Red Tails Most Expensive After School Special Ever Made

Red Tails is without a doubt the most expensive ABC after school special ever made. I went home after seeing it and immediately downloaded A Soldier’s Story from Amazon to flush Red Tail’s god awful dialogue out of my head. I guess I’m supposed to be pleased that George Lucas poured over $100 million dollars of his own money into this project when Hollywood studios kept vetoing his fictional depiction of the exploits of a squadron from the all black 332^nd Fighter Group. I am certainly happy that the actors found paying jobs in an industry that has very few roles for black men. If the Oscars had a category for “historical feature film about the military with the least amount of profanity”, this movie would win hands down.

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Red Tails Most Expensive After School Special Ever Made | Resurgence | Big Think

Will Angry White Man Performance Win Gingrich GOP Nomination?

S. rarely says much about current events when we get up in the morning. But today she was visibly agitated over the visual of the group, comprised largely of white men, who stood up and clapped when Newt Gingrich angrily put the CNN debate moderator in his place last night. If Gingrich’s goal was to be the only topic of conversation going into the South Carolina GOP primary on Saturday, then he performed beyond expectations. His televised histrionics, which will be played and replayed endlessly over the next two days, might even help him win the South Carolina primary.

But is being the angry white man in the race enough of an asset for Gingrich to win the nomination?

Will white Republican women identify with Callista Gingrich, who carried on a six year affair with her now husband when he was married to someone else, as their idea of a future First Lady? Will conservative women who have been replaced by trophy wives after helping their husbands stay afloat during their lean years be able to push the button for a man who made over $3,000,000 last year but only paid $19,800 in alimony to his ex-wife? As a woman on Twitter succinctly puts it, “the average person cannot relate to ‘a devout catholic mistress’.”


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Will Angry White Man Performance Win Gingrich GOP Nomination? | Resurgence | Big Think

Media Gives GOP Race Baiting A Free Pass

Rick Santorum gives me the impression that if he was on Mars, campaigning for the Martian vote, he would still find a way to blame black Americans for taking the tax dollars of white Americans. I don’t know what kind of constituencies Santorum is used to representing, but out here in real America, nobody is buying his “I must have said ‘blah’” bullshit. If you’re going to race bait, Mr. Santorum, be a man about it like your opponent Newt Gingrich. After all the racial fear mongering of Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, and the 70’s version of Ron Paul last week, it took a coupld of doses of the James Brown classic “Say It Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud)” for me to get my equilibrium back.

But why do these guys do this and think they can get away with it? Because the news media is full of punks and pontificators who heartily embrace this notion of a public figure “walking back” a statement, a handy Media Mulligan that allows these candidates to make all sorts of reprehensible comments, confident that they will be able to deny their own words and get a do over later. The Fourth Estate has shirked its duty to hold the feet of those who govern or wish to govern to the fire, preferring instead to be considered as a an adjunct PR department for the candidate’s campaigns.


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Media Gives GOP Race Baiting A Free Pass | Resurgence | Big Think

Is Iowa Caucus Relevant Without Minority Participants? | Resurgence | Big Think

The America I live in is not 90% white. The America I live in does not have more hogs than people. The American I live in does not have 60% of the electorate who describe themselves as evangelical Christians. While I can understand the media’s need for nostalgia, and our own American reverence for rituals, I have never quite been able to discern why the political preferences of Iowans should have any relevance for the rest of us.

“The prominence and first-in-nation position of Iowa and New Hampshire do elevate white primary voters over non-white ones, and in both parties,” says Thomas Schaller, a professor of political science at University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Why (Very White) Iowa and New Hampshire Mean So Much in Politics

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Is Iowa Caucus Relevant Without Minority Participants? | Resurgence | Big Think