The Audacity of Dope

Thank you Barney.

Bill Maher echoed much of what I’ve been saying for years in a recent blog for the Huffington Post.  Shout to DJ Nphared for sending this over, great stuff.

New Rule: Smart President ≠ Smart Country

New Rule: Just because a country elects a smart president doesn’t make it a smart country. A few weeks ago I was asked by Wolf Blitzer if I thought Sarah Palin could get elected president, and I said I hope not, but I wouldn’t put anything past this stupid country. It was amazing – in the minute or so between my calling America stupid and the end of the Cialis commercial, CNN was flooded with furious emails and the twits hit the fan. And you could tell that these people were really mad because they wrote entirely in CAPITAL LETTERS!!! It’s how they get the blood circulating when the Cialis wears off. Worst of all, Bill O’Reilly refuted my contention that this is a stupid country by calling me a pinhead, which A) proves my point, and B) is really funny coming from a doody-face like him.

Now, the hate mail all seemed to have a running theme: that I may live in a stupid country, but they lived in the greatest country on earth, and that perhaps I should move to another country, like Somalia. Well, the joke’s on them because I happen to have a summer home in Somalia… and no I can’t show you an original copy of my birth certificate because Woody Harrelson spilled bong water on it.

And before I go about demonstrating how, sadly, easy it is to prove the dumbness dragging down our country, let me just say that ignorance has life and death consequences. On the eve of the Iraq War, 69% of Americans thought Saddam Hussein was personally involved in 9/11. Four years later, 34% still did. Or take the health care debate we’re presently having: members of Congress have recessed now so they can go home and “listen to their constituents.” An urge they should resist because their constituents don’t know anything. At a recent town-hall meeting in South Carolina, a man stood up and told his Congressman to “keep your government hands off my Medicare,” which is kind of like driving cross country to protest highways.

I’m the bad guy for saying it’s a stupid country, yet polls show that a majority of Americans cannot name a single branch of government, or explain what the Bill of Rights is. 24% could not name the country America fought in the Revolutionary War. More than two-thirds of Americans don’t know what’s in Roe v. Wade. Two-thirds don’t know what the Food and Drug Administration does. Some of this stuff you should be able to pick up simply by being alive. You know, like the way the Slumdog kid knew about cricket.

Not here. Nearly half of Americans don’t know that states have two senators and more than half can’t name their congressman. And among Republican governors, only 30% got their wife’s name right on the first try.

Sarah Palin says she would never apologize for America. Even though a Gallup poll says 18% of Americans think the sun revolves around the earth. No, they’re not stupid. They’re interplanetary mavericks. A third of Republicans believe Obama is not a citizen, and a third of Democrats believe that George Bush had prior knowledge of the 9/11 attacks, which is an absurd sentence because it contains the words “Bush” and “knowledge.”

People bitch and moan about taxes and spending, but they have no idea what their government spends money on. The average voter thinks foreign aid consumes 24% of our federal budget. It’s actually less than 1%. And don’t even ask about cabinet members: seven in ten think Napolitano is a kind of three-flavored ice cream. And last election, a full one-third of voters forgot why they were in the booth, handed out their pants, and asked, “Do you have these in a relaxed-fit?”

And I haven’t even brought up America’s religious beliefs. But here’s one fun fact you can take away: did you know only about half of Americans are aware that Judaism is an older religion than Christianity? That’s right, half of America looks at books called the Old Testament and the New Testament and cannot figure out which one came first.

And these are the idiots we want to weigh in on the minutia of health care policy? Please, this country is like a college chick after two Long Island Iced Teas: we can be talked into anything, like wars, and we can be talked out of anything, like health care. We should forget town halls, and replace them with study halls. There’s a lot of populist anger directed towards Washington, but you know who concerned citizens should be most angry at? Their fellow citizens. “Inside the beltway” thinking may be wrong, but at least it’s thinking, which is more than you can say for what’s going on outside the beltway.

And if you want to call me an elitist for this, I say thank you. Yes, I want decisions made by an elite group of people who know what they’re talking about. That means Obama budget director Peter Orszag, not Sarah Palin.

Which is the way our founding fathers wanted it. James Madison wrote that “pure democracy” doesn’t work because “there is nothing to check… an obnoxious individual.” Then, in the margins, he doodled a picture of Joe the Plumber.

Until we admit there are things we don’t know, we can’t even start asking the questions to find out. Until we admit that America can make a mistake, we can’t stop the next one. A smart guy named Chesterton once said: “My country, right or wrong is a thing no patriot would ever think of saying… It is like saying ‘My mother, drunk or sober.'” To which most Americans would respond: “Are you calling my mother a drunk?”

If you don’t strive to be elite and hold others to the same standard, I’d prefer not to interact with you.  Sorry.  Peep the definition of “elitism” per Wikipedia:

Elitism is the belief or attitude that those individuals who are considered members of the elite—a select group of people with outstanding personal abilities, intellect, wealth, specialized training or experience, or other distinctive attributes—are those whose views on a matter are to be taken the most seriously or carry the most weight or those who view their own views as so; whose views and/or actions are most likely to be constructive to society as a whole; or whose extraordinary skills, abilities or wisdom render them especially fit to govern.

Annnnnnnd, this is a bad thing?  Harder, better, faster, stronger.  Get right or get left.

The #1 problem in this country is our educational system and it’s downright criminal that we let so many people fall through the cracks.  These morons not only hinder our progression in every aspect of society, but they also send me their rap music on a daily basis.  Shots fired.  Just playin…kinda.

Barry was lickin’ shots at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner yesterday.  Yeah, yeah, he has writers obviously, but still, his delivery was great.  How strange is it that our President is cooler than us?

By the way, this >>>>>> the Justin/Samberg “Mother Lovers” skit.

As a new owner of a sparkling MacBook Pro, I was definitely curious to see Henny and Dow Jones break down the making of Jeezy’s “My President Is Black” joint using Logic.  I’m not a huge fan of this song, mainly because Jeezy’s lyrics just come off so ridiculous.  I mean…even more than usual.  Hearing him try to be half-political, half-Jeezy is just odd.  “My president is black!  My Lambo’s blue.”  Hmmmm.

Can someone CC Allah on this post for me though?

It’s time to put the smack down on these Republicans and their sickening behavior in the House and Senate. Not only are they being contrarian just for the sake of arguing, they have absolutely no legs to stand on.  When you’ve run the country into its lowest point since the Great Depression and have made wrong decision after wrong decision, your opinions and theories are null and void.  You had your chance and you failed…epically.

I’m glad Barack is playing nice with these fools, but they’ll soon find out that all their whining and complaining is going to be moot as he gets to work.  I just wish they’d spare us the show.  STFU and sit your ass down in the backseat.  You drove the country off the pavement at every fork in the road, and now you’re trying to tell us how to drive.  Why on earth should anyone listen to you?

Do your thing Barack and let’s get this headed in the right direction.

This is pretty self-explanatory, but I’ll try to sum it up for you.  One of the dopest MC’s around, the big homey Braille, has linked up with one of the dopest producers, S1 (of Strange Fruit Project fame), to create a project called CloudNineteen.  Along with making an incredible record, there’s a larger purpose with the album.  I’ll let Braille explain:

In my last Newsletter, I shared details about my vision for this record.  It was really hard for me to share the vision at first because I feared that people wouldn’t understand.  At this point, I feel very comfortable with the vision and I am confident that this is what I’m supposed to do.  Starting February 25th, me and S1 will begin traveling around the U.S. with the intent of giving out as many CD’s as we can press.  My hope is to press 30,000 copies and in order to meet that goal I am accepting donations and financial contributions to help with the manufacturing cost.  None of the donated money is going in my pockets, and with a total goal of raising $20,000 – every 70 cents we raise represents a CD being given away to someone.  Rather then continuing to type out the vision, I filmed myself on DJ Idull’s computer so that I could verbalize the vision in a video.

If your interested in contributing to the cause then my PayPal is braillehiphop@hotmail.com.  If you’d rather send a check in the mail then just email me and I will hit you with my address.

It’s crucial to mention that these 30K CD’s that will be given away will almost all go to at-risk and incarcerated youths across America.  The same kids who see all the negative images that are most visable in hip-hop will be directly touched by positive, genuine, and dope music from their culture.

If you’ve read my blog over the past year, you already know that with all the problems in the world, America, and hip-hop, I think the solutions lie in education.  We have to teach the next generation how to act and right now, hip-hop just isn’t pulling its weight.  Huge shout to everyone who is doing something positive with their music and careers right now, Braille and S1 especially.

I just wrote Braille a check for $100 to help support the project and I hope you’ll join me in getting CloudNineteen out to as many kids as possible.  Like he mentioned, every 70 cents he raises represents giving one CD to a kid locked in juvenile detention or in a tough neighborhood.  Instead of going out to dinner and a movie one night, shoot Braille some $$ and help out.

Thank you.

Any clowning of the FCC always gets my blessing.

Here’s Kanye’s performance from one of the inaugural balls last night in DC.  ‘Ye kinda killed it, mullet and all.  This was the same ball that after Barack and Michelle shared the dance, he told the crowd…”we call that ‘old school’.”

Coolest. President. Ever.

More true words from Jay Smooth.  Like I said in my last post, we have to “be the change” we want to see.  That means we have to get to work and take pride in what everything do.

I’m making 2009 a huge year for myself and I hope y’all do the same.  Live better in every aspect of your life and get things moving in the right direction.  Do your best to really experience life.  Remember what Jimmy V said?

To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And Number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special.

In spite of this picture, the most important thing to remember today is that Obama is not alone. We cannot expect him to solve all our problems and make the world a better place without buying into his vision ourselves. As he’s mentioned numerous times, “be the change you want to see in the world.”

If you want things to be better in your life, in your family, in your neighborhood, in your country, or in the world, you have to take responsibility. Be smart. Be positive. Be caring and be there for other people. We can do this, but we have to pull together and demand the best from ourselves and each other.

Let’s go.