Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Do Rising Tides Float All Boats? A #SOTU Review.



So I reached 15,000 tweets. Time for some political talk.

Last night, President Obama addressed the nation regarding the State of The Union. I've only started paying attention to these when I reached voting age, even though my pops made me watch them religiously when I was a child. He was a tyrant, usually something awesome would be on at the same time, and I'd be missing it, then I'd be left out of the conversations the next day at school.

Sadface.

I never watch the State of The Union when everyone else does. I'm visual, I need to see the words, so I wait on the transcript to come out and then read it while I listen. Yes, I'm weird, but we are supposed to appreciate all differences in Obama's America, my friends.

But, before I begin, shoutout to Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Homegirl got shot in the head by a domestic terrorist in 2011, and is well on the way to recovering. She's recently decided to step down from her position as a Congressional representative in order to focus on her recovery. Godspeed to her.

President Obama looks like he wanted to bring some heat in this address, and looking at the ire he's rankled among his opposition, he brought it.
"I intend to fight obstruction with action," the President said, "and I will oppose any effort to return to the very same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first place."
Swag. President Obama laid down a solid address, built upon a foundation of patriotism and keeping the momentum that was ramping up at the end of 2011. What really drew the most vitriol from his dissenters (mostly republican) is the mere mention of the dreaded Buffett Rule, a tax plan that would raise the minimum tax rate on earned income for the top 1% of earners in America. He drew on tried and true populist and patriotic rhetoric to call for a return to core American values, with an emphasis on American workers, manufacturing, keeping American industry in America, and homegrown, clean energy.


Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Let's Talk About #SOPA, Baby


If you tried to consult Wikipedia today to find out exactly what Beyonce's original skin tone was, you were probably met with this: 


Wikipedia, along with many other members of the internet industry have blacked out their websites to simulate an internet that has been laid bare by the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), and its policy predecessor, the Protect IP Act, or PIPA (which actually stands for: The Preventing Real Online Threats To Economic Creativity and Threat of Intellectual Property Act of 2011.)

I've been on Twitter most of the day, and I'm realizing that a lot of people have no idea what these acts really mean for them. SOPA and PIPA have a noble goal in the same sense that Gene Marks did, and like Gene Marks, the acts fail in execution. Violating copyright laws is definitely a crime, and passing law that modify or extend the reach of existing measures is, in may ways, an acceptable solution IF EXECUTED PROPERLY. 

However, SOPA and PIPA aren't going to function by making the MASTER HAND OF THE INTERNET slap you in the face every time you try and watch porn or google an album title, slip, and type "mediafire" after it. 

Let's talk about how these acts really work. 

Monday, January 9, 2012

Call 'em Out 2012!!!


Engrossed in editing a short story this week, so this'll be a short post. I haven't reached 15,000 tweets yet, but after some of the stupidity that we blah voters have been subjected to over the past couple of weeks, I wanted to point out some instances where blah people really took the fight back to candidates who seem hell bent on disrespect.

Exhibit A: African American Woman Calls Santorum on His Bullsh*t


From ThinkProgress:
WOMAN: Mr. Santorum, why do you have a problem against black people? We are the only ones who need aid? The statistics show that it’s not the popularity [sic] that’s the most needy.
SANTORUM: I didn’t say that. I understand that.
WOMAN: OK, then why’d you say that?
SANTORUM: OK, we gotta go. I didn’t say that.
Uh huh.

Exhibit B: African American Man Calls Out Newt Gingrich on His Bullsh*t

From NewsOne:
Yvan Lamothe, an African-American man, addressed Newt Gingrich‘s comments on African Americans, the NAACP and food stamps at a recent town hall meeting in New Hampshire
"My point is, about a week ago -- some time ago -- you mentioned that black people should be able to earn a paycheck, not be on welfare, implying that black people in general are on welfare, And I really took exception to that because it demeans my accomplishments, my hard work, because I have worked all my life. I have never been on welfare. You know about history. You know that back in the 1930s, Hitler started talking in Germany about a Jewish problem. My question to you is, do you think that blacks represent an American problem, and if you don't think that, will you stop using blacks in general as a stepping stone or a punching bag?"
Newt's response to this man's outrage at his obviously racist and classist statements:
I didn’t say that. I just want to say that frankly this makes me very irritated. The Democratic National Committee took totally out of context half of the sentence, OK? I mean clearly somebody who’s served with Colin Powell, who has served with Condoleezza Rice, I have a fairly good sense of the fact that African Americans have many contributions to America.
 AKA, the "One of my best friends is black/I know black people" derailment tactic. A classic one, at that.

Exhibit C: Michael Steele (Allegedly) Told GOP Candidates to STFU!

No news story on that yet, but one can always count on Elon James White to deliver the goods:

 Is sh*t getting real, or is this just a momentary spike in anger? It'll be interesting to see how this plays out in the polls, even though we know that none of US are gonna vote for these fools anyway. Maybe someone should make a Sh*t Politicians Say spoof...meanwhile I'll just watch my favorite one of those spoof videos and hope that these guys just disappear or something.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Black Breh Food Tips: How to Swag Out Your Lame Ass Ramen


 Yes, I am aware that the Iowa Caucuses happened. Yes, I am also aware that Mitt Romney won by a frog's hair margin. Yes, I am aware that Michele Bachmann has finally taken her expired brand of Middle American crazy back to Minnesota after only getting 5% of the people in her birth state to vote for her. And yes, finally, I am aware that the Santorumbot did extremely well in the Iowa polls. But I don't care. Why? Because I made a 2012 promise (NOT A RESOLUTION) to myself that I'd not talk too extensively about politics until I reach 15,000 tweets.

So, instead of talking about the GOP 2012 Clusterf*ck Circus of Wonder™, instead, I'm going to make the inaugural post in my new series, Black Breh's Food Tips! In this series, I'll post recipes and strategies that my broke ass had to learn because I'm poor as hell I gathered throughout college and bachelorhood that are still helpful today. However, I have to give credit to Mrs. Breh on this one. My wife is a bona-fide food lover (NOT a "foodie"), and most of these ideas are based on a suggestion that she had one day to add vegetables to our lame ass packs of ramen. So here's today's post: How to Swag Out Your Lame Ass Ramen!


Let's get to it.