Obviously it is newsworthy if I post on a Friday instead of my regular Sunday and Wednesday (did any of you realize I had a schedule?)

It seems Juan Williams of National Public Radio fame had spent too much time over at Fox News commenting on the news of the day and has now lost his contract with NPR.  For those readers outside the country, NPR is funded in part by the government and some will say it is the only way liberal radio can survive.  Of course Fox News is deemed a branch of the right wing conservative movement so you can see the rub.

It is interesting that NPR would use the excuse that their reporters and analysts are not supposed to provide personal opinion but rather merely ask questions.  You can make your opinion known simply by editorial decisions on editing, who to interview and how you ask questions.

In the end, Juan ends up with a $2 million contract from Fox News so we won’t be seeing him on the unemployment line.

Today’s editorial cartoon was inspired by national radio host, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, who announced on Larry King last week that she was going to quit her show at the end of her contract (in four months) because she felt her free speech was being limited.  Seems few would accept her apology on the air for not only dropping the n-bomb multiple times during a call but actually told a black female caller that maybe she shouldn’t have married outside her race if she was “hypersensitive about color and don’t have a sense of humor.”

Now one thing I agree with Dr. Laura in her announcement to Larry King was when she used the phrase, “Debate don’t Eradicate” when it comes to speech you don’t believe in.  I think people tend to focus too much on what everyone else is doing and not enough on dealing with their own racist beliefs.  So if I can call you out as a racist before you can do it to me, I win because no one wants to defend themselves after being called a racist.

HOWEVER,

A.  Read the transcript of the call.  Not once did the caller ever get to finish any point because Dr. L constantly cut her off and didn’t listen to her entire example or point.  I get that radio hosts have to move things quickly but don’t complain about having your speech limited when you are in the power position.

B.  READ the TRANSCRIPT.  The arrogance that some people have that they assume with the power the hold.  Oh my.

C.  She was planning on not extending her contract prior to this incident.  So this just looks like grandstanding to me.

D.  She mentioned to Larry that even without radio she still has her website, podcasts, YouTube, books (and not mentioned were her speaking engagements) so is her speech really being limited?

E. Just because you have a 1st Amendment right to Free Speech in the United States, do NOT mean I can’t have an opposing opinion.  Yet people only think Free Speech applies to themselves and not the other guy.

It seems Mel Gibson’s mouth is its own Lethal Weapon.  He played an incredibly convincing guy that was on the edge of sanity along with his cop partner played by Danny Glover.  But the real Gibson seems more off his rocker than the character Riggs.

In 2006, an inebriated Mel went off on a cop in an antisemitic rant.  Gibson apologized and blamed alcoholism on the remarks.  The public forgave him and in a poll only 6% said they would not see him in a future movie.

Well now it seems, he has done it again.  In taped conversations, Gibson is heard telling baby mama Oksana:

“You look like a f—ing pig in heat, and if you get raped by a pack of n—-rs, it will be your fault.”

Will those who rushed to defend him three years ago be back?  Will other’s jump on the bandwagon to call for his excommunication from the Hollywood community?  Thoughts?

I have stated on the web months ago that the Tea Party Movement needs to keep in check the fringe element that continues to attend their rallys spurring hatred versus discourse.   And with the Republican party leaning heavily on the momentum of the Tea Party, they have not done a good enough job vetting the folks that claim to be a part of it.

Now we have stories of  people in Tea Party protests yelling “nigger” as Rep. John Lewis walks by among other things.   Before people think I am calling every Tea Party member or every Republican a racist, I am not.  I honestly believe there are no more racists in the Republican Party than the Democratic Party.  HOWEVER, there has for the past 40 plus years a perception that Republicans are more heavily racist.  So they should be extra careful with whom they associate.  As for the Tea Party, not only the leadership needs to come out strongly and consistently against this fringe element but the rank and file members need to weed out the haters and the racists. 

Why?  Because now no one is talking about any potential arguments you may have against the healthcare bill; they are talking about how racist you are.  And like in the cartoon, you are letting the fringe element define your agenda and others perception of you.

Now my Australian readership (which is about half the visitors on this site) might take offense to my latest editorial cartoon, but remember I poke fun at Americans all the time.

It seems that when some guys did a blackface version of the Jackson 5 on an Australian Gong Show and guest judge Harry Connick Jr found it offensive, some (not ALL…some) Australians responded that blackface isn’t offensive like it is in the United States.

Then when KFC put out an ad where a white guy gets a bunch of black folks to sit down so he could watch the game by pulling out a bucket of chicken, some Australians responded that Americans took it wrong and it isn’t offensive like it is in the United States.

Now it seems that an Indian cartoonist got upset that Victoria police were slow to indicate that the murder of an Indian student in his belief was a race crime.  So he published a cartoon in the Delhi Mail Today of a Victorian Police officer in a Ku Klux Klan outfit.  Now the Acting Prime Minister of Australia has come out and said that the cartoon was offensive.  Really??  The KKK as I understand is strictly an American racist organization so clearly it can’t be offensive like it is in the United States.

Thanks to the Daily Cartoonist for turning me onto this story.

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I remember growing up having the Talking Adventure Team Commander doll (yes I am man enough to call it a doll…the word “action figure” hadn’t been discovered).   So imagine my surprise when the cartoon came out and the commander was WHITE.  WTF?

Then comes the first Batman movie.  Who played Asst DA Harvey Dent in that movie?  Anyone?  Anyone?  Billy Dee Williams.  For those not following along Harvey Dent is the guy that turns into Two Face.  So what happens.  Batman 3 comes out and Billy Dee is dissed for Tommy Lee Jones.  So he is good enough to sell Colt 45 but not play a villian.

Since the era of the blaxploitation movies, the only time there seems to be a black hero is when there is a African American producer or director (Robert Townsend (Meteor Man) or Kenan Ivory Wayans (I’m Gonna Get you Sucka))  But even those remain in the comedy genre.  And please don’t pull out Shaq in Steel.

Samuel L. Jackson seems to be the only guy who can get continuous work in the realm of hero movies. 

• Die Hard with a Vengeance
• Star Wars (even though it wasn’t anything close to a main character)
• Shaft
• Unbreakable (even though it was a crappy movie)
• SWAT
• Snakes on a Plane
• Iron Man 1 and 2

And on top of that he has signed to 9 films with Marvel to play Nick Fury in future films including upcoming Thor and Avenger Movies.

I love every SLJ movie (except Unbreakable), but can’t we find some great AA actors who haven’t already been a leading man to star in some hero movies?  Tobey Maguire and Christian Bale were tolling around in art house films and who ever heard of Brandon Routh before Superman (then again who has heard of him since).

Am I missing anything?