Have You Seen This Yet?

I remember seeing this documentary at my Alternative Media course at Roosevelt University and I still enjoy it. "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism" is a 2004 documentary that says, in a nutshell, that if you want an extremely bias, one-sided source of news, then the Fox News Channel is the one for you. Some of you probably already know how shady Fox News is, but it's still interesting. Here's a piece of the documentary:





If you want more, try this (Everyone does "click here." I'm trying to do something different.)

Mechanics are Doing It For Themselves

Unfortunately, sexism still exists. I remember when, during a journalism course at Roosevelt University, some of the female classmates who have worked at professional newspapers talked about how women are still victims of discrimination in the news industry. One woman, for instance, ranted about her bosses who always handed them the "safe" stories or called her stuff like "honey." And it gets worse around the world. Several cultures require women to be servants who are programed to cater to their husbands, fathers and men in general.

I wish the world didn't need organizations like NOW or the Lady Mechanic Initiative. What's the Lady Mechanic Initiative? It's an organization that was created by Sandra Aguebor to let the men of Africa know that women have the right and the ability to fix a carburetor just like guys. An article in Yahoo! News says that being a mechanic is usually only an option for men in Nigeria. This is especially bad for disadvantaged, less-educated women who are forced to only accept jobs like hairdressing or domestic work, which offers little pay and a small social status. (Nigeria, however, has several educated women that excel in business and, most recently, politics.) Some women, due to a lack of money or opportunity, had to drop out of school and become prostitutes.

The Lady Mechanic Initiative wants all of that to change. The organization provides women with training and even insurance for their students (70 in all, so far) and their families. Here's how she got started:

A devout Christian, Aguebor says that God spoke to her through a series of childhood dreams and told her that she should become a mechanic. With no other mechanics in the family, her father initially scoffed at the idea, until he traveled to the US in the 1980s and saw women working in positions considered "men only" in Nigeria.

Her first "garage" was a patch of land covered with cardboard for shade, but she has always aimed high. An avid reader of self-help books, Aguebor encourages her girls to think big - and they do.

Aguebor hopes to one day expand the Initiative and spread her message beyond Nigeria. Good Luck.

Credit Card Companies Are Under Congressional Microscope

I was crusing through Fark.com, minding my own business, when I discovered something cool. It seems that members of congress have issues with credit cards just like you and me.

Fark revealed an article from Yahoo! News that says that the rules and practices of credit card companies were under attack during a Senate Banking Committee meeting. Democrat members of the committee want to create laws that urges companies to "provide more details to consumers on how long it will take them to pay off their debts if they make minimum monthly payments, and to rein in solicitations of college students." Bankers say that (surprise, surprise) their practices are fine, but critics believe that credit card company fees are excessive and their terms confuse customers. A study by congressional investigators, for instance, says that the average late fees for credit card bills have increased from $13 (in 1995) to $34 (today).

In a press release of the Senate Banking Committee, during his opening statement, Chairman Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) said:

At the outset of this hearing, let me say this about credit cards: I support them. I strongly believe in the product and its potential to give consumers greater convenience and access to capital. I oppose any efforts to ban their use. They are an important component of a financial services industry that is the most dynamic and innovative in the world. And I support the notion that consumers must share the responsibility to better in understanding the terms and conditions of their card agreements, and take personal responsibility for their financial decisions.

However, some serious information makes his question the tactics of these companines, here's some of them:

• The total consumer debt in America is nearly $2.4 trillion. Out of that, $872 billion is revolving debt, which is essentially credit card debt.
• The average American household has over $9,300 worth of credit card debt. In comparison, the median household income was about $46,000 in 2005.
• Americans have never paid more in interest, paying nearly 15 percent of their disposable income on interest payments alone, despite the current historically low interest rate environment.
• Banks are expected to collect a record $17.1 billion from credit card penalty fees from 2006, a 15.5% rise from 2004 (according to R.K. Hammer, a bank-advisory firm, as cited in USA Today). This is a tenfold increase from 1996, when card companies raised $1.7 billion in revenues from fees.

Why do you think that there's a huge increase in fees? Inflation? To persuade customers to pay their bills on time? I wish I knew. But I know one good way to handle late fees: don't be late. I used to do that, you know. Once in a while, I somehow tripped up on my payments and ended up paying a $39 late fee. It was extremely high, but to be perfectly honest, I kind of deserved it. Believe me, I know it's not easy to keep up with this stuff. But when you don't live up to your responsiblities, you get punished. But then again, banks gathering $17.1 billion in fees does bother me quite a bit.

What are your thoughts?

How Well Do You Know Your Flu?

The cold and flu season is here, as if you didn't know. But what you may not know is that...

• People in the United States suffer up to 1 billion colds per year, according to an estimate by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Other studies place the common cold as the top cause of U.S. doctor visits and missed work days, in addition to 22 million lost school days a year.
• Drinking milk will not increase nasal mucus during a cold, studies have shown. And inhaling steam is not an effective long-term treatment for relieving symptoms of congestion. Neither is feeding or starving a cold, although foods like chicken soup and hot beverages may be comforting for bed-ridden cold sufferers.
• The number of deaths will depend largely on how contagious and lethal the virus is -- two factors that cannot be known until the pandemic strain emerges. The CDC estimates a medium-level pandemic could cause 89,000 to 207,000 deaths in the United States alone. The WHO estimates 2 million to 7.4 million people could die worldwide. The 1918 pandemic, the worst of the modern era, killed more than 500,000 people in the United States and an estimated 20 million to 50 million people around the world. Today, experts are particularly concerned about the current strain of the avian flu virus because it has killed 50 percent of those who have contracted it.
• CDC models suggest a pandemic could affect up to 35 percent of the U.S. population, sickening 20 million to 47 million people and resulting in up to 42 million clinic visits and 734,000 hospitalizations. According to the CDC, existing prescription medications like Tamiflu, which are approved for human influenza viruses, may be of some use in combating avian flu. However, their effectiveness against avian flu is untested.

These facts and more are found in CNN.com's special report, "Fighting the Flu." All of your cold and flu questions will be answered with the help of this report, which offers several articles and reports that tell you all about these diseases. You can find out, for instance, the answer to a question that's been on people's minds for years: "How can a ferret help us in the fight against the flu?"

I highly recommend taking the cold and flu challenge . It's a "true or false" quiz that tests your cold and flu knowledge. I took it and got 6 out of 10, which is much better than I thought. Can you beat my score? I dare you to try.

Good Luck, Bears!!

Normally, I don't do sports, but I am (and always will be) a Chicago man.

Plus, the Bears haven't won a Super Bowl in years, so when I read the words "The Bears advance to Super Bowl" in the Chicago Tribune's Bears Playoffs 2007 section, I was intrigued. I'm really routing for them.

Defense! Defense! Defense!

First Cupcakes, Now NutraSweet?

Aspartame is bad, according to BlackNews.com.


You may know Aspartame better as that wonderful sugar-free substance that you put in your coffee and lord knows what else. This substance, which was somehow approved by the FDA, can (and has) cause depression, hypertension, dementia, nausea, headaches, dizziness, and even cancer! Better known to you as NutraSweet, Equal, and/or Spoonful, the substance is in fact a poison, according to research. When stored somewhere for a long period of time, it morphs into methanol--an alcohol that changes to formaldehyde or formic acid, which causes cancer.

And all you weight watchers better pay close attention to this post, because Aspartame is found in most diet products. In case that doesn't stop you from using them (and let's face it, some diet people would take the risk), the article adds that it still makes you look fat...

These chemically altered products make you crave carbohydrates so that when you are eating those diet foods or drinking their meal replacement drinks; you’re almost sure to gain weight. Why? Because they contain aspartame and the poison in aspartame stores in the fat cells. Once it’s stored, the fat cells need to dilute the poison by retaining fluid. A disaster is just waiting to happen!

I guess it's back to doing sit-ups for you guys.


But that's not the only toxic substance found in your favorite foods...

What about trans-fats or hydrogenated oils? These are very unhealthy oils that are extremely toxic. We know that in the long term, consumption of them leads to cardiovascular disease, as they clog the arteries and increase cholesterol levels. The atmosphere they create also encourages strokes and sometimes causes irreparable damage to the nervous system.

Personally, I never liked NutraSweet or any of those other "non-sugar" sugars. Nothing beats the real thing. But it's still scary how everything that's supposed to be good for you (or at least harmless) is now dangerous. Food is dangerous. The sun is dangerous (global warming, remember?). Sometimes it's easier just to stay inside and don't touch anything.

Cupcakes Are Evil?

Hey there.

The past couple of days have be a bit irritating and the next couple may be just as bad. But don't worry, I'll still make time for you guys. Here's an interesting/disturbing article I found on The Center for Consumer Freedom website that says that, according to a Washington Post article, some schools have banned cupcakes. And its about time, too. Everyone whines that TV, movies and the government are the cause of the downfall civilization, but it's those damn cupcakes that are the root of America's problem.

Here's the Washington Post article in question.


Evil. Pure Evil!

Look What I Found: Films and Documentaries

Check out some of these films I found while crusing through the net:

Terrorists The Kids They Sentenced is a film about the 2001 riots in Gothenborg. (There's subtitles involved, so you know it's artsy.)

Martin Luther King, Jr. Was A Republican is a short film designed to lure black folks into joining the Republican party. Interesting and a little disturbing.

Tetris - From Russia With Love tells the story of the one and only video game Tetris. It also deals with the rivalry between Nintendo and Atari.

So, what do you think? No seriously, tell me what you think. I need the attention.

Slow Down Week...What's That?

Hi There.

I was crusing through the Web (you know, looking for alternative media websites) and I found this one, entitled Adbusters, which contains a crapload of weird videos, spoof ads, and writing that trashes our mainstream culture. Adbusters is very popular with college students (communication majors, to be exact). I especially love the magazine "ads," like this one below:



This website was brought to you inpart by the Adbusters Media Foundation. What is the Adbusters Media Foundation? "We are a global network of artists, activists, writers, pranksters, students, educators and entrepreneurs who want to advance the new social activist movement of the information age," says the "About Us" portion of the website. If you have ever read Adbusters Magazine (which was published by the AMF), then you know exactly who they are.


One video was an...interesting cartoon promoting a very good (and relaxing) idea...

Introducing: Slow Down Week!

For more info on Adbusters....well...you know.

Governor of Rwanda Goes to Trial

Tharcisse Renzaho


Another gem from Al Jazeera says that the trail of Tharcisse Renzaho, former governor of Rwanda, has begun. Renzaho has allegedly one of main men involved in the 1994 genocide that lead to the deaths of 800,000 people in Rwanda. He's being charged with genocide, complicity to commit genocide, assassination, and rape. (Need to refresh your memory? No Problem.)

And, believe it or not, the Bush Administration helped a little:

Renzaho was arrested in September 2002 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after pressure was placed by the US president, George Bush, on his Congolese counterpart, Joseph Kabila. Washington had offered up to $5m for information leading to the arrest of about 15 Rwandans being sought by the [International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda], including Renzaho.

I'm glad that somebody is being tried for such a terrible crime, but let's not count our chickens yet. You know the old saying: "It ain't over til' the jury reaches a verdict."


Want to help the Rwanda survivors? Go ahead.

100 Civilians of Somalia Killed in U.S. Attack. Whose Responsible?

Al Jazeera (the English version) reports that, according to Clan elders and Somalia residents, 100 locals were killed during U.S. and Ethiopian air attacks this week.

Sheikh Abdullahi Ali Malabon, an elder in the Afmadow area (one of the targets during the air attacks) said:

"We have sent a team to assess the casualties there and they have confirmed more than 100 people killed," he told the AFP news agency by telephone from the remote area. "Many others were wounded, but we don't have an exact number."

A senior U.S. officer says that the U.S. only made one attack and no civilians were harmed. (The point of the raid was to take out three senior al-Qaeda figures who were responsible for bombings in Kenya and Tanzania). The officer adds that its "possible" that the Ethiopian attacks caused the casualities.

Do you believe that? I'm not so sure either. To me, its also "possible" that the U.S. did more damage than they would like to admit. It's hard to believe what the government is saying sometimes, isn't it? I guess we'll never know who did what to those poor people in Somalia. 100 people. Damn.

What Is A Black Man?

Hello, there.

The coolest thing I have ever seen is on the Washington Post's website. "Being A Black Man" is an interactive series on the website that gives America an open window into the problems, triumphs, and the very soul of American American men. There's a Flash program that displays so, so many videos and articles about the different sides and subjects involving black men. Very cool. And I'm not just saying that because I'm black. OK, I kinda am. I haven't seen every inch of the program yet, but what I have seen so far was awesome.

Here's a taste of one of the articles, "In or Out of the Game?"

The sun is setting on this warm December day, the chill is rolling in. A.J. zips up his black leather jacket and hollers at a woman in three-inch heels on the other side of Adams Street. "I'm going to hurry up and get myself together so I can marry you!" But together seems a long way off. James is wearing an ankle bracelet containing a GPS tracking device that allows authorities to monitor his movements. "To me, it's degrading -- like on Animal Planet where they tag the animals," he says. His curfew is 8 p.m. He has no job, no car, no place of his own (he lives on this block with his aunt). He is 37 years old. A front tooth is missing, the result of a scuffle with police. His hand is stiff from being shot. His stomach is carved up from being shot. His arm is skin-grafted and mottled from being shot. Shot, shot, shot. Ten times in all.

I really love the videos, which are basically mini documentaries that tell you what life is like as a black man and what black men need to do in order to better themselves. The one I love the most (so far) is the "invisible man" video, which reveals how black men are viewed by others in America.

Oh, yeah, and there are also these cool galleries, too. Here's one of them called "Law and Order: Career Intent" (Look on the left side of the "Being A Black Man" home page).

The only question I have to ask is...what about black women? (But then again, in my opinion, black women seem to be considered by others to be a bit more exceptional, less threatening, and more intelligent than black men.)


Please, please, please check the series out. And when you're done, pass it on to a friend. I'm serious. In fact, I'll display the link one more time.

Being A Black Man!

No More Polar Bears?

Kassie Siegel wrote an article for the LA Times that basically said, "Global Warming=No Polar Bears." You see, a proposal to put the bears on the endangered species list was created because their natural habitat (The bear is entirely dependent on sea ice) is heating up. The good news, however, is that the proposal is urging George W. Bush and his gang to actually care about the global warming issue. "The significance of the polar bear decision," she wrote, "has not been missed by those who stand to benefit from a continuation of the administration's head-in-the-sand approach to global warming. Once protection for the polar bear is finalized, federal agencies and other large greenhouse gas emitters will be required by law to ensure that their emissions do not jeopardize the species. And the only way to avoid jeopardizing the polar bear is to reduce emissions."

Of course, some people don't buy the whole "Polar bears will be no more" thing and are saying that there isn't a polar bear shortage. "Wrong," says Siegel. She wrote, "A study by NASA and Canadian Wildlife Service scientists published in September 2006 in the journal Arctic demonstrated that more polar bears were indeed being seen on land — not because the species was 'overly abundant' but because the bears had nowhere else to go. They should be out on the ice hunting seals, but earlier breakup of sea ice means the bears are stuck on land, where they are more likely to be spotted."

Siegel ends her op-ed peace by saying:

(James) Hansen, the NASA climate scientist, has repeatedly warned that merely keeping up the current pace of emissions for 10 more years will irreversibly alter the Earth's climate. If sea levels rise 18 feet or more, a large proportion of the world's human population will be displaced — or worse. Polar bears are not the only species threatened by global warming. Absent political action from the United States and the world, the rest of us may be as well.

Want to follow Siegel's lead? Here are some stop global warming links...

US EPA Global Warming Site

StopGlobalWarming.org

Sierra Club

"You destroyed all of my frozen cats (and one dog)! I'm gunna sue!"

Take note that William Davis, a man who harbored 114 cats (and one dog) in three freezers, didn't exactly say those words, but he is suing the Murfreesboro Police Department for $1.5 million for invading his house and grabbing/destroying his precious animals who had much "emotional value" to him (He was even going to build a pet cemetery for them).

Don't believe me? Check out The Smoking Gun. They have proof that Davis, 75, plans to sue them for taking Pixie Bob, Miss Patchwork, Big Duke and all his other feline friends. Is he being charged for animal cruelty? You don't know the half of it:

The searches resulted in animal cruelty charges being leveled against Davis since conditions in his two residences were deplorable. A veterinarian estimated that carpeting had a half-inch layer of animal feces ground into it and that the stench was so overwhelming it was hard to breathe through your nose without gagging (Davis pleaded guilty to a single animal cruelty count and was placed on a year's probation).

But wait there's more:

The Davis lawsuit, which was, amazingly, not filed pro se, notes that he was keeping one of the frozen cats so that he could submit the animal to the Guinness Book of World Records.

What can I say. People are strange. Very, very, strange.

He really likes cats.

Abu Omar's Letter

Hey, homies. How ya' doing?

Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, a former CIA chief in Rome, was one of the five Italian intelligence operatives who was caputured by the CIA and brutally tortured in Torah Prison, a prison in Egypt with a brutal reputation. The culprits, who also did the same to 26 Americans, has allegedy put Nasr, a.k.a. Abu Omar, through hell. During the trial of the kidnapping, a letter written by Omar was read to everyone. According to the Chicago Tribune, he wrote:

...he was walking to his mosque in Milan on Feb. 17, 2003, when he was stopped on the street by a man who identified himself as a police officer. The cleric wrote that he was pulled into a van, beaten and taken by plane to Egypt. He described in detail how his Egyptian interrogators tried to get him to agree to become an informer, and he says he refused. What followed, according to his letter, was torture with electric shocks, beatings that caused him to lose the hearing in one ear, and sexual abuse. For long periods of time, he said in his letter, he was kept in an underground cell "where you cannot distinguish between night and day and the cockroaches and rats and insects walk all over my body night and day."

Omar wasn't the first. "Egypt, which has often been accused of torturing prisoners," says the Tribune, "acknowledges taking custody of 60 to 70 radical Muslims abducted by the CIA." Pardon me folks for asking you all this 'cause I'm forgetful, but why did the U.S. captured and (sort of) killed Saddam Hussein?

Hopefully, I can someday grab a hold of the actual letter and show it to you guys.

The Same Old Hollywood Shuffle

Big Boobs, Big Boobs, Big Boobs!

Sorry about that. I'm trying to draw as much attention to this new blog as much as possible, so I wrote that to capture your attention.

Welcome my friends to the friendliest website on earth, Jonny Rage. And the first post starts...........now!


For years, the entertainment industry has stuck minorities in the same old positions. Same old street dramas, same old ghetto comedies where everyone says the n-word every five minutes, same old gansta crap. The CW even went back to the old-school WB days and established a "negro night"--one night out of the week where you see only "urban" shows--to make up for erasing the UPN network. UPN wasn't exactly perfect to begin with, but it was a little better that BET. And what's with that movie "Codename: The Cleaner"? But maybe I'm being too harsh. After all I'm not an entertainer who deals with the ins and outs of Hollywood. But I found someone was does. In the Washington Post, comedian/actor Jordan Carlos talks about how wonderful it is to work in Hollywood. Here's a sample:

Entering the comedy world as a black man means you always stand out, even during off hours, such as one Christmas evening in New York at my first holiday comedy mixer. All of Gotham's comedic glitterati were there. I cornered a "Daily Show" writer, doing my best to get the inside track on a possible actor/writer gig. We broached the subject of black correspondents. He told me that they "tried a black guy once, but it didn't work out." I nearly threw my imported beer in his face. Tried it once and it didn't work? You say that about Toyotas, not a whole race of people. But to date, comedy writing is pretty whitewashed. As of this season, "Saturday Night Live" has no black writers. "The Daily Show" also doesn't have any, and neither does "The Colbert Report," a show on which I've played Stephen Colbert's black friend "Alan," a member of the staff. That's right. "The Colbert Report" had to hire an actor to play a black person who works on the show.

This is the year 2007! You would think that there would be more equality, more variety, and more respect in show business (and every other business for that matter).

Want to read more of Jordan's words?