work out at the Rec and even get checkups and mental health examinations complete with support groups and wellness units, all from student fees.

But some students act like facilities at this University should just be given to them without any method of payment, though not necessarily on a silver platter.

After all, tuition should go for something, right?

Wrong.

Student fees, like taxes, go into what we will of them, and we make those decisions based on who we put in office. Mayor-President Kip Holden should be commended for the construction projects around the city to repair outdated and broken roads.

Anyone upset with construction clearly can’t see the huge signs displaying the total state and federal funds, under the eight-foot long caption, “Your Tax Dollars at Work.”

Much like those in Massachusetts, who recently agreed to raise taxes to provide health insurance for its residents, I’d like to think my sales and payroll taxes are going to provide for the common good.

Personally, I’ve been to the Rec exactly once but I am a regular patron at the Student Health Center.

As a student, I’ll take every advantage to visit a counselor to help with a stressful semester or advice in handling major traumatic events.

As a New Orleanian, I’m hard pressed to find someone who can legitimately claim taxes are unfair, considering the levees that broke in my city in August 2005.

As an American, I’m confused when the same people who rail against taxes implore their fellow Americans to support our troops protecting our freedoms overseas. Protesting against taxes and supporting our troops don’t go hand in hand.

After all, as the old adage goes, freedom isn’t free.

Gov. Jindal attacks Louisiana art, culture with cuts

noreply@blogger.com (Eric W. Freeman, Jr.) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 01:37:00 +0000

Louisiana wouldn’t be Louisiana without music and culture.

Arguably, no place possesses its uniqueness without some semblance of culture, but this state — and more specifically, New Orleans — wouldn’t be home to some of the greatest music, art and culture the world has ever known.

Obviously, Gov. Bobby Jindal either has no rhythm or has never been to Jazz Fest.

The biggest travesty to ever hit the state made itself known through Jindal’s 2009-2010 budget, which includes a debilitating 83 percent cut to a grants program that aids small arts programs across the state, along with a 31 percent cut to another program that assists local symphonies and theaters, according to The Monroe News Star.

The arts community wouldn’t let this stand, and they made their voices heard the best way Louisianians know how.

Hundreds of people took to the streets Wednesday in what was dubbed a “jazz funeral for Louisiana arts and culture.” Beginning in Lafayette Park, armed with drums, guitars and voices, the crowd mournfully danced through the streets and in front of the state Capitol in protest of the funeral of what makes Jindal’s home state as incomparable as it is.

In total numbers, the 83 percent cut seems small — a reduction from $3 million in funding to a little more than $500,000 — considering the $239 million expected cut in higher education.

But this struck a chord with Louisiana residents, who decided to do something about it.

Susan Brunner, art gallery owner and chair of the Louisiana Partnership for the Arts, told The News Star the 31 percent cut — $798,628 — from the $2.4 million Statewide Arts Grants would have a $4.8 million negative impact on state finances, while the arts and culture activities provide jobs to 144,000 people.

“It shows what a huge impact culture has on Louisiana,” Brunner said. “We bring money to the state. We’re the second largest employer in the state. There’s a $10 billion industry at stake.”

Ten billion dollars says Jindal’s never heard the Rebirth Brass Band rock Tipitina’s until four in the morning.

I doubt he’s ever even heard of Dr. John.

The governor doesn’t know what makes his state thrive. It isn’t the work ethic or the empowerment of working-class citizens.

Jazz great Wynton Marsalis knows what makes it unique, as he, along with pop legend Linda Ronstadt and opera singer Josh Groban, lobbied Congress on Tuesday for $200 million in funding for the National Endowment for the Arts.

For Marsalis, in the world of music, basic rules of math and science are out the window.

“One plus one equals three — me, you and the two of us together,” Marsalis told The Times-Picayune last week. “I’ve got my thing, you’ve got your thing and we come together.” It’s that intangible feeling we get whenever we go to Mardi Gras, dance in the rain or listen to anything from Fats Domino to the Funky Meters.

The jazz funeral shows our dedication to the lifeblood of our culture. Joyfully combining the sadness of losing a fellow friend with the greatness of knowing that person in the first place, jazz funerals are our way of saluting our dearly departed by saying, “It’s sad to see you go, but we loved having you here.”

Our music and culture are adventures in self-discovery, consuming our souls and spirits into one mean expression of life and heritage that will never be taken from us, no matter how big the budget cut.

Louis Armstrong once said, “My whole life, my whole soul, my whole spirit is to blow that horn.”

If Jindal knew anything about that, he would get off his high horse, stop trying to please his own supporters and show some real dedication to the state that elected him.

Unity ‘09, One Voice ‘09 betray tickets for political gain

noreply@blogger.com (Eric W. Freeman, Jr.) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:26:00 +0000

Student Government elections are all about empty promises and bogus campaign tactics.

Most of the empty promises I can live with. I didn’t actually expect SG President Colorado Robertson to follow through on his promise of a live, public feeding of Mike the Tiger.

But this election season saw a little bit of everything.

From a vice presidential candidate missing a live debate on TigerTV because of a sorority chapter meeting — that would be you, Laura Boggs — to the owner of a used car dealership with shady ties to a frat he left without the slightest bit of honor — hello, Ari Krupkin — I saw the best of the worst personalities on campus.

Friday saw the ugliest side of campaigning and the benefits of shunning an entire ticket for an endorsement with the potential for a staff position.

Both the Unity ’09 and One Voice ’09 tickets — headed by Krupkin and Melanie Oubre and Greg Upton and Boggs, respectively — endorsed Andy Palermo and Phoebe Hathorn’s
The Next Level ‘09 ticket for today’s run-off election.

In doing so, the four contradicted themselves in citing reasons as to why Stuart Watkins and Martina Scheuermann’s More ‘09 campaign didn’t merit endorsement.

“We have argued that this campaign is not about who has the most experience, but who is the most capable to bring about the change that SG needs,” Krupkin said, right before his running mate, Oubre, said she believed Palermo’s ticket has the most experience.

This happened right after Upton cited both Watkins’ and Scheuermann’s lack of experience in SG — despite his support for the novice Vice President Shannon Bates in their 2008 Foundation campaign.

This was after Boggs cited Palermo as the most experienced candidate.

Upton and Boggs have every reason to be bitter. After all, the pair almost contributed as much to their campaigns — $1,889.26 each — as the More campaign spent, $3,933.80, according to SG expense reports.

In supporting The Next Level, the former heads of Unity and One Voice decided to pretend their own candidates aren’t still in run-off elections today.

I would now like to pay homage to these candidates in today’s runoff, betrayed by the tops of their tickets.

From the Unity campaign:
Brandon Burke, Business vice president; Annie Jacobson, Education Senate; Adam Lagneaux, UCAC Senate; and Michael Jones, UCFY Senate.

From the One Voice campaign:
Ashley Johnson, Agriculture Senate; Brittany Bourg, Agriculture Treasurer; Sarah Bertrand, Agriculture President; Chaylon Brignac, Arts and Sciences Senate; Steven Belflower, Arts and Design Treasurer; Matt Babineaux and Beau Bebeau, Business Senate; Kelly Springet, Business Secretary; Katie Peaslee, Education Secretary; Beth Higginbotham, Education Vice President; Will Delaney and Steven Menard, Engineering Senate; Gabriella Arroyo, Engineering Executive Secretary; Blaine Fuselier, Engineering Vice President; Robert Ingram, Engineering President; Kyle Mancuso, UCAC Vice President; Brooke Story and Cody Wells, UCFY Senate; and Hannah Chambers, University Court.

A total of 5,467 votes were cast for the One Voice run-off candidates, while the four Unity run-off candidates received a total of 906 votes.

The Unity and One Voice campaigns officially sacrificed a total of 6,373, presumably in the name of their collective future.

By throwing these candidates off their already derailed buses, Unity and One Voice have proven to be anything but united or speaking in unison. They traded their tickets for whatever political gain Palermo and Hathorn can give — that is, if Palermo and Hathorn win today.

Congratulations, SG. You wreaked havoc on Free Speech Alley for the past two months in the name of your individual resumes.

No wonder more than 2/3 of this campus didn’t vote at all last week.

Michelle Obama has right idea about healthy eating

noreply@blogger.com (Eric W. Freeman, Jr.) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:32:00 +0000

I have a huge crush on first lady Michelle Obama.

And no, it has nothing to do with her beautifully sculpted biceps.

She has arguably the keenest intellect of any first lady since Eleanor Roosevelt.
Instead of engaging in the mainstream media’s desire to turn her into a fashion model,

Obama is using her talents and platform to preach a new message about healthy eating and lifestyle choices.

Did she rebel against 24-hour fast food eateries or criticize the makers of mass consumption foods?

No. She planted a vegetable garden.

Armed with shovels, rakes, pitchforks and fifth graders, the first lady broke ground Friday on a 1,100-square-foot, L-shaped patch of grass on the South Lawn of the White House.

The garden will include spinach, broccoli, at least four different kinds of lettuce and berries, and various other fruits and vegetables, including a beehive.

The 26 fifth graders from Bancroft Elementary School in Washington, D.C., assisted in shoveling up dirt, raking leaves and wheelbarrowing dirt into a central location. After finishing their work, the children were treated to apples, apple cider and cookies in the shape of a shovel.

This garden is the first kitchen garden planted on the White House lawn in 60 years.
The last first lady to plant a garden?

Eleanor — with her Victory Garden planted during World War II.

The first lady’s decision to plant a vegetable garden on the White House lawn — complete with a wish list from the White House kitchen in terms of fresh produce — comes at the same time as a disturbing report from the New England Journal of Medicine.

The study concluded African-Americans suffer heart failure at a rate 20 times higher than their white counterparts. It found heart failure rates for African-Americans in their 30s and 40s are the same as white patients in their 50s and 60s.

It also found one in 100 black men and women could develop heart failure before age 50, according to CNN.

This study frames the importance of the White House vegetable garden in a whole new light. It’s a symbol of sustainability — clearer than anyone testifying to Congress on C-SPAN and visible from E Street on the South Side of the White House.

And the garden idea has others jumping on the freshness bandwagon.
California first lady Maria Shriver announced on last Tuesday plans for an edible garden on the grounds of the state Capitol.

Both gardens have been championed by noted California chef Alice Waters, who has lobbied for a White House garden for the last decade.

“Fresh, wholesome food is the right of every American,” Waters told The Associated Press. “This garden symbolizes the Obamas’ commitment to that belief.”

In an age where we can order tacos, cheese sticks, bacon, egg and cheese biscuits and double decker burgers all at the same place at any time of the day, this new garden will send a powerful message about the benefits of local, homegrown produce — both in terms of physical and financial prosperity.

Locally grown fruits and vegetables are not only healthier than their canned and processed alternatives packaged in bulk at most supermarkets, they taste infinitely better and cost much less. The conveniences of the 21st century have allowed this nation — and this state in particular — to get increasingly fat, myself included.

But we can cut back. We can show the world we aren’t a nation of lazy slobs addicted to high fructose corn syrup as if it were crack.

With one day of hard work, Michelle Obama proclaimed it from the loudest megaphone in the world.

I love her.

Originally published in The Daily Reveille...

New tax creates Catch-22 triangle of death

noreply@blogger.com (Eric W. Freeman, Jr.) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 13:40:00 +0000

All smokers, huddle up.

What in the world are we going to do April 1?

Do we give up for ourselves, or do we give up on ourselves?

These are the questions we need to ask ourselves before April Fool’s Day when — like some sick joke — a new tobacco tax goes into effect to finance the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, known as SCHIP.

In signing the Children’s Health Insurance Recovery Act into law Feb. 4, President Obama expanded SCHIP — already covering 7 million children — to provide coverage for another 4 million children who have working parents and don’t qualify for Medicaid but can’t make enough for private health insurance.

However, to pay for this nearly $33 billion expansion of coverage, the tax on a pack of cigarettes will increase 62 cents, single cigars go up 40 cents and — for those of you saving money by rolling your own Joes — loose tobacco receives a $23.53 a pound hike.

The resulting dilemma apparently eluded the president when he said, in his remarks before signing the bill, “In a decent society, there are certain obligations that are not subject to tradeoffs or negotiations, and health care for our children is one of those obligations.”

By forgetting how we come closer to a decent society, Obama neglected to address how this bill would be funded, but he did promise to “tackle smoking and obesity and helping people live longer, healthier lives.”

Since the bill was signed, however, a backlash has been felt in many different ways.

First of all, most smokers live at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty line. This means the tax will adversely affect low-income families who statistically smoke and drink more often but still can’t afford medical coverage, according to the New England Journal of Medicine.

Secondly, although unintentionally, many states are impeding the flow of money to children’s health insurance by not allowing smoking in many public places. Under former Gov. Kathleen Blanco, Louisiana passed such a law in June 2006, preventing smoking in restaurants and bars whose primary income is food sales.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, manufacturers are preparing for a drop off in smoking because of people quitting to save money. Anyone purchasing a pack of smokes at any Baton Rouge Circle K knows this, as its cash registers currently feature a sign titled “DON’T BLAME US!!!” in explaining to consumers the changes in prices.

Companies including Altria Group, parent company of Philip Morris, as well as RJ Reynolds are increasing their prices in response to the tax.

“Cigarette sales have been declining in recent years. We don’t think it makes a lot sense to fund an important government program with a revenue source that continues to deliver less money than the year before,” Bill Phelps, spokesman for Altria, said to Bloomberg on Monday.

So smokers, I leave you to your best judgments. You really only have three options:
Stock up on as many cigarettes as you can before the federal tax goes up, which — coupled with manufacturer increases — will make cigarettes worth their weight in gold.

Quit smoking altogether and ruin the futures for millions of low-income children.

Or make a difference in some special person’s life and keep infesting yourselves with cancer.

After all, the garbage we’re spoon fed about how the children are the future — especially since real news is relegated to back page news whenever one of them goes missing — maybe we should act on it.

As California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger might say, “It’s not a tumah.”

It’s health coverage for millions.

Originally published in The Daily Reveille...

My 22nd birthday present — no more cable

noreply@blogger.com (Eric W. Freeman, Jr.) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:44:00 +0000

Before we start, let’s have a moment of silence for Molière, who died 326 years ago today.

Do any of you know how it feels to have the government steal the flavor out of your birthday?

I do.

Today, February 17th, is my birthday, and the government has been planning a huge present not just for me, but for everyone watching cable television.

Today was supposed to be the day the analog signal died as the country switches to digital television.

It felt good for a while to see commercials for the transition, especially the one where they display the date “February 17th” stretching across the entire screen over a major metropolitan skyline.

The voiceover would then bellow, “Are you ready for February 17th?”

It felt really good to know so many people cared.

Alas, it wasn’t for me — or Michael Jordan, Lupe Fiasco or Paris Hilton, whose birthdays also land on the 17th — it was for television.

Meanwhile, I finally have my own “less than 1 percent” issue to anger me about President Obama’s economic stimulus.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act — known to most as the economic stimulus package — provides an additional $650 million for coupons for those still watching television on analog sets. The digital converter boxes — between $40 and $80 — were initially funded by the Department of Commerce, but customers were still short of coupons, according to the Senate Web site.

The Department of Commerce reached its $1.34 billion spending limit, potentially leaving millions with snow on their sets after the transition. The House of Representatives followed the Senate’s lead in postponing the digital switch until June 12, saying many weren’t ready for the switch.

Regardless of the necessity of coupons, as anyone purchasing cable or satellite television is already prepared for the switch, another question is raised from the postponement of the transition.

Do we really need cable television anymore?

Aside from watching live news or sports events, there’s no point to watch cable in the Internet age.

Many Web sites, like Hulu.com, provide free television shows and movies with ads interspersed. As a product of last year’s Writers’ Strike, networks and Web sites have created a means for artistic products to be properly compensated with one 30-second ad between scenes.

Instead of a three-minute commercial break, viewers are treated to one 30-second commercial dividing the scenes.

With some appearing at least 12 hours before the original airing, major network Web sites stream their television shows on their sites with the same ad model, capitalizing on revenue from the ads and providing TV watchers a free, legal way to enjoy their favorite television shows.

This move in the correct direction will naturally reduce piracy, as many will log on to their favorite show’s Web site and watch it there, in lieu of illegally downloading the series from a torrent Web site and risking disconnected Internet or even a lawsuit.

In short, there’s no reason to pay for cable television anymore.

As pleasing as it may be to have Ren and Stimpy available on your DVR, chances are you can find it online for free.

Congress and the president should work harder to make this more of a reality. The Internet provides a tremendous boon in terms of consumer content, and our new direction should reflect ever-changing, yet ever-present, realities.

While I finally have an issue with an item in Obama’s stimulus package, he’s giving me a silver lining.

He’s signing the entire bill into law today in Denver.

On the 22nd anniversary of my birth, a new America is born.

Be sure to tune in.

Originally published in The Daily Reveille...

Hitting the bong was far from Phelps’ worst offense

noreply@blogger.com (Eric W. Freeman, Jr.) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:22:00 +0000

Olympic champion Michael Phelps got caught smoking from a bong at a party at the University of South Carolina. A picture of his alleged illegality was sold to a British newspaper, and immediately sent shockwaves across the world.

The terms “double standard” and “free ride” have been strewn about so flippantly — certain truths must be made clear.

First, Phelps didn’t win more gold medals than anyone else because of pot.

Second, Mary Jane is not a performance-enhancing drug.

Third, this isn’t the worst thing Phelps has done to his image.

Flashback to 2004, when Phelps, fresh off eight medals at the 2004 Athens Olympics, was arrested and charged with drunk driving after speeding through a stop sign. When pressed by the trooper to admit his drunkenness, “The defendant replied, ‘I know. I’m sorry. I was just scared because I have a lot to lose.’”

The fact that his DUI is seen as the second worst thing the Olympian has ever done is mind-boggling.

In 2006, nearly one-third of all traffic-related fatalities — a total of 13,470 deaths — were because of drunk driving, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. And we’re mad Phelps got high at a party, away from the road and children?

In his apology — the role model, not Phelps — for drunk driving, he said, “I recognize the seriousness of this mistake. I’ve learned from this mistake and will continue learning from this mistake for the rest of my life.”

In his apology — again, the role model, not Phelps — for hitting the ganja, he said, “I engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment. I’m 23 years old, and despite the successes I’ve had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner people have come to expect from me. For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public it will not happen again.”

I’m calling shenanigans.

Phelps is not sorry he hit a bong at a party.

He’s sorry he got caught and is now forced to feign an apology for the world and the millions of future swimmers he continues to inspire.

But this raises a question about the era of the role model in our 21st century world, where any escapade can be caught, filmed and distributed to anyone with an Internet connection within seconds.

We should not expect Phelps to “learn from his mistake,” especially considering the puerile criticism of Phelps more closely resembling the Salem witch trials than a criminal investigation.

When seemingly every major sporting event is sponsored by Budweiser, when Diddy can endorse Ciroc premium vodka, when everyone has a photo function on their phones, can we really expect every public figure to be held to the same inane standards in public now that their private lives can be displayed on the web quicker than Rosetta Stone can teach Chinese?

Phelps’ mistake was not hitting the peace pipe but being a world-famous athlete with an inherent responsibility to millions of children to act a certain way.

But even then, this doesn’t set aside the fact that Phelps was doing what more than 97 million Americans have tried, according to a 2007 National Institute of Health study.

The list of people who have tried marijuana include President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton, although not successfully — it only works if you inhale. According to Obama, “that was the point.”

No shortage of statistics exist on the fallibility of our marijuana laws, but citing these sources over and over again won’t change the disastrous results of our archaic drug war.

With law enforcement spending billions per year trying to fight this disastrous war, the pot industry itself — although illegal — still generates billions per year, with many wishing money could be taxed and given to the federal government.
Marijuana smokers could provide the single biggest stimulus this economy has ever seen.

Pot is only illegal because of the billions upon billions given to the pharmaceutical industry for less effective, still fatal drugs. Those drugs are getting weirder as well.

The FDA approved use of milk from genetically engineered goats to produce a drug to be marketed and sold in the hopes of preventing the spread of blood clots, according to The New York Times.

The next time you see a commercial for a prescription drug in which the narrator says, “A few studies, some fatal, have been reported with the use of this drug,” think about Phelps, President Obama and the rest of the 97 million of us prevented from using pot responsibly.

Would you rather illegally smoke an herb or legally take a drug made out of goat pleasure?

Originally published in The Daily Reveille...

It doesn't just work with any old black guy, GOP

noreply@blogger.com (Eric W. Freeman, Jr.) — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 16:30:00 +0000

Black Republican.

Two words seemingly as antithetical as “civil war” or “Christian scientist” now head the Republican Party, as Michael Steele was elected chairman of the Republican National Committee on Jan. 30.

Steele’s rise to national prominence began as the chairman of the Republican Party of Maryland. He was chosen to run for lieutenant governor by then-Rep. Robert Ehrlich against incumbent Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. Townsend’s candidacy was tainted by news of then-Gov. Parris Glendening’s involvement in a marital scandal and a very large budget deficit.

After winning the election, Lt. Gov. Steele then campaigned for Maryland’s Senate seat in 2006, only to be defeated by Ben Cardin in a very tough year for Republicans.

After spending time on the Fox News circuit — in which he guest-hosted a couple of times for Sean Hannity on “Hannity and Colmes” — he emerged as the RNC Chair, defeating Katon Dawson, a segregationist and a previous member of a whites-only country club.

It took Republicans five hours and six ballots to choose between a black man and a segregationist.

Maybe this is a new party.

In his acceptance speech, he pledged to “bring this party to every corner, every board room, every neighborhood, every community, and we’re going to say to friend and foe alike, we want you to be a part of us, we want you to work with us.

“And for those of you who wish to obstruct, get ready to get knocked over.”

Last time I checked, Democrats control both chambers of Congress as well as the executive branch.

One has to first pick their teeth up from off the ground and dust themselves off before they have time to knock anyone over.

Steele’s selection only magnifies the many problems the Republican Party has with recruiting and maintaining a minority base.

The GOP’s problems were exposed at last year’s convention, when the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies reported only 36 of the 2,380 Republican delegates were black, making it the most overwhelmingly white Republican Convention since the Joint Center began tracking diversity at conventions more than 40 years ago.

It’s no wonder President Barack Obama won 95 percent of the black vote in the 2008 election.

But the GOP continues to preach its long-standing commitment to diversity, continually citing themselves as “The Party of Lincoln.”

First off, a Lincoln Republican is more similar to an Obama Democrat than, say, a Reagan Republican.

Secondly, the Democrats and Republicans virtually changed ideologically in the 1930s and 40s, partly because of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal and a new era of liberalism within the Democratic Party.

In short, the Republicans ran out of good ideas.

While Obama campaigned under a 50-state strategy while seeing through idiotic ploys on the part of Republicans to bait the Democrats into saying something stupid — including John McCain’s idea for a “gas-tax holiday,” which Hillary Clinton fell for, hook, line and sinker — Steele was busy inventing the chant “Drill, baby, drill!”

Loosely stolen from the black power chant “Burn, baby, burn,” Steele invented the chant about offshore drilling — even though most experts agree drilling off our coastline will generate little to no impact for at least 30 years — and it became the beacon by which Republicans burned themselves on their way to an electoral embarrassment.

Steele’s election displays backwards thinking under which Republicans operate. Instead of good ideas, they yield to their worst instincts.

Republicans don’t need black leaders. They need actual leaders.

Originally published in The Daily Reveille...

Submit to the Googlezon early before it’s too late

noreply@blogger.com (Eric W. Freeman, Jr.) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 15:41:00 +0000

Welcome to the voluntary “Nineteen Eighty-Four.”

George Orwell’s epic novel, published June 1949, gave Americans an early look at the potential scope of government surveillance and power.

Sixty years later, we haven’t gotten very far from previously far-fetched ideas.

In the novel, the “Ministry of Love” actually tortured people.

Today, we have “enhanced interrogation techniques” at the prison formerly known as Guantanamo Bay.

Orwell inspired his own language, known as “Newspeak,” described as “the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year.”

Today, merchandise is a thing of the past while our terrible economy slows our “merch” consumption.

In the novel, we learned “Big Brother is watching you.”

Today, we have the Googlezon.

In a nine-minute flash movie, “EPIC 2014” produced a world where Google — with its incredible search algorithms and seemingly limitless storage space — and Amazon — featuring user recommendations based on previous page views and purchases — combine to form Googlezon, the last word in technology, media and social networking.

The Museum of Media History, creators of “EPIC 2014,” presented its picture for how the Fourth Estate — the press — would be toppled by participatory journalism, with unlimited help from the Internet industry, according to CNet.com.

We can already see the effects of participatory journalism. For a time, the only footage being released from the terrorist attacks in Mumbai came from uploaded cell phone videos posted on CNN’s interactive feature “iReport.”

Googlezon meets its final battle against The New York Times, whose case makes it all the way to the Supreme Court, where the justices rule in favor of Googlezon.

This clears the way for Googlezon to produce “EPIC” — which stands for “Evolving Personalized Information Construct” — paying users to contribute information they know, much like Wikipedia, into a central grid for the purpose of creating news tailored specifically for individuals, without any help from journalists.

Our fears about Big Brother are coming to fruition — only now it’s all of our faults.

Last Wednesday, Google released Google Latitude, which allows mobile phone users to share their location with their contacts. Working under the Google Maps umbrella, Latitude uses Google’s technology to judge a user’s location not just by GPS satellite, but by proximity to mobile phone towers and wireless networks, according to CNN Feb. 4.

It isn’t quite installing chips into people’s heads and tracing their every move, but it’s the next best thing, especially in an age where everyone and their grandmother has a cell phone.

My own grandmother, thankfully, has not upgraded from her home phone, though it is cordless.

In addition to Google Latitude, a rumor previously held only in the blogosphere is sprouting into an awful reality.

GDrive, still unannounced by Google, is presumably a service enabling users to access their PCs from any Internet connection. Some tech news sites are calling it “the most anticipated Google product so far,” according to Fox News on Jan. 26.

GDrive would shift away from normal operating systems in favor of “cloud computing,” where storage and processing is done in data centers, essentially making hard drives obsolete in terms of storage.

GDrive remains a rumor from the official mouth of Google, yet its plans are in the works. Brian Ussery, a blogger and director at SEO Technology at Search Discovery Inc., searched the code within a Google page and found the word “GDrive” within the computer code, according to Computer World.

While much of the buzz about GDrive is positive, many worry about the front it presents to the desktop computer and much bigger privacy issues involving the cloud capable of storing virtually all of our personal information.

“It’s clearly where we’re all headed,” said John Byrne, a senior analyst at Technology Business Research. “More and more of the services and features we’re used to getting on our PCs and systems will come from the cloud.”

I, for one, fear the cloud, but I have no alternative but to submit.

As students struggle about whether they should deactivate their Facebook accounts, the debate increasingly becomes a moot point as our social networks, search engines and online supermarkets become more entangled and integrated.

What works for Google and Facebook — their unlimited potential in terms of content and convenience — is exactly what will bring all of us down. Our complacency following the ease of all our friends, news and hobbies organized into one all-access grid will breed a new generation of blind acceptance.

This is understandable considering the current state of cable news, where a non-story can be overblown and dramatized with enough sensationalism that it captures our interests and eventually dumbs down our culture.

We have two options: Break free from the spell of convenience, or submit to the Googlezon.

Even President Obama couldn’t give up his BlackBerry.

I guess we’re all Screwgled.

Originally published in The Daily Reveille...

It’s cool, Chuck D, we don’t have to fight anymore

noreply@blogger.com (Eric W. Freeman, Jr.) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 17:01:00 +0000

“1989.”
Twenty years ago, Public Enemy simultaneously altered the faces of hip-hop culture and mainstream culture with its smash hit, “Fight the Power.” The song has since evolved into the standard for musical protest, joining the ranks of Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Rage Against The Machine, among countless others.

While the times have certainly a-changed for the better with the inauguration of President Obama, the song had less to do with the occupant of the White House than with much broader issues involving racism and racial discrimination.

For anyone blind enough to assume Obama’s inauguration fulfills the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King or issues a new, “post-racial” society, you are very sorely mistaken.

Setting America’s progress during the last 20 years aside, rap culture seems to have decreased at a rate inversely proportional with mainstream society.

In 20 short years, we have gone from “Fight the Power” to “My President is Black.”
Which, by the way, is my new favorite song.

Along with a phenomenally triumphant beat, the fact that Young Jeezy can say “My President is Black” and have it be true is enough to let me ignore the shout-outs to a blue Lambo with blue rims.

What was once a movement about artistic freedom and urban altruism has morphed into a feeble, sexist, homophobic and selfish genre, using whatever means possible to perpetuate stereotypes about rappers — in that they all like ice, rims, getting money and having sex with anything in sight.

I still listen to rap.

But much like Chris Rock, I’m tired and exhausted from defending it.

I can’t defend “If I take one more drink, I’ma end up fucking you,” the latest from Ludacris and T-Pain, the latter of which should be shot for turning the Auto-Tune into an entire genre.

I can’t defend “Wait Till You See My Dick,” even though SG’s Students on Target was good enough to give us the Ying Yang Twins at Groovin’ on the Grounds three years ago.

I can’t even defend another track from Young Jeezy’s album “The Recession,” called “I Put On.” I can’t defend him saying, “Hundred karat bracelet, I use it like some super bait.”

It’s gross and disgusting.

The only remedy for this situation is to take the route millions have already pursued, and it has nothing to do with illegally downloading music.

It’s called Pandora.

Pandora.com has revolutionized the way millions of music-lovers listen to music. Instead of letting MTV and BET tell us what to listen to and what makes “good rap” — which increasingly resembles emo music, since you can’t tell one song apart from the other —

Pandora users create stations based on an artist or a song.

This is how Aceyalone, Roots Manuva, The Crest and The Pharcyde all came into my life.

In terms of change, Obama himself put it best while on the campaign trail, saying “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”

There’s no reason why we can’t simply ignore the stale concentration of “misogofunk” emanating whenever MTV decides to actually air a video.

The last word goes to Chuck D: “We got to pump the stuff to make us tough from the heart. It’s a start, a work of art.”

Originally published in The Daily Reveille...

State-of-the-art venues lack history, alienate fans

noreply@blogger.com (Eric W. Freeman, Jr.) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 19:59:00 +0000

I’ll never forget the first time I walked into Wrigley Field in Chicago.

On the ground level, surrounded on all four sides by neighborhoods created out of love for the Chicago Cubs, the first thing that revealed itself to me wasn’t the ivy on the outfield wall or the perfectly sculpted dirt forming the infield.

It was the smell.

Like walking into an old saw mill, the aroma of history — combined with years of leftover vomit, beer and urine — wafted through the crowd’s nostrils with an equal tenacity toward support and admiration of the North Siders.

It was exactly what I wanted.

Regardless of the alleged curse currently haunting the Cubs — no World Series appearances since 1945, no World Series championships since 1908 — the fans of Chicago continue to sell out their most hallowed of grounds.

It’s a shame this trend looks like it’s over.

More often, sports franchises opt for newer, state-of-the-art stadiums in lieu of retaining emblems of their history, by far the biggest factor in establishing any type of home field advantage.

Entire generations of fans have looked forward to the day when they could introduce their children to the same, almost cult-like worship of their hometown team in their hometown stadium.

It’s exactly what pumped through my veins the first time I entered the Louisiana Superdome.

As a die-hard Saints fan, I can’t fully explain the meaning of the Superdome to anyone who hasn’t followed the sport. Others might think I’m either wasting my time following a “meaningless” activity or even suggest I need a little more church.

On Sundays during football season, the Superdome is church.

But like many other churches, the popularity of “old school” is being replaced with high-tech mega-behemoths.

Since 1999, 10 stadiums, labeled state-of-the-art, have been constructed for NFL teams. Two of those arenas house this Sunday’s Super Bowl participants, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals.

Both Pittsburgh’s Heinz Field, which hosts the Steelers, and Glendale’s more recently built University of Phoenix Stadium — housing the Arizona Cardinals — serve as a stark reminder of just how obsessed sports teams are, not with cultivating and nurturing a fan base but with eliminating any semblance of tradition and history.

The latest obscenity of technology lies in Indianapolis, as the Colts opened Lucas Oil Stadium for its inaugural season last fall. The project was estimated to cost up to $720 million, forcing local counties around the area to raise taxes to supplant the $100 million the Colts put up as a franchise.

Like most other SOTAS, the stadium comes with more than a hundred corporate suites.
ESPN.com’s “The Sports Guy,” Bill Simmons wrote a column last November about how SOTAS destroy home-field advantage by forcing its fans to adhere to the changes and to try to redevelop a tradition to last with the team. He verbalized his discontent by claiming Lucas Oil Stadium was nothing more than “the latest state-of-the-art football venue that seems much more interested in looking cool and making money over, you know, actually helping its home team win games.”

It’s this fear that worries me about the future of sports and, most importantly for University students, the upcoming baseball season.

There was no shortage of people attending baseball games at the old Alex Box Stadium. The University even holds the record for most in a season, with 291,676 catching a game in 2003.

The new Alex Box Stadium will house 8,500 seats. The old stadium eclipsed this number five times, despite its capacity of 7,760. It will feature more than four times more space dedicated to restrooms and 5,100 square feet for an arcade, suites, a club lounge and a hall of fame — all brand new additions to LSU baseball.

While 9-year-olds have the chance to ignore the game while pumping quarters by the hundreds into LSU’s Athletic Department, those of us with memories of LSU baseball are understandably miffed.

After losing the 2003 Super Regional to LSU, Baylor head coach Steve Smith commented on what made his experience at old Alex Box memorable.

“I want to commend what I truly believe may be the premiere crowd in all of college baseball — that is a special, special crowd out there. I want to say that the way the fans have responded all weekend to just excellence and outstanding play leads me to believe that they truly do appreciate the difficulty of playing this game. I’m glad to have our players play in front of a crowd that I truly believe appreciated their performance.”

Regardless of the distractions to the game, the fans are what makes a team unique.
Stadiums don’t make dynasties. They simply make money.

Originally published in The Daily Reveille...

SG class project beautifies ignorance of problems

noreply@blogger.com (Eric W. Freeman, Jr.) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:57:00 +0000

Three inspiring University halls will soon be shaded by stately, yet unnecessary oaks.

The area outside of Dodson Auditorium will soon host a brand new courtyard, complete with oak trees, a vast lawn area and a money-making scheme to perpetuate future senior class gifts.

Intended as a way for the class of 2009 to “leave their mark” on the University, the proposed Dodson courtyard will feature purchasable and engravable bricks, ranging in price from $75 to $100, meant to fund the class of 2010’s future project.

The courtyard raises many concerns, from the source of funding to the absence of a substantial idea to improve — not merely “beautify” — our campus.

First, the courtyard would only be accessible from the parking lot connecting Stubbs and Audubon halls to Lockett Hall. An area to relax in such a congested space will only intensify the foot and car traffic, creating many more problems in an already claustrophobia-inducing campus.

The parking garage — a long-awaited yet incomplete vision for decreasing traffic problems — includes moving the African-American Cultural Center and the Women’s Center.

Postponed by delays involving Highland and Pentagon dining facilities, the parking garage would also house the University bookstore, freeing up space for other student activities and organizations within the Student Union.

With the Union’s renovation behind schedule — now scheduled for completion in April 2011, according to a Daily Reveille report on Jan. 15 — plans for a parking garage are on hold, further congesting campus.

Second, the University was already aiming to renovate the Dodson courtyard into something more useful than a strip of grass with port-o-potties. When SG came up with the plans for the Class Gift Project, the University jumped at the chance to pass the buck to the students.

“The University was only looking for funding, and the students provided a real way to pay for it,” Dennis Mitchell, campus landscape architect, told The Daily Reveille.

The final problem is SG’s lack of interest in student opinion on how fees are used.

The Dodson courtyard idea was funded by the SG Initiatives Account and the SG Surplus Account.

The Daily Reveille’s Editorial Board endorsed the SG Class Gift Project after initial hesitance about spending more than $70,000 of student money.

“If SG has to spend $70,000,” the Editorial Board wrote Nov. 18 when the bill passed, “given the rules that attend student fees earmarked for SG expenses, SG often does have to spend that money or risk losing it — we’re glad the money will be spent on ... something tangible, generous and relevant to students.”

While criticizing the spirit of giving back to the University can be viewed as mean-spirited, the fact remains SG did not give students the option of spending this surplus money.

SG is remedying this handicap, following a cue from the Ivy League.

In a broadcast e-mail sent by the Student Senate Tuesday, SG asked for student opinion on how to spend $5,000 of student fees.

“Out of all of the ideas submitted, the Student Senate Temporary Student Initiative Committee will narrow them down and check to see which ideas are feasible. The 3 top ideas will be placed on the Spring Election Ballot, and YOU, the students, will be able to vote on which idea you want your $5,000 spent on,” according to the e-mail.

SG is coming up $65,000 short.

Real change to the University cannot occur with this paltry sum. But if a contest was devised to figure out a way to spend a substantial sum of money — like $70,000 — the produced ideas wouldn’t seem like a lazy attempt at leaving a legacy.

Most students are only concerned with earning their degrees and leaving the University to join the rest of the working world.

SG could make a counterargument, since many in the Senate could claim the body has every right to employ what it feels are the best wishes of the students.

Reality check for SG. The Senate has 14 vacant seats, according to the SG Web site.

No wonder student opinion is underrepresented.

Originally published in The Daily Reveille...

America will awaken from Bush-inspired nightmare

noreply@blogger.com (Eric W. Freeman, Jr.) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 17:05:00 +0000

Almost a decade ago, we stood at the crossroads of the 21st century. We were given the choice between the second-in-command to an adulterer and a man labeling himself a “compassionate conservative.”

Through the hardships associated with scandal, we chose the latter, wondering whether or not we would be satisfied.

But we were not satisfied.

We were not satisfied by the lack of eloquence, as new words like “misunderestimated,” “nucular,” and “Hispanically” forced their way into our lexicon.

We were not satisfied by the newest of these terms, “bushism,” defined as any statement uttered by a president with a less-than-exemplary command of the English language.

We were not satisfied when tax cuts to the wealthiest of Americans were delivered with the ease of hush money from the mob.

We were not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until someone holds those continuing to subvert our Constitution accountable for their actions.

With every fault, every screw-up, every assertion of righteousness, the fear of the unknown swept our collective consciousness, culminating in an attack on our homeland.

The 9/11 attacks served as a wake-up call to the realities of 21st century planet Earth.

The fact of the matter made itself heard, loud and clear.

America is not No. 1.

America is merely one of hundreds of countries worldwide.

America, however, wasn’t ready to throw down its guns and figure out pathways through the complexities of its new world. We weren’t ready to throw down our grudges and speak honestly about solutions to the new problems of our world.

We were merely ready to throw down with our world.

Combining our unrelenting rage with the administration’s unrelenting accusations about Iraq — with a pinch of journalistic ineptitude — Americans heard exactly what they needed to hear.

And by April 2003, we were a nation at war.

Consumed with the worst of ourselves, confident not in the arsenal of our virtues but in the virtue of our arsenal, we anxiously awaited the fruits of our military spending — financed with our taxes — exploding through the lenses of high definition in real time.

As the great Dr. King turned over in his grave, we ceased to “conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline,” but in the mud and the muck of our inner demons.

We had a nightmare.

It was a nightmare engrained within the fabric of our collective being, forged together by the slings and arrows of those who would deny other human beings their basic civil liberties.

It was a nightmare stretching as far as the Middle East, permanently scarring our vision for democracy, our love of freedom and the value of our fellow man.

If the nighttime is darkest before the day, the past eight years were the epicenter of a black hole.

But the dawn is coming.

The dawn of a new America will feature the birth of a new accountability, where our leaders will not be selected by the content of their last names but by the color of their imaginations and the strength of their moral fiber.

America will stress the virtues of reason, temperance and moderation, not the previously held convictions inspired by a generation of yes men.

America will reassert those basic claims of the value of mankind, however tired or vibrant, however patriotic or dissenting.

America will learn the true definition of patriotism — the marriage of equal parts praise and criticism, joining a shared sense of responsibility to our fellow brothers and sisters.

All of us, with the same hearts, lungs, kidneys and minds will embrace this new America, where being “proud to be American” falls flat in the test of honor.

We must be proud to be alive. We must be proud to be here, on this Earth we all occupy.

We must be proud to be human beings.

We have seen the disasters of our new world, from prisoner abuse to the politicization of an entire government department, from the evils of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay to the live, worldwide broadcast of an entire city’s drowning.

We have also seen our hailed free market philosophies make way for insatiable greed and unregulated self-indulgence, as the country shudders at today’s outlook had our president successfully privatized Social Security.

But the dawn is coming.

The dawn will feature a new interest in technology and science, discovery and patience, confidence and possibility.

The dawn will only come when we all wake up to it. When the nightmare fades into memory, our minds will clear the waste, leaving only the possibility to imagine what can be.

Dream at last! Dream at last! Thank whomever you want, we can dream at last!

Originally published in The Daily Reveille...

Always destruction of small businesses - always

noreply@blogger.com (Eric W. Freeman, Jr.) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:55:00 +0000

“They’re like locusts. They’re moving from planet to planet, their whole civilization. After they’ve consumed every natural resource they move on.”
“And we’re next.”

When President Whitmore’s (Bill Pullman) mind is ensnared by the alien kept hostage at Area 51 in the movie “Independence Day,” he is informed of the alien plot to take over and destroy the planet.

The movement he describes above could just as easily be applied to Wal-Mart.

On the one hand, Wal-Mart provides the lowest prices on so many goods to the point of giving customers a one-stop shopping experience, with everything they need from bullets and rifles to frozen turkeys.

On other hand, Wal-Mart sucks the life out of local communities. People routinely avoid their local small business in favor of the conglomerate’s low prices.

It’s bad enough only half of Wal-Mart’s employees have health insurance, let alone earn enough wages to support a two-person family.

It’s bad enough Wal-Mart is routinely investigated for, among other things, violating child labor laws, prohibiting the organization of unions and locations so close to national monuments you’d think they were their own emblem of the history and culture of an area.

But where else is one to go for affordable boxer briefs?

The largest private employer in the world was founded in 1962 by Sam Walton, who originally opened his store under the moniker “Walton’s Five and Dime.” He achieved early success by slowing his rate of price markup, routinely offering lower prices on goods and services than his neighborhood counterparts.

As Wal-Mart’s business model became overwhemingly profitable, so spread the building of Supercenters nationwide and around the world. In 2006, The Wall Street Journal estimated Wal-Mart attracts more than 100 million customers a week in the U.S.
Nearly a third of the U.S. population shops at Wal-Mart each week.

Criticism of Wal-Mart is not in short supply. In fact, the phrase “Criticism of Wal-Mart” has its own separate page on Wikipedia. Also, no shortage of documentaries, books and exposés exist on the subject.

PBS created its own debate about Wal-Mart in the 2007 documentary “Store Wars: When Wal-Mart Comes to Town,” in which they expose the retailer’s employee wage shortfalls. In the U.S., only the Federal government employs more people, yet the majority of Wal-Mart employees with children live under the poverty line.

Wal-Mart has been sued repeatedly for “predatory pricing,” or intentionally selling their products at lower costs to drive competitors out of the market.

A lawsuit in Arkansas, centering on Wal-Mart’s use of “loss leaders” — when a company encourages business by selling products at lower cost than their value — was settled by the Arkansas Supreme Court, who ruled in favor of the retailer, denying claims of predatory pricing.

Similar lawsuits in Oklahoma and Wisconsin were settled out of court, with no admission of wrongdoing by Wal-Mart.

During 2008, as many companies experienced lethal layoffs and abysmal losses, Wal-Mart was — for the time being — one of the few profitable companies in the world.

Fast forward to Jan. 7, when evidence of Wal-Mart’s influence on the entire world market inspired the Associated Press’s headline, “World stocks tumble on Wal-Mart’s profit warning.”

Wal-Mart slashed its fourth quarter earnings estimates after December sales rose only 1.7 per cent after fuel costs, much worse than forecasters initially predicted.

With the economy as bad as it is, many people last year turned to Wal-Mart for all of their low cost needs. Inside their halls, customers were treated to disingenuous signs like “Buy American.”

Considering Wal-Mart imports more than 80 percent of its goods from overseas — many produced in third-world sweatshops — it forces one to call shenanigans.

But the biggest problem with Wal-Mart isn’t the lawsuits, the allegations or even the price control.

Its biggest problem is guilt.

Even the most avid anti-Wal-Mart activists have to make signs and banners for their protests to continue the cause. Unfortunately, Wal-Mart provides the cheapest prices for markers, wood, paper and plastic.

Where do you think protestors go to purchase their anti-corporate materials? The place with the cheapest price, affording them more signs.

It’s tough to know the allegations against Wal-Mart and still utilize their low prices, contradicting everything they stand for. The feeling of shame associated with saving money regardless of moral and ethical dilemmas can drive people to the brink of insanity.

Instead, a solution to this problem was afforded by our reliable President Whitmore, saving us the time and energy of lobbying and protesting the corporate behemoth.

“Nuke ‘em. Let’s nuke the bastards.”

It didn’t work in the movie, but I can’t think of an alternative.

Originally published in The Daily Reveille...

Illinois surpasses Louisiana as corruption capital

noreply@blogger.com (Eric W. Freeman, Jr.) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 17:14:00 +0000

Living in Louisiana is a lot like being on Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras: none of the abundant, scandalous activity surprises anyone — only because everyone looks like they’re having a great time.

It’s a good way to describe the corruption in this state, although the corruption crown has shifted slightly further up the Mississippi River.

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested and indicted for trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat to the highest bidder. Blagojevich was quoted as saying, “I’ve got this thing, and it’s fucking golden. I’m not giving it up for fucking nothing,” according to wiretaps taken by the FBI.

In addition to threatening to withhold millions in Medicaid reimbursements to a children’s hospital if the CEO failed to contribute $50,000 to his campaign fund, the embattled governor is also accused of planning extortion and trying to force the Chicago-based Tribune Company to fire editorial writers in exchange for a tax break allegedly worth $100 million.

The Illinois House of Representatives impeached Blagojevich — 114 to 1, with one member voting ‘present’ — and at the time of this column, he awaits trial from the Illinois Senate.

In lieu of resigning his position, the governor instead appointed former state Attorney General Roland Burris, 71, to fill the vacant Senate seat. The appointment caused a predictable stir around the Capitol and across the mainstream media, as the race card once again showed its ugly face in the form of Rep. Bobby Rush, asking the media “not to hang or lynch the appointee as you try to castigate the appointor,” while calling the U.S. Senate “the last bastion of plantation politics,” according to The Associated Press.

The media circus sparked by Blagojevich’s actions brings Illinois — yes, Illinois — back to its true place atop the corruption echelon in America.

A columnist hailing from the home state of Huey P. Long and Edwin Edwards is claiming — nay, asserting — that Illinois was, is and will continue to be the most corrupt state in the nation’s history.

According to Time Magazine, Blagojevich is the first governor in Illinois history to be impeached but is the sixth Illinois governor to be subject to arrest or indictment.

His predecessor, George Ryan, was convicted in April 2006 on 18 felony counts, including racketeering conspiracy, mail and tax fraud and lying to the FBI. The former governor was exposed for trading truck operators’ licenses for political contributions, as well as exchanging government favors for family vacations, tickets to events and other gifts.

Ironically, when Blagojevich was elected governor, becoming the first Democrat to be elected governor of Illinois in 30 years, he pledged to end a “Republican legacy of corruption, mismanagement and lost opportunities.”

Illinois corruption dates back to the 1920s, when former Gov. Lennington Small was charged with embezzling over $1 million in state funds.

Small went on trial in 1922 but was acquitted and would serve seven more years in office, of course after giving state jobs to four jurors from the trial.

Otto Kerner was indicted and convicted in 1973 of bribery, conspiracy, income tax evasion, mail fraud and perjury, stemming from deals made with a horse racing association, promising favorable race dates in exchange for $356,000 worth of stock.

Dan Walker became governor the year Kerner was convicted but left office to start a savings and loan business, only to be indicted for making $1.4 million in fraudulent loans to provide maintenance to his private yacht.

After his death in 1970, former Ill. Secretary of State Paul Powell — no relation to Colin — had his house raided, only to find shoeboxes full of checks, totaling more than $800,000, made out by Illinois residents thinking they were paying license registration fees.

Also found in space he rented: 49 cases of whiskey, 14 transistor radios and two cases of creamed corn. When it was all settled in 1978, his estate was estimated to be worth $4.6 million, including $1 million in racetrack stock.

Considering he was in public office for 42 years, never earning more than $30,000 a year, Powell lived the fullest of his personal motto: “There’s only one thing worse than a defeated politician, and that’s a broke one.”

Only the coming weeks will tell whether Blagojevich will resign from office or be forced out by the Illinois Senate. But the day Robert Grant of the FBI’s Chicago office announced Blagojevich’s indictment, he said, “If [Illinois] isn’t the most corrupt state in the United States, it’s certainly one hell of a competitor.”

Bad news for Illinois: If corruption were a baseball player, Illinois would be Barry Bonds.

Originally published in The Daily Reveille...

Electing a Dream

noreply@blogger.com (Eric W. Freeman, Jr.) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:59:00 +0000

I'm only 21 years old, and even I never thought I'd see the day.

Maybe my standards of America are severely lower than most. Maybe I've bought into the pessimism accompanying racial divisions in America. Maybe I'm just naive.

I still believe November 4th was a dream realized.

We've heard stories of 100-year-old men and women wishing beyond wish, hoping beyond sane limits of hope, that America could possibly overcome a huge source of animosity and ambivalence.

If insanity is expecting a different end from the same means, those previously considered insane were released from the asylum.

Now a different notion surrounds me. In a class of mine, a new prism of racism revealed itself. It was mentioned, and later concurred, that it is racist to take pride in Barack Obama's presidency, thinking that our election of a "black" man both transcends and ends racism.

While I agree with this thought -- especially since Obama is a mutt, like me -- I find it somewhat condescending to criticize those reveling in Obama's presidency merely due to his race and not his policies. Personally, I voted for Obama because I read his book, The Audacity of Hope, and found it to be as close a referendum of how politics were, are, and will be in the future. I believed his message of bridge-building in any situation.

It reminds me of a scene from The West Wing. President Jed Bartlet (Martin Sheen), in the middle of a particularly busy day, sat in a meeting with essentially his ideological counterpart. The pair agree that President Bartlet is "a tree-hugging, baby-killing commie liberal," while his opponent is "a gun-totin', redneck son of a bitch," but the pair agree on campaign finance reform.

The "either-or" mentality that plagues most, if not all, of our political discussions have proven detrimental to the gathering of solutions. Americans have either been "pro-life" or "pro-choice," or even "pro-death," depending on who you ask. We're either pro or anti-gay marriage, pro or anti-capital punishment, pro or anti-the war.

One thing we seem not to aspire to, however, is pro-solutions.

It's easy to give a diatribe on "coming together" with "common hopes" and "bridge the gaps" to "strive for equality."

Using buzz words and phrases has always been easy than tackling issues head on.

And that last phrase is my personal favorite. I've always wanted to tackle abortion head on.

But in Barack Obama, we find the whole of America. With an exotic upbringing combined with middle-American roots and a penchant for knowledge and understanding, Obama's election was and still is a symbol of what Americans can achieve. Remaining complacent on this sentiment, however, will leave us with the same gridlock that has plagued our politics for decades.

Gridlock, though, is the balance that prevents potential supermajorities from oppressing the minority viewpoint. Consult Alexander Hamilton if you're confused. Stagnancy is what prevents our democratic republic from becoming an aristocracy, or even a totalitarian state.

So to those fearful of the future, for those excited at the prospect -- and in January, the reality -- of an Obama presidency, for all of us, please follow these four steps:

1. Read The Audacity of Hope.
2. Look inside yourself for the issue you feel the most passionate about, and try to find someone who completely disagrees. (For traditional conservatives out there, just find me. Chances are we disagree on something.)
3. Start a debate.
4. After the issue is exhausted, given you haven't cursed out your opponent, thank the other, and invite them to continue exploring the issue further.

Politics aren't meant to be scary. They also aren't meant to be handled by "someone that really cares about that thing or whatever." Politics involve both the best and the worst of all of us. Freedom and equality provide us the opportunity to debate.

So please join me and President-Elect Obama in this, the limitless pursuit of a dream realized.

Yes, oh yes, we can. More than that, we should.

And we will.

What "RNC" Really Means

noreply@blogger.com (Eric W. Freeman, Jr.) — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 04:05:00 +0000

Stephen Colbert's description of the 2000 Republican National Convention.

"Well Jon, as a journalist I have to maintain my objectivity, but I would say the feeling down here was one of a pervasive and a palpable evil. A thick, demonic stench that rolls over you and clings like hot black tar. A nightmare from which you cannot awaken. A nameless fear that lives in the dark spaces beyond your peripheral vision and drives you toward inhuman cruelties and unspeakable perversions. The delegates' bloated pustulant bodies, twisting from one obscene form to another, giant spider shapes and ravenous wolf-headed creatures, who feast on the flesh of the innocent and suck the marrow from the bones of the poor. And all of them driven like goats to the slaughter by their infernal masters on the podium. Known by many names: Beelzebub, Baalzebul, Mammon, Abaddon, Pharatus, Asmodius, Satan, Lucifer, Nick, Old Scratch, The Ancient Enemy and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. This is Hell, Jon, where the damned languish forever in a black flame that gives no heat, sheds no light, yet consumes the flesh forever and will not go out, Jon."

Noose outlawed in La., Confederate flag should follow

noreply@blogger.com (Eric W. Freeman, Jr.) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 05:05:00 +0000

Hundreds of new laws went into effect Aug. 15. Louisiana became the 50th state to ban cockfighting while the fleur-de-lis became an official state symbol.

It is now illegal for a noose - whether actual or drawn - to be displayed publicly with intent to intimidate, punishable by up to a $5,000 fine or imprisonment of no longer than a year.

The law defines a noose as "a rope tied in a slip knot, which binds closer the more it is drawn, which historically has been used in execution by hanging, and which symbolizes racism and intimidation." Louisiana is now the third state, after Connecticut and New York, to ban the noose.

The noose always symbolizes intimidation; hanging it at all demonstrates the intent to intimidate.

This rationale applies to the Confederate flag.

In my eyes, the noose and the flag only differ in symbolism because the noose is the actual weapon used to lynch.

But the flag has long been defended as a symbol of Southern pride. "The flag is seen by some Southerners simply as a symbol of Southern pride, [but] the flag is often used by racists to represent white domination of African-Americans," according to the Anti-Defamation League, which lists the Confederate flag as a hate symbol.

The "pride" some Southerners are adamant about perpetuates the stereotype the Confederacy was established on - that whites and blacks are not equal. Tailgaters who support the purple and gold Confederate flag will stop at nothing to argue otherwise, pretending this symbol of "pride" is not at its core racist and intimidating.

Don't take my word for it - consult the Cornerstone Speech of Alexander Stephens, the only vice president the Confederate States of America ever knew. His speech in Savannah, Ga. in March 1861 defined the foundation of the Confederacy.

"Those ideas [of the U.S. Constitution] were fundamentally wrong … Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery - subordination to the superior race - is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth."

For the record, it was also the last.

"It is, indeed, in conformity with the ordinance of the Creator," Stephens continued. "It is not for us to inquire into the wisdom of His ordinances, or to question them. For His own purposes, He has made one race to differ from another."

The noose law slipped through the House and Senate unanimously, with eight legislators absent from voting. The author of the bill, Rep. Rickey Hardy, D-Lafayette, expressed his joy in the bill's passing to The Daily Advertiser on June 17.

"[Passage of the bill] really shows the heart and mindset of the state has changed," Hardy said. "I hope no one will be prosecuted under this law. We should not fight but do what's right."

Gov. Bobby Jindal signed the law as a disingenuous attempt to resolve the controversy involving the Jena 6. Presumably, Jindal would not want to appear racist by vetoing this feel-good legislation.

But by its mere definition as a "symbol of racism and intimidation," if the noose is now illegal to display, why stop there? Why can't we ban every symbol of racism and intimidation?

More importantly, how many people does it take to classify something as intimidating? If one person - say, myself - finds the Confederate flag intimidating, which I do, can we successfully ban it?

But then again, can we successfully ban anything? Alcohol was banned during Prohibition in 1920, forcing bootleggers to work underground until 1933 when the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution repealed the 18th.

Marijuana is still banned by federal law, yet according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, 94 million Americans, nearly one-third of the population, have admitted to marijuana use at some point in their lifetimes.

It's one thing to ban an herb. It's another to ban a symbol of an ideology, which - when pushed underground - forces zealots to educate by example, indoctrinating intolerance in their children.

This example has already been seen through egregious acts across the country.

Last Thursday, 19-year-old Jeremiah Munsen was sentenced to four months in prison for disrupting Jena 6 demonstrators in Alexandria. Munsen drove his pickup, with nooses in tow, back and forth in front of demonstrators.

According to the Associated Press, he pled guilty to a misdemeanor federal hate crime, which carried a maximum sentence of one year in prison. Munsen has a KKK tattoo on his chest, as he and his family are members of the Ku Klux Klan. Brass knuckles and an unloaded rifle were also found in his truck, according to the police report. The noose law was not instituted at the time of his arrest.

In education we find the secret to creating a culture of acceptance, unfortunately coupled with the secret to breeding future agents of racism and intimidation. The last sentence of every flier distributed by the Imperial Klans of America (IKA), the largest current Klan organization in America, implores the importance of "proper" education.

At the end of its fliers, the IKA pleads, "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children."

While the noose and the Confederate flag are vile, despicable symbols of our nation's history of hatred, they are also constitutionally protected pieces of speech.

However horrible the noose is, its ban will only encourage those who wish to display it to do exactly that, claiming free speech while ignoring the hatred sparked by its display.

Pretending to dismiss a symbol by banning its display only encourages said use, only less publicly.

The law cannot afford liberties to one symbol of racism and intimidation while banning another. Either the Confederate flag should be banned, or the ban of the noose should be lifted. In either case, we have a responsibility to teach our children exactly what happened in our history and why.

Banning a noose will not end racism, but teaching and spreading the truth will.

While tailgaters fly the purple and gold, and racist, Confederate flag, I'll be getting a tattoo of a fleur-de-lis. That's Southern pride.

And for any of you who wish to display your racism publicly with intent to intimidate but fear imprisonment, don't fret. There's no law against making a noose out of a Confederate flag.

Yet.

Originally published in The Daily Reveille...

Bernie Mac, Isaac Hayes redefined the words "Soul Men"

noreply@blogger.com (Eric W. Freeman, Jr.) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 04:20:00 +0000

"Who's the black private dick that's a sex machine to all the chicks?"

"You don't understand. I ain't scared of you motherfuckers!"

Those were the first words uttered to me by Isaac Hayes and Bernie Mac, respectively. One introduced himself to me on Def Comedy Jam, while the other donned an apron and served knowledge as a cartoon cafeteria chef after a career defining what and how soul music sounds.

Both, however, influenced my life in ways I can't imagine.

This past weekend, however, the two lost their lives: Mac succumbing to a complication from pneumonia, while Hayes was found unconscious next to a still-running treadmill. Both dispensed wisdom as filthy as a drunken sailor's on shore leave. But while the pair made me laugh, both Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes were born entertainers, destined to make people smile with their evolving senses of performance.

This fall, the two will shine together for the final time, co-starring alongside Samuel L. Jackson in the upcoming film, "Soul Men." As the story goes, Jackson and Mac are two estranged soul-singing legends who go twenty years without a word to each other. The pair are forced to rally together at a reunion performance at the Apollo Theater when a fellow band member (John Legend) suddenly dies.

On August 9th, Jackson remembered Bernie Mac, reported in the Shreveport Times, the paper from a city where "Soul Men" was shot. "I feel blessed to have shared years of friendship with Bernie Mac," Jackson said. "I'm honored to have finally co-starred with him in what I consider to be his finest cinematic acting achievement."

The title of the article read "Samuel L. Jackson lauds Bernie Mac." Now, most assuredly, he lauds them both.

Already on the internet, the blog-o-sphere has ruptured wide open about a conspiracy involving the trio, with many suggesting that Jackson watch himself. It's that exact kind of thinking that A) you clicked on to get to this blog by Googling "bernie mac isaac hayes samuel l. jackson conspiracy," and B) does irreparable damage to the legacies of all three of these men. These two tragedies were mere coincidence, and to elaborate any further on the causes shows true ignorance coupled with severe lack of respect.

However, the pair are no strangers to controversy, no matter how inane and childish the claims may be. Take, for instance, Mac's joke at an Barack Obama fundraiser (at $2300 a plate, I might add) that led the presumptive nominee to rebuke the comedian's joke. The joke itself isn't new to the world; in fact, I'd heard a version of the joke before I'd heard of Bernie Mac. But it was apparently controversial enough to force people at the dinner to walk out, briefly shining a negative spotlight on Obama for not having YouTubed Mac's stand-up sooner.

Hayes earned himself a similar, equally perplexing, black mark when he left the cast of "South Park" after Trey Parker and Matt Stone ran an episode poking fun at the soul singer's religion of Scientology. Regardless of your feelings of the religion, Hayes has a constitutionally-protected right to worship as he chooses, and Parker and Stone showed a severe lack of class by dehumanizing Hayes's faith, especially after Hayes established himself as one of the most memorable cartoon characters in history as South Park Elementary's "Chef."

Regardless, these minor squabbles with the increasingly disingenuous P.C. police will not have the slightest place in the history of these two pioneers. More people, I guarantee you, will remember that Isaac Hayes wrote the classics "Soul Man" and "Hold On, I'm Comin" for the soul duo Sam and Dave. More people will recognize Bernie Mac's unrelenting wit combined with his no-nonsense approach to life, specifically on his Peabody-Award winning sitcom "The Bernie Mac Show," where he models his own life experience taking in his sister's three children.

When it comes to seeing the world from a pessimistic eye, Mac explained it best while having microphone trouble on stage during his smash "The Original Kings of Comedy:" "What type a shit is this?"

They complemented each other in style and in performance. Mac was in your face, helping -- nay, forcing -- you to see the world with a new lens, while Hayes's sultry baritone voice soothed any ill, ranging from impotence to general uncertainty. No matter how Mac's fiery commentary of the world and the minor nuances of life prepared you with laughter, you would be prepared enough before you took your partner home, lit the candles and put on Hayes's second album, "Hot Buttered Soul," for some all-night passion.

The loss of these two giants have left all of our souls wondering. Whether it be wondering about the future or whether or not their creative insight and relentless delivery will ever be replicated. It may be duplicated, but never as authentic or as revolutionary. Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes were two of the men I'd always seen myself emulating, whether in style or in fearlessness. But one thing is for sure: the world will never forget them, and the world will never see another pair quite like them.

For a while at least, all of our souls need a little mending.

Play these two videos at the same time. Start with the bottom one first and let them sink in.

The YouTube Chronicles, VII

noreply@blogger.com (Eric W. Freeman, Jr.) — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 01:10:00 +0000

Bill O'Reilly's flip out has got nothing on this crazy psycho.