Barack Obama wants to create "a million Barack Obamas."

Courtesy of the Washington Examiner:  

Former President Barack Obama talked about his future plans for his post-presidency life at a conference Sunday in Japan, addressing how he might shape "a million" new, young leaders in his mold. 

The wide-ranging discussion repeatedly touched on the Obama Foundation's efforts to engage the digital space to help young people in the U.S. and across the world get connected. 

"If I could do that effectively, then -- you know -- I would create a hundred or a thousand or a million young Barack Obamas or Michelle Obamas," Obama said. "Or, the next group of people who could take that baton in that relay race that is human progress."

Speaking of a million if you go and open your window right now that is how many Republican heads you can hear exploding.

Could you imagine if Obama combined forces with this group of Parkland students?

He already reached out to them once.

EXCLUSIVE: Here’s the letter @BarackObama and @MichelleObama wrote to the #ParklandShooting survivors. In it, the former president and first lady tell the teens that they’ve “inspired” them, and commend them on “awakening the conscience of our nation.” https://t.co/FOQYVguNFw pic.twitter.com/xEPHE6iUL2

— Mic (@mic) March 21, 2018

And THAT sound you are hearing is a million more Republican heads exploding.

Donald Trump is driving young Republicans away from the GOP.

Courtesy of McClatchy: 

As the Trump presidency hits the one-year mark, the Republican Party confronts a yawning generational gap that has been exacerbated in recent months by Trump’s incendiary comments on race-related issues and the party’s official support for an accused child molester in Alabama’s Senate race. 

Now, as few as a quarter of voters under the age of 30 approve of Trump’s job performance. And among young Republicans, Trump’s approval rating has plummeted 12 percentage points since the spring, according to Harvard’s Institute of Politics poll released last month, down to 66 percent. That’s certainly robust, but well below Trump’s overall GOP approval rating that hovers around 80 percent. 

“In a sentence, they are certainly not doing well,” said John Della Volpe, the polling director at the Institute of Politics. “That would be an understatement.”

Gee, funny that a vulgar, racist, habitual sexual abuser would not connect with today's more enlightened youth now isn't it? 

Barack and Michelle Obama to donate 2 million dollars to summer jobs program in Chicago.

Courtesy of The Hill: 

Former President Barack Obama announced Wednesday that he and his wife, Michelle, are donating $2 million to summer jobs programs in Chicago. 

“One of the things that we’ll be starting this year is Michelle and I are personally going to donate $2 million to our summer jobs programs here in the community,” he said at the South Shore Cultural Center. "[It's] so that right away young people can get to work and we can start providing opportunities to all of them.” 

The former president used the event to unveil plans for a 200,000-square-foot campus on Chicago’s South Side that will house the Obama Presidential Center. Obama said the center will be used to "train the next generation of leadership, the Michelle Robinsons of today and the Barack Obamas of today."

Gee, what a hypocrite.

What does he think he is doing supporting the future leaders of tomorrow like he always said he was going to do once he was out of office?

Wasn't it just a few days ago that people were tearing out their hair over the fact that Obama is receiving a $400,000 speaker's fee to talk about health care?

Oh wait, apparently they are still tearing their hair out.

So I guess that since Chaffetz's foot is all better now thanks in part to Obamacare, he feels free to make a huge ass out of himself again.

Is being a huge ass considered a preexisting condition?

Millenials hear a voice that moves them, and it is not who they would ever expect it to be.

Look I have been around way too long not to recognize a little manipulation for effect here.

However those ARE Hillary Clinton's words from a past when she was just as full of hope and promise as those young people hearing this speech for the first time.

Does she still have those same ideals?

Well there are certainly many who would say not. But are those people who are dealing with the facts, or reading from a playbook written specifically to stop this woman from ever reaching a position to put these ideas into place?

Well I certainly know what I think.

Paul Ryan accidentally reveals the problem with the Republican party's future in one selfie.

Courtesy of If You Only News: 

GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan loves to pretend that the GOP doesn’t have a race problem. The 2012 autopsy report from the spectacular loss of the Romney/Ryan ticket to President Obama and Vice President Biden had a lot of so-called “minority outreach” goals. Clearly, none of those goals have been accomplished. After all, the current GOP standard-bearer, Donald Trump, has run a campaign that is steeped in racism. He kicked off his campaign by calling Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals, he has called for a ban on all Muslims entering the United States, has called women fat pigs and dogs, and accused Fox host and debate moderator Megyn Kelly of being menstrual when called out on this, and a whole host of other things that play to the bigotry that is so inherent in the current incarnation of the GOP. 

All of that aside though, there is one very telling photo making the rounds on the internet that perfectly illustrates just how, well WHITE the Republican Party is, despite the wide range of diversity that makes up the actual country. It’s a priceless selfie of Paul Ryan showcasing himself with bunches of young republicans, and you won’t see one face of color in that grand sea of white. 

Well I think this post is inherently unfair.

After all if you look three rows back there is clearly a person of Asian descent in the audience.

And there have to be a least a couple of Jewish people, right?

Okay well I tried, but clearly the Republican party is screwed.

0% of Icelanders 25 and under believe that the God created the world.

Courtesy of Iceland Magazine:  

Iceland seems to be on its way to becoming an even more secular nation, according to a new poll. Less than half of Icelanders claim they are religious and more than 40% of young Icelanders identify as atheist. Remarkably the poll failed to find young Icelanders who accept the creation story of the Bible. 93.9% of Icelanders younger than 25 believed the world was created in the big bang, 6.1% either had no opinion or thought it had come into existence through some other means and 0.0% believed it had been created by God.

Gee, yet another country that is far more enlightened than America. 

Oh well, I think we're getting there.

Perhaps the greatest letter ever written to Sarah Palin. And it was written by a 12 year old girl.

Madison Kimrey

Courtesy of Liberals Unite:  

Dear Sarah Palin, 

Usually, I’ll read about some things you said and laugh. I’m not laughing today. The reason I’m not laughing today, Sarah, is that I’m a young woman who actually cares about my country. I care about the next generation of leaders, and I want them to have more role models in the political arena that inspire them, not more clowns for them to laugh at. I want them to have advocates who will fight for them, not more attention-seeking snake oil salespeople. 

You tweeted on Monday, “Look who fired the 1st shot in the real ‘war on women. Hint: it wasn’t the GOP. See this excerpt from Hillary’s book.” The excerpt from Hilary Clinton’s book describes a situation in which she felt uncomfortable making a statement questioning the legitimacy of your selection as John McCain’s running mate as an attempt to use a woman to appeal to women voters. Really? You think this was the “first shot” in the war on women? You don’t think women have had to fight for every right we currently have, every opportunity we have? You don’t think women must continue to fight for these rights and opportunities which are constantly under attack? Well, let me tell you what I see from my house, Sarah. You’re the one who is fighting a war here, not just on women but on justice, enlightenment, and freedom. 

When you spoke at CPAC, you declared that a culture war had been won against “perpetual panties-in-a-wad people” because a homophobe marketing himself as a redneck didn’t lose his job on a reality TV show. Well, let’s talk about our panties, shall we? There was a time not too long ago when women only had one choice when it came to their panties. Now, opening the underwear drawer can provide an endless array of colors and styles. I think it’s past time that you choose to put your big girl panties on and stop defending the ridiculous, perpetuating false attacks on our president and appearing at Tea Party rallies holding your hand over your heart. That’s not politics, it’s pandering. You, Sarah, are pandering to the lowest common denominator instead of trying to promote reasonable discourse and the across-the-aisle approach to policy that the majority of Americans want. 

You seem to think women like me are “cheap dates” who are going let anyone in their panties who says what they want to hear. That would be the people you’re pandering to, Sarah. That would be the people who think the 2nd Amendment means carrying an assault rifle into Target. That would be the extremists who cover the bodies of their victims with “Don’t Tread on Me” flags. That would be the people who threaten women with rape for speaking out on the issues. 

The future of this country deserves better. I deserve leadership who, regardless of whether or not I agree with their policy positions, is capable of conducting themselves with dignity. I deserve leaders who, when attacking the positions of their opponents, attack them with the truth. This nation deserves leaders who work to expand the opportunities and rights of all Americans and who don’t contribute to tragic outcomes for our fellow citizens. 

I’ve tried very hard to find something to admire about you. The struggle was real. I do admire that our country has come so far that you and I as women have the opportunity to speak out and engage in the political sphere. Even though I disagree with your positions and methods, I admire you for using the opportunity so many women who came before us have fought for us to have. I don’t know how far I will choose to pursue my career in the political sphere, but it would be pretty cool to come out the way you did at CPAC with some music playing before my speech. You chose, “She’s Country.” This is my choice, and I hope the youth of this nation will continue to join their voices and sing so loudly we eventually drown out the voices of ignorance, greed, and intolerance. 

Sincerely, 

Madison Kimrey

Damn! I feel like I have found my long lost daughter. 

This is not Kimrey's first time writing an open letter to a Right Wing lunatic, in April she did the same for Phyllis Schlafly.

She also has a blog called Functional Human Being.

Sort of comforting to know that one day when I hang up my keyboard that there are gifted writers like this ready to take on corrupt politicians, Right Wing wingnuts, and homophobes in my absence.

The effects of bullying can last a lifetime.

Courtesy of NPR:  

What doesn't kill us only makes us stronger, right? Well, not when it comes to bullying. 

Some may still consider bullying a harmless part of growing up, but mounting evidence suggests that the adverse effects of being bullied aren't something kids can just shake off. The psychological and physical tolls, like anxiety and depression, can follow a person into early adulthood.
 
In fact, the damage doesn't stop there, a British study published this week in the American Journal of Psychiatry suggests. It actually lasts well into the adults' 40s and 50s. 

"Midlife ... is an important stage in life because that sets in place the process of aging," says Louise Arseneault, a developmental psychologist at King's College London and the study's senior author. "At age 50, if you have physical [and] mental health problems, it could be downhill from here." 

And health isn't the only thing to worry about. Chronic bullying's effect on a person's socioeconomic status, social life and even cognitive function can persist decades later, too, Arseneault's research suggests.

I was a bully. 

The thing was I did not realize it until I was in my early thirties.

I know that sounds a little hard to believe, but it's true.

When I was younger I was pretty passive, for the most part. A few scrapes here and there, nothing serious.

However when I hit my mid teens things took a turn.

Like a lot of teenagers I was full of testosterone driven energy, and conflicted emotions. And I did not know what to do with them.

So I started to workout every day with weights and practice martial arts for hours on end.

Instead of being an outlet for my energy, it instead turned me into a powder keg of aggression.

Though I felt no animosity towards those younger or weaker than myself, for those who I considered my physical equal all it took was one wrong move before fists would be flying.

How I justified that was by focusing on bullies.

My guidelines were if somebody hurt or intimidated others that made it open season on them. All I needed was to catch them in the act, or hear about it from somebody else, and I felt, not only justified, but obligated to "set things right."

By the time I made it to my senior year I got most of it out of my system, and simply coasted through the remainder on my reputation.

In fact my first two serious relationships after high school were somewhat based on this reputation, as the bad boy image I had cultivated was part of what attracted them to me. Even though after I graduated there were very few physical altercations.

It was my third serious relationship after high school where I received my reality check.

This was a thirty year old woman, trained in early childhood education, who was quite unimpressed with hearing about my exploits during my teen years, and after being regaled by my family with story after story, she seemed very pensive and quiet on the drive home.

Later when I asked what was wrong she said that she never knew I was a bully.

I became immediately defensive at that and told her she had it all wrong. I was a GOOD guy.

"Did you beat people up?"

"Well yes sometimes, but.."

"Were students in your school frightened of you?"

"Well maybe a few, but they....."

"Do you think that their fear of you had an effect on their school work, their self esteem, and their emotional health?"

"Well they were bad guys so..."

"If they were bad guys for intimidating those who could not defend themselves, and they could not defend themselves from you, then what does that make you?"

"Well I was...I mean they were....I only....."

Well fuck.

She was right. I HAD actively intimidated people who I identified as bullies, even IF what they had done was fairly minor, and would have sorted itself out with no involvement from me whatsoever.

I simply used their anti-social behaviors as an excuse for MY anti-social behaviors.

To be honest, I was angry at her for making me face that about myself. It meant that I had to go back and reevaluate everything I thought I knew about me.

But in the end I had to recognize the inconvenient truth, I was in fact a bully.

So though I have done a number of good, and selfless things, with my life since then, there is a group of men in their mid fifties who are, right now, walking around with emotional scars that I inflicted.

And you know what? That kind of sucks.

"Forget about the price tag" Erin Cummings Grand Prize winning contribution to the Healthy Young America Video Contest.

Courtesy of WhiteHouse.gov:

 Back in August 2013, Young Invincibles, in partnership with the Department of Health and Human Services, launched the Healthy Young America Video Contest, an effort to mobilize young people to help educate and inform one another about the Affordable Care Act. Participants submitted their videos, the public weighed in, and a finalist was selected in each of three categories: "You Are Not Invincible," original song performance, and animation. 

Erin McDonald was announced as the overall Grand Prize winner with her video "Forget about the Price Tag" in a Google+ Hangout featuring Kal Penn and White House Health Care policy expert Christen Linke Young on December 2. 

The funny thing is that I did not even know about this until I saw it being mocked by the Daily Caller.

I listened to it and thought it was damn good, and that the young lady has a great voice.

Listen for yourself and see if you agree.

How anti-intellectualism and narrow ideologies are destroying the education system in America.

Courtesy of The Chronicle of Higher Education:

 Anti-intellectualism and ideological dogmatism in the guise of parental involvement is a significant concern in education today, and parents and other noneducators have lately stepped way out of line in their pursuit of more control over the education systems in this country. The most recent obvious example of the phenomenon is the debacle in North Carolina in September, when a Randolph County school board voted to ban Ralph Ellison’s landmark novel Invisible Man following a 12-page diatribe against the book by Kimiyutta Parson, the mother of an 11th grader (who referred to high-school students as “young children” in her letter). 

Parson objected to, among other things, the sexual content of the novel, which I find amusing considering that in recent years the teen birth rate in Randolph County, N.C., was almost twice the national average, with teen pregnancy accounting for 60 to 80 per 1,000 births. Something tells me that the teenagers in that county have more than a passing familiarity with sexual themes, and don’t need to read Invisible Man for tips. 

What I do not find amusing, however, is that a single parent and unqualified board members felt that they could pass judgment on literature without any significant experience in literary criticism, curriculum development, or, even, apparently, basic critical thinking. For example, one board member, Gary Mason, said that he could not find any “literary value” in the text. I have scoured the journals and the Internet, but I can find no record of Gary Mason’s credentials as a literary critic. He’s certainly entitled to his opinion, but should uninformed opinion be the basis of public-education policy? Absolutely not—unless you think it’s OK for someone who has opinions on medical care but no education or training in it to conduct delicate brain surgery. 

Such interference in elementary and secondary education is a crucial issue for college instructors because we rely on a successful and well-managed public-education system to prepare students for higher education. I need my students to have a certain background—to be exposed to such challenging material as Invisible Man, for example—before they reach college, so that I can actually teach at the college level. 

But when students are not allowed to read, explore, and engage with different kinds of course content due to the ideological, anti-intellectual practices of many parents and school districts, they arrive unprepared for and unable to succeed in college courses. We should not wonder why so many students struggle in college. They are simply not intellectually prepared. 

Certainly anti-intellectualism is nothing new in American life. Richard Hofstadter noted this as far back as 1963 in his Pulitzer Prize-winning study Anti-intellectualism in American Life. Susan Jacoby’s more recent examination, The Age of American Unreason (2008), asserted that the nation’s current “strain of intertwined ignorance, anti-rationalism, and anti-intellectualism” is damaging our democratic process and cultural development. In its review of Jacoby’s work, The New York Times noted that “conservatives have turned the term ‘intellectual,’ like the term ‘liberal,’ into a dirty word in politics.” 

Sadly, this anti-intellectualism has made our culture abandon the respect it once had for educators. It has also created a generation of college students who shrink from real intellectual engagement, who are so influenced by our current partisan culture that any significant opportunities for rigorous and honest classroom debate are rapidly disappearing. In fact, it’s not uncommon for today’s college students to mirror their parents’ disdain for college professors; for example, after failing an examination, a student once told me, “Just because you have a Ph.D. doesn’t mean you know more about American history than I do.” 

I was sad for that student because he was missing out on the opportunity to learn more, and more different things, to add to his own knowledge. This is the most heartbreaking result of the current influence of social and cultural anti-intellectualism in education: It is creating missed opportunities for students.

Personally I think all of this is purposeful, and part of an organized effort by religious conservatives to protect their interests and keep the youth of America dumbed down enough to continue buying into their bullshit.

After all how better to keep church attendance up, and hang onto Republican voters than to keep Americans ignorant, frightened, and easily manipulated?

And they could not care less what kind of damage is done to the country in the process.

12 year old girl delivers a verbal smackdown to North Carolina Governor over voter suppression.

Courtesy of the YouTube page:


12-year-old Madison Kimrey of Burlington founded NC Youth Rocks after the North Carolina legislature passed voting restriction laws targeting young people, women, minorities, and the poor. 

The law appears to be designed to create long lines at the polls — especially in more populous, urban areas — by cutting early voting and making the voting process more time consuming (this was the formula that created 8-hour waits in Florida for the 2012 election, as a FL election official testified to the House Elections Committee in March 2013). Also, the law requires voters to produce a photo ID, but student IDs are not accepted, even if issued by a state university. 

The same law does away with disclosure requirements for political advertising and increases the limit on campaign contributions. Also, the law does away with same-day registration during early voting, which had been popular with African Americans and other groups who had previously not engaged in the democratic process at the same level as white voters had. The US Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit under the Voting Rights Act. 

In this speech Kimrey takes exception to the end of a program by which 16 and 17-year-olds pre-registered to vote when getting their drivers license or through school programs.

Damn! That is one incredibly intelligent young lady. 

Watch out North Carolina! Madison Kimrey is certainly going to be a force to be reckoned with!

Colorado does Obamacare right.

Bros need brosurance. #doyougotinsurance? http://t.co/5f0rwNKJKp pic.twitter.com/p8Ajg2q7S0
— CCHI (@COHealthAccess) October 22, 2013

Courtesy of Political Ticker:

Keg stands. That's one way to promote Obamacare, it seems. 

"Brosurance," reads a new web ad that shows a few bros having a good time. "Keg stands are crazy. Not having health insurance is crazier. Don't tap into your beer money to cover those medical bills. We got it covered." 

The Colorado Consumer Health Initiative and ProgressNow Colorado Education launched the web ad, along with a series of other meme-like images that target young residents in Colorado, as well as Latino families–two demographics that tend to lack health insurance. 

The ads are modeled after the successful "Got Milk?" campaign, with each image saying, "Got Insurance?" 

Other ads feature mountain climbers, kayakers and cyclists. The health groups are trying to appeal to "our own Colorado twist," says Jenny Davies-Schley, of the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative. 

The idea is to make the images go viral, and each ad is easily sharable through a number of different social media agents, like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Or blogs, don't forget blogs.

Can I just say that this marks the first time ever, that I have been jealous of Coloradans. 

Brilliant campaign, and it makes me really WANT to sign up for their health care.

Koch brother funded group uses free beer, Taco Bell, and gift cards to lure young people away from Obamacare.

Courtesy of the Miami Herald:  

As the battle over the healthcare law grinds on — Republicans no closer to victory than when they forced the government shutdown — a different fight was rising on a recent Saturday from inside Sharkey’s, a bar near the campus of Virginia Tech, 260 miles away. 

Lured by free beer, gift cards and the chance to win an iPad, 100 students heard a pitch from the young staffers of a group named Generation Opportunity: Obamacare is a bad deal, and you should opt out. 

With enrollment in the insurance marketplaces under way, and tens of millions of taxpayer dollars being spent on a public-awareness campaign, critics are aiming a provocative counter-effort at a critical population: millennials, age 18 to 29, who may not feel the need or have the money for insurance. 

Because if too few young, healthy people sign up, Obamacare will be denied the financial blood to support older, more needy participants. So the race is on for the attention of 2.7 million people deemed necessary to enroll in the first year for Obamacare to be successful. 

Generation Opportunity, which formed in 2011 and gets funding in part from the conservative Koch brothers, is about to embark on a tour of 20 college towns nationally, including a Nov. 9 stop at the University of Miami. The pitch is that you shouldn’t feel compelled by the government to buy insurance, and that it may be cheaper outside the marketplaces. 

A blueprint for an upcoming tailgate calls for games such as beer pong and cornhole, free Taco Bell and beer. Pictures of people signing petitions to opt out would be sent over Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. 

The group, and more recognizable conservative organizations such as Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks, show how the fight has shifted from Congress to the grassroots. Young people are among the law’s most ardent supporters, but at the same time many are unaware of the benefits, providing an opening for critics. 

I knew this was coming.

The next best chance that the Republicans have to cripple the Affordable Care Act is to keep younger, healthier, participants from signing up. And with the deep pockets of some of these groups they could afford a hell of a lot of beer and Crunchwrap Supremes.

The Obama administration is going to have to really do some serious advertising, and possibly introduce some incentives of their own, to attract young participants.

Ultimately, much like very other desperate attempt, this petition thing will not do them much good. (After all what stops these kids from signing a petition, drinking their fill of beer, and then signing up for health insurance the next day?)

However I think it behooves all of us to keep a close watch on this kind of sneaky bullshit.

By the way the group responsible for this, "Generation Opportunity," are also the ones who brought us this ultra creep advertisement.

If ALL of their ideas are that bad perhaps the Obama administration won't have to try that hard to combat them after all.

For profit prisons churning out waves of angry, violent white supremacists.

Courtesy of Mediaite: 

The nation’s “for-profit” prisons have been incubating thousands of Aryan Brotherhood gang members and, as their sentences expire, they are prepared to flood the nation. This wave of white supremacist gang members will emerge from the nation’s prisons and engage in a terrorist campaign of targeted revenge which will soon evolve into indiscriminant mayhem and racial violence. At least, this is the warning of an anonymous former prisoner writing for The Daily Beast. 

“Law enforcement may have a real problem on its hands,” writes a former prisoner who declined to share his name in a piece recently published in The Daily Beast. “They’re being tight-lipped about it, but it’s something they should have been aware of for decades. They had to see it coming.” 

“Four people have been killed since the beginning of the year in a series of shootings that appear to be connected to the homegrown jihadists of the Aryan Brotherhood,” Anonymous asserts. He cites the murders of Kaufman County, Texas District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, his predecessor Mark Hass, and Colorado prison chief Tom Clements as examples of bloodshed committed by the Aryan Brotherhood. Reports have linked the assassination of McLelland to his targeting by Aryan Brotherhood members. 

“Many of the first men locked up when our nation embarked on a policy of for-profit mass incarceration near the end of the last century are now returning into society,” the former prisoner writes. “And, as predicted by numerous professionals, they are sicker and more dangerous than when they went behind bars.”

In other words what is happening in Texas may spread across the country as more of these angry racist bastards get out onto the streets.

You know I have been reading a lot about the school-to-prison pipeline that has emerged in various communities around the country, including Texas, Mississippi, Florida, and many other places in mostly red states.  It is often identified as largely impacting the black community, but it certainly shuffles through its fair share of youthful white "offenders" as well.

The state allows these private prisons to crop up and then feeds them a steady stream of young people. A large number of who were expelled from their schools, due to their "zero tolerance policies," for small infractions like drug possession, or fighting, or even skipping class, and then pushed out into a community where they are destined to get into trouble and are eventually locked in cages.

In those cages, abandoned by society, by their schools, and often by their parents, they learn how to survive by following the rules put in place, and reinforced, by criminals. A set of guidelines that rather than turn them into functioning members of society, instead turn them into feral creatures who learn to fight for what they want, and to ONLY trust their fellow gang members. Gangs, by the way, often identified by ethnicity.

Then after the prison can no longer milk the state for funds to incarcerate them, they are released into the communities that abandoned them in the first place.

It is only a matter of time before many of them re-offend and go back into the only place they have ever felt welcome. But NOT before they put in to practice on the streets the "skills" they learned in prison.

As long as private prisons remain so profitable there will be no real attempt at reform. So while the communities embrace this false sense of security, in reality the very prison system that they trust to keep them safe may be breeding the kind of lifelong criminals that will one day return to victimize them again, and again, and again.

"Jesus is my Nigga." Best Christian youth outreach ever! Update!

I am not even going to bother preparing you for this, because to be honest there is NOTHING that I could say that would prepare you for this. Please do yourself a favor and watch to the end.

God I love it when his wife joins in just when you thought it could not get anymore surreal.

Here are the lyrics so you can sing along:

“Well I wrote this song for the Christian youth" 
“I wanna teach kids the Christian truth.” 
“If you wanna reach those kids on the street” 
“Then you gotta do a rap, do a hip hop beat.” 
“So heed my sermon, an urban kid” 
"My rhymes are fly, my beats are sick.” 
"My crew is big and it keeps getting bigger.” 
“That’s cause Jesus Christ is my N*gga. 

I know what you are thinking, "Gryphen no WAY is this for real." However there is some strong evidence to suggest that it is indeed.

Here is more from the Daily Mail:

 With its clever rhymes, controversial lyrics and uncompromising message, Pastor Jim Colerick and his wife's 'Rappin' for Jesus' takes its inspiration from the stars of hip-hop - and there most similarities end. 

With beats straight out of 1970s Bronx, Pastor Jim declares he 'wrote this song for the Christian youth - I want to teach kids the Christian truth', all the while punctuating his rap with the refrain of 'Jesus Christ is my n***a'. 

However, while the song and accompanying video seem unintentionally hilarious, the video was uploaded on YouTube user Brian Spinney on February 5th - even though it appears to be produced at least five years ago. 

Importantly, that website claims that the church closed in June 2004 and Spinney claims to have produced this video with the pastor and his wife when he was in high school. 

Parody or not, the comedy of Pastor Jim and his wife rapping, 'Jesus Christ is our n***a - he's our homey mc, JC, uc?' is undeniable. 

Personally I kind of hope it is NOT a parody, but if it is it is a damn funny one.

Now good luck getting that song out of your head today.

Update: They won't allow us to embed the video any longer but you can still hear it for yourself by clicking here.

Now for something completely different. Perhaps the most chilling safety advertisement I have ever seen.

It is not often that a movie, commercial or short film, gets to me very often. But this one certainly did.

To learn more about this film and why it was made click the Facebook page here.

Sadly it looks like America's love affair with guns is unlikely to end anytime soon.

Courtesy of Science Daily:  

Despite growing up in a post-Columbine world, more young people plan on owning a gun than had them in their childhood homes, according to a national poll of more than 4,000 high school and college students conducted by Jennifer L. Lawless (American University) and Richard L. Fox (Loyola Marymount University). 

This finding suggests a possible reversal of a trend that pointed to decreasing gun ownership. More specifically, one-third of young people report growing up with a gun in the household. And 36 percent report being "very worried" about gun violence. Yet nearly 40 percent of respondents plan to own a gun when they have their own household, and an additional 20 percent are considering it.

You know they could pass a law tomorrow making it illegal to create any new movies or video games that glorify gun violence and it would not make a bit of difference going forward. The damage has already been done.

And the fact is that neither one of those two things is EVER going to happen.

And the reason why is because the all volunteer American military depends on these games and movies to indoctrinate our children into becoming a military fetishist, who spends hours a week fantasizing about being in combat and firing incredibly destructive weapons at enemy targets.

Don't believe me?

Well I have already shown you in an earlier post how the military has helped game designers make sure that the weapons in the games are accurate, where they serve as playable advertisements for later purchase when the child becomes an adult. (Or earlier, let's face it many of these kids today are substantially smarter than your average gun dealer.) In fact the military actually has their own video game, which they make available for free on a number of platforms. A game that will periodically ask the player if they are interested in enlisting, and even provide links to websites providing information on how to do so.

As for the movies? Well there is a very long standing agreement between the Pentagon and Hollywood that if you scratch my back, I will provide weaponry and military personnel to cover yours.

Courtesy of TV Tropes:

If you're American producer and you want to get some impressive combat scenes in your movie, you can call the Department of Defense (DoD) and ask for some of their fancy equipment. Plus any soldiers who happen to be free. As the examples show, Uncle Sam can be very generous to filmmakers and help you avert tropes like Artistic License - Military, Improperly Placed Firearms, and Just Plane Wrong. 

One reason for this is, if the film is positive about the military, it is good public relations, and thus the movie supports the mission. If the movie is really good — both a positive portrayal of the military and a box-office success — it may even be a boon for military recruiting. Indeed, the Navy stated that after the release of Top Gun, the number of young men enlisting with a desire to be Naval aviators went up by 500 percent. 

There's a catch — a Department of Defense project officer will keep an eagle eye on the script and production phases. If they don't like the portrayal of the military in your film, they will yank the co-operation.

So just put the idea of movies becoming less violent, or games using fewer assault weapons right out of your pretty little head. It's NOT going to happen. Essentially because despite all of the current rhetoric to the contrary the Right Wing, the government, and the military will never let it happen.

I actually DO think that some restrictions can be implemented, but first we have to stop allowing ourselves to be distracted by red herrings and obfuscation.

Guns DO kill people. And guns that have extended clips, and are sold by individuals who don't demand background checks,  kill a whole LOT of people.

We may not be able to stop all gun violence, but we can at least reduce the number of casualties. And for right now at least, I will take it.

How Obama won the internet.

Courtesy of Buzzfeed:  

Obama was about to take part in a phenomenon called “Ask Me Anything,” a popular interview series on Reddit, a site with 50 million visitors a month. Redditors, as the site’s 2 million in-crowd-y regular users are known, did not take too kindly to frauds or dodges or interviewees who didn’t take Reddit seriously. AMA subjects ran the gamut from celebrities (Woody Harrelson, Seth MacFarlane, PSY) to regular professionals (a male stripper) to basically anything (a woman who was date raped). Community members were also encouraged to submit requests for people they wanted to question. 

This was a day of political-campaign and Internet firsts, the sitting president subjecting himself to a free- for-all question-and-answer session with a hardcore community of pot-smoking freedom junkies who hated drones and loved porn and had a keen interest in politics and the future. It was chaotically democratic, and something of a gamble. Reddit had its baggage, issues, controversies, etc.; it wouldn’t generally pass a campaign or White House vetting. There’s some fucked up shit there, creep shots, racist rants, borderline teen porn, for example—and other good shit, too, for the most part, but the kind of material that could become fodder for critics looking to attack Obama. 

More pressingly, though: if Obama didn’t get into it, if he didn’t engage, if he came across as a phony . . . Goff and the digital team had been kicking around the idea during a brainstorming session with Cutter, figuring out what the president was going to do during the week of the Republican convention. 

Obama sat in front of his laptop, wearing a white collared shirt and a blue tie with white stripes. 

“So what is this?” Obama asked. 

Goff briefed him for less than a minute: an insanely popular social news site, crowd-sourced, no editorial, voice of the people. 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” 

“All right, you know how this works?” 

“No. I have no idea.” Obama, at his computer, entered his greeting into Reddit. 

"Hey everybody—this is barack. Just finished a great rally in Charlottesville, and am looking forward to your questions. At the top, I do want to say that our thoughts and prayers are with folks who are dealing with Hurricane Isaac in the Gulf, and to let them know that we are going to be coordinating with state and local officials to make sure that we give families everything they need to recover." 

Post. 

Obama was supposed to hand the computer over to Keenan, and Keenan would type Obama’s dictated responses in a shared Google doc. Then, Goff, on his own computer, would post the answers from the doc into the forum. 

Scratch the plan. 

Obama wanted to keep writing himself. 

“I’ll just keep going,” he said. 

Goff scanned the message board, selecting questions, putting them in a Google doc for Obama to look at, and choosing which ones to respond to. 

Row 18, 19, 20—which one do you want to answer, Mr. President? 

“I’ll take ’em all.” 

Obama answered questions about small businesses, Internet freedom, the corrupting influence of money in politics, student loans, basketball. 

Silent1mezzo: What’s the recipe for the White House’s beer? 

Obama: It will be out soon! I can tell from first hand experience, it is tasty. 

The AMA broke the Internet. Swarmed Reddit servers had never supported so many views before; the site slowed down a bit. Obama’s connection didn’t falter but back in the Chicago office, the connection was patchy. The campaign couldn’t follow the whole thing. 

The time limit had been set for 30 minutes, but Obama stayed for 15 minutes longer just because he was into it.

You know Obama will go down in history of a NUMBER of reasons, but not insignificant among them is that he is the FIRST President to understand, embrace, and ultimately tame the internet.

You have to remember that THIS was the first time that people, sitting in their homes or offices, were able to interact with the President of the United States in real time just like they did in chat rooms, twitter feeds, and text messages to their friends and family ever day.

Suddenly the President was not just some face on the television or distant politician thousands of miles away, he was right there with them. It was as if he had suddenly walked into their neighborhood bar and sat down to share a beer or ask about their day.

Which by the way have had much to do with why THIS chair is still occupied by one Barack Hussein Obama.

As an aggressive internet user myself, I have found myself repeatedly impressed by how President Obama has dealt with the new social media aspect of his job, and happen to know that his participation during that AMA on Reddit ABSOLUTELY earned him the lifelong support of a large number of young people, who I think will also probably support the Democratic party for the remainder of their lives.

Video of President Obama getting his Tweet on.

As you guys may remember the President took to Twitter on Monday to take advantage of the new social media to talk directly to the American people.

Here is behind the scenes video of that event.

One thing I learned, the President is a better typist than I am.

You know I really respect the fact that the President is so willing to come to where the people are and to engage in interactions that may be out of his comfort zone, and not look a little clumsy while doing it. Just makes him more human and accessible in my opinion.

However I have to say that as cool as having the President tweet at you, I still think it pales in comparison to when Obama went to Reddit and did an AMA (Ask Me Anything) over at Reddit.

I truly do think that earned him huge points with the youth in this country. And undoubtedly inspired more than a few to vote for him as well.

 In fact they are STILL talking about it over at Reddit to this day.

How doomed are the conservatives? Pretty doomed.

Courtesy of New York Magazine:

How doomed are conservatives? Pretty doomed, if you look carefully at the Pew Research Survey’s close analysis of the youth vote in the 2012 elections. The Republicans’ long-term dilemma has generally been framed in racial terms, but it’s mainly a generational one. The youngest generation of voters contains a much smaller proportion of white voters than previous generations, and those whites in that generation vote Republican by a much smaller margin than their elders. What’s more, younger voters supported President Obama during the last two election cycles for reasons that seem to go beyond the usual reasons — social issues like gay marriage and feminism, immigration policy, or Obama’s personal appeal — and suggest a deeper attachment to liberalism. The proclivities of younger voters may actually portend a full-scale sea change in American politics.

Ahh! This is the kind of early morning post that puts a smile on your face for the entire day.

The idea that perhaps someday soon the racism, class warfare, and hypocritical moralizing that seems to  define today's Republican party might come to an abrupt end is perhaps the most uplifting news possible.

However, though I don't want to rain on any parades, I do feel obligated to point out that we have seen a generation like this before. They were the Baby Boomers, and they were FAR more liberal, less warlike, and better educated than their parents and their parent's parents, and yet something happened to them.

They (we) ended up helping to elect Ronald Reagan, free love hippies evolved into money focused yuppies, and somehow we seemed to lose direction, until ultimately we became the very establishment that we had railed against only a handful of years before.

I hope against hope that we do not witness this same scenario play out once again.