Wading In

A contributor on www.democraticunderground.com has claimed that Leibovitz was copying a 1917 Army recruiting poster. Apparently, Leibovitz has based photos on previous works in the past . Here is the recruiting poster and the Vogue cover. You decide. I understand about stereotypes and the long history of an ape or beast used in reference to black men and black male sexuality but the thing is... I can't work up any outrage. There are real problems out there. And Lebron makes a good ape. Have at that white woman!!!!! LOL

My friend Joyce asked me if I'd heard about the controversy surrounding the Vogue cover featuring basketball star Lebron James and model Gisele Bundchen. I hadn't. Apparently some feel that the open mouthed Lebron James on the cover with the white model on his home evokes comparisons to King Kong and Fay Wray. Some people say the picture is racist and offensive. After viewing the cover, I think it's one of those cases where racism is in the eye of the beholder. On one level, putting a white model in the arms of a black athlete is inviting controversy. If you recall the controversy a few years ago when black WR Terrell Owens was paired with white Nicolette Sheridan in a promo during Monday Night Football, (Now granted the ad ran the same year Janet Jackson's nipple attacked America and everyone was pretending to be offended by anything remotely sexual, but many at the time felt black and white during primetime was what really set people off.) But the photo, shot by Annie...

Suisun should welcome Wal-Mart By Kelvin Wade | | March 27, 2008 15:58 The people pushing the Suisun City Council recall who say it's not just about Wal-Mart remind me of the Republicans in the late '90s who tried to convince us that Bill Clinton's Lewinsky scandal wasn't about sex. Don't be fooled. Suisun Mayor Pete Sanchez is absolutely right when he says that the recall effort is about Wal-Mart. This is about Suisun's city fathers who approved the galaxy's largest retailer to sink its tentacles into Suisun. When Suisun residents are faced with the petitions for the recall, they should ask themselves some of the questions that Suisun resident James Underwood posed in a letter to the editor on March 14. Have all the dire predictions of what a Supercenter would bring come true in other communities? Have they brought crime? Unmanageable traffic? Have revenues not met projections? What are their wages in comparison to other retailers? Don...

Treating folks with respect By Kelvin Wade | | March 19, 2008 21:19 Published in the Daily Republic I was prepared to savage pundits who believe voters are more concerned about Sen. Barack Obama's associates like the Rev. Jeremiah Wright than the plethora of issues facing Americans right now. A funny thing happened on the way to the keyboard. I listened to Barack Obama's heartfelt address on race. My own father was a complicated man when it came to matters of race. He grew up in segregated East Texas, graduated from San Augustine Colored High School and joined the U.S. Navy. He pledged to defend a country that at the time wouldn't defend his civil rights. He told me it was the best paying option for a young black at the time. Patriotism came later. In what might seem like a contradiction, my father revered Martin Luther King yet listened to Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad's speeches. Looking back on it, it's not so shocking. He knew the realit...

The Other Side March 13, 2008 Homeschooling: the zaniest idea ever by Kelvin Wade We’re all sickened by cases of child neglect and child abuse. But the California Second District Court of Appeals recently reminded us that there’s something else that should make us lose our lunch: homeschooling. The court affirmed California law which says that children must attend public or private schools or be taught by an accredited tutor. Believe it or not, there are parents out there who are so obsessed with their children receiving a quality education that they stoop to giving one to them themselves. That’s right. We provide beautiful, clean, gleaming public schools complete with the latest in modern technology, brand spanking new books, robust curriculums, overqualified teachers and a minimum of classroom disruption, yet these scofflaw parents thumb their nose at our efforts. How dare these homeschooling parents pay for public schools ...

Former Democratic Presidential candidate and Senator Gary Hart recently wrote an opinion piece decrying the Clinton campaign's breaking of an important, unwritten rule of politics: "One of those rules is this: Do not provide ammunition to the opposition party that can be used to destroy your party's nominee. This is a hyper-truth where the presidential contest is concerned. By saying that only she and John McCain are qualified to lead the country, particularly in times of crisis, Hillary Clinton has broken that rule, severely damaged the Democratic candidate who may well be the party's nominee, and, perhaps most ominously, revealed the unlimited lengths to which she will go to achieve power." When Clinton began taking this tack, I was stunned and couldn't figure out why she would do it. I couldn't remember a Democratic candidate or a Republican candidate vouch for the other side and slam one of their own as being unready. She can't win the pledged del...

The Clinton campaign circulated a photo of Barack Obama in Somali garb for one reason: to play to people's ignorance and fears. It was to remind voters that he's not like "us." It was to play into the hands of the lying emails going around saying Obama is a Muslim, attended a madrassa and doesn't believe in saying the pledge of Allegiance. I can see Karl Rove pulling this shit but a Democrat doing this to another Democrat? What if Barack did it? What if he circulated some photo of Hillary...let's say the one where she was hugging Bill in a bathing suit displaying her chunky thighs... Or what if someone decided to widen the photo to make her look heavier and washed out the color to make her look like Moby Dick? Would she put that behind her casually the way Obama didn't go after her about the photo? I think not. Let me show you what I mean....

Then there's the ad she ran in Ohio where they darkened Barack's face and stretched the film to widen his nose. She wanted white voters to remember that one of the candidates was the wife of a beloved President and could be the first female President. The other..was a nigger . The Washington Post reported exit polling from Ohio that showed 20% of non-college-educated whites said race was a factor in their decision. Look at it yourself. I'd expect this from the Republicans. Shame on the Clintons.

I admit it. I can't stand Hillary. I used to have so much admiration and respect for the Clintons. I still think Bill was a helluva President but watching them operate now...I just can't stomach them. I can't let go of the tactics they've stooped to in this race. To them, winning is everything. One of the things that ticks me off about her is what she did in Ohio. Check it out: Harper Aide Says Clinton Downplayed Nafta Criticism, CP Reports By Theophilos Argitis and Jonathan D. Salant March 6 (Bloomberg) -- The chief of staff to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that an official from Senator Hillary Clinton 's campaign told the Canadian embassy in Washington to take her criticism of the North American Free Trade Agreement with a ``grain of salt,'' the Canadian Press reported . Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said the campaign ``did not sanction nor would we ever sanction anyone to say such ...

Democrat fissures are obvious now By Kelvin Wade | | March 05, 2008 22:18 For Democrats, Tuesday was like Groundhog Day: six more weeks of campaigning. No one is more adept at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory as Democrats. While the Republicans are uniting, the Democrats are coming apart along racial, gender, age, economic and religious lines. Yes, the Democratic Party is becoming the Donner Party. Well off, college-educated Democrats, the so-called 'Latte Liberals,' vote differently than blue-collar Dems. Class fissures that usually only raise their heads in Democratic-Republican contests are alive and well in this Democratic primary with the well to do embracing Obama and working class folks choosing Clinton. Race has divided Dems. Hillary Clinton led Obama among African-American voters until Bill Clinton's tone and rhetoric, as well as the actions of black Clinton surrogates, pushed them firmly into Obama's column. When Bill Clinton made...